rebelling against low expectations
Jim and Elisabeth Elliot are two of my heroes. I’ve devoured as many books by Elisabeth Elliot as I can get my hands on and been moved to tears by Jim’s commitment to God—and the tragedy it led to. I’ve read their journal entries and love letters, listened to audio clips from Jim and talks given by Elisabeth. God has used their steadfast devotion to Him to fuel a fire of passion in my own heart...
I just want to go back. I can’t tell you how many times this thought has crossed my mind lately. I want to go back three months ago and alter the course of the future. I want to go back to the me I used to be before grief pummeled my heart and hopes and dreams collapsed. I want to go back to the precious memories of lost relationships. I want to go back to a pre-pandemic world. I just want to go...
I have last year’s goals spread out before me. Some practical: Work out two days a week. Get to bed by 10:30 each night. Some ministry and work related: Write book two. Redesign website. Some spiritual: Study the Bible in a deeper way. Be consistent with my prayer time each day. If the beginning of a year is anything, it’s a time for casting vision. Dreaming. Planning. Making new goals and...
Go ahead, be honest. Are you a little relieved 2020 is almost over? The beginning of a new year always strikes me as a little strange. I mean, if you really think about it, it’s just another day run together with all the rest. 24 hours after the day previous and 24 hours before the next. From day to day, there’s nothing special about a new year. But we still crave a fresh slate, the start of...
New Year’s Eve 2019. I remember it like it was yesterday. We didn’t have any plans, so my family and I stayed home to ring in the New Year. We binge watched a TV show while I ate too much chocolate and an embarrassing number of cream puffs until a shiny, brand new 2020 rolled onto the calendar. Another year over. Another just begun. A few days before, I’d written in my journal, “What will this...
Follow Me. Two words. Countless implications. Jesus commanded us to pick up our cross and follow Him no matter what. No matter our culture. No matter what our friends say or the world around us does. No matter our human inclinations and preferences. No matter anything. If we truly live out Christ’s command of “Follow Me” those two words can change our lives. Not only did Jesus tell us to follow...
Do we compartmentalize God? I know I have. We place Him in sections and corners of our lives, relegating Him to those areas and barricading the rest of our lives out of His reach. We condemn sin when we see it in the world, but have no problem being entertained by it on our TV’s. We believe our lives have God-given purpose, but don’t think twice about wasting hours on social media. We love...
When I was eleven, my parents gave me my own study Bible. I’d had other Bibles before, of course. I remember a children’s Bible with a picture of Jesus on the cover and I once had a mini pink Bible that I ruined when I accidentally dropped it in a mud puddle. But to me, this Bible symbolized adulthood. For years, the Bible has been an integral part of my life. I can honestly say it’s changed the...
What needs to be changed in my life? The other day I scribbled this question in my journal. I was struggling with several areas of my life, knowing I needed to change and desperately wanting to. But I didn’t know how. These struggles felt too deeply rooted, too ingrained into my heart and life to be altered. Besides, they weren’t that bad. Nothing everyone else doesn’t also battle from time to...
I’m tired of apathetic Christianity. I see it in the world around me. I see it in the church. But mostly, I see it in me. A reluctance to give Christ everything. A subtle complacency. Compromise filtering in. I see people claiming the name of Jesus on Sunday and living like the rest of the world Monday through Saturday. And then I look at my own heart on countless Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays . ...
rebelling against low expectations
