rebelling against low expectations
When I was a teenager I made a choice that changed my life. At only thirteen years old, I sat down at my computer and read about a program called the National Bible Bee (kind of like a spelling bee, but for Bible memory). That can’t be too hard, I thought to myself as I convinced my mom that I wanted to sign up. I thought it would be something fun for the summer. Something to keep me busy. And...
Let’s face it: the Christian walk is hard. It’s not—and shouldn’t be—easy to walk the straight and narrow way. Matthew 7:13-14, ESV, warns us of this, saying, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” As Christians...
Imagine a world where no one watches movies. Think college guys in dorm rooms quoting lines from their favorite movies and thinking they’re hilarious. Except they never saw the whole movie from beginning to end. Weird, right? But you, the normal human being you are, go to your friends and say, “What if we sit down and watch the entire movie tonight?” Everyone looks at you with a face twisted in...
In the past, my Bible reading has been largely unplanned and unscheduled. I would randomly pick a book of the Bible to study because it’s what struck my fancy in the moment, and I wouldn’t set any kind of time frame to complete it. Whenever I finished that book, I’d pick the next one in the same manner, and so on. But this year, I decided to try something different; something...
According to statistics, only 31% of America’s population believes that the Bible is absolutely accurate and should be obeyed word-for-word. 19% believe that the Bible is simply fables, legends, or ancient history, and 47% percent believe that the Bible may be inspired by God but shouldn’t be taken literally. Although so many people have dismissed the Bible as false, how many of them have...
If you’ve never read the Bible before, getting started can seem daunting. Overwhelming, even. It’s easy to have no idea where to begin. A while ago, someone asked me that very question. “Where should I start reading the Bible? What book of the Bible can you recommend?” The question caught me unprepared. There were so many books to choose from! So many that I love and would recommend. I started...
Where do you start when you want to understand a verse, passage, or chapter of the Bible? There are a lot of things you could do to help you understand it. But the most important tool—other than prayer—comes before all of those. That tool is context. The Importance of Context My mom once said that every verse you study lives in an environment. If you were going to study an animal—say, a species...
When I need to think through something, I write it down. I know this doesn’t work for everyone—some people are external processors and need to talk it through with a friend. For some, just attempting to journal can cause more stress than it alleviates. But my method of processing the world inevitably involves writing, whether it’s sitting down to journal or just writing angsty poetry in class. I...
A friend recently asked me on an Instagram Q&A, “What’s your preference—apologetics or theology?” Honestly, I couldn’t pick one or the other. Both have been so essential to my growth as a follower of Christ! As I discussed that during the Q&A and a few others resonated with my response, I realized that the relationship between apologetics and theology is seldom discussed in the church...
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) Growing up, that was one of my favorite verses. To me, it was a perfect description of how incredible the moment of Jesus’ return will be for his followers. But when is Jesus coming back...
rebelling against low expectations
