Always Inclined Toward You

"For those who are in Christ, he serves as a mediator, bringing our prayers to God. And since God the Holy Spirit indwells those who are in Christ, our prayers are by the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father. He hears Your spoken words, unspoken thoughts, and unclear longings. This one fact is utterly astonishing. God's heart is always inclined toward you, his face is set toward you, and his ear open for you. This explains why the Bible invites us to 'pray without ceasing' about anything, anytime, anywhere."

- Mark Driscoll,   Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ, page 111

Is Yours Tapped In?

From Creature of the Word

On Mission With Jesus

"The first verse of Acts references 'all that Jesus began to do and teach.' This means that Christ is still doing and still teaching today: He is presently on mission in our world. For years the church has said, 'Let's go on mission in the name of Jesus.' What we should be saying is, 'Let's be on mission with Jesus.' You have been put on earth, in this time and place, where you are right now, for Missio Christi. Our goal as individuals and as the gathered church, is to figure out what Christ is presently doing and then do it with Him."

    -Britt Merrick, Godspeed: Making Christ's Mission Your Own

Note: In and among the quotes from the Driscoll book, I'll also be quoting from this great book by Britt Merrick. Because I'm quoting from a Kindle edition, I will not be able to reference page numbers.

Will the Real Charismatic Please Stand Up

Found this interesting article by C. Michael Patton in which he explores the various attitudes toward spiritual gifts in contemporary American Christianity, and decides that it isn't so easy to define who is a charismatic anymore. And, as always with Patton, there are charts!

He explains all these terms in the article. I had to do some thinking and self examination to see where I fit on this gradient, and decided I fall to the right of the middle line between options 4 and 5.

How about you?

Where Identity Begins

"The absolute worst place to begin constructing an identity is you, which is precisely where most counseling begins. The absolute best place to begin constructing an identity is Jesus Christ, which is precisely where Scripture begins. Knowing Jesus and being saved by him in faith is the key to your identity and to the defeat of your idolatry. It's not about you. It's all about Jesus."

     -Mark Driscoll,  Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ, page 17
 

It's Not Holy Trail Mix

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

(2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)

How People Change

From a review at the Resurgence of the book How People Change by Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp:

The central theme of How People Change is that much of the time, Christians live with a “gospel gap.” We believe the gospel intellectually, but we don’t live out its implications practically. This gospel gap “subverts our identity as Christians and our understanding of the present work of God” as it “undermines every relationship in our lives, every decision we make, and every attempt to minister to others” (p. 2).

The gospel gap

The gospel gap produces three kinds of blindness: “blindness of identity,” when we underestimate the power of indwelling sin and misunderstand our identity in Christ Jesus; “blindness of God’s provision,” when we do not understand that God has provided “everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3); and “blindness to God’s process,” when we forget that the Christian life is one of “constant work, constant growth, and constant confession and repentance” (p. 6).Many external things can wrongly fill the gap of the gospel for us:

• Formalism reduces the gospel to church attendance and spiritual disciplines.

• Legalism adds to the gospel law-keeping and rule-keeping.

• Mysticism reduces the gospel to personal experience.

• Activism reduces the gospel to doing social justice.

• Biblicism reduces the gospel to loving theology more than Jesus.

• Psychology-ism reduces the gospel to therapy.

• Socialism reduces the gospel to being accepted by a particular Christian community.

By contrast, the authors offer five gospel perspectives that fill the gospel gap:

Heretical Steps

Seven steps to becoming a heretic

(but if you really want to become one, you can probably do it without any help).
 

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Your Hurts Are Not Your Identity

"When we suffer, we can easily allow our hurt to become our identity. Our pain can become all-consuming and overwhelming. Admittedly, it's hard to tell a cancer patient, divorcee, or rape victim that his or her pain isn't the defining aspect of who that individual is. But if we truly love those who suffer, we must humbly, graciously, and patiently explain that to be a Christian is not to live a life free from suffering, but rather, suffering should lead us to identify with Jesus, who suffered more than anyone in history on our behalf."

  - Mark Driscoll, Who Do You Think You Are?: Finding Your True Identity in Christ, page 13

Church on the Cafeteria Plan

From The Sacred Sandwich