Gospel Mindfulness

Giving freely, sacrificially, and without hesitation—that is a kind of generosity most of us expect only from family. When the Spirit is at work, the church becomes family. Image Credit: Floris van Dyck

What holds the church together? Common interests? Affection? A welcoming atmosphere? Or is it something deeper; something entirely outside of the self; something that propels us outward even as we draw closer together?

Episode 54: Is the desire for justice legitimate? What about vengeance? What role does wrath have in our picture of God? How can love and wrath coexist, and good ultimately overcome evil?

Episode 53: The desire for revenge is as natural as it is unhelpful. Evil begets evil, and often in the name of justice. But only in God can we find true justice, and only in Christ do we find perfect peace.   Image credit: Gavin Hamilton, Achilles Lamenting the Death of Patroclus

Episode 52: People are hard to love, and loving people that are hard to love is exhausting. When loving feels like work, and it often does, where can we find the energy to love? Paul suggests that it is found in love Himself. Image credit: Ontley on Wikimedia Commons

Episode 51: Most of us are nice people most of the time. We treat people with respect and avoid causing offense, but is that love? The Bible invites us to consider the deeper motivations of our hearts and let niceness give way to genuine love.

Episode 50: One of the signs of a truly gospel-shaped community is hospitality and welcome, particularly towards those for whom it is most difficult. It is a hospitality born from a deep understanding of the radical welcome of God. Image credit: Manel Sallem on Wikimedia Commons

Episode 49: There is no pride of place in God's kingdom. No one deserves a seat at God's table. The extent to which we can truly ask the question, "why me?", is the extent to which we can begin to understand the generous, lavish hospitality of God. Image credit: Jeanne Boleyn on Wikimedia Commons

Episode 48: Betrayal is one of the worst experiences any of us can ever go through. For most relationships, it marks the end. It is easy to assume, perhaps subconsciously, that the same would be true of our relationship with God. Yet God's love is so great that he pursues even those who willfully abandon him—and seeks to bring them home. Image credit: Bernard Gagnon on Wikimedia Commons

Episode 47: Marriage has always provided fertile soil for metaphors of God's love for his people. Loyalty, fidelity, selflessness; all of these describe God's love. The book of Hosea describes God's jealousy, and it does so through a very unlikely marriage.

Episode 46: Loving others can be scary, and not without cause. Community can overwhelm, disappoint, and destroy, not least because the community can become too important. God calls us to love him first, and in so loving him, to find freedom in loving others. Image credit: Rembrandt van Rijn  

Who serves who in the church? Despite the tremendous importance of personal growth in holiness, the Apostle Paul invites us to consider that we were primarily redeemed for one another. Image credit: IDuke on English Wikipedia

True love is hard to believe. Most of our relationships are subtly based on transactions, even with those we love, and ultimately rooted in fear. God's love takes us by surprise and, at times, offends us. But it is only in the love of God that we find the freedom to love likewise.

Real love can be annoying, real love can be difficult, real love can hurt. Real love comes from God, in humble submission to the work of his Spirit—and despite our natural inclinations, is well worth the struggle. Image by Gustave Doré

Most of us aspire to greatness in one sense or another. We discipline our bodies, our minds, our schedules. We go without sleep, we go without comfort, all for the sake of some worthy goal. But how many of us aspire to grow in love?

The greatest feelings of dependence and humility often come through times of great suffering. Though we are brought low, God's ultimate goal is to make us whole. It is only by truly seeing the magnitude of our need and the depth of our own sin that we find true rest in God's forgiveness. As Luther wrote, "Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world" (LW 48:281-282). Thank you for listening to season 2! Gospel Mindfulness will return in the Fall with a new series on seven big questions people have about God, the Bible, and Christianity. *Modified image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

All of us follow someone or something, and that something, if it isn't God, is probably a tyrant. *Modified image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

The freedom the choose. It is one of those natural rights that needs no argument in the modern day, perhaps especially in the domain of religion. But when given the choice of who or what to worship, what do we choose? In all likelihood, we pick a bigger, better version of what appears uncannily like ourselves. *Modified photo by succo from Pixabay

Idolatry is more than bowing down before statues. It is the making of a god in our own image and on our own terms. An idol can be physical or, more often than not, a creation of the heart. *Modified photo by Sam Valadi

God is a God of beauty, order, and light. The evidence for this is all around us, just there is also evidence of something dark in the world and in ourselves. But God is at work in and for his people—a holy people, called to be a light in this world.

What does it mean for God to dwell with his people? For one thing, it means that God has extended himself in relationship to us, redeeming and reorienting our lives towards the original Edenic order. Photo by just_a_cheeseburger

Truth has fallen on hard times in the modern world. Echo chambers abound, and all of us, if we're honest, love to talk more than listen. To represent God well, however, means to represent him and to represent others well. It is to care deeply for truth. Painting by Gilbert Stuart

People can be difficult, frustrating, mean, or even cruel. They can seem impossible to love. Yet God has created all of us in his image and those who love him love his image in others. Painting by Vincent Van Gogh

What does it mean to take the Lord's name in vain? Is it avoiding coarse language? Perhaps, but it is so much more. For better or for worse, Christians are God's mouths and hands to one another and to a watching world. Graphic by Eviatar Bach

Whether we realize it or not, one of the most important things about ourselves, the thing that makes us who we are, is what we give ourselves to in worship. All of us worship something, but God created us to worship Him. Photo by Petr Kratochvil

God can be terrifying. He is holy after all. But he is also a God of compassion. He is a God who does not leave us in our sin but comes down to us, that we might be brought to him. Painting by Benjamin West

Holy, awesome, terrifying. The image of God presented in the Bible is not always the image of God we want or imagine. Nevertheless, Scripture has made it plain that in his presence no evil, no matter how small, can or will stand. Painting by Benjamin West

God desires for us to trust and rest in him alone. It is what we were created for. It is also very difficult. Paradoxically, sometimes it takes a season of trial to begin to learn God's goodness, faithfulness, kindness, and rest. Painting by Jean-François Millet

Complaining. All of us do it, and when we complain, the temptation is always to forget God. (Painting by J.E. Gray, 1846)

Many of us would love a fresh start—an undo button for life. Our identities are often wrapped up in the things which cause us the deepest shame. It seems inescapable, but Jesus the Lamb of God offers us hope. Painting by Jan van Eyck.

Most of us go through life unable to see through the veil of history. The future is a mystery that only God knows. Sometimes, however, he gives a glimpse, and in the Bible, those glimpses often look like catastrophic judgement. This is an uncomfortable topic, but one that should lead us, ultimately, to rejoice. Painting by David Teniers the Younger.

Today, we open up the mailbag and answer listener questions. Topics covered include emotion in worship, God's judgement, and the relationship between covetousness and greed. Photo from Archives New Zealand

All of us have a worship problem. "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord,and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee," Augustine famously penned of God. We were made to worship God, and anything less will ultimately fail to satisfy.

For many people, worship conjures up the sight and sounds of incense, bells, and singing. But worship is something much bigger. Worship happens every day in every sphere of life. All of us worship something, but we were made to worship only one thing: God himself.

In the wilderness of everyday life, it can be hard to believe that anything of any significance is really going on. Moses felt it, Jacob felt it, we all feel it. But behind all the ordinariness, God is at work and God is here, even if we cannot see. Photo by Rod Waddington

What can man do to us? A lot, actually. Trusting God does not prevent us from suffering and there may be some things we never understand this side of Christ's return. Nevertheless, God's blessing will prevail.

Life can be discouraging sometimes—both for us as individuals, but also collectively as God's people. The church is in constant conflict with the powers of the age and sometimes it seems as though they will win. The book of Exodus assures us that God promises to bless his people, whatever they might think, and through them to bless the world.

None of us live as isolated individuals. All of us come into contact with others, and our actions have consequences. Some of them are eternal. Christians are to make disciples of all nations, including their own backyards. Thankfully, we are not called to do it alone, but to encourage and spur one another along in love.

It is entirely possible to live life totally unaware of the things that really matter. There are spiritual realities towards which many have never been awoken, or have simply fallen asleep. God exhorts us to, but also give us the tools and the stamina to stay awake; chiefly through prayer.

True Christianity is spiritually comforting, but it is also supremely practical. True Christianity informs the lives of young and old, parents and children, employers and employees.

"I'm spiritual, not religious." This increasingly common statement has a vagueness to it. What does it mean to be spiritual? Often spirituality is meant to comfort us, but rarely does it make demands on us. True Christianity is different: it is supremely practical, affecting not just our "spirituality," but also the stuff of life such as marriage, parenting, and work.

Is living morally just a matter of "fake it until you make it?" Not if you are united with Christ! If you have placed your faith in Christ, who you are is fundamentally different. You, in Christ, are merciful, gentle, honest, and loving. All of life is learning to "put on Christ" and become who you already are.

  You've received more than you can possibly imagine if you are united with Christ. And one of the great tragedies is that many who are in Christ are not taking hold of the life they now have in Jesus. You are called to be proactive in our Christian growth, not in order to work our way up to God, but because that is now what you are: you are you with Jesus.

  Christian growth means becoming who we are in Christ. That involves changing direction, learning to put behind us the way we used to be—to lose our old habits, which are no longer true to our identity.

When you become a Christian, you experience an inexpressibly significant shift in who you are. Christian growth means learning how to be true to your new self.

    One of the great dangers Christians face is to fall back into religiosity. We forget what it means that our new identity is "me with Jesus," and seek to move toward God entirely apart from Christ. We do "good things" for the wrong reasons, to our deep spiritual harm.  

  Is Christianity a religion? Not if by religion we mean a system of rituals and behaviors that enable us to get close to God. Using that definition, Christianity is the anti-religion. Colossians 2:11-23 

How do we grow? By daily choosing to receive the gift that we have in Jesus, by seeking more of Jesus. Colossians gives us 3 metaphors for this pursuit: walking in Christ, being rooted in Jesus, and being built up in Jesus. Passage: Colossians 2:6-10

Colossians warns us of a danger we rarely notice. "Philosophies"--ways of thinking--threaten to take us captive. Whether it's "Follow Your Bliss" or modern secularism, or another mindset altogether, these human ways of understanding ourselves and this world can ruin us, because they can pull us away from Christ. When we feel unsettled or incomplete, Colossians tells us that our problem is not that we need more THAN Jesus. It's that we need more OF Jesus. Passage: Colossians 2:6-10

When we find ourselves in "the dip" we are uniquely vulnerable to temptation. We can experience physical temptations, disillusionment, and the desire to give up on our faith altogether. The truth the Colossians gives us to battle these is that there is inexpressible glory and joy found in Christ for those who wait on him.

Business guru Seth Godin speaks of the difficulty of "the dip." When we set out to accomplish something, if it's anything of significance, we will eventually come to a point in time when the effort we invest does not seem to yield any progress or success. We are faced with a decision. Is this a dead end, where we should turn back? Or is this something we should push through in order to achieve our goal? Is this "the dip?" Christian growth involves an experience of the dip. As we seek to grow, we encounter periods of frustration and uncertainty. But Colossians is clear: we are never at a dead end if we are seeking to grow in Christ. We are in the dip. Because in Christ all the fullness of deity dwells. Passage: Colossians 1:21-2:5