Street Level Theology

Bitterness is the poison we take hoping to make someone else sick. Where does bitterness come from? What are the signs of bitterness? What can we do about it?

We are made to commune with God, and prayer is a primary way to do that. Prayer is pouring out our hearts to God in praise, petition, confession of sin and thanksgiving (New City Catechism) and it is "the chief exercise of faith" (Calvin). How do we grow in this area of faith and make it the priority it needs to be?

Is theology important? Theology is understanding who God is (His attributes), what He loves (His commandments), and what He is doing (His story unfolding in our world). Why would we settle for an unclear view of the most amazing being in the universe when we can not only know all about Him, we can actually know Him?!

When it comes to coveting vs. contentment, the issue isn't the things we have or don't have. The issue is the heart. Christian contentment is a change of objects. Instead of desiring smaller, lower things, we find our satisfaction in God Himself. Even though it doesn't come naturally, we like the apostle Paul can learn the secret of contentment, and that "godliness with contentment is great gain."

"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) "Follow your heart..." "No one should stop you from following your inner desires..." What is wrong with this ideology? Why is it dangerous?