At its core, the Year of Listening Up is about developing character. It’s an annual project that’s an outgrowth of a book I wrote for my daughters, largely centered on the same ambition. Since Edwards made developing character a primary goal of his life, it made great...
I’ve gained a new understanding of personal discipleship with Christ over the last year or so. Maybe not so much new as it is better, deeper, or more refined. On a basic level, personal discipleship is simply learning to be more like Christ. A simple concept, yes, but...
When it comes to prayerful confidence, most think in the context of God’s willingness to answer. However, we must keep mindful of our own actions and intentions. To that end, I can’t count the times I’ve failed to make a prayer I told someone I would. Or the times...
When it comes to studying Scripture, you get out of it what you put into it. Jonathan Edwards clearly put much more into it than most could ever aspire. That should not dissuade us common folk, though. Our only real competition is ourselves. When running the race to...
We often speak of a heavenly reward. It's usually said in relation to the phrase “you can't take it with you.” The “it” in this case is all the stuff we acquire in life. Our homes, cars, clothes, gadgets, toys… even our money. This stuff is stuff we gather, collect,...
What does authentic love look like? It's a question I’m often pondering. Never really landed on an answer, until now. You know it when I see it. Every now and then, God sends a perfect illustration. It's sometimes like the missing puzzle piece that’s key to the whole...
I don’t know how it goes in other countries, but the U.S. culture certainly has an interesting relationship with the concept of shame. On the one hand, it seems that nobody has any shame. In addition, people are constantly thrusting themselves into attention seeking...
Being different usually comes with a negative connotation. However, there are times where we must not just endure being different, we must embrace being different. In Keep Christianity Weird: Embracing the Discipline of Being Different , Michael Frost argues it’s the...
Spiritual warfare. It’s a term that conjures all sorts of visual representations. And it probably varies greatly by culture. I can’t claim to be all that knowledgeable about it, and I have kept my life mostly ignorant of the concept. I like to live in my little bubble...