Soul
The Supernatural Life
When you’re alone with the Word of God, you probably have less peace than you’re willing to publicly admit. You’re fine at church, attending conferences or spending time with churchgoers. But when you’re studying God’s Word by yourself, a sick feeling creeps into your stomach. How can you reconcile Jesus’ teachings with what you see in the Church? Start with yourself Most of us know we can’t say with the apostle Paul, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, TNIV). Rather than pursuing the Spirit-filled example we could be, we hide behind churchy statements like, “I’m just a man” or, “I’m not perfect, just forgiven.” That will satisfy most, but you know deep down that you’re not “just” a man or woman. You’re a temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.
The Strength of Small
YEARS AGO, WHEN my daughter Elisabeth was little, I was cleaning out a car before trading it in. As I checked under the driver’s seat for any leftover treasure, I noticed a music tape nestled deep underneath. I got on my knees and started reaching for the tape. To my chagrin, I only touched the edge of it, pushing it further under the low-sitting bucket seat. Undaunted, I pushed my arm deeper into that tiny space. Instead of reaching the prize, my arm was only scratched up further as it tried to traverse the space. Elisabeth watched me struggle for a minute before she started pulling on my shirt.
Enter to Win 2 Tickets to Catalyst!
We are giving away 2 tickets to Catalyst, October 6-8 in Atlanta, GA! ENTER TO WIN BY FOLLOWING THESE STEPS: 1. TWEET THIS Just entered to win 2 tickets to the @CatalystLeader Conference from @Neuemag. http://bit.ly/cZOoKi 2. COMMENT BELOW Comment below and tell us why you should win. Remember to include your Twitter handle. 3. ENTER THE CONTEST BEFORE SEPTEMBER 2 at 5PM EST We will choose 2 random winners and announce them on the next Neue podcast, September 7!
Identity Beyond Church
For a pastor, receiving a wedding invitation in the mail is a bit like getting the monthly bills. Whether you want them or not, they’re coming. Some summers, it seems as if every weekend is consumed by a Friday night rehearsal and the big event on Saturday. I have grown to love being involved in these weekends. Wedding rehearsals provide a front row seat into the family dynamic. The ceremony is an opportunity to make a church experience engaging for the many guests who would never otherwise be at church. And the reception is always a chance to meet interesting people and prove that Baptists really shouldn’t dance. So, that Thursday morning, when my wife and I received yet another wedding invitation, it should have been an occasion for joy, right? Instead, the invitation sparked something ugly within me. Without warning, one of those hibernating fears somewhere deep within my being awoke.
Leading on Empty
It came to a head while I was out on a run one evening during a trip to California. One minute I was jogging along on the sidewalk, and the next minute I was sitting on the curb, sobbing uncontrollably, and I didn’t have a clue what was happening to me. Leading on empty will drain more than your energy. It will drain your soul.
Mitch Albom
Mitch Albom is the best-selling author of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. We talked with him about his most recent book, Have a Little Faith, as well as what inspires the spiritual messages of his writing and where he goes to find hope.
Isolationships
The text message came on a Monday afternoon. I’d spoken at our church the night before, so I figured it was a typical “can we meet sometime this week” text message to let me know I had said something either profound or heretical. I invited McKenzie over to my apartment to have a conversation a couple days later. At about two on Thursday afternoon, my cell phone vibrated. It was McKenzie letting me know she was downstairs waiting for me to come let her into the building. We walked up the seven flights to my apartment, and then sat on separate couches facing each other.
The Authentic Self
“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15, TNIV). In recent days, I’ve been haunted by this penetrating question. Perhaps “these” referred to the boon of fish, symbolizing the joy of successful work. Or Jesus may have meant the other disciples, alluding to the pleasures of friendship with like-minded people. Our Lord could even have been asking Peter whether Peter’s love for Him exceeded the other disciples’ love for Him. Regardless of the referent, the piercing point of the question remains the same. As we substitute our names for “Simon son of John,” we sense the voice of Jesus as His eyes gaze into our souls, inviting us to a ruthless examination of what we may love more than Him. In the wellspring of the soul, we find the conflicted desires of our true and false selves. There is little doubt when Peter saw the charcoal fire on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:9), the pain associated with his triple denial of the Lord before another...
N.T. Wright
The Bishop of Durham talks with Josh Loveless about his new book, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. Click to listen now or subscribe at iTunes.
What’s Wrong With the Right Doctrine?
Why do so many people fail to make a distinction between finding Life in Jesus and overemphasizing biblical knowledge, information and doctrine? Even the biblical narrative in Genesis identifies two distinct trees that reveal this contrast. There is The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and The Tree of Life. God invited Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Life and commanded them to steer clear from the other tree because it would lead to their demise. We keep choosing the wrong tree. We keep gaining knowledge that is absent of the Life we long for—and it keeps hardening our hearts.
Continual Surrender
Saying that surrendering gets easier is not the whole truth. There are ways in which surrendering gets harder. This is the irony: the more you give of yourself to God, the more He gives in return. What He gives may not necessarily be what you want or the way you want it, but more nonetheless. The more you have to hold on to, the harder it is to give it up again, and again, and again.
John 3:16—A New Interpretation
It’s the verse that shows up in the oddest of places. But does it produce even an ounce of conviction when displayed in the West today? When this passage appears, it’s likened to someone pulling the trigger on a colt revolver loaded with blanks. From billboards to greetings cards; T-shirts to football games, John 3:16 is, without question, among the most overused and undervalued passages in the entire New Testament. I am not suggesting that John 3:16 is cliché in and of itself. Rather, that the original force behind the text has been lost in a sea of familiarity.
The End of "I Don't Know"
Today, a song came on the radio that I didn’t know. I held my iPhone next to the car door speaker and used Shazam to identify the artist and title of the song. Just like that, I knew what I wanted to know and even had the opportunity to purchase the song from my phone. The length of time between not knowing certain information, and then having access to that information on my computer or iPhone screen can be less than two minutes. I find myself wondering if it's accurate to say I “don’t know” the info in the first place. How short does the distance of time between not knowing something, and then knowing it need to be before the phrase “I don’t know” becomes irrelevant?
We, Though Many, Are One Body in Christ
What it means to be “in Christ” is far more profound than the human analogy of family relationships suggests. That would be precious enough, but it’s far more and far better than that. Being “in Christ” means that when you trust Him as your Savior and Treasure (Philippians 3:9), a union is established between Him and you in such a way that everything He is and everything He has that can be shared will be shared with you. And there is only one thing that can’t be shared—His deity, with its unique, God-defining attributes (like omnipotence, omniscience and eternality). Everything else that Christ is and has is yours in Him.
Staying Inspired
You can be content even if your latest efforts as an innovative leader go nowhere, because your source of contentment is not dependent upon the outcomes of your ministry. You can be at peace if your team abandons you, because your source of peace is not tied to how other people respond. You can live in joyful freedom even if your impact is never recognized, because your source of worth and identity doesn’t fluctuate with the size of your results. The Kingdom of God within you and you choosing that Kingdom makes “staying inspired” a way of life. An uninspired life or ministry is symptomatic of tuning in to the wrong frequency for the spiritual resources necessary to live and lead with love, wisdom, creativity, compassion and determination.
Where the Kingdom Rubber Meets the Road
Thirty-three years ago a friend of mine gave me a book entitled The Reciprocal Commands of the New Testament. Having never studied the “one another” commands of the New Testament as a study unto themselves I was captured by this book. I was excited to read and study the behaviors the New Testament commands us to employ toward others. I found myself enthusiastic about some and casual towards others. Little did I know at that time how my casual attitude toward one of the most understated "one another commands" in the New Testament would damage my soul.
The What Now
More than two and a half years have gone by since I wrote “I Stand for You,” and I’m beginning to reevaluate what I wrote. On that early April morning up on my roof in Durban, South Africa, it all made perfect sense: I’ve been through some stuff, I’m still a believer on the other side, I’m standing firm, I need to sing that to Jesus, and other people can maybe sing it along with me. We can all together tell Jesus how committed we are to Him and how grateful we are that He helps us persevere.
Rethinking Short-term Missions
Missions used to be the exclusive domain of seminary-trained professionals who studied cultural anthropology, raised support for months and packed all their earthly belongings in a container. These professionals embarked on 25- to 30-year careers in other parts of the world and wowed us with unfathomable stories about snakes and natives. Missionaries were our superheroes—the ultimate pinnacle in the hierarchy of Christian ministry.
Is Charity Really a Spiritual Discipline?
My wife and I ate dinner the other night at the Olive Garden. We split an entree, but we filled up on bread sticks and salad (doing otherwise is just plain foolish, if you ask me). We spent about two hours there, baring our souls with another couple we had known from afar for while. We talked about marriage, in-laws, difficult relationships, and the grace of God evidenced in different stages of our lives.
Don't Point People to Jesus
In life we come across people who are dirty, bruised, broken and cut up by the world. Some choose to be that way and others are a product of a fallen world. Most of the time we see them and we stop to help, doing what we can. We might tell them about God, how He can heal them, how Christ came to save them, where to look and what to say to find Him, but then we leave.
