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Empty & Full
The holiday season is a season of Full. Stomachs stretch with overindulgence; schedules burst with commitments; To Do lists overflow onto a second (or third) page. From Thanksgiving to New Year's, excess is king. In this crammed-in, over-the-top season of surplus, what your soul may need is a little emptiness.
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Thanksgiving Drama? How Not to Act Like a Turkey This Year
Ah, Thanksgiving: the season of warm homes and hearts, as loved ones gather in Rockwellian delight at God's bountiful provision…(at least the commercials show it that way.) If, in your family, the scent of pumpkin pie can't mask the odor of jealousy, or "turkey" somehow segues into a political debate, you're not alone.. For many, holiday drama causes more heartburn than Aunt June's spiced Turducken.
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Christians and the Election: 5 Do’s and Don’ts
Hey, you know how you don't understand how anybody could be a Christian and belong to THAT political party? I know believers who believe the exact same thing…about your party. Here are 5 do's and don'ts that every believer–regardless of political stance–can follow in this political chaos.
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Grace: Hammock or Slingshot?
The Bible sets forth a shocking standard for believers. The normal Christian life should be so filled with humility, sacrifice, boldness, integrity and love that we stand out as outsiders and misfits in the world. Yet, statistically and experientially, we know that most believers fit in quite well into the culture. In an increasingly pagan culture, it is going to be more and more crucial that Christ-followers actually follow Christ in their daily lives. But how do we balance grace with the good deeds of this kind of life?
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What does the Nobel Prize for Stem Cell Breakthrough mean for Christians?
Earlier today, the Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded to British and Japanese scientists John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka. The men's work found that adult cells can be returned to their stem cell state, a discovery that undercuts the utilitarian embryonic stem cell research and use (a little poetic that the prize was awarded during this year's "40 Days for Life".)
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Think You’re God’s Gift to the Church?
A few years ago, a friend showed up to our costume party wearing a huge box wrapped like a gift. His oversized gift tag read, "From: God To: Women". It's still one of my favorite costumes. Saying a guy "thinks he's God's gift to women" smacks him for his conceit. The funny thing is that, if he's a believer, he IS God's gift to women…and men, and children who make up the Church.
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Following Christ in a Post-Christian America
Generations ago, "Christian" was default. American values were (more or less) Christian values. Americans saw their country as a light to the world, a city on a hill. Religious diversity meant which kind of Christian church you went to on Sundays. Biblical allusions were woven into literature, art, performance…and actually understood by the common reader. Christian was what you were if you weren't some other religion. It was assumed, normal, default.
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Better Than Jesus
Sometimes sin looks like “sin”. It looks like a bigot’s scream, or a hand on a hotel room doorknob, or a gunman in a theater. It’s evil, jarring, vile. Most of the time, though, sin–for just a moment–looks better than Jesus. Most “decent” people rarely commit the vile sins. Most of us, sin looks more like vapor: inconsequential, near imperceptible, gone in a moment. Sin plays demure as a small decision, a slip of the tongue, a grumpy mood. Camouflaged as independence, loyalty, protection of rights, sin looks acceptable, even admirable. Sin dances in sparkling finery of tact, brilliance, excellence, and we cheer it on. Whether our sin looks vile…
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Olympian Dedication
Every four years, we celebrate the Olympics with fireworks and interviews. We make athletes into celebrities, and honor achievements earned in split seconds. We don’t pay attention to their daily grind. We don’t send cameras for the drudgery of the diligent: the early morning alarm with no snooze. The practices even when they don't feel like it. Saying no to invitations, free time, other things they'd be good at. The injuries that hurt but don't stop them.
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An On-Purpose Life
You know the feeling. In the hurried, stressed-out, over-packed "normal", you wake up and realize everything's just a little bit (or a lot) out of control? You're not living the way you expected, the way you really want to. Jesus, family, friends, ministry are squeezed out of your schedule by all the "urgents" and "disasters" and "have to's". The unintentional is taking over what you intended your life to be. Our pace of life might be faster than past generations, but the need for intentional living isn't new. For almost as long as there's been the Church, Christ-followers have been advocating a plan to live an on-purpose life.