As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Pastor Kevin Schaal wrote recently to address the question of whether recent events—and our times in general—signal Christ’s return to end human history. I agree with his conclusion on that question.
I want to respond to his introduction, though.
“there are two kinds of Bible poverty in the world: first, the poverty of those who don’t have God’s Word in their own language; and second, the poverty of being surrounded by Bibles, but not reading them.” - Randy Alcorn
“Church should be the place we sprint to when things are at their worst, not the place we avoid until we’ve got our Instagram-worthy Christianity back in place.” - TGC
The sluggard “finds a native habitat in every soul…. When the alarm buzzes, he paws the snooze. When a work project calls for relentless focus, he quietly opens a new browser tab. When some unwelcome duty faces us… counsels, ‘Tomorrow.’” - Desiring God
“The bad news is that the thought patterns of the web are so embedded into modern life that we cannot effectively avoid them. The good news is that the same responsiveness to the power of habit that makes online addiction so powerful also makes analog resistance effective.” - Desiring God
“Intellectual objections to the faith should be addressed. However… It should be apparent something inexplicable on natural grounds is at work. That’s Christian love.” - TGC
You’ve heard the mantra a dozen times: “Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship.” This statement is quite wrong. Firstly, because it’s a false dichotomy (can’t it be both?), but secondly because if we have to choose, Christianity is more fundamentally a religion than it is a relationship.
“The American Bible Society released Chapter 3 of its State of the Bible 2023 report Thursday, titled ‘Flourishing and Hope.’” - CPost
“We may think we understand our culture, but much of it remains below the surface. We might not see it until someone crashes into our subconscious cultural beliefs.” - TGC
Read Part 1.
If fun is good, but not all fun is good, then we ought to choose our fun thoughtfully and wisely. Fun ought to be to our benefit, not a means of our destruction.
So how do we choose? Can we just choose what we like?
Likes are important. There’s no sense in seeking relaxation in things you don’t like; if this is about pleasure and rest, then that’s obvious.
Discussion