Before you head off into your weekend, here are three things that I read and have been thinking about this week. Hope they are as helpful and challenging for you as they have been for me.
Have a great weekend!
#1
One fact I have learned about life through the empiricism of living: When we are hurt in a relationship, when we are spinning in the blooming buzzing confusion of sense-making, the explanation we elect as correct usually has more to do with our own fears and vulnerabilities than it does with the reality of the situation; almost always, that explanation is wrong; almost always, the true explanation has more to do with the fears and vulnerabilities roiling in the other person invisibly to us.
The Marginalian website by Maria Popova
Great reminder to stop and take a breath and not simply jump to conclusions. What the person who hurt you is currently experiencing, that contributed to the hurt, may not even be known to them at the moment. Who do you need to give a benefit of the doubt? Who have you judged by their worst day?
#2
The sermon on the amount is not a moral call to action but a view of how God’s kingdom is. And as we follow Jesus we should fully expect to find our lives being patterned by his kingdom.
Jesus Changes Everything by Stanley Hauerwas
The world says to do more. The church even can be a part of the stress of doing more. But…what if we don’t need to do anything more than embrace the change that is already in the world through Jesus?
#3
God may give supernatural visions, but only because we are immature. He knows our faith is unable to bear up without a vision.
Ascent of Mt. Carmel by St John of the Cross
This statement is counter-intuitive to me. I always thought that the closer I got to Jesus the more I would hear from him and see him. But could the opposite be more accurate? Could maturity in Christ (the goal of discipleship) mean that we no longer need the attaboys or “evidence” in order to do what we have been called to do? Could it be that we no longer need the warm and fuzzies in order to remain committed to our Lord? He is enough. I long for my faith to be that strong but confess that I have a long ways to go!
todd nelson 