You think this is just another day in your life. It’s not just another day. It’s the one day that is given to you, today. It’s given to you. It’s a gift. It’s the only gift that you have right now . . . and the only appropriate response is gratefulness. If you do nothing else but [...]
Dallas Willard – Joy – From Life to Life
John Ortberg interviews Dallas Willard at the Knowing Christ Conference. During the last minute or so Dallas speaks of passing from life through death to life. —— Posted with permission from the Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation. Full conference videos can be found here: http://dallaswillardcenter.com/2013-conference/conference-videos/
Impression Management
A friend of mine listened to the Myths of Mammon podcast I did with Wayne Jacobsen on the God Journey and we were messaging with each other about “impression management.” She brought up the same struggle I have. I know we are not alone.
How do I not try to make myself into a product, knowing that the very nature of the internet is that you have to make an instant impression or people will go elsewhere in a second?
Here is my heart’s response.
Celebrity of the Clay Jar
I live in the age of celebrity. I “like” their statuses (even the dull ones,) drop their names, and live in their fame. I want to be the artist, the author, the speaker, and the business leader that everyone knows. I want a name for myself. I want to matter.
The Rich Young Ruler – Who Me?
The rich young ruler drew life from his great wealth. When asked to part with it, he could not do it. It was his life. (Mark 10:17-27) I am grateful that Jesus does not put me to the test and use me as his teaching point. But I ask myself – what am I drawing life from? Are there things in my life that if I had to give up, I would be worse than sad, I would feel like I had died?
Christian Simplicity now Simple Living with God
We recently renamed our site and are changing from “Christian Simplicity” to “Simple Living with God”. Currently we are publishing to both our old and new RSS feeds. If you are subscribed to the old feed, please re-subscribe to our new feed at Simple Living with God RSS Feed. In addition, if you subscribed via [...]
Live Simply, Dream, Write Your Own Theology
. . . all theology, like all fiction, is at its heart autobiography, and that what a theologian is doing essentially is examining as honestly as he can the rough-and-tumble of his own experience with all its ups and downs, its mysteries and loose ends, and expressing in logical, abstract terms the truths about human life and about God that he believes he has found implicit there.
Turning Simplicity into a New Legalism
Most dangerous of all is our tendency to turn any expression of simplicity into a new legalism. How quickly we calcify what should always remain alive and changing. How soon we seize upon some externalism in order to judge and control others. How much we like these nice easy ways to determine who is in and who isn’t, who has it and who doesn’t.
Is it any wonder that we struggle and strain in an attempt to express exterior simplicity? Unquestionably, this enterprise is fraught with many pitfalls and dangers.