Face to Face and Side by Side
Some interactions are face-to-face. Your attention's on me, and I'm focused on you. Other times we're side-by-side, looking at the same thing and sharing our thoughts about it. With God, we need both. I need to see him seeing me. And, he and I need to exchange perspectives on what fills our view. Face-to-face and side-by-side will lead to shoulder-to-shoulder⏤participating together, working for something better.
Cultural Kintsugi
People ask, "How do I bring the Kingdom into my workplace?" I suggest not with a bulldozer or a hammer. Look for cracks and fill them with gold. Whisper a prayer. Take responsibility for a mistake. Praise the person who's never noticed. Redirect destructive conversations. Give more than is expected. Turning cracks into veins of gold restores integrity and adds beauty.
Cost of Ownership
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. — Matt. 13:44
Some cars have a high cost of ownership. But people happily buy them for a particular lifestyle. Christian discipleship also has a high cost: deny yourself, take up your cross every day, and follow Jesus. And in our joy, we count that cost negligible when compared with Kingdom life.
- love
- Holy Spirit
- humility
- church
- politics & society
- mission & witness
- holiness
- parable & metaphor
- identity
- eternal life
- doubt & deconstruction
- leadership
- grace
- justice
- scripture
- spiritual life
- advent & christmas
- poverty & compassion
- imagination & creativity
- technology & ai
- knowing God
- human dignity
- faith & trust
- incarnation & cross
- kingdom of God
- community
- reconciliation
- spiritual formation
- epistemology
- prayer
- gratitude
- culture
- creation & nature
- discipleship
The God of the Bible looks like Jesus, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. It would be just like him to go to the cross.