Leaving Love Behind
We love because he first loved us. — 1 John 4:19
When we move straight toward the light, our shadow falls directly behind us. Shadows cast in other directions might mean independence or indifference. But when we pursue the Light of Life, we leave a love impression.
Attention Economy
Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. — Isaiah 55:3
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. — Hebrews 12:2a
We live in an attention economy. Hucksters and grifters constantly vie for our attention. Attention is money. All publicity is good publicity. The internet and new media channels make the attention economy seem modern. It's not. It's as old as Adam and Eve, the people of Israel, and a distracted Church. For our sake and the sake of the whole world, God wants to capture our attention and trust away from kings and idols. Even his wrath is meant to focus us.
Gratification
He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. — Hebrews 11:26
When Moses held to his identity in Egypt, he exchanged the trappings of the temporal for the riches of eternal life. Eternal life was, is, and is to come because God was, is, and is to come. Coming to know God is its own reward. I look ahead to the reward of knowing him more.
- 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.