3 Life Implications if Christians Are To ‘Run the Race to Win the Prize’

3 Life Implications if Christians Are To ‘Run the Race to Win the Prize’ – “So if that’s true—that the Christian life is like a race—what are the implications for us today? There are at least three of them.”

Commitment

Commitment – “We can find so many metaphors for God’s covenant with us when we look closely. That’s why we’d like to camp on this idea of commitment and provide five thoughts to consider about commitment to those you love.”

Putting Down Roots: a Call to Young People

Putting Down Roots: a Call to Young People – “This is a time for young people to get off the conveyor belt, and sink down roots for the long-haul, not to a local church somewhere over the horizon, where everything is more convenient, but to the flesh and blood people you already know in your local church.”

Going to Church Is Hard but Worth It

Going to Church Is Hard but Worth It – “Sundays never fail to be tough. The plan is always to have the house clean and organized on Saturday, to do family devotionals, to set out and iron clothes for the morning, to go to bed early, and have a big happy breakfast together Sunday morning. Things never go according to plan.”

Three Hundred Years of Holy Resolve: The Enduring Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards

Three Hundred Years of Holy Resolve: The Enduring Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards – These are always worth reading again and again.

 

Christian, Don’t Grow Cold

Christian, Don’t Grow Cold – “It’s an unmistakable truth: sin makes our hearts grow cold. It doesn’t happen at once, though. The process is gradual as we remove ourselves from fellowship with other believers and our heavenly Father.”

5 Reasons to Be ‘All In’ at Church

5 Reasons to Be ‘All In’ at Church – “You cannot be joyfully obedient to Christ with nominal or no commitment to a church.”

Martyr or Madman? The Unnerving Faith of Ignatius

Martyr or Madman? The Unnerving Faith of Ignatius – “In the seven letters of Ignatius of Antioch we possess one of the richest resources for understanding Christianity in the era immediately following that of the apostles”

Why Don’t I Care? Steps to Overcoming Spiritual Apathy

Why Don’t I Care? Steps to Overcoming Spiritual Apathy – “I want to pose three questions that may help diagnose the possible issues underlying our apathy.”

Stuck Between the World and God: How I Almost Died in Indecision

Stuck Between the World and God: How I Almost Died in Indecision – “How long, professing Christian, will you too live halfhearted, half-bowed? How much longer will you persist with half-waking commitments to Christ?”

After Disruption

After Disruption – “In our own context in the cosseted West, a pandemic has been a spark to the dry tinder of our casual approach to gathered worship, and our assumed unity in things other than the gospel.”

Healthy Christians Don’t Hesitate

Healthy Christians Don’t Hesitate – “Sometimes we hesitate, but God demands we keep moving. Be honest with yourself for a moment—has there been a time when you knew what you were supposed to do, but you stalled?”

Your Church Doesn’t Need More Fans

Your Church Doesn’t Need More Fans – “This fan mentality affects our interests in books, sports, merchandise, and more. But when applied to church, fan mentality undermines true Christian community.”

The Hidden Gift of Spiritual Amnesia

The Hidden Gift of Spiritual Amnesia – “The truth is, we’re all victims of spiritual amnesia. You might have thought, ‘Why am I always forgetting this about God?'”

The Quarter-Time Church Member: Five Observations

The Quarter-Time Church Member: Five Observations – “If your church is typical, over one-half of your members attend one out of four weeks or less.”

Moderately Important Christianity

Moderately Important Christianity “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”  –C. S. Lewis

 

The “Bad Math” of Derailing Spiritually

The “Bad Math” of Derailing Spiritually – “Everything minus Jesus equals nothing, and Jesus plus nothing equals everything.”

How Can We Bring Back Those Who’ve Drifted From Church?

How Can We Bring Back Those Who’ve Drifted From Church? – “Most people didn’t simply think their way out of coming to church, and therefore they won’t simply think their way back into it.”

 

The Great Winnowing

The Great Winnowing – “A lot of people aren’t coming back to church.  Let that sink in a minute. Real people—souls, names, faces, and life stories who you know and love—are most likely not going to return to regular church gatherings in a post-pandemic world.” 

 

The Fatal Mistake of the Casually Religious

The Fatal Mistake of the Casually Religious - “The sin of the casually religious–and that’s what these people were–is to take God’s silence as something other than what it was.”