Why have Christians abandoned the Old Testament?

Many Christians believe that the Old Testament has no application to the church today--except, of course, to use Biblical characters as moral role models (but shhh, don't tell the children that David had an adulterous affair or that Moses and David were both murderers or that Noah got trashed and ran around naked!). I believe that many Christians have made the Old Testament a second-class citizen because many fail to see the overarching story that God has been writing since the beginning of time--a story that is incomplete without the Old Testament.

But rest assured, God has not changed and His purposes have not changed. And so the Old Testament is still relevant to Christians and the church today. Sure, with the coming of Jesus God's story has progressed and some things of old are no longer practiced--at least in the same form--like animal sacrifice. But this does not mean that the sacrificial system and the covenants of old are meaningless to Christians! But what about those wars in the Old Testament? Why did God have the Israelites kill innocent children along with the adult inhabitants of those evil nations? This violence can't apply to the Christian today, can it? Doesn't this just show that God was mean and violent in the Old Testament and that the coming of Jesus showed that God found his better side and has now become a cosmic teddy bear? This is what you might conclude if you don't understand the storyline of the Bible. So let me explain how the wars and such reflect what God was trying to accomplish on this earth...and how they relate to the New Testament.

So when Adam and Eve rebelled against God by eating from the 'tree of the experience of good and bad' (my translation), bad came into the world in the form of curses. The story tells us that after this, mankind's evil increased and began polluting God's world. So God reveals his plan for removing evil and restoring good back to this world (Genesis 12). God was going to 1.) Grow a nation numerically that would reflect His GOOD design for life to the surrounding nations, 2.) Plant this nation in a protected land 3.) Make this nation famous and appealing to the surrounding nations as they lived out God's GOOD design for life, and 4.) Bless those surrounding nations that make God their king by connecting themselves to God's GOOD design for life.

So what is God supposed to do with those nations that refuse to abandon their evil and make God their king? Well, once the sin of these nations reaches a point of no return (i.e., the point of utter defiance), God has to wipe these people off the earth. Why? Because God's plan is to cleanse this earth of evil using His chosen nation. This type of treatment was not reserved for other nations alone. The book of Deuteronomy makes it clear that God took the same measures to keep His chosen nation free from evil corruption. How? Well, those who did not fear God and lived in defiant, high-handed sin were to be purged from among their people (Deut. 13:5; 17:12; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21, 22, 24; 24:7)! Ouch! The principle we draw from this is that God was in the process of reestablishing His GOOD rule on this earth in the Old Testament--by overcoming evil with His GOOD in this world! And He is still in the process of doing this today (although in different way!). In fact, Jesus' slogan was, "Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand!" Jesus was about the business of reclaiming this world for God by inviting people to embrace God's rule in their lives!

So how does this principle apply to the church today? Well, 1 Peter 2:9-10 gives us a hint when it says, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." Notice how Peter takes Old Testament concepts and applies them to the church today.

First, when Peter talks about us being CALLED out of DARKNESS and into His wonderful LIGHT, he is picking up on the creation theme of Genesis when God CALLED LIGHT out of the DARKNESS. And so in essence, God RECREATES people through the regenerating work and power of the Holy Spirit when they decide to follow Jesus (see 1 Peter 1:2). This is how people are called out of the darkness and into the light! And God wants us to display our new Spirit empowered identity to the surrounding world through our good deeds (1 Peter 2:11-12). So does this mean that God wants us to be good for the sake of being good? Not really. God wants us to be good, at this point, for the sake of drawing people to His kingship (see 2:12; see also Deut. 4:6-8)! This explains the next two points.

Second, we are a holy nation. The word 'holy' means 'set apart' or 'separate'. Our lives are to be lived DIFFERENTLY from the lives of the surrounding world. Our values, pursuits, character, motives, goals, and decisions should be God-centered (not American dream-centered). While the world pursues fame and fortune, we are to pursue God and His purpose for our existence. While the world pursues sinful pleasure, we are to pursue pleasing God. The church is to be a reflection of God to the surrounding world. And so just like God was insistent on keeping His nation free from evil (for His name's sake) by purging the evil people, we too, through church discipline, need to keep the church free from evil (and I'm not just talking about people involved in sexual sins here...how about people who give the church a bad name by displaying greed, un-love, divisiveness, pride etc.?). But does this mean that Christians must disengage from the world for the sake of being separate from the world. NOPE!!!! But how do I know this?

Well, third, we are to be a royal priesthood (i.e., the king's priests). The priests in the Old Testament helped to connect people back to God. People who sinned would bring their sacrifices to the priests and the priests would reestablish that person's relationship with God. In a similar way, the church is to be about the business of connecting people back to God. But how can we connect people back to God if we never rub shoulders with people who are far from God? We need to 'go' out into the world and engage people with Jesus' message. But not only this. Our church communities need to give validity to the fact that we represent God's kingdom. Who will believe Jesus' message if we contradict it in the life of our community?

And so, today God is still working out his plan to grow His kingdom (by overcoming evil with HIS GOOD in this world) and make His rule appealing to the world so that people want to be a part of it. Through our lives and our church community, we either make God's kingdom appealing or a turnoff to people. JUST LIKE JESUS...May we be priests to the world around us and as people see our holy lives may they be drawn back to God, the King of the Universe!

Why is God an Ego-maniac? Or is He?

Is God an ego-maniac? Certainly He has the right to be one. After all, anyone who creates a universe has some legitimate bragging rights! But is God actually a self-consumed, narcissist (because there is a difference between having the right to be full of yourself and actually acting like you're full of yourself)? God says time and time again that he does things "for His name's sake" (Isa 48:9; Eze 20; Eze 36:22). Does this not make God sound conceited? I guess the question boils down to, "Is someone who does things 'for His name's sake' self-focused?" What do you think? Here's what I think...

What we learn in Genesis 1 is that the best place to be is in the midst of God's presence (in the 'good' garden) where true peace, rest, and wholeness exist. And so it would make sense that this is where God wants you and me to be! God desires nothing but the best for us! This is why God didn't want Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of 'the experience of good and bad'! He created and designed life to be good and to be experienced in His presence.

So let me ask you this...What would happen if God's name got a bad reputation? Would people want to pursue Him and live by His design for life? Or would people want to disregard and even run away from Him? I'm guessing God would lose some market share on earth if 'He got a bad name'. And if God's presence is, in fact, the best place to live, wouldn't this decrease of God's popularity constitute a travesty? I mean people would be running away from what is best for them to pursue what would essentially amount to a deficient life. That's sad to me! In light of this, do you think it is selfish of God to want to do things for His name's sake and to preserve his good reputation? I don't know about you but this doesn't seem to make God out to be much of an ego-maniac. If anything it demonstrates that God is love. But maybe I'm just missing something. What do you think?

The truth is that God is relentless in bringing humanity back to Himself because He knows that the best place to experience life is in His presence! And so God couldn't just turn a blind eye to the Godlessness that had entered His world. And so He initiated a rescue operation with a man named Abraham. The purpose of this rescue operation was to spread God's presence throughout the world and reestablish His good kingdom. So what was God's plan to accomplish this?

Genesis 12, 15, & 17 tell us that God was going to make Abraham into a great nation (i.e., a plethora of people), give Him a peaceful land in which to dwell (i.e., a protected property), make his name great (i.e., give him prominent popularity), and bless the entire world through him (i.e., give him a positive purpose).

So how has this plan worked itself out throughout history? Well, in Genesis we see God working out PHASE ONE of His plan. He makes Abraham and his descendants into a huge nation (despite the setbacks of barrenness, drought, and famine) so that by the time we reach the book of Exodus, the Pharaoh is concerned that the enormous size of his slave-force will encourage a revolt. In fact, once God frees Israel from slavery, He needs to give the Israelites a WRITTEN law because there's no way Moses can manage such a large amount of people on his own (Genesis 18). After Israel receives the law, God's presence then comes to dwell with the Jewish people in a place called the Tabernacle. Why would God do this? Well, like we said before, God knows that the best place for humans to live is in His presence (so when God moves onto the block, property values go UP). The arrival of God's presence brings PHASE ONE to completion.

The books of Numbers and Joshua describe the implementation of PHASE TWO of God's plan: Giving the Israelites a protected property in which to dwell. While God ultimately gives the Israelites the land He promised, they never experience complete peace and rest in this land because they didn't exactly follow ALL of God's instructions. But nevertheless by the end of Joshua, PHASE TWO is complete.

The books of Judges and Samuel as well as a large portion of Kings and Chronicles tell about the progress of PHASE THREE of God's plan: Making Abraham's name great. So after God gives Israel a land, we see in the book of Judges that the Israelites aren't all that capable of worshiping God if left to their own devices. Let's be honest, they're like most of us. They want to have their cake and eat it too. That is to say, they want God's blessings and also want permission to 'do what is right in their own eyes' (at the same time). Well, that's not how God rolls. So God solved the situation by giving the Israelites an earthly king to function really as a glorified babysitter.

After doing a little more housekeeping, God makes King David a promise: that he will make David's name great (2 Samuel 7). Now this promise is really nothing new because it links right back to God's original promise to Abraham. But why would God want to make David's name great? Isn't God most concerned about making HIS own name great? Well, let's be honest God is a genius...and so He knew that by making David's name great, His name would also be made great(er). How was this supposed to work? God wanted the nation that HE created to reflect HIM and as a result become so appealing to the surrounding world that people would be drawn back to HIM. And this is exactly how things worked out. When Solomon came on the scene, people were traveling from all over the world to gobble up nuggets of GOD'S wisdom from Solomon (1 Kings 4:29-34). This signaled that PHASE THREE of God's plan was complete.

Unfortunately, PHASE FOUR never really got off the ground in the Old Testament...why? Well, God's people put God's law into one of those self-storage units so they could ignore it and live however they wanted. As a result, God's name got a bad reputation. And so once again, God had to do a little disciplining and so he sent the Israelites to their room (I mean into exile). God had to do this because it's kind of hard to spread God's blessings when you're not living for God or experiencing His blessings yourself!

So do you see what's going on here? Since making His promise to Abraham, God has been working out His plan to bring his GOOD kingdom back to this earth. He wants to establish a contagious community that passionately reflects His presence and as a result becomes so appealing to the surrounding world that people are drawn back to God and His design for life! In fact, this is what Jesus was trying to do while he was on this earth! Jesus came to make God's name great so that people could have the opportunity to be blessed by living in God's presence!

So how does all this relate to the community (the church) that Jesus created and that still exists today? Stay tuned...

Keys to making your kids apethetic about faith

This post is by a pastor named Scott Linscott. It is a great, honest and somewhat convicting article on parenting. It was so good that I wanted to put it here just as he wrote it.

Your kid’s an All Star? Someday he’ll be average like the rest of us.
The church in America is puzzled. Young adults are leaving in droves. Magazines, books and blogs are wagging the finger of blame to point out who is responsible. Some say it is a failure of youth ministry, some point to church budgets and some nail the blame on outdated, unhip worship services. We parents are shocked that our kids just really aren’t all that into Jesus. When I look for someone to blame I head into the restroom and look into a mirror. Yep, there he is. I blame him. That parent looking back at me is where I have to start. If you’re a parent, I might tick you off in this post. But, hear me out. I think that we, as parents are guilty of some things that make it easy for our kids to put faith low on their priority list.

Keys to Making Your Kids Apathetic About Faith
1) Put academic pursuits above faith-building activities. Encourage your child to put everything else aside for academic gain. Afterall, when they are 24 and not interested in faith and following Christ, you’ll still be thrilled that they got an A in pre-calculus, right? Instead of teaching them balance, teach them that all else comes second to academics. Quick … who graduated in the top 5 of your high school class? Unless you were one of them, I bet you have no idea. I don’t.

2) Chase the gold ball first and foremost. Afterall, your child is a star. Drive 400 miles so your child can play hockey but refuse to take them to a home group bible study because it’s 20 minutes away.

2b) Buy into the “select,” “elite,” “premier” titles for leagues that play outside of the school season and take pride in your kid wearing the label. Hey now, he’s an All-Star! No one would pay $1000 for their kid to join, “Bunch-of-kids-paying-to-play Team.” But, “Elite?!?” Boy, howdy! That’s the big time!

2c) Believe the school coach who tells you that your kid won’t play if he doesn’t play in the offseason. The truth is, if your kid really is a star, he could go to Disney for the first week of the season and come back and start for his school team. The determined coach might make him sit a whole game to teach him a lesson. But, trust me, if Julie can shoot the rock for 20 points a game, she’s in the lineup. I remember a stellar soccer athlete who played with my son in high school. Chris missed the entire preseason because of winning a national baseball championship. With no workouts, no double sessions, his first day back with the soccer team, he started and scored two goals. Several hard-working “premier” players sat on the bench and watched him do it. (Chris never played soccer outside the school season but was a perpetual district all-star selection.) The hard reality is, if your kid is not a star, an average of 3 new stars a year will play varsity as freshmen. That means there’s always 12 kids who are the top prospects. Swallow hard and encourage your kid to improve but be careful what you sacrifice to make him a star at little Podunk High here in Maine.

2d) By the way, just because your kid got a letter inviting him to attend a baseball camp in West Virginia does not mean he is being recruited. You’ll know when recruiting happens. Coaches start calling as regularly as telemarketers, they send your kid handwritten notes and they often bypass you to talk to your kid. A letter with a printed label from an athletic department is not recruitment. When a coach shows up to watch your kid play and then talks to you and your kid, that’s recruiting.

3) Teach your kid that the dollar is almighty. I see it all the time. Faith activities fly out the window when students say, “I’d like to, but I have to work.” Parents think jobs teach responsibility when, in reality, most students are merely accumulating wealth to buy the things they want. Our kids learn that faith activities should be put aside for the “responsibility” of holding a job. They will never again get to spend 100% of their paychecks on the stuff they want.

3b) Make them pay outright for faith activities like youth retreats and faith community activities while you support their sports, music, drama and endeavors with checks for camps and “select” groups and expensive equipment. This sends a loud and clear message of what you really want to see them involved in and what you value most. Complain loudly about how expensive a three-day youth event is but then don’t bat an eye when you pay four times that for a three-day sports camp.

4) Refuse to acknowledge that the primary motivating force in kids’ lives is relationship. Connections with others is what drives kids to be involved. It’s the reason that peer pressure is such a big deal in adolescence. Sending kids to bible classes and lectures is almost entirely ineffective apart from relationship and friendships that help them process what they learn. As kids share faith experiences like retreats, mission trips and student ministry fun, they build common bonds with one another that work as a glue to Christian community. In fact, a strong argument can be made that faith is designed to be lived in community with other believers. By doing all you can to keep your kids from experiencing the bonds of love in a Christian community, you help insure that they can easily walk away without feeling like they are missing anything. Kids build friendships with the kids they spend time with.

5) Model apathy in your own life. If following Jesus is only about sitting in a church service once a week and going to meetings, young adults opt out. Teenagers and young adults are looking for things that are worth their time. Authentic, genuine, relevant relationships where people are growing in relationship with Jesus is appealing. Meaningless duty and ritual holds no attraction.

There are no guarantees that your children will follow Christ even if you have a vibrant, purposeful relationship with Him. But, on the other hand, if we, as parents do not do all we can to help our children develop meaningful relationships in Jesus, we miss a major opportunity to lead them and show them the path worth walking. I want my kids to see that their dad follows Jesus with everything. I want them to know that my greatest hope for them is that they follow Him too.

Mt. 6:33 says, "Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met." (The Message)

The non-mystery of knowing God's will

I love how people are always so excited to know God's will for their lives. Who does God want me to marry? I can't wait to find out what college God wants me to go to and what my career will be (cha-ching...$$$). For many people, God's will is like a Christmas present; we don't know what's hidden in the box but we can't wait to find out what good things God is going to give us! And so our version of God's will is that it is primarily about US...and OUR comfort.

Now what is interesting here is that this is not how God's will is discussed in the Bible. God's hidden/masked/sovereign will (you know, the will that is so mysterious to us) is not talked about very much in the Bible. Nope. God's masked will is not the main entree in the Bible (which makes sense in light of its name). Rather, it is God's missional and moral wills that get the most press. Hmmm. Why would this be? Well, maybe because God is desiring something to happen in this world and he wants us to be about the business of joining HIM and HIS cause to bring HIS good kingdom back to HIS world.

But why are people so obsessed with God's masked will and not nearly as concerned about God's missional and moral wills? Well, might it be because God's masked will (or at least our version of it) is primarily about US while God's missional will is primarily about GOD? Might it be that we are more concerned about building OUR personal kingdoms than building GOD'S kingdom? I'll let you decide!

One of the many things I love about Jesus is that he was about the business of doing his Father's work (i.e. God's missional will). Jesus was concerned about God's will being done on earth as it is in heaven. This is evident when Jesus said, "Not MY will but YOUR will be done." We find out very early on in the story of the Bible what God's missional will is all about. Let me explain.

So Adam and Eve ate from 'the tree of the experience of good and bad' (that's my NLT interpretation of the tree) and God brought curses on the earth. But why would a good God do a thing like that? If God loves us so much then why would he introduce bad stuff into our lives? Well, this is God's way of drawing people back to Himself. When stuff is going well (let's be honest) our first instinct isn't to think about God and give Him credit...we often forget God (just take Jessica Simpson as a case study on the issue). But when things are going poorly and are out of our control that's when we dial up God, is it not? This pattern is what we see in the Bible too.

Adam and Eve get kicked out of the garden and things just go from bad to worse. Cain tries to short-change God on his sacrifice by offering God only 'some of the fruit of the soil' whereas Abel offers God the "fat portions" from the "firstborn" of his flock. God accepts Abel's sacrifice but not Cain's sacrifice (because God doesn't like to be short-changed). So Cain does what any brother would do in this situation...he kills Abel. God disciplines Cain but things just keep getting worse. An axe-murderer named Lamech is born into the family and he takes up the weekend hobby of murdering people (Gen. 4:24). This episode provided a small sliver of the turmoil that existed on the earth. Murder was the trend on the earth back then just like Justin Bieber is the unfortunate trend in our world today. What was the result?...people began to call on the name of the Lord (Genesis 4:26). The evil in the world had caused people to place their focus and affections back on God. And so we see that God's mission is to draw people back to Himself!

But isn't it crazy that God is at work using even evil (through his divine permission) to draw people back to Himself? But it works! And Jesus picks up on this when he says in John 4:34, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent me (a.k.a. God) and to finish HIS work." God has been into outreach mode since way back in Genesis and now he wants us to join Him in HIS work. And Jesus even says in the next verse, "The fields are ripe for harvest." Now this doesn't mean that a majority of people will embrace and respond positively to Jesus (we know from Jesus' life and teaching that this is not true!). What Jesus is telling us is that the season has arrived where God wants us to bring his message of love to an unloving world and bring in a harvest of God-fearing, kingdom-focused people. The church is called to complete Jesus' work because "now's the time for us to rise, to carry hope to hopeless lives and show this world that mercy is alive." Sure Jesus came to die on the cross BUT he also came to spark a movement of people who would bring in the harvest (John 4:34ff).

So what is God's will for your life? In whatever you do, be about the business of bringing in the harvest and advancing God's kingdom and cause in this world! While the saying, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few" actually indicates that there are lots of people but few will accept Jesus' call, the fields, nonetheless, are ripe. We are in a time and season of harvest and this is the primary role of the church! So you have a choice...you can spend your life building YOUR personal kingdom and see how that works for you or you can join a movement sparked by Jesus to build GOD'S kingdom. The choice is yours!

God's Meta-Narrative: The Story That Explains ALL Stories

Whether we acknowledge it or not, our life's story is defined by God's story (the one He's been working out since the beginning of time). God is at work around us. We can deny this but we can never get away from it! And so if we want to understand our lives then we need to understand God's meta-narrative (that is, the BIG story that God is working out that explains everything). So what is God's meta-narrative? Well you don't have to go far in the Bible to find it...The Bible begins by framing it up. (Hint...Hint...I think God's subtly implying that it's important that we understand it!)

Genesis 1 makes it abundantly clear that everything God created in the beginning was GOOD (in fact he emphasizes this seven times over). The author also makes it clear that man's role in God's creation is to rule over the earth (the land, sea, and sky) by preserving and multiplying God's GOOD created order. Part of this task involved GUARDING the tree of the knowledge of good and bad and NOT EATING its fruit. But Adam and Eve rebelled against God and ate from the tree. This changed everything...and I mean everything!

But how are we to understand the tree of the knowledge of good and bad? Did the fruit from this tree, if ingested, give people the knowledge to discern moral right from moral wrong? Did Adam and Eve not know right from wrong before they ate the fruit? Some people think so. But I'm not sure that's the best explanation. Why? Well in the Hebrew language, 'knowledge' does not just refer to book smarts but it refers more specifically to street smarts, i.e. knowledge gained through experience. And so from the Hebrew perspective you don't really 'know' something unless you've experienced it. And so maybe the tree is better referred to as 'the tree of the experience of good and bad'.

So what specifically did Adam and Eve experience after they ate from the tree? Shame...Pain...Separation...Curses...more simply put, Adam and Eve experienced a bunch of BAD stuff. But these BAD things were not necessarily morally BAD (or evil). I mean are 'birthing pains' morally BAD? No. They're just plain BAD. Is 'painful toil' morally BAD? No. It's just BAD. In fact, in the Hebrew of Genesis 2:17 and 3:16-17 the author uses a play on words to remove any confusion about the nature of this tree. The author indicates that from the ETZ (tree) came ETZev (pain). And so by eating from the tree, BAD things were mixed into God's GOOD creation. Death, disease, violence, hatred, jealousy, slander, gossip, natural disasters, poverty, and spiritual warfare now became a part of humanity's everyday experiences. And not only this, but Adam and Eve were also expelled from the garden of Eden where God's presence resided. And so now humanity has lost its relational connection to God! Humanity now suffers from a spiritual death!

But all hope is not lost! We learn in Genesis 3:15 that one of the woman's offspring will strike a death blow to the serpent (Satan) but only after he is bruised and injured by the serpent. Who do you think the woman's offspring is referring to? JESUS, of course. It's no wonder that this passage is often spoken of as the proto-evangalion or the first gospel. The work of Jesus is to strike down the BAD in this world and restore and redeem creation back to God. Jesus accomplished phase one of this mission through his death, resurrection, and the sending of the Spirit. The final phase is yet to come. But in the meantime, what are Christ followers to do? JOIN Jesus' mission. After all, Jesus didn't give his followers the power source of the Holy Spirit so they would sit around and wait for Jesus to return while eating a potluck dinner!

But how do we engage in this mission? Simple, we look to Jesus' life and example and follow him. Jesus demonstrated through his life that he was about the business of reestablishing God's rule in this world (a.k.a. God's kingdom) by restoring the GOOD order back to God's creation. Jesus clued people into this, first of all, through his miracles: he healed the sick, he tamed out-of-control storms, he cast out demons, and he raised the dead. By doing these things Jesus showed that he was the true messiah who could reverse the curses of Genesis. And believe it or not, Jesus gave his disciples the same authority to do miracles so they were able to follow his example in this way.

But let's say you don't believe that miracles are for today (often referred to by theologians as a cessationalist). No problem. You can still engage in Jesus' mission of restoring good back to God's creation by living out Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. What does this look like? For beginners you can demonstrate love to the brutal and unloving world that you find yourself in. By loving your enemies you can stop the cycle of retaliation that is destroying our world. (And let me tell you, the ability to love your enemy is a miracle in my opinion.) Jesus wants his followers to be salt and light!

Finally (and most importantly in my opinion), you can reconnect people back to God by introducing them to Jesus so that their lives can be restored under God's rule and design for living. Jesus gave his followers the Great Commission because he wants to expand God's kingdom by renewing and restoring people's lives!

Bottom line, God doesn't just want us to KNOW a Biblical worldview, he wants us to LIVE a Biblical worldview. We'll only be able to do this if God's meta-narrative is driving our Biblical worldview. This is because the meta-narrative gives significance to everything. HISTORY...God is working out his plan to overcome BAD in this world...Join Him! ANTHROPOLOGY...People are in need of restoration and God wants to restore them...Join Him! MORALITY...People need to live by God's good design for life because God wants to overcome evil with good in this world...Join Him! SCIENCE...God created everything and, therefore, has the right to be king over the lives of his creation (that's you and me)...Join Him! You get the picture hopefully. A Biblical worldview (with God's meta-narrative clearly spelled out) should drive a person to find themselves and everything they do in God's story. Are you finding your identity in God's story? I hope so because whether you acknowledge it or not, your life story is being defined by God's story!

Why do you do what you do?

Have you ever wondered why you do what you do? Why do you buy overpriced clothing at American Eagle when you can save money by shopping for clothes at Target? Why do you sacrifice relationships and enjoyment to get good grades so that you can get into a good college? Why do you befriend certain people and ridicule and avoid other people? I believe that all of these things stem from how you view the world--your worldview.

Your worldview tells you how you see and interpret the world around you and it influences how you interact with the world. It answers questions like why is the world the way it is? How is life designed to function? Why am I here on earth? What is the source of true happiness? What is really real? Your worldview is a driving force behind why you do what you do. So if your worldview tells you that money makes a person happy then you will give your life to pursuing money (that is, if you want to be happy). If you think you'll feel good about yourself if you're liked by other people then you will do whatever it takes to be accepted by people. Get the point?

Now I've been a part of several Christian worldview courses in my lifetime and let me tell you that I have always felt like something was missing in them. Why? Well, none of them actually changed how I lived nor did they motivate me to change how I live (which I thought was the whole point of taking the course in the first place). To be honest, most of them put me to sleep! What I have since concluded is that these courses taught me the proper foundations for a God-centered worldview but failed to include the heartbeat behind a worldview--the meta-narrative. A meta-narrative is an overarching story that gives meaning and significance to everything. It's the BIG story that explains all the LESSER stories in our lives. It's a grand story that we look to to provide answers to everything we encounter, experience, and wonder about in life. Why did God allow my mom to die? What should I do with my life? Is there any hope in this messed up world? Why can people be so mean? How should I express my sexuality? Why is there so much starvation in the world?

And so, the meta-narrative is what gives a worldview relevance and significance to our lives. For instance, a Biblical worldview teaches that God created a perfect universe, that man is sinful by nature, and that a spiritual reality exists around us. Well great...but why should I give a rip? Well, the meta-narrative answers that question. And so a worldview void of a meta-narrative will remain in the classroom and in the arena of ideas...whereas a worldview that includes a meta-narrative will enable people to bring it into the arena of their everyday lives!

I believe that many Christians have the proper foundation for a God-centered worldview but yet their worldview is still deficient. Sure they hold all the correct God-centered stances on science, history, anthropology, theology, sociology, morality, etc. but still do not have a complete worldview. Why? They've left the meta-narrative out. They've failed to see how their stances on science, history, anthropology, theology, sociology, and morality fit into and relate to God's meta-narrative as given in the Bible. This is also why so many people can go to church on Sunday, hear a great sermon, and do nothing in response. The sermon while reinforcing a Christian worldview was not linked to God's meta-narrative. As a result, many sermons remain in the arena of ideas and not in the arena of actual life. So what is the meta-narrative given in the Bible? Stay tuned!

The Christian Fad of Giving God Glory

Have you ever heard someone say, "My purpose in life is to give God glory?" I've heard it too and when people say this it makes them sound very godly, religious, and theologically correct. That is...until you ask them: What does that mean? How do you give God glory? How does God want his glory to be practically manifested in your life? Most people I've talked to either haven't a clue what this means or how to practically live this out. They have just learned (like Pavlov's dogs) that they get affirmation when they use the line...so why not throw it out there around religious people? And those who have described to me what giving God glory means tell me that you do this by giving Him credit for everything good that you accomplish in your life. But what this amounts to (based on my observation) is the token finger point toward the sky (in God's direction) after you play a killer guitar riff or you get any type of compliment.

But is this the extent of what it means to give God glory? Because how I see this worked out in many people's lives is that they live their lives however they want...pursuing worldly status, fame, and fortune...and then when they achieve success they point the 'good' finger toward God saying, "I just want to give God all the glory." And I'm thinking, "Ya right...I'm sure you consciously put God by your side every step of the way." And so I ask, "Has giving God glory become nothing more that a Christian fad that has lost its Biblical meaning?" I'll let you decide. But if it has, we need to figure out what it means because it seems to be pretty important. So what does it mean to give God glory?

A good place to start would be with Jesus. How did Jesus give God glory? Is he the one that began the Godward finger pointing fad? No doubt he gave God credit for everything. But it wasn't just giving God credit that brought God glory in Jesus' life. Nope. IT WAS WHAT JESUS DID AND HOW HE LIVED HIS LIFE THAT BROUGHT GOD GLORY. Listen to what Jesus says in John 17:4, "I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do." Jesus brought God glory by doing the task that God gave him to do. You can give God credit all you want but you can't give him glory if you're not living to accomplish the task that he has given you as His creation. So this begs the question, "What task has God given humans to accomplish on this earth?"

To find the answer, we need to go back to the beginning...to Genesis. Why were Adam and Eve created in the first place? Well, Genesis 1:27-28 says, "God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that wove on the ground.'" Adam and Eve were created in God's image to preserve, protect, and guard God's good created order.

This idea is further emphasized in Genesis 2:15, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Now the verb that is translated "take care of it" is best understood as meaning "protect and guard it." Why? This task of 'taking care of' is the same task that the angels were given by God to do in Genesis 3:24 (that is, the same word is used) after Adam and Eve were banished from the garden. The angels 'took care' of the way to the tree of life by 'guarding' it. And so God created Adam and Eve to preserve the good in God's world.

Adam and Eve's purpose is also made clear when it says that they were created in God's image. This idea of being made in God's image alludes to an Ancient Near East practice where a king would place a statue of himself in a conquered region to represent and remind people of his authority in that region. And so humanity was given the purpose of representing God and preserving his rule on this earth. How do we do this? By promoting God's original created design for life. In Genesis God established a design for life and he wants us to function within that design and not rebel against it!

And so Adam and Eve's role on this earth was to maintain God's good created order and to represent God to the world around them! This continues to this day. In Matthew 5:13, Christ followers are called the salt of the earth. Salt is a preservative and Christians are called to preserve God's good in this world by overcoming evil with good. This (I would suggest) is how we give God glory! But something happened in the garden that expanded humanities role and purpose on this earth. We'll get to that in due time. But for now I ask you: Is your life showing God's glory? Are you living by God's good design for life? Or is God's glory just a religious fad to you?

What Makes God So GOOD?

I am astonished how many churchgoing people SAY that God is GOOD and SING about how GOOD God is on Sundays but yet live lives devoid of God's influence and direction. I would venture to say that God probably doesn't even cross their minds all that often. But if God is so GOOD then why wouldn't people abandon everything to pursue Him with their lives? Why wouldn't people seek his perfect design for life and then embrace it? I am convinced it's because people don't really believe that God is GOOD or at least worthy of their time, talents and treasures. Most of these people probably grew up being trained to SAY the right things and KNOW the right things but when push came to shove their lives ended up reflecting what they truly believe-God isn't all that extravagant (at least He's not as extravagant as fancy cars and any gadget made by Apple). Let's be honest, many people say that God exists but live like he doesn't (I call these people practical atheists); they claim that material stuff won't fill that void in their hearts and make them happy but they live like material things will satisfy their souls (I call these people practical humanists). Is this you?

I am convinced that God is GOOD and the life that God designed is GOOD and worthy of my time, talents, and treasures. But what makes God's way of doing life so GOOD? For that matter what makes GOOD GOOD? If we can't answer this question then we will live like practical humanists because that's just what comes naturally-that's probably why it's called HUMANism. Well fortunately God didn't determine what was good and what was bad by flipping a coin. There is actually a certain logic to GOOD. Can you explain this logic?

In the creation account given in Genesis, there is this phrase that it repeated 7 times: "God saw that it was good." God also performed 10 creative acts as indicated by the phrase "God said" (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29; 2:18). Now the interesting thing is that the numbers 7 and 10 indicate completion and perfection throughout the Bible. And so I think it is pretty obvious what God is trying to communicate to us..."My original design for life on this earth is really GOOD so for crying out loud live by it." And if we look at God's original design for life the word that best describes it is "restful." I think that this is why God was able to rest on the seventh day-Everything was functioning harmoniously. The man and woman got along peacefully and felt no shame. The streams never ran out of water to nourish the trees so they could grow and produce the food necessary to sustain life. And 'death' was not an experience that anyone had to endure. Complete restfulness existed on the earth and God saw that life was good.

But to better understand what GOOD is, maybe we should also look at what makes something bad. In Romans 2:26, Paul labels homosexual relations as bad because they are 'unnatural' or more literally 'against nature' (i.e. against God's natural design for life). What makes something 'against nature'? Well think about if everyone on this earth were homosexual, what would happen? We would go extinct and not be able to be fruitful and multiply as God originally designed. And so homosexuality seems to deviate from God's original design for life. What about murder, violent anger, jealousy, or greed? Imagine if these things described every person on this earth all the time (not just every now and then). What would our world be like? It would be a mess don't you think? But then imagine if everyone were loving, giving, patient, kind, gentle, self-controlled all the time. Our world would be pretty amazing wouldn't it? Well, this is the logic that defines whether things are good or bad. God designed this world to function in peace and harmony and so he labeled those things that would promote this design as 'good' and he labeled those things that would ruin this design as 'bad'.

Now here's where the church (or Christ-followers) fit in. The church (in part) exists to be a community that shows people what God's original design for this world is supposed to look like. The result should be that the church community (as it reflects the person, character, values, and priorities of Jesus) is so irresistible that it draws people back to God. In short, the church exists to be an unstoppable force in this world that is constantly overcoming evil with GOOD and drawing people back to God and his GOOD design for life. But this won't happen if churchgoers don't find God all that worthy of their time, talent, and treasures. How valuable is God to you?

Jesus, The Restorer of the Universe

My son, Caleb, is in the superhero phase of his life. It was clear that Caleb had entered this phase when he bought me a superhero t-shirt for my birthday (I guess this was better than socks or a tie!). Now he gets so excited when he sees me wearing this t-shirt that he almost loses control of his bladder. This isn't the only sign that Caleb is obsessed with superheroes. He also runs around the house acting like he's Batman or Spiderman. And he spends countless hours making his Larryboy Veggietale's superhero fly through the sky by throwing him down the stairs. Superheroes consume his life! As I have watched Caleb's life I was reminded of the fact that Jesus wants me to have a similar obsession with him. This shouldn't be surprising because Jesus had a reputation for having a superhero persona during his life and was always seeking a following of fanatics (that is, people who would give up everything to follow him).

But while Superheroes are the "Defenders of the Universe," Jesus is the "Restorer of the Universe." The Gospel of John makes this abundantly clear. John equates Jesus with the same Word of God that originally created everything when he writes, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." And just like God created everything over a SIX day period using his WORDS and then RESTED, John retells SIX of the miracles that Jesus performed during his life using his WORDS before he RESTED. Jesus turned water into wine by TELLING the servants, "Fill the jars with water." Jesus heals the son of a royal official by SAYING, "You may go. Your son will live." Jesus heals an invalid by SAYING, "Pick up your mat and walk." Jesus feeds five thousand by SPEAKING a blessing over the bread and the fish. Jesus heals a blind man by putting mud on the man's eyes and SAYING, "Go, wash in the Pool of Saloam." Jesus revives Lazarus from the dead by SPEAKING in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." After Jesus performed these SIX miracles he said, "It is finished" and rested (John 19:30). God did the same thing in Genesis 2:2-3.

Many people believe that John organizes his gospel with these parallels to the Genesis account to show that Jesus was God. While that might be true (because John clearly equates Jesus with God), I believe that John organizes his gospel account this way to show that Jesus' mission is to restore creation back to its original form and design. Jesus is the one who can and will reverse the curses of Genesis so that "no longer will there be any curse (Revelation 22:3)." Through the power of God's Spirit, Jesus overcame sickness, death, famine, blindness, and sin. Now John makes it clear that the same Spirit that empowered Jesus' ministry is available to his followers (John 15-16). This is why Jesus is able to say such things as, "I tell you the truth anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12)." And so Jesus ended his ministry by saying, "As the Father sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world (John 17:18)." Jesus wants his followers to continue His restoration project and has given them the power to do this! He wants me to passionately take on the role of a superhero.

So how can I do this? I need to ACTIVELY set out to reverse the curse. And so, where there is hate, I need to bring love. Where there is injustice, I need to bring fairness. Where there is impatience, I need to bring patience. Where there is lies, I need to bring truth. Where there is jealousy, I need to bring encouragement. But the mission extends beyond MYSELF to my INFLUENCE in other people's lives. And so, I need to be actively introducing people to Jesus and his power to transform lives so that the world becomes filled with people who are seeking to live under God's leadership and design. God wants to use my INFLUENCE to restore people back into a right relationship with Himself. God wants me to be a restorer of the universe! May I make it my aim to bring God glory on earth by completing the work he gave me to do (John 17:4)!

Jesus is ONE-denominational

I am amazed by the sheer number of different things people place a primary emphasis on in their Christian faith these days (and throughout history). This week a pastor I was talking with said that with the de-emphasis most younger people today are placing on denominational distinctions he feels a strong need to get his congregation to understand the history of his denomination so that people will retain their loyalty to it. With this in mind, he is planning on teaching the denominational history of his church during Sunday School classes (not just during his membership class).

Now the problems I have with this emphasis are that the denomination becomes more important than Jesus and people become more loyal to their denomination than to Jesus! The result is that the church slowly abandons its mission to bless the world with the message of Jesus (and in the above case the new mission becomes keeping Christians loyal to a denomination). In 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, Paul saw how a misplaced loyalty away from the person of Jesus was negatively impacting the church in Corinth. Rather than focusing their attention on blessing the outside world with the message of Jesus, they were focusing their attention on increasing their status within the church by aligning themselves with certain Christian leaders. I guess that they had forgotten that Jesus taught us to "deny ourselves" and that "the last shall be first, and the first shall be last."

Another problem I have with the emphasis on denominations is that I didn't realize that denominational distinctions were so important to Jesus, the founder of the Christian faith. In fact, I thought that he founded only one movement (or denomination). And I thought that the inspired history and distinctives of this movement were found in the pages of the Bible. And I didn't realize that whether someone was Reformed, Arminian, or Dispensational was all that important to Jesus. Maybe I'm just missing something by wanting to make Jesus the sole emphasis in the Christian faith.

Anyway, I love the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:2, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." And in the same letter (11:1) Paul writes "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." I think Paul agrees that living two six (1 John 2:6) requires that Jesus and his example get the sole emphasis in our Christian faith! After all, Jesus is our faith!

Jesus is not a celebrity!

In Luke 1:46-55 Mary says, "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the HUMBLE STATE of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name. His mercy extends to THOSE WHO FEAR HIM, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those WHO ARE PROUD in their inmost thoughts. He has BROUGHT DOWN RULERS from their thrones but has LIFTED UP THE HUMBLE. He has FILLED THE HUNGRY with good things but has SENT THE RICH AWAY EMPTY. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendant forever, even as he said to our fathers."

I love watching how advertisers can take a normal, dull product and sell it by turning it into a celebrity product. I mean how many celebrities actually drive a Buick? Supposedly Tiger Woods does! Does Paris Hilton really eat at Carl's Jr.? Now her fans do! What do Jessica Simpson and cheesy bites from Pizza Hut have in common? Male customers are now trying to find out. There is power in association!

Have you ever noticed how many Christians do the same thing with Jesus? We try to make Jesus appealing by associating him with worldly fame and glamour. If we can just associate Jesus with a famous Christian football player then more people will want to associate themselves with him. If we can just tell people that Warren Buffet became rich because of his commitment to Jesus then we can get people to make church and giving a higher priority (so they can become rich too). But Jesus isn't a celebrity and he is not going to make us celebrities by following him!

The story of Jesus' life as told by Luke makes it clear that God favors the humble and that he calls us to a life of humility. This means that following Jesus requires a willingness to put others above ourselves! Following Jesus requires denying ourselves so that we can love God and other people more passionately. Following Jesus means abandoning our pursuit of success!

In the first chapter of Luke this fact is brought out through a comparison between Zechariah and Mary. In comparison to Zechariah, "Mary holds no official position among the people, she is not described as righteous in terms of observing the Torah, and her experience does not take place in a cultic setting. She is among the most powerless people in society: She is young in a world that values age; female in a world ruled by men; poor in a stratified economy." Despite this she finds "favor with God" and is viewed as "highly gifted" by God while Zechariah is initially found to be unbelieving and is made mute and deaf as a result. This tells us two things about how God functions: First, God uses humble people (Mary). Second, God humbles people so that he can use them (Zechariah).

The fact that God favors humble people is further established in the birth of Jesus. Luke 2:11-12 presents a seeming paradox: A Messiah King is born not in a palace but in a dirty manger. And we see in Luke 2:8-20 that rather than royalty welcoming Jesus into this world, he is greeted by a bunch of lower class shepherds who are at the lowest rung of seniority in their humble profession (we know this because they were working the night shift). God came into this world in a state of humility!

If God came to this earth in humility what posture do you think He wants us to take as we follow Jesus? Well, since we are called to follow a humble Messiah, we too must live with that same humility. This means putting others and God above ourselves, and being willing to associate and love every type of person no matter their position in society.

This brings me to a sad reality...I know more proud people who call themselves Christians than humble people who call themselves Christian. So many professing Christians are selective with whom they associate (they avoid sinners and people who are not like themselves), they cause divisions because they want their preferences to be honored above those of others, they try to stay at the top of the social strata at school and in the community by tearing others down and lifting themselves up, they are quick to consume but slow to serve (that is, they are inward focused rather than outward focused), they are obsessed with worldly success just like everyone else in society...

My question to you is are you proud? Do you think that you can pursue success and Jesus at the same time? Jesus doesn't want his followers to pursue SUCCESS, he wants them to pursue GODLY INFLUENCE. You heard me right, God doesn't want you to be successful, he wants you to be influential. If you are pursuing success my guess is that you're a proud person. If that is true, God will first humble you before he ever uses you in a meaningful way. But if you are pursuing godly influence in your community (above success) then God will use you in a BIG time way! And that's the most exciting place to be! Humility is what opens the door for adventure in the Christian life!

The X-factor

Matthew 8:18-22

A teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, "Teacher I will follow you wherever you go." Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." Another disciple said to Jesus, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

These verses make it clear that following Jesus is quite the adventure! But this adventure is not for the faint of heart. Just read Luke 14:28-34. Following Jesus requires a willingness to embrace a life of discomfort. But living an adventurous life (in general) will always involve risk and discomfort. Any thrill seeker will tell you this. Just take Kevin Pearce, the X-Games, snowboarding superstar, for example. He sustained a head injury that sent shock waves through the snowboarding community. Here's an excerpt I recently read about him:

As 2009 came to a close, on December 30th, one of snowboardings' best half pipe riders, Kevin Pearce, took a catastrophic fall in the Park City Half Pipe, while training for upcoming competition and the Olympic Qualifying Series that is currently underway.

He was attempting a double cork trick when he came down just a little off balance and caught an edge that sent him straight to his face against the firm wall of the pipe. He sustained damage to his eye socket and a concussion with serious head trauma. He is currently in critical care after effort to repair his eye and get the head injury under control.

His crash sent shock waves through the field of competitors and fans that have watched him rise to stardom in the world of snowboarding. Over the past couple seasons the athletic level of the riders has been rising at an amazing rate with the introduction of 22 foot half pipes and the more and more common double flips that the best riders are sticking on a regular basis.

Among the field of riders and the support groups involved including team managers, coaches, parents, sponsors and event organizers, Kevin's crash is a sad and untimely reminder of the dangers of the sport. It calls attention to the fact that every competitor out there pushing hard for a bigger trick or a better result, runs the risk of serious bodily injury. Of course the riders know it is dangerous as well as we all do.

It is often difficult for coaches, the riders parents, friends and support to continue to encourage a rider to do things that we all know are very dangerous.

However, how is it different than other dangerous sports? Sports like car racing, bull riding, ski racing, airplane racing, motocross, even football and rugby, and the list goes on. In all these dangerous sports, there are athletes who know the dangers and choose to participate, because they love it.

I love that last line, "In all these dangerous sports, there are athletes who know the dangers and choose to participate because they love it." Adventure comes with a cost! But a person's pursuit of an adventure is driven by a passionate love! Love is the X-factor in our willingness to take on the risk of living the Christian life! So my questions to you are...Do you love Jesus? Do you love the mission, priorities, and purpose that Jesus is calling you to embrace? Do you love the adventure of the Christian life?

The answers to these questions can be found in how you are living your life. So let me ask you, are you active in helping connect people to Christ? Are you building into those who are already connected to Christ? Are you moment by moment looking for opportunities to impact the world around you for Jesus? Are you living for more than yourself? Are you giving your time and resources to those in need in our world?

My prayer is that God would form in you a passionate love for Jesus so that you will enthusiastically leave your comforts behind to embrace the adventure of the Christian life!

Jesus would have bungee jumped!

So I finally decided to give this blogging thing a try! My wife's blog has intimidated me a little because it's so good. But I was thinking that I'll just have her edit mine if I get too self-conscious and people begin to correct my grammar! So here we go...

My passion is to see people live two six (hence the name of this blog). This comes from 1 John 2:6 where John writes, "Whoever claims to live in Him (Jesus) must walk as Jesus walked." I'll be honest it saddens me as I look around because so many churchgoers have totally watered-down the life of Jesus and what it means to follow Him. In many cases following Jesus has become nothing more than a checklist. Read your Bible, pray, fast, go to church...and honestly if that's the extent of a what it means to follow Jesus I could see boredom setting in pretty quickly (especially if you're not a very disciplined person or if you're more of a hands-on person). In fact, the huge number of teens who use the word BORING to describe the Christian life bothers me:-<

So what is a good picture of the Christian life? How about bungee jumping?! Before my first bungee jump, I took an inventory of what this whole bungee thing was about before I made any commitments. I saw that everyone was required to put on a harness and a helmet. I wasn't sure how the helmet was going to be of any help but the harness I thought was a good idea (as opposed to tying the bungee cord around my waste or through my belt loop!). People would then get into this orange, cage-like elevator that slowly lifted them insanely high into the sky. After an abrupt stop, the elevator door would open and the person was asked to NOT look down! But if they were to look down there was a padded splat mat that read 'Got Jesus?' that I guess was meant to make the person's death more comfortable (because I couldn't imagine anyone surviving the fall!). The attendant then attached the bungee cord to the harness using two little metal latches called carabiners (how on earth were such little pieces of metal going to hold my weight, I thought to myself?). The attendant then made all the final checks using a checklist (he checked the helmet, the harness, the cord, the carabiners etc.). After he had gone through the checklist he told the jumper to step forward to the very edge of the elevator door opening and take the plunge when ready. Some people would take forever to jump as they mustered up their courage while others would simply retreat back into the elevator and call it quits. But those who jumped experienced the time of their lives as a surge of adrenaline pulsated through their bodies during the free fall (I know because I actually jumped when my time came). What a rush!

So many churchgoers spend all of their time preparing for the jump (going through their checklists to make sure everything will be safe!) but never actually take the scary plunge into the Christian life. And over time the spiritual disciplines (fasting, praying, reading our Bibles...) become the goal and definition of the Christian life. But as important as these disciplines are, they are just the means to the end, the training camp before the season starts, the stretches before the run, the appetizer before the Kung Pao Chicken, the engagement before the marriage...(you get the picture). It bothers me that people like Simon the Stylite have been championed by Christians throughout history because he lived on top of a pole for 42 years to show his devotion to God (and don't ask me if he had a toilette up there)! Or that people who retreated into the forest to devote their lives to prayer are canonized by the church. Is this what Jesus was envisioning when He said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men?" I think that's a stretch!

My question is this: Is the Christian life an adventure to you or is it more like a boring chick flick? Don't settle for a 'checklist Christianity', take the plunge of faith and experience the real deal. If you think the safest place to be is in the center of God's will then you haven't been reading your Bible! The Christian life was meant to be an exciting (and sometimes dangerous) journey. So what does an adventurous Christianity look like? How can you experience the real deal? Stay tuned!