Gospel.com Blog

We’re most of the way through Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting. Ever since 9/11, Ramadan carries with it a certain amount of cultural tension here in the United States—tension that’s been ratcheted up by recent controversies over the Cordoba House debate and ill-advised publicity stunts by angry Christians.

Yet in the midst of all the usual political tension, Ramadan presents an opportunity for Christians to learn a bit more about Islam and perhaps reach out to the Muslims in our communities. Every year, Arab World Ministries puts together a free Ramadan prayer guide for Christians and other articles understanding and sharing the Gospel with Muslims. If your only exposure to Ramadan is through political pundits and TV talking heads, I encourage you to take some time to read through AWM’s material.

Ramadan is a good time to think about how we, personally, might be better Christian witnesses to the Muslims living around us. What about you—do you know or interact with Muslims in your community? What might you or your church do to express Christlike love to Muslims in your area, and to point them to the hope of the Gospel?

If you’re anything like me, you find it hard to love someone if they don’t reciprocate your love. That’s not to say you don’t try, but it’s just hard to love someone who has given you no evidence that they’ll love you back.

When it comes to loving Jesus though it’s important to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he first loves us. Luckily, as Spurgeon reminds us in this devotional from Morning and Evening, the authors of the Bible have given us ample reasons to trust in Jesus’ love:

True love to Christ is in every case the Holy Spirit’s work, and must be wrought in the heart by him. He is the efficient cause of it; but the logical reason why we love Jesus lies in himself. Why do we love Jesus? Because he first loved us. Why do we love Jesus? Because he “gave himself for us.” We have life through his death; we have peace through his blood. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. Why do we love Jesus? Because of the excellency of his person. We are filled with a sense of his beauty! an admiration of his charms! a consciousness of his infinite perfection! His greatness, goodness, and loveliness, in one resplendent ray, combine to enchant the soul till it is so ravished that it exclaims, “Yea, he is altogether lovely.” Blessed love this—a love which binds the heart with chains more soft than silk, and yet more firm than adamant!

Read the entire devotional at ccel.org.

What aspect of Jesus’ love for humanity helps you the most when it comes to loving him back?

Do you judge celebrities and public personalities? What does it mean to you to “render judgment” on a pop star or role model gone astray?

There’s an interesting article at Plugged In about teen pop star Miley Cyrus’ all-too-predictable transition from squeaky-clean Christian role model to hyper-sexualized music video vixen. But the article isn’t just lamenting the moral failings of a celebrity; it talks about the culture of brutal moral judgment in which these dramas play out.

We live, the article argues, in a culture that publicly professes to be non-judgmental. (I’m sure you’ve seen the usually fruitless back-and-forths between Christians condemning some type of inappropriate behavior and others condemning the Christian for “judging.”) But pop culture society is no better at living up to this standard than Christians are… as seen in the viciously judgmental reactions to Cyrus’ latest escapades:

We’re supposed to be living in a kinder, gentler, less judgmental time: My ideals and beliefs aren’t better or worse than yours, we’re told, just different. “Hey, it’s great if that thing works for you,” we’re apt to say, “but don’t tell me how to run my life. Don’t get up in my business. Don’t judge me!”

Here’s the honest truth, though: For all the tolerance we supposedly show, we judge one another more frequently and more harshly than ever.

We post demeaning comments on YouTube or Facebook. We call radio shows, lambasting politicians or banks or businesses. We scream about BP’s malfeasance, snicker as Lindsay Lohan skulks off to jail and write lengthy diatribes on why Google or Apple or Perez Hilton or McDonald’s Happy Meals portend societal devolution. Tolerance? Hardly. We live in an age of outrage and apology, where each secret and slight is posted on Huffington and mocked on Fark, where every person who makes the slightest misstep is beaten and kicked for the pleasure of the 24-hour news cycle.

We’re all up in each other’s business now. We can’t seem to help ourselves. And few people today have been judged as frequently or as rigorously as Miss Miley Cyrus.

The articles goes on to cite some of the often brutal criticism of Cyrus, both from professional critics and the internet-using hoi polloi. In the face of that evidence, it’s hard to deny that our culture, whatever its ideals about non-judgmentalism might be, does plenty of judging.

This raises some interesting questions about the place of judgment in our culture—and in the Christian life. As a Christian, do you judge people? If so, is your judgment different than the hate and vitriol that our culture heaps on its objects of scorn?

Here are a few specific questions to ponder:

1. How do you understand the Biblical command to not judge others? Is it possible or appropriate to judge a person or action, or does our own sin render us unworthy to judge?

2. What, if anything, is different about Biblical judgment compared to societal judgment? Is there a difference in motive or desired outcome?

3. In the case of Biblical judgment, who is the judgment for? When you judge somebody, are you calling them to repentance? Warning other Christians (or yourself) to steer clear? Both?

4. What, if anything, would you say to Cyrus if you had the chance to address her in person?

Even though our devotional today from Our Daily Bread is short, it’s an excellent reminder of why studying the Bible is such a spiritually valuable use of our time. Reading the Bible forces us to respond to Jesus. Without investing the time to open our hearts and read about his life and ministry, we have a hard time ever really make a decision on whether or not to follow him:

Jesus told a group of religious leaders, who were well acquainted with the Old Testament but violently opposed to Him, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).

It requires an open heart as well as an inquiring mind to study the Bible. When we discover Jesus as the Person to whom the entire Bible points, we must then decide how to respond to Him.

There is great joy for all who will open their hearts to Christ and find life in Him.

Read the entire devotional at odb.org.

When did you make the jump from intellectually knowing about Jesus to actively following Him?

What does your internet ministry look like… and is it as effective as it could be? If you’re a church, ministry, or individual struggling to make the transition from simply having an online presence to doing meaningful online ministry, here’s a piece of exciting news: the Internet Ministry Conference is back!

The Internet Ministry Conference (IMC) was once the cornerstone of the now-defunct Gospelcom Ministry Alliance. Attendees, ranging from lone bloggers to the leaders of global Christian organizations, all gathered for one purpose: to learn how to more effectively use the internet to carry out their Christian calling. Today, that means more than just learning how to set up a good website—it also means making good use of social media, mobile devices, and other online tools to reach your audience.

The last IMC was way back in 2008… and so it was a pleasant surprise to learn that Reconnect Productions is re-launching the Internet Ministry Conference this fall! IMC 2010 takes place on October 26-27 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and registration is now open.

Speakers lined up for the conference so far include social media guru Dan Zarrella and online ministry expert Kent Shaffer. You can read more about the speakers and other conference-related news at the IMC blog.

Early-bird registration is still available but won’t last forever, so if you’re interested in two days of internet ministry training and networking, take a moment to see if IMC 2010 is a good fit for you.

Update: the Internet Ministry Conference Twitter feed is the best source of news and updates about the conference.

Blaine Smith of Nehemiah Notes writes in a recent article about the principal of inspirational dissatisfaction. Inspirational dissatisfaction is when your frustration with a situation serves as the impetus for you to make a positive change to your life.

Smith offers an example from his own life of how inspirational dissatisfaction lead him to a revelation about his own life. He worked as a pastor for a few years in the 70s, and while he liked some parts of the job, he was dissatisfied with the requirement of pastors to dabble in so many different skills. He found that he would much rather focus on improving a few skills, and that lead him to become a “resource pastor,” a role in which he feels much more satisfaction. However, without having had that dissatisfying experience, he would have never had that insight into his personality.

The following is a brief excerpt from “Welcome Guidance from Unwelcome Circumstances” that describes how God uses inspirational dissatisfaction to teach us and guide us:

Inspirational dissatisfaction … is the positive role that our experiences of frustration play—both in helping us understand important steps we should take with our life, and in finding the motivation to take them. We may be unhappy in our job, for instance, because the work doesn’t fit us well, or because coworkers are not supportive or have unreasonable expectations of us. Frustration can be our ally in such cases—a red-alert that we need to seek a change.

I love this concept, as simple as it is, for it provides us a basis for seeing a silver lining in adverse circumstances, which we can easily miss. Some Christians view all frustrating situations fatalistically and hopelessly. They assume that God is punishing them through these circumstances and that they shouldn’t strive to change them.

On a more healthy level, we may recognize how such situations help us grow, but we assume the silver lining comes only if we stay in them and allow God to stretch us there. That conclusion is often justified, and we can be too quick to run away from challenges, to say the least. Yet Scripture gives about equal weight to the other possibility—that God may use our frustration in such cases to enlighten us to the fact that we’re not where we should be. Healthy thinking requires that we give fair consideration to both possibilities, and feel permission to think in both directions.

Unfortunately, our Christian teaching usually gives far more attention to the former possibility than the latter. We also have elaborate vocabulary for talking about the one (“pick up your cross,” “accept your lot,” “be a living sacrifice,” “lose your life in order to find it”), and little in the way of convenient language to speak of the possibility that an unwelcome situation simply isn’t right for us.

“Inspirational dissatisfaction” fills this gap wonderfully well and can make a redemptive contribution to our Christian vocabulary. We shouldn’t underestimate the role that language plays in our ability to reason effectively and make sound decisions, given the extraordinary level of “self-talk” that we engage in constantly. I agonized over the question of whether to leave conventional church work for a specialized ministry far more than I should have, due especially to guilt-ridden self-talk. Simply knowing it was permissible to think in terms of inspirational dissatisfaction, and having that term available, would have made a big difference.

Read the rest of the article at nehemiahministires.com.

Are you currently in frustrating or dissatisfying situation? What do you think God might be trying to tell you through that situation? Have you ever experienced inspirational dissatisfaction?

One Biblical concept that I, and I suspect many Americans like me, have trouble relating to is the yearning for a homeland that is so vividly expressed in the book of Lamentations and other Old Testament texts. The calamitous destruction of the nations of Israel and Judah had a profound effect on generations of Biblical writers, and influenced the Jews’ hopes and expectations regarding the promised Messiah.

There are populations and ethnic groups today that can relate to this fervent longing better than I, a middle-class Midwestern American, can hope to. In this Slice of Infinity devotional, Jill Carattini discusses one such people group, and what this sense of “homelessness” means to us as Christians:

Such intensity in the name of place and homeland is not unique to [Native Americans]. For the people of ancient Israel, the relationship between land and faith was equally profound. The destructive loss of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians in 587 B.C.E. was infinitely more to them than the loss of home and property. For them it was the loss of faith, identity, even God Himself. Walter Brueggemann writes of Jerusalem’s destruction: “The deep sense of displacement evoked by the loss led to the conclusion in some quarters that all the old promises of YHWH to Israel–and consequently Israel’s status as YHWH’s people and Jerusalem’s status as YHWH’s city–were placed in deep jeopardy.” [...]

The writer of Lamentations gives voice to the uncertainty of exile, the finality of a destroyed Jerusalem, and the death of home in the deepest sense. He also dares give voice in the midst of exile to the promise of restoration–in the assurance of coming home to the one who never left. No matter the place of loss, wandering, or exile, no matter the distance, no matter the depth, the arm of God is not too short to save.

Is this sense of “homelessness,” this longing for a homeland (either spiritual or physical), something you can relate to? How has that affected your Christian walk?

If we’re not careful we can find ourselves just going through the motions when it comes to our relationship with God. We might say the right words and do the right things, but if the focus of our heart isn’t on God we’re selling our relationship with Him short.

In this devotional written by Julie Ackerman for Our Daily Bread gives us a perfect example of how it’s possible to be emotionally far away from a situation even while we’re physically present:

Everything was quiet in our yard. While I worked at the patio table, our dog, Maggie, lay nearby in the grass. A slight rustling of dry leaves changed everything. Maggie made her move, and suddenly she was circling a tree, where a woodchuck clung tightly to the trunk.

Maggie came when I called, but I couldn’t get her to look at me. Her neck was in a rigidly fixed position. Although she was near me physically, her thoughts and desires were with that woodchuck.

Maggie and the woodchuck remind me of how quickly I become preoccupied with things that take my eyes off Jesus. Old temptations, new responsibilities, or ongoing desires for possessions or pleasure can quickly divert my attention from the One who knows and wants what is best for me.

A similar spiritual condition afflicted the Pharisees (Matt. 15:8-9). They were serving in the temple and instructing others, but their hearts were far from God.

We too can teach and serve at church but be far from God. Even our religious activity becomes meaningless when our focus is not on Jesus. But if we stop being “stiff-necked” (Acts 7:51), the Lord can turn our eyes away from worthless things and revive our hearts.

Have you ever found yourself not fully present when you’re supposed to be spending time with God? How do you refocus?

One of the paradoxes of Christianity is that, while our faith is centered around sharing Christlike love and peace, our private spiritual lives are vividly likened to a battleground. Warfare and battle are apt metaphors for our constant struggle to resist temptation and remain committed to the principles of the Bible.

What does this “spiritual war” look like in our lives, and how does it manifest? More importantly, how do we make sure we win this war? In a short devotional essay on spiritual war, Al Menconi explains where this spiritual warfare takes place… and lays out a battle plan for victory. Menconi believes that our minds are the ground zero of this spiritual war, and that we’re particularly vulnerable to spiritual attacks that come at us through the entertainment we absorb:

Instead of Satan announcing that he is our enemy and warning us that he wants to undermine our spiritual life, he has convinced us he is our friend and he simply wants to entertain us. And we deserve to be entertained….

I believe that this is a major reason why so many Christians are struggling with their spiritual life. We have allowed our minds to be “conformed to the values of this world” (Rom. 12:1) without even realizing it. Things that once were considered offensive, now entertain us.

If this is true, shouldn’t churches take a stronger role in educating believers on how to fight in this spiritual battle for our minds? Most churches and parents want to avoid the entertainment issue entirely. But we can’t. It is all around us! It shapes our world, but it doesn’t have to shape us!

Does this ring true to you? What sort of entertainment fills your idle time—and is it entertainment that conforms you to the mind of Christ, or to the values of the world around us? How have you and your family approached the difficult task of discerning between entertainment options?

Do you find it easy or hard to care for those who are hurting in the Church?

One of the more intriguing and challenging aspects of Christianity to me is the command to sacrificially care for one another. Jesus taught us that humble service was man’s greatest calling, and that to be considered “first” we must do our best to be “last.”

This devotional from Today in the Word reminds us that in the body of Christ we must look for those who are hurting and meet their needs, especially when it comes to helping the weakest of our members:

As the church of God, we must compassionately identify with those among us who hurt. Moreover, when members of our body are honored, we celebrate together. This isn’t mere sympathy or polite applause. With the kind of a radical unity in the body of Christ that Paul has been urging, we actually feel for one another. As followers of Jesus, we become like Him and take on each other’s pain and celebration in an incarnational way. In Christ, our stories and our lives really matter to others.

We can see what Paul is doing as he answers the questions the Corinthians have posed to him on the subject of spiritual gifts. He’s using his answer as an occasion to retrace some of his themes of the letter. We must remember that the fundamental problem the Corinthian church faced was its disunity. The disunity has expressed itself in multiple ways: believers had taken one another to court, the community had divided over the issue of whether one can eat meat sacrificed to idols, factions developed between sexual immorality and sexual asceticism, and the Lord’s Supper had become another occasion of the rich shaming the poor. Spiritual gifts were another arena where the Corinthians had despised one another.

Paul teaches that every member of the body is indispensable. We cannot do without what might seem to be the weakest of our members. As infinitely complex and beautiful as the human body, the diversity of the church is there by God’s creative design.

Read the entire devotional at todayintheword.com.

Have you witnessed an example of one member of the body of Christ caring for another recently? What are some practical steps you can take to care for those who are hurting?