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“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

“You are going to feel like hell if you never write the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart — your stories, visions, memories, visions and songs. Your truth, your version of things, your own voice. That is really all you have to offer us. And that’s also why you were born.”
Anne Lamott

Category: A Word or Two

Guest posts by Steve Elliott

A Word or Two

Steve Elliott 0 Comments

a guest post by Steve Elliott

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:3-11 NIV

We have saying in our house: you don’t get the life you find, you get the life you build. And if you are a follower of Jesus, you are under construction to be built to resemble him, to respond like him, and to be in this world as He was: fully present to this world’s brokenness and neediness, offering this world His love and compassion. He is no longer here physically to do that but we are. And as His Kingdom people, we are meant to be Kingdom salt and Kingdom light to this world. And what that looks like is found in Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes.

But we need to aware that the Beatitudes are descriptive not legislative … they are be-attitudes not be-haviors. Our ethics come from who we really are not who we try to be. Jesus is saying this is what “gospelized or kingdomized” humanity looks like. So if you bump a Christian Matthew 5 is what spills out of them. These are eight qualities of the same person not eight different options on a divine menu.

So these are not the rules we keep. They are the colors a Christian bleeds if you cut them. And it’s not about being perfectly complete in each one … as if you scored 10 out of 10 on each one. Nor is this about your salvation being at risk if you are behind on #3 or #6. It’s about the direction your life is headed. It’s about making forward progress in our spiritual growth and formation … leaving us with the question: “are you and I growing forward in our Kingdom life, not being perfect, but moving in the direction of Christ-likeness?

A Word or Two

George 0 Comments

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is about 2,000 words. If you have the time it takes about 6.5 minutes to read. And then it takes about a life time to fully digest. Taken together, these words turn this world on its head. If you don’t believe that, read them. And if you want your world to really change, live them.

‘The world’ as the Bible describes it, is life organized without reference to God. And that world, that life, is ready to eat you up and spit you out … or use you up and discard you like a Styrofoam coffee cup. It is a ‘world’ has no moral conscience beyond convenience, no compassionate center of gravity beyond expedience, no redemptive compass beyond utility.  Why? Because it’s life organized without reference to God.

So it is no surprise that given this kind of cultural ethos, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount calls us to cultural atheism: to not believe in the gods of this culture … to stop believing that they will somehow, ultimately bring us happiness or fulfillment or satisfaction…the small ‘g’ gods like politics or money, status or wealth, appearance or celebrity. Could that be wrong? Ask a broken heart. Ask a lost relationship that is never coming back. Ask loneliness or rejection or betrayal. The small ‘g’ gods have no answers for these. Instead, Jesus calls us to a new life in His Km where the dynamics of everyday life are as distinct and different from those of this world as a Caribbean cruise is from floating on a log down the Ohio River.

2,000 words. 6.5 minutes. Do we have the time? Maybe we need to make the time.

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