Roe V Wade was overturned yesterday and my social media feeds have been permeated with Pro-Choicers spewing arguments that are complete nonsense, whether I was a pro-lifer based in Christianity (or any religion) or a pro-lifer based in atheism. I will present those arguments and provide logical and scientific reasons why they are invalid. You may say “there is no absolute truth, truth is subjective.” If you do, you just contradicted yourself already and made a poor argument. To say definitely that no absolute truth exists, you are defining subjective truth as absolute truth…
There is a trend in psychology going around about understanding and healing your inner child. I have never understood it until today. I think a reason seasonal depression hits me, is it brings back feelings and memories that were uncomfortable or negative for younger me. I sat on social media and observed the “memories” that it had for me for today. That only exacerbated my mood. Lost friends, past failures, broken relationships, etc. Nothing changes if nothing changes, so I took action.
Today, I chose to listen to my inner child. I chose to serve my inner child. I chose to embrace my inner child.
Picture this. It is Sunday morning. You are attending your Sunday morning church service, yearning to experience God, working to deepen your knowledge of God, and aiming to deepen your relationship with God. You are in the middle of the musical worship portion of the service when people slam through the sanctuary doors with a ruckus. But it doesn’t stop there. They loudly speak to people throughout the congregation. Would you be distracted? I would be. Would it interrupt your worship? It would for me.
The Stages of Change Model is a key tool in addiction counseling and recovery. We can see the Stages of Change model active in more than just recovery from substances, but instead in any type of change we are endeavoring to make. This model even describes when the Holy Spirit starts convicting us for things in our life that are not of God.
Recently, I have encountered many Christians who say that addiction is not a disease it is purely a matter of choice and self-control. As somebody in recovery and finishing up his Masters in Addiction Counseling, I firmly say that is bologna, and can be a very dangerous and harmful thing to say.
David was anointed the next king, but Samuel just leaves. Although David was anointed, it was not yet in God’s timing for him to take the throne. He still had to prepare himself. God does not call the prepared but prepares the called. David had to wait, maybe even for years. Sometimes God tells us to wait. Waiting is not doing nothing.
I have always been pretty open about my struggles with my mental health. This by no means is a demonstration of confidence. I always have the trepidation of being judged or getting bad feedback from being so transparent. Ultimately, I have seen time and time again how my testimony has helped people. Every so often, I share a bit of my testimony on social media or in a sermon. Every time I do, I have at least one person contact me later saying that they have been struggling with the same thing and it was refreshing to know other people do to. The devil likes to tell you that you are all alone.
In English, we have one type of love. We love our spouse, but we also love ice cream and we love our friends. Those are three very drastically different types of love. In Greek, there are four types of love: erros, philia, storge, and agape. Agape love is the Godly love that Christ talks about in chapter 22 of Matthew and chapter 10 of Luke. Unlike the other types of love, Agape love is not a feeling or an emotion; Agape love is a calling. Christ calls us to show Agape love to everybody we encounter. It is our duty as Christians to love on people as Christ loved on us. This means that you are still looking out for the best interest of your enemy or somebody you are angry with. Agape love is well outlined in 1 Corinthians 13. So how do we essentially practice Agape love in our daily lives? I have three tips that can help you get started.
"And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" - Matthew 25:40
Sacrifice without expectation of reciprocation. Do out of love. My pastor always says to give even when it hurts. This could mean buying food for the man on the corner or buying coffee for a person you see if having a bad day. It is using resources you have been entrusted to steward for the benefit of others. This could be spending your free time serving or donating clothes or food to the poor. When we provide for the needs of others, we are doing onto Christ.
"I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray...His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner...To make intercession means to grant our brother the same right that we have received, namely, to stand before Christ and share in his mercy." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
When we pray for our enemies, we are demonstrating Agape love. This does not mean we are praying to see them fail, but we are praying for what is in their best interest. We pray for their blessings. As Bonhoeffer said, when we pray for our enemies, we stop seeing the enemy in them. Our animosity diminishes and we start to see our enemy for who they are, a creation of God.
"Truth without love is abuse. Love without truth is enablement." -Steve Thomason
Truly loving somebody means that you are speaking truth into their lives with love. This means having the tough and awkward conversations in order to grow and develop the other person. As Christians, we are called to keep people accountable. If we merely love them and not call out their sin, we are enabling them. If we calling out their sin without love, we come off as judgmental and do not have righteous motives in our hearts.
"...We must not belittle those of 'that' political party... We must be careful not to demean our brothers and sisters by saying, 'if you are a Christian, how could you ever vote for them?'... What are we supposed to do when we don't see eye to eye politically with people? ...Actually begin genuine conversations and get to know each other... God may use these conversations to stretch and to grow your understanding of what it means to be a kingdom culture people in this environment...explain yourself in a way that honors Christ and listen in a way that honors your relationship with Jesus."
