A few years back, I heard a sermon in which the speaker was describing someone who was afraid of flying. That person never flew in airplanes. When asked if he had any fear in his life, he would say “I don’t have fear in my life.” The speaker’s response to that person was: “No, you don’t have fear because you reduce your life to accommodate the spirit of fear.” This really struck me! How much life do I miss out on…
I watched a young boy in the coffee shop today go nuts because he wanted a cookie. He was being quite obnoxious about it and this really bothered his older sisters. Then they were a bit mean to him in response. Watching this had a way of confirming something that I’ve been realizing lately. Our biggest problem isn’t that we’re mean to each other. Our biggest problem is that we’re self-focused. Being mean is the fruit of selfishness. The fruit…
I’ve hated myself for not being perfect. I’ve felt the need to be perfect because it has seemed the requirement for being accepted and approved of and loved. I tried to reject and rebel against this perfectionism, but it was always nagging at me. “You’re think you can get away from me, but I’m still here. You need to be perfect. Otherwise you won’t be accepted.” When Adam and Eve were created and living in the garden before sin, they…
This was a diagram I drew during the time leading up to gaining a new perspective on the Gospel (Read about it here). You can think of it as nails in a wall with pieces of string that connect related nails. This diagram was an expression of what I was feeling inside. That something was off. There were simple truths that should easily connect, but I was missing them. I had some idea of them, but they felt all unnecessarily complicated and misused and just…
“Not until you’re humbled down into the dust because He had to die for you (no other way). And not until you’re affirmed and valued into the sky, because He loves you so much that He was glad to die for you….will you be humbled out of the pride that makes you look down on other people, and will you be affirmed out of the self-hatred that makes you look down on yourself…..at the same time.” – Timothy Keller I…
Getting things wrong has its upside. For one, it’s a good way to learn how to get things right. Whenever I do something new, there’s a good chance I’m going to get it wrong a lot at the beginning. This helps teach me how to get it right. Or at least to continually see growth. When I feel like I have to do everything perfectly, I open myself up to guilt and condemnation and poor self-esteem. That’s because I’m not going to…
The most common question I get these days is, “what are you doing now?” or “what are you doing next?”. I’ve been in this space for awhile now where I have no idea what I’m doing now or what I’m doing next. Over the past couple years I’ve been realizing how much my life has been motivated by wanting approval, acceptance, and adoration. God has been teaching me that I already have all these things and that I don’t need…
