An Inconvenient Christianity

We live in an age where technology is the order of the day. Anything you want, you can get at the drop of a hat. You almost don't need to retain information in your brain because there is some device, gadget or app that will retain it for you. For example, my parents have a new residential phone number. I have no clue what it is. It's stored in my mobile phone if I need to dial them, but without my phone I would be unable to reach them. Sadly, if my head was on the chopping block and I had to recite my parents' home phone number or else, I would end up shorter by a head. This made me realize that sometimes we do that with the Word of God. YouVersion has a great Bible app that is searchable, provides study tools and it even reads to you. There are a million and one (only a slight exaggeration) online sites that will allow you to find a verse with a few keystrokes. You can even google a phrase from a scripture and find out the passage reference in less than the time it woul

You don't have to be a car owner to notice that the gas prices are out of control. I think twice before I start my engine to go anywhere. Anywhere. (Quick example: I LOVE shoes, but my favorite shoe store, though inexpensive, is just too far to drive to....it makes me sad.) The other night, I watched a news report of a man who lost it at a gas station because the prices were too high ( http://news.yahoo.com/video/bostonwbz-15750588/man-goes-into-rage-over-prices-at-brockton-gas-station-29085282.html ). As I watched, I thought to myself, "Wow! Why doesn't he just take it in stride like everyone else?" But do we really take it in stride? I find myself grumbling about gas prices and lack of money and the state of the economy quite often. It's easy to do. Especially if you are un- or underemployed. We may never outwardly act or react like the man in the news clip, but isn't our complaining spiritually the same? The Apostle Paul told the Philippian chur

Laura Story's Grammy-award winning Blessings has been on my mind ever since I first heard it about a year ago. It is such a wonderful song and it challenges the generally accepted social convention that God blesses us with only shiny, happy things. More and more I realize the reality of Isaiah 55:8 " For my thoughts  are  not your thoughts, neither  are  your ways my ways, saith the LORD . " Our Heavenly Father has a different perspective than we do and what He does is perfect, but most time we cannot see it. When "bad" things happen to Bible-believing Christians we tend to feel a sense of injustice. But what if His blessings come through raindrops? What if the divine healing comes through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know that the Lord is near? The convenient thing is for God to tell us what He is doing. A lot of us, myself included, tacitly demand an explanation for the things that we view as negatives in our lives. As ch

Confession is good for the soul, right...? I am not a person who enjoys reading the Songs of Solomon. I get that every scripture is divinely inspired for our learning, etc (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17)...but somehow I thought that the Songs of Solomon was exempt from that provision. Until I heard Nancy Leigh DeMoss of Revive Our Hearts talking about Songs of Solomon 1:6. The last clause reads thus: "[T]hey made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept." I was floored by that clause because it is the perfect picture of my own spiritual walk and I suspect the spiritual walks of countless others. How easy it is for us to see to it that the church work gets done, that the Sunday School class has a good lesson, or that Praise and Worship is vibrant and uplifting or even that the sermon is well-researched, while we neglect to spend personal time with the Almighty. Too often we (read: I) substitute preparation for some church activity for personal devo