Reflections on the loving kindness of the Triune God
Lately I’ve pushed things aside, including Spreading Goodness posts, to write a syllabus for a course on “Affective Theology.” It’s offered very soon—next month—at Multnomah Biblical Seminary (June 12-16). Four hours each day, with no online option. I mention it in case any SG readers might be interested and available at the last minute. The …
Read More Next MonthHow does faith reshape our appetite for freedom? Freedom has been a human ambition from Adam and Eve onward. It’s ironic, given our deep reliance on others: in being birthed and raised; in learning; in work, family, and daily needs; and in our final interment. There is a healthy impulse to leave home to enter …
Read More Dependent Hearts[I published an earlier version today. I wasn’t satisfied with it; so here’s my revision] What is an identity? Informally, we call it the “self” that anchors our unique view of life. It’s home to our core motives and deepest values. It determines why we do what we do. In Christian history a common basis …
Read More New IdentitiesWe’ve looked at Deuteronomy 6:4-5—the “shema”—that Jesus called the greatest commandment in Mark 12:30. So we’ve listened and see it as the pathway for life. It started with the “eyes of our hearts” being opened. So faith isn’t our moral self-improvement. Or our endorsement of doctrines. Or our working to achieve marks of orthodoxy. Instead …
Read More A Vision for Life: ConclusionJesus made Deuteronomy 6:4-5 the calling of life. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” In the first of our set of posts we looked at the call to love …
Read More A Vision for Life: 4 of 4We began this series with two posts on the Great Commandment of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. The first post identified “love” for God as the Vision of faith. Next, we treated “all” as the basis for spiritual Integration—the call to love God in every aspect of life. Now, we have Nurture in v. 6: “And these words …
Read More A Vision for Life: 3 of 4What do we want most in life? The Bible offers a simple truism here: our love shapes us. Christians, after all, love God because he first loved us [1 John 4:19]. So, in our first post we started with God’s call for us to receive him as our ultimate love. Yet today most people love …
Read More A Vision for Life: 2 of 4In the first century the Christian faith grew dramatically—hearts changed in huge numbers. So, what created that change? This post is the first of four to chase the question, with a summary post to follow. I pray the core insights are as useful in today’s post-Christian world as they were in the new-Christian days of …
Read More A Vision for LifePaul wrote of Jesus to the Romans, “if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [Ro. 10:9-10]. Salvation, then, is heart-based. But we …
Read More Believe in your heartYesterday I finished reading the Bible. Each morning I track at a normal reading pace for thirty to forty minutes. Reading, not studying. All of Genesis to Revelation takes about four months. Why this lifelong habit? Some call it a spiritual discipline. But it’s not. Efforts on my exercise bike are a discipline … because …
Read More A look at love