Category Archives: Spiritual Formation

Live Simply: Face the Truth

“Crisis creates chaos that calls for clarity.”  This is a phrase that came to me as I’ve been preparing for a second message in the “Live Simply” series – “Live Simply: Face the Truth”  – we are sharing at FBC Columbus, IN.

Consider how often you’ve seen this to be true, either in your own life or the life of someone you love:  When faced with a crisis, whether of our own making or by an unfortunate fate, we often react by taking steps to simplify our living.  Perhaps a grave health diagnosis is received, causing us to simplify life to its very basics: a focus on our physical health, family, friends and faith.  Or, maybe the crisis is more of a relational nature – a marriage that fails or the unexpected loss of a job.  Again, in those instances, we commonly react by drawing back into a more simple expression of living. Crisis creates chaos that calls for clarity.

In Mark 4:35-41 we find Jesus sleeping in the back of the boat after keeping a grueling schedule surrounded by multitudes of needy people. Continue reading

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Live Simply: Follow Jesus

logo-print-live-simply

Jesus lived a simple life – but that did not make him a simple person. He was an itinerant preacher who traveled from village to village.  So far as we know he had no home that he owned.  He was not married.  He had no children.  He probably had little in the way of clothing or personal effects.  He certainly wasn’t paying on a student loan, mortgage or consumer debt.

His words and teachings reflect the simplicity of Jesus’ life:

  • Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. (Luke 9:58).  
  • Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. (Matthew 6:19)
  • Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink . . . . Look at the birds . . . consider the lilies . . . will (God) not much more clothe you?  (Matthew 6:25ff)

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Growth Images

mustard-seed

God’s kingdom way of living comes with the expectation of growth.  That’s my “sermon in a sentence” for this coming Sunday as we take a further step in worship at FBC Columbus with a few of Jesus’ kingdom images.  It’s the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-33) and growing seed (Mark 4:26-29) parables that occupy center stage this week.  Both seem to be about growth. The question is “what kind of growth?” and “how do you measure growth?”

My theory is that we have terribly domesticated Jesus’ mustard seed word picture to the point of taming it’s impact. Continue reading

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On Being Rooted

Today on my Monday ride (Monday’s being a day off when I try and take a longer cycling ride) I enjoyed seeing the beauty of some of Bartholomew County’s farmland in full summer season.  The corn is growing and beans likewise.  Most of the wheat has been cut and straw baled, with a couple of double crop bean fields noticed.  One farmer was disking up a field that was yielding the sweet smell of fresh earth as I rode past – life in the country!

With such a firsthand view of these scenes my mind kept falling back to the importance of being grounded or rooted in life and faith.  I’m a country boy at heart, raised to appreciate the land and the resources it provides.  I’ve also come to understand there is a spirituality of land and place that God often uses to get our attention and draw us close. Continue reading

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Our Need for White Space

The idea of “white space” may have had its origin in the field of publishing and design, but it has become a metaphor in other disciplines, including the Christ following way of life.  In design work (think newspaper, magazine or website) white space is the portion of the page left unmarked.  It’s the margin or the space between columns and pictures that gives your eye an opportunity to rest.

The business world took white space on as a metaphor, and talks about it as opportunity – that place “where no one is in charge”, leaving room for creativity and passion to emerge. Businesses that give their employees a certain amount of white space often find them more engaged and energized in their work. Continue reading

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