“Gospel Links for Gospel Culture” is a weekly round-up of content to encourage you in your faith and ministry.
The Bible is Not About You
Matt Chandler:When Your Identity Is Wrapped Up into Your Ministry
Ed Stetzer:I’m a highly driven person; quite honestly, it’s that drivenness that has in part helped me be a successful church planter and revitalizer for many years. What’s unhealthy is not the ambition itself, but the ways I let longings for success overtake my heart and mind. Ambitious people become demoralized not when we dream big, set goals, or vision cast but when the realization of these things we fantasize about become essential to our happiness and well-being. At issue here are some fundamental questions that Christians everywhere—not just in the church—have to answer: What does it look like for followers of Christ to live and work with a healthy sense of ambition? Furthermore, how should we approach failure in light of that?
The Bible is better than basic instructions
Aaron Armstrong:Many of us have been taught or fallen into the belief that the Bible is like this. That it is basically a big book of rules, morality tales, and inspirational sayings. And although the Bible does have many inspiring moments, and does have many stories that illustrate a moral truth, and certainly does include rules, if this is all we see the Bible as, we’re missing out. We’ll study the book searching for the secret of eternal life and miss that He was right in front of us the whole time. The Bible is something greater—one big story, with every text pointing to the One God sent to rescue and redeem His people. And when we get this, it changes everything.
God Knows When You Don’t
Kristen Wetherell:Scripture reminds us that “God saw the people of Israel” in the midst of their oppression by the Egyptians. God’s all-encompassing sight means nothing is hidden from him. In the middle of our darkness, when the light fades, when our prayers run dry and morph into groanings, what we yearn to know is that God sees us. That he takes note of our cries and pleadings for his help. That he notices us in our pain. And that he will not look away.
Thanksgiving, Grief, and the Presence of God
Katie Orr:He didn’t gasp in surprise at the news of my brother’s death. God could have prevented his overdose or miraculously reversed the effects of the drugs. In all likelihood, God already had prevented his death time and time again. In fact, as I look back on my own life, and the lives of my children, there are many instances where we’ve been seconds away from death. We are quick to praise God for His powerful deliverance, especially when there is no other explanation but His miraculous intervention. However, when He doesn’t circumvent the effects of sinners living in a fallen world, it doesn’t make Him any less omnipotent. Not one of us is promised tomorrow. I may never completely understand the “why” and “why now” behind James’ death, but I do know that my God is still in control.
What Expressive Individualism Does to Sin
Trevin Wax:To resist the expressive individualism of our day does not mean that we deny the beneficial aspects that come from these and other relationships. What we are to resist is the reframing of relationships around self-fulfillment as the goal. Once we recast our relationships in the light of expressive individualism, something changes in our interactions, our goals, and our orientation toward one another. The self takes center stage.
Living and Effective
The Christian Standard Bible and Christianity Today have teamed up to produce a new podcast called Living and Effective, hosted by Richard Clark. Learn more about the show at the link.The Gospel Project’s editorial team contributed to this post. Photo: Pixabay
