Thanking God this week for...
6039. fabulous NYC Instagrams
6040. opening my eyes to understand the gospel's application to life beyond the "moralistic therapeutic deism" that plagues the church
6041. friends who are pregnant
6042. awesome pastors who shepherd us so lovingly
6043. Steve's humility and honesty
6044. a friend babysitting for us at the last minute
6045. Jude's potty independence increasing
6046. the boys' eagerness to hear "Jesus stories"
6047. friends around our dinner table
6048. stories of His faithfulness and grace to a friend and her family over the last year
6049. older friends and their wisdom gained from experience
6050. friends who pray for me and with me
6051. lunch with another friend and her testifying to God's faithful love and guidance
6052. Shane and Shane met their Kickstarter reach goal = Psalms II next year!
6053. free birthday gifts from Sephora, Starbucks, Panera, Dunkin Donuts
6054. girls' night in
6055. a friend's needed challenge to "just do something!"
6056. Elijah announcing to everyone in the aisle at Aldi that he had on Superman underwear
6057. black bean tacos with lime cilantro slaw and feta
6058. how very much my tastes have expanded
6059. new dance moves + lots of laughter + dizziness with Steve
6060. His patience when I am inclined to return to Egypt again and again
6061. healthy boys who love to hike
6062. a parking spot at Radnor Lake after a long wait
6063. sunshine, fresh air, blue skies
6064. strong legs and lungs
6065. boys snuggling with me through an entire movie
6066. perfect love casting out fear
Monday, March 31, 2014
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4 comments:
Would love to hear more about "opening my eyes to understand the gospel's application to life beyond the "moralistic therapeutic deism" that plagues the church."
:)
:) Well...
The phrase "moralistic therapeutic deism" comes--I think--from Mike Horton's book Christless Christianity (which is depressing, but an excellent diagnosis IMO). It's the opposite of the gospel-centrality perspective you're probably very familiar with coming out of an SGM church.
The more I interact with people who do not go to my church and do not run in my theological circles, the more sad and frustrated I feel at seeing how much it really does plague the church. It's all "try harder, do better." It's the "saved by grace, but after that it's all up to you" I grew up believing. And it's not about Jesus and His glory; it's this mindset that oh yes, we believe in God, He created us and saved us, but our day-to-day life doesn't really have much to do with him; the main goals are rule-following and feeling better about yourself.
After yet another experience last week of seeing that firsthand--and feeling how burdensome and discouraging it is, how lacking in hope and grace, I felt thankful that God has set me (mostly) free from that way of thinking, and has opened my eyes to the glory of Jesus and the sufficiency of the gospel rather than the not-so-good news of try harder, do better.
Does that help?
Yes it does. I totally get what you're saying, although I'm continuing to flesh this out in my life. Recently at our new church we've been going through Galatians. It's been really amazing, actually, how I didn't realize how much legalism I really did embrace. That being a good Christian=church membership, going to small group, etc. Those things are important and can help us go, but the motivation shouldn't be to do them to feel good about ourselves or make up for our relationship (or lack there of) with Christ.
Yes - I have by no means arrived! Beginning to understand it cerebrally is one thing...really embracing and believing it at a heart level and living in light of it is another story :)
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