“If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to eternal life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another Christian is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.” (1 John 3:14-15) NLT
For quite a while now I’ve felt a calling to do something from a ministry perspective, but I haven’t really been sure what exactly. I’ve been on staff at churches in ministry before, both as a youth minister and a worship leader. The thing I discovered through those experiences is that I am not cut out for that life. While I enjoy the ministry side of those things, there’s a lot of planning and organization that I’m simply not good at. And, those things are critical to having a successful church ministry. Recently my church did a series called “Game Plan”, which (among other things) encouraged us to lean into our gifts and the way God designed us. I have known my gift is not speaking. Too often I get stuck for words or lose my train of thought. But finally it dawned on me that my writing is something in the past that people have appreciated and enjoyed. It’s also something I love to do. So I began praying about it and was hit with the idea of doing a blog.
When I first started this, I was wading in and I wasn’t really sure what the goals should be. But having experienced other Christian blogs, I now feel like I have a pretty good idea of where God is leading me where this blog is concerned.
The Christian blogs that are out there seem to fall into the following categories:
- Sites that encourage arguments and divisiveness between Christians
- Sites that focus on believing all the right things (ie. head knowledge) to the exclusion of things that are applicable to the Christian life
- Sites that provide cultural or political analysis through a Christian lens
I simply haven't found a blog out there that is what I hope this blog becomes. That doesn't mean they're not out there. I just haven't bumped into one yet.
I think it’s important to have a safe place for Christians to come and share their views, free of antagonistic, disrespectful, and (in some cases) spiteful messages. It’s easy for us to become prideful in our own perceived rightness to the point where we forget how to be kind, patient, and loving. And yet that is the fruit of the spirit that should be evident in us as we mature as Christians. If we are not understood or if our opinions are not accepted, maybe we should look for things to learn ourselves rather than treating others with contempt.
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:34-35) NLT
I believe that one of the goals for this blog is to foster respectful, kind, and nurturing conversations where people learn to humble themselves and come to learn rather than teach. I feel like my role is to write about the things God has laid on my heart and give room for other ideas, other opinions. I hope that we can share how God has shaped us and what God has done for us. I hope that we can share passages from the Bible that are meaningful to us. But most of all, I hope we can love one another so that love will be evident to the world. Other blogs are divisive, right out there in the open where the world can see them--with arguments between Christians in plain view. I believe this misrepresents the message of Jesus to the world, and I don’t want any part of that. Let’s come to learn from each other, to share with each other, without pride or prejudice. God will certainly be glorified in that.
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