A lot of church-themed blogs and articles this week to reflect on. Sometimes it hurts to look at ourselves in the mirror, but we need to take these honest looks at ourselves.
“Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16)
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25)
- Do you ever find yourself in a conversation and it just “feels like church“? Jezamama urges us to open our doors to the dregs.
- If you’re not afraid to be judged as a dreg, maybe you’ll be judged by whether or not you’re wearing pantyhose. At least Matthew Paul Turner’s mom used to feel that way.
- If you’re not a dreg, and you don’t wear pantyhose, chances are you worship differently than I do. I’ll try not to judge, but will you feel comfortable in my church?
- Jon Acuff has a theory for why Christians are so mean online. Maybe it relates to the same reasons we’re so judgemental in the links above?
- Jake Meador speculates part of the problem is that we’ve become engulfed in our culture rather than create a “viable alternative” to the world around us.
- Jay Guin longs for a post-denominational church uniting to serve in Christ.
- Churches in Atlanta are actually doing just that as Church Marketing Sucks points out. Unfortunately it’s only for one weekend.
Have a happy 4th of July weekend. Celebrate your freedoms and remember that those freedoms include the freedom to worship.