Skip to main content

A Long Overdue Update

It has been quite a while since I posted to this blog. I have never been the most consistent at this, but the past six months or so I've completely stopped posting. In fact I've rarely even thought about the blog. I simply haven't wanted to write.

Ever since my mother passed away I've had a very hard time engaging with God on a personal level. The primary thing my mother and I would talk about was God, Christ, and Scripture. When she passed opening the Bible was like opening a wound. I'd read a passage and all I could think about was the conversations she and I had about it. So I created a defense mechanism; I began to look at theology, Scripture, and everything related to it in a purely intellectual light.

Don't get me wrong; I firmly believe in the importance of scholarship. That is, after all, a big focus of my life and service to God and the Kingdom. What is not OK is reducing God to a mere intellectual exercise. That was what I was doing in an effort to avoid the pain. It was easy to do, since I already was exploring the intellectual aspects of the faith anyway.

This blog has always been an intellectual exercise. The breakdowns of the various books of the Bible have primarily focused on the critical scholarship and themes of the books. I only rarely have touched on application. This isn't a bad thing, except that I was avoiding it intentionally. I didn't want to face the pain. Fortunately for me, and for all of us, God works in our lives regardless.

When I stopped writing this blog back in June of last year it was because I realized what was going on. I was avoiding God, afraid of the pain. I suddenly stopped writing because I knew I wasn't doing it for the right reasons. Far from engaging meaningfully with Scripture I was keeping it at a distance.

What really helped me was reading the book of Job. My Wednesday night group was going to study it and I needed to prepare. While the series on Job didn't last long (we did a broad strokes overview in one night) the process of studying it helped.

So here I am, ready to resume writing the blog again. I won't make any promises about a consistent upload schedule (I never was real good at that anyway) but I will start writing again, this time for the right reason of bringing glory to God and serving his people. I will also be posting to my other blog about pop culture and movies (The Christian Geekly) again.

Thank you all for reading and supporting me in this. I hope and pray that these blogs have proven educational or helpful in some way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Matthew, The Promised Messiah

Imagine, if you will, living as a Jewish Christian in the first century. You grew up following the Mosaic Law and have studied the Old Testament backwards and forwards. The life of the synagogue, that shared community of faith, is precious to you. It was, for the longest time, the cohesive core of your walk of faith. You grew up waiting on the promises of God to be fulfilled. Now you've heard the good news you've been waiting for; the news the entire Jewish people have been waiting for. God has acted decisively! The covenant promises made to Abraham have at last been fulfilled! The Messiah has come! Eagerly you listen to those proclaiming the Messiah, a man named Jesus from the town of Nazareth. You listen and are astounded at his life and teaching. Truly this man was a great prophet, just as Moses promised. You listen in awe as your entire concept of royalty is turned on its head, as this Jesus assumed the throne as the promised king of Israel not by war or riches but by a
Post a Comment
Read more

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be
3 comments
Read more

Reading Aloud

What is the primary way we use Scripture today? I think the answer, at least in our society, is private reading and study. The majority of our spiritual advice can be summed up in "study the Bible more." The moral of many sermons is simply that we don't read the Bible enough. I think that this is absolutely true, but I probably mean something a little different. While I obviously agree that we, in general, don't read the Bible enough individually that isn't actually my main gripe. I think we don't read the Bible enough out loud, in community, as a part of worship. This, I think, should be a central part of our gatherings every week. We should simply read the Bible out loud and listen together in community. How much is the Bible read aloud in your gathering? I'm talking specifically about just reading, not during sermons or classes. How often is the Bible simply read without someone commenting on or explaining it? Just the Scriptures read aloud for all to h
Post a Comment
Read more