WITH GOD DAILY - "Gifts vs. Giver"
added by Jonathan Simcoe · updated 2y ago
added by Jonathan Simcoe · updated 2y ago
Indy Neogy added 1y ago
Ask yourself, what is my ultimate concern today? What occupies my imagination? What do I daydream about, and what motivates my actions? The first commandment is a warning to not give this precious, life-defining position to anything or anyone unworthy of it. It belongs to your Creator alone.
Jonathan Simcoe added 8mo ago
“I shall not want,” he says. It is sometimes translated, “I lack nothing.” Dallas Willard, who used to raise sheep, noted that the verses that follow reinforce the message of contentment. Sheep typically do not lie down in green pastures, they eat green pastures. Likewise, sheep are expected to drink from quiet waters, not walk beside them. The ima
... See moreJonathan Simcoe added 8mo ago
We might assume that the opposite of a fragile system is a robust one; an organization that is designed to withstand any single threat. But Taleb disagrees and says that the best systems don’t merely resist threats, but actually grow stronger when challenged. He calls such systems anti-fragile. Consider muscles. When put under stress, our muscles d
... See moreJonathan Simcoe added 8mo ago
hat if the government revokes our tax-exemption? What if youth sports take over Sunday morning? What if non-Christians get to pray before city council meetings? The inherent fragility of our churches, ministries, and schools helps explain, at least in part, why so many Christians carry so much anxiety today, and why we’re conditioned to see a threa
... See moreJonathan Simcoe added 8mo ago
That’s when we might discover it’s the churches we’ve dismissed as weak and insignificant—the small, decentralized, anti-fragile networks of disciples found throughout the rest of the world—that courageously step forward like David to face the challenges of our time.
Jonathan Simcoe added 8mo ago
Economists say America transitioned from a manufacturing-based to a consumer-based economy in the 1950s. That means our society depends on discontentment; on people buying more and more of what they desire not merely what they need. During WWII the government severely restricted public consumption of certain goods needed for the war effort. Followi
... See moreJonathan Simcoe added 8mo ago
Rather than a fearful huddle of believers worried about what Herod, the Romans, or those pesky liberal Sadducees might do, the early Christians appeared to actually believe Jesus when he said the gates of hell, nevermind the IRS, would not prevail against his church (Matthew 16:18).
Jonathan Simcoe added 8mo ago
No, applying John 13 today isn’t about church leaders accepting menial tasks, but about church leaders accepting ridicule and embarrassment, about not being respected in society, and not needing the affirmation of their peers. It’s having their ambitions exposed and extinguished. It’s abandoning their desire for a bigger audience, larger platform,
... See moreJonathan Simcoe added 8mo ago