seen from Germany
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Slovakia
seen from Guatemala
seen from Netherlands
seen from Spain
seen from Russia
seen from Netherlands
seen from China
seen from Germany
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If Jesus Christ is the head of the church and hence the source and goal of its entire life, true growth is only possible in obedience to Him. Conversely, if the church becomes detached from Jesus Christ and His Word, it cannot grow however active and successful it may seem to be.
Os Guinness
The call
Every day, God is calling us.
Calling us to be who He made us to be. Calling us to Him. Calling us home.
Every day, you and I have a choice. To answer God’s call. Or not.
If we even hear God’s call, most of us answer it in one of two ways.
One of those ways? By working God into our schedule. By adding “God stuff” to our already overflowing to-do list.
If you stop and think about it (which I don’t), the inherent vanity of created beings like you and me “penciling in” our Maker becomes obvious. I know this, because I drift into this one. All. The. Time.
You’d think that being ordained would have sorted this one out for me, right? Not so much.
The other way? The grand project.
Proving our love for God (and our own importance) by doing some glorious work. Something that will carve our names on the mountains. Demonstrating our significance and our worth beyond all question.
This one? It’s more like the first way that it might seem. Because it’s still focused on us. And it’s just as vain.
In the end, neither of these ways of responding to God’s call work for us. Because both of them do what they do (giving us whatever it is we think we’re getting out of them) at the expense of our relationship with God.
So what does work? How should we respond to God’s call?
Today’s Gospel shows us, with Jesus’ call to Peter and Andrew. “Come, follow me.”
And their response? None of the above.
They don’t add Jesus to their busy schedules. And they don’t announce a grand project that will bring them undying glory. They simply stop what they’re doing. And follow Him.
Because that’s what God is calling us to.
As Os Guinness puts it, “We are not primarily called to do something or go somewhere; we are called to Someone. We are not called to special work but to God.”
Today’s Readings
All good thinking is a matter of asking and answering three elementary questions. What is being said? Is it true? What of it?
Fool’s Talk by Os Guinness
'Thinking Christianly' is thinking by Christians about anything and everything in a consistently Christian way — in a manner that is shaped, directed, and restrained by the truth of God's Word and God's Spirit.
Os Guinness
The story of Christian reformation, revival, and renaissance underscores that the darkest hour is often just before the dawn, so we should always be people of hope and prayer, not gloom and defeatism. God the Holy Spirit can turn the situation around in five minutes.
Os Guinness
…life in the advanced, modern world raises the nagging thought that we have too much to live with and too little to live for.
Fool’s Talk by Os Guinness
…we cannot escape the fact that our thinking at any moment may always be wrong, and we may always need to grow and mature, so we should never rest on our present thinking, and we should always be open to challenge.
Fool’s Talk by Os Guinness
As Pascal observed, when God addresses our human hearts, there is always enough light for those who desire to see, yet enough obscurity for those who do not wish to see.
Fool’s Talk by Os Guinness
