A retired couple in my congregation told me about the time they attended a high school reunion, and their classmates, now all retired, each took turns sharing what they were doing with their lives. The sharing went all the way around the circle, and not a single person mentioned anything about serving the Lord. PerhapsContinue reading “How to avoid assimilation and follow Jesus – Characters: Daniel, Part 5”
Tag Archives: characters
How much should we let our Christianity show? – Characters: Daniel, Part 4
In this series of posts on Daniel and his friends, we’ve been talking about assimilation. How much should Christians allow themselves to assimilate with their surrounding culture? What areas of ethics matter, and which don’t? It’s not always easy to know. One way people seek to answer this question is about process. Do the endsContinue reading “How much should we let our Christianity show? – Characters: Daniel, Part 4”
How teens and adults can respond to peer pressure – Characters: Daniel, Part 3
How do you handle societal pressure? Whether you are a teenager facing peer pressure at school, perhaps to try drugs and alcohol, or whether you are an adult tempted to misreport your taxes, there are multitudes of pressures in life, pressures to turn away from living in a way that is honorable to Jesus. WillContinue reading “How teens and adults can respond to peer pressure – Characters: Daniel, Part 3”
Should Christians change their views on morality as their society changes? – Characters: Daniel, Part 2
Is it okay for Christians to update their views on ethics and morality? Can we innovate our stance on traditional theology? There’s no doubt that American society has been heavily influenced by Christianity, and still is in large part, but as our societal views change, can we adapt Christianity to fall more in line withContinue reading “Should Christians change their views on morality as their society changes? – Characters: Daniel, Part 2”
Is the American melting pot disastrous for Christians? – Characters: Daniel, Part 1
In February 1887 President Grover Cleveland signed into law the Dawes Act which sought to assimilate Native Americans into the culture of the United States. It didn’t go well. Indians ended up losing 62% of the land they held before 1887. There remains much debate about how much people should assimilate into American culture. ForContinue reading “Is the American melting pot disastrous for Christians? – Characters: Daniel, Part 1”
Why this is not an underdog story – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 4
I’ve been saying all along in this series of posts looking at the story of David and Goliath that this is not an underdog story. I didn’t come up with that idea on my own. I’m indebted to the work of Malcolm Gladwell in his book David & Goliath. Gladwell notes that scholars who haveContinue reading “Why this is not an underdog story – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 4”
Is your view of life upside-down? – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 3
Have you ever been in a situation where you were convinced you were right, but ultimately found out you were wrong? It can be shocking when that happens. We tend to go about life trusting our intuition, our viewpoint, and when we are believing something we think is so obvious, only to discover that weContinue reading “Is your view of life upside-down? – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 3”
Distraction from the main thing – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 2
Have you ever had this happen: you’re in the office drafting an email about an rather tricky interpersonal relationship in your company, and you have a flash of brilliance. You’re about to solve the problem. As you’re typing your thoughts, the phone rings. You answer it, and the call lasts for a few minutes. That’sContinue reading “Distraction from the main thing – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 2”
Do you have crippling fear? – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 1
What seemingly impossible situations are you facing? What is causing you fear? What keeps you up at night? What gives you an upset stomach? Fear is a powerful force that affects so many of us. Fear of losing our health. Fear of losing control. Fear of poverty. Fear of death. In our Characters series, weContinue reading “Do you have crippling fear? – Characters: David & Goliath, Part 1”
A possible key to unlock healing in your broken life – Characters: Ruth, Part 5
In Part 4 of our study through the ancient Hebrew story of Ruth, we watched as Ruth makes a most unusual proposal to Boaz. If you are just jumping into the story here at the end, I urge you to start at the beginning, as the drama has been building. This Part 5 will beContinue reading “A possible key to unlock healing in your broken life – Characters: Ruth, Part 5”
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