This week don’t miss two articles by Eric over at Boundless.org. Oddly enough they’re about discernment…something we just happen to be talking about at Na this year. (Coincidence?)
Part 1
Part 2
At the beginning of the article Eric says, “A few years ago I had a series of conversations with people in the church I have the joy to help pastor. When I would talk about gray matters with them, and ask them why they did or didn't do something, their response was often the same: "That's just my conviction." When I would challenge them about how they came to that conviction they usually didn't know. They had a "conviction" or practice that often wasn't rooted in Scripture.
“Does Scripture address R-Rated movies? Music styles? Not directly. But God has provided principles in his Word to help us discern how to live, what to choose, and what to reject. We need principles from Scripture to inform how our practice of living.”
In the articles Eric lays out five principles of biblical. They’re simple enough that you might be able to actually remember them when you’re faced with a tough decision.
• Imitate God
• Distrust your heart
• Think biblically
• Involve others
• Decide to worship
In fact, these principles are so basic that even I remembered them…
A few weeks ago I was faced with one of those major career decisions that kind of tend to set the direction of your life. Everything seemed gray and fuzzy and unclear. But the truth from God’s word in these messages was like a flashlight in a dark room.
I walked through the five principles Eric gave. Here’s the cliff notes version: I asked myself,
_“Would taking this job help me imitate God?” Is this going to help me reflect God’s character of being selfless and use the gifts he’s given me?
_“Am I thinking biblically?” More often than not I found myself tending to act based on my emotions. I had to fight to root my thinking in God’s word.
_“Am I involving others in this decision?” I had to get counsel, lots of it. And not just from people who’d tell me what I wanted to hear but from people I knew would challenge me.
_“Am I distrusting my heart?” Somewhere along the way I realized that I was assuming all my motives were angelic and pure. I had to do the hard work of rooting out my selfishness and pride and selfish ambition.
_”Will deciding to take this job be an act of worship to God?” I realized that the decision wasn’t about me or what I wanted. It was about glorifying God.
And what started out as a really fuzzy decision became more and more clear. (Funny how that happens when we go to God’s word.)
There’s even way more good stuff in the original Graymatters messages. You can grab them from the ONE ministry archives:
Why?
Imitate
Distrust
Think
Involve
Decide
And speaking of our friends at Boundless.org…we were encouraged by reading a recent blog by Suzanne Hadley, one of the writers for Boundless, who attended the Na conference for the first time last year and recently reflected on her time there. Last year at the conference she wrote,
“Saturated. That is how I would describe my state of mind having passed through my first 24 hours of New Attitude. I have always loved 1 Timothy 4:12, where Paul encourages the young man to not let people look down on him because he is young. The 2,500 attendees of New Attitude embody a bold answer to that call. There is an urgency here — in everything from worship to witnessing on the plane to conversations with friends — that is often missing in young people.”
Read the rest of her reflection here.
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