Steve's Journal for April 27, 2024
* Something to think about
* It never feels good not to be wanted
* Hurry up and wait
* A spring poem
* Things I like -- links, songs, books, and more!
* April Summary of content
I read this recently
"If other people's way of thinking remains completely foreign to us, we will inevitably become overly defensive, angry, or discouraged when trying to speak to them...[by] trading in the humble boldness that Christ has called us to, the Christian [often] chooses to either live out a private faith or an angry faith. And our witness is rarely effective when we're fearful of and angry at the people we're supposed to be reaching."
– Joshua D. Chatraw, Telling a Better Story, 25-26, italics and bold mine)
Ouch. That's good...and convicting. How often do we live out our Christian lives as either "private Christians" or "angry Christians" when we sent out to be "grace-filled Christians."
I think the best way to move beyond both private and angry Christianity is to make the effort to know and understand people better. I mean, making the effort to know and understand the kinds of people who aren't carbon copies of ourselves and don't agree with us on everything.
That's hard to do...but I think the rewards might be worth the effort.
