One Word: Shalom
God cares about urban decay and slum housing. Shalom invites me into genuine sacrifice, relationship, and advocacy. Shalom says my neighbors’ burdens and concerns are my own.
God cares about urban decay and slum housing. Shalom invites me into genuine sacrifice, relationship, and advocacy. Shalom says my neighbors’ burdens and concerns are my own.
Rather than a pat-myself-on-the-back moment, this was a stoop-lower opportunity. I was acutely aware that feeding Mary or offering someone dignity through a smile or learning their name or advocating for the homeless is really not about charity or me changing the world as much as it is about obedience to the gospel.
Biblical compassion must not be mistaken for a sad feeling that passes once the intensity of the tragedy has subsided. True “Splagchnizomai” (compassion) moves us to action.
Why did God call me to start my family through adoption? Why did He call me to start a nonprofit that mobilizes the church to live out James 1:27, ” True devotion to God is caring for orphans and widows in their distress”? He delights to see the adopted church be His hands and feet– to bring more into the family of God.
Reading an interview with Pastor Eugene Cho, in which he discussed his new book Overrated, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. The interview called out the American Church, with Eugene saying that we were on pace to become “the most overrated generation in human history.” His reasoning? We have access to so much data, info, resources, modes of communication, but we end up doing so little.
We at STG believe we should strive to preach the gospel to ourselves daily in an effort to quiet the enemies in our minds, so we can listen to Jesus in our hearts. Our goal is purely share how we replace negative self talk with Biblical truths. After stumbling across Jen Hatmaker’s “Interrupted”, we love that it is a narrative of a family who asked the hard questions of church once they admitted to the tensions they felt in their lives.
Welcome to our Friday Faves! In case you missed it, here is a collection of content we found online this week that we thought you might enjoy. Although we won’t always endorse or agree with everything you see here, we would love to provoke your thoughts. Enjoy!
Last month it was announced that the most beautiful woman in 2014, is a woman of color. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but as I listened to the news reportings on this, Lupita Nyong’o shared that her journey along the way wasn’t easy.