Attitude Shirts and the Kingdom Life

You have seen them around. Sometimes they are called “attitude shirts.” They openly broadcast to the world what not everybody verbalizes but what an awful lot of people have going on inside them. Search Google or Bing Images or sample a few of these:

For They Will See God

 Recently, I have found my thinking evolving about one of Jesus’ Beatitudes, his Kingdom Attitudes. And it is this one: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

I think many of us read that and think, “they will see God…some day...in heaven”  Years ago I thought that. And then my study of the Beatitudes convinced me they are all about the kingdom coming now.  And then, I think a lot of us just don’t really think about what “see God” means. We just hear the beatitude as an encouragement to keep our hearts pure or to let God keep purifying our hearts.

Changing the Way We Think about Everything

This is Monday morning, Memorial Day in the United States. As you have probably seen we posted a special Memorial Day weekend article a couple of days ago and several have made some thoughtful comments about it. This is a bit of an unusual topic for this blog and some may wonder if it is really appropriate.

Here is my thinking: The Kingdom of God changes the way we think about everything or at least it should. It should change the way I think about my multiple sclerosis, my possessions, my relationships, my anxieties, my citizenship, and my enemies. The list goes on and on.

In none of these cases should I be squeezed into the world’s mold or go with the flow, but in all cases, my mind should be transformed by the mind of Jesus. Will that sometimes—even many times—make me an alien and stranger in this world? Absolutely. But that is the way of Jesus, and the only way for us to shine like stars in the universe.

As the discussion continues on the original post I would encourage you to follow it and to enter in, but, of course, in the Spirit of Jesus, keep it kind and respectful. Please do not add comments to this post, but go back to the first post. God bless.

Some Uncommon Memorial Day Thoughts

This Memorial Day Weekend we reprint some appropriate thoughts from another writer:

On this Memorial Day, what if we not only remember American soldiers but all the soldiers around the world who have lost their lives? And not only soldiers, but all the innocent civilians caught and killed as well? What if we remember that we are all mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, family, and friends? That we are more family than strangers? What if we took our identity seriously, that we are all made in the image of God? What if we renew our “us vs. them” mindset to instead think “we are like them, and they are like us”?

I Should Have Known

When I went out for a morning prayer "walk" around my neighborhood this last week and prayed some specific prayers, I felt quite surrendered. I did not think I was in any sense giving a demand to God or requiring him to do anything my way (as if that would have worked any way). At the same time, I probably thought I had at least some idea how he might chose to get things done. 

US Becoming a Lot Less Christian

I expect many of you have seen this headline all over the Internet today. The famous Pew Research firm released the results of 35,000 interviews with Americans and discovered that the number of people in United States identifying themselves as Christians could be said to have dropped nearly 9% between 2007 and 2014. I guess the sky is falling!

Cruise Control

I live in a small Tennessee city outside of Nashville where cars have been manufactured by GM for the last twenty-five years. My friend, Chris, has worked in that plant as an engineer since it first opened. The job brought him here so he could become a follower of Jesus. I'm not sure anyone told the corporate office in Detroit about that part.