Life at the intersection of Grace and Growth.
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We all have friends, and we all know what it’s like when friendship goes wrong. Today, in a bonus episode, we’re doing our first ever Apprenticeship Way interview with Mary DeMuth who has just written a book called The Seven Deadly Friendships. I want to introduce you to Mary because I think she’s someone you should know, and her book may prove helpful to you.
Scripture was the foundation that kept Jesus centered. If we want to walk as Jesus walked, then scripture has to be foundational for us as well. It is a primary resource for staying connected to God’s voice.
Very often, the main obstacle to a fresh experience of the Bible is our own past experience.
People with very little experience often feel intimidated, or confused, like they don’t know their way around. People who grew up on the Bible often end up jaded, feeling like they already know all the stories and their meaning.
In either case, our past experience limits our access to what God wants to do with this ancient text that is living and active. These 5 recommendations can help restore a sense of vibrancy in your experience of scripture.
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You want peace. I want peace. We need to quiet those shrieking monkeys we talked about last episode. But how do we do it? Will God give us peace if we ask? What if the obstacle to peace isn’t outside of us, or even in better prayers or spiritual practices. What if the obstacle is inside our own hearts and minds?
I grew up in a church community where God’s will was a tangible thing. God’s hand rested heavy on the world in our view of things, and we had our part to play in God’s mission.
So, discovering God’s will for our lives was crucial. What a waste it would be, we worried, to live one’s life and find out when all was said and done, that we had been outside of God’s will! A reasonable fear.
Of course, certain aspects of God’s will were crystal clear. Murder, and lying, even disobeying parents were outside of God’s will.
Our particular tribe had a few addendums: It wasn’t God’s will to drink alcohol, or go to movies, or for boys and girls to be alone together until they got married!
As I grew up, conversations about God’s will expanded to include significant life decisions. Who to date, then who to marry. What college to go to. What major to take. Where to move. If you wanted to please God with your life, it could become quite stressful trying to sort through all the possibilities.
For some of the more sensitive among us, it could be guilt-inducing too! There were always folks in the community who talked about their iron-clad sense of God’s will for their lives. But what if you didn’t feel that way? What then? Was it because you weren’t listening? Maybe you weren’t praying in the right way? Were you sinning, and now God was leaving you to your own devices?
Yikes. Looking back, I’m sad at how much stress we piled on top of good people who just wanted to please God. Have you felt any of this?
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If you’re like me, you’ve got a busy mind, always rushing on to the next thing; full of ideas, plans, questions, fears, and irritations. Or maybe your thoughts are constantly caught up in worry about the future, or maybe regrets from the past? Or do you find swirling anxiety cluttering your head? Well, all that noise is an obstacle in your life and your pursuit of Jesus. It’s time to tell your monkeys to be quiet.
