Deep-End Discipleship

Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth. This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God’s presence. – 1 John 3:18-19 – “I love you.” These three little words can be so powerful. Hearing it from a parent, friend, or mentor can encourage you and lift up your mood if you’re having a rough day. Hearing it from a crush or significant other can bring a smile to your face and makes you feel happy inside. But how would you feel if someone said “I love you,” but never acted in love towards you? Would you believe them if they never did acts of love or simply ignored you? As Christians we say we love everyone because Jesus loves everyone. Jesus did not just say that he loved people, but he demonstrated an act of love by dying for their sins and rising from the dead for their new life. Jesus displayed his love for people throughout his life with acts such as healing, teaching, and relationship building. W...

“ Answer me when I cry out, my righteous God! Set me free from my troubles! Have mercy on me! Listen to my prayer!” - Psalm 4:1 CEB - We so want to be seen, noticed and heard! I think about all the ways we put ourselves out there – from finding just the right Instagram photo, continually looking for a witty Twitter statement, and even the ways we work to maintain a Snapchat streak. There is something about knowing who has paid attention to us that feels so fulfilling. Even our phones tell us when someone has read our text message. The same goes with our connection and faith in God. We wonder if God hears us. We want to know when God will read our message. We wait for God to respond. The book of Psalms are filled with authors that express similar longing through the poems written down as Scripture. Many of the psalms are attributed to King David who both knew personal intimacy with God as well as the deep despair of separation and disconnection with God. Psalm 4 sta...

“Little children, I’m writing to you because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus’ name. Parents, I’m writing to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. Young people, I’m writing to you because you have conquered the evil one. Little children, I write to you because you know the Father. Parents, I write to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. Young people, I write to you because you are strong, the word of God remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.” 1 John 2: 12-14 Sometimes we can feel limited because of our age. Maybe people tell us “you’re too young to do that, or think that.” Maybe we assume that people think less of us because of our age. This is something that I have thought about a lot in my life and especially when I started working in youth ministry. I kept thinking, how am I supposed to teach people about God when I am still young and learning so much myself? I would get caught...

Peter said, “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” - Acts 10:34-35 CEB – When my brother and I were kids, our parents had us on a routine for each day of the week. For instance, on Sundays we would go to Sunday School, attend service, go to lunch, come home, take a nap, and then have some kind of family game or activity. We all enjoyed this routine because we all love naps.   So we were shocked one day when we got home from Sunday lunch and our parents saw us going to our rooms and said, “What are you doing!? Get back in the car!” We were very perplexed children as we rode into the city and parked next to the Fabulous Fox Theater for a musical in Atlanta. We were shocked and thrilled. Peter received a shock from God in the book of Acts. Through dreams from God, Peter learned that the Gospel was not only for Jews, but for t...