Posts with the category “this-is-true”

When Hearing Alone Is Not EnoughActs 15:6 The early church gathered because the issue before them was too important — and too complex — for individual discernment. The text simply says, “So the apostles and elders met to consider this question.” It is a remarkably humble line. These were apostles. Men who walked with Jesus. Leaders filled with the Spirit. And yet they did not trust themselves alon...  Read More

When Truth Becomes a Weapon: Recovering Humility in a Culture of CertaintyINTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPEN:  Share a moment when you were absolutely convinced you w...  Read More

Open Hands in a Closed-Fist WorldJohn 8:10–11The story in John 8 ends quietly. The stones fall. The accusers walk away. The woman stands alone before Christ — vulnerable, exposed, waiting for judgment that doesn’t come. Jesus looks at her with the gentlest question: “Where are they?” And then, with breathtaking mercy: “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”Truth and grace me...  Read More

The Gentle Mind of ChristPhilippians 2:5“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”Paul’s invitation is not a call to adopt new ideas but to inhabit a new posture. The mind of Christ is not marked by arrogance or certainty, but by self-giving humility. Christ releases status. Christ relinquishes privilege. Christ refuses to operate from superiority. Christ moves toward others — even...  Read More

Seeing Through a Dim Mirror1 Corinthians 13:12Paul’s words about seeing “through a glass dimly” are both humbling and liberating. They remind us that no matter how much we study, pray, or engage with Scripture, our understanding is always partial. This is not a flaw in the Christian life but an essential part of it. God is infinite; we are not. Our knowing is always dependent, contingent, and inco...  Read More

The Stones We HoldJohn 8:7There is a quiet but sobering truth in the story of the woman caught in adultery: everyone in that moment is holding something. The Pharisees hold stones — symbols of certainty, judgment, and justified anger. The woman holds shame. The crowd holds curiosity, maybe even fear. But Jesus holds none of these. He bends down into the dust, the posture of someone utterly unthrea...  Read More

The Truth We Tell: How Story Shapes SeeingINTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPEN:  Think of a story from your childhood, family, or past that has shaped you in some way —...  Read More

The Story God Is Still WritingPhilippians 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” One of the quiet fears many Christians carry is that their story is not “good enough” to tell. It feels incomplete, unresolved, or too ordinary. But Scripture teaches us that testimony is not the celebration of finished lives — it is the celebration of a faithful God in the midst of unfi...  Read More

The Courage to Tell the Truth About YourselfScripture: Psalm 51:6 “Surely You desire truth in the inward being.” Testimony is not only about telling the truth about God; it is also about telling the truth about ourselves. One reason stories are powerful is because they are honest. Another reason they are difficult is because they are honest. We often fear our weaknesses becoming visible. We fear b...  Read More

Your Life Is a Testimony Being WrittenActs 4:19–20 Peter and John stand before authorities who hold religious power, legal power, and social power. Everything in the moment suggests silence. Yet their response is simple and courageous: “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” They do not offer a theological treatise. They do not propose a philosophical defense. They testify. Th...  Read More

The Stories We Trust Shape the World We SeeLuke 24:30–31 The Emmaus disciples walked beside Jesus, talked with Jesus, listened to Jesus — and yet they could not see Him. Their grief, disappointment, and shattered expectations formed a story that made recognition impossible. We often assume truth is blocked by ignorance, but Scripture shows it is often blocked by the stories we trust. Before Jesus ...  Read More

When Truth Speaks Your NameJohn 20:14–16 Mary Magdalene stands in the garden, heart broken, vision blurred by tears, surrounded by uncertainty. The world as she knew it has shattered. She stands at the tomb looking for information, trying to make sense of what she sees. But truth does not come to her as clarity or explanation. Instead, it comes as a voice. A person. Someone who speaks her name. “M...  Read More

Algorithms of Belief: How Attention Economics Shapes TruthINTRODUCTION:  The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPEN:  Share an example of a time when the internet surprised you by “knowing...  Read More

Freedom in a Fragmented WorldJohn 8:31–32 “If you abide in my word… you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus does not say we will be set free by:more informationclearer argumentspolitical victoriesperfect certaintywinning debates He says freedom comes from abiding — from staying, dwelling, remaining in His word. To abide is to refuse spiritual hurry.To abide is to resist fr...  Read More

The Soul Becomes What It Beholds2 Corinthians 3:18 “We all… beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed.” Gregory of Nyssa wrote in the 4th century:“The soul becomes what it beholds.” Modern neuroscience agrees. What you repeatedly expose your mind to literally reshapes your neural pathways. Attention becomes architecture. This is why repetition is the mother of formation. The things yo...  Read More

Be Careful How You HearLuke 8:18 “Therefore consider carefully how you listen.” Jesus didn’t say, “Be careful what you listen to,” though that matters.He said, “Be careful how.” We tend to assume hearing is passive — that whatever enters our ears simply becomes information. But Jesus teaches that spiritual hearing is selective, interpretive, shaped by desire, story, wounds, loves, and fears. In co...  Read More

The Battle for AttentionProverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” If this proverb were written today, it might read:“Above all else, guard your attention.” In Hebrew thought, the heart (lev) was the seat of desire, imagination, and decision. It included what we today call “the mind.” Everything a person loved, feared, valued, and believed was rooted in ...  Read More

The Crisis of Knowing: Why Truth Feels FracturedINTRODUCTION: The following is a guide to help facilitate discussion between you and the person you’re studying with or with your Connect Group. Feel free to add, subtract, or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPEN:  Think of a time when you were absolutely certain something was true — and later d...  Read More

Embodied Truth & Epistemic HumilityMicah 6:8; John 8:31–32Truth in Scripture is never just something to believe. It is always something to become.Jesus says, “If you hold to my teaching… then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Notice the order:Follow Me.Live My way.Then you’ll understand. Christian knowing flows from Christian living.The Hebrew prophets understood this long...  Read More

Deconstructing Certainty, Reconstructing Trust1 Corinthians 8:1–3; 1 Corinthians 13:12 Certainty feels safe. Uncertainty feels scary. So we spend much of our lives clinging to what we can control: information, arguments, opinions, positions, labels. But Paul says something radical:“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Knowledge alone creates spiritual inflation. Only love creates spiritual for...  Read More

Stories Shape SeeingPsalm 119:105; Luke 24:13–35When Jesus rose from the dead, He didn’t appear to the disciples with a lecture, a doctrinal outline, or a bullet-point list. He met two discouraged travelers and did something deeply epistemological. He re-narrated their story. He told them the Scriptures again — but this time as the story that pointed to Him. And only after the story was reinterpre...  Read More

How We Know What We Know Proverbs 18:17; James 1:19One of the most important spiritual disciplines in our age is slowing down long enough to ask:“How did I come to believe what I believe?” We often assume our beliefs are the product of intelligence or logic — when in reality, they are shaped by:the family we grew up inthe community that formed usthe sources we trustour emotional historythe stories...  Read More

Truth as Revelation, Not CertaintyJohn 14:6; John 18:37–38The question “What is truth?” isn’t new. Pilate’s voice echoes through time, weary and suspicious, shaped by power struggles and political pressure. His question sounds like modern people scrolling endlessly, skeptical of everything and trusting nothing. When Jesus responds, He doesn’t give an explanation.He gives Himself. “I am the way, th...  Read More

We are living in a time when truth feels harder to find than ever. Between the noise of the internet, the pace of cultural change, and the polarization of our communities, many of us feel the weight of not knowing what to trust — or even how to think about truth anymore. We scroll, we listen, we react, and yet clarity often feels just out of reach. Whether you’ve felt confused, overwhelmed, frustr...  Read More