May 3
God’s greatest goal, his unrelenting aim and passion, is to form Christ in us. (Gray, Derwin “The Good Life” pg. 53)
Day 69 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. AP News actually ran an honest look at the conflict in Ukraine. Click here to see the true images of this horrible human catastrophe, a completely unnecessary conflict, destroying thousands of lives, tearing apart families, and testing our humanity.
I honestly do not understand why we make life so hard. On one side of this precious planet, we see Russia invading Ukraine and killing or leading their own soldiers to a slaughter. Then on this side of the planet, we see the idolatry of fame and fashion on full display as the MET Gala returns to the entertainment spotlight. What a crazy world we live in. When one part of the world is fighting for survival every minute of every day, we live in a country where we take nearly all our freedoms for granted. As Dr. Derwin Gray writes in the line above, “God’s greatest goal…is to form Christ in us.” Do we even understand what that looks like, to form Christ in us? To be honest, looking around the world today, I would say ‘no.’ In America alone, we see things like the price of mortgages and rent skyrocketing, forcing families out of their homes, all in the pursuit of greed from investors, property owners, everyone trying to extort this insane housing market. And yet no one does anything to end this atrocity. And again, we look at the other side of the planet, where hundreds of Russians and Ukrainians are dying for no good reason, whose homes are being permanently destroyed, yet what does this side of the world do to help aid or alleviate this conflict? Our response is minimal. We ship weapons and say “good luck.” We might donate some money to a good cause. And then there are those who have allowed Christ to live in their heart. Those brave few are actively volunteering in that conflict as you read this.
I had an epiphany yesterday while reading Chapter Six of Dr. Derwin Gray’s wonderful read, “The Good Life.” We will discuss Chapter Six next week, but those pages made me realize that I have been focusing too much of my free time reading and studying the writings of these amazing authors and not nearly enough time doing the work required of me as a follower of Jesus. That being said, I am altering our reading list one final time for 2022. “The Good Life” will continue to be our May read, followed by “How to Heal Our Racial Divide,” but that will be our SUMMER reading, which I am going to stretch out over the months of June, July, and August to be able to share more of this book with y’all. Then we will be reading the classic work “Mere Christianity” by CS Lewis in September, October, and November. We’ll take the month of December off, then in 2023, we’ll tackle the Gnostic and Apocrypha Gospels.
I will continue to get on here as often as possible, but in order to let God form Christ in me, I need to get out and be the hands and feet much more often. There’s an endless supply of work to be done, and I’ve spent enough time this year in the safety of my comfort bubble. Time to get out and do some good work.
The soundtrack for living a more righteous life continues to improve and is never ending. This new track from Colton Dixon is a great single to get you up and moving. Click below and enjoy!
Common Sense Reborn 