Positive Alternatives

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24–25

Dear Friends in Christ,

In my previous message, I wrote about the things in our culture that we need to turn off to better form and shape our hearts and minds as Christians and to lead intentionally Christian lives. But what should we turn on? What is the positive alternative? With what should we fill our hearts and minds, and how?

The standard answers might seem trite and weak by comparison. But with intentionality, the basic practices of the Christian life can be engaging and life-giving. For instance, prayer and reading scripture and Christian fellowship. We can put down the phone and turn off the chatter around us, and we can fill that time with intentional connection with God. Think of it like an intentional date night with a spouse (only, be sure to have this date every day!). Prayer is time with God, both bringing to God those things on our hearts, but also listening to God in response. We can ask “Lord, what do you see in my boss,” or my friend, or my sister? “How would you both stand for the truth and love her at the same time?” We can ask for God’s wisdom about our classes or our jobs or our families. We can sit in silence, opening ourselves to receive God’s love for us, even (and especially if) we’ve neglected God. For God doesn’t want to zap us; God wants us to return to him, to be close to him. And we will find blessing in his embrace.

To train ourselves to have compassion for our enemies (those we know and those in the news), pray for them, seek to arouse compassion for them. This is not an exercise in excuse making—they may be doing truly horrible things. But can we pray for their renewal, for their good as well as the good of others? Paul was an enemy of the church before he became its greatest evangelist. What can your adversaries become in God’s hands?

We can read scripture in part to learn the stories and remember the theology. But we can ask God hard questions about what we read, seeking deeper understanding. We can look for grace in God’s judgment, and justice in God’s mercy. Read the psalms and use the psalms to express the prayers on your heart. And listen to what the psalms say about God in so many different circumstances.

And we can read scripture together. Fellowship with other faithful, godly people can be life-giving. We can gather to build each other up in the love of God. We can encourage each other in being more faithful, and acting more faithfully. With laughter and understanding, we can pick each other up when we stumble, and practice forgiveness and repentance and reconciliation. The Christian community—the church—is that primary place where we seek to live intentionally Christian lives together. And in so doing, we train ourselves to live faithfully in the world.

How else do you train your heart and mind to live an intentionally Christian life?

Yours in Christ,

-Tom