Enriched Affections

My latest morning live session gave some insights into my own experience with Christian Deconstruction. If you aren’t familiar with this phraseology, think of it like tearing down a house in order to see what the foundation is made of. Many Christians go through this process once they are confronted with a crisis of adversity or prosperity. Jesus spoke about this directly in his parable of the different soils in Matthew 13. While only one of the plants in this parable bore fruit and proved to be genuine, two others looked like legit plants until they were confronted with trials, adversity, or the pleasures of this world. When those came around they were shown to be what they were, a fake plant. Personally, I went through this deconstruction process at the end of 2017. I was very suddenly without a spouse, job, or church. My roles of husband, pastor, ministry leader, and churchman were removed and I was left to consider what my faith really rested on. Was it based on what I wa

No Condemnation. That was the theme from today's time in the word. It was strange to go live in front of... 2 people? I was just glad to teach again. I love the lesson planning and study. Teaching others always causes me to know my subject matter more deeply. I'm not sure what will come of these times together on Wed. morning, but I'll leave that in God's hands as I take it a week at a time. In case you missed it, I was mostly in the book of Romans after a singing "Come Ye Sinners". That song is a great reminder of the grace of God and that He calls us just as we are: weak, weary, sick, and sore. Jesus is the one that saves us, not our works. If we try to save ourselves then we'll never come to Him at all. Praise God that He has done the work of salvation! As we think about God's grace, there is always the temptation to rely too much on it. I don't mean at all that we shouldn't trust in grace alone for our salvation. I more mean that we