Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Page 2 of 6

Spiritual Muscle Confusion

Published on July 20, 2010 by Chris Bean in Campus Ministry, discipleship, Faith and Uncategorized.

As I was sitting in a campus ministry training seminar today with my CCO peers, we were discussing ways in which theology should inform our understanding and application of the Gospel.

Faith & Repentance are the mechanisms by which we grow. Our guest speaker, David Kim from Gotham Fellowship in New York City (out of Redeemer Presbyterian Church w/ Tim Keller) pointed out that sanctification is the process by which we become more like Christ.

For some reason, images of Tony Horton and flashbacks of P90X workouts popped into my head. Tony calls it “muscle confusion.” That’s why those P90X workouts have so much variety and a 90-day rotation system. To make a muscle grow, you must force it to encounter resistance and in every-increasing doses. In addition to that, varying your routine keeps the muscle from becoming comfortable with a particular movement which results in a plateau.

This can certainly happen within the context of our sanctification and spiritual growth. Unless we are continually coming to a place of faith & repentance, the stream of our spiritual life becomes stagnant. Stagnant water stinks. There’s no flow…direction…energy.

Just a couple of evenings ago, I set aside some time for prayer and repentance. Over the past few months, for a variety of reasons, my sense of God’s presence and my own willingness to engage the Scriptures and prayer had become quite weak. This very lesson was being spoken to me by the Spirit and thankfully I responded (this time). The extent to which that time of prayer on Sunday evening restored my soul and transformed my mind continues to surprise me. In describing the experience to a friend, I likened it to the feeling of responding to God at a Thursday night youth camp service…when you walk away from a time of prayer and repentance feeling about 50 lbs lighter!

In order to continue a trajectory of spiritual growth…we must continually engage our faith muscles and do the heavy lifting of repentance.

Comments: 0 Comments | Tags:

Book #5: The Search for God and Guinness

Published on April 26, 2010 by Chris Bean in Uncategorized.

My purpose in reading and posting about this book is not to promote a stout beer but a stout faith!

The story of Arthur Guinness and his faith is one that could inspire anyone to search for the secret of integrating vocation, calling, and work. As I disciple college students, one of the values I hope to instill in them is a grand vision for integrating faith with their academic and vocational pursuits.

For the past 250 years, members of the Guinness family have pursued various careers in brewing, banking, ministry/missions, etc. What most encourages me from their story is the redemptive use of wealth and commitment to leverage their passion and their lives for the benefit of others.

I began reading this book while flying to Atlanta for a marathon last month and nearly finished it on the plane. Even as I often see something as so-called  “secular” as running to be a spiritual endeavor, I was certainly challenged to think about brewing beer as a calling and a craft. This is probably not hard to believe given my own view of coffee, espresso, and hospitality.  Here are a few lines from the book which especially caught my attention:

“They did not see themselves as secular, but rather as called.”

“It seems that Patrick [Saint] understood godly hospitality and captured many an Irish tribal chieftain with his tasty beer before he won the man for God.”

“…the firm promised to hold the job of any man who enlisted in the armed forces and to pay him half his salary while he served.”

This last statement is one of hundreds of examples of corporate responsibility which Guinness pioneered from the early days. From providing health care, housing, financial assistance, and many other services during the most devastating times in Dublin, the brewery set amazingly high standards for the treatment of employees and their families.

Mansfield’s book tells a great story of faith and craft while inspiring one to search more carefully for God in his/her vocation as well.

Comments: 0 Comments | Tags:

The Nature of Church

Published on April 11, 2010 by Chris Bean in Uncategorized.

This particular Sunday morning found me experiencing a couple of different expressions of church. Although they were both pretty large gatherings, the style of worship was quite different as was their impact on me personally and spiritually.

At the first worship gathering, I saw some old friends and connected with people in a way that was familiar, comfortable, etc. Since I was meeting up with a student and his mom, it was also a great opportunity to build relationships and connect with someone that I am discipling. During that service, the pastor brought some challenging and inspirational thoughts about ‘church’ from Hebrews 10. Interestingly, embedded in this passage is a set of verses which I’ve been recently trying to commit to memory.

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts psrinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

These couple of verses (vv.22-23 of chapter 10) have been part of my “freedom journey” over the past few weeks as I continue the process of living completely in the awareness of God’s grace and not out of any ability to live righteously on my own.

But the encouraging words the pastor shared today emphasized what we can experience as church based on the reconciling and priestly work Christ finished on the cross for us. A priest builds a bridge between people and God. And Jesus did that once and for all so that we have direct access (in the context of community) to God. This access doesn’t legitimize the individual attempt to live a life of faith, but should increase our awareness of what it means to belong to one another IN Christ.

Often times, pastors come across as desperately trying to convince people to come to church for trivial reasons:

  • for the sake of numbers
  • or to sustain the church financially
  • perhaps to feed the pastor’s ego for “success”
  • etc

But this morning I heard a passionate and scriptural call for believers to be engaged in the community of faith. It’s a two-way street. We don’t just go to church for what we can get out of it, or because we desperately need it even. And in fact, when we think of it in terms of “going to church” we’ve already betrayed a lack of understanding in what it means to BE the church…to intimately BELONG with a group of people who share in this transforming journey of relationship to God through faith in Christ.

Comments: 0 Comments | Tags: