The Only Way To Truly Live

Must read from Slice of Infinity titled Who Am I:

Regardless of what we may have been told, the way of Jesus is ultimately the way of the Cross. Signing up with Christ won't give you worldly benefits, but all the forms of suffering that arise from carrying one's cross. As we proclaim in our religiously pluralistic context that Christ is supreme over all other gods of this world, we need to be reminded that his supremacy and victory cannot be divorced from the heavy price that he paid.

Often, like Peter, we tend to expect a Lord who fits our preconceptions or ideas--perhaps one who is always "successful," or one who is validated by signs and wonders. Even the disciples were not spared this temptation. All of their questions about who would sit at his right hand and what one would secure from discipleship reveal that they were expecting glory as they walked with the Son. Their expectations likely did not include getting killed.

However, as they soon learned, any commitment to Christ that does not feature the Cross is merely devotion to an idol, for following Christ is costly. For some, following will mean death itself. It will mean taking up the Cross. It will mean living beyond our comfort zone. It may mean you will have to leave the country you call home. It will mean stepping out in love and conviction and perhaps undertaking a calling that many will scorn. Choosing to call Jesus the Christ may mean losing our lives, but then, this is the only way to truly live.

- I'Ching Thomas

By Its Cover

Jill Carattini, the senior associate writer at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, writes:

In a recent study included in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine children were shown to overwhelmingly prefer the taste of food that comes in McDonald's wrappers. The study had preschoolers sample identical foods in packaging from McDonald's and in matched, but unbranded, packaging. The kids were then asked if the food tasted the same or if one tasted better. The unmarked foods lost the taste test every time. Even apple juice, carrots, and milk tasted better to the kids when taken from the familiar wrappings of the Golden Arches. "This study demonstrates simply and elegantly that advertising literally brainwashes young children into a baseless preference for certain food products," said a physician from Yale's School of Medicine. "Children, it seems, literally do judge a food by its cover. And they prefer the cover they know."

The most startling thing about the study with the preschoolers is how clearly we can see that a carrot in a McDonald's bag is still inherently a carrot. Yet how often are we similarly blindsided by mere wrappings? Is the mistake of a child in believing the food tastes better in a yellow wrapper really any different than our own believing we are better people dressed with the right credentials, covered by the latest fashion, or wrapped in the right theology? Covered in whatever comforts us, or completely stripped of our many wrappings, we are the same people underneath.

Read the whole article.

Calls Us To A Better Way

This quote, which I found on Josh Harris' blog, expresses what I like to call old orthodoxy:

"If you have humility without orthodoxy it's hypocrisy-a form of pride wearing a gentle mask. At the same time, orthodoxy without humility is contradictory-with one hand it offers true words and with the other hand it takes away that truth with a worldly tone. God calls us toward a better way: boldness that is broken; truth-telling that trembles; contending that communes."

-Justin Taylor on New Attitude (Whole Article)