deeper

A deeper conversation

Who are we? Our identity is always to be defined by our relation to God, not our current or past behavior. We are children of God and servants of God. We are sinners and we are saints. We are made in the image of God and find our satisfaction only in knowing God. We are disciples of Christ. Never are we to allow our idols, lusts, or false gods to define us. Our counsel to those struggling with sexual orientation, or for that matter, with alcohol, drugs, theft, gluttony, or consumerism is this: don’t ever let sin define who you are. I may have stolen. But I am not a thief. By grace, by adoption in Christ Jesus, I am a child of God. That is my true identity. - Terry Johnson    

Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence. God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships  - Saint Paul

God sent me to a [fill in] church to repent, heal, learn and thrive. The pastor there did not farm me out to a para-church ministry “specializing” in “broken(gay/addicted/etc) people.” . . . I needed (and need) faithful shepherding, not the glitz and glamor that has captured the soul of modern evangelical culture. I had to lean and lean hard on the full weight of scripture, on the fullness of the word of God, and I’m grateful that when I heard the Lord’s call on my life, and I wanted to hedge my bets, keep my girlfriend and add a little God to my life, I had a pastor and friends in the Lord who asked nothing less of me than that I die to myself. Biblical orthodoxy can offer real compassion, because in our struggle against sin, we cannot undermine God’s power to change lives. - Butterfield