Living Beyond Your Memes

10/31/2024

I’ve been focusing most of my Bible reading on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), reading it from various translations.

Today I was reading from the New American Standard Bible (2020), and here’s how 5:43-45 is translated:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Did you catch that? We PROVE we are children of God when we show love to those we would call enemies - including political ones.

It’s easy to CLAIM to be a Christian - but one of the ways we PROVE it is to show demonstrable love to those we oppose or disagree with.

Jesus said people would know we are His disciples because of our LOVE, not because of our work, family, possessions, or who we’re voting for.

This is waaaaayyy beyond surface “Oh yeah, I love everyone.” That’s easy to say. But if someone you disagree with were asked how they were treated by you, would they say they were treated with love and kindness?

If not, you are in direct violation of Jesus’ command here.

I’ve had to repent of this many times over the years. Thankfully, God continues to put things in my life like this Scripture as well as loving input from others.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be s

10/16/2024

I know I've mentioned this before, but I really recommend that all Christians get a free subscription to "The Pour Over," which is an email newsletter that brings news with a twist of humor but more importantly, adds some biblical perspective on how to approach the happenings in this broken world of ours. This is from the latest edition:

"No matter who you support in the upcoming election, your first allegiance should be to the King of Kings. When each side is calling for your undying support, remember that you are first and foremost beholden to the One who died for you."

“He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.”
1 John 2:2 (CSB) (read full passage)

Delivering politically neutral, Christ-first news.

08/11/2024

To all my Boomer friends:

Do you prefer to read blogs, watch videos, or listen to podcasts to get teaching input? Or something else altogether?

What platforms, stations , websites do you prefer?

Thanks!

02/27/2024

From yesterday's "The Pour Over," a Christian-based news and commentary newsletter 've recommended before:

"We shouldn't allow political outcomes to consume our thoughts, direct our emotions, or dull our hope. Government may change, but our mission remains the same: love God and love others."

To get your free subscription, here is a link:

TPO signup page

01/04/2024

Okay, it looks like it was my turn to get hacked.

The good news is that the fake is easy to spot. It says, "Brain" La Croix, instead of "Brian." Those of you who knew my struggles, especially in math, will know that this is the fake one...

Brian (me) (really) (honest) (not jk)

09/18/2023

Hey Gang -

It's with sadness that I have to announce that we are no longer recording new episodes of the podcast.

We've been at it a year and don't seem to be able to extend our reach beyond about a dozen regular listeners.

Since we pay an actual sound editor to make it sound great, the cost to maintain the program was getting too much for me. BTW, the cost was more than fair, and I think we can all agree that they turned out great! So no complaints at all about that!

The episodes will all stay available, so you can go to listen if you haven't already, review episodes, or point people to them as necessary. There will be a link to the podcast on the newly-updated Discipleship DNA website.

Thanks to those of you who listened faithfully. Josh and I appreciate you very much!

God bless you all.

08/15/2023

Hey everybody!

A new episode posts Tuesday, Aug. 15, after an unforeseen pause due to a medical emergency (we explain on the episode).

In this episode we continue our discussion of “Wizard of Oz Christianity,” focusing on our need to use our brains.

Thanks for your patience! Love you all.