The true obstacle to unity is not difference but self-centeredness.
02488 – Obstacle to Unity
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02279 – Tragically Flawed by Our Self-Centeredness
The scriptural telling begins with how tragically flawed we are by our self-centeredness – Adam blaming Eve, Cain bashing Abel – and how slow we are to realize it – Samson with Delilah, David with Bathsheba.... But one day a man named Jesus appeared out of nowhere who...
01637 – Love: The Soul of Christian Existence
If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is...
01255 – Letting Go Involves Many Steps
Shifting from a self-centered focus to a more God-centered focus is terribly hard. I think we've gone wrong by assuming that such a radical movement can be achieved simply by setting our jaw and saying one or two prayers of relinquishment. Letting go isn't one step,...
00915 – Worship is a Decision
We’ve made worship self-centered instead of God-centered. We lobby for what we want: “I don’t like the songs.” “I don’t like the volume.” It’s as if we’re worshiping worship instead of worshiping God. If worship is a decision, then the greatest worship happens when...
00801 – Private Prayer Life vs. Corporate Worship
Many Christians are formed to think of their own private prayer life as primary and to consider Sunday worship as effective to the extent that it ignites or deepens their personal piety. In this way of thinking, the question “what did worship do for me?” is completely...
00693 – God is Worthy of Our Worship
Worship is right because God is worthy of it; it is the best of all antidotes to our own self-centeredness, the most effective way to “disinfect us of egotism,” as one writer put it long ago. In true worship we turn the searchlight of our mind and heart upon God and...