Posts Tagged ‘Sacrifice’
The other kind of love
Ah, February. The month commonly associated with love because of Valentine’s Day.
The stores flood with food, flowers, and apparel in various shades of red, pink, and chocolate. Oddly, I think it fills more of us with dread than delight: singles feel conspicuous in a culture focused on couples, and those in relationships feel the pressure to meet a social standard for expressing affection—both financially and emotionally.
As Americans, I think we’ve become too focused on romantic love. Perhaps even our church culture has become too myopic about it as well? Affinity groups for couples… sermons on marriage… and more. Please don’t mistake me, if we are married, we should absolutely fortify those relationships through whatever resources we have. Yet an overemphasis on couple-hood creates undue pain for our single friends and—perhaps more importantly—distorts our view of the Body.
Read MoreFor when grown women have tantrums over what to wear
When my daughter was young, getting her dressed was a chore.
It shouldn’t have been so hard… she had both a closet and dresser burgeoning with darling Gymboree ensembles. Nevertheless, our morning routines were never pleasant. Many hours were lost to screaming fits over the necessity of wearing pants, shoes and shirts. (She may not have been the only one screaming.)
Tights were the worst offenders. She was certain those tights were going to end up around her ankles. Read More
What Must Die: Making sense of Psalm 50:14
Death. Sacrifice. And thanksgiving?
“Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.”
—Psalm 50:14 NLT
“Make thankfulness your sacrifice.” I scratched my head over that phrase for a bit, pondering the ways gratitude could be a sacrifice in the way the Old Testament describes it. The Hebrew word for ‘sacrifice’ is zabach Read More