I have an extreme fascination with words. The words I choose say so much about who I am. How I think... or fail to. The longer I live the more carefully I choose my words. I realize that they are very powerful for encouragement or harm.So why the blog name change? Some of you have actually been asking. Now more than ever I am acutely aware of the effect that words have on people's viewpoints. And while "tangible theology" (the title of my old blog) may be meaningful to me, its wording may elicit more confusion than clarity.
One of the early lessons I remember learning in speech class was to know your audience. In my career and life I have benefited from that thought more than I possibly could have imagined as a 14-year-old when I first heard it. It is that consideration that frames my decision to consider some intentional ministry re-focusing of which this blog will be an important part.
While a portion of my audience has always been and will continue to be those who already believe in Jesus, I have been overwhelmingly burdened of late to consider well the vast majority of those who do not yet believe. They are, after all, the majority... the Scriptures say there will always be more who find themselves on the wanting side of faith. So how can I not consider them?
There are 3 realities that keep repeating themselves in my studies of Scripture and the culture around me.
- many who live life without Jesus have largely chosen so because of misconceptions of what following Him would mean
- so-called church people are the reason for most of those same misconceptions
- if pre-Christian people came in contact with the real Jesus... they would want to follow Him
