rebelling against low expectations
“God, please tell me everything I need to do. I’d feel so much better if I knew what your plans were.” Does that sound familiar to you? Have you ever wished to know what God’s plans are and what you need to do in the future? I have, and many times I’ve wished that he would reveal more than just the “next step.” However, moving and writing has taught me...
“So, who wrote this book then if no one was living?” she asked, eyebrows scrunched, freckled face questioning me. I smiled, chuckling to myself, “That’s a great question kiddo. There’s even some adults who have never asked that! The book of Genesis was written by Moses because God told him what to write. Have you ever heard of ‘God-breathed’?” “Umm, no,” she replied. “Well, let’s go to 2 Timothy...
“You’re too hard on yourself.” I’ve heard this so often that after a while I took a strange kind of pride in it. Such perfectionist tendencies must be good, I thought, and surely this is much better than the other extreme. Unfortunately my obsessive compulsive perfectionism spilled over into my spiritual life, with very bad consequences. Only last year did I start to realize how much pressure I...
Being a sibling is hard. I would know. I have nine unique little brothers and sisters that I’m called to love all the time. Sometimes it drives me bonkers! It can be hard to treat our siblings right, especially when we’re teenagers and our emotions are extra sensitive. As a brother or a sister, we know we should love our siblings regardless of how we are feeling, but how should we go about this...
Transformed by Truth: Why and How to Study the Bible for Yourself as a Teen, a new book by Katherine Forster, releases from Crossway today! Forster wrote Transformed by Truth in response to a lack of resources for serious Bible study for teens. More importantly, however, she wanted to combat the low expectations that the world and sometimes even the church has for teens and their Bible reading...
Editor’s Note: Throughout the years, TheReb has published thousands of articles, each challenging and encouraging Rebelutionaries to do hard things and seek God. But among these posts, some have especially resonated with you, our readers. So over the next few weeks and months, we’re bringing back these classics, reposting our most popular and well-read articles every Thursday. May they encourage...
It seems as if there is a disconnect in Christianity today. Very frequently, Bible reading is something prescribed as what I do for me–something directed inward. Evangelism is what I do for others–something directed outward. What if there was a beautiful, God-given fusion between the two? What if we have gotten it wrong and, instead of being opposed, they are actually connected...
Lately, God’s been messing with my prayers. Not with what I pray, or when, or where, or for how long. But with how. As I’ve been reading the book of Acts, two things have stood out to me: the faith and the prayers of the early church. I read phrases like “constant prayer” and “continued steadfastly in prayer” and I wonder if they could be applied to me. I come across stories like that of Peter...
My 9th-grade high school band class had quite a variety of people. Some were dedicated to music, others only passed as musicians if you squinted a little. I like to think I fell somewhere in the middle. Despite the occasional dying-goose-like squawks, I played the clarinet decently. Not as well as the hardcore music student who sat beside me, of course. But certainly not as badly as the ‘I-only...
Have you ever thought about how often God asks us to do something . . . without providing the means to complete it beforehand? Recently, at church, one of the deacons brought my attention to the many times God set his subjects to a task without giving them the means to complete it beforehand. Usually when God asks something, he sends his help while we’re working. In other words, he provides...
rebelling against low expectations
