rebelling against low expectations
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15) For a season this past year, I had been going through a bit of a dry season in my relationship with God. Though in my head I knew that God never has and never will abandon me, my flawed and corrupted emotions often try to tell me otherwise–that when I sin, God turns His face away; or when I...
It was early Sunday morning. Suddenly, I was awakened and told to go downstairs. I jumped down from the top of my bunk bed. The sun was shining through the windows, and the sparkling dew still coated the ground. We gathered around, and my father began to pray. It was a disguised way of telling us children that our mother, after being bedridden for nine months from cancer, had passed away in the...
What would you risk to go to church? In the United States, this is a pointless question. There’s usually little or no risk at all. But in China, this is a question every believer faces. While China’s constitution supposedly guarantees religious freedom, this guarantee proves weightless. Chinese Christians have a long history of persecution—and it’s only increasing. Churches are shut down and...
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) As believers in Christ, we’re called to a higher standard than this world, to live transformed by the gospel. The sad reality is that many people who call themselves Christians aren’t being...
I sweated at a table in the middle of Starbucks. The previous week, I had agreed to study the Bible with a customer, but now here he was with someone I didn’t know. They came to the table and the customer introduced me to his friend, Diego. “Yo, dog. So good to meet another believer!” he said, pulling me in for a hug. “Do not make eye contact,” I repeated to myself, avoiding my...
“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” — 1 Timothy 4:12 This is a well-known Scripture passage to anyone who’s been around The Rebelution for any amount of time, and it’s all about how the gospel changes everything. Think about it. Another way to state this verse is to say the gospel transforms what we...
rebelling against low expectations
