T. David Beck: The Simple Way of Jesus

Justice, political correctness and offending people -- what would Jesus do? In this week's news, it was reported that ESPN has removed Asian-American broadcaster Robert Lee from the Virginia football telecast because his name happens to be Robert Lee... you know, the same as the Confederate General Robert Lee. Defending their action, ESPN says they wanted to protect broadcaster Lee from all the "Robert Lee is marching into Virginia" jokes and memes he might suffer. Hmm. Methinks it has more to do with getting caught up in a culture where wanting to avoid offending people reaches the point of hysteria. As the Washington Post put it, "ESPN proves it is the worldwide leader in silliness." The American gospel desperately urges us to avoid offending people. What would Jesus do? Last week I spoke at Sanctuary about doing justice Jesus-style. Fact: Jesus did not desperately avoid offending people.  Fact: Jesus was constantly saying things that offended peo...

I read recently that Facebook has been known to lead to depression. This person just enjoyed a vacation to Hawaii. That person's kids are cuter and apparently don't act up like yours. And that friend over there just won another award. If you're feeling sassy about your life, you join in on the bragging parade. If that little gray cloud is hovering over you reminding you of how things just aren't turning out, Facebook makes it worse. Today I decided to raise my fist in protest by writing a post about the morning my walk with God was less like leaping forward and more like shuffling along. It's like getting on Facebook and posting, "Nothing special happened in my world this morning. You feel me?" This morning I got up and made tea like usual. I sat in my chair like usual. I began my prayer time, like usual, with these words: "You were [God’s] enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself...