How Christians _________

[Jesus said,] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  John 14:15

I thought I’d won the argument.  As a kid I wanted to watch the TV show The Simpsons, something that wasn’t allowed in my family.  But I had recently learned that a neighborhood friend was allowed to watch it and I returned to my parents sure that another kid being allowed to watch this show proved it was acceptable viewing for children.  I raised this seemingly clinching point that right down the street was a house and a child allowed to watch this show and, see, mom dad, I can watch it too!  “I don’t care what they do in that family, but in this family we don’t watch The Simpsons.”

This was not the only time I heard a line like that.

There were many times I wanted to do something (or not do something) on the basis of what other families did and was told, regardless of how it was done in other families, how life would be structured in our family.

Jesus tells his disciples in one of the final things he says to them that those who love him, those who are a part of his family, will keep his commandments.  They will do what he says.  Jesus tells his disciples, in one of the final things he says to them, that he has outline how his family is to be structured.

Christians continue on in that legacy.  We continue on as part of the family of Jesus.  And we, too, are called to keep the commandments of Jesus.  We are called to live differently on the basis of being among Jesus’ followers, among Jesus’ family.  And so we look to the Bible to teach us how we are to live.  We look to the Bible to see what things are going to be like in this family.

But what does that look like?  What does that look like when it comes to issues of contemporary, modern life?  How should Christians use technology?  How should Christians fight?  How should Christians consume culture?  And what should we do if the Bible doesn’t explicitly talk about issues of contemporary, modern life?

This fall at Spirit & Life we want to look precisely at that.  We want to look at various topics of our lives and ask how Christians approach these topics.  Every week we will have an accompanying resource to lift up for further reading and guidance.  We begin with “How Christians read the Bible” as it forms the basis for how we receive guidance in other areas of our life.  We then move through different topics that you can see on the accompanying picture.

We hope you’ll find it helpful.  We hope you’ll find it useful.  And most of all, we hope it will help you find life and joy living in Jesus’ family.