Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Jon Tyson from his book, The Burden Is Light: Liberating Your Life from the Tyranny of Performance and Success (p. 163). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Now that is good news!!! Jon says, “Jesus came to disrupt sin, shame, exclusion, oppression, and idolatry. He constantly reframed reality to include those whom the prideful Pharisees screened out. He taught us that faith must be centered on two things: passion for God and compassion for people. The love of God leads us out of our internal obsession and into the brokenness and pain of the world. When we see God clearly, we see others clearly, and we begin to orient our lives around those God desperately seeks to save. The kingdom of heaven is entered only through humility. It belongs to the poor in spirit, the needy, the merciful, those who come empty-handed and relying on grace. God’s love breaks us free from the cocoon of self into new ...

A thought by Jon Tyson from his book, The Burden Is Light: Liberating Your Life from the Tyranny of Performance and Success (p. 145). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Isn’t that a good thought?   He doesn’t say, “You better be kind or else.”   No, He doesn’t. Jon says, “He melts our hearts through love. He doesn’t want us to show mercy only in a particular situation; he wants mercy to become the posture of our hearts.” Later Jon says, “I recently caught up with a friend whom I hadn’t seen in more than twenty years. I was a touch nervous to meet him. The last time we had spoken, I had the condescension of a Pharisee and a self-righteous smirk that makes me cringe upon recollection. I was aggressive and rude to people who were dealing with incredible heartache and wrestling deeply with their faith. I said a lot of horrible things in that season of my life, and I look back on that time with ...

A thought by Jon Tyson from his book, The Burden Is Light: Liberating Your Life from the Tyranny of Performance and Success (p. 133). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Oh, it is so easy to be critical, isn’t it? Jon says, “The power dynamics of our world have changed so that customer reviews, personal opinions, tweets, and status updates have the power to determine a product’s success. Social media can shape a corporation’s brand in the marketplace or even ruin a human life. The Greek word translated ‘judge’ is related to the English words critic and critical. And this is what we have become. We used to value the expert opinions of those with credibility in a given field. Now we value our own opinions above all. We view ourselves as the definitive source on subjects as diverse as international politics, the performance of the head of the PTA, the haircut of a famous celebrity, and the exegetical fa...