Weekly Once-Over:

Why Does God Allow Burdens?: A quote often attributed to Mother Teresa is, “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that he didn’t trust me so much.” It’s a clever line. But it’s not right.

Mental Illness - The New Leprosy: Jesus Christ directly called those who labor and are heavy laden to seek him for rest. As followers of Christ, it is therefore the responsibility of Christians to care for these souls and the Church’s obligation to cultivate an environment that welcomes this process. However, it must first be understood the missteps that have led the Church to separate themselves from this calling. Here are three overarching mistakes that have led the Christian church to make outcasts of those with mental health problems. (Also Part Two of the Blog Post - "3 Ways To Engaging Those Struggling With Mental Illness")

People Are Books: The famous British historian H.G. Wells is credited with this quote: “I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.” It is hard to find anyone these days that will truly contest that reality.

Are You Faking or Trying When It Comes To God?: Plenty of people fake it in their spiritual lives. They want to look like healthy Christians or to make it through church without anyone looking askance at them or asking a personal question. That comes from a heart of pride and deceit. Trying until it pays off is different. It comes from a heart of need and an eye on the goal of growth in holiness. Both faking and trying might feel like we are going through the motions, but the end result of one is emptiness and exposure. The result of the other is closeness with God

5 Keys For Reinvention: Growth brings change. Period. That’s true for big churches and small churches, and it’s true for people, families, corporations, and countries. If you want to function well at the next level, reinvention is absolutely necessary.

Porn Brain: Even sex experts, celebrities, and Hollywood are noting the destructive realities of porn in relationships, and its complete rewiring of how individuals approach sex.

The New Year For Your Children: This year, let's be intentional with teaching our children about Christ. While everyone else makes plans and sets goals for all that they will do this year, let's consider specific ways we can point our children to their Savior.

Duck Dynasty Debrief: In the end, let’s take a deep breath and get some perspective. We don’t pin our hopes to a television show, no matter how popular. And we don’t adjust our convictions to fit the culture, no matter how unpopular. Celebrity television stars come and go; it’s the Word of the Lord that stands forever.

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The new year is coming upon us and with the new year comes new resolutions that everyone wants to accomplish. For most of us we seem to struggle to accomplish these  resolutions that we make. Thankfully here are a few different blog posts that we found helpful that might give you some helpful tips to reflect, plan, and execute these resolutions in 2014. Enjoy!

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It's A Good Time To Remember, Reflect, and Resolve: Most of us can probably use a good dose of “considering our ways.” If you’re anything like me, you get overloaded and feel a persistent strain on your time, attention, and devotion to God. This strain can numb us and lead us to drift. And as D.A. Carson says, “we do not drift toward holiness.” If we don’t regularly take time to evaluate our heart, we can, often unknowingly, drift into sinful or sluggish patterns. To fight against this deadly drifting, it’s wise to draw near to Jesus and consider our ways. And while there’s nothing magical about doing this at the turn of the year, it does provide a natural opportunity to intentionally remember, reflect, and resolve with hopes that we will grow in deeper devotion to Christ.

Read The Whole Bible in 2014: Do you want to read the whole Bible? The average person reads 200 to 250 words per minute; there are about 775,000 words in the Bible; therefore it takes less than 10 minutes a day to read the whole Bible in a year.

Your Most Courageous Resolution for 2014: Resolutions are good things. They’re biblical: “may [God] fulfill every resolve for good” (2 Thessalonians 1:11). And I think developing New Year’s resolutions is a very good idea. A year is a defined timeframe long enough to make progress on difficult things and short enough to provide some incentive to keep moving. A resolve is not a vague intention, like “one of these days I’m going to get that garage cleaned” or “I’m going to read the Bible through this year,” but without any clear plan to do it. Resolves are intentions with strategies attached to them. You don’t just hope something is going to happen; you are planning to make it happen. To be resolved is to be determined.

Remember 2013 and Plan for 2014: Welcome to the day after Christmas! Each year between Christmas and New Years I walk through a simple exercise to help me think through the past year and plan for the coming year.  I originally learned this exercise from David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, and have customized it over the years. My wife and I both walk through it, and I use it with those I coach as well. Allocating an hour or two over the next week to walk through this exercise will help you to start the new year well.

The Empty Shelf Challenge: Empty a shelf in your house somewhere. Every book you read from now until December 31, 2014 goes on the shelf. (Waiting until January 1st to do something awesome is stupid and fake.) At the end of the year, I guarantee you will have read more than you did in 2013. Best of all, you’re scientifically more likely to accomplish something when you have people working on it with you.

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