Tag Archives: true “religion”

Daily Riches: Five Most Popular Posts in 2015

Posted on by under Loving Well, Mindfulness, Simplicity, Spiritual Formation, Waiting on God

Happy new years and major thanks for all of you who subscribe to (or otherwise follow) and share my blog. It’s definitely a labor of love for me, and your interest, prayers and support mean a lot.

My Stats:

  • Posted 295 times  (602 posts in the archives)
  • Read in 18 Countries (including Zimbabwe)
  • Viewed 33,000 times in 2015

The most popular post on my busiest traffic day (167 views) was Daily Riches: When More Knowledge, Enthusiasm and Motivation Doesn’t Work (Pete Scazzero).

These are the posts that got the most views in 2015. If you missed one, maybe check it out now at the start of the new year–and as always, please share anything you love.

My most commented on post was Daily Riches: Pimping Religion, Confronting Empire – Part I (Dan Clendenin).

So, especially to the many who encourage me, to those who are giving prayerful consideration to the posts, to those who read on a daily basis–but really to everyone involved in this project … THANK YOU. I love the connection we have, the “riches” we can share together, and the knowledge that God is at work in all of it.

May you live in the love of God, surrounded by the grace of God–and may God be glorified.

Bill

Daily Riches: Living In Sync With Who God Is (Miroslav Volf)

Posted on by under Being and Doing, Contemplation and Activism, Loving Well, Social Justice, The Call to Change

“Here is what we do as worshipers of a Santa Claus God: We embrace the conviction that God is an infinitely generous source of all good, but conveniently forget that we were created in God’s image to be in some significant sense like God – not like God in God’s divinity, for we are human and not divine, but like God ‘in true righteousness and holiness’ (Ephesians 4:24), like God in loving enemies (Matthew 5:44). To live well as a human being is to live in sync with who God is and how God acts. …In his early text, somewhat cumbersomely titled Towards a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, the young Karl Marx famously noted that religion – the Christian faith, he meant primarily – is ‘the opiate of the people.’ It’s a drug, and it’s a ‘downer’ or ‘depressant’ insulating people from the pain of oppressive social realities and consoling them with a dream world of heavenly bliss. Alternatively, religion can function as an ‘upper,’ a ‘stimulant’ energizing people for the tasks at hand – a function of religion Marx failed to grasp.” Miroslav Volf

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Jesus, in Matthew 5:44,45

 Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Is living “in sync with who God is and how God acts” your goal for your life as a Christian?
  • Does what Marx said apply to you? Do your religious beliefs tend to insulate you “from the pain of oppressive social realities and [console you] with a dream world of heavenly bliss?”
  • Does your faith “energize you for the tasks at hand?” (for instance “loving enemies”)

Abba, energize me with your Spirit for the many tasks at hand – in my home, my neighborhood, my church, my country, and my world.

For More: A Public Faith by Miroslav Volf

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek God and he seeks you. I hope you’ll follow and share my blog. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. Thanks!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Listening Well (Henri Nouwen) *

Posted on by under Ego Issues, Loving Listening, Loving Well, Silence

“To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.”  Henri Nouwen

“You must all be quick to listen,
slow to speak and slow to get angry. …
If you claim to be religious
but don’t control your tongue,
you are fooling yourself,
and your religion is worthless.”  
James 1:19b, 26

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you have a strong enough sense of “inner stability” so that you don’t feel compelled to explain, defend or interpret yourself to others?
  • How often, if ever, do you have a conversation where you don’t feel the need “to make your presence known?” What would be the point of that anyway?
  • Loving listening is a “form of spiritual hospitality.” No wonder then that James says it’s a test of our religion. How can you make a plan for upcoming conversations, to extend loving hospitality more effectively?

Abba, help me to be quick to listen and slow to speak today. Help me to receive, welcome and accept what others have to give instead of striving to make my presence known. I ask that people I meet today would feel accepted by me, and by you – valued, heard and loved.

__________

For More: Bread for the Journey by Henri Nouwen

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These “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Loving Well (Henri Nouwen)

Posted on by under Loving Listening, Loving Well

To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.”  Henri Nouwen

“You must all be quick to listen,
slow to speak and slow to get angry. …
If you claim to be religious
but don’t control your tongue,
you are fooling yourself,
and your religion is worthless.”  
James 1:19b, 26

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you have a strong enough sense of “inner stability” so that you don’t feel compelled to explain, defend or interpret yourself to others?
  • How often, if ever, do you have a conversation where you don’t feel the need “to make your presence known?” What would be the point of that anyway?
  • Loving listening is a “form of spiritual hospitality.” No wonder then that James says it’s a test of our religion. How can you make a plan for upcoming conversations, to extend loving hospitality more effectively?

Abba, help me to be quick to listen and slow to speak today. Help me “to receive, welcome and accept” what others have to give instead of striving “to make my presence known.” I ask that people I meet today would feel “accepted” by me, and by you – valued, heard and loved.

__________

For More: Bread for the Journey by Henri Nouwen

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The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in less than 300 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)