The knowing/doing gap is having all of the data, knowledge and answers right in front of you, but never putting that knowledge into practice. Our biggest problem in the church isn’t information, it’s implementation. The Bible has all of the information and knowledge we need, yet there is a divide between reading Scripture and acting upon it. Jesus came to mend the knowing/doing gap and to show us how to transform our knowledge of God’s love for us into actions of love towards others. We can begin to show that transformative love by starting close to home, with what God has already equipped us in and even with just one person.
Every school has a formal and hidden curriculum. The formal curriculum includes things such as math, science and grammar. Meanwhile, the hidden curriculum includes things like who you sit with at lunch and who you choose to be friends with. It’s how the world works, the Church included. Unfortunately, the hidden curriculum of who’s in our group can cause us to have bias. We overlook the bad things our group does and magnify the good things. We view those in our own group as unique individuals and those outside as one big group of people who seem alike simply because they are aren’t like us. However, Jesus calls us to live differently. He calls us to get uncomfortable, stop avoiding others and confront our bias.
Before You Come Back
December 8, 2019 • Scott Scruggs
We all have that person in our lives who’s hard to love. Maybe they’re a co-worker you’re stuck on a project with or a family member who’s coming to visit for Christmas. If you don’t know who that person is, maybe you’re the one who’s hard to love. Either way, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We are called to engage in redemptive conflict in the following ways:
1. Go – Go and bring up the conflict with the person you have the conflict with. They deserve to be the first to know.
2. Admit – Admit to your own share of ownership in the conflict.
3. Pray – Love your enemies and pray for them.
4. Stay – Stay committed to the relationship and don’t give up.
The Great Divide
December 1, 2019 • Scott Scruggs
When we aren’t reconciled to God, we’re more than just passive bystanders to the divides on earth, we are part of the problem. In the first message of our Mending The Divide series, we discuss what it means to be reconciled to God. The problem we face is not the divide itself. God has crossed, closed and bridged the divide, making things right with us. The decision we now face is whether we will humble ourselves to receive the reconciliation that God already offers us, the first step to mending the divides in our lives.
