Chris McAlister
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How To Know If All You Have Is Shallow Christianity
You believe your sins are forgiven but you don’t know how Christ’s presence can transform every moment of your life.
Your sins are forgiven so you can be connected to Christ. Forgiveness isn’t the point. Connection is.
Being connected to Christ means you can experientially know how He meets your deepest needs for worth, love, security, hope, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
The point is getting Jesus and Jesus getting us. Anything less than experientially knowing Jesus is shallow Christianity.
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Easy Answers For Parenting
…don’t exist
1. Hyper controlling and overly aggressive parenting is dysfunctional.
2. Overly laid-back and passive parenting is dysfunctional.
What to do?
a. Learn how to experience a secure identity in Christ. (So when conflict hits the fan you can be an emotionally wise and whole shepherd for their hearts. I know someone who can help you with this. Unless you experienced that growing up and don’t need help
)b. Get to the emotion under your child’s behavior. All behavior has meaning. Don’t stress over their behavior and performance while you miss what is really going on.
c. Give them space. Individuation is different than their sin nature. Learning to say no and have boundaries is an important journey for every child. Barging into their room to prove who’s the boss is asking for conflict.
I want to be best in the world at helping people with “a”. I do it everyday.
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Just Take Your Number And Shut Up
Modern Man lyrics by Arcade Fire:
In line for a number but you don’t understand
Like a modern manI wonder if you can see the application between this and what church can become.
WE HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM: We’re not building disciples but factory workers for the church machine.
We need a cross-the-line and throw-it-down revolution.
We need a generation of leadership who cares more about unleashing visionaries than building their vision.
We need help figuring out who we are apart from what we do.
We need the words, fanatical action, and practical steps.
We need Christ.
We need His example to inspire us.
We need a generation of people who are secure in their identity in Christ, clear in their mission, and building healthy teams.
May it be so. In our time. In our day. “Father we invite you into the church’s obsession with performance and ask you to spark a movement that reclaims our identity in you.”
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3 Keys To Unleashing You
Let’s kill two bad and unbiblical ideas:
a. be yourself — this can be used as an excuse for sin
b. all that matters is Jesus…not you — this violates the biblical idea of your immense worth as a person created by God and someone Jesus died for
We struggle with navigating these tensions. We recognize “a” can be shallow. But we super-spiritualize “b” by explaining that as Jesus gets bigger we are more diminished.
If we are going to think biblically then we need to know that Scripture commands we put on the “new self”. Following Christ purifies you and then amplifies you to the world. Humility is God-honoring. Timidity isn’t.
3 keys to unleashing you:
1. Lean into your hard times. Your weaknesses and sufferings are shaping you into the image of Christ. Don’t run from the pain. Invite Christ into it.
2. Use the pain from the hard times to focus your mission. You can be good at a lot of things. You can only be great at a few. A laser-focused mission unleashes you for God’s kingdom to the world.
3. Use the clarity of your mission to attract others. You can lead. You can lead others. You can build a team. You can build a healthy one. The more clear the mission the easier it will be rally others. (Though NONE of this is easy. Just easier.)
What would you add?
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The Most Essential Truth About Jesus
…to the story of Scripture and the story of your life is that Christ is King, Lord, Savior, Son of God, and Son of Man.
As Christians our primary belief is an affirmation of the identity of Jesus.
Jesus had His identity affirmed by the Father. And then it was tested in the wilderness: “if you are the Son…”
Have you affirmed the identity of Jesus? He is who He is whether you do or not. And I’m not speaking of a mental affirmation. Have you received Him? Ask Christ into your pain, hurts, fears, and brokenness. Because He’s the good King you can experience the wholeness of His rule.
One of the reasons He faced the cross was so you could know who you are…in Him.
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Jesus Isn’t Safe?
The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it. And they are safe.
We are caught in two wrong extremes:
1. Jesus is safe. And our identity is safe. And our missions with Jesus are safe.
2. Jesus is dangerous. Our identity with Him is threatened. And our missions with Jesus are dangerous.
Our identity in Jesus is safe! We are held. He knows the number of hairs on our head. Or lack thereof in my case. He will never abandon us.
Because we are safe in Him we can launch out on dangerous missions. We are internally safe with Jesus even when we are externally threatened.
No. 1 and No. 2 teach broken ideas about Jesus that aren’t supportable with Scripture.
Our identity is safe in Jesus. Because of that safety we follow Christ into dangerous missions.
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When Knowledge Of The Cross Isn’t Enough
Knowing what Jesus did for you 2000 years ago isn’t enough. You need the Spring of eternal life in you now. (John 7:37-39)
Write a bible verse on a card to hold in your pocket.
The crap hits the fan.
Clutch the card.
Until you learn to experience the verse on that card cognitively knowing what the card says isn’t enough.
I’ve designed an experience that facilitates the transformation God has for you.
It’s the difference between hearing a song that moves you and learning to write a song.
Until you experience the truth of God it’s not your truth.
There’s a process that the Father used to build the Son Jesus. A secure identity overflows to a clear mission and builds healthy community. Security in your identity, clarity in your mission, and health in your teams are the life God has for you. It’s time for a shift: click here.
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Why She’s Alluring
Out of nowhere you want to flirt with him.
All of a sudden she’s overwhelmingly attractive.
And to both of these…you’re married. And the other person isn’t your spouse.
You never wanted to steal from the office before but shockingly you have a growing desire to help yourself to some funds.
When we face temptations at this level we face 2 wrong messages:
1. Give in. Fantasize. Do it. Especially the more socially acceptable wrongs like adultery.2. Shock. Fear. Suppress. Don’t think about it.
Nobody experiences the transformation Christ has for them if they are dominated by their feelings or if they suppress them.
There is a 3rd way:
Be aware of the allure. Invite Christ into it. There’s a message in that temptation. Yes you need to resist it but don’t suppress the feeling. Ask Christ for insight into why you’re enticed by that temptation. If you just stuff how you feel you’ll miss how God is at work in your life. Christ is the way out and it is through how He pastors you through your feelings. -
Are You A Christian Robot?
2 paths seem to exist in Christianity:
1. The path where your pastor, priest, or anyone in spiritual leadership wants to do your thinking for you. Their insecurity surfaces when you question or go off the beaten path. You are a cog in the machine. You are a robot. You are made to fit their vision for you. You are supposed to fit into the vision of the church. Your spiritual story is pressured to match the story of others.
Or…
2. You question. You learn to follow the still small voice of Christ. You go off the beaten path. You learn to be a visionary in your own right not satisfied to complete a checklist that any spiritual leader has for you. The communal vision you’ve committed to is more about helping people follow Christ than guilting them into proper performance.
You can have option 2. You can even lead a tribe of them. I want no. 2 for my family, the church I pastor, and everyone I walk through the identity/mission/community paradigm.
The children of Israel knew the works of God. Moses knew the ways of God. Which one would you rather be? I can teach you the contours of no. 2 because I’ve learned it the hard way. Let me save you some time and pain: click here.
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Drip, Drip, Drip
If you’re thirsty, really thirsty, then water one drop at a time isn’t satisfying. You feel more parched.
This blog is a drop. I’m constantly dripping one idea. The Father’s will for the Son Jesus was a clarity of mission that took Him to the cross. He built a team so He could hand off the mission. And it all overflowed out of His identity as the Son, Savior, King, and Messiah.
Nothing is more important than learning to continually experience a secure identity in Christ.
I can only help so much when we do this one drop at a time.
The most transformative experiences for me have been immersive. I need to be doused by a bucket. The drop won’t do.
That’s why I do the retreats. Here’s what someone else had to say about going.
Join me at the next event in May. Click here.