Is art a commodity? No, says Mike Cosper. Mainly, it is a gift. This was a major theme of the writing conference: “Word and Words.”
Hosted by Sojourn Community Church, the conference brought together a prestigious group of writers and teachers, including Gregory Thornbury and Mike Cosper.
“Put others first.” “You think too highly of yourself.” “You’re selfish.”
If you hear these ideas enough, they can take over your understanding of morality.
What should our motivation be? Why care about doing the right thing?
I recently interviewed a writer named Lydia Borengasser. We found common ground on the controversial topic of Christian motivation.
Does God want us to be motivated by his rewards?
For a very long time people have been singing of their great reward. And not only Americans.
The Hebrew book of worship, the Psalms, is prefaced by the following:
Blessed is the man
who walks not
In the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stands in the way of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
That yields its fruit in its season,
And its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
-Ps 1:1-3
Here are 50 of my favorite lines of blessing in the hymns.
[guestpost]This is a guest-post from my friend Nate Curry.[/guestpost]
This post is merely something to get the 21st century believer thinking about or re-thinking his or her beliefs on the topic of God’s Spiritual gifts. Being the technology guru that I am I see a major correlation between technology and the way God communicates to us.
I advocate an unusual approach to these topics based what I see as a foundational principle in Scripture: Holy Self-Interest.
The principle says:
“It is always in your rational self-interest to do the right thing.”
Rightly understood, self-interest and morality are inseparable. The right thing is the right thing because it leads to your own rational self-interest.
