Category: Accountability

Christianity vs. Social Issues: A Real Battle!

Faith vs. daily life. Where society is vs. where God is headed. What various people groups say is right vs. God’s Word. If you’re a believer in Jesus (like me) you’ve likely wrestled with these issues.

Recently, I’ve seen issues like the reversal of Roe v. Wade, gun control, gender identification, and immigration separate people of Christian faith. How can this be? Has this frustrated you too? Maybe it’s differences in opinion, how we interpret the Bible, our upbringing, or simply what we give most credibility to.

What disheartens me right now online is that I’m seeing very emotional reactions from Christian women regarding what the Supreme Court just did with abortion. That’s not what troubles me. It’s that some Christian women are celebrating the ruling, and others are outraged. This is causing a separation in the family of God! Which leads to an absolutely critical question.

Is it possible for Bible-believing persons of faith to have different views on social issues and still get along, or is being ‘right’ most important?

If I’m honest this post could have easily taken the form of a rant of frustration. But God kindly directed me to take a higher approach. He held my hand this morning as He walked with me through Romans 12.

In this scripture, God challenges believers to allow our minds to be transformed. How do we do this? Well, we are also supposed to resist being conformed to the world around us (v. 2). This is one of the most difficult things about being a follower of Jesus. Holding to the teaching and guidance of God’s word while living in a society that mostly pulls us in the opposite direction is a constant tug of war.

It is my personal belief that Christians can live peacefully together while holding vastly different views on politics, faith, and social issues. The question becomes, however, how much are we willing to work at it? There is a cost involved. It will cost you and I large sums of humility, patience, and persistence.

Followers of Jesus are called to genuinely love one another, being generous and helping each other (v. 9-13). The Bible takes this a step further by telling us to leave our vengeance and anger for God to deal with (v. 19). Our social posture is to live at peace with everyone whenever possible (v. 18).

Do I struggle with this? Yep! Practically every day. I’m working on not becoming irritated or judgmental as quickly. I’m praying for God to allow my eyes to see the good in people before negative assumptions slide in.

Our biggest witness, our most convincing display that we follow Jesus and His goodness, is in how we are seen loving one another (Jn. 13:34-35).

For me it boils down to this very hard truth. We cannot say that we fully believe God and His teachings while simultaneously living and acting as if the world around us is also true and good. It’s not. We either live for Jesus, with Jesus, in love…OR we don’t.

Join the discussion and LEAVE A COMMENT below.

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Featured

Jesus, Mouthwash For Your Soul

Refresh your Soul

Refresh your Hope

Refresh your Mind

Lately, my wife and I have been experiencing this word, Refresh, pretty regularly. This led me to examine this word in the Scriptures.

Refresh: to sustain, support, rest, the heart. It also resembles festivity and joy. To give care and attention.

And here are just a few of the many uses in God’s Word for what it means to be refreshed. 

Proverbs‬ ‭3:6-8‬: In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.
Proverbs 15:30: The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones. 
Acts 3:19–20: Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
Exodus 31:17: It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.

So, where am I going with this mouthwash thing?

Do you like being refreshed? What do you consider refreshing?

Personally…

  • A long, hot shower after the gym.
  • That huge gulp of ice-cold lemonade after mowing the law on a hot Summer day.
  • Arriving at your campsite deep in the forest and fully taking in the clean aroma of mountain air.
  • Catching up on sleep with no alarm on a day off.
  • And yes, that amazing tingling after the morning gargle of mouthwash.

These are simple, yet vivid, examples of what I believe it means to be refreshed by Jesus. To allow Him to refresh our mind, heart, and soul. And how is this done?

Being refreshed by Jesus can be spending quiet, still time in His presence. Reading Scripture. Meditating on God’s goodness, character, promises, and love for us. Taking a walk outdoors and fully experiencing His creation.

Start with recognizing what refreshes you and then connect that with God’s presence.

Until next time….

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My Top 10 Most Read Posts

My Top 10 Most Read Posts

Hey y’all!

I’ve been blogging for over 15 years now. I love writing, creating, and encouraging others. So…I thought I would share with you the top 10 most popular posts on my blog. Starting with number 10.

#10 Interview with Country Recording Artist April Kry July, 2019

#9 Manage your life, or your life will manage you September, 2013

#8 4 Healthy Steps For Your Current Season April, 2015

#7 The Ocean Is Calling Us November, 2021

#6 Best Connection Methods With Those Attending Your Church February, 2015

#5 Team Appreciation is Important July, 2013

#4 Interview with Country Recording Artist Kaitlyn Baker July, 2019

#3 3 Things To Do While Sitting In Darkness January, 2015

#2 A Tribute to Craig Jutila December, 2018

#1 The Fruit of the Spirit in Leadership April, 2013

Bonus: My current personal favorite. A Stroke of Genius December, 2021

I would absolutely LOVE to hear which one is your favorite, and why?

Lastly, what do you want to see more of from me on the blog? Drop a comment below or email me.

brentdumler@icloud.com

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3 Keys To Thriving In These Current Times

Happy Friday!

Just a quick thought. I firmly believe that faith, hope, and love are the single most important keys to thriving in life and for sustaining society.

As a Christian, FAITH is believing in a Heavenly Father who breathed everything into creation…who sent Jesus in human form to pay for the sins of his people…and who demonstrates pure love. Faith is knowing God is there, here with us 100% even though we cannot physically see Him.

Faith leads to HOPE. Through Jesus, we have the hope of eternity in Heaven one day. The hope for a better tomorrow here on Earth while we await His return. Honestly, with all the trials the world has been suffering just in the past 14 months, I cannot fathom how anyone has been on this journey without an unshakable HOPE. My hope in Jesus gets me out of bed each day, allows me to enjoy my family, and have a positive outlook despite all that I see going on in our world.

And finally, LOVE! There’s so much good here.

The love…

…God has for all of His creation.

…God has specifically and individually for YOU and I.

…Jesus modeled for us to have toward each other while he was here as a human.

…God longs for us to have toward Him in return, AS WELL AS loving OURSELVES well (Mt. 22:39).

“…the greatest of these is love.”

Why is love the greatest? Because it’s eternal. It will outlast all other gifts, blessings, and things of this physical Earth. Love is our shared connection to each other, to Jesus, and to Heaven in the here and now.

I’m going about my day today trying to constantly reflect on my personal faith, hope, and love. I hope this post blesses you somehow today.

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Do You Have One Word For 2021 Yet?

I’ve finally discovered my #OneWord365 for 2021, and for the first time it’s the same as my wife’s!

‘BE’

Through the next 12 months I’ll strive to BE…

…Optimistic

…Kind

…Connected

…Calm

…Rested

I also had fun using a free mind-mapping app to give me further clarification and focus. My plan is to regularly review each of these and journal my progress along the way.

Join the OneWord365 Community on Facebook!

What is YOUR one word? Do you practice something similar? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

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Pandemic Language, No More!

Today, I’m beginning a personal challenge. A challenge to focus my positive thoughts and hopefully reduce much of the negative thoughts. I believe you would agree with me that words are powerful. The words we speak, think, and read ultimately effect us and others.

Recently, I have noticed that I have been talking about COVID-19 pretty much every day. Understandably, this reality has taken ownership of our daily lives. BUT….I’ve also become very aware that I’m not talking nearly as much about the things in my life that mean the most to me. My relationship with Jesus, my family, hobbies, dreams, etc. With that, here is my personal challenge. Maybe you’d like to attempt it with me. The concept is simple, but pulling it off will be a daily struggle and will require a ton of intentionality. I will be making every effort to completely ELIMINATE these words from my vocabulary. I’m not going to post them, speak them, or read them in the news (Lord willing).

COVID

Pandemic

Quarantine

Social Distancing

Vaccine

I can hear the laughter already. Here’s where I’m coming from, though. The pandemic has become a daily reality for all of us. It’s everywhere. So, I don’t feel the need to continue talking about it as if it’s a new headline in the news or that it’s going to end anytime soon. I’m moving on in a positive direction today and into 2021. I’m not saying I’m going to act like COVID doesn’t exist, but I don’t need to continue feeding it verbally either. Friends, family, co-workers, feel free to hold me accountable. Better yet, JOIN ME!

The hashtag I’m using is #2020NoMoreChallenge

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If YOU are a Christian entertainer and would like to be a guest on the Faith & Entertainment Podcast, simply email me at brentdumler@icloud.com. I’d love to talk with you!

Permissions > Restrictions

Here in WA State we are undergoing more restrictions as COVID numbers are on the rise. Though these are arguably necessary, they are negatively affecting small businesses, grocery shopping, church gatherings, medical treatment, and much more.

My wife and I co-lead our missional faith community and we also work at a very busy grocery store in town. The latest restrictions are causing many in our community to go back into the ‘panic shopping’ that we witnessed last Spring. So, we are feeling all the craziness first-hand.

Thankfully, I was able to spend some significant time reflecting on life and scripture this morning (admittedly for the first time in over a week). And as is always the case with God, he kindly gave me a powerful reminder.

Whatever I speak, write, and post becomes my reality. Those actions (choices) define what is truth in my life. Like it or not, I can’t argue with that.

Let me share with you part of a reflection I wrote in my journal today.

Focus: Acknowledge the circumstances around you without adding to the negativity. Speak optimism & hope whenever possible.

This was big for me. It’s so easy to fall in line with the copious amount of pessimism and chaos in our world today. Allowing myself to simply blend in with the norm of that noise around us doesn’t lead to anything helpful. I don’t know if it’s possible to add white noise to white noise, but this is not what I want to be about.

Hence the title of this post, ‘Permissions > Restrictions.’ We don’t really have many choices in our daily lives when new COVID restrictions are placed on us. But we do have unlimited PERMISSIONS available to us. What do I mean?

You and I have an incredible opportunity to stand out, to be a loud sounding ‘gong’ in all this negative white noise. And it’s so rare right now that people will absolutely notice when we choose to react to negative circumstances differently than the vast majority of our surrounding society.

This does not mean that we ignore facts or act like COVID, politics, social unrest, and financial stress don’t exist. These things are very real and affect real lives. But another very real truth is that we have a loving God in Heaven who offers us wisdom, power, direction, and comfort for the times we live in. And God has given us each other. I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have my faith, family, and community.

So….I’m making a declaration on my own personal attitude, my own behavior. For the remainder of November and all through December I will be making a conscious (imperfect) attempt at inserting optimism into conversations with others. The same goes for the thoughts that go on in my mind.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Please drop me a comment below.  

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If YOU are a Christian entertainer/athlete and would like to be a guest on the Faith & Entertainment podcast, simply email me at brentdumler@icloud.com. I’d love to talk with you!

What is ‘Effective’ Discipleship?

What does it REALLY take to disciple someone?

A disciple is a LEARNER. And when we look at how Jesus interacted with his ‘learners,’ we notice 3 forms of engagement.
1. He taught them, both verbally and by example.
2. He let them experience his WHOLE life, not just the rainbows & unicorns side. (come on, we all have a unicorn side)
3. He extended grace & patience when they screwed things up.

Here’s what we DON’T see in Scripture. Or at least I don’t see it.
1. Jesus taught in the Synagogues (churches), but we don’t see him teaching a Sunday School class on discipleship.
2. He doesn’t provide us with a step-by-step process for making disciples.
3. He definitely doesn’t ask his disciples to do anything that isn’t already a regular part of his own life.
descipelship
After over 20 years in vocational ministry, I’ve learned that doing organic, unfiltered life with others is the most EFFECTIVE kind of discipleship. We must not place a completion date on it, allowing Jesus to determine that. And lastly, each of us as followers of Jesus really needs to practice being the teacher AND the student…the Rabbi AND the disciple. Meaning, we should be simultaneously learning from the lives of other strong believers AND intentionally guiding others to deeper understanding of God’s Kingdom by way of OUR EXAMPLE.

What’s YOUR experience been with the issue of Christian discipleship? I’m super interested and would appreciate it if you’d drop a comment below.

 

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Please give my podcast a listen this week. We engage in discussions of faith with popular actors, musical artists, and athletes. Check out the Faith & Entertainment podcast!

My OneWord For 2020

I’ve been participating in the OneWord365 movement for well over 6 years now. The concept of focusing on just one single word for an entire year has helped me to give concentrated attention to an area of my life in a simple but powerful way.

For both 2018 & 2019, I used #Moments in social media posts involving family, special occasions, etc. to help me acknowledge the daily blessings in life that I might normally let slip by. I’ve learned to not take these for granted.

After having the same word for two consecutive years, it took weeks for me to discover my word for 2020. But, here it is…LEAN.

OneWord 2020

First and foremost, I desire to LEAN into the person, presence, and influence of Jesus daily.

Second, I cheated a bit on this so that I could incorporate four additional words. I spelled out ‘LEAN’ within the words Daily, Reset, Peace, and Kindness.

Daily – Building predictable patterns, or regular habits, into my life has become something of great importance to me. Simply stated (and not so simply practiced), I want to maintain this focus each and every day. This requires discipline and prioritizing.

Reset – If I keep this specific area of focus in front of me each day it will allow me to ‘reset’ my mind, my attitude, and my priorities.

Peace – Also known as calm, restful, and tranquil. Philippians 4:7 reminds me, ‘And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ Who doesn’t desire this?

Kindness – Confession time. It seems that the older I get, the more irritable I become with even small things. So, I want to practice the art of reacting slowly.  James 1:19 says, ‘Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;’

Here’s the connection. Only by effectively leaning into Jesus every day will I be able to grow in these other four areas.

Lastly,  as a new approach to my OneWord I will be writing a 7-day scripture/prayer reflection based on my OneWord. This really excites me.

Do YOU have a OneWord365 to give you clear vision in 2020? (Sorry, I had to slip that in there) Leave a comment below.

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Interview with Andrew East & Shawn Johnson East

My next interview in the Faith & Entertainment series is with Olympic Gymnast, Shawn Johnson and NFL athlete, Andrew East. What an amazing conversation!

I’m also thrilled to announce that this blog series has officially transitioned into the Faith & Entertainment PODCAST. That’s right. Moving forward, all interviews with persons of faith in the entertainment industry will be recorded and made available on the new podcast.

And I’m so excited to have Shawn and Andrew be my guests on episode 001. I’ve included our discussion below. Give it a listen.

I hope you enjoyed listening to this interview. And if you don’t want to miss out on future interviews, please jump on over to the podcast page and click the ‘FOLLOW’ button.

 

Join the discussion and LEAVE A COMMENT below.

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