The Purpose of This Blog

Blogging–along with all of social media– is just…strange. In no other time of history did someone go online (because “online” didn’t even exist!) and share their opinions, thoughts, their highs, their lows, their assessments, and their lives. Christian bloggers and social media “influencers” takes this to a whole other level, where we find people of all ages promoting and defending any possible view of scripture that you could possibly have, assuring their readers that they are the “right” one. It ends up being mostly a cess pool of confusion and theological chaos.

Because of this, many people automatically lump me in with this chaos and write me off as just another blogger espousing her own personal ideas. I’ve run into a cool condescension about this particular ministry more times than I care to remember. But, hey, whatever. Blogging isn’t everybody’s thing and they are entitled to their opinion that blogging is worthless.

But let me be honest and share my purpose for writing. The following is what I hope and pray this blog (and corresponding Facebook page) is for my readers–

First, and foremost, I hope that it is a page that leads people to the only opinion that matters: God’s! I pray that this page has encouraged readers to study the Bible for themselves instead of relying on the words of others.

Second, I pray that this page is a dim reflection that points people to the true light: Jesus Christ. In the midst of great and almost overwhelming spiritual darkness, He is our only hope. And the only way to know HIM is through HIS WORD. For how can we know who the real Jesus is if we don’t study the only Book that God has given us about Him?

Third, I pray that this page, using God’s Holy Word alone, helps to unpack what it truly means to be a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. Salvation is simple but it isn’t easy, as so many would have you believe. A sincere follower of Christ will turn from sin and from the world. Of course, this won’t be done perfectly but there will be a movement in this direction. Jesus said this IS what happens when someone chooses to follow Him (Mark 8:34).

And, fourth, I pray that this page encourages my readers to humbly and carefully test all things by the grid of the Word. Anything labeled “Christian” should be examined. If we refuse to do this or are even apathetic in this regard, we are so open to deception.

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I seek to do the above things through pointing my readers to scripture references and passages and also by sharing anecdotes and stories from my own life. This has also, quite naturally, opened myself up to much judgment.

Sometimes I can (wrongly) get caught up in worrying about what people think of me and wondering why readers stop reading or just disappear. Because blogging is so one-sided, I usually never discover the reason and, as is true for most of us, we never really know what most people think about us. Of course, occasionally, things come through the grapevine, which often, quite painfully, knock the breath out of me.

But the other day I was listening to a sermon (find it here) by Pastor Dean Good on Mark 8:34-38. These verses are so convicting and challenging–even without a sermon! —

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ³⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? ³⁷ Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

One of the things, Dean said in that sermon was “Why do you care about what people think about you?”

If I am dead to self, what does it matter?

And I keep going back to the fact that this page can’t be about ME. Although I share stories from my own life, I hope that in no way am I ever glorifying myself. My purpose is to always use these things to point people to Christ. With all of my heart, I want Jesus Christ to receive all the glory.

Of course, I can only wish for perfection in this area. And many times, in both life and on this blog, I mourn my own pride, sin, and worldliness. But I do see progress. I am not the same person I was twenty years ago, ten years ago, or even last year. God uses His Word, along with small and large trials, to transform us into His image. But perfection won’t be reached until we leave this earth. And so I need much grace, as I study God’s Word and grow more like Christ in a rather public way.

But I guess we all need grace, don’t we? None of us has arrived. This is why it is so very important that we do not look to any person for our opinions on religion. If we want true religion, we can only look to God and His Word. People will fail us. They will fail us after sixty years of not failing us. They will fail us in just the smallest, most minute way. And people will deceive us, if we aren’t protected by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. They will deceive us purposefully and they will deceive us because they are deceived.

I keep saying the same thing over and over again because it’s so vitally important to the life of a true Christian: Read the Word, Study the Word, Know the Word. And trust no one (including myself!) so much that you stop running what they say through the grid of the Word.

To close, I want to share just a small testimony about this. In God’s perfect plan, I decided to have Mark be the first book of the Bible Reading Challenge (not too late to join! Find more information here) for the 2023 study. Through studying this book I am getting to know my Savior so much more than I ever have before. I am understanding who He really is, what is important to Him, and what He is like. It’s been a tremendous study and incredibly helpful in discerning all of these “latest and greatest” things such as The Chosen or He Gets Us campaign and, of course, more recently, the Jesus Revolution movie. The Word so clearly shows us that these things do NOT represent the REAL JESUS. But I wouldn’t know this if I wasn’t in the Word, studying it.

The Bible is all we need so that we are equipped in every way for serving God and living our Christian life (2 Timothy 3:16). God can use things like this blog and other faithful bloggers, authors, preachers, and resources. Thankfully, there are still some that truly want to be faithful to God and His Word. But only the WORD is our infallible, inerrant, and perfect guide.

And so if you get nothing else from this blog, whether you are a newbie around here or someone who has been around here for a long, long time, I pray that you will learn (or be reminded of) the importance of the Bible in the life of a believer and that you will be compelled to dive into scripture for yourself.

And, if you have been encouraged to do this because of anything written here through the years, then every bit of rejection, judgment, and cool condescension I’ve encountered will have been well worth it!