Friday, November 17, 2023

Not fitting in

 Euge Peterson

“The present age prepares roles for people and expects us to fit into them. These are roles in which we are asked to smoothly function: as good consumers, as indulgent hedonists, as proud owners, as ruthless competitors, as satisfied customers. But there is a problem: Christians don’t fit. People of faith have sharp, awkward edges. We are square pegs in round holes.

Society relentlessly whittles away at those sharp edges so that we will be well adjusted, profitable, and safe. The massive energies of journalism, entertainment, education, and advertising pour over us like the powerful, persistent flowing of water over rock, working to erode us into smooth, secularized surfaces.

We resist. We have been warned by Paul, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from with within” (Romans 12:2, PHILLIPS). But how do we keep our recovered, original, sharp-edged identity as Christians in a world in which the pressures to conform are so powerful?

Christians have long agreed that our spiritual practices are the core technology for keeping the angles sharp. With prayer and intention, we must encourage and direct the basic practices of faith to maintain our sharp identity—as creatures a little less than God—against the world that is trying constantly to adjust us into the comfortable mediocrity of being little more than animals.”


Excerpt From

On Living Well

Eugene H. Peterson

https://books.apple.com/us/book/on-living-well/id1554018349

This material may be protected by copyright.


Excerpt From

On Living Well

Eugene H. Peterson

https://books.apple.com/us/book/on-living-well/id1554018349

This material may be protected by copyright.


Excerpt From

On Living Well

Eugene H. Peterson

https://books.apple.com/us/book/on-living-well/id1554018349

This material may be protected by copyright.


Excerpt From

On Living Well

Eugene H. Peterson

https://books.apple.com/us/book/on-living-well/id1554018349

This material may be protected by copyright.

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