Giving Up Religion

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

I was raised in a Christian home and attended Christian schools, so religion has been woven into my entire life. For a long time though, and even at times today, I thought religion was the point of it all. The first time I heard someone say that Jesus hadn’t come to earth to create a new religion, I had to ponder it a bit. Divorcing the concept of religion from our relationship with God is a complicated process, because it’s not that religion itself, or the practices we engage in because of religion, are inherently bad or wrong. The problem comes in when religion becomes our aim instead of God--because Jesus didn’t come to bring us religion. He came to bring us himself. 

Photo Credit: Flickr User Paul Trafford, Creative Commons

When it’s wrongly understood, religion tells us there are a certain set of rules we have to follow, and if we follow them well enough, God will be happy with us and love us. The problem is, we don’t have the capability to follow the rules well enough to earn God’s love, and that’s where basing our lives on religion falls apart. It’s a game with no winners, ever.

Galatians 4:6-7 tells us how relationship with God is really supposed to be:

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

It’s not based on something we do; “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.” That’s the key right there--on our own, we’re never enough, but God says we’re already enough. We’re his children, dearly loved because of who we are and not because of what we do.

All of this is well and good; it’s certainly important to be reminded that we’re deeply valued and loved by God. But why does this really matter in our everyday lives? What difference does it make? Intellectually I know I’m loved by God and don’t need to try to meet some unattainable standard, but it doesn’t always feel that way. What can bridge the gap?

The answer is the Holy Spirit. The rituals and beliefs of religion can’t, on their own, save us or move us any closer to God. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. To break free from the idea that religion is the point instead of God, we have to believe and let the Holy Spirit do his work.

This is a difficult concept for me. For all my religious knowledge, pointing to the Holy Spirit’s actual work in my life would be a lot harder for me. There’s something about the idea of letting the Holy Spirit work in my life that unnerves me a bit, and I think it’s because I’d much prefer for the Spirit to work within the limits I put on him. A prayer as I brush my teeth, a few minutes of silence on my drive to work, a bit of Bible reading before bed, and I feel like I should be set. All of those activities tend to be rushed though, like I’m expecting God to work himself into my schedule. 

When we really desire to put a relationship with God first instead of getting caught up in the rules of religion, we can’t expect the Spirit to only work through the spare snippets of time we give him in the midst of a chaotic life. It’s not that the Holy Spirit can’t or won’t work through those circumstances, because he can work anywhere and through anything, but to truly grasp the significance of our relationship with God as his children, we have to commit to dwell on it, soak it in, not rush to get to the next thing. The significance and responsibility of being a child of God can’t be crammed into the corners of our lives--it has to become a priority.


Over the next few weeks, what would it look like to set aside intentional time to dwell on our identity as children of God and to ask the Holy Spirit to meet us in that place?


[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]

Driver's Seat

 [The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

After my junior year in high school, I spent the summer teaching sixth grade Bible class every morning at a summer camp. (I spent the afternoons and evenings much less glamorously washing dishes. Lots of dishes. All the dishes.) I remember almost nothing I taught (I hope the kids don’t either – I was so young in my faith), but there is one lesson that sticks in my mind.

In a fully unfortunate illustration that likened our need for salvation to a toll booth (please remember how young I was), I explained that if Jesus was in the passenger seat, He could pay the toll. THE PASSENGER SEAT!

Photo credit: Flickr user Nicholas A Tonelli

I remember it so clearly because some time later I realized how completely wrong I was! If anyone in the room was not a sixth grader, they probably would have called me out for the passenger seat illustration (to which, I would hopefully have said something witty about how it was actually a British car). In all seriousness, I have prayed that those kids would all forget all of my teaching. Who knows what else I said?!

Why would I put Jesus in the passenger seat in that illustration? Because I like control. Because life was all about me, and I was really glad I had found Jesus and invited Him along for the ride. I like my own way; I want to drive that metaphorical life-car. And as a young Christian not fluent in Christian-ese, I didn’t realize how passenger-Jesus revealed all of my selfishness, control issues and lack of surrender.

My plan was to figure out how I could best succeed at life, and then invite Jesus along, hoping to please Him with my efforts. I had a lot to learn about God’s grace and sovereignty.

Unfortunately, I learned words like “seeking His will,” and “God is calling me…” far before I understood how to listen for the Spirit, how to hear Him. I learned to hide my messy heart, instead of learning to hear His voice. I realized how incorrect my statement was about putting Jesus in the passenger seat before I learned how to let Him have control of my life.

I had no idea how to listen to God, no idea how to hear and feel the stirrings of the Holy Spirit.

No idea how to follow.

Oceans is a familiar worship song at Encounter. “You call me out upon the waters, the great unknown, where feet may fail…” Those lyrics really seem to resonate with us. My heart knows that following where God calls is right and good, and I want it to do it. But even as I sing, I sometimes struggle to know confidently to what or how God is calling me. You too? If we’re being honest, most of us should probably be singing something more like, “I like to swim, so I go running into the water; where are you when the waves crash me into the rocky shore?”

This week Pastor Dirk shared from 1 Corinthians 12:1-3 that we sometimes struggle to hear God because, if we’re honest, we aren’t very good at listening. When we are considering our plans, our ideas, what to do when faced with a choice and whether it will bring glory, comfort or presumed happiness to us, we may be “listening” to a mute idol. If we listen for God, His direction will always lead us to choices that declare that Jesus is Lord.

When we feel a nudge to do something or not to do something, how do we know if it’s Him? If we are being nudged into something that will declare His glory, that will proclaim “Jesus is Lord!” we know it’s Him. If we are being nudged toward things that don’t elevate us, but that elevate our God, if the outcome will deflect praise and glory back to Him, we can be sure that nudge is the Holy Spirit moving us toward God’s glory.

He is a good and gracious God – He did not let me stay so wrong, so alone, attempting to bring success and glory to myself instead of Him.

God got all up in my business and showed me that He had been driving all along (those stories are too long for this blog…maybe I’ll share them another time). He’s driving me to places I wouldn’t even dream of, inviting me to do things I wouldn’t know to ask for.

When I operate in my own strength, my successes reflect my glory. When I operate in God’s strength, He gets the glory, and I get to enjoy the ride. He invites me to rely on His power to do things I’m not capable of. (Like this! I’m a science teacher – beakers and white boards are far more comfortable than words - writing is not my jam on my own!) He has called us to places where our feet fail, because He is strong enough to un-fail them!

I’m learning to hear His voice. Our God is not a mute idol; He calls. And when we follow, we will find Him.

[Robin Bupp is married to Caleb, and they are from many places east of the Mississippi (but are calling Michigan home for the foreseeable future). A former high school science teacher, Robin is slowly turning the two Bupp kiddos into tiny nerds while they teach her lots of things, especially humility and patience.]

Hindsight is 20/20

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://encounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

Sporting my pixie haircut in beautiful Colorado, 2012

As I begin to leave my college days behind and start to think about motherhood, the phrase “hindsight is 20/20” comes to mind. For instance, I remember when I decided to get a pixie haircut while working at a summer camp in Colorado—no one ever tells you that a pixie cut is not easier to maintain than simply throwing your hair into a ponytail. It was the summer of hat-hair, bobby pins, and desperate attempts to speed-up hair growth, but at least I made it to the top of a mountain. On a more serious note, I often look back on my first two years in college and how I spent many of my nights and weekends. It’s so much easier to see the negative effects that those decisions had on my life now, rather than when I was living in those moments. Hindsight is 20/20.

This makes me wonder if the disciples ever had similar thoughts about their journey with Jesus. Did Matthew ever look back on the day when Jesus approached him at the tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow me” (Matthew 9:9) and think, “Wow. I cannot believe how much things have changed…” Or, did the disciples look back on their last supper with Jesus and realize that it was then that He had promised the sending of the Holy Spirit?

In John 14:16-17 Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

These words of encouragement from Jesus demonstrate the relationship between the trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son Jesus to save the world and the Father also sent another advocate (the Holy Spirit) to be with us forever and continue the life-changing work of Jesus.

John 16:7 says, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

It is difficult to understand that it is better for us to have the Holy Spirit living in our hearts than it would be to have the Son of Man walking besides us in the flesh. But, because it is written in the Word, we believe that it is true and invite the Holy Spirit to bring the transformative power of God into our lives. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter, Helper, and Advocate—He brings life into our weary souls, picks us up when we have fallen down, and fights on our behalf. These qualities are easy to simply write on paper and believe them to be true, but can we recognize when we have actually experienced the Holy Spirit in our lives?

If we apply the perspective of “hindsight is 20/20” to our spiritual lives, it’s possible that we could recognize the power of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. Take a moment to truly invite the Holy Spirit into your heart and allow you to see His power throughout your life. Rather than being satisfied with seeing how God has shown up in our past, I suggest that we ask the Holy Spirit to be present in our daily lives. When this happens, when we can feel His power moving in our hearts daily, we truly will display the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

A life lived in obedience to the Holy Spirit’s influence on our hearts can have a significant impact on sharing the Gospel and God’s grace with others. When we are transformed by the Holy Spirit and display fruit of this transformation, it is an amazing testimony to the love of God. Let’s pray relentlessly to the Holy Spirit that we might be changed—that we might be able to fly and fully live in obedience to God’s call for our lives.

For a song reflecting on this week’s message, check out Beautiful Things by Gungor. It is one of my favorites!

[Megan Stephenson is a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University and works for a private education group in Grand Rapids as an Assistant Registrar. She loves spending time with her husband, Ben, trying out new breweries, restaurants, and local attractions. She also self-identifies as a crazy cat lady, despite owning no cats of her own, thanks to her loving and allergic husband.]

Why Easter Matters on Wednesday

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]


When Easter rolls around, we break out the spring clothes, hunt some eggs, eat some ham and maybe a chocolate bunny (or two). We celebrate at church with joyful cries of “He is risen!” and hopefully enjoy some time with family or friends. The joyful tone lasts into Monday, or maybe a day or two beyond that, but pretty much by Wednesday it’s back to regular life as we know it. Bills have to be paid, homework has to be done, trash has to be taken out, and all the regular activities of life have to continue. Eventually, we end up carrying on as though Easter never happened, until next January when the stores start getting out the Peeps again.

Photo Credit: Flickr User USACE Europe District, Creative Commons

If we truly believe that Easter changes everything though, Easter should affect every single day of our lives. It should affect how we pay our bills, how we do our homework, how we take out our trash, how we treat our coworkers, how we love our family and friends and strangers we meet on the street. Jesus came to earth, fully human and fully God, and he became the be-all-end-all sacrifice for our sins when he died on the cross. 

And then he came back to life.

He died, but he didn’t stay that way.

In Luke 24, Jesus walked along the road with two of his followers. They were kept from recognizing him as they told Jesus about the recent events surrounding Jesus’ death, but later, as they shared a meal together, their eyes were opened and they realized who Jesus was. The very man they had been walking with was the same guy they thought was dead and stuck in a tomb! Everything they thought they knew about the natural laws of death was overturned, and everything they thought to maybe be true about Jesus’ identity was proven correct. A guy who was dead had come back to life and was confirming for them that he was the Savior of the world. The fulfillment of all the prophecies they had grown up hearing was sitting at the table having dinner with them. There’s no way their lives could have been the same from that day on--Jesus truly changed everything for them. If we let it, Easter can change everything for us, too. 

Jesus became the ultimate victor over all our sin and shame, everything we’ve already done and everything we will do. Because of Jesus and what he accomplished by becoming human and dying for us, we never need to face any part of life alone or without hope. He is ever-present with us, always good, always loving, always working things in ways we may not see or understand. 

Which isn’t to say that “Easter changes everything” means life won’t still be hard. Jesus’ death and resurrection don’t protect us from the trials and tragedies of being human. People still get sick, relationships still get fractured, temptations still bombard us from every side. The power of Easter isn’t a shield to block us from difficulties; the power of Easter is a new perspective on those difficulties. Easter gives us hope that life on this earth is not the end, for us and for everyone who is in Christ. Jesus’ own disciples were living examples of this. As they set out to spread the word of Jesus around the world, they encountered opposition, persecution, and death. Jesus completely changed their lives, but it didn’t mean they became easier. 

The disciples knew what counted though. Instead of striving to get ahead in their jobs, or chasing after relationships, or trying to build a bigger house, they knew it was worth it to follow Jesus, even if it meant they never achieved things they maybe really wanted. Life with Jesus can, and should, look radically different than life without him. As we empty our fridges of Easter ham and the chocolate bunnies begin to go stale, let's not forget the changes that Easter should bring to our Wednesdays, our Thursdays, and every other day.


[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]

Impossible Things

 [The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

This Sunday, we took a look at the story of a wealthy, powerful man who asked Jesus how to gain eternal life (Luke 18:18-30). Jesus reminds him of the commandments; the ruler is certain he has kept them well. So Jesus tells him to go sell everything he owns, and give away the money.

If this ruler was truly looking for a sure way to know that he would spend eternity with the God he loved, what a relatively easy command! Post everything on eBay, put it up on Craigslist, or go old school and have a garage sale, and he’s all set: eternal life is secure.

The rich man doesn’t seem quite as geeked about it though; instead, he becomes very sad, prompting Jesus to say, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:25) 

Photo credit: Flickr user worapol sittiphaet

Of course a camel can’t fit through the eye of a needle! Even if you’ve never seen a camel, how many things would actually fit through the eye of a needle? If it’s that hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God… then isn’t it impossible for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God?

Perhaps you have heard the story of the Needle Gate (or the Eye of the Needle Gate). It can be traced back to sermons and writings from at least two centuries ago (some sources trace it back to the 9^th century). In Jerusalem, there was a very small gate in the city wall referred to as the Needle Gate. When the larger city gates were shut, this narrow passageway was large enough for one person to enter, while remaining very easy to guard. The story explains how people would dismount and unburden their camels – removing saddles, bags and anything else they were carrying, and then shimmy the camel through the narrow passage.

Perhaps Jesus wasn’t referring to a literal needle and camel, but rather to this narrow gate. Instead of an impossible task – squashing an actual camel through the eye of an actual needle – Jesus was telling us to unburden our worldly wealth in order to get into heaven.   

A quick Google search reveals there is no record or evidence of a Needle Gate. What’s more, in several places ancient Jewish literature uses the image of an elephant or camel going through the eye of a needle as a hyperbole for things that are impossible. The Needle Gate story appears to be an invented sermon illustration, not a historical accuracy. Sorry if you were enjoying it!

Why does a story like this get started and propagated? Is it appealing because the made up story is more comfortable than the truth? The story of the needle gate allows us to think that we can do the things needed to gain eternal life. Even though we might say that our salvation is by God’s grace alone, we often think our efforts and hard work actually make us right before God. (Pastor Dirk digs into this mental-glitch in his sermon series on Galatians – God Alone. Check it out if you missed it last summer!)

The needle gate story is appealing, because it gives us something to do; it gives us the control. If we can summon the effort and self-discipline, we can get it done.

No amount of effort or discipline will help me fit a camel through the eye of a needle. Impossible things require faith.

When Jesus says that it’s as hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, He’s saying it’s impossible. It’s impossible for that rich young ruler to live a perfect law-abiding, sin-free life. It’s impossible to stack his good deeds high enough for him to reach God.  It’s impossible for him to reprioritize his own heart.

But it’s ok; God can do things that are impossible. (Luke 18:27)

God can reach down and move our sinful hearts. God can make a way for broken, imperfect people to be righteous before Him through Jesus’ sacrifice. With God, the rich young ruler can enter His kingdom. With God, not through his own efforts.

As Pastor Dirk pointed out, Jesus was not offering a box to check to gain eternal life: the issue on the table wasn’t selling everything to gain heaven. Rather, knowing the man’s heart, Jesus was inviting him to surrender an area of his life that hindered a passionate, open relationship with God. He loved his stuff; it probably got in the way of his love for God. “Sell everything” wasn’t the answer to gaining eternal life; eternal life would be found in giving everything over to God, and  trusting His way and His plan.

This is the sticky, difficult part about our faith: it’s never about whether we’ve done what it takes to inherit eternal life. It’s always been about our hearts and our relationship with Christ. It’s not about our ability to complete a checklist; it’s through God’s grace and love that we have relationship with Him.

God can do the impossible; ask Him to give you discernment about what the impossible “sell everything” might be in your life. Trust His love and goodness that can and will change your heart to love Him more.  

[Robin Bupp is married to Caleb, and they are from many places east of the Mississippi (but are calling Michigan home for the foreseeable future). A former high school science teacher, Robin is slowly turning the two Bupp kiddos into tiny nerds while they teach her lots of things, especially humility and patience.]

Forgiveness: Increase Our Faith

I admit that forgiveness is something that does not often occupy my thoughts—it can be an assumed duty as a Christian along with the commandment of “love one another,” but it can also be avoided as a method to rationalize our anger. The topic of forgiveness is sometimes brushed over within religious circles because as humans, we feel that our anger and bitterness is justified. It’s almost as if holding a grudge against someone who has wronged us can be qualified as “righteous anger”; after all, don’t they deserve to recognize their own sin and then ask us for forgiveness?


Photo Credit: Gerry Machen, Creative Commons

Luke 17 begins with Jesus speaking to his disciples; he tells them that, “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come.” Jesus is letting them know that we will encounter hurt and pain in this world, sometimes at the hand of others. We then read Jesus’s first shocking statement: “It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” As Pastor Dirk explained, the millstone being referred to here is a large commercial stone used for grinding large amounts of grain or crops. In other words, it is better that someone drowns rather than causing a believer to stumble.

Jesus continues, “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.” If we stop reading here, it might be easy to think that our assumptions about holding grudges and withholding forgiveness are correct. Do we really have the right to wait until a brother or sister repents before offering them forgiveness? That idea doesn’t quite line up with the rest of Jesus’s teachings, so we keep reading for more information: “Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

In this case, Jesus is addressing forgiveness within the context of the cultural norm of the Pharisees. It was common practice to forgive each other with urgency, based on the belief that the priest could only offer forgiveness on the Day of Atonement if forgiveness was already extended amongst each other. In order to avoid getting taken advantage of in terms of forgiveness, the Pharisees said that you only need to forgive another three times, and that was considered generous. Jesus again disagrees with the Pharisees and calls his disciples to forgive unconditionally.

It is this type of forgiveness that Jesus illustrated when he died on the cross and extended his forgiveness to all of our sins. He asks us to offer this same kind of forgiveness—the kind that is given regardless of whether the person is deserving or not. It recognizes the humanity in each of us and allows us to look past sin as a defining characteristic and see each individual as a child of God. Rather than writing off forgiveness as an assumed Christian duty, we must intentionally seek to let go of our anger and bitterness toward those who have hurt us. As the disciples say in Luke 17, “Increase our faith” so that we might experience and offer true forgiveness just as Christ offered it to us on the cross. As Paul says in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

For a song that reflects on this message, check out Losing by Tenth Avenue North.


[Megan Stephenson is a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University and works for a private education group in Grand Rapids as an Assistant Registrar. She loves spending time with her husband, Ben, trying out new breweries, restaurants, and local attractions. She also self-identifies as a crazy cat lady, despite owning no cats of her own, thanks to her loving and allergic husband.]

Saying Yes to Jesus

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

When I hear stories of people selling all their stuff and moving to another country to become missionaries, I want to like them. I really do. I want to be able to applaud their sacrifice, their willingness to give up all they’ve known, their dedication to following Jesus even though it seems so extreme. Except most of the time when I hear those stories, I get kind of annoyed at these other people’s piety, and then feel kind of ashamed that I’ve never done anything so extreme for Jesus. Almost every time I’ve gone to another country, it’s been for a vacation, not to serve Jesus.

There are two rather different stories of Jesus calling his first disciples. In the book of Matthew, it takes all of two verses (Matthew 4:18-20):

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Photo Credit: Flickr User SteFou!, Creative Commons

The book of Luke records things differently, and I appreciate the perspective it offers. Instead of instantaneously dropping everything to follow Jesus, Luke 5 shows that it takes a bit for Simon Peter to come around to the idea. First Jesus asks to borrow his boat, which Simon Peter agrees to. Next, Jesus, a non-fisherman, gives Simon Peter, a professional fisherman, unsolicited advice about how to catch more fish. I love Simon Peter’s response in verse 5--it comes across almost a bit sassy.

Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.

This fuller version of the story from Luke is easier for me to relate to. While Simon Peter's willingness to follow Jesus is still quite abrupt (it's not like he had time to get his affairs in order), it was a bit more gradual than Matthew’s telling of the story records it to be. The task Jesus called him to--leaving everything he knew to literally follow Jesus and learn from him--was drastic, but Simon Peter sensed that this rabbi he had agreed to follow wasn’t just any old good teacher; he was signing up to follow God.

When we agree to follow God, it’s possible he’ll call us to move to another country to become missionaries, but he doesn’t call everyone to do that. Not everyone should do that. Sometimes I feel like my own life, which is full of ordinary things like going to work, spending time with friends, volunteering at church, etc., can’t possibly bring as much glory to God as a missionary’s life.

It’s not about the actions though, it’s about the heart behind it. I don’t freely submit my life to God’s will perfectly by any means, but just because my life looks different than other people’s lives doesn’t mean I’m not still glorifying God when I allow him to be in control.  First I might say yes to God in small ways, like agreeing to lend him my boat and rowing into the shallow water like Simon Peter first did. As I learn more about him and fall more in love with him though, hopefully I’ll be able to hand over more and more of my life, bits and pieces at a time--my plans for how I thought my life would go, the relationships that have become unhealthy, the comfort I thought I was promised.

Maybe the question doesn’t start with, “Will you give God everything?” Maybe the question starts with, “Will you be obedient in this moment?” There are many different ways to follow Jesus, but they all start with saying Yes.

[Brianna DeWitt believes in Jesus, surrounding yourself with good people, and that desserts are best when they involve chocolate and peanut butter. She writes about faith, growing up, and whatever else pops into her head on her own blog, and tweets (largely about food) at @bwitt722.]