At first, Jesus commands about turn-the-cheek forgiveness feel unfair. They seem insane. Too much. There's no way. But there's a profound promise hidden beneath these seemingly impossible commands and if we will take Him at His Word, we'll experience a FREEDOM that would never be possible if we only based our forgiveness on the other person's worthiness or apology. In this episode we consider the GOOD NEWS that our healing and wholeness depends on no person other than Jesus Christ.

As we look at the particulars of Jesus' Second Mile instruction in Matthew 5, it's fascinating to see the three facets of wrong-doing that He addresses in three short sentences. First of all He speaks of the slap. This isn't an impersonal injustice. This is the up-close and personal wound of a friend. You can see the whites of their eyes. A slap is a sign of contempt, from someone you trusted enough to be within arm's reach. In this episode we look at why the slap stings, drawing from Psalm 55 and the experience of the mighty King David.

Turning the cheek, offering the shirt off your back, and slogging along a forced-mile sounds miserable. And as long as we're in that "have-to" mindset, it is miserable. But that's just it—the secret of the Second Mile is that you break the back of unfair compulsion with the power of voluntary generosity. It's a completely upside-down counter-attack of kindness that frees you from that miserable victim-feeling and turns you into a victorious fighter for the cause of Christ. Come along as we contemplate what's really at stake here, and how we can—even today—turn the tables and find the joy of freely following Jesus.

Tortilla chips without salt? No, thanks. Similarly, who wants the burden of religious obligations without the actual life-transforming power of Jesus that enables us to do what is humanly impossible? If the gospel doesn't empower us to love our enemies, how are we any different from the world? In this episode we look at the total transformation of one disciple, and how we too can be completely changed by the upside way of Christ.

Thankfully, we don't just have Saul, Ahab, and Jonah as our examples. The Old Testament also gives us three guys who are a great example of emotional health. In this episode Kari looks to Joseph, David, and Ezekiel and shows what we can learn from their lives. Also included are practical steps — if we do recognize the symptoms of emotional instability in our lives, what can we do about it?

Thankfully, Scripture doesn't just give us lists of commands or rules to obey, it also gives us stories about real men and women, so we can watch their lives and learn how to (and how not to!) follow God. In this episode we look at the lives of three men who devolved into emotional dysfunction. What warning signs do we see early on? What choices did they make that led them down the road of dysfunction? What can we learn that will keep us from making the same mistakes? Join us for this fascinating study of Saul, Ahab, and Jonah.

On the one hand, letting our emotions enslave us or dictate our behavior leads to bondage, and keeps us from being useful to serve those around us. But on the other hand, emotions DO play an important role in our lives, if we wisely tune into what they're telling us. They may not tell us the truth about reality, but they do tell us a lot about ourselves.

I'm here in Oregon in the midst of the wildfires. What a week. First chance I've had to steal away and share thoughts, both on events of this week, and my personal journey through learning about how we must learn to have victory over our emotions in order to be useful and serve others. Something tells me this is something we're going to need ASAP. ;)

This would be easy except for ...

...how I FEEL. Anybody else?

I KNOW the right thing to do, but how can I do it when I feel so incredibly hurt, betrayed, frustrated, (fill in the blank!). So here's what we have to figure out: Can feelings be commanded? Can God command us to FEEL a certain way? How much control do we have over our feelings? In this episode we begin to tackle some of these questions, because until we figure out feelings, we won't be able to figure out freedom.

Proverbs warns us against receiving supposed generosity from someone who is "inwardly calculating." But unfortunately, we can all fall into a ledger-lifestyle, unknowingly keeping track of relational debits and credits. In this episode, Kari discusses the danger of this ledger-lifestyle, and how step into the freedom of generous grace.