Stephen De La Vega

  “Life is a mess.” “Things are spiraling out of control.” “We’re at our wit’s end.” “Nothing we’ve tried seems to work.” These are phrases we use when life becomes unmanageable. But we don’t usually express them as a nation, or worse, as a global population. Things got bad. We fight a pandemic. Its reach continues to haunt. We might hear the curve is flattening or trending toward healthy communities, but it doesn’t seem that way. We’re in this fight for a while. Racial injustice violates our screens and holds captive the tears and fears of all colors. We say enough is enough, yet it’s still not enough. We’re still at odds. It’s still us and them. We still perpetrate our agendas within our circles, our communities, and our societal systems. This is a letter to all of us who carry the banner of Jesus Christ. While we are eager for a new “normal,” have we spent enough time considering how God may be shaking us up for His greater purposes? Let’s reflect before we charge ...

What determines our next steps? Who do we listen to? Do we follow God’s truth? Are we careful to discern and turn away from persuasive lies? We can choose truth. Even in loneliness. Depression. Addiction. Our values can align with God’s. Even in difficult situations. Fear. Disappointment. We can walk confidently. Even when people ridicule us. Turn on us. Bully us. And we can rally around the truth because that’s what God’s children do. In my previous post , I wrote about living an authentic Christian life. An authentic child of God obeys Him, loves Him, and loves His children. Simple prescription. Hard to swallow. But, if that isn’t hard enough, the letters of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John also warn us about people and things that directly oppose our authenticity.  Identity thieves try to rob us of it and replace it with anything contrary to God. Identity thieves are in our midst and they are cunning and intentional. If we’re not careful, we could adopt and even thrive...

We live in days where some people pretend to be people they are not. They do this for their own gain, often with some sophistication of stealth. “Oh, dread.  Somebody stole my identity!” We also encounter people who pretend to be something they are not. For example, they might appear to be well-to-do, only to disguise dwindling bank accounts. We see only what they allow us to see. And still others don’t really want another person’s identity at all, but they would rather discredit us and shatter the noteworthy elements in our character. I hope I have not just described any of us. On second thought, I described myself sometimes (I mean often), at least when it comes to the second example, and I’m struggling to write this article because of it. I delayed the publish date two times because I’ve written just a couple paragraphs per day, only to rewrite them later. In fact, this article didn’t really start to come together until I wrote this confession. I guess the same is...