One of the temptations in our “instant everything” world is to react to events around us immediately. To give our opinion on anything and everything without knowing all the facts, or without allowing the necessary amount of time to pass for us to know what really is going on, or even to take time to think through what we should think from the scriptures before giving our gut reaction. Our culture tempts us to react, to comment, to speak in such a way that speed is valued over wisdom. As Christians, we must do the opposite: rarely is speed the most important thing. Rather, we are called to use our words in such a way as to build up, to speak what is true, to carefully consider what we are saying and how our words will encourage or correct in love.
Recently, I came across two wonderful examples of this in action. The first is from pastor and blogger Tim Challies, who presents a “cold take” (as opposed to a “hot take” – i.e. an instant and quick response) on what has been called the “Revival at Asbury.” Challies’ article is full of wisdom on revival itself, but most helpful is the attitude and stance that he takes in writing: he didn’t write until events at Asbury had begun to wind down and this, I think, is what makes his example so valuable.
When it comes to the idea of revival itself – whether it is real or not, how we should think about and evaluate it – D. A. Carson has done us a favor with his ever-wise and carefully written article that you can find here. He presents several points on how to understand revivals and to address them wisely.
And, on a different topic, given my recent comments about prayer, I found this conference video, highlighted by Tim Challies to be helpful. Especially practical are Kevin DeYoung’s points on different ways to make prayer a habit.
