To Tell You The Truth

T4A FAQ - Short Answers

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 09:55:13 -0500

Below is a short list of frequently asked questions. If there is a question that you have that is not addressed, please comment or send me an email to: dave.cruver@TogetherForAdoption.org

1. What kind of organization is T4A?

T4A is under the auspices of the ABBA Fund (the Ministry), PO Box 1120, Ramseur, NC 27316, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation registered in North Carolina.

2. In what state is Abba Fund established?

Ramseur, North Carolina

3. Why is support needed to be raised?

Abba Fund dedicates the vast majority of its resources to providing interest-free loans to Christian couples seeking to adopt, and has limited operational resources. Adding additional members to its conference team (T4A) requires personal support raising for the positions.

4. To What standards does Abba Fund adhere?

As a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), ABBA Fund is committed to operating with integrity and established standards for financial accountability, fundraising and board governance defined by ECFA’s Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship. Because of increased Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scrutiny of personal support raising activities (technically called “deputized fundraising”), ECFA has issued specific guidelines governing deputized fundraising activities – and ABBA Fund will adhere to these guidelines.

PERSONAL SUPPORT RAISING GUIDELINES

Based on the IRS’s definitions, the main issue related with personal support raising that needs to be understood is that the gifts are given to the ministry – not the individual – and at the full discretion of the ministry to use as it sees fit to fulfill its tax-deductible purpose. This issue is best captured in this suggested language from ECFA:

Be assured that we are committed to honoring donor wishes concerning gifts for exempt purposes and projects carried out by [the ABBA FUND]. We also are committed to the highest standards of accountability as evidenced by our membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

Recent IRS Concerns

Recent Internal Revenue Service action has raised concern about the deductibility of contributions intended to support specific individuals. It is a common practice for missionaries and other religious workers to raise support for their ministries. The basis of the IRS concern is that gifts to or for specific individuals are not tax-deductible contributions, and should not be treated as such.

However, gifts to support the ministry of missionaries and religious workers are charitable contributions in support of the ministry rather than individuals, if the organization fully controls the funds. Accordingly, the [ABBA Fund] board must control all contributions intended exclusively for its exempt purposes. In addition, the board is committed to providing reasonable measures to ensure that donor-preferenced gifts are used for the intended exempt purpose(s).

Abba Fund Policy

All gifts are under the control of the [ABBA Fund Board of Directors] to be used for its exempt purposes. In the unlikely event a project or program is over-funded, or is not able to be carried out, the board will redirect the funds to a similar purpose.

Because of this policy, your gifts to support the ministry of specific [ABBA Fund] staff are not gifts to or for the individual but to [ABBA Fund] for its ministries, [including Together for Adoption (T4A)]. While the use of gifts for ministry conducted by [ABBA Fund] staff typically are used in accordance with a donor’s preferences, at times the board may redirect the use of these gifts.

5. If 100% support is not reached, what happens to the donations*?

Per IRS requirements to be a charitable contribution, all money contributed to ABBA Fund for support of the Together for Adoption ministry activities, even though it was “preferenced” for the Candidate, will not be returned but will be applied toward support of the T4A conference or similar ministry activity as determined by the Board of Directors.

Once a minimum of three (3) months of budgeted support is raised or pledged in writing, ABBA Fund is willing to allow the Candidate to start working and receiving the agreed upon compensation or a prorated amount, determined in consultation with the Director of T4A.

Once the contributed funds run out, the Candidate can continue to volunteer and attempt to raise additional funds, but no further compensation will be paid until another three (3) months of support is raised.

6. What happens if more than the full projected budget is raised*?

All money raised above the budget target will be applied toward support of the T4A conference or similar ministry activity as determined by the Board of Directors – these excess funds are not the Candidate’s funds, but belong to the ABBA Fund and are for use by the Ministry as its leadership deems appropriate.

It is up to the discretion of the President and the Director of T4A if excess funds raised during a fiscal year are to be applied toward other conference expenses or “banked” and credited as additional support for the Candidate in the following fiscal year.

*These two scenarios are non-negotiable in order for the Ministry to fulfill its ECFA standards commitment, to comply to IRS guidelines and to protect its 501(c)(3) tax exempt charitable status.

7. Are donations pledges or cash?

Cash.

8. Are donations monthly or one-time donations?

We ask potential donor partners to think in terms of shares. Each share is an equal unit of $60. We encourage three levels of one time share-giving: 300 friends investing in 1 share . . . . . . . . $60; 200 friends investing in 2 shares . . . . . . $120; 100 friends investing in 3 shares . . . . . . $180. When a donor gives a share, he or she is sharing in ABBA Fund/Together for Adoption's mission to serve orphaned and vulnerable children. These shares are tangible ways to serve orphans in deeply meaningful ways. Donors are not limited to giving just one, two or three shares. Some of T4A's donors have given up to 16 shares.

9. What happens to the money while support is being raised?

It is held in a low-interest yielding Together for Adoption account.

10. What is T4A's Mission?

To provide gospel-centered resources to mobilize the church for global orphan care.

My T4A Initiative

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:25:13 -0500

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)

What is Together for Adoption ?

Together for Adoption (T4A) is a mission agency. T4A sponsors adoption conferences that focus primarily on vertical adoption (i.e., God adopting us in Christ), with a secondary focus on its implications for orphan care and horizontal adoption (i.e., couples adopting children). In fulfillment of our objectives, we desire to see conference attendees walk away from a T4A event:

Understanding why it is that vertical adoption is the highest blessing of the gospel
Rejoicing afresh in the gospel
Moved to act on James 1:27 both locally and globally

Why is the Gospel Important?

In his book Knowing God, J.I. Packer identifies adoption as the highest blessing of the gospel because of the relationship that it secures for those who believe in Christ—a filial relationship with God the Father and His Son. God's gracious work of adoption is an enlarging of the circle of communion that has eternally existed between the three Persons of the Trinity. The good news of the gospel is that God the Father brings us to share in the loving communion that He enjoys with His eternal and natural Son through the work of His eternal and natural Son. It is T4A's passion to explore and articulate this wonderful truth "to the praise of [God's] glorious grace" (Ephesians 1:6).

The Travesty of Being An Orphan

To be an orphan is to be a human being without filial relationships. Scripture is clear: we were created by God to enjoy a filial relationship with God and other human beings. We were made for filial relationships—and this is why we believe that God is so passionate about His people caring for orphans and why being an earthly orphan is such a travesty. T4A wants Christians to recognize that there is an entire theology of adoption behind, underneath, and around Scripture's concern for orphans that really needs to be explored and articulated.

God's Passion for Adoption...And Adoption

Over the past several years it has been exciting to see much orphan care and adoption ministry work within the church, flowing out of a deep commitment to James 1:27 and Old Testament Scripture passages that speak of God's concern for orphans (Psalm 68:5-6; Psalm 10:14, 17-18; Deut. 10:17-19, etc). More and more churches are taking these texts seriously. But why does God stress caring for orphans in their affliction? We are convinced that vertical adoption is what is behind these orphan-care texts and what should ultimately drive the Christian's James 1:27-involvement in orphan care and horizontal adoption.

Will You Partner With Me?

T4A's goal is to see churches partnering together with established orphan care and adoption organizations that recognize the importance of vertical adoption, in order to sponsor regional adoption conference events. Ultimately, we believe that these conferences will help serve the church in fulfilling its responsibility to visit orphans in their affliction.

Since T4A is a mission agency, I am currently raising support as a missionary in order to join the T4A team full-time this Fall. I am looking for affordable one-time-a-year donations.

Want to know more?

T4A Main Article (PDF)

T4A Brochure (PDF)

T4A Statement of Faith

T4A New Staff Member - Dave Cruver

Does God really accept us the way we are?

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:55:50 -0500

Does God really accept us the way we are?

No. No He doesn't.

But I'll tell you what He does do. As you believe the Gospel, in Jesus and His perfect and finished work on the cross:

He takes your sin, guilt, and shame and places it on Christ, while He takes Christ's perfect righteousness and places it on you.

He never accepts you as you are; He accepts you as Christ is.

This is good news.

Preventing Orphan Care

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:55:14 -0500

Sadly, orphan care is necessary. More than 100,000 orphans are waiting to be adopted in the U.S. right now.

Yes, many circumstances are beyond the child's control but more to the point, many circumstances are beyond the control of parents.

But much of the control is within the control of the parents.

"Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States; however, those reports can include multiple children. In 2007, approximately 5.8 million children were involved in an estimated 3.2 million child abuse reports and allegations." via ChildHelp.org.

"A report of child abuse is made every ten seconds.
Almost five children die every day as a result of child abuse. More than three out of four are under the age of 4.
It is estimated that between 60-85% of child fatalities due to maltreatment are not recorded as such on death certificates.
90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way; 68% are abused by family members.
Child abuse occurs at every socioeconomic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.
31% percent of women in prison in the United States were abused as children.
Over 60% of people in drug rehabilitation centers report being abused or neglectedas a child.
About 30% of abused and neglected childrenwill later abuse their own children,continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.
About 80% of 21 year old that were abused as children met criteria for at least one psychological disorder.
The estimated annual cost of child abuse and neglect in the United States for 2007 is $104 billion.
Abused children are 25% more likely to experience teen pregnancy.
Abused teens are 3 times less likely to practice safe sex, putting them at greater risk for STDs.

Motivation For Doing Good Works for Which We Will be Judged

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:17:42 -0500

Why do I focus on the Gospel so much when Scripture tells us, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil" (2 Corinthians 5:10)?

Position

Where does this verse fall in this epistle? Paul writes this statement after he explains and expresses the Gospel. We could say 2 Corinthians is a follow-up of 1 Corinthians, and in both epistles, Paul continually points us to the Gospel. And only after pointing us to the Gospel does Paul give us commands, things we ought to do.

But as Dave Gill explains, "If someone says "God commanded it, so we must be able to do it," RUN. God's commands force reliance on Him, not tell what is possible."

As I have stressed before, many times before, all of our good works are perfected by and through Christ's finished work on the cross and the good works we do are the fruit of the Spirit's Gospel-Applying work in our lives. In fact, our good works are fruit and the power to defend ourselves is fruit, as well. Scotty Smith hits the point with, "Don't focus on the 'how to's' of the Christian life as much as the 'Who did'".

So how do we reconcile this fruit of the Spirit's Gospel-Applying work in our lives? Simply put, and I hope this is not oversimplifying the issue, we are free to do all that we can for God's glory.

We don't have to worry about what others think because the only Person who loves us and fully and completely accepts us is pleased with us because He sees us as "in Christ" and we have Christ's righteousness.

We are not trying to gain God's favor. Christ has already gained it for us and in our place. That work is finished.

The power of our idols and sin is broken. 1 Corinthians 15:50ff. We are free. We are free to love God and love others.

Because of this freedom in Christ, we can do all we can for God's glory in Christ. And it is the good works in this freedom for which we will be judged. There is now no excuse to exhort each other to love and good works. "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

"16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. [2] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling [3] the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

And this is good news! This motivates us to share the Good News of the Gospel because we are motivated by the Gospel to do these things. And this is why I focus on the Gospel so much - it is the motivation for us to do the good works for which we will be judged. And we definitely need motivation. There is only one sustaining motivation for the Christian. It is the Gospel.

Idolizing our Good Works

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 08:41:54 -0500

Romans 1:16-17 - "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,t as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

There are two things in Scripture are classified as "the power of God" 1) The Gospel 2) Jesus Himself

Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel. Why? Because IT (Jesus and His finished work on the cross) is the power of God for salvation. This salvation is not just "entrance" into the Christian life. It's ALL of the Christian life. The Gospel is the power that saves us (Justification) and the power to grow us (sanctification).

Christians do not grow simply by ‘trying hard to live according to Biblical principles.’ What then is the key to how we change into Christ-likeness? It’s found in the Bible’s concept of idolatry. ‘Idolatry’ in the Bible is a major theme for what ails us—psychologically, intellectually, sociologically, culturally.

The inevitability of idolatry - The very first commandment is "I am your God—have no other gods before me." There is no third option between those two. Rom 1:25 says we will "worship and serve" either God or some created thing (an idol). It is not possible that we should worship nothing. Something will capture our hearts and imaginations and be the most important thing, the ultimate concern, value, or allegiance. So every personality, community, and thought-form will be based on either God Himself or on some god-substitute, an idol.

The range of idolatry - So an ’idol’ is anything more fundamental than God to your happiness, meaning in life, and identity. Idolatry is the inordinate desire of (even) something good. This means any thing can become an idol, including good things such as career, family, achievement, your independence, a political cause, material possessions, certain people in dependence on you, power and influence, physical attractiveness, romance, human approval, financial security, your place in a particular social circle or institution. Idols are not only personal and individual, they are also corporate and cultural. Different societies can make into ultimate values things like the family (“traditional values”) or feeling (romanticism) or the state (communism) or racial superiority (fascism) or rationality (empiricism) or individual will and experience (existentialism) or group identity (post-modernism.)

The power of idolatry - On the one hand, an idol is an empty "nothing" with no real power to help us and save us (Is 40:20; 41:6-7.) It is only a way we are trying to save ourselves (Is 44:10-13.) On the other hand, paradoxically, our idols exercise great power and control over us. They enslave (Jer 2:25.) Once we have come to believe that something will really make us happy, then we cannot help ourselves—we must follow our god. Idols demand complete dependence (Is.44:17); they completely capture our hearts (Ezek 14:1-5). In Romans 1 Paul shows how all the breakdowns in life—spiritual, psychological, social, cultural—come because we "worship created things rather than the creator." (Rom 1:25)

The importance of understanding idolatry - The Bible does not consider idolatry to be one sin among many (and thus now a rare sin only among primitive people). Rather, idolatry is always the reason we ever do anything wrong. Why do we ever fail to love or keep promises or live unselfishly? Of course, the general answer is “because we are weak and sinful”, but the specific answer is always that there is something besides Jesus Christ that you feel you must have to be happy, that is more important to your heart than God, and that is enslaving the heart through inordinate desires. For example, we would not lie unless first we had made something—human approval, "face", reputation, power over others, financial advantage--more important and valuable to our hearts than the grace of God. So the secret to change is always to identify and dismantle the basic idols of the heart.

Some examples of personal idols: a) Workaholism. Work becomes the thing you live for--to be productive and useful, or to feel successful and powerful. b) “Codependence.” Because you “need to feel needed” you stay in unhealthy relationships with perennially needy individuals. c) Beauty and image. This can have various forms, including 1) eating disorders and excessive time, effort, and concern about appearance, and 2) pornography. d) Romance. This is not the same as pure sexual gratification. You live for crushes or for someone to love you. e) Family as idolatry has many variations: 1) your children’s prospects and happiness become the most important thing, or 2) meeting your parents’ expectations become the most important thing, or 3) getting married or having a ‘perfect’ marriage becomes the most important thing. f) Money as idolatry has many variations: 1) having (and saving) lots of money may be your ‘security’, the main way you feel safe in the world, 2) having (and spending) lots of money may be the main way of feeling significant and important. g) Perfectionism in general. You live to keep complete control of your life.

Some examples of social/cultural idols: a) Fascism-makes an idol of one's race or nationality. "I am acceptable because I am a(n) ______” rather than getting identity as a child of God. Leads of course to racism. b) Communism-makes an idol of the state. Government will solve all problems rather than God. Marx said everything is political, and all problems are political/economic ones, rather than spiritual ones. c) Populism-makes an idol out of public opinion or majority rule, rather than what God says is right. d) Capitalism-makes an idol out of the free market. Like communism, seeing all our problems as economic ones. Seeing all issues in cost-benefit terms. Sees all things, even people, as ‘commodities.’ e) Multi-culturalism—makes one's ethnic group or culture an absolute value. There are no absolute standards by which to judge. f) Enlightenment “humanism”--makes an idol of reason and scientific investigation. Science has an answer for everything and reason will open all doors. g) Individualism--makes an idol out of individual freedom. Nothing must curb the individual’s freedom to choose whatever he or she wants to be happy. h) Traditionalism--makes the family and tradition an idol. Traditional cultures see the rights of individuals as unimportant compared to the name and interests of the family and tribe.

Quotations for Thought: “The Greek word for ‘Lust’, epithumiai [inordinate desires], used in Gal.5:16ff; Eph.2:3, 4:22; I Pet.2:11, 4:2; I John 2:16; James 1:14ff, is the catch-all for what is wrong with us. The New Testament merges the concept of idolatry and the concept of inordinate, life-ruling desires...for lust (i.e. demandingness, craving and yearning) is specifically referred to as ‘idolatry’ (Eph.5:5 and Colossians 3:5)…Here is the most basic question which God poses to each human heart: “Has something or someone besides Jesus taken the title to your heart's functional trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight? Questions...bring some of people's idol systems to the surface. ‘To who or what do you look for life-sustaining stability, security and acceptance?...What do you really want and expect [out of life]? What would [really] make you happy? What would make you an acceptable person? Where do you look for power and success?’ These questions or similar ones tease out whether we serve God or idols, whether we look for salvation from Christ or from false saviors. [This directly relates to] the immediate motivation of my behavior, thoughts, and feelings. In the Bible's conceptualization, the motivation question is the lordship question: who or what ‘rules my behavior, the Lord or an idol?’” —David Powlison

“When a finite value has been elevated to centrality and imagined as a final source of meaning, then one has chosen...a god....One has a "god" when a finite value is...viewed as that without which one cannot receive life joyfully. Anxiety becomes neurotically intensified to the degree that I have idolized finite values..."

Instead of striving to Love someone, look to the Gospel, see how completely unloving you are and how unlovely you are and that God in Christ still loved you, you can love others as yourself.

Instead of striving to be joyful, look to the Gospel, see how truly joyless you truly are and how joyless your life is and that God in Christ was joyfully serving and obeying the Father for you and in your place - and THIS joy is yours as you believe the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus and His finished work upon the cross FOR you and IN your place.

Instead of striving for peace, look to the Gospel, see how un-peacefully you have treated God, yet God in Christ pursued peace FOR you and IN your place and by faith in the Gospel (in Jesus and His finished work on the cross), you have peace with God.

In other words, the idolatry of your heart is a law that only brings condemnation and increases the trespass (Romans 5:20), but in Christ, as we look to the Gospel, we are continually conformed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18 - "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,t are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

But if we strive to love others, or seek peace, or choose to be joyful, we inherently look to our efforts to do these things, and we have even (very possibly) made love or peace or joy (and our efforts) into idols. BUT the Spirit of God Who dwells within us does His Gospel-Apply work to our hearts and ALL that Christ has done for us and in our place is OURS and becomes fruit (Galatians 5:22ff).

This is Good News to all who believe because the Gospel is the power unto salvation even from our good works that we idolize.

Loving God and Loving Others

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Fri, 20 May 2011 08:45:07 -0500

I just read a statement that simply irks me: "Love is a decision - decide to love today."

Really? And we know this for sure?

What drives me nuts about statements such as this is they are commands. If love is simply a decision, then I can love anybody at any time. Right? Right?

But can I truly love on demand? You are certainly a better person than I if you can love on demand. I can't do it.

And this is where the Gospel steps in. John tells us "We love because he [God] first loved us." And John couples this great truth with "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannott love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother."

And this is good news. I can only love when I see that I am as unloving as they come, yet God in Christ first loved me! And this is my motivation to love others. When I see that God has loved me and demonstrated this great love for me in Jesus on the cross, I can love others because the Spirit of love indwells me and loving others becomes a fruit of the Spirits Gospel-applying work in my life. (See Galatians 5).

And then I can love God and love others upon which all the commands hang.

We Are Not Worthy - That's Why There is Grace

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:44:46 -0500

This kind of thinking is no gospel. Where is the good news?

This writer says, "If your love is distracted by someone else then you are not worthy. If your love is not given completely, then you are not worthy."

But isn't that the point? None, may I repeat this, none of us is worthy (Isaiah 64:6).

Scripture tells us we love God because He first loved us. We are not worthy of God's love but that's Who God is (God is love just don't confuse with love is God...). God loves us and demonstrated His love for us by sending Jesus to die for our sins and even our bad motives for good things we do.

Even our very effort to be worthy falls completely short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). Even if I can love God completely, I am still a fallen creature in need of saving.

I can't pick myself up by my own bootstraps and "be worthy". It's impossible.

This is why we need grace. We're not worthy of anything God gives us except His wrath, and Jesus is our propitiation (He satisfied God's wrath for us and in our place). Without Christ, we are children of wrath but with Christ we are children of grace.

I am not worthy of God's love but He certainly is worthy of my love and devotion. Thankfully I rest in Christ's work on my behalf and not on my own effort or merit.

I am not worthy but Christ is worthy for me and in my place. That's good news.

God Did Not Call us to Adoption but to Adoption

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:01:32 -0500

God has not called my family to pursue adoption, but God has called us to adoption. Let me explain...

My brother and his family pursued adoption because God led them to pursue it. As a result God led my family to pursue adoption-- what I call extended adoption. Adoption does not happen in a historical vacuum, nor is adoption limited to the immediate family. Those of us in the extended family have been called to adoption along with them.

We support, accept, and love these children who have been adopted. In fact, I can't help but treat the adopted children like any other child in the family. After all, they are Cruvers. They have the full rights and privileges of the Cruver household - even the extended Cruver households.

Adoption is a family affair, an extended family affair. It is a community affair.

God, Who is the eternal Community of Three in One, extended Himself in the Spirit to include all those who believe in Jesus, thereby establishing an extended community of persons. (See this video for background to what I mean). All those who believe in Jesus are included in the family of God with the full rights and privileges of being God's sons and daughters. We are born into God's family within the confines of community.

Likewise, those adopted in a family are also adopted into the extended family, into the confines of familial community.

God did not call us to adoption but to adoption.

A New Social Gospel

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Thu, 05 May 2011 08:42:11 -0500

Over the last few months, I have read articles describing the issues of social media - Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and the like. The premise to much of what is said is they are bad and cause people to be depressed, sad, envious, miserable and other such ailments.

Further, it is posited, we think everyone else is happier and more successful than we are.

But that is the problem right there. We are already miserable. We are already sad. We already think others are happier and more successful than we are.

Facebook, et al, helps reveal what is already in our hearts. This is a heart issue. Facebook, et al, are just mirrors.

It's time to look at ourselves and stop blaming the mirrors for revealing what's inside us.

What can we do to change our hearts?

Facebook

Prayer - The vast majority of people on Facebook have entered their real birthday. Each day, you will see a list of friends whose birthdays have finally arrived. Pray for them.

Message those friends or write on their walls asking how you can pray for them. What challenges are they facing? Maybe you can be a blessing in that way.

Community - Get involved in a group or two, be a fan of things, and figure out ways to connect the topic at hand to the Gospel, to the Good News of Jesus and His finished work on the cross.

Those are two things you can on Facebook. I'm sure other things can be done, as well.

Twitter

Prayer - Twitter offers people a great way to share their burden for people and projects. Follow people with the same interests as you (and other interests, too) and pray for them as they pursue these endeavors. I follow people who pursue care for orphans and the abandoned. I follow people who do the tough work of sharing the Gospel to women of the night. I don't know these people, but I can pray for them.

Community - Interact with people. Ask questions. Tell them you're praying for them. Figure out ways you can help. Spread the word of what's going on. Spread awareness!

The Gospel

We cannot do any of this without the Gospel working in us. Look to the Gospel. The Gospel will produce fruit that undoubtedly demonstrates itself in love and good works (read this article for example). The Gospel changes our hearts. Our hearts change our wills. Our wills change our actions. But none of this can happen without the Gospel doing its work in us and through us. And we fail if we don't share the Gospel in our doing. Living the Gospel in Word AND Deed.

This is why the Gospel is vital. Otherwise, everything is just social but no Gospel. This is a new Social-Gospel. The right kind.

The Gospel is the Center of Christianity

cruv@totellyouthetruth.net (cruv) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:19:51 -0500

I believe the Gospel is the center of Christian doctrine from which all else radiates. The gospel is not just the boundary which allows one into the Christian faith.

The center of the Christian faith is where Jesus said it was: to love God ultimately and supremely (Mark 12:28ff). And this is correct. For all of the law hangs upon loving God and loving others. (Matthew 22:40).

But let us assume the Gospel is only the boundary which allows one into the Christian faith.

How do I produce love, love for God and love for my fellow man? From whence does this love flow?

Am I to pick myself up by my bootstraps and "love" God and others? I say, no. This kind of love, even if perfect, is not lasting. There will come a time I will fail at loving God and others.

This is why the Gospel is central to our theology. Is there much more to Christianity than the gospel? Yes. However, all of the law and prophets, loving God and loving others must flow from and out of the Gospel. We love because God first loved us. Our love becomes fruit of the Spirit's work in our lives (See Galatians 5).

Let's think of this in other ways.

Questions to ask:

How do we become godly?

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence" (1 Peter 1:3).

Jesus is our godliness.

How do we become holy?

"And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

Jesus is our holiness. Jesus is our righteousness. Jesus is our sanctification. Jesus is our redemption.

How do we gain wisdom?

Jesus is our wisdom.

Do you see a pattern here?

More Patterns

Romans

Paul expounds on the Gospel and then tells us what we need to do. The Gospel is the motivation for our doing.

1 Corinthians

Paul explains the Gospel and then tells us what we need to do. The Gospel is the motivation for our doing.

2 Corinthians

Paul explains the Gospel and then tells us what we need to do. The Gospel is the motivation for our doing.

Galatians

Paul explains the Gospel and then tells us what we need to do. The Gospel is the motivation for our doing.

Ephesians

Paul explains the Gospel and then tells us what we need to do. The Gospel is the motivation for our doing.

Philippians

Paul explains the Gospel and then tells us what we need to do. The Gospel is the motivation for our doing.

Colossians

Paul explains the Gospel and then tells us what we need to do. The Gospel is the motivation for our doing.

1 Thessalonians