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Crystal Sparks' Podcast
Our one goal of this podcast is to grow your faith and help you accomplish your dreams and your goals.
Crystal Sparks' Podcast
205. [Lent Study] The Seven Deadly Sins - A Conversation
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Our phones have trained us to escape the moment, and the cost is higher than wasted time. Emily and I talk candidly about the seven deadly sins as more than extreme “bad people” problems and how moralism can distort sin into either self-righteousness or quiet despair. Drawing from the wisdom of the early church fathers and the desert mothers and fathers, we name what many of us feel but rarely confess: we cannot fix our sin nature on our own, and we cannot become like Christ without Christ.
We dig into acedia, the restless refusal to do what love requires, and how it shows up in modern life through constant distraction, multitasking entertainment, and numbing behaviors. We share real examples from parenting, relationships, and everyday pressure, plus a simple diagnostic that keeps coming up: what is my motive right now, and what am I trying not to feel? We also explore nostalgia and why it can either become gratitude that anchors you in the present or despair that makes you want to live somewhere else.
Along the way, we reflect on Walden by Henry David Thoreau and how media can give a false sense of awareness while blinding us to the people God actually placed in our care. If you are hungry for Christian spiritual formation that leads to repentance, presence, and deeper dependence on Jesus, you will find practical next steps here. Subscribe so you never miss an episode, share this with a friend, and leave a review if it helps you rebuild your attention and your joy.
My hope is that this podcast helps grow your faith and equips you to accomplish your dreams and goals!
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Welcome And Series Setup
SPEAKER_01Well, hello and welcome back to the podcast. I wanted to do a conversation with my friend Emily. I thought it would be fun to just talk about the seven deadly sins. I know that we haven't gone through all of them, but I've heard so many people just giving me feedback about how much this has spoken to them. And so I just thought we'd just do a conversation and you would just hang out and be a part of us just talking about our process around this and what's standing out to us as we move forward from it. And so I know for me, the biggest thing has been as I've studied the early church fathers and the desert mothers, desert fathers, it's been so interesting to me of being able to see now how much moralism has really hijacked our total view of what sin is, like the impacts of sin, like even defining sin. I think we've just fallen so far. And it makes me realize, like as I read their writings, like I don't even know this version of Christianity at all.
Moralism Versus Real Sin
SPEAKER_00So yeah, talk to me. I mean, as like a normal person that isn't reading any Desert Mothers or Falls. Yeah. Um, like when you started that whole like series, I would say, at Stuff Chapel, I'm thinking of like the movie Seven, I think is what it's called. Uh-huh. And I'm like, that's my only context for anyone talking about the Seven Desley Sins. Yeah. You know what I mean? So like when you watch that, you're like, dude, I'm not those things. Because they're all like extreme. That's so gross. Like when it goes through sloth, you're like, the guy that's like never left his bed. You know what I mean? They mean like that's so nasty. Like, there's no way. Yeah. And it kind of makes you feel good about yourself. You're like, well, I don't have any of those things going on. You know what I mean? Yeah. And you can leave like, I guess what culture wants you to think about sin versus like what it actually is. Right. Does that make sense? Oh, a hundred percent. And so I leave those those cultural contexts being like, dude, I'm pretty good. Yeah. Like I'm doing pretty good. Yeah, like self-righteousness.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00A hundred percent. Yeah, which is like pride. But in that context, no, you don't seem prideful. Like compared to that. Yeah. I'm not prideful. You know? And so then you hear it like this whole thing. We were just talking before we pressed record. How each um week has been so convicting. Yeah. And you're like, dude, no, I am like, I'm so sinful. Like, I need Jesus. It makes you sit there and be like, dude, if I don't have Jesus, I'm so messed up. Like, I can't parent my kid, right? I can't like lead anyone. I standardily lead myself. Like when you hear those things, and I think we have like a a fear of like, I mean, there's everything around us is trying to make us feel better about ourselves, right? So when you have like nobody wants a podcast that makes them feel like they suck. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Um, but it's like the best thing for you 100% is like to realize your need.
SPEAKER_01Oh, 100%. Well, yeah, that's the key. Yeah. That's the key. I think that we, especially when we've been serving God for a long time, um, the need of Christ seems like something we had at the beginning, but it's not something we need now. Yeah. And I think whenever I've read, and the more I've studied on it, I'm like, oh my gosh, I could like devote a whole year just studying these things truly. Of every time I've read more deeply, I I feel more convicted. But also like a like my sin nature is not something I can help on my own. And I can't fix it on my own. Like I need Christ to become like Christ. And it it makes you, we talked about this before we hit record, but I was like, it makes you come to Easter so different.
unknownYeah.
Conviction That Drives Dependence
SPEAKER_01It makes you so repentant and it makes you realize salvation is not something I did to begin my Christian journey. Right. Dependence upon Christ is what I do every day. Totally. Every day. Yeah. And I think because of moralism, I think most of my Christian journey, if I'm being honest, I'm like, I'm a good Christian. Like I'm good. Like I need God, like when I need a financial miracle, or I need like a physical healing or like something like job, or you know, but like I don't need him. Like I'm doing good, like I'm pretty good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But the whole point of the seven deadly sins is like it checks our motivation, which is literally the man that comes to Jesus and he's like, I've done everything, like I've done it all, which to that I just always call bull crap. Cause he's like, even from my youth, I'm like, bro, have you?
SPEAKER_00Have you though?
Parenting Without The Holy Spirit
SPEAKER_01Bring your mom in. Yeah. But Jesus is like, okay, well, let's let's touch on a motivation then. Since all you're doing is fine, let's, and that's what the Seven Deadly Sins does, is it reaches into the core of us. Yeah. And the goal is not for us to feel like crab. Um, and that's the line you said. It's like it the goal of it is I need a savior. And if it's only like wanting you to feel sinful, there's no victory in that. Right. But when I recognize my sin and it makes me turn to Christ's independence, and my prayer is, take me and make me, you know, that's where it changes.
SPEAKER_00You wake up and like, I cannot do this about Jesus. Yeah. You know? Yeah. We just had like the other day uh where uh Zachary came home from work and he like Corey was upset. Tell everybody who Corey is.
SPEAKER_01Corey is my daughter, she's eight months old, and she's freaking cute. She's so cute. She's the actual living Gerber baby.
Acedia And Constant Distraction
SPEAKER_00Well, she was like super clingy, but we'd been home with her on spring break for like 10 days. And it was like the first day with out without us home. And sh so she was fussy, and Zachary just looked at her and was like, Stop crying. And I was like, Zachary, she misses you. Like, that's the only way she knows how to say it. And I say all this to say that um he was like, I felt so bad that I didn't like think about what she needed, and I just wanted her to stop. Yes. And I was like, Yeah, we cannot parent without the Holy Spirit. Like, and it's like that, that whole when you wake up, like, I cannot do this life without Jesus. Like if he does not like enter me and I don't die to myself and let him live in me, I'm gonna mess people up. Yes. You know, I'm gonna hurt people and say things I wish I didn't say, yes, and all that, and like it's not like he is bad, you know what I mean? No, but it is that, like, I didn't even think about that. Well, we and ourselves are bad. Yes, it's literally the doctrine of original sin. Yes, yes, yes. So I think I can I say something about Acadia? Yeah. I was thinking about um you were talking about distractions and uh like scrolling your phone while also watching TV, while also doing multiple other things, right? And I listened to a podcast with a uh guy that like makes TV shows, like writes television shows. And he was like, We actually have to write plots and dialogue different now than we used to, in like a simplistic way, because most people are watching it while they're scrolling their phone. Wow. And he was like, You used to like want a show where like it was intricate, there's like things to figure out, and he's like, Now when people watch a show, they're like, We don't get it because they're multitasking, they're not present. That's and they can't even appre appreciate like the writing that was good. Yeah. So he was like, Now we're saying things that are super obvious if you were watching it, but we have to say it like, and then he did this because this, because wow, we are like so dumbed down with like, oh well, we were playing a game or we were texting while watching it. And they're like, they think that that's really good TV because at the end they they're like, oh yeah, I understood all of it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which I could rant really hard because the goal of everything is understanding.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00Or it makes me feel good about myself, or I could veg out I didn't have to use my brain at all. Yeah. Right. And so right now you can see it even in like entertainment. Wow. Like a divide between like people pushing against that. Like, no, we don't want something that's like distracting. I want to be distracted. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Help me be more distracted. Yes. Help me, help me be more listless, help me be more yes.
SPEAKER_00It's so sad. It actually, like, when you're saying that, I was like, dude, the fact that even the people making the shows they know. Yeah, you don't get it because you're not even watching it. God help us. The thing you're using to distract her, not even paying attention to.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. But that's so real. Yeah, you we can't even show up and be present in that. No. No. No. No.
When Nostalgia Turns Into Sin
SPEAKER_00And what are we? You know what I mean? Like, I've been thinking about like if you use one thing to distract yourself, like what thing are you paying attention to? Because at some point you're not paying attention to any of them. No. It's just like a swirl. It is. You know what I mean? It is. And the other thing with acadia is that like, wouldn't you think, would you do you think nostalgia would be a form of acadia? I actually just had a theological conversation with Dr.
SPEAKER_01Palmer about this. Really? So um he I helped him realize he's a four on the Enneagram. He thought he was something else. It doesn't matter, but I was like, no, you're a four 100%. Cause he's like, I like will be driving down a road and like remember the last time I was on this road, I was on the phone with this person and they told me this, and like I felt this. And so driving down that road, like I'm remembering that. And he was talking to me and he was like, I had a person in my life that I admire that told me nostalgia is a sin. And I was like, I don't, I don't think that it is if it's done in the right heart motive, right? So if my motive of the nostalgia is deep gratitude appreciation for God, let me be on that road. God let me have that conversation. I'm feeling gratitude for it, and I'm allowing myself to feel a deep sense of appreciation. That's what the that's what communion is. It's nostalgia. It's pulling us back to a room that took place 2,000 years ago. And it's also pulling us into the future to proclaim the marriage supper of the Lamb. And so it's both at that same time, it's a nostalgia, it's a restorytelling, it's a restoring, but it's also a prophetic act that's pulling us into the future while simultaneously being in the present. And what does it look like to manifest those characteristics? However, if my heart motive in the nostalgia is, I want to be back, I want to be back there, and life was better there, then now we're in Acadia. Now we're back into Acadia because I want to be any other place. I want to be my calling existed back there, my purpose existed back there. The fulfillment was back there. However, if I'm feeling I was so fulfilled that day, that I was, I was doing exactly what God called me to do, and I'm feeling gratitude for that while also being 100% present in the moment and able to look ahead to the future of prophetically, God, the way that you fulfilled me back there. You will, you are fulfilling me and you will fulfill me in my future. Now, now we're just in good spiritual practice, right? So he and I were just talking around that. And he was like, no, I think this is really good perspective. Yeah. Because he was just being honest. He was like, it was me and it was a couple other scholars at the table all together. And um, he was just talking about how it's something that he's wrestled with. Like, is this sin that I do have this bent in me? And I was like, Well, I I mean, just personally. And so we just all kind of theorized, and all of us kind of came to the conclusion that as long as our feet are where they are and we're not longing to exist in a place that's outside of where we presently are, yeah, then it's okay.
SPEAKER_00Does it lead to gratitude or like discontentment? Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01100%.
SPEAKER_00Because I've seen both.
SPEAKER_01Oh, 100%. I think that like even Well nostalgia, like even when I talked about in Christmas, nostalgia that is synonymous with Christmas time, a lot of time leads to despair. And if we feel the fruit of despair, we're in sin. But if we feel the fruit of gratitude, then we're we're in a good spiritual practice. So I I can feel at Christmas time a sense of a nostalgia that leads me to despair. I felt it even this week we um were getting ready to remodel our guest house and we moved everything out. And um I like turned around and looked in the room and it was like knives in my heart, like sinking despair. And it was the nostalgia of remembering, you know, what it was like when we moved into the house, and like people that stayed there that will never stay there again. And I'm about to change it from a form that they will ever know, and feeling like pain, like deep pain, like deep pain. And I felt myself swirling into that, and I was like, okay, God, I give this up to you and shift me, shift me into gratitude, shift me into thank you, you know. And but it was hard. And so I would say nostalgia when we're experiencing it, or what noticing the fruit. Is it despair or is it gratitude?
SPEAKER_00Totally, totally. I would say I was gonna say you're so good at that, just in my experience living like around you. Um that like even the sun, you've all you're always uh, thank you, thank you, Jesus, for the sunset. Yeah, it's Jesus for the sunrise. And I think about it often because there's it's easy to be like to think about whatever the conversation is or whatever, you know what I mean? But you will like stop in the middle of a conversation to thank Jesus for the sunset. And and it like has impacted my life just like as a person. Wow. And I think that you're great at that, like even in seasons of like, no, I'm gonna be present. And it's impacted the way that like I parent Corey is like, I'm gonna miss this. Yes. Like if I put the dishes over her, or if I put whatever I think is important in the moment over her, like I'm gonna miss it. Yeah. And I think about that all the time. Yeah. That song, you're gonna miss this. You're all right, this back. But that it's like that, um, that's why nostalgic came to my mind. Yes, because it's like people ask me, like, well, what season was the best it has been the best with Corey? And I'm like, well, the one she's in. Every time. The one she's in. Every time. Because like, I'm not gonna be like, Oh, I wish that you were just back as a newborn when you slept all day and it was like easier now. Well, no, there was hard things then, right? And that's hard things now. And I have to, I have to, instead of just being like, Oh, I wish it was b like that, like how it was, like, I think God, like, thank you, Jesus. I have a baby that can move and can like crawl and I think about those things. And it is gratitude that keeps you present. Like without it, the how, how you can't. You cannot.
Refusing What Love Requires
SPEAKER_01I don't think you can. Yeah, I really don't. Yeah, I really don't. And when you're in the bad form of nostalgia, it only it only plays the highlight reel of that season. You know? It's like I remember when I was saved and I came out of like the club and all kinds of terrible culture and just lots of simple behaviors. And there was a season where it was really hard, like married life was hard and all the things. And I remember the enemy being like, it was better back there. And he's playing the highlight reel. And I'm like, no, I woke up freaking hungover. Like my friend was addicted to drugs. Like, we my boyfriend was a drug dealer. Like we nearly went to jail, like it it was not better. But what the enemy does in those moments of nostalgia, the sinful type, is it wants to play to you only the good and and not the hard to make you want to go back there, to make you think that your calling, the people, purpose, it's all exists back there and you missed it. Yeah, and you missed it and it's gone, and you don't have it anymore. And I just think, man, what it looks like to just show up and be a hundred percent present. And and I think acadia is just so prevalent. And even just like me just thinking of like, um, it's a refusal to do what love requires. And I think about, and I know not all divorces because of this. So if you're listening to this, I'm not making sweeping statements. I know there are, um, I do not agree with abuse ever in any form, any form. It's it is not okay. And there are times where divorce is a hundred percent merited. I'm talking about the divorce where you just don't make me happy anymore. And it's this refusal to do what love requires. It's we want love. Like we want every person wants to be close to God. No one wants to do the things that love requires, which is acadia. Yeah, it's acadia. We don't want to do those things. We so what do we do instead? We avoid, we resist, we numb, we distract, like we do anything but that. And you think about even when I'm in a state of like destruction, what I'm doing is actually harder than prayer. Yeah. No, you're like fighting actually what you were made for. Exactly. Like I would rather clean out this closet that doesn't even matter than to go spend five minutes with God and just quiet myself. I'd rather like spin out in a fit of rage or anger than to just sit and be still in the presence of God. Like it's actually the easier thing, but it's a refusal to do what love requires. Yeah. And when you think about that, I don't know, like even um just to pick on Zachary in that moment, like when he was frustrated, and we've all done it. It was a refusal to do what love required. Love required in that moment for him to show up and be present. Patience. Patience to be kind, to pause what you're doing and put her needs like center stage. But we don't want to do what love requires. We we've got like all these things to do because we've got to be productive because we're American and we value productivity above everything else because we want to lay down in bed at the end of the day and be like, what did I do today? What significance did I make? What contribution did I make to the home, to my work, instead of doing what love required, which was slowing down.
SPEAKER_00But it's an engine that you have to feed all all the time. Completely until you die. Like if that's what you're motivated by.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And as a three on Enneagram, I think this is the hardest for me of the slowdown, the paying attention is the absolute hardest for me because left unto myself, I'm gonna go, go, go, go, go. Mm-hmm.
Testing Motives With Everyday Habits
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. Would you say that like, because you talked about your motivation, like with entertainment? Um, and like the question would be have you been present? So even like with that, like I'm trying to figure out how to word it, but what would be a heart posture that is good with entertainment? Is it I'm doing it with someone else? Do you know what I'm saying? Like I'm doing it with someone else, and this is our quality time. Oh yeah, I think that's great. You know, but like if you're binging a show by yourself, is that I wish I could be somewhere else?
SPEAKER_01Like, how do you even I think I think what's your core motivation?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like, am I doing this to distract or I'm doing this to numb out? It's kind of like, um, and this again isn't a podcast about alcohol.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But let's pull it in because it's really easy to use. Yeah. Um, are you having the glass of wine because you need it? Is it because you had a hard day? Yeah. Are you trying to numb out? What are you trying not to feel? Yeah. And if you're doing it for that reason, it's not good. Same as am I going to get a bag of chips out of the pantry because I just want a little snack and I enjoy this. Like, this is fun. Like I'm bored. I'm bored and I'm trying to distract, or I'm stressed, or I'm trying to quiet my mind right now. And I think, I think again, it goes back to motivations. I don't think it's bad. Like there's days where I'm just like, no, I'm done. Like, I'm done. I had a long day. I'm just gonna chill out. But I'm not trying to distract myself from something. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's like, I think, and but I'm very keenly aware of like, I mean, I was just super overwhelmed the other day, and this week was extremely hard. Like, um, like I was in tears with Brian on Wednesday night because I was like, what did I do with my week? This was such a hard week. It was just it's a lot, it was a lot, it was a lot. And I'm speaking on Sunday and all the things, and um, he was like meeting me with compassion, but that day I had all these things I needed to do, and I caught myself like scrolling online. The reason why is I just wanted to numb out. I didn't, I didn't want to think about the things I needed to do. I didn't want to show up and be present. I had all these things, and by scrolling, I was purposefully making things worse. Self-sabotage. Yes. But it made me numb out for a second, which is what I wanted. But truly, like literally, I caught myself and I was like, okay, I'm gonna center myself, I'm gonna get before God and literally take like three minutes and just quiet myself. And okay, God, you fill me up right now. Like, what am I actually feeling? And in that moment, I was feeling grief and I didn't want to feel grief. And so naming it to God, I'm giving you this grief right now. Like I'm releasing it.
SPEAKER_00It's hard. Yes. Why is it so hard? It's so hard. It feels so much easier to numb out than 100%, 100%.
Boundaries That Restore Attention
SPEAKER_01You know what I mean? I would just say if you're if you're scrolling social media or you're, you know, taking hours and hours and hours. I'm not talking about a casual scroll. I'm talking about we're like binging. You're definitely numbing. I think healthy is anything in voto. Why am I doing this? Yeah. Yes. You need to hide your app on a different spot or delete it. Just delete it. I got a Kindle, and this is so stupid, but this is just where I'm at. And I love my Kindle. And um, let this be an ad for Amazon. You're welcome, Amazon. Um, I bought it, and my justification was that I had gift cards, and Bran was like, Crystal, just buy the Kindle. Like, you don't even have to justify it. But I wanted a device that I could have to have my phone and my iPad in the other room.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I can't check text messages on it.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01I can't. Ooh, do they have those shoes at Nordstrom? I wonder if they posted about their vacation. I, oh, did they email me back on that quote that we got? Like, I have to just be present and just read a book. And it's been so good for me and like really good mentally, uh, especially going to bed. Um, I really want to get a hatched alarm clock where I don't even have my like real phone in there. Yeah. And just because I'm having to put more and more limits on myself, because I am so good at justifying my productivity on my phone. I know. It's so bad. And I catch myself tired in us. Yes. Yeah. Yes. This morning I read my Bible and then I thought about something on logos that I wanted to look up on my phone. And I had Charlie in my lap. I'm balancing my Bible. Charlie's my dog. And then also looking at logos. And then next thing I know, somebody messages me. I go down a rabbit hole, you know. And then I'm like, oh, it's time to get ready. And I didn't even look at the logos thing. I've just been numbing out ever since them. And I'm like right back into it. That I I want to do anything but the thing that love requires. And the thing that love required of me, like in my quiet time, was just being present. And so I'm not trying to have like a shame base, but I am trying to be more aware of when I'm stepping into that. And God, I need you.
Walden And Media Shaping Our Souls
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I it feels like um, I guess like growing up with social media, it feels hard to like choose what's right. Yeah. What you know is right. I know for like most people, they feel that too. Like, yes, dude, it's hard to like wake up and choose what's what they know. Your like heart, your heart feels it. Yes. My heart will be like, I just want God. Yes, I want God. And um for some reason other things feel like they yell at you louder.
SPEAKER_01Oh, 100%. 100%. The world is shotting, God's whispering again. It's like that whole thing. 100%. 100%. So I'm I'm reading a book called Walden um by Henry David Thoreau, and it was written in um 1840 to 1846, I believe, or 1846 to 1848. He goes and gets away for two years. Like disconnects himself from everything just to think. He takes, I believe it's the Bible and the Iliad, is all he takes. And whole chapters are devoted to just him sanding the logs to make his house and the description of his flooring and how many, how far it is to the pond where he bathes every morning. It's made to be boring. And he talks about how he is like a few months in and he goes and he's just observing people in the city square. And he writes that the mothers are burdened by the children and the children are burdened by the mothers. And they go in in a constant cycle to the stores and come out with arms full of things, only to come back the next day to find those things they bought were insufficient. And he's like, they buy art for their walls and curtains to adorn their home, only to spend all their time outside of the home that they've worked so hard to curate. And he talks about how a man lies down and goes to sleep and he no more than walking, white, wipes the sleep from his eyes, and he fumbles into town to get the newspaper to find out the world's news of what happened in his eight hours that he was asleep. And he's like, if you've read about one war, you've read about them all. If you've read about one political scandal, you've read about them all. And yet he waits to hear the gossip drip from the lips of the craftsman that's shaping his mind. And he goes to a church and he's like, no longer is it sufficient to talk about the divine mystery of the Holy Script. So the pastor now has the words of the newspapers coming from the pulpits to tantalize the ears of the hearer to go out to again get the next edition of the newspaper. And I'm like, he had no idea. Yeah, no idea. And I'm like, oh my gosh, if there's anything. And and I kind of shared a little bit of it on my story last night, but just he was like, and then meanwhile, he's like, the greatest words ever written. Um, he doesn't say it like this, but basically he says the greatest words ever written are dormant in our libraries, they're untouched. And he's like, because we find it too hard to read their Greek or their Latin, we'd rather have something that we can understand. And so we keep being shaped by the craftsmen of the newspaper, and our minds are being formed. And he just goes, and I was like, he had no idea in 1846 what we were going to experience, but it's where we are right now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's like what he saw and measure, we're seeing in fullness. And I think our children will see even more, you know. And um, it just it made me so aware of where we are reading his book. It's painfully boring at times, but he's making you slow down. He's making the reader slow down. Yeah. And then he dissects culture and then he slows you down and then dissects culture. It is incredible book. It's incredible. It's tiny. Um, it's only like 170 pages. Um, I'm almost done with it, but I'm reading it slow because it's just like I catch myself like freak, freak, freak. This is like this could be written in 2025, but that's why the classics are the classics. You know, they speak to the condition of the human soul.
SPEAKER_00And it's not something new. No, it's like when I I see it like in Corey, who's never read a newspaper or been on social media, any of it, right? Yeah. And she gets a toy and like literally it's exciting for 10 minutes. Maybe. Maybe because it's that sin nature that's like, this isn't good enough anymore. Right. Right. Like, I want something else. Yeah. And also don't hold me down, let me do what I want. Like, all those things, it's like that's sin nature. It's not like something just like you grew into. No. You know what I mean? Nobody had to teach you it. Nobody had to sit down and 1846. It's the same issue, like the same sin from the beginning of freaking time.
Blind To What God Gave Us
SPEAKER_01Reading it, I was just like, oh my gosh. Because I was like, you have no idea. Especially he he talks about how we the our awareness of what's being written in the newspaper. He said, he talks about how it gives us this false sense of awareness to what's happening in the world.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And he said, but meanwhile, our eyes are blind to the very people called to our care in our home. Wow. He's like, we think our windows are wide open, and yeah, our eyes are shut. Wow. And I'm like, oh, so convicted. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So convicted. I mean, with exactly what's going on right now.
SPEAKER_01Right now. Like people talking about current events and Crystal, what's your thoughts on Israel? And should we be doing this? And what's America? And what do you think about the president? And blah blah blah. Like all these things. And I'm like, what about the kids God gave you to raise?
SPEAKER_00Oh my God.
SPEAKER_01What about the husband you're called to live? What about the church that you're called to serve? Because the church is still going to be going 2,000 years from now. Like it's actually eternal. Yeah. Like, let's talk about that.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01But it's like our windows to the world are like wide open and we think we see it all so clearly. And meanwhile, we're so blind, which is really all of like I'm talking about Luke 5 this Sunday at our church and talking about how Jesus heals a blind man. I won't have time to go into this, but then the very next story is the story of the man lowered down that's lame. And the point of the story is that the religious crowd was both blind and lame. They were unwilling to move. Wow. And they were unwilling to see. And that's exactly what culture society is. We think we understand so much. We're critics. We know so much. And yet we're lame and blind. We're unwilling to move. We're unwilling to see. Wow. So well, I need to go to my community group. So I thank you for hanging out. Yeah. I hope so fun. Do you think people got something out of this?
SPEAKER_00I hope so.
Closing And How To Share
SPEAKER_01Hey, all two of them. I hope they got something out of it. No, really. As somebody asked me the other day, uh, because I always joke to the college that there's two people listening, and they're like, is it for real two people? And I'm like, I have no idea. I've never pulled stats, not a single time. And I was like, more than two. I just care that it's uh as long as I feel conviction that this is from the Lord, then we'll do it. But not about metrics. That's good. But it is about obedience. So, anyways. All right. Well, thanks for hanging out. Yes. Thanks so much for hanging out here on my podcast. Do me a favor and hit the subscribe button if you haven't done so already, so you never miss out on anything here on my podcast. Also, one of the best ways for us to begin to reach other people is by you sharing. So if you can do me a favor and share this podcast with a friend, family member, or maybe on your social media, help us get the word out so we can help others.