A few (personal) rules for applying the Gospel in every day life.

1. Be extremely careful declaring absolutes regarding God's action in the world. Conversely, be suspicious when people declare with certainty, "God did _____." It's easy to make declarative statements. It's equally as easy to misread some action in the world as God's prevenience because it aligns with my preferences.

2. If we are going to judge God's actions in the world, we must judge them based on the known character of God and the values that God demonstrates. This past Sunday’s lectionary text, Psalm 146, is a great example. Want to know (in part) where God is at work?

"[The Lord] upholds the cause of the oppressed

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets prisoners free,

the Lord gives sight to the blind,

the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,

the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the foreigner

and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked."

3. God's work in our world should lead to justice, freedom, and a more profound work of love, both individually and generally. If it is not good news for all people, it is not God's good news. If it is only good news for people that I align with, it is a false gospel.

4. If God's work does not call me, personally, and us corporately to repentance in ways that make us uncomfortable, it is not the gospel. Interacting with God is to experience both love and gentle correction. Hearing the sort of truth that is embodied in the Trinity nearly always creates in us a "struggle—" a dying to some part of myself, for God, for others.

5. This struggle will always lead to a deeper "knownness " and a clearer and more powerful understanding of our belovedness.

6. God's work is far-reaching. This is why one political party cannot be "God's party." Such partisan demands grossly misrepresent the work of God in the world. Furthermore, just as it cannot be found in a single party, God's work in the world is infinite orders of magnitude greater than all parties and ideologies combined.

7. God's justice is perfect. Complete. Restorative. It's unconcerned with my 401k but is immensely concerned with human dignity and provision and care of those in immense need. As the gospel is participatory, do not be surprised when we are nudged to offer the former for the good of the latter.

8. When I/we make mistakes in discernment, make pronouncements that are more "me" than "God", and/or alienate people because of our own need to be "right", may we be quick to apologize and make amends. This is, most often, the most impactful way for people to see the goodness of God lived out in us.

9. As a general rule, humility is the foundation. It’s difficult to stay there, so the act of living out our faith is the act of returning, again and again, to humility and the love that meets us there.

10. If whatever I am about to say, do, or declare does not sound, look, or behave like Jesus, I would be wise to be silent, be still, and reconsider my motives.