My Field Notes
“If I don’t write it down, it disappears. These Field Notes are where I slow down, pay attention, and let the moments God is using to shape me simmer long enough to matter. It’s not polished. It’s not finished. But it’s movement.”
-
Featured Field Note
Who Says You Are a Christian?
One of the most sobering thoughts I have encountered is this:
Almost anyone can claim almost any identity.
A person can say he is a humanist, a Buddhist, a capitalist, an environmentalist, a minimalist, or a hundred other things. Whether he consistently lives according to those beliefs is another matter, but the identity itself usually begins with self-identification. He says he is one, therefore he claims the label.
Christianity is different.
A person can call himself a Christian for decades and still not belong to Christ.
That statement sounds harsh until we realize it came from Jesus Himself.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 7:21, ESV)
Notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say these people had never heard of Him. He did not say they were atheists, pagans, or opponents of the faith. They called Him “Lord.” They believed they belonged to Him. Yet Jesus warned that some would discover they had been mistaken.
That should cause every believer to pause.
The Christian faith is unique because its defining question is not ultimately, “What do I say about myself?” The defining question is, “What does God say about me?”
A Christian is not someone who merely adopts a label. A Christian is someone whom God has redeemed, justified, adopted, and made alive in Christ. Salvation does not begin with our declaration about God. It begins with God’s work in us.
This is why Scripture repeatedly calls believers to examine themselves.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5, ESV)
That command would be unnecessary if claiming to be a Christian automatically made someone a Christian.
The goal of self-examination is not endless doubt. It is honest reflection. Do I love Christ? Do I trust Him? Do I desire Him? Am I growing in obedience? Do I see evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in my life? Not perfection, but direction.
Many people know about Jesus.
Far fewer know Him.
The deeper I study Scripture, the more convinced I become that the most important identity question in the world is not who I think I am, who others think I am, or even who I hope I am.
The question is this:
When God looks at me, does He see one of His children?
That is not a question to answer casually.
It is a question worth examining carefully, prayerfully, and honestly.
Because in the end, every other label will pass away.
What God says about us will remain forever.
-
What Does It Mean to Be Made in the Image of God?
I was asked the other day, “What does it mean to be made in the image of God?” I gave the standard answer: intellect, emotions, and will. During the conversation, we added morality. I added being created to love God. By the time we were done, the definition had become messy, fragmented, and, honestly, based
-
When Desire Tries to Outvote Truth
One of the hardest things a person can do is honestly examine the thing they want most. Desire can bend vision. What we want can start to feel true simply because we want it badly. Many people do not investigate to discover the truth. They investigate, hoping to be reassured. That creates a dangerous moment.
-
Watching the Flow of Life
There are moments when you step back and see it. Not just your own life, but everyone’s at once. You are in a store, or walking through a crowd, or driving on the freeway, and suddenly it all feels different. People are moving everywhere, each one with somewhere to go, something to do, something to
-
Whose Footsteps Are You Following?
There comes a moment in any journey when you stop looking at the horizon and start looking at the ground, not out of fear, but out of honesty. Because the direction of your life is not revealed by what you say you believe, but by the path your feet are actually taking. “Ponder the path
-
Why I Say “Biblical Worldview” Instead of “Christian Worldview”
Sometimes language gets crowded. When someone says “Christian worldview,” it is not always clear what they mean. It could refer to historic orthodoxy, a particular denomination, a political posture, or even cultural habits passed down over generations. The term carries weight, but it has also accumulated layers that can blur its meaning. So when I
-
Why You Keep Seeing the Word “Agapē”
Why You Keep Seeing the Word “Agapē” If you have been reading DiscipleLife for a while, you have probably noticed a word that keeps appearing. Agapē. It shows up in essays, transitions, and sometimes quietly at the end of a discussion about something that seemed, at first glance, unrelated. You might reasonably ask: Why does
-
Why We Must Seek Understanding Instead of Inventing It
I have been thinking about the Voynich Manuscript again. The strange fifteenth-century book at Yale University filled with odd plants, zodiac drawings, and writing no one can read. For over a century, experts have tried to decode it. Lost language. Secret science. Hidden knowledge. When I look at it, I see something simpler. I grew
-
Realizing Revisions, Restarts, and a Reality Check
If you have been reading DiscipleLife for the last few months, you have seen the revisions. More than a few. Sections moved. Essays rewritten. Structures adjusted. Sometimes it probably felt like we were hiking in circles. For that, I owe you an apology. There are several reasons for the restarts. First, I tend to be
