Welcome to The Faithful Guide-Introduction

The Faithful Guide: Another Blog? What is This?  

Have you ever been excited to do something new but had no idea where to start? Do you have a vision of what could be but are looking for someone to help point you in the right direction? The Christian life is full of “you should know this” or “you should do this” with little explanation of why or how. That is where this blog comes in. I want to present to you the why and the how of the Christian life so that you can experience the fullness of joy the Christian life offers (John Piper would be proud). You see, the Why, the What, and the How of the Christian life in New Testament terms is called discipleship! Sometimes, as followers of Jesus, we need a little direction, and also someone faithful that we trust to guide us through the subject. That is the aim of this blog! What if we take a subject like systematic theology and begin by tackling the why, breaking down the subject into clear questions and answers, and then explain how you can engage in the discipline on your own? Sometimes we just need a faithful guide to help us along the way.

The summer between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college I went on a backpacking trip in Colorado. A leader from my youth ministry invited my friend Luke and I to go with him to summit a 14er. A 14er is a mountain in Colorado that is over 14,000 feet in elevation.  Joe, our youth leader, had a personal goal of summiting all 58 of the 14ers in Colorado in his lifetime. Our backpacking trip was multiple days, but we were able to ascend Mt. Harvard in one full morning from our basecamp. Around noon we reached the summit of the 14,423 foot elevation. For me this was a trip of a lifetime and still ranks as one of the greatest experiences of my life. You see, I climbed to the top of the mountain on my own strength, but it was Joe who faithfully guided me across the whole packing trip and to the top of the mountain. If it were not for the invitation and the guidance of Joe, I would not be able to say that I have summited a 14er.

Much is true of the Christian life as well. In a busy world with infinite options to consume our time and energy, how do we navigate toward faithfulness to our Savior? In our walk with Christ, what do we need to know and how do we go about learning it? What if you had a faithful guide to help you navigate the overwhelming task of knowing all the aspects? 

Why the Name? 

“Faithful” because that is the ultimate aim of every follower of Jesus. We want to remain faithful to our relationship with God and in our understanding and articulation of God’s Word. 

“Guide” because the Christian life is often equated to a journey or a path that is not always the easiest to traverse. 

When we have a question about the Bible or how to apply the Bible to our life, where do we go? Oftentimes our first step is to google it, find a possible YouTube video, or train your social media algorithm to show you every tip and trick video possible. What if you had a safe “let me check there first” place to go with your questions? It is my hope that this blog will become that for you. 

Navigating the Tension…Kinda

The scope of this blog is any discipline of study that relates to the Christian life. I find myself passionate and nerding out on a lot of biblical subdisciplines. In preparation for this blog, I began to write out all the subjects that I would want to write about, and it clocked in at exactly 20 different areas of study. I guess we will start and see where it goes! 

I also am having a hard time defining the intended audience of this blog, because my interests fall across the board. I want to teach why we sing on Sundays to a new believer and also teach the mature believer about the importance of polemical theology in the proper interpretation of the Old Testament within an Ancient Near Eastern context. You see the struggle? There is a little voice in the back of my head that says, “Why not both!”. Who says you can’t do both? So… here we are. Though I am trying to have my cake and eat it too, I will be organized in the madness and will create different series that will appeal to differing levels of biblical/theological acuity. My series on The Church Defined will help new believers understand and engage in the important aspects of the church such as the Sunday morning gathering, worship through songs, and how to properly listen to a sermon. I will also have more research-based, footnote-heavy deep dives into particular biblical/theological topics. 

Why a blog? 

One of the most important characteristics of a teacher is their passion for the subject. As I am now nearing my 9^th year of vocational ministry, I have received much feedback on my ability to teach, but one aspect that is consistent across it all is that people tell me that I am passionate about the subject. The funny thing is that I have heard this while teaching a wide variety of topics. It is my hope that as you read this nerdy “Bible guy” talk about God, His Word, and the World around us and you too will catch the passion. I may write a blog post on some obscure pastor from church history, and you read it and walk away thinking “wow, I had no idea studying church history could be so practical to my life today… so how do I engage in the subject deeper?” Or maybe this blog is just another outlet for my passion to be released upon an unexpecting world. 

Bridging the Gap

How does knowing God’s sovereignty change the way I put my shoes on in the morning? Why do I need to know about some old guy named Martin Luther and how does it change the way I show up to church on Sunday? You see, if you are like me, we may know about some of these things, but have not bridged the gap between knowing about it and living in light of that knowledge. I hope this blog is not just another fast-food source of Christian content that gets consumed so that you can feel better about yourself. It is my hope and prayer that you take this content, see the beauty of our eternal God, and present your body as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1).

Though much of this blog will be written from a pretty convictional stance, that does not mean that I have all the answers. I believe it is important for followers of Jesus to engage in the study of God’s Word for the sake of coming to confident conclusions. However, we can be honest that we are not guaranteed a perfect interpretation of God’s Word. We can only be as confident or dogmatic about something as the Bible is clear.  I will try to strike a healthy balance of confidence and humility. 

If you are on this wild journey, called the Christian life, I invite you to follow along and hopefully this blog will allow you to take one more step toward being like Jesus!