Marissa Henley

Encouraging weary women to hope in Christ alone

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Guest post for TGC ~ You Need an Older, Bolder Friend

April 18, 2019 by Marissa Leave a Comment

I invited Katherine to lunch that day because I knew she’d tell me the truth. I was pressuring my husband into a major financial decision—behavior I knew was wrong but was rationalizing in many ways. I needed someone to lovingly set me straight.

Katherine didn’t disappoint. She is my older, bolder friend.

Over the years, God has provided various older women as teachers and examples. In my 20s, I looked up to the women whose children I babysat. In my 30s, it was the older women who led a summer Bible study for young moms. Now in my 40s, I often turn to Katherine for advice. She and my mom have been friends since before I was born. I know she loves me and wants the best for me—and she knows my best means growth in Christlikeness.

Do you have an older, bolder friend? Here are three reasons to commit to spending time with someone who can offer counsel from a deep well of biblical wisdom and life experience.

Please head over to The Gospel Coalition to read the entire article. I hope it encourages you!

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The Cost of Non-Discipleship (“Radical,” Ch. 1)

September 3, 2010 by Marissa 3 Comments

In my last post on the book Radical, I shared David Platt’s convicting thoughts about how many Christians ignore what Jesus said about what it really means to follow Him.  Instead, we choose to mold Jesus into a “nice, middle-class, American Jesus . . . who doesn’t mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have” (p. 13).  As convicted as I was by these words, I was even more convicted by Platt’s discussion of the result this misunderstanding of true discipleship.

Platt writes:  “While Christians choose to spend their lives fulfilling the American dream instead of giving their lives to proclaiming the kingdom of God, literally billions in need of the gospel remain in the dark” (p. 14).

While we are busy accumulating stuff and ensuring our comfort, BILLIONS are perishing apart from Christ.  Do we care?  Do I care?  Do I care about the eternal implications for my family member who doesn’t know Christ?  Do I care about the people of Bhutan, a small country between China and India that I read about this morning with my kids, where the government (a Buddhist kingdom) lets very few foreigners inside the country and any Christians who make it in are forbidden to talk about Christ?

If I say I care, do I back it up with actions?  With my checkbook?  With my prayers?

Another large group of people paying the price for our failure to follow Christ properly are the poor.  Platt writes:  “Consider the cost when these Christians gather in churches and choose to spend millions of dollars on nice buildings to drive up to, cushioned chairs to sit in, and endless programs to enjoy for themselves.  Consider the cost for the starving multitudes who sit outside the gate of contemporary Christian affluence” (p. 15).

Platt writes about two headlines he saw in a Christian publication in 2004.  On the cover, the left headline read:  “First Baptist Church Celebrates New $23 Million Building.”  On the right, the headline read:  “Baptist Relief Helps Sudanese Refugees” and the article explained that $5,000 had been raised to help refugees in western Sudan.  Platt concludes:  “Where have we gone wrong?  How did we get to the place where this is actually tolerable?” (emphasis mine, p. 16)

This example makes me crazy.  What are these people thinking?  But then I look at myself.  I don’t have $23 million to spend on myself, but if I did, I’m sure I would.  If I published the amount of money I spend on myself on one side of the front page and the leftovers I give to the poor on the other side, what would my headlines read?  Do my public and private lives honor the Lord Jesus Christ and my commitment to follow Him on His terms?  What is the cost of my non-discipleship in the lives of those around me, both near and far?

These are tough questions, and I encourage you to wrestle through them with me by buying this book and reading it.  In fact, my bloggy friend Marla is hosting a Radical read-a-long, if you’re interested.  I know I can’t wait to hear what others have to say about how God is using this book in their lives.Share

“A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism” (Radical, chapter 1)

August 24, 2010 by Marissa 3 Comments

“Have you ever come to Jesus on His terms?”

That is the question asked by David Platt in his sermon series, Radical.  (After listening to several of these sermons, I decided to get the book by the same name.)  The first step to coming to Jesus on His own terms is to know what His terms are.

What does Jesus say about following Him?

Mark 10:21:  “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Luke 9:23-24:  And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Later in Luke 9, those who express interest in following Jesus are told to expect to be homeless like Christ, not to take the time to bury their father, and not to say good-bye to their families or finish up work at home.

Luke 14:26-27, 33:  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life he cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple . . . So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

I think in our Christian culture, we are desensitized to the shocking nature of Jesus talking about taking up our cross.  Put yourself in the shoes of those who heard Christ say these words before His death.  The cross was an instrument of torture and death.  Christ was telling those who wanted to follow Him that they should be prepared to be tortured and killed.  Not exactly seeker-sensitive.

Platt writes:  “Give up everything you have, carry a cross, and hate your family.  This sounds a lot different than ‘Admit, believe, confess, and pray a prayer after me.’ . . . Ultimately, Jesus was calling them to abandon themselves . . . In a world that prizes promoting oneself, they were following a teacher who told them to crucify themselves.  And history tells us the result.  Almost all of them would lose their lives because they responded to this invitation.”  (p. 11-12)

I agree with Platt’s assertion that modern-day American Christianity has watered down the true cost of following Christ.  These passages from Mark and Luke make us squirm, and we would rather think that Jesus didn’t really mean what He said.  But this rationalization is dangerous, as Platt writes:

“Because we are starting to redefine Christianity.  We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.  A nice, middle-class, American Jesus.  A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have.” (p. 13, emphasis mine)

Let’s be honest.  My struggle with materialism is well-documented on this blog.  And I’m guessing I’m not the only one who would like Jesus to be okay with just a little bit of materialism.  This is America, after all.  But as we, as the wealthiest people on this planet, mold Jesus to fit our desires, we are falling very short of the calling the real Jesus gave His followers.  Billions are dying apart from Christ.  Thousands of children die every day from starvation and preventable disease.

Do we love Jesus enough to follow Him on His terms?  Do we care enough about the lost and the poor to obey Christ’s commands to forsake earthly treasure for eternal reward?  Are we willing to give our lives in radical faith to Jesus who gave everything for us?Share

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I write to remind myself of the truth of God's promises. I share my writing here in case you need to be reminded sometimes, too.

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Click the image above to learn more about Marissa's books: After Cancer and Loving Your Friend through Cancer

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