You say, “woke” like you’re not curious about the lives or experiences of others and like you don’t care who they are, what they’ve been through, or where they came from. You say, “woke” like you’re living the dream and everyone else is not. You live as if everyone else would be okay if they would only live exactly like you. The thing about people is that, unless they come to you fresh from the womb, they’ve lived a whole life before you’ve even met them. Even when they do come to you fresh from the womb, there’s a family history that will impact everything about them. We cannot assume the lives and choices of others - the only life we’ve really lived is our own.

Both certainty and salvation are pretty important in conservative evangelical circles, again, to the negligence of all else in the Christian life, such as caring for the poor and marginalized and producing the fruit of the Spirit. Following the communal guidelines for belief and behavior become indicators of the Spirit at work in you, rather than the actual indicators of the Spirit at work in you which are explicitly stated in the Word of God that conservative evangelicals claim to hold in the highest regard.

I hope I’ve made my case that, if you are in Christ, then your body, as well as your soul, has been redeemed and is meant for the glory of God and the good of others until his Kingdom comes and his will is done on earth as it is in Heaven. Lord, let it be.

Thanks for being along for the wildest ride of my life, so far. I hope you’re blessed, encouraged, and empowered to live the life that God gave you. I’ve got some helpful things in store and I can’t wait to see where we go next.