Kelly-Jayne McGlynn

I think the Church (very broadly speaking) can tend to be that way regarding joy. Joy can be demanded from us with very little explanation or context, and especially without patience.

The answer could lie in a story you’ve heard since you were a kid–but maybe you weren’t taught the whole picture.

We intellectually know God hates sin but loves us, but sometimes, we water down God’s hatred of sin or let that hatred bleed into what we assume he thinks of us.

One of the most misquoted scriptures is 1 Timothy 6:10: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."The way that we hear it, though, is simply, "Money is the root of all evil." That sounds like a very different story!As someone who grew up in the church, surrounded by those who misused this verse, I've been made to believe that money is sinful and it is wrong to want more of it. But is that what this verse is actually saying?The word for "love of money" is philargyria, which means avarice: extreme greed for money and material gain. I read that as the love of money for money's sake. The love of money simply for your own gain.And then, later in the verse, the word for "eager" is oregō: "to stretch one's self out in order to touch or to grasp something, to reach after or desire something" or "to give one's self up to the love of money." Interestingly, the word oregōis used two other times in the New Testament to describe healthy things to long for – aspiring to be an overseer in the church and longing for a heavenly country.So we can see that longing and desire in itself are not wrong. But it very much depends on what your heart is longing for. Is it for power, comfort, or security from worldly things? Or is it for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?Both can require money! So, money in itself is not evil. It is a neutral source. But the spiritual impact of this source depends on how you use it.As I'm processing my own beliefs around money, here are five ways I'm training my brain not to feel guilty about desiring money:Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Romolo Tavani

Recently, I was in a church environment that triggered many of my wounds from past spiritual abuse. The sermon was guilt-driven, and I felt a sense of stuck-ness that I hadn't felt since leaving my past church. But a beautiful thing happened, too, because those from my current church were also there. And I was able to look around the room and feel a sense of peace and awe that God had me right where I needed to be.As I reflect on this moment, three things come to mind that led me to feel confident that I'm in the right church for me:

Maybe because it seems selfish to focus on ourselves on our day of rest to honor the Lord, I haven’t seen many people make the connection between sabbath days and getting to know ourselves better. But knowing ourselves, our true selves, is an under-utilized resource in bringing God’s kingdom to Earth.The invitation to rest in God produces many beautiful things in us -- obedience, trust in his provision, and getting to know his character of love better -- topics many people have written about.But one more important thing that I believe sabbath accomplishes is how we get to know ourselves better. And therefore, get even closer to being pure, unhindered images of God on this earth.

Satan is the accuser (Rev. 12:10), and something that he constantly puts us on the stand for is being a human in a fallen world. We are taught to feel guilty for so many things that, quite frankly, come with the territory of being a limited being in a broken world.We live in temporal bodies that are constantly breaking down. We live in a world that is full of toxins and fumes. And even if that weren’t true, we still wouldn’t be perfect. The good news is that God isn’t surprised by any of it.Here are 5 things God is not surprised by:

While I am all for forging your way ahead past spiritual abuse, purity culture and fear-based teachings, I believe so strongly that purity is a gift from God, not a punishment that toxic church culture invented.It’s easy for humans to throw out the baby with the bath water. Purity culture has undoubtedly caused spiritual and sexual damage to those who grew up under its fearful, controlling grip. But purity itself isn’t bad. It’s beautiful.If you’re either single and unsure if purity is worth it or married and need a reminder about God’s perfect design, keep reading.Here are 3 ways on how not to throw out purity with purity culture:

Whenever I hear of a friend leaving the Church because of spiritual abuse, disillusionment or hypocrisy I get it. But here is a list that I hope will encourage anyone on their journey to leave old, harmful lies behind to adopt new, faithful and exciting ones.

Abundance is something we all want more of. But the thing is, abundance is already all around us. Because God’s love, provision, and attention are never ever in short supply, we can have an abundance mindset, too.Jesus certainly lived this way and saw the world this way.But when we look at our schedules, bank accounts, news apps, and relationships, scarcity is so much easier to see.So how can we become more like Jesus and see the abundance of this world as he did? Here are four ways how.

God puts us in deeper waters through many different aspects of our lives. Maybe it’s a new job that requires way more than you feel capable of, and you lose your bearings on who you are and what you can do. Maybe you lost a relationship that was a stabilizing force in your life, and you don’t know who you are without them. Maybe your life felt like it had a single direction that everything you were doing was working towards, but now you’re questioning if it’s all worth it.And when these situations happen, God feels far away. Our sense of connection and grounding feels compromised. We just end up feeling…off. And we’re not sure why.So how do we navigate through these deeper waters?Start by asking yourself these questions and see what God reveals to you.

I often joke that because of the number of sci-fi movies about artificial intelligence out there, we’ve already seen how this story ends – with robots taking over the world. So why mess around with it?Despite my half-hearted protests, AI seems like it is here to stay. AI is creeping up in every corner of our society – from copywriting programs to personalized shopping to autonomous vehicles. It seems like out of “nowhere,” AI is now everywhere.With this technology becoming a part of our lives more and more each day, Christians may be wondering how they should respond to AI.

There are seven different Hebrew words that can be translated into “glory” in English and five Greek words – but I will not be diving into each of those definitions in this article.But I will dive into the word kavod.This one word is more than enough for us to chew on and contemplate as we understand what God’s glory – an intangible, ethereal, far-away concept, means for us in a very real sense, every day of our lives.Kavod is related to the word kaved, meaning “heavy.” Weightiness. Although something being heavy might seem unrelated to angels singing in heaven, think about it for a moment.

Because our identity drives our actions. So, if you believe you are sinful and unworthy of love, you will act like you are sinful and unworthy of love. You will be driven to make poor choices because you feel like there is no way out and shut out the love from those around you since you believe you are not worthy of it.But the opposite is also true. If you believe you are loved, kind, healing, and selfless, you will be moved to act like it. Your life will become a reflection of these positive things that you believe about yourself.

It's no secret that younger generations are leaving the Church in droves –for all sorts of reasons. In her research, Sarah Margaret Vaughn cites spiritual wounds from exclusivity, inauthenticity, and dislike for the Church's involvement in politics, power, and money as the reason Millennials are leaving the Church. And if you are one of them but want to find a church community again, you may be asking, "How do I decide which church is right for me? How do I find a safe church?"Here is the advice I would give to any young person that is in the process of finding a new church: