Beautiful Resistance: The Joy of Conviction in a Culture of Compromise

by Jon Tyson

So we must call our generation to loyalty to Christ. We must live with devotion and conviction regardless of what they cost us. This must be stronger than that.

The joy and satisfaction that come from being faithful to Christ will always be richer than the mere ease that comes from drifting along the cultural currents.

Jesus is not committed to the church because he has to be; he is committed to the church because he wants to be.

God’s presence among his people has always been his heart. God’s vision was not a building to belong in but a people to walk among.

Doing your part to convert the church from compromise to conviction—to restore her saltiness and turn up her light—is a cause worth giving your life to.

Worship is about the priorities of our hearts.

Disordered loves lead to disordered lives.

As we approach God, his primary concern is the devotion of our hearts, not our performance out of duty.

Heart idols are those things we put before God in our values, affections, and minds.

Heart idols distort our lives. Cultural idols distort our world.

All religion does is reinforce idolatry. It’s an attempt to fight secular idols with religious ones. Rather than changing the heart, it seeks to bludgeon it into submission.

There are two areas of application: our hearts (we tear down personal idols) and the church (we resist cultural idols).

God is at war for the love of your heart.

Rest must resist exhaustion.

The first trap is the mistaken idea that relaxation is the same thing as rest.

Fasting reinforces our true desires and reorients us to the presence of God.

hospitality must resist fear.

Demonization leads to dehumanization.

A theology of hospitality can rekindle love and cast out fear.

Conditional hospitality crystalizes borders. Unconditional hospitality deconstructs them.

The church was to exist not as a haven from the world but as a place of hope for the world.

Honor is the call to recognize the value someone possesses and esteem that person rightly.

Honor is the recognition of the value, contribution, and importance of others.

Knowing others’ backstories releases compassion and honors the journeys that people have been on.

If we want to become more like Christ, we’ve got to understand not only our own privilege but also how others struggle in a lack of privilege.

Servanthood resists privilege, and the kingdom takes root.

Celebration is godly defiance in a culture of doubt.

Celebration resists cynicism.