[ROUND-UP] 2. J-Curve, Radioactive Gophers, and “Flexing” as Modern Boasting

Seeing Jesus with Paul Miller

In this episode, Jon, Paul and Liz round up some J-Curve related conversations and themes. These excerpts are from items Jon shared in the conversation.

“The common idea of the Christian life is that Jesus saves us, and then, we don’t technically believe this, but somehow, we live as if the power that raised him kind of goes and burrows into the ground like a gopher and pops up at the very end when Jesus returns again. So, it almost feels like a power that’s underneath the ground, like radioactivity.”

“The students would say, ‘Ah, he’s flexing. He’s on the flexing chart.’ And just like that, they renamed the ‘failure-boasting chart.’ ”

“I realize more and more that while we sometimes complain about the younger generation, we underestimate them, what the Lord is doing in them, and what he will do through them. I’m not typically an optimistic person. I’m more of a glass half-empty person, but over the years, I’m becoming more and more of an optimist or at least a realist in terms of the reality of resurrection power in the midst of a dying world."