The Cognitive Dissonance of Spiritual Amnesia

In today’s episode, I’m coming to you straight from my living room with a smorgasbord of updates and reflections. I share a little life update (new job, sickness, and the decision to almost quit the podcast), along with a heartfelt thank you for your graciousness along the way.

We dive into Deuteronomy 6, exploring Moses’ final words to a new generation of Israelites standing on the edge of the Promised Land — and how his call to remember God still speaks to us today. In a culture where Jesus can easily become just another accessory, we’re called to live set apart and stay rooted in who he is. 

Recommendations: 

Praying the Bible - https://amzn.to/4d9P39v

How to Memorize Scripture for Life - https://amzn.to/44KjksZ

The Call to Scripture Memory - https://amzn.to/3EF3LZ7

Steffany G's Message - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I_0Y91FYeQ

Francis Chan - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crazy-love-podcast/id1007053996

Lisa Harper - https://www.lisaharper.org/backporchtheology

WATCH ON YOUTUBE!!! - https://youtu.be/kPUPNh35pF4?si=-1e0BviQnpbQOQ5v

Transcript

UNKNOWN: 0:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 0:05

This feels so weird. I don't even know how to begin. Really, truly, I don't. One, it's weird. Hi, guys. Welcome back. Welcome back to the podcast. That goes without saying. Feels weird for many reasons. I don't remember the last time I sat in front of a camera and filmed myself with a podcast. It was everybody three years ago. And I also, it's been at least a month or two since I've recorded a podcast, period, and been in front of this Blue Yeti microphone, which I apologize for. And we'll get into briefly, without boring you guys, on why that is and where I've been. But I'm here. And in front of this blue Yeti and in front of my phone camera, shout out to iPhone for having good quality. And we're doing the thing. I, yeah, the intro here, it's going to be a smorgasbord of thoughts and updates. So just hang with me and we will get into the meat of today's episode. We will, I promise. But let's back up real quick. Why am I even recording this via video? Well, that's hoping and prayerfully that it actually works. So if you hear this audio and you are not finding it anywhere on YouTube, that is because it failed and the video did not work. But we're just going to trust the Lord in that. And if the video doesn't work, then the video doesn't work. But if the audio works, then we'll stick with the audio. And that's totally fine. But we're trying it. We're giving it a shot. because why not? But I stopped recording video, one, because for a while there, it was getting to be way too cumbersome, and I just didn't have a great place to record in our house. We have a small ranch-style home, about 1,300 square feet, if that, and a small living area. So just when the whole house is asleep, all I have is the kitchen and the living room. Our living room was not conducive to recording videos It just didn't look cute. That's really the simpler way to put it. And then our kitchen wasn't great either. And so I just never could find a good spot. And so I just didn't. And I just stuck with audio recording. But as far as where I've been and sort of the big hiatus here, because I... And I really, you know, it makes me sad. I get frustrated with the fact that I launched season two and after three episodes kind of went... MIA, but you guys are gracious and I'm back. But so where I've been, it was like the perfect storm, truly. First of all, I started a new job. I work for a marketing consulting agency. I really enjoy it, but it's an adjustment going from not working at all to getting back into the workforce and trying to manage staying at home full time with all three of my kids. I have no family here local besides Jeremy's grandparents, who we see about once a week when I go to their house, and Jeremy's dad, who has a really, really busy work schedule. And the only help that we get is from the sitter who we pay. So that is to say, Finding time and having the margin to do anything extra. The podcast went on the back burner because I started a new job. Things got crazy. But then also, we've just been hit really hard with sickness in the last few months. It's just been... Yeah. Lots of sickness. And that has led to lack of sleep. Lots. I don't... I think... I have slept a four-hour stretch a few times in the last six months, but no more than that, and new moms will get it. New moms will get it. Veteran moms will get it, but that's just what life looks like six months postpartum, and in the postpartum period when you have a new baby, starting a new job is just a lot, and the sickness and the lack of sleep definitely compounded upon that. just the lack of bandwidth to be able to really pour in the podcast what I wanted to pour in. Because I am, I'm a perfectionist, okay? I'll just say it. And I'm not a perfectionist with all things. My husband would laugh if he heard me say that because I can be a little untidy at times. But when it comes to the things like this, I am very much... I want it to be great and I want it to be helpful. And that's also part of the reason my perfectionism is part of the reason why I never wanted to record via video because I was like, there's not a good spot to record. I want the lighting to be perfect. I want the sound to be perfect. I come from a very techie family. My dad and my brother are very techie people and he's a photographer. My brother does music producing. I mean, yeah. So I wanted, in my mind, I would love to have like a proper studio with the proper lighting and the proper sound and producers who can edit stuff. But I don't, I don't have that. I don't have that. And that's okay. I don't need that to be able to sit down and communicate encouraging content to you guys. And I don't think you expect that of me. I think I put that expectation on myself. So all that to say, that is a motorcycle in the background. See, that's what I'm talking about. That's like the perfect moment to be like, that I think in the past would have made me be like, nope, I don't have a good setup for this. So I'm just not going to record at all. And there was a point where I wanted to quit the podcast or I had considered quitting the podcast because I was like, I don't know if this is the right time. I don't know if I have the bandwidth, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And before, instead of making any drastic decisions, I just pumped the brakes, put it on pause until I felt like I could pick it back up again. And after sitting on it and praying on it, I feel good. I feel good. However, what I will say is I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm going to be perfect in getting an episode out every single week. Maybe one day, maybe one day when I have, Lord willing, some help with maybe the podcast or whatever, it will be more... What's the word I'm looking for? Professional or consistent, but... It is what it is. Here I am showing up, hoping to give you all a word of encouragement. So again, thank you guys for being gracious and tuning in when I put in up a new episode. And also to thank you so much for sharing with me when you listen and what is helpful to you and what has spoken to you because it truly means the world to me because it tells me that what I'm doing isn't a waste of time. So if you ever get anything from any of my podcasts, definitely shoot me a text, send me an email, send me a DM on Instagram. I'm also on Facebook now. I made like a little page to be able to link my two accounts. So you could... Message me on there too. I don't really know too much about the whole Facebook page stuff, but so that is the smorgasbord of updates slash thoughts. I think we're good. There's nothing else that I need to add here. So we're going to dive right on into the recommendations portion of the podcast, which you guys know I really enjoy because I feel like I'm always consuming some sort of book or or sermon or podcast or something. I definitely am somebody that loves to learn. I would have never said that about myself when I was in high school or even college. I would have probably said that I hated school and I totally did hate school. But on that train of thought, I don't know if I've updated you guys on this yet. I certainly haven't posted anything on social media, but I I was accepted into Denver Seminary and their women's leadership cohort for the spring of 2026, which I'm very, very excited about. Now, this limbo phase, because it's spring of 2025, obviously, so I've got a year. This is the limbo phase of preparing myself, funding, all of the things. So here I am. Just a fun fact, and I actually put this inside my... application essay, I literally used to fall asleep in Old Testament class. It was my snooze class. And I feel so bad for my professor because I was in such a, I was just so immature and naive and young and dumb and thought the class was a I thought it was boring. I remember, I vividly remember, oh, this is so telling. I vividly remember in the first class, Old Testament, first class, our professor who is so kind and was so animated and really loved what he did. started talking about truth and he would he started and opened up the class with by saying what is truth and he was like is it raining outside is it sprinkling like we were talking about the rain and I just remember thinking myself this is so dumb this is so dumb truth is truth rain is rain it just felt super philosophical and like fluffy and I was just like I'm out so I snoozed through Old Testament class, and here I am wanting to get a seminary degree. But anyways, recommendations, looping back around. So a couple of recommendations. I actually have them here. If the video works and we're able to, y'all are able to watch me, I can show you. But there's technically four books, but... I only have three with me because the other one's on my Kindle. The first one is not about scripture memorization, but it's very similar, and it's called Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney. Super good book. I'm sure you've seen it before. It's really popular, but it was very quick read, very practical, and honestly, kind of revolutionary, even though guilty as charged. I have not prayed the Bible as much as I would like to after having read that book, but... Then I had a moment weeks back, weeks back, where I felt convicted about my lack of scripture memorization, but also too, just how daunting it felt. So I got three books off of Amazon that were used slash like really cheap. They were, they're all very tiny reads. The first one is How to Memorize Scripture for Life. Andrew by Andrew Davis. And then the next one is A Call to Scripture Memory by Susan Heck. And then I believe the other book is called Scripture Memorization. And I think it was published by Crossway. I can't remember, but I can put that in the link in the show notes. But I read three books on scripture memorization one weekend and all one weekend because I was compelled to Learn more about the practice. Understand how to approach it and what was the best way to go about it. So that's something that I've been implementing into my routine. And the number one biggest takeaway that I got... I'm going to have to drink some water here. Sorry, guys. The number one biggest takeaway was... to memorize scripture when your hands are busy but your mind is wait what is it your hands are busy your hands are full but your mind is not something like that but like when you're doing the dishes or when you're nursing a baby or you know when you are busy doing things but you are you are your thought patterns are clear and you can think about whatever you want to think about that is the best time to practice scripture memorization so For me, so far, I decided, based off of the books that I read, they all recommended memorizing long passages of Scripture, books of the Bible, rather than just memory verses here and there. So I decided on the book of Colossians, and I'm four verses in, and I've literally just, actually, I think I have them right here. I'll show you. I got these, you know, classic post-it notes. They're the 4x6s. If you're on YouTube, if this is even working, they're the 4x6 post-it notes, the yellow ones. And I just wrote the first three verses, and I figured that I would try to memorize three verses at a time. Three verses in a week. That was kind of the goal, but three verses at a time nonetheless. And keep them in my kitchen. Because I spend so much time in my kitchen. Most people do. And I figured I could either have them on the window while I'm doing the dishes or they are on our little calendar. So while I'm in there, I'm rereading and reading and trying to recite it out loud. So highly recommend that. And then the other recommendation that I had was, y'all know Stephanie G. She's my girl, Stephanie Gretzinger. She spoke at the Jesus Image Women's Conference and Anytime, which she doesn't speak often. She doesn't do a lot of podcasts or speaking engagements, but when she does, I'm always jumping right on it. So highly recommend listening to her most recent one. She talked a lot about abiding and about worth, but then also two people that if you're wanting to get into listening to more, just either sermons or podcasts, or just if you need a new speaker to love, these are two of my favorite people and they are so solid. Like I never, I never regret listening to them. And one is Francis Chan and two is Lisa Harper. I actually was turned on Lisa Harper this year for the first time, and I fell in love. So all of that to say, what are we talking about today? What did I feel like would be a good, like what's on my heart? And the title of this episode is The Cognitive Dissonance of Spiritual Amnesia in the West. That's a really long title. That's a long title. What does that even mean? And essentially, what I want to talk about is spiritual amnesia, which basically is just this idea that we often forget about or neglect our faith. And the passage that I want to pull from Deuteronomy 6. And that's another thing that I really would love to make an aspect of this podcast is to truly like, no matter what I'm talking about, pulling from some passage of scripture and making that the focal point of the episode and Going verse by verse at times if needed and really just kind of dissecting and fancy word, but like exegeting and kind of pulling, like looking at the topic or the culture or whatever and kind of, but then coming back to scripture. I mean, like, but like, what does God's word say, which is what we always should do. But that's what I want this podcast to be about. And that's what I want to do.

UNKNOWN: 18:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:27

So when I was thinking about wanting to talk about spiritual amnesia, I was like, what passage of scripture comes to mind? And Deuteronomy 6 came to mind, and it is one of my most favorite chapters in the entire Bible. I frequently return to it. And if you've never read it, I highly recommend, well, I highly recommend just Deuteronomy and just the story of the Exodus and the Israelites going into the promised land and the covenant and all of that stuff. It's just, it's just such good narrative. Honestly, it's a good story. And so yeah, Deuteronomy six came to mind. It's a passage that I love and return to often. And I wanted to kind of go through it brief, like we're not going to nitty gritty go through it verse by verse necessarily, at least that's not what I plan to do, but kind of from a high level and connect it to this idea of spiritual amnesia in the West, because it's no secret y'all. I mean, I, I, America, Western, Western Christianity is, is a lukewarm Christianity and, It is. It makes me think of. I think I did a reel on this. See, this is what I love. I love having my Bible out. I love being able to just flip to whatever pops into my mind. It's one of the churches. Yeah. The church in Laodicea. You are neither cold nor hot. You are lukewarm. And I want to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. But I think about America. I think about the West. And there's a lot of commonalities to us and the church in Laodicea, which that could be a whole other podcast. But this idea of that we are because... So it's interesting. There's always... In the Bible, in this passage, in Deuteronomy 6, in the human race, like when you look at humanity as a whole, in America, we just constantly see this paralleled theme. Hold on, my computer turned off. There we go. Paralleled theme between... when people are blessed, when they are rich, when they prosper, and they're forgetting and neglecting the Lord. That is just a very common rudimentary theme across scripture and all of humanity and history for the most part. So all that to say, Deuteronomy 6. So context. Deuteronomy 6 is Moses's sort of farewell address as he's sending the Israelites out into the promised land, into Canaan. And sort of just this synopsis reminder to them. This is his big, if you're going to remember anything, as you go into the land, the promised land, this is what you need to remember and what you need to know and what you need to take with you. And it's a beautiful, beautiful passage. But I'm just going to kind of read some of it, and then, of course, we'll stop and we'll talk and we'll pull some things out. So we're going to start, actually. Let's see where we want to start. We're going to start in verse 4. Verse 4. Hear, O Israel, which there's a song that comes to my head, and I believe it is Slugs and Bugs. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. I don't know if that's Slugs and Bugs, but wherever that song comes from. I mean, it comes from here, but anyways, I think of it when I read it. But hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. I really want to stop and talk, but we're going to wait. I'm going to read through what I want to read through, and then we'll come back. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Verse 10, We're going to kind of stop there. That's the big, the main section and passage that I want to talk through. But, um, I got my notes here, by the way. I don't want to get off track. I want to make sure that we're staying on track because those who know me know that I tend to ramble. Briefly, another thing that I want to touch on as far as context goes is that I know I said that this is Moses' reminder to them, but he's reminding them of the covenant that they are the Israelites. They're God's holy people. They are to live set apart from God. rest of the world and that they are to love god and to obey him alone and yeah to live to live differently from everybody else and to yeah follow the commandments that that they were just given in five uh so the ten commandments that goes without saying that's obvious justine but The theme, I don't know if you guys picked up on this and just listening, does it not make you think about America? Does it not make you think about the West? When it says, when he brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, I just... It is... It is this picture of that's what the promised land was going to be. They had just come out of the 40 years in the wilderness where they are wandering around, living off manna. This is describing that was not their reality for the past 40 years. Their reality was scarcity and dependency on God for food. and direction and guidance. They were fully dependent upon him to guide them into the promised land. But Moses is saying, you're about to go into the promised land, just FYI, and it's going to be glorious. It's going to be wonderful. This is what you're going to receive, but just be careful lest you forget the Lord, your God, who brought you into the promised land. So let's kind of go through some of this. This is verse 5. This is, of course, one of the more famous passages of Scripture about just discipling your kids. You can't read that verse. and not be convicted because it is this call, this challenge, this command to a wholehearted, devoted kind of faith, kind of living. I mean, diligently. I mean, diligence, that requires persistence and discipline. When you... Lie down when you walk, when you're sitting in your house. So we're to be teaching these commandments, the law of the Lord to our kids diligently when we're sitting in our house, when we're walking and we're lying. That's essentially saying, always be teaching your kids about God's word. But in order to do that, We have to, and if you don't even have any kids, this can still apply to you. Because what that requires is that the person knows the Word of God. You can't teach something that you don't know. And so it is a call not just to teach, but to know. And to know well enough that... Because you got to think, they did not have just Bibles that they could carry around with them or leave on their kitchen table or listen to while they were walking around the house or songs that were turned into or Bible verses that were turned into songs. They had scrolls that would have stayed at, you know, the tabernacle or whatever. And they would have only had access to them They would have had to have memorized them. You know, they would have gone to Torah school early on to memorize the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. And now granted timeline, I don't know if that's true here because this is all them in real time. But as far as they would have, they would have had to have memorized the scripture or memorize God's word and memorize God's commandments in order to teach them to their kids, they would have had to have known them. That's the point that I'm trying to make here, even if my potential timeline of when all that was happening was a little bit off. But nevertheless, let's continue. Then that carries on into verse 10, when he brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers. I... I think this is what we're seeing play out in America and in the West today and why there is this sort of... And this is something I talk about it frequently because it's sort of just this nagging thing that not only do I notice it in myself, and I oftentimes catch myself wanting to... to be set apart from the culture and to challenge these things that we see in society and that we just chalk up as normal or, but I just really, there's just this part of me that genuinely gets frustrated with looking around on social media, looking around at culture and politics and entertainment and just everywhere within our neck of the woods. And especially those who are Christian and just seeing this very large disconnect, this sort of divide, this cognitive dissonance between what we know to be true and what God's word says, how we're called to live, and how we actually live. It's like, if you don't know what cognitive dissonance is, it's basically just this conflicting two beliefs, conflicting two beliefs, like the smoker that knows that smoking is wrong but continues to smoke. But it causes sort of this internal tension, this... I'm smoking right now, but I know this is bad for me. So there's that tension, that's cognitive dissonance. And I think that that tension exists for those of us who live in the West, who live in America, who are Christians, because we're like, we're here, we're living, we're playing church, we're showing up on Easter Sunday and posting on social media that he has risen. But are we living like a call to, right? Are we talking about God's word? When we're sitting down and when we're walking by the way and when we're lying down and when we're... We're not. We're not. I'm not. And that's the tension that I feel a lot. And I feel this... Deuteronomy 6 story playing out on a daily basis because it's like we lived in the promised land. No, of course, America is not perfect. No country is perfect. Of course, we've got a lot of, there are a lot of things that we could talk about that are not great. But just like here, good cities that you did not build, houses full of all good things that you did not fill. Check. Cisterns that you did not dig. Vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. When you eat and are full, we eat and we are full, right? Like we live in excess. We live in plenty. We live in a highly consumeristic culture. But take care, lest you forget the Lord your God, right? There's that tension that exists, this cognitive dissonance with spiritual amnesia. We know that we're called to more. We know that we're called to greater spiritual depth. And yet we live on. And we go through the motions. And whether it's happening to us or not, like whether it's just life is just crazy. And I get that. Man, I get that. Being a mom of three and working and staying home and staying busy and trying to keep up with life. Half the time, it's just, I don't even have time to think about God. But that's not an excuse because He is who He is. And everything that I have in this life is because of Him. You know, it's by Him and for Him and through Him are all things, right? And so... I think I have to constantly take a step back and remind myself, like, take care, lest you forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Take care, Justine, lest you forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of your brokenness, who brought you out of your loneliness, who brought you out of your failure and your fear of failure and your wrestling with the faith and your doubting and all that. who brought you into the promised land, which, you know, you can, you know, I think that the promised land here, of course, while it was a real thing, while we are living in real riches, you know, where there are blessings all around us, and I do have a roof over my head and I do have plenty, you know, my cup is overflowing of material blessing, hands down by far. That is true, especially compared to the rest of the world. But I think what this is supposed to also communicate is sort of a symbolism for the spiritual blessing that we have, the overflow that we have in Christ, or at least what it's supposed to point us towards. And that's kind of the point that I want to make, is that don't let the plenty and the riches and the blessings distract you or cause you to forget and neglect what's true, cause you to, to neglect the Lord and your faith and become spiritually, you know, apathetic. But to, to wrestle with the tension that you have with like, I know I'm made for more. I know I'm called to more. I know he is waiting for me. I know he wants more of me. I know that to be true, but I'm not giving him that. I'm giving my phone that. I'm giving TikTok that. I'm giving, you know, my boyfriend that, whatever. I'm giving my bank account that. I'm giving my work that. But I'm not giving that to God. We know that. That attention exists. And I think that we have to recognize it, but also do something about it, right? Like faith without works is dead. And so anyways, that's... I digress from there. Coming back to my notes so I don't spiral here. The other thing too, while I was looking at notes for today's podcast and things that I wanted to mention, there was a passage of scripture that came to mind and it's to whom much has been given, much is required. I remember I used to be into apologetics a lot and There's this guy on YouTube, he's cross-examined. I'm sure you've seen him. He's got videos that have gone viral. But he posted one video way back when, years back. And it said like, this Bible verse should scare you. And it was that Bible verse, to whom much has been given, much will be required. And it's kind of that thought, like the Spider-Man of like, what is it? Much responsibility. Now I'm spacing. What is it? Oh, gosh. Now, I don't know. Fill it in for me. You know what it is. Something about responsibility and Peter Parker. I can't remember. But same concept applies. If you've been given a lot, you're going to be required. More is going to be required of you. And there's a lot that we could unpack there, like as far as material blessings and, you know, just from a, from a broad standpoint, as far as like America and our very rich culture, like that we could go down that rabbit hole or that trail, but I would love to hone in more on the fact that we have God's word, like do much has been given much is required. Um, Never in all of history have a people had so much access to God's word. Never in history. We have physical Bibles brought all throughout our house. We've got audio Bibles on our phones. We have apps on our phones with Bibles. We've got, I mean... chat dbt that could probably read us the bible we've got our computers i mean there is an abundance of access to god's word there's an abundance of access to learn about to study to read about i mean i the words elude me the right words elude me to be able to communicate the abundance of access that we have to god's word so That being said, to whom much has been given, we have so much as far as our freedom and availability and resources related to knowing God and knowing his word. And yet, and yet, How much time do we spend in it, right? How much time do I spend in it? Do I treasure it? No. And it's just this concept that familiarity breeds apathy. It's so common, so common that it's not sacred anymore. And that is the sad thing that can happen with religious freedoms is that there's not incentive fight or urgency as there is in other countries where it's absolutely illegal. to have a Bible where you would be murdered for having one. And that is a good reminder. I think about that often. For whatever reason, only God knows, I frequently feel the tension of living in such a prosperous, free, abundant, consumeristic country And yet there are missionaries in other parts of the world with highly restricted governments and highly restricted religious laws where people are meeting in underground churches just to get even the slightest bit of of truth even just to have and be around people to be around other god's people that just yeah it blows my mind so coming back around to deuteronomy 6 is just in the theme of when you are blessed by god when god blesses you Don't forget who he is and what he's done. And that is something that we have to do daily. That's the whole point of abiding in the vine is that without returning, that's a practice. I think that that should be a spiritual discipline or a spiritual practice that we talk about. Is this the practice of returning to God? Because there's multiple... multiple ways that we can return to God, right? We return to church on Sundays. We return to youth group or we return to our small group or every week we go, we return. Then there's the practice of returning to God's word in the morning when you wake up to, you know, returning to prayer whenever you eat. Or when you go to bed, you know, there's all these opportunities. But then there's also just on a more granular level, just these moments and pockets throughout the day where you can have opportunities for like returning where you're centering yourself on, okay, hold on. Oftentimes for me, it is after a moment of sin and I need to repent. Like when I've yelled at my kids and it's like, whew. Okay, who are you? That wasn't cool. And so then I just feel compelled to repent. And that's a moment to return and to remind myself of all the truth, right? It's just like this quick reminder of, thank you, God. Like, I'm sorry, God, that was not right. But like, give me your grace. And thank you for your mercy and thank you for Jesus. And like, it's just this process of returning to what is true and what is good and returning to the, to the presence of the Lord also to have just, you know, and I, I, I have got to be better at this. I want to be better at this. I want to be better at, at having it more of a habit of quieting myself before the Lord. and being content to sit with him. Because I'm a busybody. I like to do, I like to move, I like to go. I would rather go on a prayer walk, which there's nothing wrong with that, of course, than just sit and listen with Bible open. But I want... That is, that is something there's that cognitive dissonance, right? Like it's something that I know I need to do, but how often do I actually do it and make it a priority in my life? But that's just the beauty of sanctification and how we are, excuse me, always learning. We're always growing. You know, it's four steps or two steps forward and four steps back. It feels like that's the Christian life, but there's grace. There's an abundance of grace. There is new mercies every morning. There is endless hope, supernatural peace. There is actual truth right here in God's word for whenever we need it. That is so incredibly helpful and encouraging and inspiring and all the things. And yeah. We've got to return to it and we've got to be a part of the body and we've got to be around people who challenge us to return to the Lord constantly. So CTA, how we're going to close out today's episode is where do you feel, where do you feel the tension most, right? Like, is there a sin in your life where the Holy Spirit has been Tugging at your heart. And you felt conviction of this is an area that pulls me away from the Lord. This is an area that distracts me from what's important. This is an area that is sin. Or where do you feel the tension as far as your lifestyle? Is there something like a... lifestyle aspect that you feel like, okay, this doesn't align with scripture. This doesn't align with who I'm called to be as a Christ follower. This doesn't align with me being the image of God, right? And bearing his image and, and being a good witness. Like what, where, where does your life not align with God's will and his way and his word, right? Where's that tension? And wrestle with it constantly. That's a good thing. And pray about it and talk to people about it. Talk to trusted mentors and friends and just be like, what do you think about this? You know, like, is this okay? Is this something, you know, test that. Because we always want to be working towards the pursuit of holiness and being set apart. And we can't do that. We can't do that without the help of the Holy Spirit, without being around the body of Christ, without depending upon the Lord for help, and without the practice of repentance and confession and community and moving along together. The faith is not something that we are to do alone. It's just not. That is one of the biggest mistakes that I made. early on is thinking that this was an individualized Christianity. It's not. It's not some self-improvement thing that involves me, myself, and I. It is a communal togetherness. Mic drop. That's all I've got to say. How do you guys like the style of this new podcast? It's a lot more casual, less scripted, Way less scripted. Maybe a little bit more flowy. But you tell me. What do you think? I'm hoping that the next episode will be out in a week. But maybe it'll be every two weeks. Maybe it'll be bi-weekly. And I'm okay with that. I'm sure y'all are okay with that. We all have busy lives and we're about to enter into the summer. So thank you guys so much for tuning in. If you made it this far, if you really loved this episode, share it with a friend. Let me know. And I'll catch you in episode five.