The Better Beautiful // The Answer to Every Question

In our final week on verse 8 ("and being found in human form, He became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross"), we meditate and explore what it means to preach the Cross. Join Jeff & Steph for this week's conversation on The Better Surrender: A Meditation on Philippians 2:5-11 Listen to "Part IX: Preaching the Cross" now here in the FAI App

Our journey through the early church hymn recorded in Philippians 2:5-11 finds us joyfully stuck on verse 8 for a third week in a row: "And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." The cross is not only God's upside-down means to redeem suffering, it is also the supreme revelation of His love—which is categorically different...

As we meditate on Philippians 2:5-11 this season, Jeff & Steph have parked, pitched their tents (and whatever other metaphor you can think of) on verse 8: "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." Hang out here with us in this week's episode, "The Cross & Suffering."

"And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." Paul emphasizes the kind of death Jesus died for a reason—it matters for our redemption. Jeff & Steph hit Philippians 2:8 in Part VI of THE BETTER SURRENDER, our third season of THE BETTER BEAUTIFUL. It is our gift and privilege to stare at the Man Christ Jesus—the B...

We arrive this week at verse 8 in this staggering hymn of the early church (Phil. 2:5-11): "And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Join Jeff & Steph and ponder these words with wonder; we will never graduate from this truth. We will never wrap our minds around what this verse conveys. But we may allow it to lead us to t...

"Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when He had come as a man...." Sit with us in Philippians 2:7 this week. These are the depths of the depths.

" ....Who , being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God...." These are the words we meditate on this week, a simple phrase inviting us into the depths of Jesus. What does it mean that the "Word became flesh," in whom "it pleased God" that the "fullness of the Godhead would dwell in bodily form"—and "pleased God to crush"? How were (and are) the Father, Son, and Spiri...

We pitched our tent in Philippians 2:5 this week: "Have this mind in you also, which is yours in Christ Jesus." How do we become so conformed into the image of Jesus that we literally begin to think like He thinks? How does this affect our ability to "love the Lord our God with all our mind"? Meditate with us on this incredible hymn of the early church this season as we stare in wonder at THE BETT...

'The Better Beautiful' returns for Season 3 with a meditation on Philippians 2:5-11. Consider this likely hymn of the early discipleship communities: "Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And...

Our journey through the Farewell Discourse ends in John 21, with Jesus' simple but profound private conversation with Peter just days after the young man's failure to obey and follow Jesus at any and all costs. This familiar (but incredible) passage illuminates Jesus' gentle hand, devoted intercession, and commitment to lead Peter into the fullness ordained for him "beforehand" (see Ephesians 2:10...

"He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick..." (Isaiah 42:3a) Part 23 of 'The Better Farewell' brings us to the morning of the empty tomb. And what does Jesus do? Whom does He seek to speak with first? A woman under such compounding grief, that she sees the empty tomb and cannot register what it means. A man so given to disillusionment, he makes a vow to never bel...

At the end of the day and the end of the age, there is but one King and one Truth. His Kingdom is not, will not, and cannot be tainted with the carnality of the flesh; it is "not of this world." We may only participate in His Kingdom with submission to His righteousness—and His alone. The "kings of the earth" will "rage" and "plot in vain," many with Pilate's cynicism on their lips: "What is truth...

Immediately after Jesus finishes praying in John 17, the next chapter opens with His arrest—a mind-boggling event bookended by two men from His ministry team and brotherhood turning their backs on Him. Is Peter any different, any better than Judas? What do you do when you wake up in the morning with all the world before you as normal, only to go to bed that night under the rubble of your own implo...

Our seventh session in John 17, the only chapter in Scripture capturing Jesus' prayer moments before His arrest, brings us to the last group of people He prayed for: Us. This is the conventional conclusion of the Farewell Discourse, but over the next month or so we're going to follow the story through Jesus' betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, and Peter's failure—and restoration on the shores of the Se...

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” ‭‭John‬ ‭17:17-19 Meditate with us on these words and The Word, The Truth: Jesus of Nazareth. May we be washed in the water of His Word this week. DURATION: 40 minutes

"I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name that You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are One. While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. Now I am coming to Y...

In Part 17 of our journey through the Farewell Discourse, we find ourselves—still—solidly in John....17. Fate? "I have manifested Your name to them...." What does this mean? Jesus' prayer moments before His arrest, recorded by His beloved friend and brother John, is loaded with magnificent and mighty language: "eternal life," "glory," "sanctify," "truth," "given," "kept," and more—but perhaps we a...

We've made it to verse 4 of John 17: "I have glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave Me to do." Marinate in this power-packed prayer with us.

All authority belongs to Jesus (John 17:2). Meditate on this with us in this week's 'The Better Beautiful.'

We' re.....still in John 17. Sit down. Stay a while. :)

"Father, the hour has come." Years after first garnering public attention at the Cana wedding—the one with the best wine—when it "was not yet His time," Jesus finds Himself in a garden across the valley from where He will one day reign. He looked up to heaven, and said, " Father...it 's time." We have reached John 17, what Jeff considers to be the best prayer of all time. It is certainly one of Sc...

Happy Birthday to 'The Better Beautiful'! In our first anniversary episode, we polish the second half of John 16. Jeff 1) showcases his new Romanian vocabulary and 2) walks us all back from the cliff of anxiety. "Waiting"—for the Lord's return, or for whatever your life fills in the blanks—presses against our confidence, our faith, in very unique ways. How do we hold on? First, we drink deeply fro...

"Nevertheless...." This one word is the hinge of this week's passage. Jeff & Steph wade through John 16:5-15 and ask what it means for the disciples to hear "the Helper is coming" in light of losing the presence of their trusted Rabbi. But we also don't live in the first century, and need to know what it means to live under the leadership of the Helper in the 21st century. So how do we? Also, we i...

"And just maybe, He'll make me a little less cranky." Our prayer for ourselves this week closes this conversation on John 15:18-16:4, and what it means for the world to hate Jesus' disciples for no reason other than it hates Him. But many questions emerge in this meditation; for one thing, what is hatred? How does it contrast against love? And what planks might we have lodged in our own eyeballs t...

"Dear Father, in heaven...." Why is this "best blasphemy a Muslim will ever hear" our great comfort, and ultimate anchor for obedience? In John 15:9-17, Jesus uses strong yet gorgeous language to describe the friendship and family offered to us by and through the Father, Son, and Spirit—if we obey. So what is obedience? And how did it wreck the life of a man already "so well behaved," Saul of Tars...