Self-Gentleness and Discipleship (GH)

Self-Gentleness and Discipleship

Most of us would never talk to a friend the way we talk to ourselves. Yet our inner “talk tracks” run all day—and they quietly shape how we relate to God, others, creation, and even our own souls.

In this episode, Brian and Doc take a fresh look at self-gentleness—what it is, why it’s missing from most church conversations, and how it deepens real discipleship. (Kyle’s out this week at a very important men’s hair and beard convention—we expect him back looking sharper than ever.)

We begin with the four relationships we’re made for and why “self” belongs there. Then we dive into metacognition—thinking about what we think about. What do you say to yourself when you mess up? Would Jesus say that to you?

We also tackle why so many Christians struggle here: a “reductionist gospel” that emphasizes sin management and leaves little room for God’s delight in us. Along the way, we contrast Sinclair Ferguson’s “God accepts us despite who we are” with Dallas Willard’s “Jesus wants to be with the you-that-is.”

Gentleness is power restrained. It’s how Jesus treats us—and how he invites us to treat ourselves. This episode extends our discussion in Episode 128.

Doubting God’s Goodness (GH) | Ep 143

What do we do when we find ourselves doubting God’s goodness?

In this Greenhouse episode, Brian and Doc continue the conversation from Episode 142 by exploring one of the most difficult tensions in deep discipleship: how to affirm God’s goodness while honestly grieving the pain, injustice, and suffering of the world. Doc brings his own struggle into the conversation, naming the friction between experiencing God’s kindness in his own life and seeing deep suffering in the lives of others.

This episode is not a philosophical defense of God’s goodness. It is a conversation about lament, authenticity, doubt, secure attachment, and the kind of community where people can bring their rawest questions without being rushed, corrected, or shamed. Brian and Doc explore why modern church culture often struggles with lament, why easy answers can fail the heart, and why the deeper question beneath “Is God good?” may be a cry for withness.

Ep 142: Is God Good? The Hidden Doubt Many of Us Carry

Is God good, and do our hearts actually experience Him that way?

In Episode 142, Brian continues Season 7, The Good Life, by exploring one of the most powerful hidden ideas many followers of Jesus carry: the suspicion that God may not actually be good. We may consciously affirm God’s goodness, love, mercy, and faithfulness, yet our lived experience can tell another story.

Drawing from the Soil & Roots distinction between beliefs and ideas, Brian explores how hidden assumptions about God are formed through suffering, disappointment, family systems, trauma, illness, and repeated experiences. The episode considers how distrust of God’s goodness often shows up through the Eight Indicators: control, anxiety, resentment toward reality, and difficulty receiving love.

Ep 141: The Most Important Thing About Us: Our Hidden Ideas About God (GH)

What if your view of God shapes everything?

In this Greenhouse episode, Brian and Doc continue the conversation from Episode 140 on what God is really like and why our deepest ideas of God matter so much. Season 7, Deep Calls to Deep, is exploring how we become people of depth — people who are increasingly attuned to God, others, themselves, and the world.

The conversation begins with Richard Foster’s claim that the world does not need more talented or intelligent people as much as it needs deep people. But becoming deep is not always safe, comfortable, or tidy. The inward journey can involve pruning, tearing, fire, pain, and the slow process of being unmade and remade by God’s goodness.

Brian and Doc then explore how our view of God becomes the root system beneath nearly every other view we hold. Our theology shapes our philosophy, our politics, our view of creation, our understanding of the sacred and secular, and even how we think about suffering, the church, and the Bible.

Ep 129: Gentleness on the Brute Squad (GH)

SHARE THIS PODCAST

Doubting God’s Goodness (GH) | Ep 143

Ep 142: Is God Good? The Hidden Doubt Many of Us Carry

Ep 141: The Most Important Thing About Us: Our Hidden Ideas About God (GH)