Forged By Faith

Ephesians 4:22 NIV Well, we've made it. It's the last day of the year. A day that marks the end of one calendar and the start of a brand new set of days tomorrow. In reality it's just another day. But for many this final day of the year brings a sense of finality. And it also ushers in thoughts of renewal, change, and opportunity. It's a day of looking back where this past year has taken us and reflecting upon all that we've seen, heard, and most importantly learned over the last 12 months. As we prepare to leave 2021 behind, I wanted to encourage you to take this opportunity to leave some other things behind with it. Today's a great day to be honest with ourselves and admit that we've picked up some bad habits and have some things that we'd definitely be better off without in the coming new year. We all learned some valuable lessons. We’ve all make some mistakes. We’ve all gained a lot that can and should help us going forward. We've been talking ab...

Colossians 3:23 NI V This verse has become something that I remind myself of almost daily. We've been talking about doubt for a few days now and to be honest, I can't count how many times I've doubted these posts. Am I doing the right thing? Am I putting too much of myself in there? Am I taking things out of context? Am I doing the best I can to help reach as many as possible? Am I even making a difference at all? That's the dangerous thing about doubt. It only lets us consider the negative side of things. It only allows us to consider the worst possible scenarios and outcomes. It tells us that what we do doesn't matter and can't possibly make a difference. It convinces us that anything we try will only end in failure. It leads us to those all too familiar thoughts of just giving up, avoiding the hassle, and accepting defeat. One of the biggest problems is that we're all used to running on feedback. We want to see a return on our investments. We want to see ...

Acts 2:26 NIV Yesterday we talked about this pervasive little lie that creeps in and convinces us that God has turned away and left us to face life all on our own. We fall into this habit of paying far too much attention to our circumstances and become blinded to the fact that God is with us and that He always will be. We could very well go so far as to lose all hope in Him and start questioning our faith altogether. That's sadly a pretty common thing these days. I've heard quite a few stories of rather prominent Christians who have come out saying that they're no longer sure of their faith. They've allowed the lies of doubt to become their truth and lead them to this place of doubting God. They've questioned everything to the point that the only answer they're left with is the one that humanity often falls back on: If you can't see it or touch it or feel it then it's not there. I understand the power of doubt. We all do. We all come up against things in...

Psalm 31:22 NIV Why do we get so blinded by our circumstances? That is probably the biggest problem that each of us deal with when it comes to our faith. It's like we get to this point where we can't see anything but the giants in front of us. And doing so is what causes doubt and fear and worry to start building up inside. So it's no wonder that we all struggle so much. I guess it's just a matter of becoming too focused on what we see and losing hold of what we can't. That right there is what prevents so many from even dipping a toe into a life of faith. We've become so accustomed to only believing in what we see that it's hard to wrap our minds around trusting in something that we can't see. It's hard to understand how it works. It's hard because it demands our trust. That's a massive hurdle for basically everyone. Trust is a very heavy, very powerful, very important thing. And let's just be honest, we've all had our trust shattered...

Mark 9:24 NIV I think this right here is one of those things that we can all relate to. It's like we get stuck in this weird middle-ground in our faith. We believe but we know that we could believe more. We doubt but we learn to not doubt as much as we go along. We experience victories but we still expect defeat. We fail and fall short but still have this hope that keeps us going. It's like this constant ebb and flow that we just keep trying to find our way through. I guess the problem we run into is that there's two sides to our faith. There's the side that involves talking. That part we can usually handle pretty well. We can quote some Bible verses. We can engage in discussions with others. We can do things like I'm doing and share God's word. We can always seem to handle to talking about it part. But what about the other half? What about the half that requires us to live it? That's where we struggle, and often struggle mightily. It's easy to say all t...

Romans 5:8 NIV Something a little different hit me during Christmas this year. It's something that I don't remember thinking or realizing during Christmas before. It's a message that I think gets lost or overlooked or forgotten or is just too amazing to think about. But thinking about the meaning of Christmas left me with this incredible realization that I think we all need to hear: God believes in us! Even after typing that just now it left me sitting here for a second just taking it in. That's a message of Christmas that I don't know many have heard or considered. God sent His Son because He saw something in us worth saving. He saw something in us that was worth enduring that pain and suffering of shedding His blood to cover our sins. He saw something in us worth dying for. And that's something that maybe we haven't even been able to see in ourselves. I'll be the first to admit that I've not always seen what He apparently sees. I think many of us c...

Galatians 4:4-5 NIV The day has arrived my friends, Christmas is here! Today we celebrate a gift that is the very definition of undeserved. It's a kind of mercy and grace that our human minds can't fully comprehend. It's a freedom that extends beyond any definition of that word that we have ever experienced. It's a love that is so indescribable that trying to put it into words is futile. It's truly amazing to think that God chose to come down to us. He chose to reach out to us. He looked at us in all of our filth, all of our errors, all of our weaknesses and flaws and all the mistakes we've made and still saw something worth trying to save. He chose to look past the arrogance and pride and selfishness that had separated us from Him. He chose to love rather than destroy and that is something that should light a fire in us to do better. All of us have obliterated every aspect of His law. We've let Him down more times than we can possibly count. We've faile...

Matthew 1:23 NIV It's so easy to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. And sadly, I have to admit that I've allowed that to happen more this year than any year before that I can remember. Not that I've forgotten what it's all about but I've allowed too many other things to get in the way. Too many things have crept in and stolen the joy that this season brings. And with the last couple of years going like they have I would imagine that I'm not the only one that feels that way. The past couple of years have left many grasping desperately at any semblance of normalcy they can find. Seems like every day brings some new challenge or difficulty that we didn't expect. And all of it just starts piling up until it's almost hard to remember what normal felt like. But maybe we needed help seeing that our old normal wasn’t as great as we thought it was. Maybe we needed help seeing that too much of this world’s stuff had begun to overshadow what really matter...

Philippians 4:13 NIV We've been discussing a few different things over the past few days but they all have one requirement in common. Whether it be leadership, being different, making changes, or just about any other challenge in life, they all require a willingness to try. And that's where we start struggling. Somewhere along the way can't became not only a reasonable option but our standard excuse whenever we come up against something difficult. We've gotten it in our minds that we can't be leaders in our family, among our friends, or in our community. As we talked about recently we think we're too young, too old, too poor, too weak to be leaders. So we just wave that opportunity right on by because we think we can't do it. We can't step out there and offer to help lead others because it's too hard and too scary. So we settle for can't. We've accepted this idea that we can't change. We're too used to how we've always done things...

Ecclesiastes 4:4 NIV Yesterday we talked about leading by example. But honestly that has to be one of the last things people want to do these days. Why be a leader when you can simply follow someone else? Why do your own thing when you can copy what someone else is doing? Everyone wants what their neighbor has. Everyone is chasing after the things that they see everyone else chasing. Everyone has simply accepted what other people say is important and don't have much interest in doing any thinking of their own. Far too many are far too worried about being like everyone else. Too many have accepted this idea that life is some kind of competition where the main prize is social popularity and material success. So we’ve set our sights on just joining the race that everyone else is running rather than following the unique path God paved just for us. We’ve fallen in love with this idea of beating someone else to what they want so that we can feel like we’re better, or more important, or m...

1 Timothy 4:12 NIV Whenever we hear the word leader we think of president and kings. We think of those who are rich and famous. We think about the people who get all of the attention as the ones who are the leaders. But what if I told you that leadership is a little closer to home than Washington DC or Hollywood? What if I told you that you all of us are leaders, or at least that we have the opportunity to be? I’m pretty sure that gets lost behind all these other things that we’re doing or trying to be. We get stuck trying to be like the world so that people like us. We get used to following others because it’s so much easier than leading the way ourselves. We think that being a leader takes a famous name or a massive bank account. And when we see life and our position in it that way then we’re never going to think of ourselves as leaders. We’ll just let someone else take that role. But friends, we can’t afford to just hope for the best. We can’t assume that the leaders that so many ar...

Proverbs 14:26 NIV It's not just us. That's a way of thinking that all of us have fallen into believing. We get so wrapped up in what we're doing and why we're doing it that our lives quickly become about us. But we forget that our lives, our choices, our faith isn't just about us. It doesn't just help us. It starts with us but it extends out to those around us and has the power to impact and potentially change their lives too. We've been talking about the tough choices and hard changes that we experience when choosing to follow a path of faith. The discipline that we come up against that confronts our errors and complacency. The realization that we've made so many poor decisions. The discomfort of seeing the pitiful sins and wickedness that has infected our lives. It's all far from enjoyable and sadly that discomfort and harsh reality sends many running the other way. But we need to push through those growing pains. We need to endure that brutal hon...

Proverbs 12:1 NIV Well, you gotta love those verses that just say what needs to be said! This is probably one of those that many would find offensive, but that's okay. As we've talked about plenty in the past we need to be offended with the truth. It forces us to open our eyes and begin to consider the possibility of different perspectives. While it may not be comfortable to be called out it is absolutely crucial. If we avoid the things that make us uncomfortable then we risk more than we could ever imagine. We risk becoming disillusioned to what's real. We become used to a life where everything goes our way and everything always works out just as we want. Then that causes us to fall into this line of thinking where if anything doesn't go our way then we immediately lose our cool because that's not how we're used to life unfolding. It quickly becomes this vicious cycle of selfishness and foolishness where we lose all sense of reality in the process. We need the ...

Proverbs 10:24 NIV Whether it's the truth, a lie, a fear, a promise, a doubt, a hope, discipline, correction, learning, growth, righteousness, sin, conformity, acceptance, courage, trust, love, hatred, or a thousand other different things, it all boils down to this one undeniable fact: We're all either running toward something or running away from something. That's one of the biggest truths there is, and it applies to all of us. All of us have spent a large portion of time running away from things. We've talked about several of them here lately. Running from the truth that we're not perfect. Running from this fear that our weaknesses and flaws will show for the world to see. Running from the responsibility for the messes we've made. Running away from the realization that we've been living a lie. Running from who God made us to be because it isn't as popular or fun as we've found sin to be. So we all know what that's like. To live life running awa...

Proverbs 15:10 NIV Yeah, that whole discipline thing causes a lot of issues! Our arrogance tells us that we don't make mistakes. We find ways to talk ourselves out of feeling bad for doing something wrong. We can convince ourselves of just about anything if it means being able to hold onto the comfort and excitement that we find in doing things our way. But there's just always going to be this underlying truth that is completely inescapable: our way isn't always right. We definitely like to think that it is, but the fact of the matter is that we all make mistakes. We do the wrong things because we think they're right. We do the right things for all the wrong reasons. We rush into decisions without thinking things through. We prioritize ourselves and our desires far too much to honestly believe that we never make a wrong choice. But that's just really hard to admit. I think we don't want to admit the errors we make because errors bring with them the humiliating r...

Proverbs 9:9 NIV I will never understand what so many find so unappealing about learning. It’s something that starts at a young age. It's not hard to find a child who hates school. We all had a subject we loathed, maybe a few. But it doesn't just apply to school. The whole concept of learning is clearly off-putting to many, and sadly you can tell that many have stopped trying altogether. I'm pretty sure that's because it flies in the face of this mindset that so many love: The idea that we already know it all. When we think we know it all we stop trying to learn more. We don't think we need to. We don't understand what else there is to know, after all, we already know everything right? That kind of arrogance is something that many find comfortable. It allows people to relax, to stop trying, to avoid the sting of humility. It affords us this ease of staying where we are and not having to put in any effort to be anything better. There has been so much settling don...

James 1:21 NIV I've had something on my mind for a long time now and it actually fits pretty well with everything we've been discussing lately. Reading the Bible. Spending time in prayer. Setting our sights on doing what's right. Aiming for righteousness. Being willing to change. Following a path of humility. Surrendering our hopes and dreams to God's plans. It's all a choice. Nearly everything in life is a choice. Do we stay the same or do we do something new? Do we settle for where we've been or do we aim in a different direction? Do we continue to try and make our lives look like those of everyone around us or do we break out of the herd and follow where God is leading us instead? Do we settle for what's normal and popular and acceptable or do we refuse to settle for anything less than God's plans and purpose for us? I'll be the first to admit that I've chosen the wrong side of every one of those choices. I've allowed so many things to com...

Proverbs 1:7 NIV Well, there you have it! We've been talking for a couple of days about why reading the Bible and even a few other aspects of our faith aren't more popular or common, even among those who consider themselves religious. But when I started Proverbs last night this verse just seemed to sum it all up perfectly. We've learned to respect the wrong things for the wrong reasons. And sadly we've found comfort along the paths of foolishness. The Bible is truth. It confronts the lies that we've believed and forces us to address the shortcomings within our own hearts, minds, and lives. And nobody who is used to living according to the ways of the world wants anything to do with that. People don’t want to learn. They don’t want to have to change. They don’t want to have to consider the possibly that they’ve messed up and made mistakes. And folks definitely don’t want to face the chance that they’re just plain wrong. This world doesn’t want any part of anything th...

Psalm 120:6 NIV Still thinking about this whole reading the Bible thing and I think it's just another prime example of how we've picked up habits during our time in this place. I've always said that what we're surrounded with has an impact on us. And let's just face the facts, our world isn't too big on doing what's right, what's holy, or what's good. Evil and sin have captured the hearts and minds of every single human that has walked this earth. But sadly, most have just accepted defeat. I reckon that it’s bound to happen. We learn by watching and emulating those around us. We pick up the habits and traits that we see so many others taking part in. So the bad habits of this world have slowly become our bad habits as well. That's the nature of sin. It spreads. It infects. It eats away until it has gained the control that it wants over our every thought and action. As much as it hurts to admit it, we've all fallen for it. That's the human...

Hebrews 4:12 NIV Kind of going along with yesterday's post a bit, I got to thinking of reasons why people don't or won't read the Bible. And I honestly think one of the main reasons is the honesty of it. God's truth doesn't pull any punches. It doesn't leave us any room to remain comfortable. It doesn't conform to what we want to hear or validate the desires that we have. It proclaims the truth no matter how bad it hurts. And people just don't like that hurt. We like comfort. We like hearing that we're doing a good job. We like being told that our best is good enough. We like thinking that we can manage to do everything we want to do, no matter how sketchy we know it is, and still find our way to eternal peace and happiness. We want to think that we can do everything on our own without needing any help. And forgiveness? Well, you don't really need forgiveness when you don't do anything wrong! Right? That's probably the biggest hurdle that...