Forged By Faith

John 15:19 NIV hears healing in their hatred Because it’s entirely easy to see what makes this world happy. For indeed, down here such things as happiness, agreement, interest and acceptance are anymore so flimsy and faked that it feels as if they no longer mean a thing. And that’s simply because they’ve been allowed to become matters that mean something different to everyone. All of us have taken it upon ourselves to define a life that always sells only this idea of our being the ones who determine alone what’s good and what’s not, what right is and what it isn’t, even going so far as to mix up our own version of truth served with a side of insisting others just play along. And we have. And we did because we thought that that’s what love would do. That it was supposed to seek of highest priority the comfort, the enjoyment, the approval that we know so well that everyone in this world wants so much. And that’s something that’s been made dangerously clear to us. Indeed, this society tel...

Psalm 101:3 NIV To be a prude It’s by no means something that our culture delights for anyone to do. Rather it seems something of a term used most often in mockery, a statement made with the express intent of belittling someone as a result of their opting to find offense within something that the general public finds to be mostly enjoyable or at the very least so common that none should be so taken aback for having heard or happened to look at. Indeed, to be a prude is something that most folks find rude as it stands in opposition to something they may well happen to be fans of themselves. In fact, within just a quick search for the sure definition of the word what you’ll find is a list of synonymous words and phrases that mean something close enough to achieve largely the same message. And these synonyms include such words and phrases as unthinking, non-thinking, narrow-minded, closed-minded, prim, prissy, petty, small-minded, insular, and perhaps my personal favorite, hidebound. I li...

Romans 1:32 NIV Cancer Culture It’s widely known that cancer is a bodily illness that eats away at the healthy tissues typically relied upon to keep one, well, healthy. It’s this consumptive force that knows nothing of enough, never finds that it’s found itself full, never reaches the point in which it’s taken enough from the host into which it has invaded as if a horde bent upon the utter destruction of the hope that said unwitting participant may have had for what was a life they were in fact living far better without this new dread as to whether or not they might end up dead. Yes, cancer kills as it weakens a body to the point that there’s just no fight left. And again, having all experienced this to some degree or another, it’s a fact we all know quite well. The scary part is that we still think it mostly just an unseen organism that feasts upon the cells of those it seeks to end. Never really seem to see that we have become the cancer ourselves. No, because we don’t want to see it...

Psalm 34:5 NIV Don't we get tired of playing the victim in life? Always being defined by the opinions of others or the shame of our past mistakes. Each of us look for proof of our worth to make us feel like we matter. But when we seek that proof in worldly acceptance then we're going to be disappointed. When we try to justify our value by being perfect and never making a mistake then we're going to be let down there as well. Friends, our worth was proven on the cross. What more do we need? Will the approval of other people make us feel more important than knowing what Christ did for us? Will beating ourselves up every time we make a mistake make us better? Or will that constant need to find more validation only leave us feeling empty because we keep looking in places other than the Gospel? This is one of those things that I personally think about quite a bit. So much time gets spent trying to find joy in life. We look in so many places but nothing ever does the job. Again, ...

John 6:37 NIV When we finally stop trying to fit in to this world and quit caring about what others think about us then we're free to move on. We're free to actually let a whole bunch of stuff go and truly give Christ a chance to change our lives. What we'll find when we do open our hearts to Him is that sense of belonging that we've searched so many other places to find. We were made to need a relationship with God. He created us to be His children so He could be our Father. But through the lessons the world teaches and getting lost in all those earthly things that never really mattered, we forgot that. We thought that we could find a sense of home down here. We started thinking that somewhere out there in this big old world was everything we needed to feel whole. But no matter how long we look or how many places we try to find it nothing ever clicks. That's because it's not meant to. We need that connection to God in order to ever feel alive, to ever feel comp...

John 12:43 NIV Yesterday we talked about how our lives should be spent living for God and making Him proud. That's a hard thing for some to do because God's ways are so much different than man's ways. What's important or required to make others like us doesn't really matter to God. So we need to decide for ourselves who we're living for and who's approval we're trying to attain. Down here we can gain the approval of others in countless ways. We can have a ton of money and everyone will want to be around us because we're rich. We can have all the fanciest things and people will think that makes us more special. We can say all the right things and try to earn popularity that way. We can join all the right groups and try to find our worth there. But what does making other people like us ever accomplish? Does it make us better people? Does it really make us more important or more valuable if we are massively popular? Will God love us more if we have a mi...

Romans 14:1 NIV Yesterday we talked about how opinions have become these weapons that so many use to fight with others. I think many have forgotten our whole purpose here. It's not to win fights. It's not to prove our intelligence by making others look silly. It's not to quarrel and squabble over petty things that just don't matter. It's to help others find Christ and share His Gospel with the world. As I said in yesterday's post, it's hard to reach out a hand to help someone up when our hands are full of stones to throw at them. I don't know when we got this idea in our minds that everyone needs to be just like us, but that’s nonsense. Don't know why we expect others to be perfect when we ourselves are seriously far from it. This verse is reminding us of the duty we have as children of God. It's to be open and accepting of others. After all, He is. He welcomed us with open arms even with our baggage of sin and shame in tow. He is willing to look...