Forged By Faith

1 Peter 4:16 NIV We live in a society where people thrive on praise. Everyone wants to be told they're doing a good job. Everyone wants approval of their choices and actions. Everyone wants to build themselves up so that they feel important and appreciated. Everyone seems to need that kind of external encouragement to justify who they are, how they live, and what they believe. But if we expect to be praised or celebrated by the masses for our choice to live by faith in Christ, well, we're going to be sadly mistaken. As we've discussed at length over the past couple of weeks, our world doesn't like this way of life that we live as Christians. Things like righteousness, decency, morality, and even honesty are not popular and odds are they may never be. And living in such a way that goes against what's common, what's popular, and what's widely accepted will cause us to feel like outcasts. It will lead us to doubt if it's really worth it. It will make us won...

2 Kings 18:6 NIV We were just talking about something and I think it's one of those things that just needs to be shared. We have to hold tight to our faith no matter what it costs. Our faith will lead us in directions that seem strange to us. Faith in God changes us. It changes our lives. It changes how we look at things. And friends, that's a very good thing! If we believe strongly enough in something then we will hold tight to those beliefs no matter what. If we're not willing to cling to those beliefs then we should ask ourselves just how important they really are to us. Our faith should be the very basis of everything else in our lives. Before we do, say, or think anything it should be filtered through our faith and the truth of God's word to ensure it's right. So it's inevitable that our faith will lead us away from things and perhaps even people that we thought were good and right for us. It will lead us to questioning and evaluating everything to see if i...

Hebrews 10:36 NIV So much of life is a process, a journey. Very rarely does anything happen right away. Now that may be counter to what we'd prefer, but our preferences don't really matter. All that matters is God's plans, His timing, His promises. And as long as we're constantly working to keep moving forward in the direction that He's calling us then we better believe we're going to get there! We have to be willing to patient. We have to be willing to keep going whenever it seems like we're getting nowhere. We have to be able to get back on track after we've had an off day or made a mistake. We need to understand that small setbacks don't change the end goal. We have to realize that nothing can alter God's plans, and that if we're willing to focus everyone on following Him then nothing can keep us from reaching them. Some days are going to feel like we've taken a step backwards. Other days we'll feel like we've completely fallen...

John 15:4 NIV We all want to feel like we're doing something worthwhile. We want to feel like we're having an impact and making a positive difference in the lives of those around us. Or I guess at least some of us feel that way. But often times we go about it all wrong. We try to make a difference while still trying to be like the world around us. The more we focus on fitting in the less of a chance we have to be different. Kind of only stands to reason! As I've talked about in a ton of posts in the past, God gives us countless chances to make an impact for Him and His kingdom. He opens doors that we could never even hope of finding on our own. He leads us to people who need to hear His message of love and salvation. He puts us in just the right place at just the right time to make a difference, a difference that could potentially change a life! But if we're busy doing other things and distracted by the expectations of this world then we're going to miss those oppor...

Isaiah 55:6 NIV I heard this idea earlier this morning, and it's one of those that instantly just changed things. Running away from something only works for a little while. Running toward something will keep us going forever. To me that just speaks volumes to so many different things in life, but it fits our faith as well. So I figured if it hit me that hard then maybe it could be something someone else could use too. Personally, I've actually noticed this in my own walk lately without really even thinking about it. When I first started down the road of faith I was trying to run away from the miserable feeling that sin gives you. I was trying to find a way to get away from the shame and regret of my past choices. And it worked, but with as much as we all mess up, it can be easy to just see faith as a way to run away from our mistakes. Running away from our messes doesn't really help us fix them. It leaves the underlying issues unresolved, and therefore always there to pop b...

Proverbs 4:18 NIV Yesterday I shared one of life's painful little lessons that I've learned recently. And as we talked about, our own stubbornness is one of our biggest hurdles to overcome in our walk with Christ. It's this stumbling block that only keeps tripping us up because it leads us to keeping our focus and trust in ourselves. That's exactly why I said we need to learn to listen more and think less. Christ is continually calling us to something better. He is always pulling us out of the darkness of our own mistakes and weaknesses into His light. And as we keep humbling ourselves more and more, we're going to find that life gets more and more beautiful. That's what happens when we leave the darkness behind and finally submit to His path for us. It leads us to something amazing that only gets better every single day. As we've discussed in several posts before, faith is a journey. It's not this overnight quick-fix kind of thing. It's a lifelong t...

1 Corinthians 10:21 NIV Here's the thing folks, God wants us to be all in. He doesn't just want some of our time. He doesn't want a couple nights a week. He doesn't want our prayers only when we're wanting something. He's not looking for part-time believers. It's all or nothing. This lukewarm, watered-down, time clock kind of faith just isn't gonna cut it. So if we're still dabbling in the ways of this world, then we're missing out on what walking with Christ is meant to be. We're called to fully, completely, totally, and humbly submit our lives to Him. He calls us to come to His table and lay down all that we're carrying. He doesn't say to hold on to the things that we still find valuable. He doesn't tell us to keep carrying the stuff that we've selfishly grown to enjoy. Doesn't ask us to follow Him while still trying to keep in step with the world around us. We have got to stop only going half-way in. We will never truly...