Forged By Faith

Psalm 14:1 NIV “Thoughts and prayers mean nothing to dead kids.” Ok. Sit down. Buckle up. Brace yourselves. I got some stuff to say. Can you imagine the kind of inherent hatred that must exist within someone to share that message in the moments and hours and days immediately following a truly horrific event in which truly innocent people lost their lives? Can you imagine the kind of contempt that someone must have in their hearts to utter those words, harbor those thoughts, consider that perspective when people have just had their lives ripped apart? Can you believe that we live in a world where that kind of response is not only possible but popular? Yesterday we discussed many of the heart-wrenching questions that are asked in the wake of a tragic unfolding such as we saw the day before, and in many days prior. In the days following a moment of immense misery there's always this instinctual searching for a reasoning, an understanding, some kind of answer to try and give the pain a...

Psalm 53:3 NIV It's one of the rather more painful truths that we have to come to terms with as we begin the process of growing within our faith. It's a truth that seems nearly impossible for us to consider. But the reality is that good people don't exist. Now you'll hear things like 'bad things happen to good people', or that so and so didn't deserve what happened to them, or one of the most common lies, that life is unfair. Truth is that no matter what hand we're dealt or how inconvenient or uncomfortable it may be, we all deserve far less and far worse than we have. Yesterday we discussed how all of us have at one time or another bought this common misconception that tells us we're better than we are. We've fallen in love with listening to our arrogant and prideful hearts as they convince us that we're free from flaws and immune to making mistakes. We've convinced ourselves that sin isn't all that dangerous or that it doesn't r...