Forged By Faith

James 4:4 NIV An enemy’s enmity It’s much like a friend’s foolishness in that they either with whom or against who we choose to live, to think, to walk, to talk, to believe, these same are seen as through a lens of what is a personal bias as is always based upon our own personal measure in regard to how much they matter and to what direction they do. For friendship invites us to overlook the many little imperfections that are always present within a person while an enemy’s mindset is rather sat upon at first finding said flaws and then figuring out how best to use them to one’s own advantage. Problem then becoming that, in this case at least, we have no advantage in seeking to use God’s flaws, weaknesses, imperfections against Him. Because He has none. Rather we’ve merely become so dumb as a people who’ve long lived seeking friendship with one another, a decent and worthy pursuit commonly, but thus too with a people who have chosen to continue living as if He isn’t as is seen inside al...

Ephesians 5:7 NIV A companion of fools Such has been or at least become the rule of what’s been made of basically all company and thus our living to accompany. And no, it should have never been so allowed to reach this sort of outcome in which one is almost better off to go alone as we all go along what remains the same road aimed into the same finish. But it’s the promise of said same finish finding for us each an eternal outcome that is but one of two bitterly different results that has come to define for us the plausible need to disassociate from past or perhaps even still present associates. Simply because a companion of fools shall still suffer harm. Question is for how long and the answer to that is for as long as we continue to look to or lean on or learn from those around us who may well be like most here and have little to any care as to what God at first created us to be and now in Christ calls us to again become. And the odds are so incredibly slim and narrowing at that beca...

Proverbs 13:20 NIV From here wrapped within the warm embrace of a world fueled by companionship, while having others to lean upon is indeed a great gift, I fear we’re forgetting the danger of leaning upon the wrong shoulders. Because the truth is that company determines character. The people we’re surrounded by, often by choices made for the sake of friendship or relationship, they gain a great opportunity to influence or introduce an entirely new set of understandings, opinions, assumptions and even aggravations. For such is seemingly all this world seems to care about anymore. Feelings and finding favor for the fame of a friendship’s fortune of validation and appeasement. Indeed, though many would deny or otherwise disregard such a blatant fact as the following, reality is that all this world seems to know of friendship anymore is built upon nothing more than whatever the other person may offer that we assume we need. And in this world at this time, what’s always in greater necessity...

Proverbs 17:17 NIV You can tell who your true friends are by how they react whenever adversity happens. Sadly, our world has accepted such a weak idea of what friendship really is that many are surrounded by hordes of people who are no more their friends than the strangers who pass them at random throughout the day. It's become a numbers game, and whenever anything becomes about having large numbers, the quality becomes overlooked and ignored. But when it comes to the relationships we have in our lives, quality will always be exponentially more important than quantity. One of the biggest concerns for modern-day friendship is what we can offer one another. What do we gain? How do we benefit each other? What's in it for me? That's the one question that seems to always be a factor in nearly every choice we make in life anymore. It's all always based on us and what we gain with very little concern about what we give in return. That definition of 'friendship' is not ...

James 4:4 NIV We've been discussing the monumental differences between God's definition of love and this world's far inferior version. This place has made a hobby of redefining everything in order to ensure everything fits their own personal interests and agendas. Self is now king, feelings are more important than reality, truth is shunned, and anyone who goes against this new way of living and thinking and speaking is to be attacked and silenced so that they don't cause any uproar with their attempt to cut through the nonsense and maybe help people see the dangers caused by living like the world chooses to live. The issue is that so many people are far too worried about being a friend of this world. They're willing to sell their souls to gain social acceptance. They're willing to trade eternal peace for worldly popularity. They're willing to say whatever they need to say to please the ears of people who can only stomach hearing what they want to hear in ord...