Forged By Faith

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV What is fear? Is it a feeling felt always in only fight or flight? Is it the fight found when finally face-to-face with the facts of our fragility and its tendency toward our failure? Is it the failure we find inside that flight spent trying often in vain to rise above the rain and pretend we know nothing of pain? Is it the frailty of feelings forced upon us from frightening things stood before us? Is it our faith finally figuring out that we’re all destined for a downfall or fallout without any say as far as when it comes or how it goes? Is it going wherever He came to ask we come without much in the way of courage to be found along the way, but a choice chosen anyway as we finally see we’ve no other choice should we wish to find a life? Is it so wise as to seek for life when most around us are living as if they’re alive already? Is it wisdom at all? As far as I can figure our feeling of fear is a fragment found in our finding out that we’re far less powerful than ou...

Isaiah 59:3 NIV Barriers And some of they if not indeed barricades all but blocking the way to the better we could have been and thus then breaking still the heart of He who came and died to leave what remains the only Way to the better we never were. And anymore I think often about that man I could have been who hadn’t been what I’d become as that creature who considered such creations as a web of lies strewn throughout not only my life but also that of whomever I chose to lie to too. Terrifying that I’ll never know, sad that I couldn’t see it back when I could have. But what we have to ask ourselves is whether the terror and sorrow can be enough to prove us now willing to act upon what we know in this aftermath of a wasted past built upon our building of such barriers as bloodshed and betraying speech? I would hope so, but alas it seems that a fragile heart’s hope knows only the extremities of human growth and the potential toward which such should be always aimed. Can’t force the ki...

Romans 7:18 NIV Sometimes a reflection is the hardest thing to look at. I think that's a heavy truth that all of us can agree with. Oftentimes the last place we want to look is in the mirror because we know that all we'll see looking back at us is a reflection a person we’re not proud of being. We know that we'll only see eyes filled with a pain still carried from all the moments and mistakes that we've complied in our time spent trying to avoid trying. We know that we've failed to be what we should have been and seeing that in real-time is a burden sometimes too miserable to bear. The cold hard reality is that each of us have made a great many concessions and they've all resulted in a life lived a far cry from who we thought we could be, from who we've pretended to be, from who we've been called to be. All those mistakes and failures and failures to stop making mistakes, they've added up to the wonderful sum of a life void of growth, wisdom, achieve...

Galatians 1:6 NIV The rapidity with which we humans bounce from one perspective, one priority, one prize onto the next is absolutely mind-blowing. And yet we wonder why it is that peace and fulfillment seem so hard to find in life. Could it be that contentment is never given a chance to take hold in hearts constantly on the run toward the next best thing. And in this world of seemingly endless possibilities and offerings, I reckon it's no wonder that we tend to find our hearts wandering violently away from Christ in search of something more immediate. If we were to boil all the possible reasons and excuses down into the most simplified underlying truth as to why we're so quick to allow ourselves to become distracted, I think it's largely because we still struggle to believe in that which is unseen. We still have a hard time fully embracing this truth that leads to a distant promise when surrounded by more instant gratification. In simple terms, when our hearts are allowed t...

2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV We've been discussing the "standards of this age" and the fact that current social standards harbor very little in the way of morality or even common decency. Rather, people have been fooled into believing that it’s actually better to be locked up within our selfish desires than to live a life free from thinking we can find lasting joy in a world that’s passing away. The god of this age tells us that there’s more to be gained in living like nothing matters than humbling ourselves to undertake a highly irregular and uncommon way of life lived according to true standards of morality, the only standards by which all of us will one day be judged. Instead, the god of this age has instilled vile "standards" within which most of a fallen and happily disintegrating society has clearly chosen to excel, and by excel I mean falter, and by falter I mean display a beautifully disturbing mix of selfishness, arrogance, pride, vanity, gluttony, lust, anger...

Romans 1:25 NIV You see, there's a massive problem with living as if we can come up with our own version of truth. There's an issue in choosing to ignore God and do things our way. There's a scary side to worshipping lies and abhorring the truth. And that's that God will let us. He lets humanity make their own choices. He allows people to ignore His commands. He allows folks the freewill to choose sin, selfishness, lies, and deception. And it's blatantly obvious that the world has done exactly that. Yesterday we discussed the vital need for truth in not just our lives, but especially in our faith. If we don't have something solid and unyielding then we have no foundation. Everything is just made up. Everyone gets to decide for themselves. It's not freedom. It's anarchy. It's this comfortable and pride-filled mindset that allows us to think we have more power and authority than we actually do. It's nothing but this smokescreen that allows human be...