Forged By Faith

Proverbs 4:26 NIV There exists inside each of us an innate resiliency that's there to see us through a life we're not at all ready to face all alone. But the problem is that that resiliency cannot break from responsibility. Because it's God's working to ensure that we're always well aware of what we're doing via both constant reminders of what we're supposed to do as well as incessant realizations of what we're actually doing. And that the two are inseparable leads to this breaking point where one of two things inevitably happen: Either our awareness of our responsibilities breaks down our arrogance or our arrogance resolves to remove all reminder of our responsibilities so that they don't hinder what we've so selfishly learned to crave. Looking around it's clear to see that that inner resolve is sadly among the very first bits and pieces of ourselves that are bought and traded as if nothing more than commodities or stock shares. Parts of our...

Isaiah 26:3 NIV Failing to fulfill the requirements will undoubtedly lead to failing to find the rewards. Have we grown so accustomed to this gross sense of entitlement flourishing all around us in this cesspool of a civilization that we ourselves have become convinced that the hopeful promises provided by our faith are objects to be expected as opposed to ideals worth seeking? Do we feel as if His peace and hope and mercy and rest and strength are all merely deserved by us simply because we call ourselves by a name that carries His own? Have we forgotten that faith is a door that requires our moving to press through it? Sadly, as much as most of society so obviously has, we run the risk of falling into that sickening assumption that we can simply expect His promises and all the rewards held within without anything being asked of, requested of or required of us in return. And yet, somehow much of humanity seems entirely content with ignoring or denying that unavoidable nature of basica...