Forged By Faith

Ephesians 2:3 NIV On this eve of the day in which many will delve into a deeper than normal measure of devilry and darkness, I've a scary story to set the theme if you will: Dead men with tales to tell. Yes, whoever you are, wherever you are, know that you walk amongst the dead. But the scary part is that many will stay that way. Lost inside souls sealed shut by the selfishness of sin. Hearts so cold love cannot be found as they cannot beat to that tune any longer. Minds warped and wicked from a wanton worshipping of all that's egregiously wrong in this world. Lives lived not caring to live for what's worth living for. No, life is as it has always been, just this means by which we lavish upon ourselves all that we like so to please those we want to like us so that we hear this roar of applause that makes us feel loved, a sound which for a moment drowns out the realization that our souls are teetering on the brink of never coming back to life. See, it's that company we...

Romans 1:18 NIV Why should we worry? Why should we fear? Why not pretend that God isn't here? The current rapidity of society's debasement is offering for all to see a glimpse of what a place, a life, a time without God might look like. It's giving us all a chance to determine for ourselves what kind of peace we truly wish for ourselves, for our loved ones, for even those who have been against us in the past so far. Not wishing such a distasteful demise upon even our worst enemies is a sign of at least a shadow of compassion. And it's that compassion that ought to be driving those of us who know the Good News to spread His hope as far and as wide as possible so as to contend against the wickedness that's driving humanity apart from Him forever. Why? Because we're seeing with our very eyes a taste of what it's like to be apart from Him as this society goes down hard into the hatred of self and the corresponding adoration of sin. It's getting bad out there...

John 3:36 NIV The fear of death only exists if we’ve not yet found the gift of eternal life in the Son of God. We fear it because we know the final judgment it brings. And no matter how long or how hard we’ve tried to convince ourselves otherwise, we know in our hearts that our sinful lives and all the mistakes we’ve made within them cannot withstand that judgment that will be leveled upon our souls when our time on this earth is done and over. What’s really sad is that the answer to all of this is found in Christ’s words from John 5:24 where He told us point blank that, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” We will not be judged if we are in Christ because Christ already satisfied that judgment. In Him there is only life. But to us, death means destruction. It’s the destruction of all we’ve know, of every hope we’ve had, of every dream we’ve imagined. It’s the final tick of our clock, and o...

Isaiah 30:30 NIV Thunderstorms terrified me as a little kid. This sudden unleashing of calamitous crashes and brilliant displays of lights tearing through the darkness. Windows rattling, winds beating against the walls, the sheer fear that everything would be blown away or destroyed in the chaotic aftermath of the violent torrent. Just something about the seemingly unstoppable power found within nature ushered in these instant fears of being completely unable to stand against it. But as I've grown, I've found a comfort in nature's power. It's in this feeling that behind all the precipitation and swirling clouds and turbulent noise that there's a control hidden somewhere. It's a sense that there's a finger pointing those storms along their course. It's a trust that God is in fact the One who designs and controls and purposes everything that happens. And having endured many storms along this road, it's a reminder that no matter what we're left with...