Forged By Faith

Matthew 15:8 NIV This is one of those verses that just sounds scary. It's one of those statements that I don't ever want to hear Him say to me. Kind of like, "I never knew you." Can't really think of anything more terrifying than hearing our God say something like that. It seriously lights this fire to do the very best I can do to be the best person I can possibly be! It really goes along with my post yesterday about focusing on the rules but forgetting the relationship part. Our hearts need to be glued to God. They need to be completely set on following His plans, living His will, studying His word, and cutting loose anything that keeps us from doing so. There are so many things that distract us in life. But when you think about the horror of being told to leave because He didn't know us, it really helps put into focus what truly matters! Our minds and mouths are powerful things. They can spin things in just the right way to convince ourselves and others that...

Hosea 6:6 NIV This is one that I tend to think about quite often. And since it goes with what we've been talking about the last few days I figured we'd toss this one out there as well. Our world is all about the rules. If you do this, say that, check that box then you're doing right. If you miss something or don't get something just right then you're messed up and judged for being imperfect. Here's the thing, we're all imperfect! None of us will ever be perfect. If we could attain perfection then Christ wouldn't have needed to die on that cross to set us free from the grip of sin. But He did because none of us are capable of coming anywhere close to being perfect. But what we seem to often forget is that the rules aren't the most important part. It's our relationship with God. One of my favorite lines in music says, "You paid for freedom, but we built religion." He carried our sin and shame to the cross to eliminate that barrier between...

Luke 13:14 NIV People will judge others for literally anything they don't agree with, even healing others. I read through Luke 13 last night and this one stuck out. I've been thinking a lot about how we're here to help those around us. I know that each of us have chances to do good in this world. And that's exactly what we need to do, no matter who likes it or who doesn't! It's really weird to think that someone might be angry with us for doing good. I reckon it's a matter of everyone having their own idea of what's right and true these days. Everyone's taken it upon themselves to decide their own ideals and is ready to fight and argue with anyone and everyone who thinks differently. Kind of easy to see why we're all on edge and dealing with so many issues. Our duty is to help those around us and be the good that Christ calls us to be in this world. No questions asked. No worrying about who agrees. If our goal is to please others then we're d...

Romans 14:13 NIV Yesterday's verse talked about how we need to be finding ways to work together even though we're all different. Sadly our society is going the opposite way for the most part. We're letting too many things get in our way that prevent us from working to make things better for everyone. Too many stumbling blocks! That's an idea that I personally think about quite often. Causing others to stumble by my actions. Everyone is dealing with something that we may not know anything about. Everyone is trying to make improvements in their lives. Who am I to do or say something that would keep them from that? It's like you have this friend who's trying to get healthier and you show up with a couple dozen donuts and a car full of junk food. Not really helping is it? We're all here to be helpful. We're here to do good things that God created us to do in this place. We're supposed to be loving others the way that Christ so selflessly loves us. We...

1 Corinthians 12:12 NIV Sitting here in the quiet watching the snow fall softly outside the window. I've always loved winter. It just seems like a more peaceful time of the year. Everything just slows down a bit. Plus you get to celebrate some pretty great holidays and enjoy the simple things like snow falling. To me it's always been refreshing and easily one of my favorite seasons. But I also realize that there are some who don't like winter. Probably some that don't like snow. Definitely some that don't like calm and quiet. And that's okay. We're all different. We all have different interests. We have different perspectives. We each have a very specific calling from God and different tools to help us do what He put us here to do. Being unique and created to be slightly different than anyone else is a good thing! Sadly I think we've forgotten that somewhere along the way. These days we use differences as these reasons to judge others. We see our differe...

Luke 10:16 NIV I think we all need little reminders like this one to keep us both humble and hungry. It's so easy to start thinking that we're supposed to play a bigger part in this story. But in truth it has always and will always be about pointing others to Christ. He's the one that does the saving part, we're just the ones that tell people where to look. It can easily become discouraging when we look around and see so little change in the world around us. There are so many problems and we have the answer to every challenge we're facing right now. But we can't force people to listen. We can't force people to turn to Christ. We can't force anyone to do anything. All we can do is share the truth that we've been given to share and pray that it's received with open ears, minds, and hearts. I know that I've been guilty of this one myself. We take it personally whenever someone disagrees with us or doesn't care to listen to what we have to sa...

Lamentations 3:22 NIV Forgiveness is one of the most powerful gifts anyone could ever give someone else. Have you ever really taken the time to consider how much God loves us? Each of us have made so many mistakes in life up until now. Countless times we've failed, stumbled, and let Him down. Yet He still chooses to love us, to forgive us, and to give us new opportunities to try again every single day. I can't possibly remember how many mistakes I've made but I know that number is massive. I still mess things up all the time. As my mom puts it, I'm not a very good person. I try to be. I want to be. I will never stop working to do better. But in the end I am a sinner that has made far more bad choices than I've ever made good ones. So to think that He's not done with me is mind-blowing! As this verse reminds us, His compassion never fails. His love never ends. His kindness and forgiveness are bigger than our ability to be dumb. Thankfully! To be honest, we should...