Forged By Faith

1 Thessalonians 2:3 NIV I think this distinction really needs to be made and clearly understood about our faith and our sharing of the Gospel. We don't do this for us. We don't do it in pursuit of any kind of personal gain. We don't share the Gospel because God has promised us some kind of reward for every soul turned to Him. This isn't like turning in used soda cans for a 5 cent reward. We do it because we know the power of the Gospel and the joy of knowing that our eternity will be spent in peace rather than suffering. But I think we’re all used to living in a place where people rarely do anything if it doesn’t benefit them in some way. We’re constantly left wondering what someone’s trying to sell us, what their angle is, and what kind of secret motives they really have. What’s in it for them? It really shouldn’t be that way. People should do good things and help other people just because they want to. But alas, there are many things that shouldn’t happen that are sta...

1 Thessalonians 2:4 NIV I heard something months ago and it's stuck with me ever since, and in fact I think about it almost every day at this point. The problem with modern, progressive Christianity is that not enough people want to kill the preachers. If there's a better way to put it that explains the dangers of watering down the Gospel I haven't heard it yet! We're risking losing something that has eternal significance just to buy ourselves a little temporal appeal. Yesterday we talked about how the message of the cross will always seem foolish and silly to those who refuse to humble themselves. But rather than letting people make that choice to reject the Gospel, many have decided to try and make the Gospel more appealing to them. This world-focused version of Christianity is doing everything it can to make people enjoy it. It’s rounding off the corners, softening the edges, and dulling the blow that God’s truth has. But what are we losing in this effort to make Chr...

1 Corinthians 1:18 NIV I had something hit me last night and I thought about it until I finally fell asleep: Our faith goes against everything. The Gospel goes against everything. I know I've talked about this in the past, but the message of God's truth stands in complete contrast to everything our world teaches and believes. So it's no wonder at all that so many struggle with it and fight back against it. It’s no surprise that so many never come to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. It's just too hard. The Gospel requires us to go places, do things, and consider possibilities that make no sense to our worldly minds. It requires us to consider the possibility that we’re not perfect. It requires us to acknowledge the fact that many of the things we’ve done were in fact wrong and that sin has been a massive part of our lives since our first breath. It requires us to put our pride on the shelf so that we can admit those wrongs and confess our sins. It requires us to s...

John 3:16 NIV This is arguably the most well-known verse in the entire Bible. And that's for good reason! It is one of the best summations of our faith and the reason for the hope and joy that we find in walking with Christ. It reminds us of how amazing our God is, why He chooses to forgive us, and what we need to focus on and what we need to do in order to remain on the path that leads to the salvation that He offers. It is the most incredible story, amazing gift, and inspiring calling there is! But sadly it seems like it’s becoming sort of lost in our world today. We’re all looking for something. Each of us have this void inside that leaves us feeling empty and lost. And so we are left to try and find something to fill it so that we don’t have this hole that keeps hope and peace and joy at a distance. But unfortunately we all get turned around looking in all the wrong places. We look in worldly things to bring the fulfillment that we know we need, but this place has nothing that ...

Ephesians 2:8 NIV Our society teaches us that we're supposed to be completely independent. We should be able to do everything, understand everything, and figure everything out on our own. No help. No assistance. No excuses. No failure. But the Gospel tells us a very different story. I guess it's just one more reason that our faith will never be all that popular in this place. The fact is that we're totally dependent upon God. Our salvation is dependent upon His mercy. Our hope is dependent upon His love. Our eternal peace is dependent upon the gift His Son gave us on the cross. And no matter how special or important or powerful or strong we think we are, we can do nothing to save ourselves. Our one and only hope is found in Christ and looking anywhere else is only going to lead us to putting our faith where it should never be. The humility that our faith requires is a massive hurdle for many to get over. And most never can or never will because their pride and vanity will p...

Luke 18:17 NIV You know what's weird? As we grow up we start thinking we have it all figured out. We look back on our younger days and almost laugh at how silly and gullible we were. We reminisce on some of the goofy things we did and some of the things we fell for and we can't help but think we've got a better handle on life now that we're older and wiser. But the problem is the more we learn the more we think we know. And the more we think we know the less we try to learn. Maybe that's another one of those things that we should reconsider. As we talked about yesterday, we've made this walk a bit too complicated. We've been in such a rush to leave our childish ways behind that we've maybe lost some of the value and important aspects of those younger ways of thinking. Maybe we've tossed out and left behind some things that would actually help us greatly moving forward. And maybe it's time that we try to get back to a few of them because well, may...

Matthew 5:3 NIV There's been something on my heart for a little while now and I think it's something that we all need to think about. What if we could learn to see things through younger eyes? What if we could find our way to the childlike faith that the Bible talks about? What if we could strip away all the complexity and struggle that we've turned faith into and just get back to the simplicity that it was always meant to be? Sadly we lost that somewhere along the way. We lost it behind a bunch of rules and expectations. It got hidden underneath this desire to be perfect and to show the world that we're not as messed up and broken as we really are. We traded away that opportunity to approach our faith like children for the worldly pride and power that we've been taught to pursue and prioritize. And in doing so we've turned the whole concept of a relationship into a job that we wear ourselves out trying to fulfill. This doesn't have to be as complicated as w...