Reflection: A Balanced Life

In this life, I will sometimes feel like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. In the profusion of chairs my tail is likely to get caught once in a while. If I don’t get down from my comfortable perch and regularly exercise my discernment muscles, I will become trapped and useless. I can’t sit around yowling about my tail. Rather than seeking my comfort, I ought to be seeking to glorify Christ. My moderation should become evident to everyone.   

Reflection: An Increase of Faith

Surely my faith needs to be increased. I need to view situations as they truly are – absolutely in God’s control. 
I have to remember the person my faith is in – the Ruler of the universe. My problem is not a problem for him.
Be still my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Reflection: Wake Up and Watch

Because the passions of the flesh are waging war against our souls (1 Peter 2:11). As Jesus warned, our flesh is weak. It wants us to give in to our passions. Giving in, lying down, closing our eyes for just a minute, is so much easier than going to war against them. Especially if our passions have become our bosom companions. 
Wage war? How?
Wake up and pay attention. In his second letter, Peter twice states his intention of waking us up completely, stirring us up. 

Reflection: His Precious Blood

"He to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood."
We humans need pictures, and we love drama, but we should also be mindful that our very lives depend on God daily placing himself between us and dangers of every sort all day every day. We seldom see drama in the mere fact of getting home safely from work every day. I know that I don’t acknowledge often enough how spectacular it is that, at the end of each day, I am still alive.   
Even more astounding, though, is that if I know Jesus as my Savior, I have been rescued by Jesus’ blood which he placed between me and Death. This is true whether or not I have a dramatic story to tell. This is true whether or not I think to be grateful every day for the blood of the Master who bought me by his sacrifice.  

Reflection: No More Fire Lighting

   As I look back over the means Jesus has used to form me, I see how gentle he has been with me. We all suffer trauma as we grow, but my burdens were tailor-made for me by my creator. Oh, it hurt at the time! It was unpleasant to have to look honestly at the weaknesses I’d spent a lifetime trying to conceal from the world. It is painful to have that concealment exposed as sin. Thank the Lord, he doesn’t leave us lying exposed without comfort.  
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed (Heb. 12:12-13, ESV). I don’t want to think about the pain I’d be in now if I hadn’t allowed myself to be healed.  

Reflection: A Useful Servant

The Master calls Servant Three worthless. He hasn’t matured, he’s of no use to anyone else, he has borne no fruit. Bearing fruit is a recurring theme throughout God’s Word. Jesus himself warns us that “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19 ESV). He isn’t in a hurry, though, to cast unfruitful trees into the fire. In a parable in Luke 13, the owner of a vineyard tells his vinedresser to cut down a tree that hasn’t borne fruit for three years. The vinedresser begs for one more year to dig around the tree and fertilize it. Just one more chance, please? Then, if it doesn’t bear fruit next year, you can cut it down.
 

Reflection: The Cost of Obedience

"We are blessed to live in a country where freedom to be obedient to Christ has been guaranteed for over two centuries. We’ve taken that for granted. If I have ever lost anything because of my faith, it wasn’t significant enough to come to mind at the moment. What if that should change?"

Reflection: Don’t Turn Out to Be a Coward

I remember when, several years ago, I read one of the many instances of Jesus saying, “Fear not,” and realized it wasn’t just a suggestion. It was a command. Until then, I think I had taken those “fear nots” as Jesus kindly giving me a choice. There, there, my dear, you don’t have to be afraid if you don’t want to.
Jesus spent the time of his ministry demonstrating for the disciples why they must not fear anything. He patiently showed them that nature is obedient to his will, that he has power over sickness and evil spirits, and even over death itself. That being the case, what is left for us to fear?

Reflection: It Was Good for Me

Our suffering is part of a bigger picture we can’t see from the ground. As the writer of Psalm 105 recounts God’s dealing with Israel, the emphasis is on the fact of God working out his word over hundreds and thousands of years. When he comes to the story of Joseph, the writer says, “When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them.” What an astonishing realization that must have been when, after years of waiting and wondering, after all the injustice he had suffered, Joseph was able to say to his brothers, “Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life . . . So it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen. 45:5, 8). 

Reflection: Don’t Be Outwitted

"What is it that Paul says he is afraid of here? He isn’t writing because he fears some of the Corinthians are on the verge of committing perjury or embezzling thousands of dollars or killing someone. He is afraid their “thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” This is where all of the Big Ten horrible, obvious sins begin–with our thoughts going astray. When it comes to thoughts, does Satan really have to work very hard to start those on the wrong path?  
 
Sincerity and purity are closely related and can sometimes be used as synonyms. Both have elements of simplicity. Something pure is simple because it is not tainted with anything. It is unadulterated. If I pour myself a glass of water that has passed through my water filter, then add a tiny grain of arsenic, drinking the water may not kill me outright, but the water can no longer be considered pure."