Reflection: Judgment or Discernment

"We know Jesus did say, 'Judge not, that you be not judged.' Are we to take this as our motto without context? In this same sermon, Jesus also tells us to beware of false prophets. How will we know true from false if we don’t judge anything?"

Reflection: Open Your Mouth

"Do I trust God enough to stand before him with an open mouth and allow him to feed me? Am I absolutely sure that whatever he chooses to put in will be good? My head knows it will. His Word assures me that all his intentions for me are good. Is my heart so convinced that I can open my mouth wide before him and accept whatever he feeds me?"

Reflection: You Lengthen the Steps I Can Take

"When I feel inadequate for the tasks I’m called to, isn't that right where I need to be? It’s only with God’s help that, when called upon, I will be able to run through a whole troop of men, even if they’re all staring at me. With the shield of salvation and God’s right hand to hold me up, I’ll be able to cover more and more ground with my ever-lengthening strides without turning an ankle. 
As for God, his way is perfect,the word of Adonai has been tested by fire;he shields all who take refuge in him."

Reflection: Come and See

"Once they had seen that what the angel said was true, they were to go quickly and tell his disciples that Jesus was alive. They joyfully ran to do just that. I imagine their faces looked like my little sister’s when she saw the piles of gifts. How long was it before they could stop grinning?
"These women obediently told Jesus’s disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead. His disciples told others, and those others told more, and on and on until someone told ME! What about you? Will you come and see?"

Reflection: This Changes Everything

At the moment Jesus yielded up his spirit, onlookers were mocking him. The land had been in darkness for three hours in the middle of the day. At the moment of Jesus' death, the veil in the temple was torn in two and there was a rock-splitting earthquake. Tombs were opened and dead saints came out of them after Jesus’ resurrection. Events were so startling that even the pagan Roman soldiers on guard said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” 
When Jesus’ disciples realized he had really died, they must have believed they had come to the end of the path to glory they had thought they were following with him. Though they didn’t understand what was coming, they had to have been thinking, “Well, this changes everything.” Not for good but for evil.

Reflection: Be Ready

Peter says said our inheritance is being kept in heaven for us. Our salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time. When is that last time? No one knows. It will come like a thief in the night. Be ready.

Reflection: We Are All Sojourners

"We live in a society built on sand and dreamy wishes for the world to be other than it is. Now we’re watching it crumble. As the ransomed of Christ, are you willing to walk through this world as a conspicuous foreigner?"

Reflection: He Has Torn Us

"However torn and bleeding I find myself, believing I’m engraved on the palms of the Author’s hands, I trust he knows exactly the right number of scratches necessary to bring my story to its fitting conclusion."
 

Reflection: When Jesus Says, Come!

If I’ve been under the wrong impression about what I can expect from a life committed to Jesus, I haven’t been listening. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake” (Mat. 24:9 ESV). “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18 ESV).
Why would I come to Jesus when he promises so many hard things? Because he has the words of life!

Reflection: Imitators of Christ

"The first time I read the apostle Paul’s command to the Corinthians to imitate him, I remember thinking, Wait a minute! Why is he telling them to imitate him instead of imitating Jesus? I’ve always respected this guy, but he really did have some gall."