Hardship...

We like to think times of health, wealth, and tension-free relationships are the norm.  In such a world cars never break down.  The worst health problem we face is an occasional headache.  And the biggest fight is over who forgot to take out the trash.  Like children who believe in fairy tales, we cling to the illusion that prosperity, peace, and good health are the norm.

I'm convinced we would do better with life if we realized that life is tough.  It's hard.  There are seasons of life that seem unbearable.  All too often we see champions of the faith and think they have avoided such hardship.  But they haven't.  They've embraced it, as every athlete embraces the pain of rigorous training.  They refuse to allow setbacks to shape their identity.

Bill Perkins - Six Battles every Man Must Win

Disservice...

God promises he will never leave us or forsake us.  We are the ones who take our eyes off of him, for his eyes never leave his own.  When we do, we do both him and ourselves a great disservice.  We do disservice to him because all glory, honor, and praise are due him for who he is.  We do disservice to ourselves because he is the only one who can make a straight path for us and make us who we are destined to become.

A song from my youth comes to mind - The Lily of the Valley:

I have found a friend in Jesus,
he's everything to me,
he's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
the Lily of the Valley, in him alone I see 
all I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow he's my comfort, in trouble he's my stay,
he tells me every care on him to roll.

Daniel's Gloves

Someone thought enough of me to share this.  In keeping with that same spirit, I pass it on to you...

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off
the corner of the town-square.  The food and the company were both especially
good that day.
 
As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street.  There,
walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods
on his back.  He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for
food.'  My heart sank.
 
I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us
had stopped eating to focus on him.  Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and
disbelief.

The Tiny Book of Jude...

I was listening to 66/40 this week and last and it happens to be on the book of Jude.  I thought I would share some commentary on the book of the Bible by my favorite author, Chuck Missler.  The following excerpt is taken from his Learn the Bible in 24 Hours Book.

The epistle of Jude is just one chapter, but is full of surprises!

Jude was the half brother of Jesus.  He also was an unbeliever while Christ was alive, but became a believer after the ressurection.

In this letter, Jude attacked apostasy and argued for his readers to contend for the faith because some people would fall away.  He argued against subtle perversions which included at least two basic denials: denying grace by turning it to lasciviousness (just because we have liberty in Christ does not give us a right to sin); and denying our Lord and Master Jesus Christ.

Apostasy will lead to certain doom, and he used three examples: Egypt, the angels in Genesis 6 (see previous post on this), and Sodom. He also pointed to three apostates by using the examples of Cain, Balaam, and Korah; and then emphasized the utter falsity of these teachers by using six awful metaphors.

The Awe Factor of God...

I just started reading a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  I'll let you know about it when I'm finished, but I wanted to share a video he refers to in the book called "The Awe Factor of God."  I've posed it below, but you can see a clearer version of it at the book website's video section.  Enjoy!



Blessings!