Old posts

Here is a collection of some older "Thought for the Day." They range on a wide variety of subjects. This is by no means a comprehensive collection.

How many of our friends and peers know that we are followers of God? I say I love God, but how does that effect the way I live? Am I in the world but not of it? Do I pursue the presence of God? What do I do when tempted? Francis of Assisi wrote, "Preach the Gospel at all times, if necessary use words. One of the biggest insults we can receive is when someone says, "I didn't know you were a Christian?"

It has been said that maturity is moving from having soft skin and a hard heart, to having hard skin and a soft heart. Most of us get hard skin and keep our hard heart. God wants us to have a heart that is teachable and sensitive to His leading. At the same time God wants us to be wise, to know when to speak up and when to shut up. To not let the destructive words of others keep us from doing God's work.

One of the least sung heroes of the Bible has to be Jonathan. Here you have the crown prince of Israel, defending and even loving the very man who will take his place as king. Jonathan has every reason to hate David. But instead, Jonathan loves David like a brother, and rejoices in his success and helps him escape from Saul. He never deserted David. I want friends like that. No wait, I want to be a friend like that.

How many of us have a tendency to put our reputation above the things God would have us do? we see someone we should say hello to or be of assistance and fail to do so because we're concerned with the opinion of others. Jesus loved the outcasts and down and out. In fact, he preferred them to the people who thought they had it altogether. God's opinion of us is what matters. Who can you love today like Jesus would?

What is it that made David a man after God's own heart? First thing was that he was faithful. Before he's crowned king, to get him to do anything, they had to get him from his father's sheep. I don't think it was that David just loved the sheep so much as it was his job and he was going to it until God put him someplace else. How bout us? Are we faithful with what God told us to do today, or do we want it all now?

Today's thought comes from pastor and teacher Chuck Swindoll. "God says go, and we say, "Right OK." And before we're off our knees, we're saying, "now wait LORD, how am I supposed to pull that off?" This where our faith becomes a reality. It's one thing to hear the voice of God, but another thing altogether to get up and move along in faith, trusting that what He said will come to pass. We get distracted with details.

Jesus loves us just as we are, not as we should be. We will never be good enough for Him in our own strength. That is why He makes us good enough by his grace. That is good news. He knows everything about us and still says, "I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS WORLD. I MADE YOU!"

Ok, today's thought comes from John Eldridge's book Wild at Heart. "We love God. We even desire to be close to him. But how many of us (epically men) are ever so vulnerable enough to simply let ourselves be loved by God?" To let Him be the perfect father and to let him see the dark recesses of our broken heart and to invite Him into that place? Let me know what you all think.