Category: Faith

Do random things ever pop into your head? It happens to me all the time. Whether it be a funny memory, a crazy experience, a song, or a Bible verse, random things frequently find their way into my head. Tonight it was the chorus from Hillsong’s “You Are My World”; it says “You are my world, You are my God, and I lay down my life for You. You are my Lord, the one I love, no one could ever take Your place.”  As I began to reflect on the words from this song the last part caught my attention– “No one could ever take Your place.”  

I believe we as humans  have a short attention span. Maybe it’s just me, but one day I can be in awe of God and my attention is fixed upon Him, and the next day I’m all caught up in my latest “disaster” or mountain. 1 John 5:21 says “Dear children keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” 

More often than anything the thing that tries to invade my heart and mind is worry. If I let myself, I could find a million things to worry about. I can’t help but think worry is one of the greatest weapons the enemy possesses. When we worry we allow our focus to be on the problem, rather than our all powerful God who knows exactly what is before us. When we worry we live in fear rather than in faith. Fear says there is no hope, faith says “With God all things are possible.”  

When we give into worry we allow ourselves grow forgetful of God’s character. We serve the same God who made a dry path through a sea, brought food by way of ravens, closed the mouths of lions, saved a nation through an undercover Jewish queen, restored sight to the blind, healed lepers, raised the dead to life, and conquered sin and the grave! He hasn’t changed. He is still every bit as faithful as He was in the Old and New Testaments. He’s still the faithful God who provided, protected, and restored.  He couldn’t be any more trustworthy. 

There is a whole world of things that attempt to fill your heard and attain your focus–worry is only one of a multitude of things! What tries to fill your heart and mind? What begs for your attention? 

Before I went to Springfield last weekend I quickly washed my laundry, packed what I wanted to take, and then folded but neglected to put away what I wasn’t taking. While I was gone my mom kindly “cleaned” my room so that my aunt could stay in it. When I got home my room looked great—my bed was made, there was nothing on my floor, everything was dusted, my dresser was organized, my room just looked very nicely cleaned.

As I opened my closet door I soon found that my room was what not quite what it seemed to be. My laundry had been thrown into a hamper and into my closet, my jewelry had been thrown in a drawer, and any papers or receipts had been thrown in a basket with a lid. My room appeared to be clean on the surface but on closer inspection it was far from being truly clean.

As I was searching for things that had gone missing after my room was “cleaned” I couldn’t help but thing about the Pharisees and the time Jesus called them “whitewashed tombs”. In Matthew 23:25  Jesus said “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but you are filthy—full of greed and self indulgence!” In verses 27 and 28 He said “What sorrows awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. “

The Pharisees too were giving a false impression; they too were not quite what they seemed to be. They loved to impose rules on people and make themselves look perfect and righteous, but their righteousness went no further than the surface. Inside they were full of impurities for they allowed serving God to become nothing more than a list of rules, rather than a desire to please and glorify Him. They wanted to be thought of highly but they didn’t want to do anything more than was required to have the appearance of purity.

Everything you do or say first comes from within your heart.  Jesus said “But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.” (Matthew 15:18, 19). Being truly righteous is not just about what you do or don’t do outwardly—it is really about the condition of your heart.

Fortunately, just as I am able to clean up after the cleaning that my mom gave my room, Jesus is more than able to cleanse you from within. As He cleanses you from within you will be clean outwardly too.

“First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and the outside will become clean too.”  Matthew 23:26



As I was reading my Bible a moment ago I came across Proverbs 24:10, “If you fail under pressure your strength is too small.” It is really blunt and it got my attention. In the past year or so, especially when starting new jobs I’ve seen something about myself—I don’t handle pressure well.

As frustrating as it is to me (and I’m sure to those around me) I have a tendency to get stressed under pressure. There are times that I have failed under pressure and my strength has indeed felt too small. Proverbs 24:10 is so blunt and unfortunately fails to give hope to those with strength that is too small. So as I was sitting here thinking “I’ve failed under pressure. My strength is too small. I failed…” I thought forward to the New Testament.

2 Corinthians 12:9,10 says “Each time He said “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses s, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecution, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

On my own, I fail. On my own I give into pressure and get stressed because my strength is too small. But it’s not about me or the things I lack because Christ lives in me. I fail under pressure, it is only because I fail to rest in Him and draw my strength from Him. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Even under a heavy burden, if we will give it Jesus not only will He ease the burden but He will also give us rest.  Why keep stay under the pressure when Jesus offers rest?

 love that God’s Word is alive! I love that no matter how many times you read a verse God can use it to speak to you in a new a fresh way! Well, the other day I was reading 1 Peter 2; particularly verses 9-25. Verse 9 says “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation. God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.”

 I especially love the way the King James Version words this verse. It says “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” I love the word peculiar.

There are lots of peculiar things in the world—things that are just odd and I don’t understand. Like the towns “Mound City”, “Humansville”, or what’s really peculiar, a town called “Peculiar”.  Also peculiar are one way streets. What is the point of a one way street? If anyone knows please tell me because one ways bother me. The first time I took my drivers test I had an automatic failure because I made a left turn from the right lane onto a two way from a one way. Last week I made a left hand turn from a two way the wrong way onto a one way. One ways are strange, they are peculiar.

We are called to be a peculiar people. Jesus said in John 15:19 “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world.” According to 1 Peter 2:11 we are “temporary residents and foreigners” we do not belong in this world because we are called to be a peculiar people.

But is that true of you? Are you looked upon as a peculiar person or does the world look upon you as one of its own? Do you fit in so well that there is nothing that sets you apart?

2 Peter 2:11,12 explains what it means to be part of God’s peculiar people. “Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly even among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world.” Or as Romans 12:2 says “Do not copy the behaviors and customs of this world but let God transform you by changing the way you think.”

We are not called to be like everyone else. We are not called to fit in or blend in. We are called to be different, to be holy. (1 Peter 1:15,16).

It’s not popular, it’s not easy. Being different never is. But, it is what God wants for His people. He wants us to be peculiar. Are you peculiar?

Psalm 106:24,25

“The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them. Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord”

These verses fascinated me the first time I read them. The Israelites had just crossed the Red Sea on dry land, they had seen the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night leading them, they had seen water come from a rock; and yet, they wouldn’t believe God was going to care for them! Not only would they not believe God was going to care for them but, because they wouldn’t believe, they sat in their tents and complained—not even entering the pleasant land!

As crazy as what the Israelites did might sound, I think we have the tendency to do the exact same thing, or at least I do! They saw God do great things, they saw God provide, but because they wouldn’t trust Him they stayed in their tents instead of entering the pleasant land. I can do that too sometimes.

I will see God provide or I will see Him make a way through things that seem as impossible to cross as the Red Sea, only to turn around and worry about whether or not He will provide during the next challenge! Instead of dwelling in Him and His promise we stay where we are and complain and worry. God has promised us He will never leave us or forsake us, He said He will take care of us, and yet we won’t leave the place of complaining and enter into His promises.

The Israelites had a choice, they could live in the land God had promised to them, they could believe that He would continue to lead them and be their provider, or…they could stay in their tents, not enter the land promised to them, and worry about what was going to happen if they set foot outside of their tents.

We have that choice to make too. We can live in fear and worry about what will or won’t happen next, we can complain about how bad things are and how much worse they could get, or…we can trust God. We can trust that He will continue to lead us and provide for us, we can trust that He will keep His promises, and we can trust that He will never give us more that we can handle. Just as God didn’t force the Israelites into the Promised Land but rather He let them complain away in their tents, He won’t force you to trust Him, you getto choose to trust Him.

What will you choose? Will you choose your tent or will you choose to enter into the Promised Land?



“Give allyour worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.” 1 Peter 5:7