My Thoughts and Reflections

“ A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.” - Matthew 12:35 (NLT) One of the many issues that we face while living in this world full of sin and death, is that we are constantly bombarded by evil. Evil words and actions are constantly in our faces as a result of local, national, and world events. It is very difficult to shield our eyes, ears, and hearts from the constant state of evil that our world is in. This is a problem at home, school, work, or wherever you find yourself today. As followers of Jesus Christ, we desire to be good people, as this verse says, who produce good fruit, but that is difficult when we are being filled with so much evil from our world. How do we combat this? By filling our hearts with the treasure that we find in scripture. When we go through our day without opening our Bibles to receive that holy food from God, we are allowing the evil of...

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:1-5 (NIV1984) Happy Halloween! Happy Reformation Day! Happy All Hallows Eve! Today is the day of the year that many choose to celebrate evil, death, devils, witches, and many other abhorrent things and ideas while others celebrate the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg. Today is also the eve of the day that the church celebrates the lives of all...

"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty"  Psalm 91:1 (NIV) In this world full of evil, sin, violence, sickness, and death, have you ever felt unsafe, unprotected, and unloved?  It is very easy to feel lost and vulnerable in a world that is full of the consequences of our original sin in the Garden of Eden when humanity first decided to walk away from God and become gods to themselves.  This world of sin is a result of each and everyone of our own sins and the sins of those who came before us.  Yet, there is hope. In this Psalm, we are comforted with a promise that whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  Whoever runs to God seeking protection will ultimately find it.  Each person will find rest and safety.   Originally in the Old Testament, they would have took this to mean finding shelter and safety in the Lord's tabernacle or in the te...

“Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.  Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”  – Isaiah 56:1-2 (NIV 1984) Are we still advocates of justice and doing what is right today?  Are we modeling what honoring the Sabbath looks like?  Are we keeping our hands from doing evil?  We live in a world that makes doing justice and what is right difficult because it champions injustice and a “do whatever feels good” attitude.  We live in a world today where the Sabbath is not honored (Saturday, Sunday, another day; take your pick!), where people do not keep their hands from doing evil and where justice is an old fashioned notion that many people believe means equal and “fair” treatment for all! Isaiah’s call to do what is right came more than 2500 years ago and still rings tru...