My Thoughts and Reflections

"Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor." Proverbs 29:23 (NIV) Pride is the root of all sins and when we allow pride to swell in our lives, it prevents us from following Christ! This is why pride brings a person low.  The apostle James tells us that when we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, he will lift us up. Our verse from Proverbs today tells us that when we make ourselves lowly in spirit, we will gain honor. We gain that honor and are lifted up when we drop our pride and follow Jesus wholeheartedly. Jesus did not ask the disciples to temporarily drop their nets to follow him. He didn't require them to only follow him halfheartedly. He asked them to follow him completely, to follow him 100%, to follow him with everything they had! So, have you dropped your pride today in order to follow Jesus Christ wholeheartedly and completely, or have you held onto your pride? Have you submitted yourself to Jesus today so that nothi...

"He has told you, human one, what is good and what the  Lord  requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk  humbly  with your God." Micah 6:8 (CEB) As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe that we receive salvation by grace through faith apart from works.  However, we do good works as a result of our faith.  It is out of our gratitude to God for the great and amazing things that he has done for us that we do good works in the world. In this passage, the prophet Micah is telling the people of Israel how God is calling us to live as a response to his goodness towards his people.  We should not get hung up on the word "require" because we know that as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, this is what we want to do whether or not is is required. Out of a response to God's goodness towards us, we are called to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with our God.  We are called to seek out justice in th...

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the L ORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  - Micah 6:8 (NIV) As Christians, we often tout the Bible as God’s handbook on life, but all too often find ourselves at a loss as to where the sections that show us how to live are.  All throughout the Old Testament, God’s people relied on the Law (the first five books of the Bible, also known as Torah) to know how God wanted them to live.  This was a great gift from God to show them how he intended them to be holy people and to show them that they did not measure up to God’s standards for holiness.   The problem, however, was that they often got caught up in the intricate details and ignored the true priorities that God had for their lives.  They thought that the most important thing to do was to make sure that their sacrifices at the temple were done properly and they also made sure that they s...