I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Light It Up
Picture it: a big city with tall buildings, a hilltop village surrounded by vibrant farms, an oceanside community on top of a giant bluff. Cities are impressive on their own, but they’re undeniably radiant when they’re high upon a hill. And, they’re extra brilliant when they’re saturated with light.
Speaking to the crowds and His disciples in His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told them: “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14 NLT
As He continued with His message, Jesus explained, like a city on a hill or a lamp on a stand, “Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:16) Jesus often used metaphors to get people thinking, so here are six things to consider as you reflect on that verse:
1. It’s all His. We are only a light when we have the light—His light—shining through us. Anything good is first given by Him, and this should empower us with humble confidence.
2. We’re chosen. We can’t do anything to earn the honor and responsibility of being a light-reflector. It’s a title that’s given to us, because it should be truth that’s self-evident.
3. Don’t hide it. God’s light inside of us cannot be hidden. When we’re truly following Him, it is obvious and undeniable. So we can boldly and unashamedly shine brightly for Him.
4. Light it up. While we don’t want the world around us to grow darker and darker, the Bible teaches that it’s inevitable. And yet—His light will shine best in the dark.
5. No more darkness. Christ followers are meant to be a beacon of light, illuminating God’s truth and shining His love. Whoever follows Jesus will never walk in darkness (John 8:12).
6. Compelled to worship. The purpose of carrying this light isn’t to draw attention to ourselves, but to compel others to worship God. The global Church is meant to be the brightest light the world has ever seen, and you get to be part of that city, the Church.
Though the sun may sink beneath the horizon and the world may become increasingly dark, the glory of such a city cannot be missed.
What about this message stands out to you? How can you be a city on a hilltop today?
God is Our Comfort
Have you ever looked around you and wondered, “Why is there so much evil, wickedness, and pain in the world?”
In Psalm 94, King David is extremely upset about the state of humanity. People are blaming God for the world’s rampant wickedness as though God did not see it and did not care (see verses 1-7). So David reminds his audience that the Lord is Creator, and He knows, sees, and hears all that goes on (verses 8-11).
Because of God, David could say, “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” (Verse 19)
King David’s “cares of the heart” were because of the wickedness and evil he saw—and our world is not much different. But David’s consolation in all the evil he witnessed was his Creator and Savior.
That’s why He could close his psalm by writing, “But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. He will bring back on them their inquiry and wipe them out for their wickedness, the LORD our God will wipe...
“Then said the high priest, Are these things so? And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, and said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. Then came he out of the land of the Chaldæans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. And he ...
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of ...
