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.
Reordering Our Priorities
The northern tribes of Israel in Amos' time seemed like they were doing all the right things. They offered sacrifices to God and were exact in their religious observations. And yet, the book of Amos is written to them as a warning—a warning that destruction that would befall them if they refused to change?
Why?
Because they had neglected the true heart of loving and worshiping God.
While they were doing many of the "right" things, it's what they weren't doing that drew God's ire. They failed to take care of the poor and needy. They turned their eyes away from injustice. Many had turned to idols for help and prayer.
Through Amos, God told the people of Israel that it is just as important to be righteous inwardly as it is outwardly. We cannot say we love God and others when we fail to help people who are within our power to help.
Just as James 1:27 tells us, true religion includes helping orphans, widows, and those who are in distress. James goes on to write that faith without works is a dead faith (James 2:26). In short, faith is both believing in the Lord and doing the things He has told us to do.
Take some time to think about your own life: how much time do you prioritize on your own spirituality versus serving others?
What ways can you begin to take steps toward serving in your church, your neighborhood, or your school in order to help those in need. All of these are ways that our faith becomes complete in Christ as we follow after Him.
“Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length thereof, and twenty cubits the breadth thereof, and ten cubits the height thereof. Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. And under it was the similitude of oxen, which did compass it round about: ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about. Two rows of oxen were cast, when it was cast. It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. And the thickness of it was an handbreadth, and the brim of it like the work of the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies; and it received and held three thousand baths. He made also ten lavers, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them: such ...
