Walking The Walk

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." ~Matthew 23:25-26 We spend so much time thinking about what people see on the outside.  How we appear.  What people think.  Too often we build a facade on the outside that displays a character which doesn't match what's on the inside. And it's hard work, because it's not real.  It's not authentic.  It doesn't match who we really are.  And we go to this effort because we're embarrassed.  Or we're ashamed.  Or we're hiding weaknesses we don't want people to see.  Or sins we don't want people to know.  And we work hard on this veneer we show other people because we're afraid they're going to see or discover that truth within. And that's what Jesus is pointed out to...

S o I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.   ~Galatians 5: 16-17 How can a Christian possibly live a Christian life in the world today?   We're buffeted each day by the worldly, and that influence can be corrosive to our faith.  It gets difficult to escape it.  The values of our society are in decline.  The lines between what is clearly right and what is clearly wrong continue to be blurred.  We're exposed to a constant stream of media, and internet, and social media--all of them trying to promote an agenda.  And pornography is everywhere.  You can hardly use social media at all anymore without running across these images from time to time.  And our kids are seeing all of this and being exposed to all of this you ...

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." ~Joshua 1:9 I often hear people lament about how things have changed.  And the older we get, the more difficult it becomes to change.  But change is normal.  Change is inevitable.  Time never goes backwards.  Things never go back to the way they were before.  If you don't believe me, pull out your high school yearbook, or an old family album and check out the clothes and the hairstyles.  Change is not unnatural it is inevitable. We have to learn to adjust.  And sometimes that's hard.  Especially when life changes in a very fundamental way for us.  Like with the loss of somebody close to us.  Or maybe we've moved to a new place and we're having a tough time adjusting to it.  Or we change jobs.  Or as I've learned recently, retirement can be a very unsettling change in lifestyle and routi...