To be a lover of people in the eyes of the world is all too often, seen as weakness...as being a push over...ultimately leading to being taken advantage of. Dishearteningly this is the attitude of the majority of Christians as well. In our heads we may know God's perspective on it, but in our everyday expressions of our Christianity we seem to fall short. But scripture tells a different story. Love is fearless...1 John 4:18..."There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect…

  Patience...oh my goodness...when needed most, it is the hardest to find. Lord can you give me patience right now please? We hate waiting...especially if it involves not knowing what is to come. Right now Lyn and I are searching for a home. Our house sold quickly, actually before we were even ready to list it...an answer to prayer. God acted quickly on that request and we are most thankful! But now we sit in the unknown...where to next Lord? We only have a certain amount of time and we must be out...so much to consider. Galatians 5:22 tells us…

  I would imagine there are many things we do that are displeasing to God. But I believe near the top of His list is our unwillingness to share with others all that He so freely gives to us. I am referring to such things as grace, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, patience and kindness. Let's look at Matthew 18:27-35..."And his master’s heart was moved with compassion, and he released him and forgave him [cancelling] the debt. But that same attendant, as he went out, found one of his fellow attendants who owed him a hundred denarii [about twenty dollars]; and he…

I recall some years ago hearing in a sermon the speaker sharing about doubt. His words were to the effect if you have any doubt you are an unbeliever. That unbelief and doubt are synonymous and will keep you out of God's attention and blessings. James 1:6 tells us..."But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind."Is there any one of us who has no doubt? Is it even possible to never have doubt? The only topic I can truly say that I…

  Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitfully wicked inferring a wickedness to the point of it being incurable...that is to say it cannot be altered to never have a wicked thought or do a wicked act again. Listen to how he puts it, Jeremiah 17:9-10...“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind,Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings." How are we to cope with an incurable heart? No man can truly know even…