Faith

What Are You Looking At?!

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A number of years back one of the men who worked for me had a really quick temper. I found that I sometimes had to make amends for whoever the latest target of his anger happened to be. One day as we were coming to a stop sign Robbie looked out his window and shouted at a surprised looking pedestrian, “What are you looking at!!?”

“Do you know that guy Robbie?” I asked.

“No I just didn’t like the way he was staring at me!” Robbie snapped back. Then I realized that the problem was not in the target of Robbie’s rage but in how he saw the world.

How we see our world will always effect how we live. What we need most of all are eyes of faith. Only a faith that sees the unseen things of God can help us live for Him and prepare us for all He has in store in eternity. So what will you be looking at when you come to the final stop sign of life?

Scandalous Once More

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I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”             John 16:33 NLT

Not long ago Vice President Pence faced protesters as he spoke at a “Christian” university then this week David Roark, communications director of the Village recently was uninvited from a graphic design conference. Of course these are just two well known examples that point out something lots of us have been sensing for quite a while. Christianity is once more thankfully and thoroughly scandalous! This not only should not come as a surprise to us who call ourselves followers of Jesus it should be an encouragement. Maybe after a generation of our struggles to become socially acceptable we ought to be glad that being shunned puts us a little closer to the master. Paul said that His preaching was considered pure foolishness to the important people of His day. All His press coverage was negative, but God was always near in to listen to his prayers. It is much better to be scandalous here and accepted in heaven than popular on earth but a sorrow to our Jesus.

The Eye of the Artist

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My stepfather was an artist and I often remember standing behind him watching in wonder as He worked. With just a few brush strokes He could create an astonishingly lifelike painting. When I asked him how he could be so precise Rudy explained that a realist paints neither what others think they see or what they hope to see but what truly stands before them.

In the same way the canvas of a life must be painted by the eyes of faith. A true faith is born not by our wishful thinking or someone else’s imagination, but in the moment we see Him who has seen us from the beginning. That is when His light can shine into our hearts and reveal to us the face of Jesus Christ.