I wonder how the people we know think or view us? Do they think we are reliable people or would they think we are just “TALKERS” and not doers? As Christians we should be the most reliable people around, but I fear more than not that believers are getting sloppy in the area of reliability.

Reading the account of the birth of Jesus I think we look at the story through our own life perspective and miss the truly humbling circumstances in which Mary and Joseph fulfilled the will of God. Then they had to deal with the circumstances of both poverty and the hatred of the government through king Herod.

When I look at the landscape of how people think and act these days, for both non Christians as well as Christians, there seems to be a disconnect between what a person believes or feels and what are the plain facts before them. People don’t seem to be bothered by the inconsistencies in their lives, let alone in the lives of those around them. It seems people just get entrenched in certain lines of thinking without asking themselves if the things they believe are true or false. Maybe we just hate the idea of finding out that we are wrong about something and thus don’t want to know our error.

I know this question for some people seems foreign, but the idea of spiritual children is not a new concept for the body of Christ. It is an old concept but many in the church have never heard what it means to have people look to them as a spiritual parent. Although God is the one that enables a person to be “Born Again,” others in the body of Christ should take on the responsibility and care to raise individuals in their walk with God.

All too often we grow up listening to others around us in order to build our concepts about our self worth and identity.  The world builds the idea of their identity and self worth measured by what they look like or what they can accomplish and this produces a terrible platform for building self-esteem and identity. Christians should be developing their identity and self-worth from the word of God and why he made us. Mind you, I have heard some really twisted ideas in sermons about a persons lack of value.  It makes me wonder if these preachers ever read the bible as a whole because they paint the picture that people have no redeeming value in themselves at all and God only saved us because he felt sorry for humanity, not because God valued humanity even with our brokenness.  

Everyone wants good friendships, that is unless they have been burnt or hurt by a past relationship. When relationships go bad or “South” as I like to refer to them, we can decide to give up on building new ones, put a shield around our hearts and just give up on building lasting friendships. We would rather have friendships at arms length because of the fear of being hurt again.

God designed us to have and desire good relationships with others but finding good friends can often be a challenge. Unfortunately, when we are young many parents don’t teach their kids what to look for in friends and so we tend to find or make friends based more on our geographical location rather than being selective about who we invite into our inner circle of relationships. Finding good friends can be a real challenge!

As we grow in our trust of God in our daily walk there are some  things he may choose to hide from us. The reasons for such actions I’m sure are many, yet to understand the basic reasons would be helpful to us so that we can know if God is withholding truth because we are not prepared for it, like the early disciples who walked with Jesus in ministry.

We live in a strange time in history because we live with so many images of people who are “Inauthentic” and just pretending to be genuine.  For example, news commentators and politicians continually craft an image or narrative instead of being authentic about who and what they believe about God and life in general. It seems that modern culture has increasingly traded good character for a good image.  The really sad thing is that can be expected from the world but many pastors have gotten in lock step with the world when it comes to working on their image more than their character.

I don’t write often on subjects like this, but I feel I need to write to those who may be struggling with the darkness around them as they attempt to walk with the Lord. We live in a time when many say these are the “Last Days” and I believe it more true now than ever before. We must be watchful lest we become discouraged in our souls to the point of quitting or running away from our calling in the Lord.  We need to continue to walk as the Lord has directed our souls in scripture.