Devotion.al

Tag: faith

  • Evening Recall

    Evening Recall

    “Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a ; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

    Joel 2:15-17 NRSVue

    ‌In Joel, we read about fasting and a solemn assembly. It might seem strange while the culture around us is one of celebration and fun as it celebrates Halloween. Many Christians will hand out candy and have Harvest Parties. Other Christians will do anything to not be tied to the secular day. By our to the secular (or even pagan and potentially Satanic) aspects of this day, however, we show (again) how we have become unmoored from history.

    ‌The brief passage of Joel is tucked into a retelling of the story of God’s calling of the people of Israel, God’s faithfulness, their faithlessness, and their trials that were a consequence. It is a reflection upon where the Israelites were, where the Israelites are, and where they are asking God to take them. Amid their pleading for a future better than the present, they recalled the past.

    ‌Fasting and prayer were the original purpose behind the Western ‘s All Hallows Eve. As with many things as they spread around the world, and crossed cultures, understandings were changed, cultures were blended. To the point now that there is an annual tradition to argue over the origins of Halloween (a contraction of All Hallows Eve).

    ‌Yes, there has been a lot of non- (i.e., pagan and Hollywood) influencing Halloween celebrations. However, willfully abandoning church history may have done our much harm, and so, too, our lack of fasting and prayer.

    ‌Depending on the historian, the Western Church tradition of fasting and prayer was because All Day (tomorrow, 1 November) was a high holy day. A high holy day was to be a special day that a devout Christian set aside to something a bit more focused. For All Saints Day, it was the witness, lives, deaths of saints.

    ‌We of the Protestant tradition, tend to shy away from saints, for there is a long tradition of antipathy toward many practices of the Roman Catholic Church around saints. The problem then becomes we have fewer people to look up to.

    ‌While many of the Protestant tradition will immediately and rightly proclaim, “look to ,” there is also an understanding that Jesus is a truly special case. This is where the saints come in.

    ‌This is not about the miraculous, as “” has been in the Roman Catholic church. This is about the saints who walked faithfully with Jesus. Those who sacrificed themselves in some way in their Christian walk.

    ‌Today (or tonight) as you watch scary movies, or provide sugar highs to kids, or go to a party, or do nothing different except to make sure your porch is off, think about the saints (famous or not) who have walk a long and arduous road with Jesus.

    ‌Think upon how their example might help you live better.

    ‌Tonight, especially, pray for those who will become saints by the fact that they will die for their faith in the coming year. Pray for simple people, who have far fewer freedoms, whose practice and belief in Jesus is -threatening.

  • People Past

    People Past

    ‌Read: Psalm 25; Isaiah 25:6-9; Philippians 3:20-21; John 6:37-40

    ‌‌🔎 Focus

    ‌“This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”

    John 6:40 (NRSVue)

    Those who have died, that have been a direct part of our lives, they still live. Our hearts and memories hold them close (or far). Their good and bad helped shape us, for good and bad.

    ‌‌✟ Devotion

    Today is All Souls Day. The day that is also termed as the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. However, even those who do not believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior have had an impact on those of us who do so believe. It might be a stretch to want to take a church and expand it, but the truth is that many of us have that person who is gone, who we miss.

    ‌They may have not been a believer. They may have been baptized as infants or children, but were either not raised in the faith, or lapsed. Depending, of course, on one’s tradition/theology, that baptism may or may not seal them to Christ. Ultimately, it isn’t up to us.

    ‌This is a little personal, I suppose. My stepfather died a number of years ago (my mom has since remarried to a good man). I realized all the conversations we didn’t have, and they are a source of regret. I remember learning that my stepfather had been baptized as a child. That was news to me. I learned it as he was being lowered into his grave.

    ‌Then I looked at his library. He was an avid reader. He read far more broadly than I ever have. What shocked me was the books about the Bible and . As an English teacher, they shouldn’t have surprised me. They were read. They had not been ignored or put on a shelf and forgotten (like many of my books), though they may have not been read in quite some time. Who knows where is heart really was with Christ? I could . I do .

    ‌Did my stepfather and I have issues? Of course! Yet, he still formed me. It is not unreasonable to that he is gone. He was long part of my life. There is a hole where he was. My mom, dad, stepmom have their own places in my life, so this is not exclusionary, which is also important. No person can ever take the place of another.

    ‌Another can help you heal from the damage of bad history (including abuse), but they cannot replace someone else.

    ‌Perhaps today ought to be the day we set aside in our calendar to remember, mourn, celebrate, reflect, upon the lives of and how they touched us. If you’re reading this, you are likely a believer in Jesus Christ. As such, we who believe also call Jesus the . We can take solace, hope, and joy in that. Jesus can redeem both the joys and pains in regard to those who have touched our lives.

    ‌May it be so.

    ‌🤔 Reflection

    ‌Which deceased person has affected your walk with Christ (for good or bad)? How did they affect your walk? How do you imagine their life through the eyes of Jesus?

    ‌‌⏏️ Act

    ‌ another person who the most impactful deceased person has been in their life, and yours. As you talk together, where can you see the redemptive power of Jesus?

    ‌🙏 Prayer

    ‌God, you have place people in our lives to help guide us into your ways. Some of them have been undisguised blessings, some are so through the redemptive power of your Son. , guide our hearts and thoughts to see the power and influence of others in our lives. Amen.

  • Greater or Lesser Than Evils

    Greater or Lesser Than Evils

    Read: Psalm 119:41–48, Deuteronomy 10:10–22, James 2:14–26

    ‌🔎 Focus

    ‌No one ever accomplishes good by means of evil, because they are themselves conquered by the evil. On the contrary, evil is corrected by good.

    St. Barsanuphius the Great

    You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.

    James 2:19 (NRSVue)

    It is a good exercise to , what is evil? Why do we categorize certain perspectives, actions, or even people as evil? Often, what we judge as evil is really about what we view as normative, as if normal was automatically good (or evil, for that matter).

    ‌‌✟ Devotion

    ‌In the US, today is Halloween. It is a combination of many traditions, and always comes with a plethora of arguments as to whether Christians should observe it, participate in any type of recognition of it (Truck ‘n’ Treat, Harvest Party, and the like), or stay in a huddle.

    ‌In Christian circles, 31 October has some Western Christian specific applications. In a few traditions, this (though really beginning at sunset) is the beginning of The Allhallowtide season, which is a time in the church year for first, observation of the Saints (known & unknown, martyred and not) who have gone before us to their Heavenly Reward. It concludes with , which is an observation of all Christians who have gone before (and we won’t talk about Saints and saints).

    ‌For those of us of the Protestant traditions (in other words, not Roman Catholic or a myriad of Orthodox), 31 October is also Reformation Day, the general agreement that the Reformation began with Martin Luther starting an argument about the sufficiency of Christ by nailing his proposals (theses) to the gate of churches in the German city of Wittenberg. To be clear, the undercurrents of the Reformation were already moving (from an historical viewpoint) in Europe (with martyrs, too). Luther’s dramatic postings (though in course with cultural expectations) created a great story.

    ‌The secular and non-Christian aspects that we are experiencing for Halloween are, truly, a perversion and syncreticism of pre-Christian, Christian, and post-Christian belief structures. Just a side not, perhaps instead of assaulting Halloween, we do something different (and I’m not talking about Harvest Parties and Trunk ‘n’ Treats). Not that I necessarily have an idea, but much of the angst and outrage borders on evil, which St. Barsanuphius was warning us about.

    ‌As we watch functionally innocent children walk around asking for candy—who are dressed up as ghosts, stereotypical witches, super heroes, and what have you—we need to ask ourselves why we perceive a particular costume as good or evil. It’s not that I, for example, don’t have opinions, but I have had to spend time pondering why a particular costume is “evil” versus “good”. This is not about relativism. This is about my of normal masked with what is “good”.

    ‌If there were two kids, one dressed up like a vampire and one dressed up as Knight Templar (a knight order during the Crusades in the Near East), my automatic emotional response would be vampire=bad, and Templar=good. However, if I were born and raised from the Near East (regardless of faith tradition), I might be very hard pressed to figure out which is evil, because the Templars were not good from a Near East perspective, because they came in conquest (motives aside) for generations.

    ‌If I, as a parent, knew that my neighbor was from the Near East, and dressed my child up as a Knight Templar (assuming my child wanted that), am I doing evil to my neighbor? Am I loving my neighbor?

    ‌This is not about incidental errors, but actions performed despite . Which brings us to the words of James. The demons James refers to know who God is. They know God’s . It is arguable that they might even be more aware of who God is than any of the Saints or saints that have gone before us.

    ‌Yet, they shudder. I’ve heard many people ask, how could one know God (not bad or evil people, that’s different) and be against God? James doesn’t answer that question, but the implication is bigger than we think. Demons, who likely know God on a divine level beyond us, still oppose God. If the demons, who know God in ways beyond us, can oppose God, why not humans?

    ‌We can conclude that evil is opposing God. The implication with James, though, is that (perhaps) true evil is knowing God and opposing God anyway.

    ‌🤔 Reflection

    ‌What recently has evoked “that is evil” from you? Did you spend time evaluating why it was evil? When you declare something evil, do you ever check against the to see what the Scriptures say?

    ‌‌⏏️ Act

    ‌As you observe (and maybe even candy to) children as they walk your neighborhood tonight, look at their costumes. Ask yourself why that child chose that costume, and why they thought it was “good”? Then ask yourself why you thought it was good or evil and why?

    ‌🙏 Prayer

    ‌God, as we look about the world, we often conclude what is evil and what is good without asking you. Help us to look to you to define these terms, rather than how the world and our personal relationships tell us to. Help us to as filled with grace toward others in our perception of their wrong-ness, as you were while we were in our . Amen.

  • Perspective and Significance

    Perspective and Significance

    Psalm 144; Ezekiel 19:10–14; 1 Peter 2:4–10 (ISV)

    In the fictional universe housing the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ( by Douglas Adams), there is a machine called the Total Vortex. Originally built (per the fictional universe) to provide beings a comparison of themselves to the infinity of , it became a torture device to (effectively) destroy a being’s mind.‌

    ‌It sounds a little extreme, except that much of the religions over the years are concerned with is much about finding our place in the universe.‌

    ‌The (Roman Catholic) attacked Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de’ Galilei for proposing that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the sun (and the other planets) revolving around the earth. While the majority of the (entire Christian) Church now believes Galileo Galilei, we need to recognize that Galileo Galilei’s hypothesis was, for that era and theological framework, similar in effect to the Total Perspective Vortex.‌

    ‌On the other hand, in contemporary fiction and philosophy, there is a deep concern regarding the Butterfly Effect. This is the theory that if time travel were possible, a person going back in time could catastrophically affect the timeline (including the era from which the time traveler came). Many people have bought into this concept, and yet disparage the one small thing they do today.‌

    ‌Perspective matters deeply to how we function in life and how we treat others.‌

    ‌For me one of the most peaceful things is to stare at the night sky at the stars (most effective away from city light pollution). It brings peace to my soul and . It also guides me to have a better perspective of myself. I am tiny compared to the entire of Creation. I am only 1 person among over 8 billion people walking the earth at this moment.‌

    ‌For you, this may be disquieting. We have a need to be significant, but so much around us shows how insignificant we are.‌‌

    Lord, what are human beings, that you should care about them, or mortal man, that you should think about him?

    Psalm 144:3 (ISV)

    ‌‌God cares about us. No matter how insignificant we believe or are told we are, God cares for and thinks about we humans. In comparison to the infiniteness of God, we are not even microscopic, yet God loves us.

    ‌‌If we derive our significance from others, we are often emotionally and spiritually doomed. If we derive our significance from God, however, that is a solid foundation on which to place our and identity.

    ‌‌There is, though, the danger of arrogance. “I’m by God, so I can do…” We are all guilty of this to some degree.

    Now it is planted in the desert, in a dry and thirsty land!

    ‌Ezekiel 19:13 (ISV)

    ‌When we get too full of ourselves, or when we look too much to others, we can be in the desert of faith and relationship with God. It’s not that God ceases to care, quite the contrary. We can be chasing after things that we think will water and feed us, but we up in a desert, where receive the bare minimum to live.‌

    ‌The desert experience isn’t necessarily bad, ultimately. It can teach what is really important if we let it. On the other hand, far too many people stubbornly refuse to from the desert, and so end up dry and withered. That doesn’t have to be the end.‌

    Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received , but now you have received mercy.

    ‌1 Peter 2:10 (ISV)

    ‌God is merciful. Yes, we’ve done stuff that doesn’t please God. We could even say that because we are fallible and fragile creatures, we will never measure up to God’s holiness and love. God is merciful.

    ‌⁜Reflection⁜‌

    ‌To whom are you significant? Why?‌
    ‌How do you think significance and mercy are related?‌

    ‌⁜Act⁜‌

    ‌Share with someone what makes them significant to you.‌

    ‌⁜Prayer⁜‌

    ‌God, it is often so hard to see my significance to you. Help me to be understand my significance to you, and help me focus on you defining my significance, rather than leaving it to others. Amen.

    ‌

  • Untrashed

    Untrashed

    Malachi 1:6-9

    Perhaps you’ve heard an acquaintance, a friend, a family member say, “God won’t accept me until I clean myself up.” Or perhaps, “if I enter the church, lightning will come down and/or the church will catch on .”

    Behave, believe, belong has long been the order in the church. That’s likely where these saddening responses likely come from. Even worse, some church-type folks might have said to clean up their act so that God loves them.

    It’s strange. Long after the Reformation brought us back to saved through , it amazes and horrifies me that people who claim “the faith” still believe and (even worse) tell that they must behave first before belief can kick in.

    The don’t, I think, lead us that direction. God has long pursued those who left God behind and does so today. Which leads me to Malachi.

    Malachi’s oracle is about people claiming to worship God, which was (per the rules, the Law) including a healthy animal and viable grain. Instead, people were God anything besides the “good stuff”. the whole part (that does tend to trip up we modern folks) and recognize the intent behind the actions. The people claimed to love God and worship God, but deliberately chose not to, because the sacrifice of the good animal and good grain was too much.

    It could be tempting to equate the broken animals and rotten food to the people we see in the opening paragraph, but we must not. Such a person is bringing the best to God, themselves. If they are lame, God will love them. If they are blind, God will love them. If they are diseased, God will love them.

    God accepts broken people. I know this because I too am broken and was more broken still when I began my true with God.

    The sacrifices that are condemned in Malachi reflect the people who brought them. They were blind, lame, and diseased. Yet, they chose to neither acknowledge it nor of it. In fact, it seems they took pride in it.

    The blind, lame, diseased person who comes to God saying, “here I am, broken and all.” God says, “welcome, beloved.”

    ⁜ Reflection ⁜

    • How do you see yourself in this? Do you see yourself in this?
    • Does this challenge or change how you view those whose life decisions (including lifestyles) and their place before God?
    • How often do we see the blindness, lameness, and illnesses of others rather than our own? Why does that matter?

    ⁜ Prayer ⁜

    Gracious God, help us to how to be gracious and welcoming to others, just as you have been to us, and because you have been to us. Amen.

  • Too Busy To Live

    Too Busy To Live

    Exodus 5:7-9; Romans 8:5-8, 12-17

    Recently, there was a song going around the internet called the “Rich Men North of Richmond”. It mostly speaks to the anguish of a working man who is striving and working and is not making ends , and, yes, there are some digs that many are questioning, and sometimes just questioning those who are supporting the song.

    There seems a lot of , or a lot of perception of that this is the truth, that below middle-class wage earners (and many middle-class ones, too) are working their fingers, bodies, souls, minds off to make ends meet. How many are the like the Hebrews at this point in Exodus, who are trying to make ends meet without a basic component previously supplied, and now not.

    In a culture that has idolized working hard to the nth degree, why are we surprised that rest and worship are viewed as a measure of luxury and a sign of laziness. There is, of course, too much rest, but our culture, at this point, does not value rest.

    COVID seemed to have reset the rest aspect, but we are now watching it fade away. Mindfulness and meditation apps were all the rage during COVID. It doesn’t seem so now. As worship, especially the type depicted in the Pentateuch of no work (arguments over what defines normal, aside), is not normal work (which, of course, is the point), it must be rest, and rest is not to be trusted.

    As the culture turns away from organized , it appears to diminish and deride worship as well. We can see this among people who used to the church a home. We know that the human body itself cannot function without rest. Neither can the human mind. Binge-watching television, youtube, or tiktok, isn’t resting, or relaxing. It is, in so many words, medicating. It is helping us bury our lack of rest.

    I wonder if many people are so leery of rest and so leery of a set time of difference, that times of gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts (i.e., sermon or homily), are to be avoided. It may be that we are watching even many of whom were thought to be Christian walk away from gathered worship because it is different. And we avoid the different, and different includes worship and rest.

    Whether it is the drive to make , for person or corporation, would have fill our lives with activity without rest, we can see that we do not value rest, and that we are no different than pharaoh and looking at rest and worship it’s nothing more than laziness.

    We can see it in the old (in internet age) FOMO (fear of missing out) and YOLO (you only live once). FOMO has fear in its . YOLO is really the same, just with a positive twist. It seems we almost might fear rest.

    Whether we’re looking at the world or reading the Word, fear is not always fully understood (or desired to be understood). The fear noted in Romans may seem different that the fear of FOMO and YOLK, but the fear is still fear. The paarticular type of fear of YOLO and FOMO can lead to parents, meaning well, burying their children in activities so that they don’t miss out on something. What if my child is a hidden talent? What if my child is the greatest gift to humanity in something? They must know!

    However, perhaps they are missing out on what is most needed, us. What if, too, we keep them busy because we are to fearful of rest? True rest.

    ⁜ Reflection ⁜

    • How do you view and experience rest? How does worship (gathered singing, praise, prayer, and thoughts) fit into that?
    • Who in your circle of influence do you see as needing rest? How can you encourage them to take rest?
    • What activities in yourself and others do you see as attempting to be rest, but actually aren’t?

    ⁜ Prayer ⁜

    , you didn’t call us to work to the bone. You called yourself the Lord of the while telling your disciples that Sabbath was made for humanity. Help us to continue to recover what it means to rest as was intended for us, not for how we see it. us the courage to say, “no” and help us not self-condemn when we seek rest. Amen.

  • Wise in Whose Eyes

    Wise in Whose Eyes

    Psalm 119:121–128, 1 Kings 4:29–34, Ephesians 6:10–18

    ‌We are often presented with the wisdom of Solomon. The seem convinced that Solomon was gifted wisdom beyond humans by God. Yet, Solomon retained his freedom to make choices contrary to God revealed instructions.

    ‌We cannot know the heart of Solomon. Perhaps he believed he was doing the wise thing (and he was politically) by marrying many foreign women for the protection of the nation. However, elsewhere, the Scriptures tell us that Solomon got a bit lost later in and would gods other than God with his foreign wives.

    ‌If you read the passage from the psalm, you can get either the mental image of a truly faithful and humble servant or the image of one who thinks they are.

    ‌Every time I read these verses, I ask myself if I (at the time of reading) am being the true servant or the self-deceiving one. I have learned, over time, that depending on where I am spiritually, I can be either or even both.

    ‌There is a temptation to automatically think one’s perspective of self is correct, and that even includes the question of being a true servant or a self-deceiving one.

    ‌There are many Christians who have been deceived (and self-deceive) that they are not faithful servants because they have not lived up to the archetypal perfect . Thus, they are accused of, or self-accuse, being hypocrites. While the “perfect” Christian is often thought to be only a legalistic issue with Holiness denominations (such as my own, the of the Nazarene), I have spoken to many people who have internalized this who were raised in completely different Christian traditions.

    ‌The Western World, with its history, has also internalized this to both its and the Christian ‘s detriment. I have met very few Christians (only 1, I think) who believed they had become the perfect Christian. The , well, the more they perceive that they have been shaped by Christ, the more they realize they have further to go.

    ‌At least for today, read Paul’s words to the Ephesians in the context of realizing that we have allowed the world to falsely define what it means to be a Christian, and we ourselves, have created the ideal Christian in the mold of unachievable perfectionism, which is (really) legalism that destroys the spirit.

    ‌Freedom in Christ is not truly possible when we are held in bondage to perfectionism or legalism. The external behavior may be seen as correct, but God wants the heart.

    ‌※Reflection※

    ‌What is your reaction to the psalmist’s words? Why do you think that is?

    ‌How does the wisdom the world differ from the wisdom of God? How are the two similar?

    ‌※Prayer※

    ‌Lord, as we ask for wisdom, help us to be able to tell the difference between the wisdom of the world and your wisdom. Help us not be discouraged as the world tries to define for us what it means to follow you, while we diligently and humbly seek you. Amen.

  • Enduring Soil

    Enduring Soil

    4 Now while a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from every city, he said in a parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, were trampled on, and birds from the sky ate them up. 6 Others fell on stony ground, and as soon as they came up, they dried up because they had no moisture. 7 Others fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes grew with them and choked them. 8 But others fell on good soil, and when they came up, they produced 100 times as much as was planted.” As he said this, he called out, “Let the person who has ears to , listen!”

    9 Then his disciples began to ask him what this parable meant. 10 So he said, “You have been given about the secrets of the of God. But to others they are given in parables, so that

    ‘they might look but not see,
        and they might listen but not understand.’”

    11 “Now this is what the parable means. The seed is God’s . 12 The ones on the path are the people who listen, but then the Devil comes and takes the word away from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 The ones on the stony ground are the people who joyfully welcome the word when they hear it. But since they don’t have any roots, they believe for a while, but in a time of they fall away. 14 The ones that fell among the thorn bushes are the people who listen, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries, wealth, and pleasures of life, and their fruit doesn’t mature. 15 But the ones on the good soil are the people who hear the word but also hold on to it with good and honest hearts, producing a crop through endurance.”

    Luke 8:4–15 ISV

    Reading the Scriptures (i.e., The Holy Bible) daily continues to bring my joy. It fills some of my curiosity, and often drives my researching desires. As a habit, I read a different translation each year for my daily readings (versus sermon prep). This year it is the ISV.

    Part of my rationale is that I believe it helps me see the same Scriptures differently. Whether it’s phrasing or vocabulary or punctuation, something gets triggered (in a good way) in my brain.

    I’ve read the Parable of the Sower many times. I’ve preached on it. Heard plenty of sermons on it. Verse 15 hit me today.

    What struck me this time, in particular, was “endurance”. When you go back and re-read the parable, endurance makes sense. It may indeed be the point of the entire parable (not saying it is).

    Endurance

    Endurance and resiliency are the new corporate buzz words coming out of COVID lockdowns and remote work. The church has started to focus on them, too. It’s not a bad thing. Developing resilience might actually make the world a better place.

    Perhaps, instead of feeling attacked or belittled, instead…we endure. The good soil is the soil that endures.

    In church, we’ll often talk about the “good soil”. What is the “good” soil? We’ll talk about the that overcomes adversity. We’ll talk about the one that doesn’t contain thorns and briars. We’ll about the one that doesn’t contain stones.

    Even when we talk about the good soil, we don’t often focus on the endurance. It’s not the soil’s fertility that is the source. It is the endurance.

    We don’t like to talk about endurance, because generally that comes along with difficulty. We see on the internet (and even, gasp, in bookstores) the latest book with the latest vital skill set that we must have today. There is the latest shortcut (with and without AI), so that we can get what ever it is done faster, and so we can minimize the time we experience difficulty.

    In other words, we avoid requiring endurance.

    Training

    Athelete’s train. Anyone who regularly participates in physical activity trains. Training produces endurance. We seem to get that when it comes to physicality. We actually do get it mentally with our focus on education. Even that, though, is often about regurgitation and not thinking. Rote and regurgitation do not produce mental endurance.

    We are truly awful about endurance when it comes to emotional, and (especially) spiritual. I’m still trying to figure out what happend with the emotional part. I don’t think that the “stiff upper lip” (British) or stoic (Germanic) tendencies and patterns were always healthy. Often they led to people burying their feelings. So, for those that claim “those were the days”…I disagree.

    It’s easy to blame the internet (currently) or television (previously), but is that really true? Have we really forgotten how to healthily emotionally endure, or did we just have yet another mask we wore?

    We have mental health counselors as a growing field (need far outweighs practitioners). I do think they are necessary because we have done such a poor job of being trained and training others.

    This also pours over into spiritual endurance. This is not about spiritual abuse, but just the straightforward to endure trials, perceived unanswered , and the horrors of a fallen world, without one’s faith being crushed.

    Just Believe

    Just believe is very similar to rote and regurgitational mental learning. It does not produce endurance. We struggle with endurance. I know I do. It’s okay to acknowledge that you struggle with endurance.

    The beauty of the current cultural emphasis on endurance (or resilience) is that the community of faith (i.e., the church universal) can talk about it, too. Think about it. We have the ability to faithfully talk about God and an enduring faith, while the world is also struggling with endurance. There’s the open door…will you walk through it?

    Prayer

    God, we know that we are called to endure. We see throughout the Scriptures you provided examples of enduring faith from flawed beings just like us. We know through the witness of Jesus, that you understand our struggles, including our struggle to endure. , please help us be the enduring soil that produces faith in ourselves and others. Amen.