Good People

There are none. There is a fundamental belief in many of todays cultures that people are basically good with a few exceptions. I don't know how we came up with this idea. Spending only a few minutes scrolling through my Facebook feed I can easily make a case for the depravity of man. We are bad, all of us. We don't even measure up to our own standards. Sure, if we compare our daily actions on our best days to the actions of the psychos in the news on their worst days we can feel a little bit better about ourselves, but if we are honest we can easily see that we are broken.

Understanding the brokenness of men helps. I am no longer surprised when a friend goes off the deep end. I am not longer surprised when I am drawn after destruction. Evil is in me. We are fallen creatures living in a fallen world.

Why after millions of years of evolution do I still crave sugar? Why haven't I been born with a desire for broccoli? We are prone to destruction.

Good people don't need a Savior.

Mark 10:19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

Holding onto Sand

Time is like sand slipping through our fingers. We try so hard to hold it tighter but no matter how tightly we hold on it still slips through. Every day we lose a little more and none of us knows how much we have left.

But the sand has value. Its the most valuable thing we have but we know we can't hold it so we trade it for other worthless junk that we can't hold. We use it to buy toys, or friends, or memories but these things are no better. Toys become trash, friends leave or die or worse, and memories fade as the sand slowly (or quickly) leaves our hand.

If you could trade all the sand in your had for something eternal would you do it?

Mark 8:35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.

Faith Always Works

Those who believe will see things that those who don't believe will never see. Faith works every time. Every prayer is a step. We often don't see the answer to our prayer because we stopped taking steps. Perhaps we take a single step, look around and decide that God isn't in this one. Or perhaps we give up after only praying for 10 years. If we truly believe we'll keep taking steps. Taking steps is called walking. Taking steps of faith is called walking in faith. 

Healing the sick is the afterthought. He wanted to do so much more but He could only heal a few sickos. What "Mighty Work" would He do if we truly believed. So often we just want Him to give us comfort when we're suffering. We don't even know that we're settling for crumbs. 

"And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them and he marveled because of their unbelief." Mark 6:5,6

Inspire Me

There are so many people in my life who inspire me. I'm never inspired by the people who play it safe, but by the people who gamble. Gamble is probably not the word I should use but it feels right. The people who inspire are people who are willing to do the things that I am not willing to do. They act as if they know something that I don't know. They push all their chips to the middle of the table as if they have a strait flush but they do it so often that I'm pretty sure they're bluffing. How can they be so careless? What do they know?

They don't know anything special. They've just chosen to do the thing that I have chosen not to do. They take a deep breath and jump. If they survive, and they usually do, they do it again. 

Fearless

Its easy to be fearless when you're safe. Fear only comes when you step out. I'm only afraid of heights when I'm climbing the mountain. I'm only afraid of the dark at night. I've met a lot of "fearless" people who never take risks. They are always willing to give advice about what they would do in your situation but they rarely do anything themselves.

Its easy to speak up when everyone agrees with you. Its easy to dance when you're alone.