Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Jenifer Snelling
As I was driving today, I was searching for a radio station and stopped on a channel that had a preacher that I disagreed with. It just so happens that in the church I attend it isn’t uncommon for someone to disagree with something the minister says. But it is called a difference of opinion and everyone respects one another and moves on, if they even speak about it at all.
What interested me about the sermon on the radio was that the preacher was speaking about love being finite – that though you may want to, or try to, you cannot possibly love all the people in your life and the things of the world that you feel you should love.
This interested me a lot because sometimes I am frustrated when I send my love out into the world in all directions … Read More »
Article by Dr. Les Hollon, Pastor, St. Matthews Baptist Church
To do whatever it takes, begins with whoever it takes us to be. Jesus lays this truth out clear and simple in the Beatitudes. As we trust Him with all of whom we are, we become more capable to be trustworthy with all God wants to give us.
Mercy is God’s opportunity for us to have new opportunities in life and for us to extend new opportunities to others on God’s behalf. God’s mercy is grace at work.
God knows our life story and He knows that in order for us to be people who overcome, people who move from tragedy to triumph, we must be people who can also recover from sin. Therefore, God connects us with a love that on His part will not let go.
In Hebrew this love is called “hessed” (often translated steadfast love, loving-kindness, and mercy). In the New Testament it is called grace and mercy. This love is built inside our souls and tethers us. When we have sinned, this love motivates our conscience, to: feel remorse, repent, and be renewed.
God doesn’t want us to visit the dark side and if we go there, He doesn’t want us to stay there.
Recovery through repentance from sin is the way out. This good news applies to all sins, adultery is not excluded. Broken trust can be restored. An afflicted husband and wife may have to do sweaty work for years to get through the pain … however by entrusting their vows to God it is possible again “to love and to cherish … for better or for worse,” and go forward.
We are all sinners. Believers are sinners saved by God’s mercy and grace. The work I do as pastor includes helping people who are caught in sin by showing them that there is a better way to live, and to begin living that way. Our life is determined by the choices we make.
Pastor Les Hollon
“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.”
-William Cowper, “Light Shining out of Darkness”
This article was written by Les Hollon, Pastor of St. Matthews Baptist Church. For more information about God’s mercy and new beginnings, St. Matthews Baptist Church, or to contact Dr. Hollon, click over to St. Matthews Baptist Church.
If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. Thanks!
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Blake Cothron
This time of year is seen as a time for new beginnings, a fresh start. It’s seen often as a time to wipe clean the slate of last year’s stuff and start anew. Personally, I don’t get wrapped up in any festivities or making New Year’s resolutions. I think they’re mostly short-lived and overly hyped.
How often have any of us really kept any resolution in the long-term? Instead, let’s embrace change in our lives, letting go of the realities that aren’t in harmony.
Go Beyond the Hype
I know it’s happened to most of us. The New Year comes along and we join in the tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. It’s commercialized by … Read More »
Article by Make The Day Count Contributor Marie Monroe
The Latin words humilis and humus have caught my attention in this season of introspection. Low to the ground, of the ground, of the dirt … I consider them in my meditations about what it means to be human, to be part of humanity and what type of human I want to be in this New Year that fast approaches. Old school exercises of finding root words echo around as I try on more words that fit: humiliation, humble, humility …
Personal Revolution
I find myself reviewing recovery literature from 12 Step programs and growing in my understanding that true humility can not only be a saving grace, but a personal revolution. True humility, I am reminded as I read, brings a sense of clarity about one’s self, deflating false pride and fantasy. It brings us back home to who and what we truly are and there, we can celebrate our own humanity.
These are large and abstract ponderings, but important ones as I search for what growth I want to cultivate in this coming year.
Listening to where my mind and intuition goes is how I am keeping my eye on my personal star so I may travel with it to my new self. Read More »
Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Judy Mosley
You would think it would be easy.
Standing up for truth. Making the right choice. Taking full responsibility for what has been given to us. It should be easy, right? And yet when we’ve done the right thing, we might end up disappointed because the effects of those choices aren’t at all what we had expected.
We lose weight and then come face to face with the issues that have been plaguing us our entire lives. We quit smoking and have to deal with the discomfort of breaking the addictions that our bodies had formed with the cigarettes. We speak the truth in a toxic relationship, hoping for healing, yet having the relationship end while we are left feeling a loneliness we hadn’t anticipated.
Growing up, I had believed that if I really did the right thing I would be enveloped with some mystical feeling of love or joy - triumphant music playing in the background - which would keep me from feeling anything negative.
It doesn’t happen. It’s just not that easy. And I don’t want anyone to lose heart, but to be prepared for the road ahead. Read More »
