The Gospel of John is my favorite Gospel. However, I think the Gospel of Matthew is the most important Gospel to read to learn about Jesus. If you understand the Gospel of Matthew, you will then understand the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John. It’s within Matthew that the prophecies that spoke of the Messiah are shown to be fulfilled. Matthew proves that Jesus is the Christ to the Jews and to us. As I started to read through Matthew today, some thoughts came to me that I’d like to share with you.
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2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV)
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Whenever I read Paul’s declaration, “For when I am weak, then I am strong,” my mind goes back to a poem I wrote in 1998, Weak. When I wrote that poem it would be many years before I would come to know the Lord. At the time, I believed that acknowledging my weaknesses and vulnerabilities made me stronger because I wasn’t lying to myself by ignoring them. I was embracing them, and therefore, I was somehow conquering them. Therefore, when I was weak, I was strong because I was facing my weakness head-on. All of that might have sounded good then, but to me, today, without God, I see it as prideful and ignorant.
Continue readingThe world is a place where pride abounds. Those who do not lift themselves up are ignored by the masses. There once was a time when people strived to be “discovered” and hoped they would be seen as stars amongst the teeming masses. Today, anyone with access to a smartphone has access to the world. These devices are as far removed from phones as the pocket calculator once was from the supercomputer. Every smartphone is a powerful computing device that revivals my first computer, the Commodore 64. Indeed, the modern phone can do everything from taking photos and recording movies to controlling other smart devices in our homes. People use them to show themselves to the world. When the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise,” he could have been talking about society today (2 Corinthians 10:12 NIV).
Continue readingWhile reading through Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians today, there was a lot that stood out to me, so I’m going to share some of my thoughts with you.
Continue readingSo we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)
Four-Calendar Café 