One Needful Thing

Have you experienced a time in your life when you weren't happy with where you were as an individual and had a desperate need in your soul that wasn't being fulfilled? There was (or there is) an emptiness in the pit of your stomach that couldn't be satisfied with merely a slice of pepperoni pizza and a bowl of chocolate ice cream. It's a need so intense that all other feelings are momentarily forgotten as you struggle to fill that pit deep inside. How do you fill this void? You invest in your relationships with others to see if the hole will be filled. You work harder at your profession to see if the emptiness will subside. You spend hours in front of the television to drown out the ache within. You fill your life with busyness, not simply because you like being busy, but because you don't want to slow down and feel the hollowness inside. In the Bible, there was a man chosen by God to judge Israel and deliver them from their enemies the Philistines. But this...

"And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living." (Mark 12:41-44) If you want to talk about sacrificial giving, talk about this widow woman! She barely had two cents to rub together, yet she gave all she had to God. In the beginning of this sacrificial story, Jesus is watching the people come and go as they give offerings to God. Just as He watched those people then, He is watching us now. He looks on our hearts, sees our motivations, and knows when we are holding back and when we are giving our all. As the people...

Has your life ever gone from bad to worse to "Is life ever going to be good again?" I can think of someone who was the victim of some pretty awful people, and yet even though his life was the exact opposite of pleasant, he didn't shut down or give up on God. A young man living in the desert was hated by his brothers and sold into slavery. Joseph fell prey to the dark whim of his step brothers and his life was forever changed in one moment. He was no longer under the protection of his earthly father, but came to a place where he was completely dependent on the protection of his Heavenly Father. (You can find this story in Genesis 39-41) This is where we need to be as well. We need to be completely dependent on our Father no matter what our circumstances are. Why? Because this world is not our home and there is no guarantee of tomorrow. Our daily lives are a gift of God and our time is in His hands. (Psalm 31:15) When we are faced with hardships we can either run t...

"This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16) "Walking in the Spirit is the only way to live the Christian life." That phrase is ingrained permanently in my memory. When I was a teenager at a Christian camp, my counselor had my cabin of girls practically chanting this phrase all week as we learned about the Holy Spirit in our daily devotions. (Okay, maybe not chanting like monks or anything, but we did say it quite a bit!) I remember thinking to myself, "Yeah, that's a good thought, but what does walking in the Spirit look like in my normal daily life?" I was stumped. And I was waiting for a magical formula that would mysteriously show me what I should do in order to live this way. If I could do XYZ then, shazam! I would be walking in the Spirit! Little did I know that it's no magical formula I need to complete, but rather it's making daily choices that bring me close to God as...

"And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, came behind [Jesus], and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched." (Luke 8:43-44) When I read this passage, I see the impossible situation this woman was in. For twelve years she suffered with an affliction that wasted her money and wore on her heart. I don't know how old this woman was, but twelve years is a long time to go through any type of suffering. No one could heal her. No one could help her. She had no answers to the affliction she faced every. single. day. A time of suffering can be one of the loneliest places any individual can be. Have you gone through a period of suffering or waiting on God for answers and all it seemed you received from Him was silence? A time where there was no apparent answer to your cry? This woman was alone. She had no hope of ever being healed, but she did hav...

Predictable. Predictable is "safe" in our minds. We think it's good and therefore desire it in our lives. But let's face it, predictability is not the norm. It has not purchased tickets to the ride of our life. We may think predictability is safe, but we sometimes fail to realize that it's not a natural part of life. If you haven't guessed it yet, I'm talking about a predictable life where everything goes according to our plans and fits on our calendar. It's the bills being paid on time, the job that continues to give you a raise, the healthy family of yours, the cars and appliances all in working order, and the spouse that will always love you no matter what. Predictability is a family portrait Christmas card life. Something that looks great on the outside and on the inside. Most often though, the outside is merely a pretty picture with something less beautiful on the inside. If life really went the predictable route we want it to go, we wo...

God is good. All the time. Just recently I found myself posting the above sentences on social media after I had gone through a rough situation. Why is it that when hard times come we refer to God's goodness? Is it because our feelings tell us He is good? Is it just a show of spirituality that makes us say "God is good all the time," but really we are just trying to keep our life together and put on a plastic everything-is-okay smile? Is God really good all the time? And if so, why don't I always feel like He is being good to me? I am a person who likes to see things in black and white. This is right, that is wrong. This is good, that is bad. If I try to apply this same principle to God's goodness, I find some errors in my thinking. Let's try to apply my logic to God's goodness and see how things turn out: Earthquakes are bad, sunny weather is good. Cancer is bad, a healthy body is good. The car breaking down is bad, low gas prices are good. ...