May My Heart See...

Disclaimer:   T he quotes of this post are from a short survey I sent out to a few “sisters-in-Christ” with this exact question. All my life I have taken truth for granted.   I didn’t honor it, hardly ever told it and usually didn’t want it.    And when it hit me in the face – it hurt!   Nope, I didn’t like it at all L . What’s so wrong with the truth, you ask.   Well, “the truth has nothing to hide”.   And honestly, I had LOTS to hide.   My sin, my past, my “real”ness.    And if I became “real”, noone would know me - and I’m being completely serious about that. When you live lies, a lot of times it’s because you don’t know any better.   I’m not making excuses here, I’m just being honest.   I only knew lies.   Scripture tells us, “ The truth will set you free .”   (John 8:32) Well, in my case, freedom wasn’t even on my radar, I’m talking about survival here and lying was how I survived, But I knew something was wrong.   As my cousin explained it best, “I had no idea t

Where do you go for truth?   Your spouse?   The newspaper?   Your heart?   Or maybe you don’t care about truth.   Maybe that’s not important in your life right now.   For some reason, in these times, the “truth” has become TRULY important to me and I am gravely aware of its presence, or should I say, “lack of” its presence. The “truth” is defined as “in accord with fact or reality or ideal”, by Wikipedia.     I fear the lack of importance placed on knowing and seeking the truth today is horrendous.   Its probably the one thing I fear most, that and spiders J .   Seriously, though, I don’t think we have any idea of how lackadaisical we have become toward this “ideal” – this old-fashioned reality, we used to call “truth”. Right before Jesus was crucified, He said to Pilate:   “ You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” Pilate then asked him, “What is truth?”   (Joh

This past weekend, I got a true picture of what the family of Christ is all about.   As you know, “family” is a universal word, having to do with being related somehow.   So I suppose, the family of Christ would be “persons related through Christ” – right? How can one be “related through Christ”?   Well, that would be no matter if you are Lutheran or E-free, German or Chinese – anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior and follows His teachings – those people would be the “family of Christ”.     Think how many there are!   Millions hopefully!   All believers, united.   One faith, one Lord, one God and Father of us all.   Family.   Matthew 22 gives us a command: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’   This is the first and greatest commandment.   And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ We are COMMANDED to love e

I really never understood why the disciples just left everything and followed Jesus.  I mean they did this BEFORE they knew they were in the presence of the One and Only, God in human form.  They had no idea of Who He was, they just followed.  They would later both see and do miracles.   They would heal the sick and see Lazarus raised from the dead. Their teacher, their Lord, the Great I AM – yet their friend had summoned them - and without hesitation, they followed.     I don’t know if I will ever understand it.   I mean, imagine, you leave your home and your family for Someone who invites you to “follow Him”.   You live with Him and travel with Him, closely connected by a common bond.   The bond?   A calling.             Matthew 4 says it this way: As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee , He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said