"Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life." -Corrie Ten Boom

Merry Christmas!

From today's sermon, dedicated to the children and heroes that lost their lives in the CT shootings this week......

Hear me, my God, as I voice my complaint;
protect my life from the threat of the enemy.

Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked,
from the plots of evildoers.
They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.
They shoot from ambush at the innocent;
they shoot suddenly, without fear.

They encourage each other in evil plans,
they talk about hiding their snares;
they say, “Who will see it?”
They plot injustice and say,
“We have devised a perfect plan!”
Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.

But God will shoot them with his arrows;
they will suddenly be struck down.
He will turn their own tongues against them
and bring them to ruin;
all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
All people will fear; they will proclaim the works of God
and ponder what he has done.

The righteous will rejoice in the Lord
and take refuge in him;
all the upright in heart will glory in him!

 

(Psalm 64)

 

The sermon was powerful this morning.  Not a dry eye in the house.  Even as Christians, we certainly don't have the answers behind such horrific acts of evil.  I found Psalm 64 to offer some of those answers and it offers comfort to those who are at a loss for words.  

 

Here are a couple of quotes from my pastor today....

"When we reject God's governance, there will be evil."

"In a fallen world, there is never complete safety from evil."

 

What we do know is that in the end, evil loses, and that there is always hope in the darkness for those who believe.  For now, that's where my focus will be. 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:38-39)

 

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

(Romans 7:21)

I find that evil lurks in my thoughts more than anywhere else.  I'm often consumed with thoughts of revenge, thoughts of doom, worry and concern, whatever.  I control my physical actions and deeds pretty well, but I can't seem to get a handle on those awful thoughts.  I can only keep trying to focus on God and the Holy Spirit that is my source of being.  It's very destructive to let my focus be distracted by evil thoughts and temptations and I will continue to pray for strength to block those thoughts and wisdom to follow God's will for me.