Cardboard Testimonies

My small group Bible study has been discussing passages from the book Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, a book on the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew. Last week we discussed Matthew 5:22 “22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother [1] will be liable to judgment; whoever insults [2] his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell [3] of fire.” (ESV) According to Willard, “Filthy language and name calling are always an expression of contempt. The current swarm of filthy language floats upon the sea of contempt in which our society is now adrift.” Discussing these things made me realize how often I judge people on superficial levels, I don’t see people the way that God sees them. I saw this video on the blog of a friend of a friend later in the week and it caused me to think even more about how judgmental I can be, without even realizing it. God works in the lives of all sorts of people, who am I to judge those around me, especially those I don’t even know. I hope this video touches you in some way, for HIS glory.

American

“I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free” is a line from a song that brings out the patriotism in me. Generally speaking, we have it pretty easy here in America. Our faith is rarely tested as it is in countries that don’t know freedom as we do. As we reflect on our independence let’s get out of our comfort zone and stretch our faith to see what God will do when His people believe. Here’s a video of some fireworks I watched to celebrate the independence of the United States of America.