Daily Life

Loving Others

July 23, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

I was listening to a sermon by a pastor recently and heard him say, “I have no use for your religion when you claim to love a God you can’t see but hate your brothers and sisters who you can see.” It’s why religion disgusted Jesus as well. Religion of any flavor inevitably devolves into saying one thing with our lips but ignoring those same platitudes in our own lives.

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Religion defines a set of rules no one can ever keep. We will never be able to effectively share the truth with others as long as we insist they adhere to a set of rules Jesus never laid down.
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Nothing Without God

July 20, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

As I was praying recently, a thought occurred to me: “I am nothing except what You are through me.” We love to pose and posture. We love to talk about our accomplishments and achievements. But the reality is nothing we do would be possible if not for God. He created us, gave us our skills and abilities, provided our wisdom, and nurtured our development.

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Not a single thing we have ever done would be possible if not for some gift of God. That doesn’t mean everything we’ve done is good or blessed, but it does mean we are all absolutely useless and weak except for the providence of our loving Creator.
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Serve Where You Are

July 16, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

I love this quote from Christine Cain: “If you can’t serve God here, you won’t serve Him there because once you get there it will be here.” How often have you thought, if only God would put me there, or give me this, then I would truly be able to serve Him? We all fall victim to thinking we could serve God better if our circumstances were different.

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But the truth is, if you can’t serve Him where you are, with what you have, you won’t be able to serve Him regardless of where you are or what resources you have at your disposal. God calls you to serve Him right where you are, just as you are.
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Worshipful Wonder

July 13, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

I like to read authors from fifty years ago or more. It’s interesting how much of what they said so many years ago is still relevant today. They told it like it was without a hint of the political correctness that has become the rule of our day. One of my favorites, which will come as no shock to you if you have followed this blog for very long, is A.W. Tozer.

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This morning I read the following comment from him: “In the majority of our meetings there is scarcely a trace of reverent thought, no recognition of the unity of the body, little sense of the divine Presence, no moment of stillness, no solemnity, no wonder, no holy fear.” Sadly, this applies all too well to many of our modern churches.
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The Bottomless Sea

July 9, 2015 by Tim Sherfy

C.S. Lewis once said, “Remember that the ‘bottomless sea’ can’t hurt us as long as we keep on swimming.” That’s important to remember when we are going through dark times in our life. Jesus never promised a life spent pursuing Him would be easy. In fact, He told us it would be anything but easy (John 15:18-20, John 16:33, 1 Peter 5:10, James 1:2-3).

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Still, it is easy to question where God is in the midst of our struggle. We feel as if we’re drowning and see no way to get back to the surface. I can think of no better advice than what Lewis gave: just keep swimming! God is always closer than you think. He’s right beside you, reaching out His hand (Matthew 14:27-31).
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