humility

Rise Above the Hatred

October 10, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

The media and our daily experience inform us hatred is on the rise and becoming the prevalent emotion in society today. Never in my lifetime has there been such division across every line: political, cultural, racial, sexual, you name it. The informed and uninformed alike dig into the trenches of their viewpoints and refuse to accept or even listen to alternative viewpoints and ideas.

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Instead of polite discourse, every conversation today seems to devolve into shouting and interruption. Whoever shouts the loudest and longest is the victor. As Christ-followers, we are called to rise above the hatred and not respond in kind (Romans 12:17-21). If we act like and look like the world, the world will never see Jesus in our lives (John 13:34-35).

Scenes From the Rebellion

September 5, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

Everywhere you look, you will see examples of our rejection of God’s Word. I call them “scenes from the rebellion”. All you have to do is open the scriptures and read the commands of God to see how we revolt against His design for how we are to live. Reading God’s Word is a giant indictment of our selfishness and desire to make ourselves higher than God (Romans 1:21-23).

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Today I was reading James where he writes, “… Everyone must be slow to speak and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness” (James 1:19-20). It’s as if James was looking at our modern culture and writing down the opposite of everything we practice. This is how far we are from living in obedience to God’s Word. We are living 180 degrees from God’s standard.

Genuine Repentance

March 7, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

After recently writing about repentance (see “Repentance”), I didn’t think I’d be revisiting the topic so soon. Then I came across the following quote from Puritan Josias (Josiah) Shute concerning genuine repentance: “True repentance is when a man grieves for his sin to the extent that he abandons it.” It is one thing to think we are sorry for disobeying the commands of God. It is another to resolve from doing it again.

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But it is something else altogether for our sin to so grieve us that we abandon any thought of pursuing it in the future. We don’t just quit repeating the sin for a moment, or even for an extended period, but become so destroyed by even the thought of revisiting such sin that we scarcely even entertain a thought of it for the rest of our lives.

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Repentance

February 29, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

While I was praying for the leaders and people of my country to turn their hearts to Christ, I became convicted of the fact that revival occurs one heart at a time. The first heart that must repent is mine. Each of us must repent of all the ways we’ve turned away from God if we ever expect to see revival on a large scale in our land. Until we who profess Jesus as Lord have repented of not walking in the ways of God, how can we expect those who do not serve Christ to turn to Him?

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We first must shine the light of Jesus into the darkness. Never underestimate the power of God working through a single heart surrendered to Him. As I was praying, the Holy Spirit brought several areas in need of my repentance to mind. While certainly not proud of these, perhaps they will inspire you to repent of the same in your life or remind you of other areas you’ve allowed to fester unsurrendered for too long.

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Where is Your Hope?

February 19, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

In a world of hopelessness, where is your hope? Since it’s an election year in America, many place their hope in a politician or political party. Some place their hope in the amount of money they stockpile or perhaps in a certain level of success. Getting through each day surrounded by so much hate, anger, and violence requires we hope in *something* or we will crumble under despair.

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Putting our hope in anything in this world is putting hope in something that will not last. Perhaps it will last your lifetime, but recognize everything this world offers is temporary. Only Jesus is worthy of our hope, because only Jesus is eternal.

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