I Thessalonians

A New Plan

December 30, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

For years, the last couple of weeks of the year were a flurry of activity for me. This was goal-setting time, a time to reflect on what I accomplished over the past year and make plans for what I would aspire to do in the year to come. I had one-year plans, three-year plans, five-year plans, and ten-year plans. I laid out everything neatly and precisely. While my goals would evolve, I always had a roadmap for my life.

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I was leaving as little to chance as possible. “The man who fails to plan plans to fail”, or so the saying goes. But, to quote another famous saying, “Man plans, God laughs.” Except I’m not sure God was laughing at all the plans I was making. I think shaking His head might be more accurate.

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Discernment

October 4, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

Philippians 1:9-11 tells us we should never stop growing in love and discernment. The passage goes on to tell us this is important so we can approve the good things and stay away from the bad. The goal of which is to be blameless when Christ returns. All of us want to be blameless before Christ, and none of us want to be caught unaware when He returns.

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If you should fear anything in life, fear what Christ’s return will find you doing. Now, if we live our lives wholly devoted to Him, we won’t have to worry about it. If we let compromise come into our lives, who knows what Jesus may find us doing. We only get one shot to do this right.

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Speak His Truth

March 1, 2021 by Tim Sherfy

In a culture that is ironically becoming less tolerant in the name of tolerance, disciples of Jesus must remember He calls us to continue to speak His truth to a world floundering in deception. Our calling is not to espouse political opinions or to pontificate on economic policies. Our calling is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to bathe the world in His love (Matthew 28:18-20).

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It’s not wrong to hold opinions about things outside of God’s Word. Having opinions is part of what makes us human. But when we saturate our speech with more political rhetoric than Godly truth, we are going too far and fighting battles the Lord does not intend for us to fight.

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The Danger of Complaining

May 23, 2019 by Tim Sherfy

Complaining can kill our spirits. No one likes to hear someone else complain, but we love to do it ourselves. At the heart of complaining is a victim mentality. We feel an injustice has been done to us, someone else has been given what we deserve, we didn’t get a fair shot, or perhaps we weren’t born into the right family or country or endowed with the perfect looks or talents.

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Some seem to have elevated complaining about co-workers, friends, or family to an art form. For others, it seems to be more a sport, as each successive complaint tops the previous one. Despite our fascination with complaining, nothing good will ever come from it.

Expanding God’s Presence in your Life

August 14, 2014 by Tim Sherfy

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Photo Credit: roujo via Compfight cc

Jesus made it clear that we cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). The Bible also states that darkness cannot coincide with light (I John 1:5; John 8:12; John 12:46; 1 Thessalonians 5:5). We can’t fill our lives with darkness and expect the presence of God to be evident within us. We spend too much time pursuing our desires and counting on God to bail us out when things don’t go our way. If you’ve been following Jesus for any amount of time, you realize it doesn’t work that way. As creatures of freewill, we have the ability to limit the power and presence of God in our lives. The more we fill our lives with sin and things not of God, the less room we have for Him.