John

Love God and Serve People

September 8, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

Everything I write, and all I aspire to be can be summed up by the phrase “Love God and serve people”. It is the essence of discipleship because it is the quintessence of how Jesus lived His life. If we would only do these two things, everything else would take care of itself. If we focus on loving God and serving people, we will never be selfish, greedy, prideful, lustful, covetous, or evil.

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It is the elixir for all our struggles. Jesus asks very little of us, only that we love God and serve people. We overcomplicate things when we pile on additional rules, regulations, do’s, and don’ts. Living the life Christ created you to live is as simple as loving God and serving people.

A Few Things

August 4, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

Clement of Alexandria wrote, “Many will never reach the Kingdom of Heaven for they have fixed their eyes on wealth. They are sick for the things of the world. They live proudly through luxury. But those who are serious about salvation must settle this beforehand in their mind. All we possess is given to us to use for sufficiency, which one may acquire by merely a few things.” For those of us in the West, this should be especially convicting. We live proudly in our luxury.

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We take more for granted than half the world can even imagine possessing. All this extravagance will count for nothing when we stand before God and give an account of our lives. He will ask what we did with what He entrusted to us, and we will only be able to hang our heads and admit we hoarded it for ourselves (Luke 12:16-21).

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Shallow Prayers

May 16, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

Why is it when we have the power of God at our fingertips we confine our prayers to such small boundaries? We pray shallow prayers, content to focus on things immediately in our purview rather than dare to pray extravagant, deep prayers. Sure, there are exceptions, but I have rarely met someone whose prayers are regularly focused on the deep things of God and the ultimate mission of His Son.

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The God of the Universe resides within you, waiting for you to recognize the role He has given you to bring His Kingdom to earth. Jesus promised we would do greater things than He did (John 14:12-13), but we’ll never see that promise come to fruition as long as we are praying such safe and shallow prayers.

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Letting Go

May 12, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

We love Jesus and want to dedicate our lives to Him, but our stubborn old self keeps getting in the way. How do we conform our will to that of God? Francois Fenelon once wrote, “The way to have a good will that conforms to God is to give up our desires and fears and to leave ourselves completely in His hands. Those who do so… can never be moved, because their only desire is for God.”

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Living God’s will for your life necessitates a complete letting go. Too often we make the mistake of trying to figure out how to use our dreams and passions in conjunction with God’s will. That’s a totally backwards approach.

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Which Presidential Candidate Looks Most Like Jesus?

May 5, 2016 by Tim Sherfy

While some of our readers in other Countries might be unaware, it is hard to escape the fact in America we are in an election cycle. As with every cycle, there is an emphasis on candidates trying to win the “evangelical Christian vote”. Prominent Christian leaders come out of the woodwork to endorse one candidate or another, espousing why one follows Christian principles, while another does not.

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I saw a quote from a Christian musician I have held in high esteem that said, “You cannot be a Christian and vote for {candidate X}.” That made me really sad. As someone who used to be heavily invested in political things, I understand the fervor and rhetoric. But almost thirty years removed from those days, I now have much greater clarity.