Wednesday, December 9, 2015

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.” 
~ Elbert Hubbard

HOSEA 1-4

2When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son...

1The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”

JUDE

8In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”^d 10Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

20But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22Be merciful to those who doubt; 23save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.^f



JOURNAL

The journey of life is wild and full of seeming contradictions and struggles and difficulties. Yet it is designed by God and is to be lived under that authority and in trusting God, not in merely following my primal instincts. We have been given a brain and an ability to think and choose. Therefore we have the power to follow and choose God, who has given and chosen us.

This is our calling and it involves being pure in the midst of unspeakable evil and chaos.