ponderUpon...

Last week I was listening to Father Thomas Hopko's podcast on Ancient Faith Radio. Midway through his podcast on the temptation of Christ he quoted Saint Anthony who said: "No one can be saved without temptation". Lately my posts have been about how we should view temptation in our lives. St. Anthony said it in just seven words. Temptation is imperative for salvation.  Let us think about what St. Anthony had to say. What St. Anthony said is a foreign thought, but I believe it is because we have at the least not been taught otherwise. Start with the first temptation, the tree containing the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. The tree that God created was not originally a temptation. Adam and Eve were only tempted once the enemy twisted God's command into the temptation of disobedience. Yes Adam and Eve went against God so they gave into temptation which was the enemy's demands instead of God's. Remember though, they had a choice. Their choice in ways s...

Temptation in itself is not sin...at all. Here is why I say that: Free will is the power to choose and in order for free will to exist temptation exists. Temptation is not God's creation, it exists in the realm of free will though, which God did ordain.  Wait, what is free will though? Free will, as we think of it is the power to choose. There are only two choices in this world. God's choice and our choice.  Let's break that last bit down even farther. God's choice is always right. Our choice is always wrong. I say that because Galations 2:20 "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me". When "we" are making choices that are God's choices "we" are not really choosing those choices on our own. The Helper (The Holy Spirit) is living, breathing, enabling us to have the power to choose God's choices. Once we ask God to enable The Helper to live through us then free will becomes evident...we are free to choose whateve...

I must first apologize for not posting last week as I told you all I would. God has been preparing me for this post though. He's been imparting to me so much knowledge that I must share it with all who will listen. So here is what God has been telling me: Surrender. All to Him. No matter what your situation is, what you are struggling with, if you believe your problems to be big whereas they're actually small, it does not matter. God requires that you first follow Him. First seek His counsel before you speak and act. No I don't mean to say what is going on in your life does not matter. What I am saying is when what is in your life is put in foreground and He recedes into the background; when your thoughts turn not first to Christ, that is when they do not matter. They can't matter because you are not letting Him be a part of them. God is the central force in our life. When that stops being the case nothing else matters. Our lives go through seasons, and sometimes we f...

This week God has really been hammering home to me Luke 12:48 "When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required". School, work, & other things are keeping me busy, more busy than I've probably ever been. Often though, it is easier to look at this as a discouraging aspect. Why do we look at a busy life as a discouraging thing? This is a question I am asking you. Earlier in Luke (10:2) Jesus told us that "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest".  We need to remeber our calling. The Father bore us into this world to make disciples for Him! Jaco Booyens (I highly suggest you look him up and follow him on social media) said, "a good leader doesn't create followers, a good leader creates other leaders". But a leader cannot be a leader if he is not given much....

Some people gathered around him and said, “How long will you make us wonder about you? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I told you already, but you did not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name show who I am. But you don’t believe, because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of my hand. My Father gave my sheep to me. He is greater than all, and no person can steal my sheep out of my Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” (John 10:24-30 NCV) "Because you are not my sheep" Jesus told them. This really struck me, and then it made me question, am I a part of Christ's sheep? If I am a part of Christ's sheep then Jesus said "no person can steal my sheep out of my Father's hand". How often though do we give our thoughts to the Enemy? So often it seems (speaking from experience) that it's not ev...

If someone gives you money and asks you to go buy something for them there are two options: either take the money and go buy what they asked or spend the money on yourself, buying what you want. To most all of us this is an easily made moral decision; I hope. Why is this decision not as easily made when living for God though? God gives you life. This life that has been given is not yours just as the money the person gave you is not yours. The reason the person gave you money is because of trust...God gave you life trusting you would spend it on Him, doing with it what He asks. Life holds much more purpose than spending it on ourselves because "the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:38). You are the one who has been entrusted with much...to go and make disciples. This task was only made possible when Jesus bought you with his blood "for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light" (Ephe...

You are standing on an open plain. To your left is a castle, a refuge, a safe place. Now you look to your right and you see something advancing. Whatever it is it doesn't look friendly. It's coming closer, your fear starts to build and you know you can run and take refuge in the castle but something holds you back. This is completely illogical, why aren't you running as fast as you can to where you know you will be safe, away from this advancing force of darkness. The choice is clear and obvious isn't it? This is the analogy of temptation. This is what I wish people would picture every time they're tempted. In the physical world we make smart choices (most of the time) when it comes to danger. We're not going to walk out in front of a passing bus or walk off a cliff. That would be completely illogical and idiotic. So why don't we think of temptation that way? Sometimes we do but what I'm say is why not think of it in this way all the time. If there was a...