Category Archives: wrong

Oct2

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Judges 19. “But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, ‘No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. Look, here is my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine; let me bring them out now. Humble them, and do with them as you please; but to this man do not do such a vile thing!’ But the men would not heed him. So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until morning; and when the day began to break, they let her go” (Verses 23-25). Ever wished you could skip over something in the bible and pretend it’s not there? If I could do that, this would be the chapter I would eliminate. But as horrid and terrifying as I find the words written here, it serves a purpose. Which is to remind us of what “Everyone did what was right in their own sight” looks like. It looks like the story in this chapter. It looks like the TV news we watch day in and day out, and then after wonder to ourselves, “How can people be this wicked?” This is life without God. This is what happens when people fill that longing with something other than God. The world today is no different from it was then, society lives by the “If it feels good, do it” rule. This chapter is a reminder of why those words are a lie. 

Aug27

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Joshua 7. “Achan replied, ‘It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.’ So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath. They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the Lord. Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor.  Joshua said, ‘Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today.’ Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from His fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since” (Verses 20-26). Think the punishment was too serve? Then we clearly don’t understand God’s disdain for sin. But more importantly we don’t understand the effect of sin. God said, “DON”T do this….” Achan did it knowing that he was sinning (he wouldn’t have hid it so carefully otherwise). Not only did he know he was sinning, he knew the cost of his sin and chose to do it anyway. His selfish behavior cost 35 men their lives. Upon seeing the consequences of his actions, he still choose not to own up. I genuinely believed that had he confessed God would have been gracious to forgive, however, he chose instead to continue acting as though life was normal. It wasn’t until God personally called him out that he admitted his sin. He didn’t admit because he was wrong, he admitted because he got caught. There was no repentance. That is the problem with sin, it causes one compromise after another, a little at a time till your heart is hard and you don’t care about others you only care about…YOU. That’s why the serve punishment, that’s why God completely eradicated any trace of it. We need to do the same in our lives (no I am not saying to kill ourselves, that is not the message here) I am saying kill the sin. Let go of what keeps God from blessing us. Eradicate it, don’t let anything stand in the way of what God has for us. God disdains sin and if we don’t kill it, it will kill us (and just so you know not all death is physical). 

Jun19

DAY 168 (2014)

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I am really upset right now. Upset and disappointed. Disappointed in woman-kind (yeah I know, it’s not a word, but I am upset so deal). Why am I so angry. I will show you.

This picture was post on the Stockton Police Department’s FB page recently: criminal . The man in the picture was a arrested for possession of illegal weapons. The police seized two rifles, a handgun, and a shot gun (fairly certain he isn’t going duck hunting). After posting the picture to the police department’s FB page it has received 15,000 likes and 3,700 comments. Now I am not a prophet or anything, but it doesn’t take a genius to conclude that the guns were going to be used in a “not good way”. You would think the 3,700 comments would be from people thanking the department for stopping a crime before it happened. Or maybe even people showing their gratitude that tonight they can breathe a little easier because these criminals were arrested. But sadly that is not what the comments are about. No, the comments are all about how good looking the criminal is! Yup, not lying I can hardly believe it myself. Women were posting things like, “I’d like to be in the same cell as him” and “It is a crime to be hot?” I almost cried after reading the article. I am baffled that we have fallen so far as to not see the crime, because we are blinded by good looks! I was about to go off on my soap box and rant when God reminded me that I do that (no, not this particular thing). I, too am sometimes blinded to the bad in a situation because I am so enthralled by the way it catches my attention. Here is some truth: Sin does not ever come to us in an ugly way, if it did we would not be so easily entangled. No sin tempts us, it shows all the aspects of it that we like, while subtly hiding the things we don’t. By the time we realize what is happening we are too wrapped in its clutches to escape. Beware friends don’t look at the “pretty” look at the “character” that’s where you’ll find the truth.

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart'” (1 Samuel 16:7).

So what’s the plan? Look at what God looks at.

May23

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

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I have hidden Thy word in my heart. (Picture by Lisa R)

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Leviticus 23. “‘Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death. You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the Lord your God” (Verses 17-22). I have often had this thought. “Would human kind be so swift to kill, steal, and destroy if God’s way was what we followed?” We are so quick to call for humane treatment and justice for an imprisoned person, but let us not forget it was their unjust and inhumane treatment of another that go them there. I am with God on this one, let the punishment fit the crime. Because if it did the world we live in would be a very different place today. Just a thought…

Feb18

DAY 49 (2014)

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Don't just see YOUR perspective. SEE the other PERSON'S as well.

Don’t just see YOUR perspective. SEE the other PERSON’S as well.

This week has been long, and it’s only Tuesday! I feel like my emotional meter has skyrocketed past capacity. So many changes are happening all at once, and adapting feels akin to walking a tight rope. I have been realizing that on a whole we (human beings) don’t know how to communicate. We see only our point of view and have a hard time seeing the other’s person’s perspective because we are so sure we are right. Here’s a complication, what if  both sides are right? What then, do we keeping pushing or do we take the time to find common ground? Pushing does nothing, but knock the other person down, leaving them feeling like their hard work amounts to nothing. But common ground gives us both something to build on, it produces soil that we each can sow into.  When I read my Bible and look at things from God’s perspective I genuinely believe that is part of His plan for us. The goal of life is not to fight, fight, fight to prove we are the best. The Goal of life is to be aware of the people around us pouring into their lives and allowing them to pour into us, so we ALL can be the best versions of ourselves. Life is short and without even looking for it we will see the faults in others, we will misunderstand what is being said. We need to take the time to look past the faults, take the time to really hear the words…we need to stop looking at the surface and see the heart.

“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

So what’s my plan of attack? Stop fighting, starting looking deeper.

Dec19

DAY 353

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A some point we all have to make a choice to uphold what's right, or to ignore what's wrong.

A some point we all have to make a choice to uphold what’s right, or to ignore what’s wrong.

I need some advice and I have decided to ask you all. What would you do if someone was subtly disparaging another person’s character? Would you tell the person being talked about? Would you confront the person doing the talking? Would you leave it alone and let it works itself out? I am struggling between these three options. There is a part of me that thinks I know the answer, but I genuinely don’t want to make the situation worse. I keep feeling that if I know what’s right just on the basis of right and wrong alone, I should always do what’s right. However, I want to do what’s right in the right way. So I have been praying for the answer. I have been contemplating this for a few days now and I am surprised at how easy it was for me to turn a bind eye at first, not because I didn’t see it, but because I just didn’t want to get involved. But lately my heart has been convicted by this thought: Wrong persists when just people do nothing. Ha! Writing this post has given me my answer. However, I still would like to know what you would do in this situation.

“If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17).

So what am I thankful for today? That I am learning to do what’s right.