By: Undre Griggs, Jr. Sometimes it is difficult to give credit where credit is due, respect where respect is due, and honesty where honesty is due. In life, people we traditionally disagree with will periodically make a valid, indisputable point. When that happens, are we able to admit it or do we try to dismiss it? We are led to believe if we support one stance today, then we are unable to support an opposing stance tomorrow. We are told if we align with one person on a particular issue, then we forfeit our right to disagree with them on another issue. This can create conflict and turmoil in our life because we can find ourselves supporting something that should not garner our support. Or we can find ourselves dismissing something that we traditionally agree with. Romans 13:7 (ESV): Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. We should not force ourselves to conform to ideas that are contrary to our belief system for any reason. If we find ourselves disagreeing with someone we love and respect; that is permissible. We owe everyone our respect, honesty, and love; but we do not owe any person blind allegiance. Romans 13:8-10 (ESV): Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Luke 6:35 (NIV): But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. That is why it is important to make sure we live in a manner that allows us the freedom to speak honestly and openly. We don’t want to accept anything from anyone that could be used to manipulate our decisions. It is equally important for us to make sure we are not putting anyone in a situation where they have to compromise their belief system. Even if we believe leveraging our relationship with someone can be to their benefit, we don’t want anyone to feel forced into anything. Whenever someone is coerced into doing something, it implies love is absent from their motivation. There is nothing peculiar about someone leveraging a relationship to attain a desired reaction; but there is something peculiar about someone giving without expecting anything in return. We want people to see our love for them and know that is the love of God in us. Let us continue to be careful in what we owe others and what we allow others to owe us; we don’t want to hinder or be hindered in any way.
By: Undre Griggs, Jr. This was the bold proclamation a newspaper made in response to a mass shooting in California. Included in this article were quotes from several politicians and public figures encouraging prayers for the victims. The premise of the article: politicians have the ability to end gun violence and instead are speaking platitudes, asking people to pray for the victims. Isaiah 26:4 (ESV): Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Prayer is the most powerful tool in our arsenal and with good reason; we do not have much of an ability to alter and/or control life. Consider a hurricane that is going to reach our shore in a week. We can prepare for the hurricane by boarding windows, buying nonperishables, water, and other supplies; but we cannot ensure the hurricane won’t kill us. Our lawmakers can create mandatory evacuation laws, but they cannot force us to leave our home; nor can they guarantee we won’t die in a car accident during the evacuation. God is the only consistent thing in this life and He wants us to lean on him. Proverbs 3:5 (NKJV): Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. We frequently find an excessive belief in man to solve our problems will lead to disappointment, heart ache, and suffering. You may recall the story of Bernie Madoff. He was a financier and stock broker who had 4,800 clients investing with his firm. Despite the investigations and red flags, his clients continued to trust in him because of the results he was promising. In 2009, Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison with $170B in restitution for stealing from his clients in an elaborate Ponzi scheme. Many were paid back pennies on the dollar and lost their retirement and entire life savings. Jeremiah 17:5-6 (NIV): This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. From a practical standpoint; if everyone prayed before acting, the extra time spent gathering thoughts would be beneficial to the outcome. From a spiritual standpoint, praying for the victims to be healed and their families to be comforted should be encouraging to all. In the end, it is always important to remember that prayer and other acts of faith will lead us to express our faith further. Similar to Noah’s faith motivating him to build the ark; our prayer for the victims may move us to visit them in the hospital or send a card to their family. It may even promote advocacy to where we work with lawmakers to create necessary change in our society. Prayer should be the first and last thing we do, not because we don’t want to help in other ways, but because we want to make sure the right change takes place.
By: Undre Griggs, Jr. If you grind to better yourself, you understand failure is a part of life. We have to look no further than our lives as children. There was a point in time we did not know how to ride a bicycle. While learning, we fell many times and even contemplated giving up, but we didn’t. With guidance, we were able to learn from our failures and we ultimately achieved our goal. Proverbs 24:16 (NKJV): For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. Consider some of the classes we took while we were growing up. We may have learned addition in the first grade, subtraction in the second grade, multiplication in the third grade, and fractions in the fourth. Each year there was an initial struggle and when we finally understand the process, the school wanted to teach us different mathematics. It is likely we contemplated whether we knew enough arithmetic to forego learning anything else. The sting of struggle and failure can be a deterrent of growth, but God wants us to understand our shortcoming is where His strength prospers. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV): But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. In many instances, unlike children, adults have the ability to choose whether they will endure failure and suffering. Since we have the option to continue, our mind may be focusing on the pain in an effort to determine whether the pain is worth pressing through. Children, understanding the requirement to continue are more likely to accept and learn from the experience. Like our younger selves, we have to disregard the pain and focus on what we can learn from the experience. Romans 5:3-5 (ESV): More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. In life we need to remain as humble as little children, understanding our wisdom is not greater than our Father’s. In a world full of sin, failure and suffering are guaranteed and should be anticipated. We need to set our minds on the fact it produces character and hope within us. We should find peace in the love that God has poured in our heart; remembering that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.
By: Undre Griggs, Jr. When dealing with the unknown, we have the natural tendency to first search for answers from our friends and family. It is almost an innate reaction for us to seek what we know when dealing with what we do not know. King Nebuchadnezzar was no different; he was terrified because he had a dream that he could not understand (Daniel 4:4-5). Nebuchadnezzar first pursued advice from those he knew best; his friends and trusted council. Daniel 4:6-7 (NKJV): So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation. There is nothing wrong with seeking what we recognize when confronted with something unfamiliar; but God should be the familiar refuge we seek first. God is more consistent than any person we have met, more knowledgeable than the wisest among us, and more concerned about our wellbeing than our closest family member. Remarkably, Nebuchadnezzar knew he should have looked to God for answers; because Daniel already interpreted a dream that Nebuchadnezzar’s wisest men could not decipher (Daniel 2:1-11). The ability of the king’s wisest men fell short again and Nebuchadnezzar eventually requested for God’s servant Daniel to interpret this dream too. Daniel 4:8-9 (NIV): Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream. (He is called Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is in him.) I said, “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream; interpret it for me. When we are confronted with fear of the unknown, we must seek answers from the correct place. Sometimes the answers do not come as quickly we would like, but that is no reason to lose faith in God. Stay strong through the unknown, understanding that God is wise and omniscient; loving and enduring for His people. Romans 11:33 (NIV): Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
By: Undre Griggs, Jr. Patience is a sign of faith and faith is a sign of hope; hope in something greater than what we see in front of us. Romans 8:25 (ESV): But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV): And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. There are so many situations in life where we have little to no control over the results. That is why it is essential we lean on God and his understanding when coping with the difficulties of life. Whether we find ourselves with financial issues, relationship/family issues, or health issues; we must patiently trust that God’s will is in our best interest. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV): Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV): For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Patience produces faith, which creates trust, which leads to obedience in God. When we lack patience, we are more likely to pursue goals on our own timetable instead of God’s timetable. We are going to seek our wisdom before we seek God’s wisdom, and we are likely to forget to include God in our plans. James 4:13-15 (ESV): Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” When we show patience in the will of God, we will be strong enough to handle anything. We will look past the here and now and put our hope in our future with Christ. Our life on earth is but for a moment; our pain is temporary and one day all of our suffering will cease. We should focus on the things that will never cease, because there we will find a peace that lasts a lifetime. 1 John 5:11-13 (NIV): And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
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Dean Road
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