faith

"Faith is more than just an attitude of the mind; faith is the complete, passionate, earnest trust of our whole nature in the Gospel of God's grace as it is presented in the Life and Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ." -Oswald Chambers, "Our Brilliant Heritage".
Speaking of faith in Christ, it is more than just a trust in the fact that what Christ said is true, it is trust in Him to the core of our being, trust in who He is, what He did, and its' outcome in our own life and the life of the whole world. It is a trust that covers all circumstances that unfold in our life and times that His Gospel is true and His grace is sufficient both in the healing of past hurts or reconciling past failings, and, in present power to be His witnesses through the Spirit He has sent to dwell in us.
That is good to know since times are changing. Changing toward what end? That remains to be seen in the short run, but, in the long run, changing toward that which God has promised, for which even all creation groans - the appearance of the Man of God and the establishment of His rule of love and holiness throughout the earth within and without.

emptiness

Emptiness, emptiness, void and hollow -
Sometimes life's too much to swallow -
Sometimes you just want to wallow
in self-pity or vague wonderings of
how unending this present pain,
this pain that remains a stain
on the journey's joy not a coy
but a bold affront, will be.
Being and being, yet, not seeing
the freeing desired, but the weeing
of its' largeness, smallness spreeing
in here and there, wherever, so
easily, yet hurtifully a hard blow
removing hope, insteads bestows
dry rot 'twill soon besot the
whole, fore, aft, aport, alee.
Surrounded, hounded by loss,
the dross of life, cause of cross
people's strife, and Christ's Cross
offered, proffered reversal there
love's reheresal more than fair -
a newness sure it does forswear -
emptiness filling, rot replacing,
freed and facing life with glee -
at least with Joy He gives to me!

Here's looking at you...

I read this today in Oswald Chamber's "Moral Foundations of Life" p. 90 - "Never look for other people to be holy; it is a cruel thing to do, it distorts your view of yourself and of others. Could anyone have had a sterner view of sin than Jesus had, and yet had anyone a more loving, tender patience with the worst of men than He had? The difference in the attitude is that Jesus Christ never expected men to be holy: He knew they could not be: He came to make men holy. All He asks of men is that they acknowledge they are not right, then He will do the rest --- "Blessed are the poor in spirit". How you view people does color how you act toward them and react to them. It affects the hope you have for yourself and for others as to a fullness of life, and possibly to change for the better. It is encouraging to me that He is hopeful for the best in me. It's because He is able to cause what He hopes for in me, and you.