Category: Quote

Goodnight Post

This is my final post for tonight. I love engaging in theological studies. However, one of the essential elements to growing in spiritual wisdom is that we must read wide and deep.

Reading wide means to read books that cover a variety of topics. One area I am passionate about is the condition of the Black community. Therefore, I end this post sharing an insightful quote from a book I’m currently reading entitled, “Black and Tired: Essays on Race, Politics, Culture, and International Development.”

The call for black men to embrace “individual responsibility” without defining “responsibility” makes matters worse. Black men need a more radical call to go beyond the individual self and demonstrate some concern for others.

Across America, black people long for a magic solution, for the next black messiah to come and unite “the community.” He is not coming. No single variable will solve this crisis. Confronting the issues of morality, education, family, marriage, job creation, and music complicate any solution matrix. At the heart of any solution, however, must be a move toward responsible service. Marching up and down every black neighborhood in America will change nothing until people hear the radical call sounded.

Previous calls for “individual responsibility” without virtue bred the kind of selfishness summarized in the phrase, “I’m gon’ get mine!” In many black communities, civil war rages. To tell black males to focus on “individual responsibility” stops neither the violence nor the fatherlessness.

In fact, radical individualism allows one, with a clear conscience, to murder one’s neighbor or impregnate women to whom there is no intention of remaining faithfully committed. The black community does not simply want individually responsible black men: it wants black men who see that they exist for the service of others.

Study Mindset

In this post, I’m providing an excerpt from a book I’m reading for my class, OT: Prophets and Wisdom Literature. I will share in a separate post some thoughts I wrote about in the reflection paper I submitted for class.

“Theodicy is the attempt to justify God’s ways in the world. If God is both all-powerful and all-loving, as the Bible claims, then how can evil exist in the world? How can the wicked prosper if God is just? Why do good people suffer, and how could God let it happen?” (Exploring the Old Testament: A Guide to the Psalms and Wisdom Literature)

LIVING HOLY IN THE MIDST OF EVIL TIMES

Evil has become pervasive throughout this city, nation, and the world. Consequently, it is imperative for the people of God to pray without ceasing, strive to live holy by the leading of the Holy Spirit, and adhering to the wisdom found in God’s holy word.

I end this post sharing a devotional reading. This reading is from a 7-day devotional entitled, “The Reset” found in the Youversion Bible app.

BE HOLY

As much as we are to grow in the understanding of God’s love for us, we must also be in pursuit of holiness.

To be holy means to be set apart or separate from sin and evil.

Holiness is not a message we hear often these days but it’s an essential part of our walk with God. Without holiness, we are unable to see God.

We are made holy through the finished work of Christ [His death, burial and resurrection] (Hebrews 10:10). However, we are also called to live a life that is holy. So, God calls us holy but still commands us to be holy.

Our ability to be holy is not a way to earn salvation because salvation is a gift from God, which we receive by faith. (Ephesians 2:8)

Holiness has to be continuously followed, put on and lived out in our daily lives. It is a work of God in us through the Holy Spirit, that enables us to demonstrate holiness outwardly.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” – Philippians 2:13

Ephesians 4:24 encourages us to put on our new self, this involves effort and choice.

Yes, we are still vulnerable to sin, however, we also have to choose and make an effort not to sin because of our new nature in Christ.

How much effort are you making to live a holy life?

Prayer Points

Ask God to help you to live a life that is honourable to Him.
Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the areas in your relationships/character/conversations, that do not honour the Father.
Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you of sin and lead you into all truth.
Ask God to work in you by way of His Spirit, so that you can bear fruit of His Spirit.

Insightful Excerpt

“I am concerned that too many people are focused too much on money and not on their greatest wealth, which is their education. If people are prepared to be flexible, keep an open mind and learn, they will grow richer and richer through the changes. If they think money will solve the problems, I am afraid those people will have a rough ride. Intelligence solves problems and produces money. Money without financial intelligence is money soon gone.”

― Robert T. Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad