Most of us know our own dirt isn’t the curated kind—and suspect it may be too much to clean up. In Matthew 9, Jesus walks past everyone with the polished-for-consumption sob story and stops at a tax collector’s booth, a man whose sin was public knowledge, and says simply, “Follow me.”
Saying the right things about Jesus can feel like a low-risk move until He keeps walking and we have to follow. The next part of our journey in Matthew 9 leads us to face the uncomfortable junction of faith and faithfulness.
The holidays can bring back the empty chair, the family hurt, the memories of when everything felt joyful—and before long, sorrow and anxiety begin to take over. The words of Romans 8 help us in times when grief feels stronger than truth.
We can do the right thing and still face an uncomfortable question: are we doing it because God called us, or because we want people to notice? In Matthew 6, Jesus assumes his people will give to those in need, then warns that even this good act can become a way of practicing righteousness “to be seen by others.”
Faithtoberfest returns to a crisp autumn night outside of FaithTree’s home, the Upper Room. On October 9 at 6:30 pm we will have a special, in-person and live streamed festival of incredible music from gifted artists all around our area, entertaining skits and terrific gift card prizes! Come in person if you can, because we will have delicious food as part of the festivities, but either way, please RSVP for this year’s event and relive last year’s fantastic festivities, below.
We tend to equate complex with superior. But that can deceive us into missing the truth.
You can ignore the symptoms, try one more remedy, even rub essential oil on a broken bone—until the pain makes denial impossible. At Israel’s rock bottom, Ezekiel 36 lays God’s people on the physician’s table and names what stricter rules and harder effort cannot heal: a heart hardened against its Maker.
At day’s end, the headlines follow you to bed: corruption deepens, truth blurs, and fear makes retreat feel safer than faithfulness. Second Timothy 3 names such seasons “perilous times,” yet it addresses believers called to live and speak the Gospel within them. How can Christians face a worsening world without being consumed by it—or becoming indistinguishable from it?
An acre of dirt, trees, and rock is being lifted over a California freeway on seventy-five girders—the largest wildlife bridge on earth, twenty years in the making, priced near a hundred million dollars. We tend to go for the grand, but the Apostle James suggests that being grand isn’t what matters most.