Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  You know, we want to believe that we are wise in our own eyes. Then, God sends a test. And then what happened? We fail. Why do we fail? Because we believed that we were wise. We trusted in ourselves. We thought that we had been through enough to know what was right, what was the best alternative, the best response, the best… and then what happened? Our humanity happened. Our pride comes in and messes with everything. We think we are too good to be true, right?   Some people believe that saying that God tests us is wrong. But He does, and He does all the time. Why? to break our pride, to fix us, to show us His power—what else?   I have at least eight verses here saying that God tests us.   I have asked myself this question so many times: Why did God put those two trees in the Garden of Eden? Didn’t He plant a trap? Maybe. Didn’t He know that the devil would come in serpent form to test those humans? He did. Then, why?   Well, the test was this: where are you le...

Let me paraphrase here Jesus what he says in Matthew 7:1 – 5. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount said: “Do not judge, for with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged. And yet, when you do, take a moment to evaluate yourself, because you cannot take a speck of anyone’s eyes”. Have you ever tried to take a speck out of somebody's eye? It is impossible, isn't it? Well, it's the same when we try to correct or "help" someone by being judgmental. When we first correct ourselves, the other person may see us and correct themselves.  It is intrinsically human the act of judgment. We are always judging, are we not? Every person who we have encountered or talked to or even only seen. We think of things that are judgments. We judge their clothes, their way of saying things, their cars, their spirituality, and their behavior; even we think we can judge their thoughts, meaning we assume things that we have no way of knowing. Things that haven’t been spoken yet, only just b...