Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  People lately love saying that they are moved by reason, that they are sensible. I think to myself, really? It doesn’t sound like it. I mean, you hear all the time people praising and motivating others to “follow your heart”, tell me how is that sensible?  In this context, “the heart” means emotions; and emotions mean unstable. What are emotions? According to a dictionary from Oxford languages,  emotion is a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others . Important words from this definition: instinctive, deriving, circumstances, mood.  None of these words reflect something reasonable. They all relate to something temporary. How can instinct be related to reason, if reason is something that separates us from the animal world? We are able to reason, the animals are not. We can build a train of thoughts, we keep a conversation. We argue. We defend our position. All these are based on reason. Therefore, “follow...

  Another day I was watching a priest talk about idols. It was very interesting. But the thing that really caught my eye was something he said: “God comes and accepts you the way you are, why aren’t you accepting the way He is?” Let me rephrase, I have talked about this once or twice. We try to get God to do what we want, the way we want, at the time we want.  So, why do we bother having a God? What we really want is a slave with superpowers that can give us whatever we want, whenever we think it is best.  People ignore His laws, but somehow, they still have the sense of Justice God has put in us. But it is only justice if we are the ones feeling unjustified. God sees it differently. James 1: 2-8 tells us a lot of things. You see, there is no passage in the Bible saying that the God to be God will do everything to keep you from problems, sadness, misfortunes, and tragedies. On the contrary, Jesus said, “in the world, you will have tribulation”. James teaches something mor...

I’ve been looking for a subject to talk about here for some weeks now. Finally, I got it. I am reading for the second time this book “This momentary marriage” by John Piper . I love this book because it teaches about marriage and its relation to the church. Because we’ve all heard that Christ is the groom, and the church is the bride. But… hardly someone takes the time to explain that.   Anyway, I am not going to talk about marriage here. If you want to know more.. check out his book. I recommend. What I want to talk about is what John Piper commented on what Paul wrote in Colossians 2:13 – 14. “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him [Christ], having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”   Now, I am going to quote John Piper here… because I thought he explains it beautifully.   “ Thos...

          I hope you’re well. Since last December… I haven’t written anything. I don’t know also where to start. What do you think about this year? Will it be better than last year? One thing is for sure, at least here in the U.S. I think the pandemic is really over now. Only a few people still feel the need to wear masks, although we all know that doesn’t help at all. So why not just take a deep breath, breathe a good amount of oxygen, and let it fill your brain with good thoughts? I think this could be a good start.    As you may have seen, in California has been raining a lot lately. I consider it a blessing since we were in drought for so long, but I don’t think everybody feels the same. There are many places suffering by the devastation of so much water and flooding everywhere.   This is an interesting point to look at.  How we perceive things as blessings or not. What might be a blessing for some, might be a curse for others. Isn’t it i...

Jesus is the center of Christmas (Jesus Christ, Christ-mas)   How are you going to celebrate this year? Yes, this 2022 year. How are you going to do it?  On the beach watching the fireworks? Having dinner with your family?  It doesn’t really matter where or how… I don’t care. But I want to make a suggestion.  At least, before you go, think about 10 to 20 things that happened this year, good and bad things. Things that you first thought were bad then later you realized it wasn’t that bad after all. I bet there were many things that you thought didn’t matter that much but were important in the end. Think about people that you met, new people, old friends. People who had died and you got the chance to say goodbye. Maybe you are still in mourning. Think about the good things you have done for yourself, to others, especially for others. I bet you can do better next year.    Thank God for your life, and the lives of your relatives and friends. Thank God for the f...