Devotional for friends // Devocional para as amigas

  I started thinking more about suffering since the pastor is preaching about it. Moreover, I have my own share of suffering myself. I learned to love the book of Job, and learned to observe the troubles the people of God go through in their whole lives. From the beginning until the end of one's life, they have some sort of suffering. There is only one place in the Bible where it is written that suffering will be no more. It is at the very end. When God restores his creation and humanity. But, apart from that, there is none. So, I don’t know where people, including Christians, get the idea that Christians should not suffer. They should not have diseases; God must solve their problems. And so on. They might not have said with all these words, but with their actions and their prayers. Demanding God to solve, to cure, to release, to provide… God doesn’t owe us anything. You got that, right? We, on the other hand, are in debt until we come clean ...

  Should I keep quiet forever? Is silence that bad? Can’t I stand my own thoughts that I need to say out loud? What kind of thoughts come to my mind? Are they generally good or bad? If I choose to speak up, to whom would it benefit? If anyone ever. Let me be clear: It is better not to say a word than say words that will do more harm than good. What if it is the truth? I ask, why would you say it? How would you say it? The truth will come out eventually. You don’t need to lie or be rude. What we must do is to be kind. If I tell you the truth in a harsh way, will you accept, or will you only hear the harsh sound of my voice and ignore completely what I was trying to say? Sometimes, not even the kindest words won’t make it through because the listener isn’t listening at all. The listener doesn’t care about your opinion, doesn’t care about others. The listener just cares about himself. The listener just wants to say w...

Bible Project Podcast Redemption episode   The Bible Project podcast has lately dedicated itself to the theme of Redemption. We all have a plain idea of what redemption in the Bible means, or not. It isn’t an easy subject to talk about; nevertheless, they chose to expand their knowledge and pass it on. I love it. So, the whole Bible talks about redemption. But what does redemption mean? Well, sometimes, we get a coupon, and then what do we do with it? We redeem it, right? We use this word mostly in this sense. We exchange, we give something in place for something else. Back in Genesis, Abraham and Sarah got tired of waiting for God’s timing; they got worried and decided to fulfill God’s promise by their own means. Meaning, they used and abused a foreign slave (an Egyptian slave - ironic: where did they end up being slave?). Remember, God sees all, and no one stays unpunished. What happened after the child was born? Sarah got pregnant. Ops!...

  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)   I was listening to Tim Mackie’s podcast about Matthew 26. He was talking about how big a failure we all are. It doesn’t matter what we say that we will do, because in the end, we will fail, if we start counting on ourselves, our strength, or counting on other people to get anywhere. Jesus in the garden for one moment didn’t want to go through with the plan; he knew what was coming for him. He freaked out. Who wouldn’t? Were the disciples paying attention to what was going on with Jesus at that moment? No, they weren’t. They were tired and their eyes were heavy, they couldn’t stay up.   So yeah, we get tired and we fail. Did that cause Jesus to give up on them? Jesus knew who would betray him, and he knew that all of them would run away when the persecution arrived. Did Jesus get angry at them? No, he didn’t.   What did ...

  Have you noticed that every bad thing that any person does is either hidden or in the darkness? Although nobody wants to live in darkness nor hidden, people still hate the light. The light shows them their flaws, their unrighteousness, every bad thing. I asked myself several times the same question. I know the answer, but it is irrational if you stop to think about it. Your hate for Christianity. Have you asked yourself why you hate Christians that much? Is it because Christ is the Light and in Him there is no darkness? Everything gets exposed with Christ. You must confess all bad deeds that you have done, and you will know that you’ll very likely do them again and again. Is it because your pride is too big? You are too good to need God in your life. Right? Or are you too bad and think that God wouldn’t like you, or He will reject you? (In fact, every and any reason you come up with for hating Christians, you know, isn't good e...

  I come from a church tradition that doesn’t really like many things. It seems to me that that purpose of teaching those things was just to differentiate from another church tradition.   Lately, I have come to understand a few things about one thing. The very and most important thing about Christianity. The cross.   After I moved here to the U.S., especially to this church I go to now, I noticed people wearing cross jewelry. I started liking it. Then I decided to adopt it.   People from my old tradition don’t really like it. It got me thinking. Why? Isn’t Christianity about the life and death of Christ on the cross and his resurrection?   I asked myself why I was wearing it. What does it mean to me? What does the cross mean to me? There is this hymn “…so I cherish that old rugged cross”. Yes, every Christian sings this hymn. It is beautiful. Without the cross, there is no Christianity.   The...