Most recent public comments by Ruth Holt https://nowcomment.com/users/68893 https://nowcomment.com/documents/240393?scroll_to=2186693 https://nowcomment.com/documents/240393?scroll_to=2186693 We each have so many roles to try to fill, many things we are trying to be, and in general so many things we have to divide our time and energy between. It's easy to get caught up in it all, whether it's becoming overwhelmed, or finding your identity and pride in these earthly things. Either way, God set us apart for a higher purpose. We were created for more than this. Tue, 17 Nov 2020 12:10:54 -0600 https://nowcomment.com/documents/231221?scroll_to=2106397 https://nowcomment.com/documents/231221?scroll_to=2106397 Sat, 03 Oct 2020 09:36:05 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/226422?scroll_to=2073189 https://nowcomment.com/documents/226422?scroll_to=2073189 It's easy to care about appearances and what others think of us instead of God. Like thinking that God says not to complain, but it's fine if I refrained from saying it out loud... God is asking for a real change of heart and attitude, not just outward righteousness. At the end of the day, I don't think it will matter to us at all what others think. I imagine we'll fully realize how meaningless outward righteousness and others' opinions are when we're giving an account before God. Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:09:57 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/205656?scroll_to=1910870 https://nowcomment.com/documents/205656?scroll_to=1910870 It's easy to think "I don't have much to give," or "I'm just one person; why even try?" But that's not what matters to God, and thinking like that is focusing on our own weakness, not God's power. In God's hands, five loaves and two fish can feed thousands. Wed, 17 Jun 2020 10:03:43 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/196952?scroll_to=1856421 https://nowcomment.com/documents/196952?scroll_to=1856421 A little off topic from Jesus' main point, but this made me think of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We tend to feel bad for Lazarus, but actually he was better off. We should choose suffering for Christ and giving up everything rather than an easy life lived for ourselves. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17) Fri, 01 May 2020 15:50:09 -0500 https://nowcomment.com/documents/184884?scroll_to=1734458 https://nowcomment.com/documents/184884?scroll_to=1734458 Kind of like Paul learned in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: "And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." Thu, 02 Apr 2020 10:02:10 -0600 https://nowcomment.com/documents/184884?scroll_to=1734030 https://nowcomment.com/documents/184884?scroll_to=1734030 Thu, 02 Apr 2020 10:00:17 -0600 https://nowcomment.com/documents/179119?scroll_to=1684747 https://nowcomment.com/documents/179119?scroll_to=1684747 In Matthew 12:43-45, Jesus doesn't mention torment exactly when demons leave a man: “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first." Or is this more of a parable than literal truth? Tue, 24 Mar 2020 08:45:19 -0600 https://nowcomment.com/documents/173947?scroll_to=1658493 https://nowcomment.com/documents/173947?scroll_to=1658493 Wed, 18 Mar 2020 07:34:55 -0600 https://nowcomment.com/documents/173947?scroll_to=1658225 https://nowcomment.com/documents/173947?scroll_to=1658225 “Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” We don't need to worry when an all-powerful God cares and is watching over us. Tue, 17 Mar 2020 21:50:53 -0600