My reflections

38 posts latest post 2026-02-07
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Feb 2026 | 1 posts

Reflection - Philippians 3:8

Philippians 3:8 More than that, I even consider all things to be loss because of the surpassing greatness of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for the sake of whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and consider them dung, in order that I may gain Christ Loss # Paul’s words are convicting this morning… I even consider all things to be loss. Danger Do I? Do I consider anything and everything as closer to literally nothing when compared to knowing Jesus? I don’t know, this morning I can’t even articulate what it means to consider allthings “loss”. What a trivial picture but how often is my mind and spirit stuck between the green boxes… fixated again on my retirement, kid’s school costs, the fact that ribeye steak is still $20/lbs. I have anxities like anyone else over things in the world, and if my net worth increased by $3M today what would my response be… would I consider it a loss when compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ? Or would I experience joy and hope for my earth…
Reflection - Psalm 119:15

Reflection - Psalm 119:15

Psalm 119:15 I will meditate on your precepts and look at your ways. Meditate # Spurgeon had a good thought here… It is not the act of eating that actually nourishes our bodies, it is digestion… The same is true for our spiritual growth - merely listening to a sermon will not transform your heart and life, the Word of God must be digested and meditated upon to work in our members and change us. What is it to go to church every week but never spend time musing upon the things of God? If you chew your food and spit it out right after the meal what good did it do you? Maybe you felt good during the songs, liked the taste of the food, heard something interesting from the pastor, commented on the decor in the dining room…. but once you leave, do you remember what you ate? Do you talk about it with those who ate with you? Did you practice cooking that delicious meal later in the week? So it is with us and the precepts of the Lord. The law of God, in light of Jesus, is not a burden any longer…
Reflection - Jude 24

Reflection - Jude 24

Jude 24-25 24 Now to the one who is able to protect you from stumbling and make you to stand before his glory blameless with exultation, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time and now and for all eternity. Amen. make you to stand before his glory blameless with exultation # The ultimate hope of the one called to Jesus - to be made blameless. Those who are blameless are those who are free. When we are in debt we are limited - this feels like a pretty natural thing. I owe money on my house, so there’s about $1000/mo that I have to put towards that, no options. Worse than a necessity (cause a place to live is a foundational need for humans) is unnecessary debt - debt for free choices. pay as you go Have you seen these pay-as-you-go services? Affirm and Klarna, etc…. You can finance (go into debt) your door dash orders, uber rides, amazon cart all usually with just a few clicks! They want you poor. Jesus doesn’t…
Reflection - Numbers 11:11

Reflection - Numbers 11:11

As if the Lord orchestrated Spurgeon’s meditation to give me a spring board to what I need for the third day in a row… Reflection - 1 Kings 19:8 He showed me that he sustains me unto his own service and glory Reflection - John 4:14 He showed me that I’ve been pushing away aspects of his provision And today I see the trials in my life reveal the status of my faith… Last night I got a phone call that I missed a credit card payment, which I thought odd since everything is on auto-pay. Well, turns out our checking account got a smidge low, low enough that the credit card payment was cancelled… In reality this isn’t a huge deal, but it threw me off and continues to this morning. The truth is, the only issue is my lack of in-depth understanding of our money movement. Our lifestyle and living expenses are well below what we can otherwise afford, but in my laziness I have mostly neglected each of our accounts individually. No doubt this “trial” is self-imposed but Spurgeon’s meditation is snap…
Reflection - John 4:14

Reflection - John 4:14

Today Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening” was on John 4:14 John 4:14 But whoever drinks of this water which I will give to him will never be thirsty for eternity, but the water which I will give to him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” Being autistic and growing up in the Church led to a few acute pain points for me growing up. A commonplace issue for me was when theological truths were expressed in absolute terms but didn’t “feel absolutely true” for me. I made a practice of trying to force myself to just “be ok” in light of the truth. A Memory Marissa was one of my best friends in high school - we spent a lot of time together in church, school, extra-curriculars, etc. She was an ever-present friend to me even when I was difficult to love. I recall multiple times, and one vivid memory for sure where I wasn’t doing well and she inquired. But my response was “I have Jesus, so I have to be OK”. I tried to filter my immediate acute pain through the lens of ete…
Reflection - 1 Kings 19:8

Reflection - 1 Kings 19:8

Spurgeon picked 1 Kings 19:8 this morning and his meditation was encouraging at a meta-level. Highlighting to me that we (Christians) in maturity can be refreshed from any passage of scripture. This isn’t because the Bible is magic, and I believe it should be studied appropriately in context (heavily) in order to solidify foundational pieces of understanding. But I also cannot deny that I serve a living God who actively works in the lives of people - and one way he might do that is to encourage through pastoral reflection on Biblical truths that may be brought to mind though not necessarily instructed in a passage. This is a specific point of Christian life that I have been meditating loosely on lately - to be open in my heart to finding joy and refreshment in Biblical truths that God may bring to mind even though the “origin” of that thought might be an unrelated passage of Scripture. This has been the case for a few weeks at this point, and today felt significant as I read Spurgeon’s…

Reflection - Psalm 84:11

Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening today (actually the evening one) is for Psalm 84:11. Psalm 84:11 Psalm 84:11 (LEB): 11 Because Yahweh God is a sun and a shield; Yahweh gives grace and honor. He does not withhold good from those who walk blamelessly. What is it to me to hear and know that Yahweh gives grace and honor? I’m asking this because Spurgon’s meditation this morning has a particularly striking line in it The little conjunction “and” in this verse is a diamond rivet binding the present with the future: grace and glory always go together. The translation he was using has “glory”, I quoted “honor”. The word is (kabod) which generally basically means “weight”. I got very distracted this morning unfortunately and therefore my reflection will be cut short… I know meditating on these things opens my day up to go in a better direction… May Yahweh give grace to me today, to live in a glorified and honorable way… one worthy of the gospel of Christ. Philippians 1:27 Whatever happens, condu…
Reflection - Deuteronomy 33:29

Reflection - Deuteronomy 33:29

Note reflections are not theological study Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening today starts with: Deuteronomy 33:29 Deuteronomy 33:29 (LEB): 29 Blessed are you, O Israel. Who is like you, a people who is saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, and who is the sword of your triumph, and your enemies, they shall fawn before you, and you shall tread on their backs.” What is it to be saved by Yahweh? It is to be blessed… Material blessings are the cheapest understanding of this idea… Danger I feel such a strong need to even say that, in any of my public reflections to try to caveat every statement that someone hostile to my faith might say while reading, or get ahead of a bad idea a less mature Christian might hear me say without enough context… but ultimately these reflections are not deep study, and when I acknowledge that ’to be saved by God is to be blessed’ I don’t need to follow it up with “but not necessarily with money and possessions”… No, the truth of God flows from the Word and thro…
Reflection - Romans 3:26

Reflection - Romans 3:26

From Morning and Evening today, Spurgeon has thoughts on Romans 3:26. I need more context personally, so here’s a newer translation of 3:25-26 Romans 3:25-26 25God put Jesus forth as the place of mercy, through faithfulness, by means of his blood. He did this to demonstrate his covenant justice, because of the passing over (in divine forbearance) of sins committed beforehand. 26This was to demonstrate his covenant justice in the present time: that is, that he himself is in the right, and that he declares to be in the right everyone who trusts in the faithfulness of Jesus. Goldingay, J., & Wright, T. (2018). The Bible for Everyone: A New Translation (Ro 3:25–26). SPCK. NPP I’m not here to debate “faith in Jesus” vs “faithfulness of Jesus”… I feel so beyond debating semantics when either way it’s Jesus who gives you faith and chooses in the first place Spurgeon’s meditation certainly resolves around Penal Substitutionary Atonement, a doctrine I have come to mostly reject, but I have pl…
Reflection - Galatians 5:1

Reflection - Galatians 5:1

Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening” today is about the freedom we have in Christ. Freedom is a core concept of Christianity, and one no doubt bastardized and warped by modern progressive culture (like Ancient Greek modern, not 2010s modern). Freedom is not the ability to do whatever I want without consequence… it’s not even the ability to do whatever I want! What a nightmarish hell the world would be if each one of us could (and especially did) act on every desire that comes into our hearts… Isle of Dreams It’s like the Island of Dreams in CS Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader… The seaman are all excited about their “dreams” (long lost lovers, money, etc) but the man they rescue makes it clear to them it’s not the place where daydreams come true… but dreams…. think of the scary dreams you’ve had, or you’ve heard your kids have… With that context you probably don’t want to go to the Island of Dreams So, this childish anti-view of “freedom” should immediately be rejected by any well-reasoned…