Toni V. Lee

We are about to launch into a New Year. 2020 has been a year of change, tumult, tragedy, division, uncertainty and a lot of other words that describe a dark period.  On the flip side, for me, it's also been a year of clarity.  In the remaining hours of 2020, please take time to review the year and find the lessons learned. You will need those nuggets as you continue into the future.  In 2020, folk reached out to others and embraced empty air during their time of need. Need is not always dollars. Sometimes, all they needed was a kind word, an "I love you", a feeling of acceptance, etc. We get so busy doing "us" that we are blind to the hurt we're leaving in our wake.   Here's something to ponder. Our stuff matters, but people also matter.

Get the folk out your ear who agree with you when your actions are dead wrong. Most of the turmoil, delusion, cultism, and idolatry prevalent right now started from the pulpit and should’ve been shut down a long time ago when it first manifested. There WILL come a time of accountability for God does NOT like His people being messed with/deceived. If someone around you is encouraging you to believe and support lies for the greater good, shut it down. If someone is saying sin is okay if it’s done for a good cause, shut it down. If someone in your circle is praising, overlooking and/or supporting unscriptural and unscrupulous behavior, shut…it…down. If they’re enabling or winking at hate and wrongdoing, shut it down! If you’re asked to pray that deceit and unrighteousness are victorious, that’s NOT biblical. Period. Shut it down! Frankly, I don’t care what title or position that person is wearing, the size of their religious organization, how deep they...

Our heart (mind, emotions, will and conscience) condition matters to God. Jeremiah 17:9-10 NIV 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Psalm 19:14 KJV 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. Psalm 51:10 KJV 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Oh, God help us and revive us again!             

People are fickle.  The emotions and the desires of their hearts govern their relationships and motivations. They love today and hate tomorrow. They appreciate and support today and dis and discount the next day. They exclude people today they included yesterday. They promise and don’t deliver. They set loose returning boomerangs, but when they come back, their feelings get hurt because they can’t take what they’ve dished out. This really makes me indignant: They use the Word to justify their bad attitudes and choices to dis others. They spew hate and talk of the love of God all in the same breath. Yes, I’m talking about church folk.  Folk who by their changed nature should be in a different place. If you want to have a bad attitude, have it. If you want to separate yourself from people who have never done anything to you that justifies it, do it.  If you want to hold others in low esteem, thinking you are all that and some, go for it. It’s your choice, but please do me a...