Ronnie McBrayer

What Really Matters

Francis de Sales said, "I would rather answer to God for being too lenient than for being too severe. Is not God all love? Is not God the Father the Father of all mercy? Isn’t God the Son as a gentle Lamb? Is not God the Holy Spirit like a Dove? Can we act any different than God? It is a terrible thought, but one that is true: We love God as much as the person we love the least."

Believe in the One, Part 7 (8 of 8)

"I am the true vine," Jesus said. "Abide with me." My friends in recovery really get this concept of abiding - finding home on the way. It’s captured in Step 11 : “Seek - through prayer and meditation - to improve your conscious contact with God as you understand God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will and the power to carry it out.”
Staying connected is how you stay on the wagon. Constant, conscious, mindful contact: If you don’t stay with it, you won’t stay with it. Be daily aware - be hour-by-hour aware - sometime minute by minute aware - that the source of your wellbeing, the source of your life is God, supplying what you need.

Believe in the One, Part 6 (7 of 8)

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Only card-carrying Christians get to go to heaven? Not so fast. This statement has nothing to do with religion. Nothing whatsoever, for Jesus did not come to start a new religion. 
“Are you saying it does’t matter what people believe?” I didn’t say that. “Are you saying that all religions are the same?” I didn’t say that either. “Are you saying there are multiple ways to get to God?” Not at all. “So, what are you saying?”
It matters deeply what people believe; it matters more how people act. Religion is fine for as far as it goes, but no religion is capable of bringing us into contact with God. And yes, there is only one way to know God. It is the way of Jesus. And what is the way of Jesus? 
“This is my commandment that you love one another…Love each other in the same way I have loved you…Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself…Those who live in God live their lives as Jesus did.” Anyone walking the way of humble, sacrificial, love for others is on their way to knowing God. 

Believe in the One, Part 5 (6 of 8)

"I am the resurrection and the life." - Jesus in John 11:25
Martha says to Jesus as he arrives too late to save her brother Lazarus, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died." Mary says the same thing to Jesus.  Jesus had let them down. More so, God’s chosen one had let them down. Thus, God had let them down. But who has not been disappointed with God? Who hasn’t wanted - at least once in their life - a good old fashioned reckoning, an explanation from the Almighty?
If you’re never had questions, never demanded proper answers, never wondered why God seems so God-forsaken slow to respond to a crisis or an injustice - then you must check your pulse. To live in this world - under these rules - whatever they are, is to experience divine disappointment at the subterranean level of your soul. Yet...some disappointments are not forever.

Believe in the One, Part 4 (5 of 8)

Maybe the cowboy is the consummate American. Driven. All in with big, thunderous, stampeding noise. Armed to the teeth, fighting, pushing, and eating everything from the head to the hoof on the promise of big payday.
“I am the good cowboy.” Jesus wouldn’t say that. He couldn’t! Not in the stereotypical way. But he could say, “I am the good shepherd.” The cowboy consumes. The shepherd cares. The cowboy wants his pay. The shepherd wants his sheep. The cowboy’s trail ends in death. The shepherd’s trail ends with life - the only death he invokes is his own - in protection of his sheep.

Believe in the One, Part 3 (4 of 8)

Jesus said, "I am the gate." He didn’t speak of religion, sacraments, denominations, rituals, or even the Bible . He spoke of himself.  If we take Jesus at his word, and if he is the living in-the-flesh representation of all that God is,  then Jesus is enough. I am not anti-religion or anti-establishment, per se. I am simply pro-Jesus, and believe that our universe of faith revolves around the living Christ.

Believe in the One, Part 2 (3 of 8)

Consider the sun: It protects us, orders out time and the seasons. It provides what is needed for plants to grow, thus giving us air to breathe. It warms the oceans and keep the water currents moving. It is the basis of all agriculture. It disinfects our water. It provides renewable, abundant energy for life. It creates the gravity that keeps us grounded.
When Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” he is inviting us into an ecosystem in which we can thrive. Come in from the cold. Come out of the darkness. Enter into a way of living that has meaning, purpose, and a future. It is an invitation to grow, to become, to rise and shine.

Believe In The One, Part 1 (2 of 8)

In this second part of the Ronnie's series on the gospel of John and Jesus' "I Am" statements, he turns to John 6 where Jesus says, "I Am the bread of life." Jesus offered his listeners, and his readers today, a fulfillment beyond their shallow or misguided desires.

Believe In the One: Introduction (1 of 8)

This is an introduction to the Gospel of John, Part 1 of 8: Of all the books in the New Testament, the Gospel of John sits unto itself. There is nothing else quite like it in the Christian Scriptures. Its most unique feature is its focus. From John 6:29: “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” AndvJohn 20:31: This book was written “so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.” More than any other author in all the canon, John writes to induce belief in the reader; he invites the reader to put his or her faith in Jesus - in the One.

Starfish

This is my motivational talk for 2026. “You cannot possibly make a difference,” will be whispered into your year, shouted at your face, and felt within the deepest part of your heart this coming year. But you can make a difference for "one little starfish." For one little classroom of school children; in one little corner of the community; with your one and only family.
Lasting differences are hardly ever made by some hero or heroine who shows up on a white stallion or wearing a mask and a cape. Lasting change comes through those who keep showing up, doing what they do. Nobody changes the world by setting out to change the world. Just do what you do - as good, as faithful, and as certain as you can do it. The world-changing results will take care of themselves.