The word "Change" has been tossed around like a football on sundays in the fall lately. You've got the whole global warming debachle talking about "climate change." Then there is Obama winning his presidency a little over a year ago on the slogan "yes we can...bring change." Recently, I skimmed passed an article on Yahoo that said the recent earthquake Chile caused a small change in the earths rotation.
The real kicker is this: the majority of people buy into the theories of climate change, Obama just saw one of the biggest pieces of legislation in America's history pass through congress to bring "change" to healthcare, and scientifically the theory of the Chilean earthquake changing the earths rotation is pretty solid.
Now, just so you know these examples are about as political as I will ever get. Why? Because we have plenty of "christians" out there who spend an average of 3 1/2 hours a day watching fox news, reading "conservative world" magazine, and talking like they have the answers to our nations problems, and 15-30 minutes a day (at BEST) reading God's Word and contending in prayer for God's mercy. Im not going to even begin to try and tackle our nations problems, they are way bigger than me. Sure, my voice can be heard, but why would I want it to be heard if I dont have anything rock solid to say?
This Blog Series is not intended to be at all political, because to be honest with you, I believe politics, government, and christian worldviews have no ability to really "change" anything. I want to take a few weeks and talk to you about the much needed "change" in the expression of our faith. When we as believers will stop letting News Media be louder in our lives than the voice of Jesus, then we can say "Yes We Can..."
Moving forward, I want to share with you 3 things that I believe we must do to see the necessary change take place in the church, our lives, and in the lives of others.
But until then, I leave you with the this idea..."What if we invested our time, energy, and effort into ONLY things that have eternal significance? What could we do to change history?"
Psalm 119:89 says "Your Word, My God, is forever settled in heaven..."
What if we really DID what HIS word says, instead of USING His word to enforce our agenda? Either politically, or in any other realm of life.
Think about it...
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
beautiful part 3
Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. I would like to finish up with the final two premises that women and girls wrap their identities up in:
4) Career- so if work is going good, you feel accompished and not so stressed out...but what about when it goes bad? You feel bad, don't you? It stresses you out, and when you are stressed out you feel low worthless, and either mentally or physically ugly. Luke 10 tells the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was so caught up in her work, that she lost sight of the fact that Jesus was in the room...and she got frustrated with Mary because Mary was sitting at Jesus feet instead of helping her. Martha was consumed by work, and Mary was consumed by Jesus. When you allow yourself to be consumed by Jesus, it doesn't mean you ignore the work that needs to be done...it means that you do not let it control your emotions. Mary felt beauty as she sat before the Lord, and Martha felt stressed out because in her heart, she wanted to be like Mary...but she was consumed by duty.
5) Religion- even christians can be so caught up in their religion that they lose sight of the value that Jesus has placed on them. For some reason, church has become this place where we feel like we have to always appear at our very best, from the clothes that we wear to the condition of our lives. So instead of church being a place where we are able to come before Christ weak and broken, it is a place where we have to prop up an image of ourselves that tells the world that we have it all together. Maybe you joined a prayer group, and all you do is sit around talking about the sins in other peoples lives and then say "we need to pray for her...because she is a -fill in blank-." When you are consumed by religion, you become the person who is leaning on the cross, staring out at the masses and pointing out the faults and sins of everyone else...instead, Christ desires you to be the one kneeling at the cross, looking over yout shoulder only to tell the others that there is plenty of room for them. Religion...especially southern church culture...has done more to hurt the cause of Christ than any other aspect of society, becauseit has become about what you wear in the house of God, and how good and perfect you can appear. I would rather see people in ragged jeans and t-shirts who have an inner desire and passion for God, than to see a group of panty-hose wearing hypocrites that size everyone up as they walk in the door. You may say "well, I dress nice at church because the bible says to give God our best." I'm pretty sure that didn't mean your clothes...way to abuse the word of God...
Now, I want you to think about the person in your life that you admire the most. Who is it?
Now, think about the one main reason that you admire them...
Did it fall into any of those 5 categories? Do you admire them because they have an attractive appearance? Do you admire them because they have a prettier home than you? Do you admire them because you wish you had the husband, or boyfriend that they have? Do you admire them because of the job that they have? Do you admire them because they point out the sins of others instead of fixing the sins In their own life?
My guess is NO!
So I challenge you...strive to be like the ones that you admire most, because of the character qualities that they have. Most of all, strive to be like Jesus...and in that, you will understand the beauty that He sees in you.
Bless you all! Never grow weary of striving for the life God has intended for you! And in it all, may you always feel...BEAUTIFUL!
Ypc.
4) Career- so if work is going good, you feel accompished and not so stressed out...but what about when it goes bad? You feel bad, don't you? It stresses you out, and when you are stressed out you feel low worthless, and either mentally or physically ugly. Luke 10 tells the story of Martha and Mary. Martha was so caught up in her work, that she lost sight of the fact that Jesus was in the room...and she got frustrated with Mary because Mary was sitting at Jesus feet instead of helping her. Martha was consumed by work, and Mary was consumed by Jesus. When you allow yourself to be consumed by Jesus, it doesn't mean you ignore the work that needs to be done...it means that you do not let it control your emotions. Mary felt beauty as she sat before the Lord, and Martha felt stressed out because in her heart, she wanted to be like Mary...but she was consumed by duty.
5) Religion- even christians can be so caught up in their religion that they lose sight of the value that Jesus has placed on them. For some reason, church has become this place where we feel like we have to always appear at our very best, from the clothes that we wear to the condition of our lives. So instead of church being a place where we are able to come before Christ weak and broken, it is a place where we have to prop up an image of ourselves that tells the world that we have it all together. Maybe you joined a prayer group, and all you do is sit around talking about the sins in other peoples lives and then say "we need to pray for her...because she is a -fill in blank-." When you are consumed by religion, you become the person who is leaning on the cross, staring out at the masses and pointing out the faults and sins of everyone else...instead, Christ desires you to be the one kneeling at the cross, looking over yout shoulder only to tell the others that there is plenty of room for them. Religion...especially southern church culture...has done more to hurt the cause of Christ than any other aspect of society, becauseit has become about what you wear in the house of God, and how good and perfect you can appear. I would rather see people in ragged jeans and t-shirts who have an inner desire and passion for God, than to see a group of panty-hose wearing hypocrites that size everyone up as they walk in the door. You may say "well, I dress nice at church because the bible says to give God our best." I'm pretty sure that didn't mean your clothes...way to abuse the word of God...
Now, I want you to think about the person in your life that you admire the most. Who is it?
Now, think about the one main reason that you admire them...
Did it fall into any of those 5 categories? Do you admire them because they have an attractive appearance? Do you admire them because they have a prettier home than you? Do you admire them because you wish you had the husband, or boyfriend that they have? Do you admire them because of the job that they have? Do you admire them because they point out the sins of others instead of fixing the sins In their own life?
My guess is NO!
So I challenge you...strive to be like the ones that you admire most, because of the character qualities that they have. Most of all, strive to be like Jesus...and in that, you will understand the beauty that He sees in you.
Bless you all! Never grow weary of striving for the life God has intended for you! And in it all, may you always feel...BEAUTIFUL!
Ypc.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
welcome
So, this is my first blog on this new site. I am here for one reason, to lift up the name of Jesus. The majority of my blogposts will be thoughts or provoking questions associated with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, or some form of this holistic spirituality dubbed the title "Christianity."
Christianity is complex in nature, and is often regarded as something that restricts, or even eliminates, the discussion of real issues in an hopeless attempt to maintain a certain image. All the while churchgoers are dying and going to hell because they came to God on terms of self righteousness, and God said "no" to their heartless request for salvation. See, God has conditions...His love is unconditional, and so is His mercy and grace...but only in the sense that they are available to everybody all the time. When it comes to people coming to God with no willingness to cut ties with anything that could hinder the free flow of love from God to man...God says, "sorry, but you are coming to me on your terms, and I cannot give you this free gift because you have shown me no real desire to have it." We will go deeper into this on a later day...
For now I leave you in wonder...contemplating what is to come...or just confused as heck and asking yourself "what did he just say"...either way, stay tuned...it won't dissapoint.
Christianity is complex in nature, and is often regarded as something that restricts, or even eliminates, the discussion of real issues in an hopeless attempt to maintain a certain image. All the while churchgoers are dying and going to hell because they came to God on terms of self righteousness, and God said "no" to their heartless request for salvation. See, God has conditions...His love is unconditional, and so is His mercy and grace...but only in the sense that they are available to everybody all the time. When it comes to people coming to God with no willingness to cut ties with anything that could hinder the free flow of love from God to man...God says, "sorry, but you are coming to me on your terms, and I cannot give you this free gift because you have shown me no real desire to have it." We will go deeper into this on a later day...
For now I leave you in wonder...contemplating what is to come...or just confused as heck and asking yourself "what did he just say"...either way, stay tuned...it won't dissapoint.
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