In bible study this week we talked about how men should be, spiritually speaking, in relationships. How we should be spiritual leaders. That is not the point of what I am writing though, just a quick back-story to where I'm getting my thoughts.
So in the beginnings of Genesis we have Adam and Eve. Wonderful people, like long walks on the beach, bowling, listening to bad music...however they also had a terrible fruit addiction. God recognized this and told them to stop, but they did the exact opposite and ate from a tree that grew the most delicious fruit of all. This was the fall of man. We became imperfect and sinful. Adam and Eve immediately recognized their imperfections and hid. They covered themselves in leaves and hid from God. Notice how they covered themselves...do we not do the same thing today? We cover our imperfections with little things as we show ourselves to God saying, "Look Lord! I am perfect in your eyes!" Then we bite our lips as he observes us. The first leaf is pulled off. "What is this?" God asks us. "Oh...Never noticed that before...how was your day?" We cannot bear to show our true imperfect selves to the one who loves us for who we are. Our creator. Now, how can we improve ourselves or move towards perfection, if we hide ourselves from the one who is perfect? Are we so prideful that we lie to the one who knows the truth always? Lying to God is like yelling at a stump, it helps nothing. Unless we show him our true selves how can he help us? Most of us know how God gets our attention...He busts the doors of our lives wide open and says, "My turn." I laugh when I think about it, how childish we must be! I feel like people act like my 2 year old nephews act. They do the opposite of what you say, and so we all do to God. Tell my nephews to stand in a spot for 1 minute and you'll be right back. 1 minute later you return to find the spot vacated and the kid half way to China. Are we much different? Yes and no. We cannot listen to simple demands of us and so we are the same, yet we work MUCH harder to cover things up, and we are different.
I find it so interesting that Adam and Eve hid though. The passage in the bible that says this stands out to me in a ridiculous way. They not only covered themselves they also hid from the one who can see everything. Then I wonder, how are we any different??? We go day to day hiding from God, consciously and subconsciously. Then reveal ourselves at our prayer time or something similar. "Here I am God and I am ready to talk." We go over things and then tell Him goodbye and walk around the corner. However, the minute we reach the corner we find the nearest ally and sprint down it and hide again. Realistically I'm saying that we do not spend every minute of everyday with God. We set up play dates but outside of those we ask Him to leave us alone.
I know I'm saying a lot but this is an extreme description. We all do this but for some only to certain extents. anyways...
My point is that we as Christians need to learn how to truly communicate and walk with God. We miss out on so much joy simply because we do not allow him into our lives, only certain parts of them. We are to walk with God in our daily lives, without that walk...we are simply walking around in the dark with nothing being revealed to us.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
The Ultimate Dare
I'll start off a story as an example of where I'm going to go with this blog.
My newphews are all starting to reach that age where they realize that they have the ability to ignore adults. "Don't touch that!" Archer creeps closer. "Don't touch that Archer." Another step. "Archer, do not touch that." He touches whatever it was...and you now learn that telling them not to do something no longer suffices. You have to physically pull them away if they continue to ignore you! Now they aren't exactly ignoring you, there is purpose in what they are doing. They are pushing you further and further to see just how far they can get before you take action and they get into trouble. Some of you are laughing and thinking how difficult kids can be, probably reminiscing on times that you dealt with a kid doing the same thing. Remember how frustrating it was? Well adults are no different.
haha how did that feel? I was joking about kids and then I called everyone out for acting no differently! It didn't feel good to me either.
10 strict commandments...other spiritual guidelines (drinking, sex, lying...these things), and everlasting life as our reward! It is an easy gig right? NO! "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Well we screwed that up. BUT we are forgiven! However this time we will be more cautious. And like my nephews, we test the waters of God. How far can we go before lightening strikes? Before we feel the loneliness and forsakenness? Well culture continually pushes further and further. It is, for the most part, culturally accepted to have pre-marital sex and to do drugs and get smashed...all in one night! I've actually heard people tell me that it is actually okay because culture accepts it...that christianity is adaptive of culture and so it changes as culture changes. This is true to an extent...but the rules and commandments are clearly universal! They don't change...God does not have political parties asking for amendments...God tells us not to do something and we continually step closer and closer to it! The closer to it we get the further away from Him we get. I've felt that distance and it is the worst feeling imaginable. Some people do not realize that they are feeling the distance because they have never felt true closeness with God.
In order to feel that closeness they have to HAVE TO step away from the things that pull us away from a relationship with our Father. We gotta step out of that ignorant culture that the world has developed and into one that has seemed to slip into the shadows. How many people do you think will do that? It is a big thing to ask someone to step out of the popular norm and into something challenging. We can not show them the reward...they have to discover it for themselves!
So the challange I present in this blog....
Quit seeing everything in black and white. Quit living the cultured cookie cutter lifestyle. Make a change! A life away from those distractions will grant you more reward than anything else on this earth can. We are taught to run away from challenges, to take the easy route....do not belittle yourself and accept what is easy. In the end life becomes more difficult and without purpose. Do not accept the current standards of the world! Just because culture okays it, it does not make whatever act it is okay! "But everyone is doing it!" Congratulations! Why don't you do something that everyone isn't doing? Afraid to stand out, be unique, and be different? Hold high standards and push yourself and others to meet them?
I dare you
My newphews are all starting to reach that age where they realize that they have the ability to ignore adults. "Don't touch that!" Archer creeps closer. "Don't touch that Archer." Another step. "Archer, do not touch that." He touches whatever it was...and you now learn that telling them not to do something no longer suffices. You have to physically pull them away if they continue to ignore you! Now they aren't exactly ignoring you, there is purpose in what they are doing. They are pushing you further and further to see just how far they can get before you take action and they get into trouble. Some of you are laughing and thinking how difficult kids can be, probably reminiscing on times that you dealt with a kid doing the same thing. Remember how frustrating it was? Well adults are no different.
haha how did that feel? I was joking about kids and then I called everyone out for acting no differently! It didn't feel good to me either.
10 strict commandments...other spiritual guidelines (drinking, sex, lying...these things), and everlasting life as our reward! It is an easy gig right? NO! "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Well we screwed that up. BUT we are forgiven! However this time we will be more cautious. And like my nephews, we test the waters of God. How far can we go before lightening strikes? Before we feel the loneliness and forsakenness? Well culture continually pushes further and further. It is, for the most part, culturally accepted to have pre-marital sex and to do drugs and get smashed...all in one night! I've actually heard people tell me that it is actually okay because culture accepts it...that christianity is adaptive of culture and so it changes as culture changes. This is true to an extent...but the rules and commandments are clearly universal! They don't change...God does not have political parties asking for amendments...God tells us not to do something and we continually step closer and closer to it! The closer to it we get the further away from Him we get. I've felt that distance and it is the worst feeling imaginable. Some people do not realize that they are feeling the distance because they have never felt true closeness with God.
In order to feel that closeness they have to HAVE TO step away from the things that pull us away from a relationship with our Father. We gotta step out of that ignorant culture that the world has developed and into one that has seemed to slip into the shadows. How many people do you think will do that? It is a big thing to ask someone to step out of the popular norm and into something challenging. We can not show them the reward...they have to discover it for themselves!
So the challange I present in this blog....
Quit seeing everything in black and white. Quit living the cultured cookie cutter lifestyle. Make a change! A life away from those distractions will grant you more reward than anything else on this earth can. We are taught to run away from challenges, to take the easy route....do not belittle yourself and accept what is easy. In the end life becomes more difficult and without purpose. Do not accept the current standards of the world! Just because culture okays it, it does not make whatever act it is okay! "But everyone is doing it!" Congratulations! Why don't you do something that everyone isn't doing? Afraid to stand out, be unique, and be different? Hold high standards and push yourself and others to meet them?
I dare you
Friday, June 4, 2010
What it takes
I was thinking about faith today and how somebody knows that they actually have faith in God. How does your faith grow? Stuff like that. Most of my thoughts dealt with how your faith actually grows. Is it through constant tests and trials? Is it through constant prayer? Us telling God at every meal that we trust him? I honestly don't know, but what I THINK I know is that we grow in faith through all of that. We grow when we concentrate on our mutual relationship with the Lord. Its about keeping that connection we have established...not hanging up on our end of the phone. In our trials, we can't just go through them...thats not the point. The point is where are you after you make it through? Are you lower than you were before? Are you exactly the same? Or have you grown? If you haven't grown then you've failed. We go through trials to learn about ourselves, to push our faith so far that it MUST grow. If you come out on the other end stronger...nothing can take you down. It's not one of those things where God hands you a test, you pass, then you are done! Ya you graduated Gods class and now you can live your life. Nah thats bull. More tests come, so that we may improve, to better serve the Lord. We are stubborn poeple! Realize this! Sometimes tests are the only way that God can get us to SHUTUP about how horrible our lives are so that we can listen to Him and let him step into our lives. Sometimes people have to hit rock bottom first. Then they can grow, it's like restarting your life. You must be stripped of everything first, until you stand with nothing, you stand alone. Then you have a choice...try rebuilding with the exact same blocks that crumbled out from under you, or ask God to help you rebuild in the way that is right according to him. Then you will stand above everything that is wrong in this world, stronger than any challenge you've faced and ever will face. You'll no longer be standing alone.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
The Answer
My back hurts everyday so I take Tylenol, I have heartburn issues throughout the day so I take Prilosec, maybe I get tired and I take a fatburner to give me energy and help me lose weight.
That is maybe 1/3 the actual amount of pills that some people take. AND IM NOT SAYING THAT THEY ARE ALL NOT NEEDED! My point is that as a society we are beginning to move, or sorry, we have made the movement towards making things accomodate our lifestyle...our very unhealthy lifestyle. Our bones ache because we don't exercise and are gaining weight. LETS MAKE A PILL FOR THAT! So now we can take medicine that allows us to do nothing all day without pain or discomfort. nice.
I saw a tv show the other day about a girl with "social anxiety disorder." Are they just making stuff up now? It's just like card companies and holidays....making excuses to sell more products. I mean i feel for the girl shes got something going on but in the end its just stress! I'm pretty sure the show just helped her handle it with practice in situations. I believe these problems exist because we let them...instead of addressing the issue and working on fixing it, we give it a name and then it becomes an excuse. This may be random but my sociology class has been studying this aspect of "comfort drugs" for awhile and I think its interesting.
That is maybe 1/3 the actual amount of pills that some people take. AND IM NOT SAYING THAT THEY ARE ALL NOT NEEDED! My point is that as a society we are beginning to move, or sorry, we have made the movement towards making things accomodate our lifestyle...our very unhealthy lifestyle. Our bones ache because we don't exercise and are gaining weight. LETS MAKE A PILL FOR THAT! So now we can take medicine that allows us to do nothing all day without pain or discomfort. nice.
I saw a tv show the other day about a girl with "social anxiety disorder." Are they just making stuff up now? It's just like card companies and holidays....making excuses to sell more products. I mean i feel for the girl shes got something going on but in the end its just stress! I'm pretty sure the show just helped her handle it with practice in situations. I believe these problems exist because we let them...instead of addressing the issue and working on fixing it, we give it a name and then it becomes an excuse. This may be random but my sociology class has been studying this aspect of "comfort drugs" for awhile and I think its interesting.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Fishtank
I'm sitting at my gate and I'm jusy chillin people watching. I'm thinking about how many people there are on this earth, with their own agendas, own places to go....and I will never know them. I just saw a guy with a beard and a green shirt and I will likely never see him again. If I do I doubt I'll reconize him. This world is so big and we are all trapped in such bubbles. We feel bad for fish in a tank because they will probably never experience the ocean, but are we much different? We have freedom to travel most anywhere and fish do not, but many do not travel past the borders of our nation...our giant fish tank. And just like fish, everytime someone taps on the glass of our bubble we get scared. Someone we don't know or change walks into our lives and tries to mix things up. Humans for the most part hate change but there are those out there that crave it. I feel that I am a happy medium. That doesn't matter right now though. Right now I'm trying tonlook at the bigger picture outside of me, I'm trying to look at everyone. Things we have in common...
Creator
physcal needs
dialect or language
hopes and dreams
we are all alive
we are at an airport...
But what about the deeper things? Specifics? Everyone has theirown belief set, even with a common religion. My views as a follower probably don't match exactly with all followers. How though? We have a bible...it says the same thing to everyone but not everyone interprets it the same. As followers we lack connection and community. With more denominations than I can count on my hands it is so easy to get lost. We look for churches and types of faith that fit us, but shouldn't it be us that try to fit to God? God is not maleable...He is firm and knows everything about us. What do we know? Not much! So rather than look a Gods commandments like a build your own dinner plate where we pick and choose what sounds good to us, we need to realize that we are either all in...or just lying to ourselves.
Creator
physcal needs
dialect or language
hopes and dreams
we are all alive
we are at an airport...
But what about the deeper things? Specifics? Everyone has theirown belief set, even with a common religion. My views as a follower probably don't match exactly with all followers. How though? We have a bible...it says the same thing to everyone but not everyone interprets it the same. As followers we lack connection and community. With more denominations than I can count on my hands it is so easy to get lost. We look for churches and types of faith that fit us, but shouldn't it be us that try to fit to God? God is not maleable...He is firm and knows everything about us. What do we know? Not much! So rather than look a Gods commandments like a build your own dinner plate where we pick and choose what sounds good to us, we need to realize that we are either all in...or just lying to ourselves.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Means to an End
The other day I was walking back to my dorm from class and as I passed by the Union, a man handed me a little brochure deal that said, "How to get to Heaven" on the front. Now, I respect what this guy is doing, he is trying to spread the good word. Is he spreading the right word though? First of all I already dislike the word christian. It comes with such hypocrisy and confusion. All this thanks to those who call themselves christians but live otherwise. So already I'm thinking this guy is being judged by everyone around. I read the pamphlet though and it was interesting but as I thought about it I realized that what this pamphlet represents is wrong. It represents a literal "Means to an End." (Thats why I titled this blog). Basically the pamphlet witnesses to whoever reads it and tells you how to accept Christ and then BOOM heaven everlasting is yours. Okay....so it is telling us how to set an ensurance trap for the end of our lives. No matter what, I dont go to hell. What about the middle part..whats it call? Oh LIFE. It explained nothing about how to live as a true follower, or why, or even the 10 commandments. This is likely because that scares people. "No don't challenge them! Just give them heaven and bang we saved someone." I feel that it is one thing to just simply save someone, and its entirely something else to save them and show them how to live their lives as Christ would have them. To do this is to give them something that only God can give. They think they've experience happiness, love, and fulfillment...just wait until they've experienced joy, God's love, and God's fulfillment. All of these things only given by God. That is when they will know that they have done something incredible, they have stepped up.
As followers today we need to analyze our relationship with Christ. Is it just an ensurance trap so that we don't spend the rest of our lives in fire? Or are we actually living for God? Believe me when I say, living for God brings about things that this world can not, absolutely can not offer.
As followers today we need to analyze our relationship with Christ. Is it just an ensurance trap so that we don't spend the rest of our lives in fire? Or are we actually living for God? Believe me when I say, living for God brings about things that this world can not, absolutely can not offer.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Discovery
It's been awhile....as I always say. So heres a new blog for now.
This one is about faith. Fear of God. Walking with God. Having a daily need for God. Discovering how you were once a christian living in a dead body. This is about the radical turns that my life has taken in the past 6 months.
In high school, particularly the Christian Private school world that I was in, life is like a movie. You walk through it in this Christian bubble. Yes there were drugs, sex, and alcohol where I was but it never surrounded me or tempted me. Summer was the same but then the first week of college kind of changed the game. Within 3 nights of arriving my room was packed with people who were absolutely wasted at 2 o'clock in the morning. Im not gonna lie it was hilarious and incredibly fun getting to watch all of the absent minded people. Weeks later I started struggling, not with my morals but with frustration. I never realized how bad things could be. People are one way during the week and then the weekend you suddenly realize...they are different. Parties like this didn't exist for me in Frisco, it was always have all my friends over for a cookout and flash light tag or a movie or something else that is ridiculous. That kind of fun doesn't seem to exist here and I miss that.
So now I'm in college, surrounded by everything that was outside of my little christian academy bubble and I was terrified, frustrated, confused...but I found something that I hadn't had before. I realized that I was a dead christian. I walked the walk and had some sort of faith but it wasn't true faith where I was constantly relying on God. I had nothing to struggle with so I just kinda left it to myself but now I do have things to struggle with and I take them all to God. Constant communication with God where He effects my every decision and thought. I tell God everything, my fears, my hopes, what's on my mind, how stupid I think a few of my teachers are. He wants to listen so why not say it all? Great relief comes from this, weight off my shoulders, joy enters my life and fills the gap where confusion and emptiness once resided. It's scary actually how much God has changed my life even from where I felt like I was this excellent christian. That quickly flipped as God punched me in the face...not literally of course. So now I actually am hanging on to faith and I love it. My life has never been so incredible and full of joy. I've even started my own bible study in hopes that maybe others can find what I found and feel the way I feel.
And for everyone who knows me through family or some other way that follows my life on facebook via photos and other comments....just call me and ask me how I am...do not approach me when Im at home and say that there is stuff on facebook that shouldn't be there. Do not act suprised when I tell you that I've been studying hard and say, "Oh you do study? Well there are only pictures of you partying on facebook." Do not tell me that I am with the wrong crowd and am falling into a sinful life based on research that you've done via facebook photos. That makes me so angry when people begin to assume and start calling me or making false judgements. I am having fun, I am surrounded by incredible people, I am the same person I was before college just with major improvements on my spiritual life. So now, next time I come home and I see you just say, "Hey I missed you how is college?" If you are worried about me in any way tell me that you are so that I can reassure you that I am doing fine and have not fallen into anything that I shouldn't have. Just pray for me to keep on the path that Christ has laid out for me.
Sorry for the rant but I do not know how to get into touch with these people other than my blog.
This one is about faith. Fear of God. Walking with God. Having a daily need for God. Discovering how you were once a christian living in a dead body. This is about the radical turns that my life has taken in the past 6 months.
In high school, particularly the Christian Private school world that I was in, life is like a movie. You walk through it in this Christian bubble. Yes there were drugs, sex, and alcohol where I was but it never surrounded me or tempted me. Summer was the same but then the first week of college kind of changed the game. Within 3 nights of arriving my room was packed with people who were absolutely wasted at 2 o'clock in the morning. Im not gonna lie it was hilarious and incredibly fun getting to watch all of the absent minded people. Weeks later I started struggling, not with my morals but with frustration. I never realized how bad things could be. People are one way during the week and then the weekend you suddenly realize...they are different. Parties like this didn't exist for me in Frisco, it was always have all my friends over for a cookout and flash light tag or a movie or something else that is ridiculous. That kind of fun doesn't seem to exist here and I miss that.
So now I'm in college, surrounded by everything that was outside of my little christian academy bubble and I was terrified, frustrated, confused...but I found something that I hadn't had before. I realized that I was a dead christian. I walked the walk and had some sort of faith but it wasn't true faith where I was constantly relying on God. I had nothing to struggle with so I just kinda left it to myself but now I do have things to struggle with and I take them all to God. Constant communication with God where He effects my every decision and thought. I tell God everything, my fears, my hopes, what's on my mind, how stupid I think a few of my teachers are. He wants to listen so why not say it all? Great relief comes from this, weight off my shoulders, joy enters my life and fills the gap where confusion and emptiness once resided. It's scary actually how much God has changed my life even from where I felt like I was this excellent christian. That quickly flipped as God punched me in the face...not literally of course. So now I actually am hanging on to faith and I love it. My life has never been so incredible and full of joy. I've even started my own bible study in hopes that maybe others can find what I found and feel the way I feel.
And for everyone who knows me through family or some other way that follows my life on facebook via photos and other comments....just call me and ask me how I am...do not approach me when Im at home and say that there is stuff on facebook that shouldn't be there. Do not act suprised when I tell you that I've been studying hard and say, "Oh you do study? Well there are only pictures of you partying on facebook." Do not tell me that I am with the wrong crowd and am falling into a sinful life based on research that you've done via facebook photos. That makes me so angry when people begin to assume and start calling me or making false judgements. I am having fun, I am surrounded by incredible people, I am the same person I was before college just with major improvements on my spiritual life. So now, next time I come home and I see you just say, "Hey I missed you how is college?" If you are worried about me in any way tell me that you are so that I can reassure you that I am doing fine and have not fallen into anything that I shouldn't have. Just pray for me to keep on the path that Christ has laid out for me.
Sorry for the rant but I do not know how to get into touch with these people other than my blog.
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