Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Sunday, June 26, 2016
It Is Finished
I was asked by someone, fairly recently, "What do you teach your children, like how do you raise them in believing in the Salvation of All?" At the time I just kind of told him a few different things of what I thought and also mention that my children are quite at the age to even understand a word of what I am saying. Now, however, I know exactly what I am going to do. I think it is exactly what we should be doing for everyone we meet, not just our children.
Tell them the Good News. That is it. Tell them that although we were sinners, Christ died for us, was buried and rose again. He did everything there was to be done, nothing more required. Leave it at that. Say nothing more. Go on about your day. Why? Because anything more causes doubt and complicates things. If they believe it, GREAT! Their life will be so much easier without the constant condemnation felt by those who feel that God is just waiting for them to mess up their salvation. If they don't believe it, tell them again. I never TRULY believed that Christ did everything while I was under the threat of ETC. In fact, I never fully believed that my salvation was secure at all! It wasn't until I realized the fact that Salvation was ACTUALLY accomplished over 2000 years ago, by Christ alone, that I couldn't f*** it up!
The greatest peace I have ever felt in my life was shortly after coming out of the psyche ward and the moment, and boy was it apparent, that I FINALLY got it! It finally clicked! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH MY SALVATION! IT WAS 100% accomplished fully, utterly, completely, without fail, by Christ over 2000 years ago. I don't know about you but I haven't come in contact with a time machine in order to travel back and change the past. We can never change the past, what's done is done. You can never be unsaved, because.... "IT IS FINISHED!"
Rest in that fact. Speaking as one who knows how tormented you can feel wondering if you will make it, or if you have ENOUGH faith to be saved or if you can lose your salvation, please, PLEASE know, that it was never up to you. And you know what the funny thing is? Once you give up trying to "muster up" faith to believe and you realize and accept that Christ already accomplished everything on your behalf and that NOTHING can change that, then... you end up having the faith you were trying to muster up to begin with. And the truth will set you free... Trust me.
Tell them the Good News. That is it. Tell them that although we were sinners, Christ died for us, was buried and rose again. He did everything there was to be done, nothing more required. Leave it at that. Say nothing more. Go on about your day. Why? Because anything more causes doubt and complicates things. If they believe it, GREAT! Their life will be so much easier without the constant condemnation felt by those who feel that God is just waiting for them to mess up their salvation. If they don't believe it, tell them again. I never TRULY believed that Christ did everything while I was under the threat of ETC. In fact, I never fully believed that my salvation was secure at all! It wasn't until I realized the fact that Salvation was ACTUALLY accomplished over 2000 years ago, by Christ alone, that I couldn't f*** it up!
The greatest peace I have ever felt in my life was shortly after coming out of the psyche ward and the moment, and boy was it apparent, that I FINALLY got it! It finally clicked! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH MY SALVATION! IT WAS 100% accomplished fully, utterly, completely, without fail, by Christ over 2000 years ago. I don't know about you but I haven't come in contact with a time machine in order to travel back and change the past. We can never change the past, what's done is done. You can never be unsaved, because.... "IT IS FINISHED!"
Rest in that fact. Speaking as one who knows how tormented you can feel wondering if you will make it, or if you have ENOUGH faith to be saved or if you can lose your salvation, please, PLEASE know, that it was never up to you. And you know what the funny thing is? Once you give up trying to "muster up" faith to believe and you realize and accept that Christ already accomplished everything on your behalf and that NOTHING can change that, then... you end up having the faith you were trying to muster up to begin with. And the truth will set you free... Trust me.
Monday, January 18, 2016
Romans 7
"7 Now, dear brothers and sisters[a]—you who are familiar with the law—don’t you know that the law applies only while a person is living? 2 For example, when a woman marries, the law binds her to her husband as long as he is alive. But if he dies, the laws of marriage no longer apply to her. 3 So while her husband is alive, she would be committing adultery if she married another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law and does not commit adultery when she remarries.
4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. 5 When we were controlled by our old nature,[b] sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”[c] 8 But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. 9 At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, 10 and I died. So I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. 11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good.
13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.
14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[d] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin."
This is from the NLT, it is very easy to read and understand although there are a couple of things that I don't agree with translation-wise, such as spiritual death. I never really understood what this passage meant for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I thought Christ died in my place, when in fact I died WITH Christ. With that death I was no longer bound to law but instead to my new relationship with Christ. The law no longer applies to us, because they law was only upon us UNTIL we died. "You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ." Before I truly understood what grace meant and that I was no longer bound to law, I tried everyday to live as perfectly as possible, I tried to follow the commandments and do what I knew was right. Yet, everyday I failed miserably no matter how hard I tried. Sometimes I failed for well-meaning reasons. For example, I wanted to love and encourage people no matter what they believed in or how they identified with themselves. But according to my religion that was a sin! I may as well be encouraging homosexuality and prostitution! You can't really love anyone when you feel like God disapproves of your association with them! I have a Muslim friend who is struggling very deeply to accept our friendship as it is, because in Islam, the only reason you are allowed to befriend someone is to convert them to Islam. She know that I have studied Islam and that I find it appalling. She is aware that I will not ever convert to it, yet she still can't walk away from our friendship because she feels a real connection. Unfortunately, she is conflicted within herself, because her religion tells her that it is a sin to be my friend, yet her conscious tells her otherwise. She, like a lot of well-meaning Muslims, has not truly looked into her faith (sound familiar) to see what it teaches, but deep inside her I know that she can feel God trying to wake her up. I was the same way, I wanted to care for others, I wanted to love others, but I couldn't if they didn't share my faith.
When Paul says we are free from sin, that in turn convinced me that I was free to LOVE. Free to care for others as Christ did, EVEN though Christ was only sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel while on Earth, he still helped the woman who begged for just a scrap of his blessing. I never understood why God would condemn ANY loving gesture that edifies a person or family, as long as it does not harm another.
What brought this passage to light for me was my friend asking how I could have any sense of morals if I don't believe that anything I could do would change my standing with God. She couldn't understand why I was so kind to her and her daughter even though I didn't know them, and especially considering that they are Muslim. I tried to explain but Muslims believe Paul to be a deceiver and a false prophet. So any reference to Paul is an automatic dismissal in her eyes. Unfortunately, she has never compared Paul to Mohammed in order to make an educated analysis on which one is a true prophet or messenger of God. But this passage really sums it up. The reason I am so kind and loving today is because I am allowed to be. I have no rules, therefore I find no joy in doing evil or sinful things. When the law was upon me (in my perspective of course) breaking the rules had a thrill to it. When your parents tell you not to do something, what is the one thing you WANT to do? But if your parents say go ahead eat all the candy you want, what happens? Maybe at first you do eat tons of candy, but then you spoil it for yourself and you no longer desire candy. When something is allowed the excitement that you feel from rebellion or the rush you get from doing something that you know is wrong goes away. The only things that really bring joy after that are the good things that you are now able to do for people.
Once law is gone, selfishness fades quite a bit! Obviously, not all the way. Even Paul still struggled with doing things he didn't want to do. But when you look at who Paul is after he was freed from the law, he became a much more loving and caring person. Under the law, he murdered Christians! Under the law, I have condemned people to never-ending torment for not believing what I believed! I wanted to love them still, but I couldn't because they were dirty rotten sinners, and since I said a little prayer and believed in Christ, I was snow cover-dog poop as some evangelicals put it. "You are still just as crappy as you were before but now God only sees the pure snow because of Christ's blood." Hogwash. We are pure now, because we can't break the law, because we are no longer under it. We died with Christ and that is that.
So guys, go out and love everyone you can. Don't feel restrain because you don't agree with their life choices or beliefs. Paul didn't preach only to believers, could you imagine if he did? What would have been the point? Confuse the hell out of people. Make them wonder what in the world happened to you to bring about this kind of love towards humanity regardless of any conditions. We are free to bear fruit now that the law isn't choking out our roots. Soak up the love that Christ has for us, and pour it out on everyone you can. =)
This is from the NLT, it is very easy to read and understand although there are a couple of things that I don't agree with translation-wise, such as spiritual death. I never really understood what this passage meant for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I thought Christ died in my place, when in fact I died WITH Christ. With that death I was no longer bound to law but instead to my new relationship with Christ. The law no longer applies to us, because they law was only upon us UNTIL we died. "You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ." Before I truly understood what grace meant and that I was no longer bound to law, I tried everyday to live as perfectly as possible, I tried to follow the commandments and do what I knew was right. Yet, everyday I failed miserably no matter how hard I tried. Sometimes I failed for well-meaning reasons. For example, I wanted to love and encourage people no matter what they believed in or how they identified with themselves. But according to my religion that was a sin! I may as well be encouraging homosexuality and prostitution! You can't really love anyone when you feel like God disapproves of your association with them! I have a Muslim friend who is struggling very deeply to accept our friendship as it is, because in Islam, the only reason you are allowed to befriend someone is to convert them to Islam. She know that I have studied Islam and that I find it appalling. She is aware that I will not ever convert to it, yet she still can't walk away from our friendship because she feels a real connection. Unfortunately, she is conflicted within herself, because her religion tells her that it is a sin to be my friend, yet her conscious tells her otherwise. She, like a lot of well-meaning Muslims, has not truly looked into her faith (sound familiar) to see what it teaches, but deep inside her I know that she can feel God trying to wake her up. I was the same way, I wanted to care for others, I wanted to love others, but I couldn't if they didn't share my faith.
When Paul says we are free from sin, that in turn convinced me that I was free to LOVE. Free to care for others as Christ did, EVEN though Christ was only sent for the lost sheep of the house of Israel while on Earth, he still helped the woman who begged for just a scrap of his blessing. I never understood why God would condemn ANY loving gesture that edifies a person or family, as long as it does not harm another.
What brought this passage to light for me was my friend asking how I could have any sense of morals if I don't believe that anything I could do would change my standing with God. She couldn't understand why I was so kind to her and her daughter even though I didn't know them, and especially considering that they are Muslim. I tried to explain but Muslims believe Paul to be a deceiver and a false prophet. So any reference to Paul is an automatic dismissal in her eyes. Unfortunately, she has never compared Paul to Mohammed in order to make an educated analysis on which one is a true prophet or messenger of God. But this passage really sums it up. The reason I am so kind and loving today is because I am allowed to be. I have no rules, therefore I find no joy in doing evil or sinful things. When the law was upon me (in my perspective of course) breaking the rules had a thrill to it. When your parents tell you not to do something, what is the one thing you WANT to do? But if your parents say go ahead eat all the candy you want, what happens? Maybe at first you do eat tons of candy, but then you spoil it for yourself and you no longer desire candy. When something is allowed the excitement that you feel from rebellion or the rush you get from doing something that you know is wrong goes away. The only things that really bring joy after that are the good things that you are now able to do for people.
Once law is gone, selfishness fades quite a bit! Obviously, not all the way. Even Paul still struggled with doing things he didn't want to do. But when you look at who Paul is after he was freed from the law, he became a much more loving and caring person. Under the law, he murdered Christians! Under the law, I have condemned people to never-ending torment for not believing what I believed! I wanted to love them still, but I couldn't because they were dirty rotten sinners, and since I said a little prayer and believed in Christ, I was snow cover-dog poop as some evangelicals put it. "You are still just as crappy as you were before but now God only sees the pure snow because of Christ's blood." Hogwash. We are pure now, because we can't break the law, because we are no longer under it. We died with Christ and that is that.
So guys, go out and love everyone you can. Don't feel restrain because you don't agree with their life choices or beliefs. Paul didn't preach only to believers, could you imagine if he did? What would have been the point? Confuse the hell out of people. Make them wonder what in the world happened to you to bring about this kind of love towards humanity regardless of any conditions. We are free to bear fruit now that the law isn't choking out our roots. Soak up the love that Christ has for us, and pour it out on everyone you can. =)
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Would It Even Matter?
Free will. Even if it were a true idea. Would it matter? Would it change the outcome of what God intends to accomplish?
When someone thinks I am a lunatic for thinking that God will reconcile all of creation to Himself, the first thing I do is give them a simple algebraic problem. I ask, "Do you believe that God is all-loving?" I have never heard anyone answer no. Then I ask, "Do you believe that God is all powerful?" Once again the answer is always yes. Then comes the really tricky part, I ask "Okay, so assuming you believe that He is all-loving, is it a fair assumption that you believe He wants to reconcile everyone to Himself?" And of course the answer is always yes. Then I ask, "Okay, and assuming that you believe that He is all-powerful, is it fair to assume that you believe that He can reconcile everyone to Himself?" Yet again without fail, the answer is always yes. But here comes the curve-ball. No one ever expects the next question and I really don't know why they don't see it coming with such an obvious set-up. If God wants to reconcile all, and God can reconcile all, then why do you think that most people will be forever lost?
Number One Answer: Because God gives us free-will to choose Him or to deny Him.
My response to that, is "Why in the world would that matter?"
Even if free-will were a logical law of the universe, which by even secular scientific accounts it is a fallacy, it would have no bearing on the final outcome of what God intends to achieve.
Even if our will was free, God knows exactly what to do to cause us to fall in love with Him, and I truly think that the biggest hindrance in this life preventing people from falling in love with God, is the horrible ideology behind eternal conscious torment, and the sick picture that was painted so deceptively by Satan that millions upon millions of people could actually believe that God is more twisted and sadistic than an human that has ever walked the Earth.
I don't believe in free-will, but I do believe we have a will, and I believe that we should be trying our best to remove this sick picture of God and show others who He truly is. When I believed in eternal conscious torment, I never loved God. I only did what I was supposed to to keep myself convinced that I was saved and that I wouldn't be going to hell. I was afraid of God. It wasn't until He showed me His true self, that I fell in love with Him and all of the things that I felt conflicted about determining who it was okay for me to love and care about vs those that I was told to condemn went away. I could finally truly LOVE everyone. No matter who they are.
Anyone reading this, please remind me tomorrow night to do my blog on Romans 7. I am very excited to have lived the exact scenario out in my life. I just now understood what Paul meant during this passage and it makes me very excited, haha.
Love you all,
Chris
When someone thinks I am a lunatic for thinking that God will reconcile all of creation to Himself, the first thing I do is give them a simple algebraic problem. I ask, "Do you believe that God is all-loving?" I have never heard anyone answer no. Then I ask, "Do you believe that God is all powerful?" Once again the answer is always yes. Then comes the really tricky part, I ask "Okay, so assuming you believe that He is all-loving, is it a fair assumption that you believe He wants to reconcile everyone to Himself?" And of course the answer is always yes. Then I ask, "Okay, and assuming that you believe that He is all-powerful, is it fair to assume that you believe that He can reconcile everyone to Himself?" Yet again without fail, the answer is always yes. But here comes the curve-ball. No one ever expects the next question and I really don't know why they don't see it coming with such an obvious set-up. If God wants to reconcile all, and God can reconcile all, then why do you think that most people will be forever lost?
Number One Answer: Because God gives us free-will to choose Him or to deny Him.
My response to that, is "Why in the world would that matter?"
Even if free-will were a logical law of the universe, which by even secular scientific accounts it is a fallacy, it would have no bearing on the final outcome of what God intends to achieve.
Even if our will was free, God knows exactly what to do to cause us to fall in love with Him, and I truly think that the biggest hindrance in this life preventing people from falling in love with God, is the horrible ideology behind eternal conscious torment, and the sick picture that was painted so deceptively by Satan that millions upon millions of people could actually believe that God is more twisted and sadistic than an human that has ever walked the Earth.
I don't believe in free-will, but I do believe we have a will, and I believe that we should be trying our best to remove this sick picture of God and show others who He truly is. When I believed in eternal conscious torment, I never loved God. I only did what I was supposed to to keep myself convinced that I was saved and that I wouldn't be going to hell. I was afraid of God. It wasn't until He showed me His true self, that I fell in love with Him and all of the things that I felt conflicted about determining who it was okay for me to love and care about vs those that I was told to condemn went away. I could finally truly LOVE everyone. No matter who they are.
Anyone reading this, please remind me tomorrow night to do my blog on Romans 7. I am very excited to have lived the exact scenario out in my life. I just now understood what Paul meant during this passage and it makes me very excited, haha.
Love you all,
Chris
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
The Christian God is a Hypocrite.
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."
This is found in Luke Chapter 6.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
And this in Matthew 5.
Now suppose for a second that there was a dictator that ran a country. This dictator says to the people of his country, "As long as you love and obey me, I will feed you, I will clothe you, and I will provide you with a place to live. You must also do as I say no matter what it is or how meaningless it may sound. Do this and you will live, you will have all you need. However, if you don't LOVE me and if you don't OBEY me, I will put you in a metal box and pour lava over your body. I will ignore your screams and tell you that you deserve it for not loving me."
How many of you would find this man worthy of worship, worthy of love, and worthy of praise? How many of you KNOWING what he truly was (even though he does good to all who love and obey him) would still look up to this man? Only a sadist would praise this man! He is sick and demented. THIS IS THE CHRISTIAN GOD, THIS IS THE MUSLIM GOD. Both are very conditional beings. Either you LOVE them and obey them or they will never forgive you and you will b punished "justly" by torment or annihilation (after torment). Both of these ideologies are absolutely sickening.
When anyone asks where we find truth of the reconciliation of all OUTSIDE of Paul's message. These passages are all we need to see. Yes there are more but these sum up perfectly how hypocritical Jehovah would be if He didn't or failed to reconcile all. Either He was unable, making Him too weak; or He was unwilling, making Him a hypocrite, to save all of mankind.
A being that is said to be all-loving AND all-powerful HAS to redeem all. Anything less and you can't call him these things. He would be unworthy of worship.
I love when someone says, "Yeah, He WANTS all to be reconciled, and yeah He is POWERFUL enough to to that, but He gives us "free-will" to choose Him." That is a pathetic argument... Say that we do have free-will, how exactly can God not figure out how to win us over? Is he so clueless as to be able to win our love? Does God not know exactly what to do and say in order to woo us? God is not stupid, He knows ever detail about how we work and all of the emotions that make us tick. God can AND WILL be able to get all of creation to fall IN LOVE with Him. But first, He needs people to see who He really is. It is really hard to fall in love with a vindictive sadist that has no problem burning people (even some that we love) for a never ending period of time.
Once people see who God truly is, it will be impossible for them to not fall in love...
This is found in Luke Chapter 6.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
And this in Matthew 5.
Now suppose for a second that there was a dictator that ran a country. This dictator says to the people of his country, "As long as you love and obey me, I will feed you, I will clothe you, and I will provide you with a place to live. You must also do as I say no matter what it is or how meaningless it may sound. Do this and you will live, you will have all you need. However, if you don't LOVE me and if you don't OBEY me, I will put you in a metal box and pour lava over your body. I will ignore your screams and tell you that you deserve it for not loving me."
How many of you would find this man worthy of worship, worthy of love, and worthy of praise? How many of you KNOWING what he truly was (even though he does good to all who love and obey him) would still look up to this man? Only a sadist would praise this man! He is sick and demented. THIS IS THE CHRISTIAN GOD, THIS IS THE MUSLIM GOD. Both are very conditional beings. Either you LOVE them and obey them or they will never forgive you and you will b punished "justly" by torment or annihilation (after torment). Both of these ideologies are absolutely sickening.
When anyone asks where we find truth of the reconciliation of all OUTSIDE of Paul's message. These passages are all we need to see. Yes there are more but these sum up perfectly how hypocritical Jehovah would be if He didn't or failed to reconcile all. Either He was unable, making Him too weak; or He was unwilling, making Him a hypocrite, to save all of mankind.
A being that is said to be all-loving AND all-powerful HAS to redeem all. Anything less and you can't call him these things. He would be unworthy of worship.
I love when someone says, "Yeah, He WANTS all to be reconciled, and yeah He is POWERFUL enough to to that, but He gives us "free-will" to choose Him." That is a pathetic argument... Say that we do have free-will, how exactly can God not figure out how to win us over? Is he so clueless as to be able to win our love? Does God not know exactly what to do and say in order to woo us? God is not stupid, He knows ever detail about how we work and all of the emotions that make us tick. God can AND WILL be able to get all of creation to fall IN LOVE with Him. But first, He needs people to see who He really is. It is really hard to fall in love with a vindictive sadist that has no problem burning people (even some that we love) for a never ending period of time.
Once people see who God truly is, it will be impossible for them to not fall in love...
Friday, November 13, 2015
Appendicitis
So, the Scriptures mention us believers as being in the Body of Christ, right? Some of us are arms, some legs, some rock-hard abs, and some killer glutes. And then there is me, at times I look around and see all these awesome members of our family and see how strong they are, how dedicated they are to study. How compassionate they are and how generous when another member is in need. Then I look at myself and feel like I am not doing nearly enough to be a useful member of the body. I classify this as "appendicitis". What the hell is an appendix for?? I mean seriously, it sits there and takes up space only staying alive because the rest of the body is. At times it needs help from the other members and it get that help. It is grateful, yes. But at the same time it feels pathetic and useless. Sometime the appendix can get so bad that it even needs to be removed from the body. If this were a possibility within the Body of Christ. I feel certain that it would happen to me at times.
I can go months without writing in this blog, or reading from scripture. I get so distracted with how busy my life can be that I never remember to take time to nourish myself with the words and teaching of Christ and the Apostles. Does this ever happen to you? Do you ever feel useless within the body? If so I understand completely. But, please, don't get discouraged. We all have moments where the rest of the Body is needed to help us. And as useless as an appendix is, God put it there for a reason. Sometimes we just don't know why yet.
I can go months without writing in this blog, or reading from scripture. I get so distracted with how busy my life can be that I never remember to take time to nourish myself with the words and teaching of Christ and the Apostles. Does this ever happen to you? Do you ever feel useless within the body? If so I understand completely. But, please, don't get discouraged. We all have moments where the rest of the Body is needed to help us. And as useless as an appendix is, God put it there for a reason. Sometimes we just don't know why yet.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Longing To Long For God
If I could ask God for anything, it would be for Him to put in me the desire to fully crave Him, and long to know Him more. I get very distracted from Him all of the time and I wander off more often than any other sheep I have met! I put in a half-effort from time to time to learn more, but I want so badly to just CRAVE God as if nothing else at all mattered! Because, if we stop and think about it, nothing else does matter...
Why is it that I can't just get completely overtaken by the urge to seek God and to know him intimately? Why is it that I can never stay motivated to learn more about Him, and talk to Him more? Does prayer change things? Does that even matter? I just want to speak with my creator, forget asking for anxiety to go away, forget asking for things around me to change. I don't even want to care about that! I just want to TALK with God for the sake of TALKING, for the sake of growing closer to Him.
David worded what I am feeling, because he was feeling it too! I don't know if he was only feeling it because he was in the desert heat or if he always felt this way but he says, "O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water."
I want to feel that way all of the time! That is my prayer. That is what I want more than anything. Here is a secular song that I think really sums up how I feel about wanting to feel about God:
Why is it that I can't just get completely overtaken by the urge to seek God and to know him intimately? Why is it that I can never stay motivated to learn more about Him, and talk to Him more? Does prayer change things? Does that even matter? I just want to speak with my creator, forget asking for anxiety to go away, forget asking for things around me to change. I don't even want to care about that! I just want to TALK with God for the sake of TALKING, for the sake of growing closer to Him.
David worded what I am feeling, because he was feeling it too! I don't know if he was only feeling it because he was in the desert heat or if he always felt this way but he says, "O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water."
I want to feel that way all of the time! That is my prayer. That is what I want more than anything. Here is a secular song that I think really sums up how I feel about wanting to feel about God:
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