jumping on the bandwagon

here we are in 2017, after a democratic presidential election, in a 'civilized' land (note the quotations - i use those emphatically!), and there is such miscommunication and hatred and ire going around, especially fueled by the ignorance of social media... people are jumping on bandwagons left and right, joining protests and marches here and there...

and i'm amazed at how quickly people are turning on each other.

people who have been long-friends and people who are family are 'unfriending' each other...
people are physically (and virtually) attacking the businesses, homes, and cars of people 'on the other side of the issue...'
the internet (especially social media) allows us to sit behind our computer screens and post ugly, pointed words that we most likely wouldn't say in person (sometimes it's a good thing to take courage from the safety of your keyboard, but so often it's not)

people are posting, hashtagging, snapchatting, tweeting, blogging, redditting, youtubing, instagramming, and probably even pinning about whatever 'movement' has really struck their chord.

maybe it's a good feeling to be part of a group.
maybe the rhetoric sounds right-on.
maybe the photos are really convincing.
maybe that paragraph you were scrolling past said your thoughts perfectly.
maybe the spokespeople are saying the revolutionary words you've been dying to hear.
for Jesus-followers, maybe some ideas even sound Christian-like.

it's easy. it's sensational. it's a way to feel involved.
march! click! re-post! protest! make a catchy sign and get on that corner! hashtag!

but a disturbing/dangerous aspect of all this bandwagonning: people aren't getting the real stories behind the movements; instead they're just ignorantly jumping on bandwagons, getting all upset and incensed on behalf of something they don't even understand. people are marching in the streets to support groups and agendas, and protesting others, that they haven't actually researched.

you may like to think that your movement was started spontaneously by the people for the people, but look into it: find the leader; find the organizer.
and how many vocal Christians have really looked into the Bible and spent time in prayer to discover God's viewpoint?

here are some questions to ponder:
~have you researched the organizer/leader/spokesperson? what do they believe? are they someone you'd like to stand with?
~have you researched the mission statement (or whatever may be similar) of the group you like? where does it seem to be getting its ideas? is it part of a bigger organization with which you'd like to align yourself?
~if you're protesting, have you actually researched the subject of your protest? have you read the actual document to know if you disagree? do you know the law that's being amended or being upheld?
~if you are a Christian, are these posts/blogs/etc actually Christ-like? is the animosity and irritation and disgust bringing you or those around you closer to Jesus?

as people virally turn against each other, i am reminded of Jesus' words:

"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. 

Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 

All men will hate you because of Me, 

but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." 

- Jesus, quoted in Mark 13:12-13 

(for more context, i have quoted surrounding verses below)

even though the world already saw this first-hand in roman times, and then in nazi germany times, and now in patches all over the world where the church is persecuted daily*, i guess i've just been living in some kind of fantasy land that i might not see its day in usa times. (even though we've had little tastes of it, like at columbine..)

i know the verses are applicable all the time, in a sense, since true acceptance of Christ always changes the person and causes a reaction (often negative) from everyone around. but there is a time when the verses become literal and belief in Jesus becomes deadly, either due to personal hatred or due to the law of the land.

this is not a post to say that we should all be friends. that's not going to happen. in fact, as time moves on, and the fire gets hotter, we will actually just see the true Christians emerge, and the fake ones fall away, and the true colors of the public will be shown. where do you stand?

as you see your friends and family post about whatever group they're joining, beware, because generally speaking, being on Jesus' side and telling the truth won't land you in the popular group.

and also generally speaking, the farther you move into that popular group, often led by celebrities and politicians, the closer you will come to being the perpetrator in those words spoken by Jesus.

how close are you to betraying your Christian brother to death?

~~~~~

*please visit www.persecution.com to learn more about those around the world being persecuted for their faith in Jesus!

Mark 13:5-27 NIV

"Jesus said to them, 'Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in My name, claiming, "I am He," and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

'You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of Me you will stand before governors and kinds as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

'Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

'When you see "the abomination that causes desolation" standing where it does not belong - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now - and never to be equaled again. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Christ!" or, "Look, there He is!" do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect - if that were possible. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

'But in those days, following that distress,

'"the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light;

the stars will fall from the sky,

and the heavenly bodies will be shaken."

'At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.'"

election night

i don't even want to watch the election results tonight. it fills me with dread, and maybe a little fear for the future of this country i currently call home.

but i also think: maybe, if it does get really bad here in the US, and people lose more and more of their money and privileges, it will force the American people to realize that electing a leader is not just a joke.

the ugly consequences of disregarding truth/virtue/morality and living just for ourselves may just force people to start thinking about REAL things, like 'is there a God?' and 'do i care about Him?' and 'what is the purpose of my life?'

maybe some will even start wondering if their everyday decisions and their everyday attitudes toward God have caused our country to be in the state it's in. instead of always pointing the finger and saying, 'they are messed up!', maybe they will look around at the spiritual illness in this land and realize we need a cure...

and where does that cure come from?

in the midst of dedicating the temple to God, Solomon heard these words from God:
"If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

this is a theme throughout the whole Bible: if people, who love to exalt themselves, and love to point the finger at everyone else's wrongdoings, and love to seek comfort above righteousness, would HUMBLE themselves and PRAY and SEEK God's face and TURN from their wicked ways, God will bring healing!

the story of the Israelites in the Old Testament was a roller-coaster of failing and repenting and sinning and repenting and rebelling and repenting. God remained the same. He was faithful. He was just. He was merciful.

so what is all this business of repentance?

what does the word even mean? it is literally a turning. it is something drastic and life-changing, not just a moment of sadness or shame.

it is like someone on a nature trail, who has been following a particular path, and then realizes as they look at the map that they are going the wrong way. the path they are on is actually going in the opposite direction of their intended destination! that is the moment for a decision: do i keep walking forward or do i turn around completely and go the other way? do i say, 'well, i've been going this way too long to change now,' or do i humble myself, admit the fact that i messed up, and turn around so that i can reach the right location?

repentance causes us to do some introspection and discover where we've fallen short. it comes with regret and remorse and humility and maybe some ugly crying.

but repentance doesn't just end there. it doesn't leave us groveling in the dirt at the end of the wrong path. NO! after we turn around, we WALK towards the correct destination! when we turn from our sins and turn to Jesus, it comes with rewards:

~God will hear us (2 Chronicles 7:14, 34:27)
~God will forgive our sins (2 Chronicles 7:14, 1 John 1:9, Acts 3:19, Isaiah 55:7, Acts 26:18, and more)
~God will cleanse us from unrighteousness (1 John 1:9, Acts 3:19)
we will LIVE! (Ezekiel 18:21-23)
~God will heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14, Leviticus 26:4)
~and more! joy! peace! contentment! the gift of the Holy Spirit living in us!

so as i reluctantly watch the election results, i pray for my country. i pray for repentance. and i also pray for God's mercy: that it won't have to get TOO bad before we admit our sins and turn from our wickedness.

thankfully, i know that i serve a merciful God who has been patient enough to bear with us this far...

"For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!" Ezekiel 18:32

the bullet

imagine you're going about your normal business day. you're walking along the street as usual, when a man rushes up to you, grabs your arm, says, 'they're trying to kill you!' and pulls you into the alleyway! what is going on?! 
he says a few things to you, but in the rush and the confusion and the fear, you barely hear anything at all, and none of it makes sense.
then there is a sound at the end of the alley. before you can register much at all, the man pushes you to the ground and says, 'i'm going to take your bullet!' as he throws himself across you, a gunshot shatters the air.
and that's it. no more sound. nothing except your pounding heart.
you don't move for fear of alerting the 'bad guys' you didn't even know existed 5 minutes ago. but the man of top of you doesn't move either. he has gone completely limp, and with horror, you realize he really was shot, and he really is dead.
after waiting till you're sure the coast is clear, what do you do next?

what if the following is how i wrote the next part of the story?

hearing nothing more, you roll out from under the mysterious man. looking both ways and seeing nothing, you take a deep breath, gather your things, and straighten your clothes. you shrug, muttering, 'i wonder what that was all about?!' with no answer at the ready, you go about your day as usual.

'wait, what??!' you may be thinking. 'that's not how the story would go! i wouldn't do that! what happened? who are the bad guys? was someone really after me?what was that guy talking about? no one would just shrug and go about their day after that!!'

but i say that is exactly what most people, maybe you included, do every day.
what most people don't spend time thinking about is that there was a man who threw Himself over you and took a bullet meant for you. His name is Jesus.
and there really is a 'bad guy' who hates God's guts and wants you dead. his name is Satan.

the thing about the real-life story is that though Someone threw Himself over you and took your bullet, you have a choice. you don't have to be under His body, letting Him take the fall for you. you can refuse the help, ignoring His offer of salvation, and chance it out on the streets. but the killer will find you, and he will kill you.

what is your choice going to be? 

if you're not familiar with the story, maybe you should spend some time learning about the 'bad guy,' and about the guy who offers to take your bullet.

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man; 

though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: 

While we were still sinners, 

Christ died for us..." 

Romans 5:7-8

"For God so loved the world 

that He gave His one and only Son, 

that whoever believes in Him 

shall not perish but have eternal life." 

John 3:16

Abraham's agony

i recently read a book that included an amazing description of Abraham and Isaac's story in Genesis. i don't really have anything to add to it; it's just so good on its own. so here i quote from the book Wounds by Alton Gansky:

     "Genesis 22 holds an account that makes me furious. I cannot read it without a sense of outrage boiling in my gut. God asks for a human sacrifice. Not only that, He demands that His chosen man - Abraham - cut the throat of his only son, the son of divine promise. When I think of Abraham and Isaac crossing the distance from their home to Mount Moriah, the future site of Solomon's temple, I ache for them. What thoughts ran through Abraham's mind? What fears? Imagine the heartbreak. And what of the young man Isaac, who makes the journey with only one question: 'Where is the sacrifice we are to make to the Lord?' My anger grows when Abraham states that God will provide the sacrifice.
     "There the scene unfolds. The kindling and wood are laid for the fire to burn the sacrifice. Who set up that altar? Isaac, the one who would be asked to crawl on the wood arranged to burn his flesh to ashes. My fury mounts. At some point Isaac realizes what is being asked of him and based on his father's requests, lays himself on the mound of kindling.
     "Then it comes. The moment when the elderly Abraham lays the sharp edge of his knife to his own son's throat. Did he let it linger? Did his hand shake? Did he close his eyes?
     "The muscles in his back and shoulders and arm tense, ready to draw the blade and split Isaac's throat. Isaac, the son he longed for, prayed for, hoped for. Isaac didn't protest. We have no record of him begging for his life for making any attempt to escape. He could have gotten away. He was young; Abraham was old. If Isaac had chosen to fight, Abraham would not have had a chance. Isaac didn't fight back. His father was a man who spoke to God and if this was what God demanded, then he would not resist.
     "Then the knife began to move. Only then did God stop Abraham. No other passage makes me want to shake my fist in God's face. 'How could You,' I want to cry. 'What kind of God does that?'
     "I'll tell you what kind of God does that: the kind of God who would ask the same thing of Himself. Except for Him, there was no one to stop His hand.

Jesus is God the Father's Isaac.

    "Do I have a right to feel angry over the passage? I think so, but I also have a responsibility to remember that it was God who made that kind of sacrifice for us. We are supposed to be angry about injustice. We are supposed to be furious about the sacrifice Abraham was called on to make. It is the sacrifice of Good Friday. Jesus went to the cross willingly. He did so for us, and it was no easier for God to see than it was for Abraham. Our life came from Jesus' death. We celebrate Easter - Resurrection Day - but re grieve on Good Friday. The cartoon character Charlie Brown used to say, 'Good grief.' There is a good grief if that grief achieves an eternal difference.

We do not have Easter without Good Friday.

Out of death came life."

wrong

my husband tells me i'm terrible at admitting i'm wrong.

he's right.

i hate it. i hate being wrong. and if i think i might be wrong, i hate saying the words. and when i think of the words 'i was wrong' in my head and try to say them out loud, it's like waging a war to force the words past my lips. and sometimes they never do make it out.

tonight i listened to a sermon (by Stuart Briscoe) about the first church - those who experienced the effects of Pentecost, who heard the message of Jesus and believed, repented, and joined the body of Christ. i'd never really thought into it before, but some of those people listening to Peter's message that day may have been the same people who were in the crowds days earlier yelling, 'Crucify Him!!!' about Jesus. now they were watching a little group of local men speak in languages they'd never heard before, and those listeners reconsidered their position against Jesus... they contemplated how they'd sentenced the Messiah of the world, Jesus, to death and they said, 'What have we done?!'

then they made the most important choice of their lives. they admitted they were wrong. they repented and became followers of Jesus.

that's courage.

i wonder if i would have done that.

~

over and over in the Bible God affirms that He listens to repentance. and He honors it. if you're truly repentant, admitting you're wrong and turning from it, He won't leave you hanging.

David, committer of one of the most famous Bible sins (killing a man so he could commit adultery with the guy's wife), wrote this in the Psalms. he knew it from experience:
"...a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise." Psalm 51:17b

when Jonah finally brought God's message to the evil people of Nineveh, and they repented, the Bible says this:
"When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened." Jonah 3:10

King Solomon, a man who was given wisdom but struggled to act wisely, said this:
"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." Proverbs 28:13

Saul (later Paul), a religious leader who made it his personal mission to seek out and kill ALL Christians (Acts 8:3), accepted Jesus as his King, even though it would cost him his job, his friends, his status, eventually his freedom, and possibly even his life. but he went on to write most of what we now call the New Testament.

key message of the whole Bible is this:
"Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out." Acts 3:19a

~

why do i have such a hard time admitting i'm wrong?
pride. ego. sometimes i'm afraid that if i admit i'm wrong in one area, the person i'm talking to might think i'm wrong all over the place.

pride. basically it's me saying, 'i know everything and i am king of everything. you all answer to me! how dare you think you know more than me!'

but wait. who is Lord? me or Jesus? if i claim to be a Christian, then Jesus is Lord. and that means only He is always right. that means i am sometimes, if not most of the time, wrong. even if it's just a matter of my motives being wrong, that is still wrong-ness.

and that means i'd better get used to admitting i'm wrong. really, i should practice it in the 'small' areas, like when i'm talking to my husband about who put the peanut butter back on the wrong shelf. then when it comes to the 'big' stuff, like admitting to God that i failed the other day and listened to gossip, i won't be so out of practice.

try it yourself.

think about your actions and words and thoughts today. if something comes up where you notice you are wrong, admit it to that person (or to God) and tell them, 'i'm sorry. i was wrong.' and if it applies, add another most annoying sentence: 'you were right.'
ps if you're married: men really like to hear that last sentence. it's a really big confidence booster that will help them love you just a little bit more than they did yesterday. :)


"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:7-9

what does the world think of you?

• women wear make-up everyday. they are notorious for spending hours in the morning 'painting on their face' and doing their hair, coloring their nails and trying on outfits to get ready for the day.
• every t.v. show is splatted with advertisements displaying how good we will look or how superior you will feel or how accepted you will be if only you would buy their product.
• one disparaging sentence can crush your whole day... you'll think about the insult all day, whether it was meant or not, whether that friend or acquaintance or even stranger is upset at you or dislikes you.
• men can stand in front of the mirror day after day, inspecting their muscles, wondering how to get more strength, planning how they'll gain more definition, posing and flexing.
• over the centuries, our human minds continue to invent new vocabulary for insults and compliments, based solely on popularity: cool, hot, dorky, out, so-last-week, in...
• magazine after magazine and t.v. show after t.v. show and website after website are dedicated to following celebrities, those few humans who have 'made it' to where we all want to be.

what do all these things have in common? 

they illustrate how much we humans desire to be LIKED. from the time we are little kids on the playground, to the time we are elderly and in the nursing home, we desire the approval of others.

take a moment right now to consider: what does the world think of you? if your life story and your photo suddenly were highlighted on he news, what would the world's impression of you be? what is the main feeling the world would have about you?

this is what Jesus told His little group of followers the night before He died:

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 15:18-19

hate. 

was that the word that came to your mind just now when i asked how the world would feel about you?

not that we should be inventing ways to repulse the world. we should hope that people become attracted to something about how different we are. but if we are truly living our life modeled after Jesus, the world will turn its back on us and hate us.

'well then,' you might think, 'that must mean real Christians are annoying or prejudiced or snobby or SOMETHING! there must be a good reason the world hates Christians.'

but no. 

Jesus said, "They hated me without reason." John 15:25

and when you think of Jesus, whether you're a Christian or not, do you really think it made any sense that the people of His day hunted Him down in the middle of the night while He was praying, during their own religious festival, and then killed Him using a method reserved for the most evil of criminals?

are you willing to follow Jesus in the big and small parts of life, even if it means the world will hate you? 

~as a girl, will you wear clothes that aren't tight and don't show cleavage nor lots of leg, even if you don't look like your friends and don't catch the eye of that 'cute' guy? 

~as a mother, will you choose to follow through with your threat to discipline, even if your kid seems eternally angry at you?

~as a man, will you change the channel or look conspicuously away from the t.v. during that sexy scene, even if your buddies look at you funny? 

~as a pastor, will you choose to speak the whole truth, even if it means losing a few members?

~as a student, will you stand up for the girl everyone calls a geek, even though you'll never be accepted by the cool kids?

what is the worst that can happen in these situations? people look at you funny, they may even pick a fight with you, and you may lose some friends. if the world keeps on its course, we may soon be thrown in jail for these decisions, and maybe even killed. (already happening in other countries.)

but again, i ask: what is the worst that can happen to you if you are living your life with Christ as your Lord? regardless of the worst the world can throw at you, if you believe in Jesus as your Lord, your story will always end with you rising from the dead and living with Jesus forever in His spectacular and unimaginably awesome home called Heaven.

and you will see God. Revelation 22:4

and you will reign with Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:12

and you will understand things you never understood in life. 1 Corinthians 13:12

and you will be made new, a perfection you could only dream of here on earth. Revelation 21:4-5

meanwhile, if you choose to please the world and choose its affection over God's, the Last Day will come and Jesus will say, "Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Matthew 25:41 

and you will enter your eternal existence in Hell, forever separated from God.

what's your ending? it starts with how you choose to live now.

"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

"I tell you, whoever acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns Me before men will be disowned before the angels of God." 

-Jesus (Luke 12:4-5, 8-9)

blessings through raindrops

"Pastor 'Ameen,' leader of the evangelical church movement in Iraq, said that before baptizing new believers he teaches them that they will face persecution."
- Voice of the Martyrs magazine, July 2012

Pastor Ameen tells them they WILL. he doesn't say it's just something that happened in Bible times, or to faraway believers in countries with scary governments.
why don't we teach the same thing here in the US?
why is it that we feel almost entitled to a peaceful life with no arguments?
why have we adopted the ridiculous notion that it's a faux pas to discuss 'religion and politics?'
why are we shocked when we hear that Christian kids are being bullied at school, or when atheists sue to remove 'in God we trust' from our currency, or when we make a Christian statement on the internet and get blasted and barraged with insults for speaking about Christ, or when you sit down to pray but immediately get inundated with phone calls and texts and knocks at the door and hunger pangs and the temptation to watch tv? (yes, persecution is not only bodily harm from ill-willed unbelievers; it is often attacks from Satan in the form of temptation or distractions, etc...)

Jesus clearly said we WILL suffer and we WILL be persecuted.

"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death,

and you will be hated by all nations because of Me."

- Jesus, in Matthew 24:9

"In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted..."

2 Timothy 3:12

"Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering,

as though something strange were happening to you.

But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ,

so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.

If you are insulted because of the name of Christ,

you are blessed,

for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you."

1 Peter 4:12-14

Pastor Ameen's approach brings home the gravity of the situation: when you choose Jesus, you need to be fully committed, and fully aware of the implications. there's no 'nominal' allowed with God, no situation where luke-warm is acceptable.

"In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus sends out His disciples on two occasions: in Matthew 10 and again in Matthew 28. On both occasions He gives the disciples specific instructions, but neither time does Jesus tell them to assess the risk. he doesn't tell them to ask permission to share the gospel or heal the sick. And He doesn't tell them to poll the villagers first to measure their receptivity to the gospel. 
"In fact, Jesus' words in Matthew 10 would not be considered hopeful or positive by the world's standards. He tells the disciples that they will be delivered up to government officials and will be 'scourged' or terrorized by religious officials. He tells them that families will reject them and even have them killed. To leave no doubt about how they can expect to be treated, Jesus summarizes their situation as 'sheep among wolves,' telling them that they will be 'hated by all' for His name's sake.
"Still, He said, 'Go!' and His disciples went. They had a mission to accomplish - reaching all nations with the gospel (28:19)."
- Voice of the Martyrs magazine, October 2013

"... Jesus wants His disciples to know that mission and persecution are inseparable. When done in the spirit of Jesus, you cannot have one without the other. When done in the spirit of Christ, mission has always taken place in the shadow of the cross. ... Survival, however, is not their prime concern. They are to be committed to accomplishing the purposes of God, even if it means their death."
- late Glenn Penner, former CEO of Voice of the Martyrs, Canada

yep. even if it means their/my/your death. i love how he says mission always takes place in the shadow of the cross. always. the meaning of the cross - its suffering leading to our salvation and thus our right relationship with God - is our whole purpose as Christians. Jesus, our perfect example, suffered unthinkably. why is it odd that we should follow in His footsteps, even the suffering ones?

it is shallow to think the Christian life will and should be easy.

it's human nature to look for the easy road. we like the world to be in a perfect, predictable pattern. we want 'follow these 5 steps to get this great outcome.' that's why the false gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity is so successful. be good and God will bless you. send money to the poor (often it doesn't even reach them) and God will send you money. like we can con God into blessing us. like we can force His hand. like He owes us 'the good life' if we're doing good deeds.
WRONG!!!

Jesus told a story about a guy planting a farm. he threw down seed as he walked. and if you know gardening, you know that not every seed you plant will grow. there are different reasons for non-growth: weeds, rocks, no dirt...
Jesus likened the seeds and soil to people who have received His message; some will take it and grow, like they are in rich soil. but some act like seed planted in rocks, which support a beginning growth but have no room for roots, and the plant dies.

"But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. 

When trouble or persecution comes because of the world, 

he quickly falls away." 

Matthew 13:21

how do we get that root? how do we survive the rocks of persecution and trouble? we must choose God first every day. spend time with Him. read His word, if you have a Bible. listen to His voice. worship Him as you drive to work or as you sit in your back yard. what would you do with your best friend? - do those things with God.

the good things you do should be from a motive of worshiping Him and growing your faith, not to get earthly pleasures in return. 

and sometimes, though you do all the right things, say all the heart-felt prayers, read all the right verses, God will still allow hardships to come your way. He has the freedom to bring prosperity or to allow evil to visit you. 

and sometimes we actually learn better when we are facing hardship than when everything is going swimmingly. why do you think the gospel thrives and expands in countries where persecution is most rampant (like China)? persecution brings out the true believers, and forces those on the fence to make a decision.

"blessings" ARE a blessing, but sometimes so are hardships.

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; 

perplexed, but not abandoned; 

struck down, but not destroyed."

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

"... We also rejoice in our sufferings, 

because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 

perseverance, character; 

and character, hope." 

Romans 5:3-5

i love the words of this song about blessings coming in ways we don't want or expect. God has promised blessings, but often they're not the pleasures and wealth we're looking for here on earth. sometimes even the suffering is the blessing, if it leads us to learn or grow.

Blessings by Laura Story

we pray for blessings, we pray for peace
comfort for family, protection while we sleep
we pray for healing, for prosperity
we pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
all the while, You hear each spoken need
yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
what if Your healing comes through tears?
what if a thousand sleepless nights 
are what it takes to know You're near?
what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?

we pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear
and we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
we doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
as if every promise from Your word is not enough
all the while, You hear each desperate plea
and long that we'd have faith to believe

when friends betray us
when darkness seems to win
we know the pain reminds this heart
that this is not, this is not our home

cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?
what if Your healing comes through pain?
and what if a thousand sleepless nights
are what it takes to know You're near?
what if my greatest disappointments
or the aching of this life
is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy?
and what if trials of this life
the rain, the storms, the hardest nights,
are Your blessings in disguise?

persecution is hideous. it's not what God's world was supposed to look like. it's a result of the sin cancer.
but God is still present, and He still desires that every human being would turn from sin and selfishness to discover Him.
that is why Christians find joy in suffering. for the joy set before us. that's why Jesus endured the taunting and the spitting and the jeering and nailing and the piercing and the gasping for air and the excruciating separation from His Father and the dying - for the joy set before Him.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, 

the author and perfecter of our faith, 

who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, 

scorning its shame, 

and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." 

Hebrews 12:2

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, 

whenever you face trials of many kinds, 

because you know that the testing of your faith 

develops perseverance. 

Perseverance must finish its work 

so that you may be mature and complete, 

not lacking anything." 

James 1:2-4

Jesus' joy was conquering death so that He could bring that same power to us. All true Christians will conquer death!!!!
Jesus' joy was bringing life so that we could enjoy that same life forever with Him.
Jesus' joy was sitting at the right hand of God after enduring.
our joys are similar:
-the joy of some being saved through our lives and words
-the joy of knowing we are on the right path: on God's path
-the joy of being saved now and being part of God's kingdom
-the joy of personally knowing God's voice and His leading hand

-the joy of reaching heaven one day and God saying, 'well done, good and faithful servant!'

do you have that joy?
are you willing to suffer persecution and hardships in order to claim Christ as your own? if you choose Him, you WILL suffer.
if you're looking for the easy road on earth, choosing Jesus isn't guaranteed to get you there. but it IS guaranteed to bring unspeakable joy, immense security, and eternal life in the long run.

JOIN US!!!

enemies

i found it a really sad commentary on our culture when i read the news that people were protesting the local burial of the Boston marathon bomber. yeah he did a terrible thing. true he tried to kill hundreds of people there in Boston.
but he's still a human being, and believe it or not, GOD STILL LOVED HIM just as much as He loves each of us!
that's right. God loved Tamerlan Tsarnaev. He didn't just like him. and He certainly didn't hate him. He created him and loved him and desired that he would come to know Jesus.

then i read the news story about a Bostonian man who offered his own burial plot as a place for Tamerlan to be buried. what a breath of fresh air! he did it in the name of Christianity, which was extra-fresh air.
and i heard that other people along the way had also offered burial plots. now that is how humans should treat other humans!
(i'm sad to say, it's over and above what i would even find myself doing. if all the drama had happened where i live, and if i had a burial plot in the first place, i'm pretty certain that it wouldn't even occur to me to offer it to him.)

it is a natural human response, when someone does something heinous, to despise that person, to hate them and want them dead, and when they do die, to rejoice and continue trying to punish them even after they're dead.
that's what happened with people like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden when they died.
but it's WRONG.
Jesus said it plain as day in Matthew 5:43-45:

"'You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons 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.'"

if we profess to be followers of God, we will love our enemies, because that's what He did.
think about it. YOU were God's enemy! and if you don't believe in Jesus as your Savior, you are still God's enemy!
do you really understand that? if there were a big universal battlefield, you are either standing with Jesus on God's side, or you are His mortal enemy, standing on Satan's side......... the enemy.
and when you were still standing on the enemy side, God came to YOU and gave His life for YOU so that YOU could be saved and join Him on the other side.

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, 

though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: 

while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

Romans 5:7-8

why would God tell us to do such a thing - love our enemies?
looking at His example, He did it so that we would be drawn to Him and learn to love Him back. and His desire is that ALL humans would be saved from eternal suffering and become friends with Him. so, if He has that desire and He has us as followers, it makes sense that He would want to train us to reach the rest of the world the way He did. and humans respond best to love. especially when love is offered freely and 'just because'.
think of stories you see on the news, or read about in books, or hear about in songs. the stories that amaze us and wrench our hearts are those where someone gives themselves unabashedly for the other.

• during the Aurora, Colorado, shooting, 3 men used their bodies as shields to save lives and died in the process. 
• books that survive time, like Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, are full of unrequited and self-sacrificial love. 
• Bruno Mars sings 'I'd catch a grenade for you,' while the girl clearly is not as committed to him. 

in our hearts, we desire to be the object of this type of love. it's a love that is not conditional. it's a love that gives all. it's the love that God showed to us, but that we find exceedingly difficult or impossible to show to others.
and it is difficult, it is impossible - if we try to use our own power to do it.
but that's what makes Christianity stand out. God lives in true Christians and it is by HIS power (and His power ONLY) that we can love others, even and especially enemies. as my pastor said last week, people are often unloving, unlovely, and unlovable, so we have to borrow love from God. He has a deep, gushing, luscious well of love, when ours is a grimy, muddy, and boggy puddle.
and THAT love is what will change the world. THAT love is what can make an enemy a friend, can turn hearts from evil to good, can save people from staying on Satan's side of the battlefield.
the response that Christians should have for those who die while they're still in Satan's army should be grief and regret, not rejoicing! Christ died for Tamerlan, and for Jeffrey Dahmer, and for Hitler, and for Stalin, and for bin Laden, the same way He died for you and me.

and as it turns out, there will be a battle between God and His enemies at the end of time. (Revelation 16:14-16 & 19:19-21)
whose side are you on? 



the Boston controversy: http://news.yahoo.com/uncle-arranging-boston-bomb-suspects-burial-rites-163554313.html
Yale grad offers his own plot: http://www.christianpost.com/news/christian-offers-burial-plot-for-tamerlan-tsarnaev-after-body-is-refused-everywhere-95502/
finally buried: http://news.yahoo.com/police-dead-boston-bombing-suspect-buried-141202538.html
Aurora, CO, sacrifice: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/aurora-shooting-died-bullets-sweeties-article-1.1119395

when you feel tired...

i feel tired.
my head has been in pain all day. i haven't been home much this week. my workdays have been averaging 10 hours long. i've been on my feet for days. my eyelids feel puffy and heavy.
i feel tired.
i love my work, but i feel a little worn.

it's weeks like this when i find myself sighing and stretching and correcting my slumpy posture that i think of God's unweariness and feel thankful.

Psalm 121:3-4 puts it this way:
"He.. watches over you and will not slumber;
indeed, He who watches over Israel 
will neither slumber nor sleep."

and this isn't referring to some sort of insomniac who stays awake in a sleep-deprived stupor.
God doesn't NEED to sleep! He is above that. tiredness doesn't affect Him.

so as i plow through tired weeks, going-going-and-never-stopping, aching for those moments when i can sit down, just for a few minutes, it's a good reminder to lean on God. it's a good reminder to remember the completeness, the above-ness of God.
it's almost good to have those weary times, just so i can remember the awesome qualities of God.

it's good to remember that when i am not enough, He is.

how's your pulse?

(unmarked Bible references today are from Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23-24, & John 19-20)

when Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday, He was dead. DEAD dead. no life. no pulse. no breath. He was dead before the soldiers came by to make sure He was dead by spearing His side, as they did at every crucifixion.
it was a dark day, literally, when God died. He had been hanging in agony on the cross for 6 hours (i can barely manage the first 3 seconds when i accidentally smash my finger!), finishing His work of bringing God's message and then paying the punishment for what we do. the sky was black, the curtain in the Jewish temple spontaneously tore in half, and dead people rose from the grave all over town!
this was no ordinary death!
His disciples went into hiding. they were devastated. the guy they thought was going to save them all from the Roman occupation, the guy who was supposed to be the reigning Messiah, the guy they'd followed in spite of ridicule and opposition, the guy they'd hung all their hope on.... was dead. and on Sunday morning, after the Sabbath rest (which probably wasn't too restful for most), they were huddled in a room, probably feeling utterly alone in the world.
some women disciples set out around sunrise to visit the tomb. the Romans had put guards around the tomb; i wonder if any of the guards contemplated Jesus' claim of rising again as he stood there all night...
but when the women arrived, the guards were nowhere to be found. they had been shocked by an earthquake as a hugely imposing, brilliant-as-lightning angel of the Lord came from heaven and singlehandedly rolled away the stone from the entrance, then sat on it. in short, the burly Roman guards fainted, then ran away.
instead, the women found the angel, who apparently looked a little more normal, because they weren't quite convinced by him telling them Jesus had risen. after she had fetched Peter and John and they all looked at the curiously empty tomb, Jesus Himself appeared to her and she believed.
this was no ordinary gravesite!
Jesus was ALIVE! after all the agony, after dying till He was dead on the cross for all to see, He was alive again! and He was alive by His own power! it's one thing when Jesus raised others from the dead; it's a completely different story when He raises His own dead self from the grave! He had breath. He had a pulse. He had scars from the cross to prove He was who He said He was. and He stuck around proving Himself and continuing His teaching for 40 days... then one day, as His followers looked on, He rose Himself right into the sky, finally disappearing behind a cloud! Acts 1:9
this was no ordinary guy!
after He left, His followers gathered together, praying, and as they did, the Spirit of God came into their room like a blast of wind, leaving little tongues of fire on their heads, and enabling them to speak the gospel to foreigners in those foreign languages. Acts 2:1-12
there was a new Life living in the followers of Jesus. it was His life. they didn't serve a man who was just a good guy who then died; they had chosen to follow the Man who had created the universe, then left His lofty home to become a Man who brought salvation from their stubborn sinful nature, then went back to heaven to rule as King and sent His Spirit, His very Life, to live in them.
they were given a whole new breath of life from God Himself as they believed, called the Holy Spirit. back in Genesis, God breathed into Adam to make him alive. now in the New Testament, God breathes into us to give us eternal life!
this is no ordinary religion!

are you alive? are you born again, breathed-into again? Jesus said,
"I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
John 3:3

John later wrote:
"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God... Everyone born of God overcomes the world... Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." 
1 John 5:1a, 4a, 5

how is your pulse today?
are you still dead? you were given the breath of life by God when you arrived on the earth as a baby, but have you accepted the new, eternal life of Jesus? if not, you're a dead man walking. you are destined for eternal separation from God. PLEASE don't stay on that path! be one of the 'few' who find the small gate and walk the narrow path of following Jesus! Matthew 7:13-14

are you barely breathing? did you accept Jesus' life, but now you're living farther and farther apart from Him? are you in danger of rejecting Him all over again? Hebrews 10:26-27 says this: "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God." don't fall for the idea that you can just say some little 'prayer' that makes everything better; Jesus is to be King of your life.
or are you someone who believes but keeps falling for Satan's temptation, struggling and losing? or maybe you are being careless with how you choose your life path? do you choose t.v. over spending time with God (i struggle with that all the time)? do you get so busy with life that you neglect to read His word? do you fail to go to Him for advice? 1 Corinthians 3:15 says this about building your life with careless, inferior materials: "If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
don't you want to be triumphant, not just making it by the skin of your teeth? it will be your loss. your life could have been abundant and full, but if you're barely breathing, it's like you're choosing to walk around everywhere with a big oxygen tank strapped on when you could take it off and breathe freely!

or hopefully, are you fully alive?? have you accepted Jesus as your King and now live as His child, accepting His purification, choosing to love Him daily, remembering His sacrifice? are you breathing His Spirit?
Jesus wants this for you; that's what He came for. He said in John 10:10b, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." and He is the author of life; it is His to give. it comes from putting yourself aside each day and choosing God. it comes from listening to His words and following them. it's not always happy-clappy, as my pastor used to say. hardships will come. but God sustains, and that is what a full life is all about.

i personally find that i fluctuate at barely breathing with some awesome gasps of full Spirit life. i yearn to be fully alive with God's Spirit speaking to me constantly, but i get in the way. i'm busy. i'm bored reading the Bible. i fall asleep when i try to pray. i'm distracted by life and it's worries. i'm clinging to life here on earth when i should be living with my eyes on Christ. i get scared of physical pain... the list goes on. do you have a list like that?
i pray that you will join me on the journey to full shining life in Christ. if you haven't accepted Jesus as your King yet, this Easter season is an appropriate time to do it! Jesus didn't stay dead!!! and you won't either if you accept Him! take on His life, accept His Spirit to live in your heart. and join me on the narrow road, striving for full life with no oxygen tanks!

the importance of an ear

on the real Maundy Thursday, right after spending a solemn dinner with his closest friends and followers, Jesus was arrested. the evening was dimming to night, and they had gathered to pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, an ancient garden of olive trees. when a crowd led by Judas the betrayer arrived, Peter panicked, pulled out his sword, and chopped off one of the arresters' ears. the guy now missing his ear and in excruciating pain was Malchus, a servant of the high priest.
as the Roman soldiers tried to figure out which guy was Jesus in the midst of all the din and rustle, and as Malchus stood there probably screaming in pain and trying to get someone to come to his defense, Jesus didn't run off into the trees, as i would have wanted to do. instead, Jesus calmly rebuked his disciples for being so rash, approached Malchus, and touched his' bleeding head, healing his ear! (Luke 22:47-51)
why did Jesus do this? and why was it included in the Bible?
it strikes me as amazing that it was the ear that was cut off. and that Jesus took the time in the midst of His own arrest to heal that ear. it brings to my mind the times when Jesus said, "He who has ears, let him hear!" Matthew 11:15; Revelation 2:11, 29;  Matthew 13:9 - reiterated in Mark 4:9 & Luke 8:8. He would say it after a parable or after instruction, and He meant more than just physically hearing with your ears. He meant UNDERSTANDING.
God wants so badly for everyone to understand and accept His message! 

He pleads with us: "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..." Psalm 95:7-8 and Hebrews 3:7
we humans, on the other hand, want to keep doing what we're doing, disregarding God, and pushing Him away. in Acts 28:27, reminding us of the Israelites in the Old Testament, He describes how we humans choose our own way, closing our minds to God:

"For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears, 
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts 
and turn, and I would heal them."

we refuse to hear because we want to do what WE want to do. we don't want to be under authority, even if it means HEALING!! In 2 Timothy 4:3, we see a prophecy that is coming true right NOW:

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

doesn't that sound eerily familiar??
notice these things in that passage:
1) it is by CHOICE that we turn from truth. when we use the phrase 'i won't put up with that,' we usually think we're turning away from something that is bad, but in this case we are rejecting sound doctrine, the thing that is RIGHT!
2) we pick and choose who we listen to, according to what we want to hear.
3) we gather 'teachers' who say what we want to hear - this means people in authority who supposedly "know what they're talking about." but they're telling total lies! (Americans, for one, like to think they are listening to 'authorities on the subject,' but BEWARE, some of these 'authorities' are telling lies! just because a 'scientist' says the earth is millions of years old doesn't mean he has any science to back it up. just because a newscaster makes pro-lifers sound unreasonable doesn't mean abortion is ok. just because a teacher in school says you can't speak the truth that homosexuality is a sin doesn't mean you shouldn't. just because a pastor ignores or belittles uncomfortable topics like immodesty and sex before marriage doesn't mean those things aren't wrong.
4) we are turning aside to myths. you know what a myth is, right? it's a phony story that needs to be debunked. are you falling for the myths that make you feel comfortable living the lifestyle you live?

i wonder if Jesus healed that man's ear to communicate to Malchus how 'deaf' he was, and how Jesus wanted him to be on His side that night, instead of with Judas.
which side are you on today? as we start thinking about Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, where are you standing? are you with Judas - betraying and rejecting Jesus? or are you on Jesus' side, purified and listening to the truth?
do you want to really hear God and know His voice? you must belong to Him.
Jesus said, "He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." John 8:47
turn away from the myths. turn away from false teachers and scientists and politicians who teach what they teach for their own selfish gain. turn to the truth, which is God's truth.
Jesus wants YOU!

"My sheep listen to My voice; 

I know them, and they follow Me. 

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; 

no one can snatch them out of my hand."

John 10:28

don't you want to belong to the Good Shepherd?

NO EXCUSE: the world is a picture of God

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities 

-- His eternal power and divine nature -- 

have been clearly seen, 

being understood from what has been made, 

so that men are without excuse."

Romans 1:21

i love how God created the universe so that we could find Him. the more i look around at nature, the more i realize who God is and how the spiritual world works. He made it with infinite detail and meaning. then He plonked us right in the midst of it, with at least 5 senses to take it all in.

the more we learn about ourselves and the world we live in, the more we are without excuse when we stand in front of God. 

the Trinity

today is st patrick's day. it's a bit of a sketchy holiday for me, seeing as i don't approve of getting mad drunk and taking part in the sexual immorality of half-naked dancing and the co-ed 'sleep-overs' that ensue. 

i also don't agree with revering regular humans as 'saints.' according to the Bible, every Christian is a saint, and there is not to be any praying to or through particular people, or using them as some sort of amulet or charm to make life go well. 

on the plus side, however, my favorite color, green, is celebrated today. and that is partly thanks to the original guy named patrick, who lived back in the 300-400s AD. he was a Christian missionary to Ireland who is sometimes credited with one of my favorite illustrations of the Trinity: the shamrock. 

this plant is basically clover, with skinny little stalks holding up striking green leaves, each with 3 distinct lobes. and that leaf is where the illustration comes in. 

it's really hard for us humans to figure out how the Biblical Trinity makes any sense. how can 3 separate persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, be contained in a single person, God? makes no sense. but the shamrock gives us a picture of how to see it. each part of the leaf is separate and basically whole by itself. but they grow together and are one leaf.

so if you are like me, and feel a little distressed by all the ungodliness going on during st patrick's day, remember the shamrock, a wonderful little piece of God's creation that reminds us of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

another part of God's creation that helps me make sense of the Trinity is water. water has 3 forms: solid, liquid, and gas. they are totally distinct from each other; you would not look at an ice cube and say, 'hey, there's some steam!' but they are still forms of the same molecule.

same with the Trinity. the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have totally separate characteristics and functions, but are one God. i do not worship multiple gods, but simply 3 forms of the same God. it is like trying to separate 'solid,' 'liquid,' or 'gas' from 'water'... they ARE water so it's not possible. in the same way that i can't look at an ice cube and call it 'steam,' i also cannot look at the ice cube and say that it has nothing to do with steam; it is the same molecule!

so who is this God who has 3 entities?! i will close with some of what the Bible has to say about Him (there is so much more than what i have here! look for yourself in God's word):

GOD THE FATHER:

CREATOR: Genesis 1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (vs.1)

ETERNAL: Psalm 90:2 "Before the mountains were born... from everlasting to everlasting you are God."

PERFECT and JUST: Deuteronomy 32:6 "He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just."

RESCUER and REFUGE: Psalm 68:5 "A Father to the fatherless, defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling."

ALL-POWERFUL: Job 38-39 (God speaking) "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?... Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place... Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?" (38:4, 12, 16)

KING: Psalm 47:7 "For God is the King of all the earth; sing to Him a psalm of praise."

GATHERER of Jesus-followers: John 6:44 (Jesus speaking) "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him."

LOVING PROVIDER: Matthew 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

ULTIMATE JUDGE: Acts 17:31 "For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead."

GOD THE SON:

SAVIOR: 1 John 4:14 "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world."

FULLY HUMAN & FULLY GOD: Philippians 2:5-8 "Christ Jesus, Who, being in very nature God... made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness..."

COMPASSIONATE: Matthew 9:36 "When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." 

INTERCESSOR for believers: Romans 8:34 "Christ Jesus who died -- more than that, who was raised to life -- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us."

ETERNAL: John 8:28 (Jesus speaking) "I tell you the truth... before Abraham was born, I am!"

PRINCE: Acts 5:31 "God exalted Him to His own right hand as Prince and Savior that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel."

PERFECT: Hebrews 7:26-27 "... holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day... He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself."

THE ONLY PRIEST: 1 Timothy 2:5 "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men.."

LORD: 1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord."

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT:

INTERCESSOR for believers: Romans 8:26-27 "the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." 

CONVICTER: John 16:8 "When He comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment."

TRUTH-BRINGER: John 15:13 "When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth."

POWERFUL: Acts 1:8 "But you will will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you."

KNOWS GOD'S THOUGHTS: 1 Corinthians 2:11 "For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."

GIVES UNDERSTANDING OF GOD: 1 Corinthians 2:12 "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."

GUIDE of Christians: Romans 8:9, 14 "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you... those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."

LIVES in Christians: 1 Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God?"

SANCTIFIER: 2 Thessalonians 2:13 "...God chose you to be saved throug the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth."

FATHER, SON, AND SPIRIT TOGETHER:

1 John 4:12-16 "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. We know that we live in Him and He in us, because He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God."

John 3:34-36 "For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

John 14:26 (Jesus speaking) "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

Matthew 3:16-17 "As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.'"

Acts 5:30-32 "The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead -- whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree. God exalted Him to His own right hand as Prince and Savior that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him."

ingesting the bread

James 1:22 says this:
"Do not merely listen to the world, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

i find myself thinking of many in the American 'church,' people who go to church every Sunday, but don't think about God during the week. women who wear skimpy outfits (even to church) and men who condone it. people who are smiley in the pews, but who will swear and yell all the way home. people who have their Bible on their lap on Sunday, but live immoral lives at home. people who claim they've been Christians for years, but enjoy raunchy t.v. like South Park or American Dad or Desperate Housewives, or have a live-in boyfriend, or are eating themselves into obesity, or excuse homosexuality, or cheat in their work or on their taxes...
the picture isn't consistent.
it's a huge problem.

James 2:14, 17 continue on:
"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ... faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

works do not save you, but they are EVIDENCE of being saved. if someone claims to be something, we look for evidence to back him up. if he says, 'i am the king of England,' we look for evidence of that. if there is none, we dismiss him as a liar.
same with Christianity. 
the world is looking intently at Christians, and when we live in ways that oppose the Bible, they deem us liars and dismiss Christianity. i can't tell you the number of times i have talked about Christianity with someone and they have said they reject Christianity because they knew someone in their past who claimed Christianity but acted like a jerk.
often, that can come from hearing the word, but not doing what it says.
don't deceive yourself. are you a doer, or just a hearer? do you flippantly claim to be a Christian, but don't really know what that means, or don't really care? i've often encountered people who quickly say they're Christians, but are clearly uncomfortable with the subject and don't want to talk further. seems like a red flag. and i have found later that their lifestyle is one that has no regard for Christ.

imagine sitting down for lunch with someone. the food came and you both started eating. what would you think if after chewing every bite, your friend spat it out on the ground? 
i don't know about you, but i would think, incredulously, 'what are you doing?! you're not really eating!' 
in order for food to do any substantial good to our bodies, it must be swallowed. it must be ingested and absorbed into our tissues.
the Bible refers to God's word as bread. Jesus also called Himself the Bread of Life (John 6:35). as Christians, we must absorb what God says and who He is into our lives. it changes us.
if you're no different than the day you claimed Jesus as Lord, then there is something wrong.
have you really INGESTED the bread?

"Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you... Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you." James 1:21, 4:7-8a

the gun conundrum

i think it's time to write a bit of my thought process down about guns. they seem to be a big topic these days, from the government down to everyday people.
(personally, i don't like guns at all. i wish they could all be banned, from the government down to the kids, but i know that's completely unrealistic in this fallen world. worldwide peace is only going to come when Jesus returns.)
now, i don't have any end-all answer to the debate of banning guns, but here's what's been mulling in my mind as i hear more discussion on the topic.

show me the facts

first of all, here are some stats and pieces of info i have run across in recent weeks. links to my references are below.

- dateline said in the US, 36 people are killed with guns every day. that's more people dead than there are hours in the day!

- last year, 9,000 people were killed with guns in the US. 1 this is the highest rate in all 'industrialized nations.' other similar countries have stats in the hundreds, while we are at multiple thousands!!! and a suspiciously correlating fact: the US has the 'highest rate of gun ownership in the world, with 88.8 guns per 100 people' (Serbia is next, with 58.2). 1

so let me get this straight so far, we have the most guns per capita (most people say they have guns to protect themselves), and we are also the most dead nation in the world because of these same 'protective' weapons.... hmmm...

- we're experiencing more and more mass shootings like at the Connecticut elementary school and the Colorado movie theater and the Wisconsin Sikh temple... an excellent overview of mass shootings here in the US can be found at this link: mass shootings map

over 3/4 of these killers had legal weapons!

after the shooting in Connecticut this last December, everyone was talking about weapons and if some should be banned. even a staunch pro-gun-er named Joe Manchin changed his tune and made these comments: "i never thought i'd see the day when i would see children and babies slaughtered in america... i think seeing the massacre of so many innocent children, it's changed america... never before have we seen our babies slaughtered." (i can't help but interject here that he is wrong, because we have been slaughtering our babies for decades through abortion... why only outrage now??!) he thinks even the NRA might lighten up a bit on its argument against banning at least some semi-automatic guns. 2  (a few weeks ago i was in a conversation with someone who has been involved in violence most of his life, as a pimp and drug dealer who used guns, and even he said there's no need for anyone to have an automatic weapon.)

- and just this January, there was another senseless, horrific shooting in New Mexico. a 15-yr-old boy shot his mother, his 3 siblings (ages 9, 5, and 2), and his father. he had also contemplated killing his 12-yr-old girlfriend's family, as well as going to walmart to shoot a bunch of people there. 3 what in the world?! the county sheriff hit the nail on the head when he said this: "there seems to be a devaluation of life in america." 4  he argues, rightly, that schools and faith-based organizations should be doing more in the prevention of this. and i would add that families need to do more groundwork to teach non-violence.

how'd we get here?
what is it about humans that makes us ever want to kill another person? or hurt them.. why does it feel good to get someone back or to be stronger than someone else? here are some ideas:

1. plain ole ego. it's all about me. back to the Garden of Eden when Eve wanted to be like God. she and Adam threw away the words God had said in favor of what tickled their egos and their self-importance. God had been clear: eat from that one tree and you will die. they chose to gamble with death, just like all of us since then. we feel invincible. we think we can take care of ourselves. we think we're number one.

2. fear. despite acting like we're number one and we're invincible, we really are afraid of everything. Americans especially. Americans must be some of the most fearful people in the world. we're afraid of germs, afraid of our neighbors, afraid of the rest of the world, afraid of growing old, afraid of sickness, afraid of death, afraid of ghosts, afraid of confrontations, afraid of the weather... and in the same breath, we constantly test the limits and step to the edges, kind of as a coward's way of proving we're not afraid. we watch scary movies, we ride crazy roller-coasters, we eat ourselves into un-health, we drink alcohol till we puke, we spend the night in graveyards telling 'ghost stories,' we yell obscenities at the t.v. from the safety of our couch, we run around town with guns in our pockets to prove we're tough .......... it all comes back to fear.

3. anger. sometimes fear comes out as anger. sometimes circumstances breed anger, like financial troubles or broken families. sometimes people are angry just because it gives them something to do.

4. video game violence. yep, i said it.
basically, most Americans have too much time on their hands. we watch hours of t.v., our kids play hours of video games. and it's ridiculous to think that we can fill our minds with violence hour after hour and not be affected. like my husband always says, "companies wouldn't spend billions of dollars on advertising if it didn't affect our minds and our actions." the thing about video games now is a) how REAL they look, b) that you play them in FIRST PERSON, running along with a gun in your hands, c) how INVOLVED the storyline is (why do you think people get so mad when they lose?!), and d) how MISLEADING it is to die over and over again or kill others without real consequences.
you think this doesn't affect your kid when they sit absorbed in the game for hours?? then you're not in touch with reality.
if you read the article about the boy who killed his family (3), you'd notice that the sheriff talked about how the boy "gushed to police about his love for violent video games during the interrogation... he told police he loved to play Modern Warfare and Grand Theft Auto." red flag!!!

a Christian response

today as i ran errands, i was listening to the radio station my husband had left on in the car: Christian talk radio. they were talking briefly about the gun issue. granted, i think the issue being discussed in government has been about automatic weapons, but these guys were discussing just any guns at all.
the show host clearly seemed to be pro-gun, against any gun-banning. they were discussing whether or not it's ever ok for a Christian to have a gun in their house 'for safety,' and what happens if a burglar comes into the house at night. they mentioned a Christian leader who said that Christians shouldn't have a gun for 'safety,' because then you run the risk of killing someone who hasn't heard the gospel. the talk show host kind of snorted at that and said this: "when a burglar is in your house, that is not the time to share the gospel." 
that disturbed me.
what if that is EXACTLY the time you are supposed to share the gospel, or even lead that person to Christ, or to be a different kind of example, instead of holding a gun to their face and shooting them dead in the name of 'protecting your family?'
it brings to memory true stories i've heard of Christians from WWII who won over their captors by sharing the gospel - hardened nazi killers who had only evil in their minds... changed by GOD in the presence of someone who cared more for the nazi's soul than for their own safety.
or how about the Chinese girl who was imprisoned just for being a Christian, who, though almost starving herself, spent her days voluntarily washing other prisoners' cells and sharing the gospel with them... her example caused the guards to ask her about her faith.
or i think of the countless stories i've read in the Voice of the Martyrs magazine, about modern day Christians who are killed for believing in Jesus, but whose last words before death caused their killers to later repent and become strong Christians themselves.
what if those Christians had met their attackers at the door with a gun?
what if Ananias in Acts 9, had met Saul, a serious Christian-killer, at his door with a gun? there would have been no Paul, and think of how many people were saved after hearing his words, both in his day and up to ours!

i don't think it is necessarily wrong for a Christian to own a gun, maybe for minor bits of hunting or something (even though i eat some meat, it's hard for me to think of actually shooting an animal...). i don't know the answer to what we should do across the board when it comes to guns.
i DO know we have a violence problem in this country, which i think is a family/morality problem at its core.
and i DO believe that automatic weapons are seriously unnecessary for normal people to have.

when it comes down to it for me, if i picture Jesus living as my neighbor in 2013, i don't picture Him with a gun under His pillow. 


1 cnn - US vs the world in gun violence
2 joe manchin
3 family shooting
4 sheriff talks about family shooting