Not to Another

Ive been laying in bed for probably like 21 minutes or so now, and cant get a line out of my head. It got stuck in it earlier when i read a post to a blog that my girlfriend and her/our good friend started. You can check their blog out at http://wastethedayaway.tumblr.com/

The line says "give us clean hands, and give us pure hearts; let us not lift our souls to another" Its taken me a while to realize that giving our souls to another, doesn't just mean to another person, but in fact to anyone, or anything other than Christ our savior.

In the bible study I lead, we've started talking about how to live life as a guy in Christ, and its brought up stuff that guys struggle with, a lot. Drugs, drinking, partying, sex, pornography, bullying, etc. Its also gotten me thinking about the fact that its not just guys who struggle with it. Its us all, especially with sex, drugs, and drinking. The ten commandments command us not to have false idols, the song says not to lift our souls to another, but what they're both saying, is that if we worship something other than god, were turning our backs on him, and what we believe. If we put our focus in things other than pleasing him with our every move, our every word, our every thought, then were not praising him. Were lifting our souls to things of this world. Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that having a good time is wrong, or that Christianity bans having fun, but if our having fun shames what we believe, then yea, its wrong. Ill be honest, partying and drinking are fun. But if its not legal, and we do it anyways, then it shames the gospel. Lately, over the past few months, Ive seen a lot of people i know, some people i know really well, take a "turn for the worse" i don't want to be judgmental, but its hard to sit back and just watch, sometimes i just want to try and tell them that as fun as it is, its wrong. Ive made mistakes, and i really regret them. I want a way to be able to tell them how truth in Christ will "out fun" drinking and partying and getting high any day.

I have a hard time believing in things that cannot be seen or felt, smelled or tasted, faith, its hard for me. But anyone who believes will agree with me, that feeling you got, when you first accepted Christ into your life, that is the greatest feeling in the world. I'm getting "god bumps"(courtesy of Jordan Sasser) right now just thinking about it. Though our relationships with Christ are a struggle at times, they are fun, amazing, eye opening, and above all else, a blessing beyond our greatest imaginations.

Its time we, myself included, set our sights, our hearts, our souls on God. Not on another person, thing, or idea. Its time we focused on the center of our faith, made God the center of our lives, and gave ourselves to him, once again.

HE died for you, so live for HIM

I opened up to CNN the other day, only to find the headline: 138 Die in 48 hours. The story was about how in the capital of Haiti, a cholera outbreak had killed 138 men, women, and children in less than 2 days, and now, the death toll is over 200. What is even more astonishing, is how, less than a year ago, a devastating earthquake hammered the country. Its crazy to think about how much these people have suffered. First a massive earthquake that kills a ridiculous amount of people, and then this, a deadly outbreak of a vicious disease that is rapidly spreading, and leaving a path of fallen souls behind it in its tracks.
A few months ago, I sat with a group of people in my brother Nicks house, and we discussed suffering, why people suffer, and how suffering affects the world, and Christians. When asked why people suffer, my thought is that people suffer to bring them closer to Christ. Its a little bit weird if you think about it, that the God who created us all and who knows what will happen to us all allows us to suffer, but if you really think about it hard, if we rely solely on Christ in our suffering, and on no one else but those who will use the love of Christ to help us, then we can encounter anything.
When I think about my life, sometimes i "suffer", and by suffering, I mean, I get a bad teacher, or have bad luck on something, I dont feel good once in a blue moon. But if you compare to the suffering of the Haitians, my suffering looks like a stubbed toe compared to the loss of a limb.
Often, suffering is caused by a mistake, or some wrongdoing. Christ made no mistakes. Christ did no wrong. Christ came, lived a perfect life, and then suffered lashes from a whip, beatings with clubs and sharpened objects, carried a wooden cross twice his size and weight up a mountain while bleeding, had a "crown" of thorns shoved onto his head, had nails driven into his hands and feet, and then was stabbed by a pike. I think thats true suffering. He took our sins, paid the price, and died for us. He paid our ransom, all so we dont have to suffer. Christ died for us, so we can live for him.

2nd Corinthians 4:16-18
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

the riches of HIS love

life is hard sometimes. it seems like nothing goes your way, like nothing you do makes a difference. im at a loss for words. often, i feel like i get into some down, dark emotional state, where nothing can help. right now, yep thats it. on the way home from church tonight, i had time to think about life in general, time to just kind of think about anything. after a while, i realized that i had turned off the music in my car, so i decided to turn it back on, and in doing so, i thought back to a session that i had lead earlier. I told high schoolers that occasionally, all you have to do is open the word, and the answer will be there, but also to keep reading, because sometimes, if the first thing you see doesnt help, something down the road often will. So of course, i turned on the song, and thought, i better hear something that will help, because right now, lifes not working as well as i hope. and, of course, the part of the song that came on did nothing... a few minutes later, during the next song, the truth kinda hit me, right in the face. the cd that i was listening to was the newest by Hillsong, called a beautiful exchange, and the song was called Forever Reign. but what was being said, blew me away.

"oh, im running to your arms, im running to your arms, the riches of your love, will always be enough, nothing compares to your embrace, light of the world FOREVER reigns."

the riches of your love, will always be enough. thats all that really matters. In Christ, we have it all. love in abundance.

The raw truth, once again.

Its incredible, how often we get smacked around by the truth. Often the truth hurts, but every so often, we come face to face with the truth, and no matter how much it hurts, it helps.

Realizations are often uncomfortable, and it’s even more uncomfortable if someone has to help you get to certain realizations. I was having a conversation with a good friend the other day, about some stuff that had really been troubling me, and as I explained to her how it felt like I was looked down upon by others, she happened to help me to one of these uncomfortable realizations. Recently, after a year of living on my own, squandering my wealth, and living life to the fullest, I moved home. It was a disappointment for me, knowing that I had blown some of the freedom that I had. What also hurt me was the place that I was at mentally, and educationally. Through High School, I expected to be able to just get into a large, highly accredited university, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and I felt like a failure, like I was better than the place I was at, that I was smarter, smart enough to get into N.C. State or somewhere like it. But when denial after denial came back from schools, I began to turn on myself, and really think of myself as less of a person, less than maybe I really was. I stopped loving myself as much as I had, and it made it hard for others to love me. I realized all of it through one simple text: "Are you sure that’s not how you see yourself in comparison [to others]?"

Ouch. I won’t lie, it hurt. Maybe all along, it wasn't others seeing me as less, it was me seeing myself as less, and putting myself down. It’s not right, but it still hurt. Christ looks at all of us equally. He doesn't love any one of us more or less than another, and he is equally proud of our actions, and equally open to forgive our sins. That’s the raw truth, once again.

Like Precious Metals

Tonight, I once again discovered the reason for why I love to do youth ministry. I lead a 8th grade guys bible study, and it started out the usual way, with them acting like complete 8th grade guys, and me trying, but failing to get them to calm down, and to focus on the subject that I had prepared: evangelism. But in the midst of all of the mayhem, and all of the ensuing ruckus, someone brought up one of the most incredible things I have ever heard. He said that he had heard someone tell him once, that we, as Christians are like precious metals, gold, and silver. As some may know, in the process of making jewelry, the metal is melted down to eliminate the flaws, and to make it pure. And here in the midst of the farts, the ridiculous jokes and maniacal laughing, some one compared our faith to precious metals. It took everything I had to not break down crying on the way home, as I thought about what it really meant.
With our faith comes forgiveness, love and abundant grace. We are like precious metals, and Christ melts us down, and FORGIVES and REMOVES all of our mess, our flaws, discrepancies, lies, sins, and mistakes, and replaces them with his ABUNDANT GRACE, as we are made completely PURE in God our father. I am literally in awe. I have never been more sure about my future, tonight, my heart was melted once again. The beginning of the night we talked about evangelism, and in the end of the night, it was he who preached the gospel to me.

Humpty Dumpty

Everyone knows the story of Humpty Dumpty: "All the kings horses, and all the kings men, couldnt put Humpty back together again" This morning, as Sass talked about being weak, and how Christs redeeming love and grace gave us the strength to get through anything, he used the word Broken, and there, at that small word, the truth hit me. Things that are broken may be able to be fixed to some point, but nothing will ever be perfect. When I hear the word broken, I think of plates, glasses, cars, and other things that are broken, shattered, and wrecked. Then I think of the ultimate truth. Christ was literally broken. He was whipped, beaten, and mutilated; forced to break his own body even more as he carried a massive cross up a mountain; then broken yet again as he was killed by having his hands, feet, and side pierced as he was stabbed and nailed to a cross. The ultimate sacrifice, who then three days later, ROSE FROM THE DEAD, where he was put back together to testify to the grace and mercy of God. Then I think of us. We are all broken, and through Christs redeeming love we will be made whole again. Christ asks for us to give ourselves, and he will save us from eternal hell. He will save us from suffering beyond our greatest imaginations and fears, and he will give us eternal life, to live in the fullness and grace of our God. Humpty Dumpty was just a children's rhyme. This is the real deal. Christ loves us. He will turn us from being broken to being whole again. Thats the real story, not some children's rhyme.