Archive for April, 2009
Posted on April 29, 2009 - by bj
The Intangibles
So i’ve been thinking about this quote for some time now….it’s from Lee Stroble’s book, The Case for Faith. I don’t know if he said it or if someone else did but anyway, it says….”Only in a world where faith is difficult, can faith exist.” And how true this is! We wouldn’t need faith if we never endured hardship and all we knew was good. This is also true for many other intangible things such as love and courage. Courage can only exist in the presence of fear and difficulty—we must overcome fear to be courageous. There will always be “something to lose”/consequences as a result of our actions (there is a right and a wrong). We won’t always experience them (consequences) but they’re still present. If they were not, we would never have any reason to work hard and try our best at things—we would never need to depend on God b/c we would never have to make that choice–He would have been a mere provider. We would never have to choose right if that was all we knew.
LOVE—- It’s because of an evil and corrupted world that we can understand the depths of love because of what Christ does through people during hard times. i feel like we couldn’t love other people wholeheartedly if there were no reason to reach out to them…which i guess turns into there not being any reason to love at all. i mean, if your teacher said that they were giving you an A on a test no matter what, would there be any reason to study? 1 Cor 13:4-8 wouldn’t exist unless we understood what love wasn’t. “4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails…….” Patience and kindness can only exist if people have the choice of being impatient or unkind, and etc…. LOVE NEVER FAILS—–we could never know this unless we knew that failure exists in the absence of love (We see this in the world everyday). “Love never failing” happened when Jesus gave His life for you and I–which was the perfect display of love. Love never fails, God is love, God never fails. Love you all
Posted on April 27, 2009 - by bj
To honor our parents……..
So, lately i’ve been thinking about what it means to honor our parents. i think alot of times, people translate the word honor as meaning “obey.” And i disagree with that. Yes, we are called to obey our parents, but Ephesians 6 says ”Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” So there is a difference in merely obeying your parents and obeying them in the Lord. It seems as though this scripture is saying two things: 1) We should obey our parents, assuming they are followers of Christ and 2) If they are not, our decision to obey must be in line with His word. One thing i don’t know is if the word “children” is refering to certain aged individuals (as in a young child) or children of God, which would be all Christians. However, i don’t know how relevant that is to understanding what this means. Anyway, as i stated earlier, i don’t think that honor=obey. For example, if you are a believer and your mom or dad was not and you obeyed everything they commanded of you, there would clearly be some decisions on your part that were in conflict with the word of God…..b/c your parents aren’t Christ-centered. If your mom or dad said to go steal money for them to go buy drugs and you did that, you would be obeying them, but not honoring them or yourself b/c that isn’t what’s best for them and you would be breaking a commandment and the law. Basically what this translates to is that there could possibly be times that we have to disobey our parents in order to honor them. There will be times that we disobey them to “obey them in the Lord.” To honor them is to love them as Christ does, and to act as Christ would. We have to be bold and keep our faith.
i live a different life than my parents. i have hope and faith in Christ to work through me and others to reveal himself to them….i see this at work on a daily basis through our conversations, and when i’m able to spend time with them at home and it’s very exciting. But there have been many situations that required the “flipping over of a table, or two.” Sometimes we have to be bold and take a stand for what we know is right. And all of this is up for interpretation…… what do you guys think about this issue (want to add anything?)
Posted on April 24, 2009 - by bj
Water would be nice
So, i’ve been in a funk lately…..i guess the best way to describe it is just being spiritually dry, or possibly complacent. i feel like it’s stemming mainly from my personal time, or lack thereof, with the Lord. There hasn’t been a lack of daily dialogue with Him, but it’s been hard for me to stop and rest in the word—not that i don’t have the time, but that when i do sit down to read, i’m not all there. i’m very distracted by external things. Honestly, my desire to be in the word is basically missing. What i want and what i desire are two different things right now. i want to be in the word, i’m obligated to read the word, and i should be in the word….but i don’t desire it right now (i want to desire to be in the word). Because of this, i’ve noticed that i’ve been getting frustrated easily with people and i thank God that it isn’t being played out in my actions and that i haven’t blown up at anyone, but i literally feel like i’m imploding. Another contributor is a lack of community—on a one on one basis. i’m surrounded by a great group of people and we have amazing times of fellowship each week and i work with some amazing men and women everyday but it’s hard to disciple and pour into other people when you don’t have someone doing the same for you. i’ve sought that out now and the Lord has provided, which is very exciting. my mood is actually changing as a write this post. Maybe i just need to write things out more often.
Can anyone else relate?
Posted on April 20, 2009 - by bj
Rejoicing Through the Tears
A couple of Thursday’s ago, one of my really good friend’s mother passed away from pancreatic cancer. She was a wonderful woman and had an amazing heart. She was a joy to be around and never had a hard time cracking a smile. i found out about the diagnosis this past summer and it hit me extremely hard, and no doubt, many others as well. It was a very empathetic time….it’s so hard to comprehend empathy as being a gift from God when it hurts so badly. However, i know that it’s empathy that leads us to love others the way that Christ did. i rejoice because of what Christ did through her and her family and because of where she is now. Funerals are never easy, but when i think about it…..the beginning of life actually starts with a funeral–when we die to ourself and choose Christ.
