Sunday, August 3, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
What do you want?
As we continue on this journey of self-knowledge and spiritual awareness it can be helpful to take a moment to take stock of your current health. I don’t mean physical health so much as your eternal health. One way we can do that is to think about what you are hungry for. What are you craving or not craving?
I once knew a man who talked of a small but persistent
desire that always seemed to haunt in the back of his mind and never seemed to
go away. It was this idea that it would be just an amazing experience to spend
a night with a prostitute. Not a cheap one mind you, but a real professional.
Obviously I am not condoning this desire that he had, but it
does serve as an example. These longings that hang around in the back of
our minds can tell us something about ourselves. Whether good or bad they give
us an indication of our spiritual health.
Our sinful nature desires sinful things.
This is normal, this is the default. We all have sinned and
in our sin, we all want to keep sinning. But think about yourself for a moment,
is there anything abnormal? Any strange longings that seem out of place from
this “normal” state?
Many Christians can testify of a longing that they couldn’t
shake if they wanted to. A desire not for some carnal pleasure but something
more significant. It is sometimes small, but always there in the back of the
mind. An unending hunger to be a more righteous person. I know sounds strange
right? Who even uses that word anymore “righteous”.
Imagine if you would that your neighbor of many years wins
the lottery. You are happy for them, because you know that they have many
debts, children to feed, and work a hard job with long hours. Now imagine in a
surprise move he shows up the next day and gives you every penny, no strings
attached. He says he wants you to have it and expects nothing in return. Now
what would you do? Say thanks, and go to town? Quit your job and throw a party?
I can only imagine that if it happened to me that I would
try to give the money back to him, if he wouldn’t take it I might go to the
bank and pay off his mortgage. Send a check to the gas company to pay off his
heating bills in advance. I would feel obligated, compelled to try to do nice
things for him to show my gratitude.
This is a partial view of what it is to be a Christian. Jesus
has given us a gift beyond value. Those who have accepted it cannot shake the
inner desire to try to please God to show our gratitude for that gift. Think
about it. God wants us to crave righteousness and do good works.
If you don’t have that craving to be righteous then I urge
you to take some time to consider whether you have ever truly confessed your sins
to God in repentance and declared Jesus to be your Lord.
God created you. It was a gift, in the beginning humanity
was perfect. Every one of us has violated God’s law and deserves to be
punished. Jesus was and is perfect and deserved only to be glorified and
praised as the flawless creator of the universe. That Man, stepped down from
his throne and died a hideous, miserable death, volunteering Himself as a scape
goat to take your punishment for you, so that you might live free for all
eternity. Beyond that, He rose from the grave, demonstrating his mastery of
creation and defeating death itself.
This gospel. This message, this Truth changes everything. It
leaves a mark and forever alters the course of those who accept it. If it has
not changed your life then you have certain proof that you haven’t really
embraced it as truth. For some reason you have held back and your eternal
health is in jeopardy. Open up your Bible and find that truth that can heal
your soul. There is no better time than right now.
If you do have that longing, then you know what I am talking
about. I urge you then to nurture it. Never forget that we are to seek the
kingdom and His righteousness first, before the things of this world.
Never stop growing, never stop seeking to find ways to
improve, to continue and to expand in whatever good works God has place in
front of you to do.
Chief
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
What are you looking for?
Hey long time no see. Sorry I have been away, life happens and we get busy, but I am back this week to hopefully give you some good old fashioned mental stimulation.
Today I want to challenge you to step back and take an honest look at yourself and how you view things on a regular basis.
We may not realize it but it is very easy to get pulled into a negative mindset. We are bombarded by lies, falseness, sin, and corruption every single day. We live in a world cursed by sin and sometimes it is all too obvious, it can be suffocating.
It is hard to find a movie without questionable content, just about every other TV show out there now has glowing portrayals of homosexual relationships, pop songs on the radio are rarely about anything other than sex, and even simple funny cat websites seem to go out of their way to mock anything that is pure they happen to find.
I think that this often leaves us a little jaded, walking around defensively looking for things to be upset about or take offense from.
This is a shame but not completely unexpected. We can do better. Check out these verses:
Matt 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Philip 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Colos 3:2
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things
We can’t make all the negative things go away but we can change what we are looking for. Sometimes what you are looking for drastically changes what you find.
Is Harry Potter gateway entertainment that inevitably leads to witchcraft and eternal damnation or is it a story about a group of kids who stand up to the forces of evil no matter the personal cost?
It the song lyric says “Pursue the Truth no matter where it lies..” does it matter if it is in a heavy metal song?
Does the book explaining why the universe can exist with God actually spell out how the “big bang” would have required a miracle?
It is easy to feel like we should attack these things, but I say that when we do that we are missing the point. There will always be falseness and lies, sin and corruption (until Jesus returns). In the meantime if we look for the nuggets of truth that are present all around us we will see that every good thing does come from God and you can find atheists and heathens inadvertently proclaiming His truth every day. These are opportunities for us to show people how all true things point back to God.
But only if we are looking for them.
Don't get me wrong, you should continue to avoid sin and live righteously. Just remember that we will get a lot farther pointing out the light than we will cursing the darkness.-Chief
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