Contemplations while I Have Strep

From Saturday to Tuesday I had a fever, never consistently below 100-101 degrees, but it was usually higher than that. Yesterday (Tuesday) the doctor told me I have strep throat, and I was so surprised because---praise God!---I didn't have any kind of sore throat at all. The wonderful thing is yesterday God reminded me of the beauty of the Gospel. I had stopped preaching the Gospel to myself every day, and constantly I had sort of fallen from my first Love. It is so easy to compare myself to the people at school---all of whom claim to be Christians, few of whom actually care about God---and think "I'm doing fine." Do you know what I mean?

Yesterday I was listening to CJ Mahaney's sermon Gethsemane. I was so moved by what Jesus did for us on the cross because of how grieved He was in Gethsemane when he had a foretaste of what it means to be the sin-bearer. What caused Him so much distress was not thinking about the physical pain (though that was indescribably great) but God's wrath is what He dreaded the most! Jesus was so horrified at this very thought that He prayed three times for any other way...if there was any other way, God would have answered the Son's appeal. But this is the only way God could save sinners, by Jesus bearing the wrath of the Father for our sin! CJ Mahaney said that John 3:16 means that God so loved the world that Jesus asked for an alternative and God was silent. Jesus took on the cup of wrath should have been in my hand and he replaced it with the cup of salvation! If I ever doubt God's love for me, I can look back at not only the cross but at Gethsemane...the intense suffering of the Saviour. Wow.

Thinking about the Gospel, considering how much Jesus did for me---taking God's wrath upon Himself that was supposed to be given to me for my sin!---oh, why? Why would the LORD have mercy on someone like me? I feel so unworthy---probably because I am so unworthy!---and I am almost upset with God for loving me when I am such a disobedient child who loves sleep more than my Saviour, who wastes time so frequently, who gossips when I know God hates that. Oh how thankful I am for being a recipient of grace, chosen and covered. We cannot exaggerate God's love for us. It's impossible.

So I encourage you to preach the Gospel to yourself every day. Remind yourself of what Jesus did for you. Remind yourself of the victory He had when He rose from the grave. Do it. I dare you. :)

What God Has Taught Me From 2 Corinthians

I have been taking my time through 2 Corinthians because each passage is so stinking incredible.

God has used this book to make me want to change everything about how I live. It's pretty crazy because as I was praying for God to do all these things in me (I prayed pretty specifically), a random freshman came up to me, gave me a folder, and said "I wrote my journal entry about you for English class." I read her entry in which she wrote about how there's a difference between joy and happiness, and she said that she has happiness but can see that God can give joy and peace like He has given to Hope Chambers (me!) It was really cool to read this because it had very little to do with me and mostly to do with God and how HE can give joy; I'm just an example of someone who has received such joy. A friend gave me some really good advice last time I talked to him and expressed to him my discouragement about seeing such little fruit on my mission field (a lukewarm Christian school): he told me that my job is to be satisfied in the LORD and to let that shine to those around me. Once I stopped focusing on what I was doing and focusing more on who I was becoming, life became much less depressing and I relied much less on myself and much more on God. I suppose the effects of ministering to God foremost and ministering to people as overflow have been more successful also. I hope that doesn't sound prideful or anything; really, it's just so amazing that God answered my prayer and satisfies in a noticeable way!

Here's a brief stroll through what I have learned so far from 2 Corinthians...and I know a lot of it seems straightforward but seriously, these concepts are so unbelievably deep.

-Christ leads us in triumphal procession, proclaiming to all creation what He has done in the lives of His people. We should be a beautiful scent to the people around us, spreading the knowledge of Him everywhere. (See my most recent entry.)
-The Holy Spirit is more permanent and more glorious than the 10 Commandments, and the 10 Commandments were extremely glorious. WE HAVE GOD'S SPIRIT. We cannot underestimate His power!!! My goodness, how I underestimate the Holy Spirit that I posses!
-Christ has torn the veils off our faces, and by this freedom from the Spirit we can behold His glory and be transformed to be more like Jesus.
-We are ugly horrible broken jars of clay but we contain a great treasure: THE GOSPEL. We must let the Gospel emanate through our lives in everything we do.
-We must look "not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:18) If something can be seen or touched by humans, it is probably not everlasting. Praise God that His Word is more than a book, His church is more than a building, and His love is more than goosebumps. God is indestructible. I now see the beauty of faith. If something doesn't require faith, it is probably not eternal.
-I am thankful that GOD is my inheritance. In Joshua 13, Moses was giving different tribes different portions of land, "But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance; the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he said to them." They received no tangible portion, but He is their inheritance, and that is more than enough. God has given me good things like a house, a family to snuggle with, friends to have fun with, a bed, etc., but all these things can be destroyed by fire, killed, or stolen. My heart cannot stop praising Him because He is everlasting by nature! The things of God cannot be seen, this is true, but I am so glad that He requires faith because things that can be seen aren't guaranteed and are not constant. We don't need to worry about anything for two reasons: 1) What do I have to lose? My life? Yay. My car/house/stuff? So what? The only important thing (God's love) cannot be taken away from us because He promised us so. 2) The safest place in the world is the center of His will...and even then we are not promised that we won't die or get hurt; but even then we know that's according to His perfect plan and He will be glorified through it. The LORD has promised us everlasting life, and He has never backed down on his promises. There hasn't been another earth-cleansing flood. His love for his people is secure because of what Jesus did. I have said words similar to this before, but they develop more and more meaning as time passes. The weight of His truth becomes heavier and heavier, and deeper and deeper imprinted on my heart. The LORD is my inheritance.
-God, who said "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine how powerful that command was that God made? "Let let shine out of darkness." Can you imagine the world if He had not said that? And that same God has shone light into our hearts! What power!

So in conclusion, I think I have been underestimating everything...the power of the Gospel, how much it means for God to shine through us, our inheritance through Christ, the God-ness of the Holy Spirit. This is real stuff, not fiction, not "a part of our lives." Religion is not something God made. He just is, and the universe is to respond accordingly.

And I've been really humbled too. God has convicted me of a lot of sin in my life, which is very good because I was becoming extremely self-righteous and my heart was disgusting. It hurts to be humbled and sometimes I feel like I can hardly breathe because I hate myself so much, but through this I can also learn a lot about God's grace and how He is faithful even when I am unfaithful. (2 Timothy 2:13)

A Triumphal Procession

    This morning, 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 blew my mind. There is so much to unpack in these few verses:
    But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
    I would like to primarily focus on this idea of the triumphal procession in verse 14. My ESV Study Bible told me that this is referencing lavish victory parades that the Romans had during this period, with the victorious leader in front and his captives trailing behind in defeat. I can imagine the people on the sidelines jeering the losers and being in awe of the greatness of the general. If Christ has captivated your heart, you are joining in this triumphal procession daily, (Christ being the victor over your old sef!) but the difference is your face now expresses great joy to the people who see us. This beautiful procession---our everyday intentional living, displaying God’s goodness---is like spreading a fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere.
    Romans 8:15 describes such a transformation:
    For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
    Our spirits are still crying out, but now they are crying praises to the Father!
    At the Passion conference in January, Louie Giglio shared a really good example of this showing-the goodness-of-God-on-your-face concept. At the end of Extreme Makeover Home Edition when the family is about to see their new house, and the bus that was obstructing their view is finally moved, the camera does not pan to the house as much as to the expressions on the family’s face. The family’s reaction---tears of joy---is what moves the viewers at home and reveals just how beautiful the new house is. In the same way, the world can’t really see Christ directly, so they should see the His beauty through how much His people are amazed.
    Remember that we cannot fake awe. We cannot put on “radiance powder” on the days when joy from Jesus just doesn’t naturally radiate from us. Our aim should not be to grab the attention of everyone anyway. That’s what I like about John the Baptist. When his followers left him for Jesus in John 3, John the Baptist was ecstatic! He was losing glory and Christ was gaining it, which was delightful, for “He must increase, but I must decrease.” But if you really want to make a difference for the Kingdom, if you really want to know the heartbeat of the Father...spend time with Him!
    True change does not start from circumstances then make its way to change your heart. In Mark 7:15, Jesus said that what goes inside someone isn’t what defiles him, but rather what comes out of him. The heart, not the external stuff, is what matters! We have seen this over and over again. You can take drugs away from an addict for a month, but he will still crave them, or at least he will still crave something to fill that void. The reason Jesus could hang out with really bad people and remain sinless is because His heart was pure. The hypocrites were sinning just by hanging out with each other because their hearts were far from God. This is not to say avoid Christians and instead go to bars all the time, but please understand me when I say that change happens from the inside out. The Spirit alone can transform our hearts, so ask Him to do so! Spend serious time in the Word! There is some kind of perfect balance between our effort and the Holy Spirit’s work, but to the best of your ability pursue Him wholeheartedly.
    I often get discouraged at school because it seems like all my efforts from the past four years have been for nothing. However, I should instead focus on being obsessed with the LORD rather than being obsessed with what He is doing through me. He will cause everything to happen naturally in His time; my job is to trust in the LORD and do good (Psalm 37.) It is very rare to see people who have actually been changed by God; there are many who can pray extravagantly and who even read the Bible frequently, but God is still a 9 to 5 job for them. The world is hungry for a God that satisfies and consumes We must show the world that this is the God we know, or rather, this is the God who knows us.
    However, this is very difficult to do. For example, I believe that God calls us to show His impact in our life by obeying our earthly masters as if we are doing it for Him. Colossians 3:22-24 changed my life and is my main motivation for completing busywork or doing chores. Show your teachers and parents, that God’s love is so great that it has caused you to obey them. They’re a lot more likely to see that God is real if He brings about a real change in His children. And if you are indeed His child, He should be bringing about a real change in you.
    So may our lives be reactions to His greatness. May the world see Him on our faces. May He use us to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere.
    He is so worth it.

One Day.

I have been thinking a lot about Heaven lately. The more I study it, the more I realize that I really have no idea what it's like. I haven't studied much eschatology, but I love Revelation because, even though he is inspired by the Holy Spirit, John cannot fully describe what God's presence is like...and it is hard to imagine! No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him!
(Also, what does the Holy Spirit do in Heaven?)

Anyway, today Revelation 1:12-18 totally gripped me.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

 Does this description of Jesus not make you tremble? He is fierce!

Check out what God is like according to Revelation 4:2-11:

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!” 

And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”

We will be worshiping the eternal, Almighty God forever. So let us start now!

A close friend of mine, an atheist who had evangelised and been on more mission trips than I have before becoming such, displayed some very insightful thoughts about Heaven on a Facebook spiel:

"You see, the way I've always heard it is that heaven is a place of eternal worship of God. If that were the case, then, that place would only be enjoyable for those faithful who had already dedicated themselves to such activity. Such a place would be torturous to someone who had spent their lives differently- being forced to praise a God that they never knew...Also, what if the importance of 'salvation' during the natural life was to be mentally prepared to enjoy this sort of endless worship?" 

Even an atheist realizes the foolishness of those who want to go to Heaven but don't give a flip about worshiping God now. Would you still want to go to Heaven if God was not there? Why would you want to worship forever if you don't want to worship now?
Just some sobering thoughts. :)

Thoughts on Sanctification.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.
Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you [(salvation)] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Before we continue about sanctification, let me clarify the difference between the three "ifications" that are used to refer to the past, present, and future tenses of salvation: (as rhymed by Shai Linne in the song Atonement Q&A):
Justification: God declares us righteous
Sanctification:We’re being made into His likeness
Glorification:What happens at the finish when God conforms believers perfectly to Christ’s image
If you are a believer, justification already happened because of what Jesus did at the cross (Ephesians 2:8), sanctification is happening (Philippians 2:12), and glorification will one day happen (Romans 13:11).

Anyways, the past few weeks have been very difficult for me because in this time God has been powerfully convicting me and breaking me. I realize that I have become, as I said earlier, arrogant about my sanctification. Some of you may know that over the past year God has been refining my desires and consequently I have set some rules for myself regarding entertainment that I have taken pride in as being "radical" and "extreme." Yet though I have been abstaining from almost everything, I haven't necessarily been replacing that time or money spent with things of the LORD either. Hope Marie Chambers is living proof of Calvin's "our hearts are idol factories" statement. Even in 7th grade when I quit Neopets because it was wasting my time, it wasn't long before I jumped right onto another virtual pets site and became equally addicted!

Ephesians 5:15-21
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the LORD is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the LORD with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reference for Christ.

Verse 18 is the one that really got me. "Do not get drunk with wine", okay, I got that! Go me, yay Hope! But "be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another with psalms, etc."? I don't do that. So why am I bragging? I avoid bad things but don't pursue good things, if that makes sense. Ephesians 4:28-32 is even more convicting (which I didn't think would be possible!):
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labour, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Friends, I'm a hypocrite. I don't know what it's like to have bruises on my knees from praying for hours every day. I think horrible thoughts about a lot of you---most of you---and I gossip boatloads. I disobey my parents so often. I waste so so so much time. I haven't even read the whole Bible. Despite my words about wanting to be forgotten, I still want to be popular; making a name for myself is still priority. My heart is nasty, and I don't know why I've been trying to conceal it for you and for God...Jimmy Needham said it wonderfully in his song Rend:
(this is from the perspective of God)
I don't need I grand display; show Me that your heart has changed; I don't need a show, only just to know your own heart breaks.
Psalm 51:16
For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

I can show God all the stuff that I gave up and say "This is for You, LORD; look at me, I'm awesome!" But first of all, even my best works are like menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6, eww) and still tainted with sin. (Even further, if I'm not covered in Jesus' blood I have no business fellowshipping with God in the first place. Though that's not what I'm talking about here, some of you do still believe that works---such as baptism---will get you into Heaven, and you're extremely wrong.) Second of all, as I said previously, my sanctification isn't up to me; it's all God and I only know as much about Him as He allows me to. Third, I haven't even been doing a good job using the amount of free will that I have for His glory.

God wants us to come before Him like a child; Brennan Manning pointed out to me today in The Ragamuffin Gospel that in Luke 18, it's no coincidence that the author juxtaposes the "let the children come to Me" passage right before the part where the rich ruler asks Jesus what he must DO to inherit eternal life. This dramatically contrasts the difference between needy children self-sustaining fools.

I'm not sure where my thought train is going here but this is what I'm trying to convey to you, dear friends (and I'm tired; forgive me if I accidentally said something heretical):
1) Lying to God and putting on a front for Him doesn't work and He hates it so don't even try.
2) Boast in God alone! Arrogance is a bad idea always, even if you don't brag about yourself to other people and you're just prideful in your heart. You're nothing; the LORD is everything.
3) Don't just say "I'm a sinner, I'm weak" and leave it at that! All the time Jesus would heal people and then be like "Go, and sin no more!" Repentance is key. But we will fail, so Grace is sweet.

My Photography

I really enjoy photography and photo editing. God is creative, so I do think it's possible to worship through creative pursuits as well.

Jesus is not cool…and neither is following Him.

Jesus is not cool…and neither is following Him.

(read this in an Irish accent or listen to this quote here: http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=2903 )
“And there's no room for [Jesus] in the inn.
He got a bit older, there was no room in His family, His family turned on Him.
He went to the temple, no room in the temple, the temple turned on Him.
And when He died there was no room to bury Him, He died outside of the city.
Well why in God's Name do you expect to be accepted everywhere?
How is it that the world couldn't get on with the holiest Man that ever lived and can get on with you and me?
Are we compromised? Are we compromised?
Have we no spiritual stature?
Have we no righteousness that reflects on their corruption?”
-Leonard Ravenhill

I am a female. Females seek attention. God wired us that way, but our sinful nature has transformed a beautiful need for Him into a desperate quest for popularity. Pursuing popularity (or doing whatever it takes to get people to like me) poses a problem, a contradiction to the lifestyle of the Jesus to whom I surrendered.

I’ve spent nearly my entire high school career trying to get people to like me. I’d laugh at the nasty jokes. I’d talk junk about the friends and teachers to whose faces I’d talk sweetly. But where in the Bible does it say this kind of compromise is okay? Jesus has promised that the world will hate me because it hated Him. Only one of His disciples died a natural death, friends, and even then John the Beloved was exiled and endured much suffering.

Read Matthew 10:16-39. Seriously, right now get your Bible out or go on Biblegateway.com and read it. Soak in each word. The context is Jesus was sending out His disciples to share the gospel with the Jews (though later they would also share with the Gentiles.)

This passage was at first scary, but once I thought about it more it became empowering. If we are living in obedience to God and sharing the offensive Gospel, we are guaranteed difficulties. We are not promised health and safety, but we can delight in knowing that nothing escapes our sovereign LORD’s sight. If it’s His will for a sparrow to die, the sparrow will die. If it’s His will for us to complete our stay on this world, then we will complete our stay here. If we are obedient to Him we don’t have to worry about a thing because we know that nothing bad will happen apart from His will. That’s more comforting than anything.

We as humans are so…humanistic. Everything we do revolves around us, even evangelism. We rely on ourselves so much, wanting to be “culturally relevant” so we can relate to everyone. We never take a stand on anything so we don’t “encroach on anyone’s beliefs” or “step on anyone’s toes.” This way of thinking/preaching is so flawed. Have you read Paul’s letters? 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 says that he didn’t come with superiority of speech or wisdom, but he was determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, so when he was preaching he was relying not on persuasive words but on the power of God. If what he was saying penetrated the hearts of the Corinthians, that meant that they were putting in their faith in Jesus Christ rather than in the communicative ability of the messenger. Paul didn’t learn funny jokes or hip slang; he learned Jesus. This leaves no room for justifying your approval of sin so you can “relate” with the lost. It’s not your job to speak to their hearts; it’s your job to plant and water but God gives growth. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

Today I read 1 Corinthians 4:11-13. Check this out.
“To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”

Scum of the world, eh? To the unbeliever this does not seem appetizing. (So thank God for intervening and giving the unbeliever understanding!) But though we as Christians will be oppressed and afflicted, the rewards are so much greater, not only in this kingdom but in the Kingdom to come! We have inherited salvation through the suffering of Jesus Christ. We can fellowship with a holy God. He gives us a peace that passes all understanding. How beautiful is the tortured life of the believer!

Philippians 4:11-13 is one of my favourite passages, but verse 13 is constantly taken out of context and deemed as a “life verse” for athletes. “…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” Paul was content with his condition because he had Christ. He knew that Christ likewise suffered much, so by also suffering for His Name’s sake Paul was able to share in His sufferings. That’s an exciting thing to have in common with Jesus.

How did Jesus survive the forty days of fasting? When the devil tempted him, He said “Man does not live on bread alone.” Jesus’ source of strength was the LORD. May we rely on Him to sustain us as well! We need not comfort or wealth or popularity. We need Christ.

Though in high school I do not have to face prison or beheading, but I do have to face people who will make fun of me or get annoyed with me for being passionate about Jesus (and I go to a Christian school, so I'm sure the rest of you have it way worse.) But it's not my job to stir up revival or get a million saved; it's my job to be obedient to Him (no matter the cost!) and let Him do as He pleases. And if I see fruit for my labour, yay. But if I don't see how He used me until I'm with Him, that's okay too. But He is so worth any kind of suffering.

You only have one life, friends. Will you pursue coolness or will you pursue Christ?

The Glory of God (part 2: God's Pursuit of His Own Glory)

In my last note (The Glory of God Through Believers), I hopefully established that God's greatest passion is His glory: the acknowledgement of His splendour and majesty. Our every deed and thought and motive should be geared towards this purpose because God's every deed and thought and motive is bent upon His renown as well. God pursues His glory in an infinite amount of ways, but for this Note I hope to shed some light on what that looks like.

God will tear down idols.

An idol is anything we put before Him, and nearly anything can be turned into one; a great theologian once said "The human heart is a factory of idols…Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” But God will not take this. And let me tell you, friends, one of the most wonderfully dangerous things that you can pray for yourself or others is that God will tear down whatever is keeping you from Him.

Isaiah 42:8
I am the LORD; that is My Name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols.

In the first few chapters of Isaiah, the prophet speaks of Judah's wickedness and rebellion, and how God isn't impressed with their numerous sacrifices or offerings because their hearts are all wrong. Then in chapter 3 Isaiah says that God will take away their esteemed leaders and their treasured supplies and their fine goods. When God takes things away (today it might be money, a sweet car, an intense relationship, etc.), He does this for at least two reasons:
1) His throne is not to be shared with idols (what fools we are to treasure the created more than the Creator!)
2) He loves us too much to withhold from us the greatest pleasure of Himself!

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, said this:
God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."

Yes! God's passion for His glory benefits us as a byproduct! If God's first priority was to benefit us in everything He did, He would be putting something of infinitely less worth over Himself, and that is idolatry and FAILURE. So if something sad or even devastating happens in your life, don't immediately blame satan (we tend to overestimate the Enemy's power) but, rather, seek God!

Never say something like "A good God won't let your mom die" or "The LORD is in control, and you won't lose your house"; it is because God is good and in control that such things might happen. Besides, if you hold onto this false hope of "a good blessed life" it'll make God look like a liar when the cancer returns or your financial plight worsens. I'm not saying that we shouldn't pray for God to fix our problems or heal the sick, but I do hope that we all get our thoughts of Him out of a humanistic box and acknowledge that His sovereignty is always best.

One day I was really upset because I felt like God would never provide this one thing I was waiting desperately for, and I was just sitting in my room bawling and really upset about it, drowning in self-pity. Then one of my dear friends texted me and reminded that this life isn't all about me; it's about God. Even if the thing I wanted was a good thing, if I think God's plan is bent around providing me what I want when I want it, that's as foolish as thinking that the sun revolves around the earth instead of the other way around.

By now I've probably given you the impression that God is horrible and unloving and doesn't care about His people. By no means! It would be unloving of Him to put anything before Himself. If He provided us with things to find pleasure in other than Himself, I wouldn't consider those "Blessings" at all because anything found on this earth is just a cheap substitute for the presence of the Holy One! May we find all that we need in Him! Ephesians 1 says that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing...that's more than enough!

Thoughts on Grace/Judging Others/There's A Good Chance You're Not Really Saved

One thing that is on my mind a lot is how judgmental we are of people who commit the “big sins” like drugs, homosexuality, alcoholism, and premarital sex. I’m pretty sure that Jesus didn’t rank sins like we “Christians” do, and though some vices bring forth more harmful consequences than lying or gossip, they are all equally worthy of the full wrath of God. The wages---or reward/punishment---of sin is death! (Romans 6:23.) That’s some serious bidness, and regardless of what you do, you cannot help yourself out of this mess. If you are not in Christ, you are just as chained to sin and spiritually dead as Marilyn Manson or Hitler. So don’t brag that you have never done the “big ones”; every sin is a “big one” to a holy God, and before you are covered in Christ’s righteousness you are extremely evil and wicked and disgusting (read Romans 3!) So if you are His now, remember how far He has brought you, and never consider yourself better than anyone else…because you’re not.

Romans 8:5 says “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” Homosexuality, drugs, profanity…Christians constantly make a big deal and “take a stand” against these topics, and it has given us the reputation of being anti-gay, legalistic, hypocritical haters of Obama. This reputation in no way glorifies God. Sinners are going to sin; it’s their nature, what do you expect? We don’t need to protest allowing gay marriages or gossip about girls who sleep around. Jesus did not do this. The people that He harshly rebuked were, on the contrary, the religious people that were harshly rebuking the “morally repugnant!” Jesus realized that sinners sin! Criticizing lost people for their morals does no good at all; if they are not spurred by the Holy Spirit, they are not going to truly change.

If anything, we as Christians should love homosexuals and drug addicts, and show them that we are equally needy of mercy, no better than them, and that Jesus satisfies! If we’re going to rebuke people, let’s rebuke the Church! In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is telling Christians to not even associate with people who call themselves “a brother” but is guilty of sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, drunkenness, or swindling.) He says, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’”

We must remember our own neediness! Regardless of social status or income or race or gender or physical appearance or spiritual background, we all must be covered in Jesus’ blood or we are absolutely worthless. Donald Trump is in need of Jesus exactly as much as a homeless guy is. Ellen Degeneres is in need of Jesus just as much as Billy Graham is. You are in need of Jesus just as much as I am. The only difference is some of us have received grace, and some of us have not. But you must remember that just because you have received grace does not mean that you did the right thing or made the right choice; “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7.) This leaves no room for bragging about anything other than the LORD! That is freeing! God does not owe us mercy, Jesus does not have to save us, the Holy Spirit does not have to take over; but it is by His grace we are saved!

One thing I must note, however, is that just because sinners sin does not mean that we should support what they do. Murderers should go to jail, alcoholics should go to rehab, and abstinence programs should be established. I don’t think we need to make war against homosexual marriages (nor should we support them.) However, I am all for making a stand against abortion and for life, because that really is a matter of life or death.

Now that I have hopefully established that we should quit being so insensitive to hurting people who find solace in vices that we consider despicable, I must rebuke you who claim to be His but are truly enemies. Read 1 John, seriously. Here are some chunks from that book that should convict all of us, but hopefully it will especially convict you fake Christians that are bringing destruction to the Church and, ultimately, to yourselves.

This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.

We have the victory because of Christ! If He has freed you, you are no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. So claim this victory and walk in the light…yet don’t look down on the broken. Read Romans and 1 John and let’s talk about them. ☺

The Glory of God, Pt. 1 (The Glory of God As Seen Through Believers)

Part 1 (The Glory of God Through Believers)

I think I now sort of know why God made everything.

I certainly don’t comprehend His ways in their fullness (not even close!), but recently I think God has revealed to me His purpose, His will, and all that other stuff that we have questions about…They have sort of come together to make sense and it all boils down to one thing: His glory. This Note is how it applies to us as Christians.

Isaiah 43:5-7
Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My Name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.

God gathered, is gathering, and will continue to gather a people for Himself from every corner of the earth for the primary purpose of His glory. We as His adopted children have been called to lead the world in the worship of the Almighty God…(that is why missions exists, by the way: because worship doesn’t.) God did not make us to climb the corporate ladder or to become famous or to live the American dream. He made us fro the same reason He made the trees, the sky, the birds, the flowers, the universe: for His glory.

So what is God’s glory? To be honest, I went for a very long time pretending to know what that word meant. I would talk about it often, listen to sermons about it, but I didn’t really comprehend what the Bible means when it talks about God’s glory. A close friend of mine found a great definition from the dictionary (haha):

The glory of God is His magnificence and splendour.

Okay, that’s good. So what does it mean to “glorify” God or to “give” Him glory? Surely we cannot make Him any more awesome than He is…He’s already infinitely awesome; addition and subtraction don’t work with infinity. So…(also from the dictionary)

Giving God glory is acknowledging the fact that He is magnificent and splendid.

1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

To be honest, every time someone talks about this verse they seem to give the impression that all it means is to point to the sky after a soccer victory or a good singing performance…that apparently is what it means to give glory to God. But the implications of “do[ing] all to the glory of God” are much deeper than that.

In chapel, I hear about sin a lot. A friend of mine sarcastically took “notes” one day that consisted of writing “don’t sin” about fifty times…Jesus is often never even mentioned. We hear how destructive sin is and that it’ll ruin your life (which is true) but we are never given a good motivation to not sin. This style of teaching might guilt us into about five seconds of “repentance”, but brings about no real change. But let me tell you right now why living for God is so much better than living for self: His worth.

In the 1700’s, there were two young men who found out about an atheist slave owner who was keeping about 3,000 slaves on an island and boasted that no preacher or clergyman would stay there. If a missionary was shipwrecked, they’d get him a separate house until he is able to leave but he would never talk to anyone about God…so all these slaves from Africa would be brought to this island in the West Indies and will have lived and died without ever hearing of Christ. The two young men, upon finding this out, sold themselves to the slave owner for as much as he would pay for any slave (and he wouldn’t even provide their transportation.) Remember that this wasn’t a three-month or fifteen-year mission trip. This was for life; it couldn’t be “undid.” As these men in their early twenties were on a ship leaving their home in Hamburg about to spend the rest of their lives in inescapable slavery for the sake of the Gospel, their friends and family gathered at the docks to see them off. They were weeping, wondering why these promising and capable young men were making such a “foolish” decision…then one of the young men cried out from the boat as it was leaving the dock, “May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering!” Christ’s worth is so great that it motivated these two men to willingly become slaves to an otherwise unreachable people. This also should be our motivation for everything.

We must show the world that we acknowledge God’s majesty, and as a result He has taken the highest worth in our lives. So in everything we do, whether it’s by eating or drinking or anything, let us do it all to show His greatness, to show His glory…any other motivation is simply a waste.

So examine your life. Look at your pursuits and look at your words. Are you leading all to worship, are you acknowledging to the world the worth of Christ? Let me tell you, there is no way of living that is more satisfying, challenging, and exciting than a life that is wholly devoted to the God who is worthy.

“It’s not about what you’re going to get out God; it’s about what God is going to get out of you.” –Paris Reidhead

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” –John Piper, The Blazing Center

“Worthy are You, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” –Revelation 4:11

Top 10 Reasons for Reading the Bible Instead of Devotional Books, Which Are Usually Full of FAIL

If you know me, you know that a lot of things about American "Christianity" peeves me greatly. Such offenders are "the sinner's prayer", nonrepentant but emotional altar calls, selfish "praise" songs, and many more things that I go way overboard with criticizing. However, one of the most destructive things to the Church today is being fed a devotional-only diet. When I ask people what God has been showing them, so many people (at school especially) tell me about this devotional book that they are reading and how it has a verse, a story, and then a thought for the day. To people who read devotional books only: YOU ARE MISSING OUT. Seriously. God's Word has much better things for you than human "inspiration" that you can get from the Christian book store.
I must preface this with saying that not all Christian books are bad, and I am certainly not claiming that anything said about God by humans is wrong (since I am a human and I am writing about God right here.) I read stuff by John Piper and Jonathan Edwards, and I use a study Bible...but we should never listen to humans talking about God more than we should listen to God talking about Himself, directly through His Word. If devotional books or "religious literature" is all that you are reading, they are getting in the way of what God wants to say to you directly. Here is why Devo over Divinity is full of fail:
1. Devotional books usually have very little Bible in them. If something is not pouring with truth, it does not deserve your attention. You will never be a true student of the Word if all that you're getting from it each day is one verse that someone else picked out.
2. People interpret scripture wrongly...humans are selfish, so devotionals tend to preach the Bible humanistically. But friends, the Bible is not a "manual for life" but rather the story of God, and who can tell the story of God better than God Himself? We always try to take scripture and try to tie it into how it can apply to us, or how it can make us feel better about ourselves. That brings no true repentance. Austin and I were talking about this and we concluded that a better question than "What Would Jesus Do?" is "WHY Would Jesus Do?"
3. It's hard to rely on the insights of someone else for divine revelation from God. It's like if someone gave me a chocolate chip cookie, I ate it, threw it up, gave it to you, and then you ate the regurgitated stuff. You'd still salvage some of the chocolate chips and everything, but it definitely wouldn't taste as good as if you would have eaten the cookie fresh and straight from the source. Regurgitated inspiration is neveras piercing as the real thing.
4. Devotional books cost money! My ESV Bible cost $5 from Family Christian and I have learned so much from it. I can use this book that cost me less than a meal at Arby's for the rest of my life, and even if I use it for the rest of my life, I will still not harvest every treasure to be found therein. Bibles are a much smarter study choice economically!
5. If you rely on the devo book for your Bible reading, you will not know the context of the scripture. An example is Philippians 4:13...everyone teaches that this verse can be applied to winning a soccer game or getting an A, but if you read Chapter 4 and actually the whole book of Philippians, you will find that this verse (in context) is so richly speaking about contentment in Christ alone, even when you are suffering for His Name's sake. The humanistic approach that devotional books take towards verses like Philippians 4:13 cheapens the meaning for moldable minds like Americans today.
6. Devotional books are shallow. Hebrews 5 says by now you should be teachers, but you're still drinking milk. Get on meat, you guys! Quit settling for shallow teachings when God has much deeper things in store for you to learn!
7. The Bible is universal. Discussing scripture with others is easier since the Bible is used all across the world by every Christian of every age, race, language, and background; you don't have to be limited to talking about what happened in your devotional book, since not every Christian owns Joyce Meyer or whatever else you're reading.
8. God is much better at making sense of His Word than humans are. Reading the Bible is hard, and there are definitely some parts that seem to contradict. But His Word is perfect, and He will give you insight if you ask for it. If you're confused about something, don't see what another human has to say about it before you see what GOD (who wrote the Bible so definitely knows what it means) has to say about it.
9. If you spend your whole life taking what others say as truth, you will be very quickly confused. I learned this first-hand recently, and it was awful...You have got to study the Bible for yourself. Not everyone is right, but the Bible is always right.
10. Human insight will be one-sided. A few years ago, I went through a phase where I thoroughly studied what one author had to say about God, so my view of God was solely love love love, and I would totally ignore any verses about His wrath (even though the Bible definitely portrays that characteristic of His.) Then this summer, I went through a phase where I thoroughly studied what one preacher had to say about God, so my view of God was solely justice justice justice, and I felt uncomfortable when reading verses about His love. God is loving and just; the Bible paints the full picture of Him. Don't rely on human insight to accurately portray His character.

So read the Bible. Journaling is definitely important (or "man-booking", if you're a boy and think journaling is only for girls.) If you do not have a journal or somewhere to write down what God is showing you, tell me and I will get you one. If you are reading the Bible and not remembering what you learn, what good is it? So get in the Bible. Every day. Throw away your devotional books if they are taking the place of God's Word. Let's keep each other accountable about this; I want to be able to talk about the Bible; it is much more exciting than talking about movies or TV.

If you don't know where to start, some great books of the Bible that I recommend are:
-Ecclesiastes (this world has nothing for us)
-John (what Jesus was like)
-Matthew (what Jesus said to do)
-Romans (very difficult, but excellent for studying about our faith)
-Ephesians (what God did for us when He saved us)
-1 John (the marks of a true Christian)
-Psalms (God is awesome)
-Isaiah has gems of amazingness all throughout, but it's easy to take things out of context with that book so be careful. Isaiah 53 is all about Jesus. It's great.

If you have any questions or would like to talk about what God is showing you, please let me know! I love you so much!

Legalism is Dangerous!

“R-rated movies are of the devil.” “Drinking alcohol will give you a first-class ticket to hell.” “Christian rock is from satan.” "NEVER say damn, but dang is just fine."

My emotions towards such sayings can be best summed up in the following: Blechhh.

Before I say more I would like to preface this with saying that I in no way claim to be perfect, and my heart is dirtier than anyone on this planet will ever know, and my motives are sick too. I am by no means claiming to “have it down”, but I have thought about this subject a lot recently and would like to share what I believe the Bible says about it. I know that I come across as a little goodie-two-shoes and that is so offensive to me…but please listen to what I’m going to say before making a rash judgment. I’m not judging you and I don’t want you to judge me either.

An epidemic that I see raging rampantly throughout America is a severe case of legalism. For this Note I will define legalism as “the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws”…or in other words, a legalistic person would have the mindset of “you’re a bad person if you approve of the things I don’t approve of.” It is very dangerous to give certain people control of what’s good or bad, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but humans are stupid, so if some person is set up as the standard for “how to live right”, we’re in trouble.

Here is what our standard for living righteously should be: Jesus Christ.

Hmm. Since Jesus was perfect and we certainly are not (Romans 3:23), that makes it difficult to meet the standard that He has set before us. So some loud-mouthed elders in your church might change the standard for how to live to what they think is okay. Usually in legalistic surroundings, people either follow and are careful to abide by those rules as long as it's comfortable for them (“it’s definitely not okay to watch R-rated movies, but PG-13 is fine as long as there isn’t nudity”) or they give up on trying to be like Jesus altogether and do their own thing.

But instead of asking “Is this a sin?” or “Would this be considered okay?” I think we need to forget everything we’ve been taught all our lives and consider our motives for living “morally.”

Jesus did not come into this world to condemn us, but to save us. And that He did. So I want to ask you (“you” being the redeemed, if you have surrendered your life to Him.) …what did He save us from? Once you think back to the cross and what He did for us there, maybe your thoughts on “how to live” will change:

1.Jesus saves us from hell. I am not going to say what the Bible says hell contains (I want you to research the gruesome details for yourself) but I will say that it’s worse than our little human brains can imagine. So why do we pursue things that glorify such a hell?
2. Jesus saves us from satan’s control. Colossians 1 talks about how He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So why do we pursue things that glorify such a jerk as satan? (I could have used stronger language here but some parents might not like it.)
3. Jesus saves us from separation from the Father. Since God is perfect and we are not, He hates to see sin so much that He hates to see us. Actually, He would hate to see us if One that He loved hadn’t died in our place…So now we can commune with the holy God because His holy Son died in the place of unholy us! Do you realize how much He hates sin? It took Adam and Eve one sin to get kicked out of the Garden. That’s serious business. So why do we pursue things that glorify what God hates?
4. Jesus saves us from sin. Romans 6 talks a lot about how we used to be dead in sin, but since Jesus gave us life we are now dead to sin. “’O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57.) Sin doesn’t have power over us anymore; Jesus beat it once and for all when He rose from the grave. We still sin, yes, but it does not have power over us like it used to, and we must realize this victory that we have in Jesus! Never call yourself a sinner; Jesus has changed your identity!So why do we pursue things that no longer have power over us?
5. Jesus saves us from a boring life. Something that we don’t get taught in church very often is that God created us to enjoy Him. God knows all of our needs (He gave them to us from birth!) and He made us to long for love, adventure, wonder, and excitement…so that we would seek Him to fulfill them all! Is He not the giver of every good thing? The reason I don’t really pursue “entertainment” (TV, movies, etc.) anymore is because I don’t need it…the God who created the whole universe is quite “entertaining” enough. If you're seeking the LORD, you're not missing out on anything. So why do we get bored!?

After thinking about all that was accomplished on the cross, I feel empowered more than limited. I have been freed from sin, so why would I want any traces of it still on me? Romans 1:32 puts those who approve of sin in the same category as idolaters and murderers and adulterers. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.” Most people at my school aren’t having sex, but pretty much everyone sees no problem with joking about it. “That’s what she said” and “ITB” are all over the place…but Jesus died for premarital sex! He doesn’t want to hear us joking about something that He died for! How serious is His death to us?How precious is His blood?

Jesus died!

Have you ever really thought about that?

He DIED.

For us!

For undeserving little wimps who daily choose the empty temporal fleeting worldly pleasures over the only truly satisfying source of delight out there…Himself.

Have you thought about that today? Do you think about that every day? I promise that if you truly consider His precious blood, you won’t want to chase after the very things that His blood was shed for.

I'll close with this verse:
James 1:16 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." When I get to Heaven, I don't want to be able to say that I used my time on earth to "go to church every Sunday and I never drank a sip of wine!" (That's legalism in case you didn't catch that.) I want to be as unstained from this yucky world as much I can, so that God will be pleased with my purity...I want Him to say "Well done, you loved Me and you loved others, and that was all that mattered to you." Is there no higher calling than following Him daily??

So, friends, I plead with you…stop listening to people who preach morals apart from the Gospel. If you want to know what’s right or wrong, consider the cross. The Holy Spirit (the same one that raised Christ from the dead!) now resides in us. No longer are our souls crying out for freedom from slavery, but rather they are crying out praises to the Father. (Romans 8:15) Do you want to grieve that Spirit inside of you? Flee from morals detached from the Gospel. Stop looking for loopholes in the law and start thinking about what would make God happy…because His opinion is all that matters.

Check out the words to this song: Make War

Freedom.

Lately, God has been showing me a bounty of beautiful truths, but one that has been particularly applicable is the freedom I have found in Christ...a phrase which I can no longer say lightly.

For a few weeks this May, my thoughts were almost completely consumed with my appearance and I felt so terribly, hopelessly ugly. (I am not saying this for you to reply "Don't say that! You're lovely!" or anything...I'm just saying how I felt at the time.) However, in a short amount of time, God gave me a much deeper understanding of the weight of my sin, His wrath, Jesus' sacrifice, and the beautiful justice and mercy displayed there. And the more I fell in love with the Gospel, God was slowly chipping away my insecurities until one day it totally hit me that I didn't care much at all about my appearance anymore. I suddenly realized that my thoughts were now (mostly) bent towards what looked good to JESUS...and God doesn't really care if my eyes are green or not since He made them and deemed them perfect the way they are! He didn't mess up when He made the majestic universe, so obviously He didn't mess up when He made me...

Anyways, I soon realized that satisfaction in the Gospel is a FREEDOM that I had not really previously known.

Friends, listen to the awesomeness of Psalm 34 verses 8-10:

O taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
O fear the LORD, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.

Those who find satisfaction in God alone don't feel like they're missing out on things like money or good looks or popularity or boyfriends or anything like that. A friend once bluntly stated, "If Jesus doesn't supply it, you don't need it!" He has supplied Himself, and He is more than sufficient. The more that Christ consumes us, the less we care about anything except what makes Him happy! It's refreshing to find that kind of freedom.

Do you want to know what else is pretty crazy about finding freedom in Christ? Romans 8:15 says that before we came to salvation, our souls were crying out in pain, begging for freedom from this slavery to sin. Though the world can try to tell us that freedom is found in doing what makes you happy, I think we all from experience can testify that sin is truly suffocating. (And do not think that I am just talking about drugs and premarital sex; I'm referring to everyday struggles like disrespect or laziness or gossip or Facebook addiction...) But now, for those of us who are in Christ, God has REPLACED that helpless spirit with one of adoption, which is now instead crying out praises to our Father!

Have you ever really thought about this? We were like an orphan child, hopeless and hurting...then Jesus chose us by paying the highest price (namely, Himself!) for us. Have we done anything to deserve this? NO! One of my friends always says that if salvation was 99.99% God and .01% us, every single person on this earth would still be condemned to hell, for all have sinned and fallen short of God's prefect standard! (Romans 3:23)

There is no way we could pay our debt on our own, so Jesus, in all His glory, had to come to this earth to die for the sins of those didn't even know Him---much less love Him---yet. He did live 33 years sin-free, but He did not live 33 years temptation-free. He can empathize with our strugggles, which we often forget (Hebrews 4:15), except the difference between His response to temptations and ours is that He never failed!

The Gospel is so powerful. Christ unites in ways that no motivational book or speaker or any kind of counseling could ever unite. In a marriage, if the husband and wife have polar opposite interests and personalities, their relationship will still be strong if the Gospel is their center. Something I so fear about my senior class at church is that we are falsely united, getting along when we have to but completely leaving God out of the equation. (Plus we shouldn't just be united as a class, but rather as a body of believers regardless of the grade we are in.) We must be united in the Gospel, and even if Jesus is the only thing we have in common, that is more than enough to have in common.

So I encourage you, if your spirit is still crying out for freedom from sin, cry out to the LORD and repent! (That does not mean apologize; that means CHANGE.) And if you are already a child of God, I really want to encourage you to find the freedom found in considering God "enough." You do this by earnestly seeking Him, as it says in the Psalms...by valuing Him more than the things that we once held dear. He is all that is good.

American Dream? Sounds like a nightmare to me.

kay. Lately I've been feeling unsatisfied with my lifestyle, unsatisfied with my priorities, and unsatisfied with how I feel about the importance of living a life sold-out for God. Now I know that what I'm about to say might be kinda extreme, I certainly will offend you, and you'll probably disagree with me, but if I can accomplish anything with this Note I would at least like you to think and re-evaluate how you feel about where you are right now. May I not get in God's way.
So. Here's the thing.
I am raised in a Christian home and I love my parents so very deeply. I am not allowed to watch most movies and TV shows, raunchy music has never even been an option, and I'm not even allowed to go to some birthday parties or sleepovers. I am so thankful for this and I will certainly implement these restrictions on my own children. Using my parents, God has saved me from so many things that would still affect me today.
However (and I know I'll offend people when I say this, so please don't be mad at me), I am living the American dream. And I don't like it. I live in a nice house in the suburbs and I have nice things in my room and I watch my nice TV shows every Monday and it's been ingrained in my head to vote republican and to have a certain theology. My parents' dream for me (and what used to be mine) is to go to a certain schnazzy Christian university, find a husband there, get married, and basically repeat the lifestyle that I have now.
However, lately God's been kind of breaking everything that I thought that He wanted for me...and I thought this solely because it's what I'm told He wants for me. I seriously do not feel led to go to that fancy university (though this may change as God may want me there but He hasn't revealed it yet) and go to a nice college where I dine in a luxurious cafeteria and go to the movies with my boyfriend and maybe once a year go on a mission trip. There's got to be more, right??
I'm not satisfied with "living comfortably." Isaiah 55:2 (I realllly like this verse) says "Why are you spending your money on what is not bread and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. And delight yourself in abundance." I honestly can't look at a pack of earrings---of ANY value---and say "Okay, this will satisfy me. This will edify the Body. This will make God happy." Nor can I say that with a Starbucks, a Wii game, the latest Weird Al CD, or anything else like that.
We live in such a materialistic world where hedonistic spending of time and money is not only tolerated, but it's EXPECTED. And this is disgusting.
I KNOW I'm going to step on toes here, but what do you think Jesus would do with $10? Would he go with the disciples to see the Dark Knight? Doubt it. Would He buy a Celine Dion CD (even if it was clean and there was nothing bad in it?) I honestly don't think so. I think He would buy groceries for a struggling low-income family, or buy a homeless guy some socks or something. Or maybe He would take a lost friend to Burger King just to encourage them and let them know that He loves them. Or he would spend the money on stationery and make a card for a Brother or Sister that He knows is struggling...
Luke 16:13 says that “you cannot serve both God and money.” 1 Timothy 6:10 bluntly states that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” So is it wrong for a Christian to have lots of money? . I believe that we should buy what we need, that Christians should not be wealthy if they want to honour God, and that the Bible clearly spells out how we’re supposed to spend our time and money.
Throughout the Bible, there are numerous examples of good, Godly people being very wealthy. Abraham, the father of many nations, had great wealth (Genesis 13:2.) Job had a tremendous amount of material possessions (Job 42:12.) King Solomon is the richest man that has ever lived, and he got his wealth by means of God-given wisdom (2 Chronicles 1:11-12.) In fact, Solomon himself said in Ecclesiastes 5:19 that “when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work---this is a gift of God.” So with a verse like that, we are led to believe that if God gives you money, spend it on whatever you want because He would want you to be happy. Well, earlier in Ecclesiastes, Solomon had just been talking about how even all the wealth in the world cannot bring happiness; only God can satisfy!
In Isaiah 55:2, God is saying that He is all that’s good; everything else just leaves you empty and wanting more. The LORD created everything in the earth, so it would just be silly to devote one’s life to the creation rather than the Creator! You cannot take your bank account with you to Heaven. What matters to God is not your extensive collection of CD’s or how many times you’ve seen a certain movie or how many friends you had or how "hot" all the guys thought you were, but God cares about what you did for Him while you lived those few years on the earth.
Many people justify their mass riches, though each excuse can be refuted with Biblical truth. They claim that the more money they get, the more money they can give away. Though this makes sense on the surface, these people ignore the fact that God doesn’t need our money; it’s all His anyways! (Psalm 24:1) In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus commends the woman who gave two little coins for offering, and says she has put more in than those who could fill the treasury to the ceiling. For they gave money out of their abundance, yet she gave all she had. We are not to give money out of abundance but out of a desire to please Him and of reliance that God is going to provide, no matter what. They also say that God gives good gifts, so we must enjoy them. This is true, but it is a far great blessing to give to someone who can’t pay you back on this earth, rather than to enjoy something that can give you momentary joy! (Luke 14:13-14.)
The ultimate question is what actions one can take to spend their money the way God would want them to. John Piper calls us to live a wartime lifestyle; to live simply and be free of the American dream. (2:06 on "A Wartime Lifestyle"...you can watch it on Youtube.) With the money that one would spend on a designer bag or a mocha latte, they ought to give to those who cannot earn their own. (Emphasis on CANNOT, not "choose not to.") This would include giving money to a struggling family who wants to go on a mission trip but cannot afford the plane ticket, or buying food to donate to a food bank, or buying Bibles to be sent across the globe to those who cannot even read the Word for themselves because it is not available there. But even doing something close to home, like the examples I mentioned earlier. Yes, there are scammers out there and people who pretend to be homeless…but people ought to do their research and instead of just giving money to a homeless man, buy them lunch or a new pair of socks. They can’t trade that in for drugs or other addictions.
Jesus said more about money than He did about Heaven and hell combined (That's in 0:50 of "A Wartime Lifestyle".) In Matthew 19:24 Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The reason we have money is to show the world that money is not our treasure, but Christ is our treasure; this shows the great value of the LORD. ("A Wartime Lifestyle", 1:47.) He is worth it! He is so worth it! Moses understood this. He could have lived as a prince, but “he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11:25-26.) His treasure was not in an earthly city, but in the lasting City to come. May this be our mindset also, and not buy mansions or sportscars or $200 pants, even if we have the means to afford it. We can't take those to Heaven!!! (That's what the Egyptians would do...they'd bury their jewels and gold and money and even servants with them because they thought that all those things would go with them in the afterlife. What a tragedy to see all those things still here in the pyramids! Also, no matter how many riches they had or how popular they were, they were not putting their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and consequently they are burning in hell right now!!! How tragic!)
It's okay to be uncomfortable. For example, my friend Brian (he's suuuuper skinny) was sharing with me one time about how he gave blood...I don't exactly remember what happened, but he got all weird-feeling and he went through some moments of extreme discomfort. When I heard this, I was like "Oh no. This will happen to me too...I don't think I can ever give blood." And Brian was like "But it's so worth it to have a few moments of discomfort in order to possibly save someone's life!" And that's true...people who are dying because of a lack of blood are probably way more uncomfortable than I would be if I got shaky and fainted from giving a bit of my blood. The same can be said with our time and money and possessions...and what others think about us. Invite the unpopular kid to your house just to hang out...even if they are annoying or they're super shy and no fun at all, this will mean the world to them! A few hours of boredom will bring you more blessing than hanging with the most popular kid in your school. Once you're made uncomfortable, that means you'll have to tap into another Source for comfort---and God is the giver of comfort...rest in Him!
So basically, if our hearts are SOLD OUT for Christ, that wouldn't leave any room for anything else, right? I'm trying to have a child-like faith here but I could be wrong in my thinking. I mean, of course we must spend time with the "seeking" but just because we should be relevant to them doesn't mean that we should have everything in common with them! How are we supposed to be different if we look exactly like them? Please tell me if you disagree with me and why. And if I'm coming across as arrogant or pious, I am so sorry and I am trying to speak in love as much as possible.
Something I've learned is that the applause of God is greater than the approval of man. In "Don't Waste Your Life", John Piper was talking about a huge tragedy of this couple who was retiring to Florida to live on the beach and collect shells for the rest of their life. What a waste!!! When they meet God on Judgment Day and He says "Why should I let you into my Heaven?", they will show them their shells and say "We had a great, relaxed couple of years!!!!" That just doesn't do it! And even if they had trusted in Christ for their salvation and they were already let into Heaven, what if God said "What did you do for Me for the 80 years I gave you on earth?" A collection of sea shells is not pleasing to the LORD! As Victor said a few years ago, "One thing that there won't be in Heaven is lost people." If we're going to be witnesses, if we're going to love on the unloveable, we'd better do it now! This is nearly impossible if we're tied down by the things of this world.
But an important thing to note is that it's not necessarily what you DON'T do (or what ungodly things you abstain from), but what you DO. In James 1, it says "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." Make sure that you're not just keeping "unstained"; make sure that you yourself are staining the world with the love of God!! Visit the orphans and widows. Love the unloveable. Do it. I dare you.

Quit Yer Complainin'

The other morning as I was getting ready for school, I was listening to the Desperation podcast, and the speaker mentioned Acts 13:36a, which says that “David had served God's purpose for him in his generation.” So I was like “Wow, okay, I need to serve God's purpose for me in my generation.” So I said, “Show me Your ways, LORD, teach me your paths! Please, Father, show me how to serve!” and in that moment God seemed to be saying “I already did: My Son.” So I thought, “Okay…Jesus…” and I went to Isaiah 53, where I know Jesus described best.
So I read about all these awful ways He was scourged (pronounced "skerged"; it means kind of beaten up viciously), then in verse 7 it says "He was opposed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth." I cross-referenced and found some other verses that said "But Jesus kept silent." (Matthew 26:63a) "And He did not answer him with regard to a single charge, so [Pilate] was quite amazed." (Matthew 27:14) Jesus had an awesome trait, very rarely round in people of that time and especially today: silence. Even Pilate, who had seen everything since he was governor and all, was amazed. Jesus wasn't complaining or grumbling about the excruciating pain or injustice. He was silent, like a lamb led to the slaughter (also in Isaiah 53.) The world notices silence. Yes, actions speak louder than words, but sometimes the lack of words speaks louder than words as well. Philippians 2:15 says we'll shine like stars in this crooked and depraved generation.

I tend to complain a lot, about things a lot less painful than scourgings or dying for someone else. I complain that I owe Mom 12 bucks for something that I thought she should buy. I complain that I’ve had 5 tests this week. I complain that I'm lonely (which isn't even true. I am so blessed.) I complain about my mac 'n' cheese being cooked too long or my water smelling fishy. Was I spat upon? Were my clothes gambled for? Um, no. Not even close. I think I finally see a perfect example of "do everything without complaining or grumbling" (Philippians 2:14): Jesus, who came to the world as the Ultimate Example for us.

So in this season of exams and stress, I challenge you: do not complain. (And hold me accountable! If a not-necessary word even creeps upon my tongue, slap me upside da head.) Complaining has a domino effect; if you bring out the bad in something, not only will people join in on the negativity, but they’ll also dwell on it! There’s a big drama going on at my school right now, and everyone’s vicious words are ripping some reputations to shreds and it breaks my heart to see it. Truly, friends, God is so much bigger. Cast your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you! (1 Peter 5:7)

Be like Jesus. Don’t complain. I dare you.

Taking Up Your Cross...DAILY. Yipes!

And He said to them all, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23

I know we have all heard this verse zillions of times, but God has shown me some stuff about it and in this Note I would like to especially emphasize the importance of making a “daily” commitment to Christ.

Being a Christian is more than just walking down the aisle when you’re in second grade, repeating a prayer, and getting baptized. It is a daily commitment, where you "re-sign" up every single morning. I think a lot of us don’t truly understand what Jesus was calling us to do, because it’s a big deal and our lives should look a whole lot different. (Now let me say up front that salvation is found by grace through faith alone, and when I say re-sign up, I don’t mean your salvation “expires” every night so you have to renew it every morning; I’m saying that we must realize every single day the importance of following Christ.) Jonathan Edwards made 70 resolutions (they’re really good; read them here http://www.reformed.org/documents/Edwards/index.html?mainframe=/documents/Edwards/j_edwards_resolutions.html) and one of my favorites is:
“Resolved, frequently to renew the dedication of myself to God, which was made at my baptism; which I solemnly renewed, when I was received into the communion of the church; and which I have solemnly re-made this twelfth day of January, 1722.” This is what we should be doing!!!

Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” CRUCIFIED!? That’s certainly not a weak way of putting it. We Americans don’t fully understand this precious concept of crucifixion since it doesn’t really happen all the time, but the crucifixion was totally humiliating, painful beyond words, and you looked a whole lot different by the time it was over.

Do you understand, friends, that we must give up the world to follow Christ? You cannot serve both God and man. You cannot live in both light and darkness. Famous poet Emily Dickinson understood the kind of commitment it takes when you sign up to follow after Christ, but unfortunately she could not give up the world.

She said this when she was FIFTEEN years old to a friend after a Christian revival came to her hometown: “The world allured me and in an unguarded moment I listened to her siren voice. From that moment I seemed to lose interest in heavenly things. Friends reasoned with me and told me of the danger I was in. I felt my danger and was alarmed, but I had rambled too far to return and ever since my heart has been growing harder.” The world beckoned, and she liked it. Later in that letter, she said “I do not feel I could give up all for Christ, were I called to die.” So she didn’t. She was unwilling to surrender.

Surrendering all to Christ is a big deal. The song that made me want to learn sign language was “I Surrender All”, because as it was being interpreted, I almost cried upon seeing the powerful meaning of the words. “Surrender” in ASL is putting your hands up, like when the police come up to you and they’re like “HANDS UP!” so you throw down your loot and you’re like “Ahhh I surrender!” (You can see the sign at http://www.signingsavvy.com/search.php?search=surrender&submitSearch.x=0&submitSearch.y=0) Then “all” (in this context, at least) is motioning head-to-toe all of me, like “allllll o’ dis.” (I’m bad at explaining stuff, sorry hehe.) But anyways, the sign language interpretation so beautifully portrays what we need to do: say “I drop everything, God, and give every bit of me to You.” Jesus died for you (then rose again!); that’s an amazing example of a life commitment. He was born to die (and rise again!), and He realized that. May we die to our sin and take hold of the new life that Jesus offers us. I mean it.

We as humans were made to love adventure, to want to do big exciting things. One particular week I was feeling kind of down and like God wasn’t using me in the big ways I wanted Him to. So at youth group one Wednesday, we were singing “Devotion”, and I was kind of just mindlessly singing along until it got to the part that says “I will take up my cross and follow, LORD, where You lead me.” At that moment, if ever I have heard God’s voice (though not audible) it was then, and He so clearly seemed to say to me, “That is no small calling.” Waking up every morning, denying myself, and choosing to follow Christ no matter the cost is an adventure, and it’s not easy by any means. And I fail a very large majority of the time.

So my challenge to you is this: wake up each morning and re-sign up. If ever you received salvation, you have it and no one can snatch that away from you. But you need to re-DEDICATE your life every single morning. Preach the gospel to yourself every single day, and do not let it become stale to you.

Do it. I dare you.

Loving the Unlovely.

What you say and do has a bigger influence than you think.
I just finished reading an email from a friend of mine who used to go to my school (which is a CHRSTIAN school, staunch Baptist.) He left last year because he had gone there since preschool, and he still felt that he didn't fit in. I don't know when the rumours started, but some guys started telling everyone that he was bisexual, and then gay...and I know he wasn't always this way because he liked my friend (who was a girl) when we were in ninth grade and last year he asked me to homecoming. These guys thought it'd be funny to creep out one of their friends, a "homophobic", so they told this friend of mine to go in the bathroom and corner the guy to creep him out. And he did. Nearly everyone made fun of him...and he wasn't unaware of this.
A little while before he left the school, he wrote me a letter confessing all kinds of hurts in his life, and I won't expose those but I will say that he was hurting. A LOT. He felt used. Situations at home were far from perfect, and he contemplated suicide all the time.
In the email I got tonight, he said "What bothers me the most about [your school] is that they make fun of people for being different, I became so stressed, I almost killed myself, then I found a friend in something that didn't judge me, didn't bother me, didn't put me down, it was music. It opened my mind to the ideals that being different scares people and that can mean being superior." Marilyn Manson understood his hurts, Marilyn Manson's lyrics applied to him. His gay friends understood him, his gay friends accepted him. His boyfriend cares about him. And as for everybody else: if you can't make them love you, make them fear you. So he spread some death threat rumours, told people he was communist, etc. etc. And mission accomplished: everyone feared him.
My friends, we failed at showing this guy the love of Christ. When he was telling me about his new school, he even said "there are a lot more nice people there than there are at my school (which is sad, cause many would think the opposite.)" 2 Corinthians 5:20 says "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us..." We've done a pretty bad job representing the love that Jesus has shown us. How is he to know that a Saviour loves him? He's heard the gospel a zillion times, but he hasn't SEEN the gospel, if that makes sense. The Marilyn Manson song he told me about that really had lyrics that applied to him has a part that says "I never really hated a one true god but the God of the people I hated." If God acts anything like "His people" do, then he's not interested. OUCH.
Do know that I'm not trying to preach to you guys and hate on everyone, because I have done a cruddy job loving others too, but man...how far will we go for a joke? He mentioned that another thing he didn't like about my school was that some find it humorous that they think some people are going to burn in hell. You guys, hell isn't a joke. Hell is for real. It is a sick nasty place worse than anything we can ever imagine; it is eternal separation from God and that is sickening. Yet we joke "haha you're gonna go to hell for that", etc. etc. Is it really worth it? (And while I'm on that note, I just want to remind you guys, especially those of you who have been walking in Christian circles for a long time: don't get so comfortable with the things of God that you no longer fear Him. And when I say fear I mean revere Him...a lot of times it's very easy to make jokes about Him or to so casually mention the name of Jesus, and we don't realize the power that is in the Name and we obviously don't have a good picture of how truly awesome our LORD is. Just a reminder.)
Is it worth it, friends, to joke about gay people? Their lifestyle is wrong, yessir, and homosexuality is a choice they have to make for themselves, but most of the time it's our fault for leading them on that path anyways. If they're told constantly "haha you're gay" or "go away, faggot" then it might enter their brains that maybe they are. It's like eating disorders...if a perfectly normal-sized girl hears some people snickering about her weight, she'll think "Oh my goodness I'm fat" and she might develop an eating disorder...was she really "fat"? No. But others' heartless words led her to believe that. And she acted upon it.
I just want to challenge you guys: watch your tongue. Watch your facial expressions. People notice if you exchange judgmental glances with a friend after someone said something a little odd. We're ripping people apart with our words. What we may see as harmless leads the harmed to go home and long for dying!
It's far better to be known for being silent than to be known for tearing down others. And the latter is far easier to do; I think those who don't talk that much have a lot more wisdom than the rest of us.
So, my friends, I'm asking you to love people. Yeah, they might say or do strange things and it might be really easy to make fun of them (even behind their backs), but right now what they're not getting from Christians is love, and they're not getting the gospel. I beg of you, please...love the "unlovely."