Warning: This post is going to get blatantly honest, and some may find it "Judgmental".
I look around my church and i see a whole lot of young people pretending to sin. It's all laughter and joking, but what is the point of 'pretending', and how far is this 'pretending' really from the truth.
With boys in particular, it is the joking about being gay. I see guys grabbing each others butts, pretending to lick each other, telling jokes and so on. What exactly is the point.
I feel like asking them "Why do you joke about something that God so clearly despises?"
God is pretty black and white when it comes to homosexuality. it's wrong. it is an abomination in God's eyes.
Does this mean as Christians you are entitled to joke about it?
Apparently 1 in 10 people are struggling with homosexuality.
So looking at a church of a couple of hundred people, statistics say about 20 of them would be struggling with homosexuality.
So when you laugh and joke about being gay you are either:
1. Mocking their struggle or
2. Condoning it.
This goes for more than just christian heterosexual guys pretending to be gay for laughs, it also applies to christian girls "pretending" to be skanky, or "pretending" to be lesbians.
Joking about things God hates, is just not right. And it's such a stupid way to let sin into our lives.
Sin and the appearance of sin, are both bad.
As Christians, we are supposed to stand out from the world. Sin enters our lives so easily, and it just bugs me when we allow sin into ours and others through ridiculous, embarrassing, unnecessary ways.
God calls us to be pure and holy. One of the simplest ways to do this is to not do stupid things.
I'm not judging, i'm just warning.
Don't give the devil a foothold!
Friday, 13 April 2012
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Patience
I am at uni an hour and a half early for uni.
The library is quite fantastic: Quiet, relaxing, comfy chairs, power-points for charging laptops... It's pretty amazing.
One thing is troubling me though. I can't feel God. And i want to.
Uni has cloaked me with anonymity. I see people that I am 90% sure i will never see again, or am dead sure i will never speak to. That allows me to stay silent, and walk around campus with my head-phones in, blocking out the world. And that is nice, it feels good.
The truth is, I can't be BOTHERED doing any thing else. I can't be stuffed talking the exact same small talk with every single person i meet.
"Hi, what course are you doing? cool, i'm doing ________. So why did you chose that? Oh yer, same. What do you want to be when you're older? Sweet! Where abouts do you live? Oh a friend of mine lives there! What school? Never heard of it. Woah, my lecture starts soon, nice meeting you... see you around! " .....yeah. not likely.
It is so easy to become cold and detached. But God calls us to be supernatural.
Unnatural in our behaviors and actions. He wants us to live a life consumed with love.
Oh Lord, as I go through this day today, please guide me in everything i do.
You know how i work, you know how i function. You know what breaks my spirit and what lifts me up.
Fill me with your love so i can face the people I meet and be a reflection of you. Fill me with love so I won't be impatient and greedy and easily annoyed during my day.
I'm so sorry for the times that I have been guided my my own sinful self, and I'm sorry for the many missed opportunities in my days here at uni.
Please use me and guide me. Although i may need some shaking, and some screaming, I am available.
The library is quite fantastic: Quiet, relaxing, comfy chairs, power-points for charging laptops... It's pretty amazing.
One thing is troubling me though. I can't feel God. And i want to.
Uni has cloaked me with anonymity. I see people that I am 90% sure i will never see again, or am dead sure i will never speak to. That allows me to stay silent, and walk around campus with my head-phones in, blocking out the world. And that is nice, it feels good.
The truth is, I can't be BOTHERED doing any thing else. I can't be stuffed talking the exact same small talk with every single person i meet.
"Hi, what course are you doing? cool, i'm doing ________. So why did you chose that? Oh yer, same. What do you want to be when you're older? Sweet! Where abouts do you live? Oh a friend of mine lives there! What school? Never heard of it. Woah, my lecture starts soon, nice meeting you... see you around! " .....yeah. not likely.
It is so easy to become cold and detached. But God calls us to be supernatural.
Unnatural in our behaviors and actions. He wants us to live a life consumed with love.
Oh Lord, as I go through this day today, please guide me in everything i do.
You know how i work, you know how i function. You know what breaks my spirit and what lifts me up.
Fill me with your love so i can face the people I meet and be a reflection of you. Fill me with love so I won't be impatient and greedy and easily annoyed during my day.
I'm so sorry for the times that I have been guided my my own sinful self, and I'm sorry for the many missed opportunities in my days here at uni.
Please use me and guide me. Although i may need some shaking, and some screaming, I am available.
Monday, 27 February 2012
Speechless.
Do you ever have those mind-blowing, gob-smacking moments when Jesus comes into your life and just sweeps you off your feet?
They're wonderful, and slightly terrifying at the same time.
So often we try to contain God. Shove him in a box of appropriateness and social-acceptability.
We limit God to heaven, and separate the world from the spiritual. And isn't that just depressing? If we separate the world from the spiritual, and if we live in the world, then we are essentially separating ourselves from God.
But i tell you, God is not limited to heaven. God is EVERY WHERE. He is so BIG and AWESOME and POWERFUL that if we caught just a glimpse of him, we would be throw off our feet. And we'd never want to get off the ground.
There is something so majestic and wonderful about our God. Something so dangerous and unsafe that sends thrills up my spill. And my oh my, God is THRILLING.
I pray that all Christians will unleash God from the prison in their minds. Allow him to work to his full capacity.
Because we cannot serve a God that we constantly belittle.
One of the things that I have been convicted of lately, is to thank Jesus in absolutely everything.
Praise Jesus, we are saved from death! Nothing can stop us and nothing can separate us from the love of God! How can that not make you jump up and down and do cartwheels. Doesn't it just get your heart racing, you spirit soaring and your head spinning?!
Paul in the face of opposition and pain still cried out in thanks to the Lord. Jesus praised God even in the face of the cruelest possible death! That is because they had their eyes fixed on eternity. In the midst of evil, they saw the overwhelming love of God, and were captivated by it. And Jesus was captivated by us. Wowowowow. Jesus was captivated by us!
If God made man in his own image, I wonder if that means in his physical image, or his spiritual image... or both?
I believe both.
And that excites me to no end! If our humanity is a reflection of God, then we can catch a glimpse of God by looking at the way we were designed.
Our emotions in particular. It blows my mind to think that almost every emotion that we ever feel is a reflection of God. After all, God did give us the capacity to feel, right?
One of the things that is the most beautiful gift that God has given us, is the gift of love. Love for each other. Love for our parents, love for our siblings, love for our friends... and even that love for that special someone.
You know that feeling you get when they walk in the room. Your heart starts pounding. It feels like the inside of your chest is swirling in excitement. You can't stop thinking about them. They posses every one of your thoughts. It excites me that this is a reflection of God too.
God gets those crazy feelings for us too! When we come near to him, his heart pounds! He longs for us!
He longs to be romanced by us! He longs to be near to us!
That just blows my mind.
It took me a while to get my head around the need for worship. I am a pray-er, a reader and a do-er. I wasn't really a worshiper. I thought "God knows how much I love him. God knows he's awesome. God knows I'm thankful". But woah, how my mind changed when I realised he feels the way I do.
Of COURSE he knows hes awesome, but he wants to HEAR it, like the rest of us. He knows exactly the extent of my love for him, but by golly, he wants us to romance him.
My saviour wants me to chase after him and long for him too!
Doesn't that just make your spirit soar? He loves us that much that he actually wants all of our heart.
Many times I have cried in my room, whinging to the God of the universe that I can't FEEL him. Complaining that i can't feel his presence.
I'd ask him to come back to me, and accuse him of leaving my side.
But then I realised: It is never God who moves.
It is always me. I am the one who redirects my heart from God. Even if my mind is on God, my heart may lie elsewhere. I visualise the situation being reversed.
Me, idolising earthly things, turning my heart from God. Then God, crying asking "Why can't I feel you, ? Why can't i feel your presence?"
It is always me who moves.
They're wonderful, and slightly terrifying at the same time.
So often we try to contain God. Shove him in a box of appropriateness and social-acceptability.
We limit God to heaven, and separate the world from the spiritual. And isn't that just depressing? If we separate the world from the spiritual, and if we live in the world, then we are essentially separating ourselves from God.
But i tell you, God is not limited to heaven. God is EVERY WHERE. He is so BIG and AWESOME and POWERFUL that if we caught just a glimpse of him, we would be throw off our feet. And we'd never want to get off the ground.
There is something so majestic and wonderful about our God. Something so dangerous and unsafe that sends thrills up my spill. And my oh my, God is THRILLING.
I pray that all Christians will unleash God from the prison in their minds. Allow him to work to his full capacity.
Because we cannot serve a God that we constantly belittle.
One of the things that I have been convicted of lately, is to thank Jesus in absolutely everything.
Praise Jesus, we are saved from death! Nothing can stop us and nothing can separate us from the love of God! How can that not make you jump up and down and do cartwheels. Doesn't it just get your heart racing, you spirit soaring and your head spinning?!
Paul in the face of opposition and pain still cried out in thanks to the Lord. Jesus praised God even in the face of the cruelest possible death! That is because they had their eyes fixed on eternity. In the midst of evil, they saw the overwhelming love of God, and were captivated by it. And Jesus was captivated by us. Wowowowow. Jesus was captivated by us!
If God made man in his own image, I wonder if that means in his physical image, or his spiritual image... or both?
I believe both.
And that excites me to no end! If our humanity is a reflection of God, then we can catch a glimpse of God by looking at the way we were designed.
Our emotions in particular. It blows my mind to think that almost every emotion that we ever feel is a reflection of God. After all, God did give us the capacity to feel, right?
One of the things that is the most beautiful gift that God has given us, is the gift of love. Love for each other. Love for our parents, love for our siblings, love for our friends... and even that love for that special someone.
You know that feeling you get when they walk in the room. Your heart starts pounding. It feels like the inside of your chest is swirling in excitement. You can't stop thinking about them. They posses every one of your thoughts. It excites me that this is a reflection of God too.
God gets those crazy feelings for us too! When we come near to him, his heart pounds! He longs for us!
He longs to be romanced by us! He longs to be near to us!
That just blows my mind.
It took me a while to get my head around the need for worship. I am a pray-er, a reader and a do-er. I wasn't really a worshiper. I thought "God knows how much I love him. God knows he's awesome. God knows I'm thankful". But woah, how my mind changed when I realised he feels the way I do.
Of COURSE he knows hes awesome, but he wants to HEAR it, like the rest of us. He knows exactly the extent of my love for him, but by golly, he wants us to romance him.
My saviour wants me to chase after him and long for him too!
Doesn't that just make your spirit soar? He loves us that much that he actually wants all of our heart.
Many times I have cried in my room, whinging to the God of the universe that I can't FEEL him. Complaining that i can't feel his presence.
I'd ask him to come back to me, and accuse him of leaving my side.
But then I realised: It is never God who moves.
It is always me. I am the one who redirects my heart from God. Even if my mind is on God, my heart may lie elsewhere. I visualise the situation being reversed.
Me, idolising earthly things, turning my heart from God. Then God, crying asking "Why can't I feel you, ? Why can't i feel your presence?"
It is always me who moves.
Welcome
Hi!
Welcome to my blog.
The Christian life is narrow and difficult. It is so so so hard.
But is the most beautiful, amazing and rewarding thing in the world.
So many Christians these days live cold, routine lives. Their Christianity is limited to the church and their hearts are far from captivated by the love of Jesus.
God is distant. God is their secret. Christianity is hobby. Jesus is a great man.
I'm not judging Christians, I am the same as the worst of you. I just think it's wrong, and something has to change.
Jesus needs to be unleashed! All of Gods power has to engulf to world!
And most importantly, the church much be captivated by the love of Jesus.
I'm blogging to highlight my struggle to live a life that glorifies the one who gave it to me in the first place.
Welcome to my blog.
The Christian life is narrow and difficult. It is so so so hard.
But is the most beautiful, amazing and rewarding thing in the world.
So many Christians these days live cold, routine lives. Their Christianity is limited to the church and their hearts are far from captivated by the love of Jesus.
God is distant. God is their secret. Christianity is hobby. Jesus is a great man.
I'm not judging Christians, I am the same as the worst of you. I just think it's wrong, and something has to change.
Jesus needs to be unleashed! All of Gods power has to engulf to world!
And most importantly, the church much be captivated by the love of Jesus.
I'm blogging to highlight my struggle to live a life that glorifies the one who gave it to me in the first place.
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