John Randles, by far my most favorite speaker, spoke at Angus last Sunday to wrap up the marriage retreat our church had. He pressed the point of having a good, Godly character. Over the weekend he said many times that smart people don't listen to what you say, they watch what you do. They don't care about your Christian shirt or your Jesus fish on the bumper of your car, but more about what you do in that shirt and how you drive that car. He said something interesting that hit me. "People look to your character to see who you are. If they like what they see, THEN they will look at and read your advertisements and listen to what you say."
Did you know that for every person that becomes a Christian three more people become Muslims? If you look at their character you can see what they believe in, that they are genuine. If you were more genuine to the people around you that don't know Christ, don't you think they would start to take more interest to what is on your shirt or what bumper sticker is on your car to see why you are different than them? It's my goal to start living what I advertise.
Do work!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Identity
While in my Intro to Religious Studies class I was confronted with an astonishing fact. Somewhere around 85% of the US population identify themselves as being of the Christian faith. Of that 85%, only 10-15% are able to identify one of the Four Gospels.
When we look at other countries, mostly in the Middle East, where the religion of the normal citizen is also that of the state religion, it is easy to see why they seem to take their religion much more seriously and integrate it into every aspect of their lives. We as Americans obviously don't have a state-issued or state-backed religion such as those countries, so there is nothing really making us follow up with the claims we make about what religion we profess to belong to.
Except...
There are many passages that talk about growing in our spiritual maturity (2 Timothy 2:15, 1 Peter 2:2), taking up roles as soldiers for Christ and winning people for His kingdom (2 Timothy 2:24-25, Matthew 28:19), and living your life for God (Romans 12:1-2, Titus 2:11-12, Matthew 5:13-16). So much is asked of the people who call themselves brothers and sisters of Christ, yet most of us settle with the Sunday-Wednesday routine followed up by maybe telling someone that you are a Christian if there is no way to work yourself out of saying it. Why is it that it almost seems socially unacceptable to be a true and honest follower of Christ? This is why I think that people who live in the Middle Eastern part of the world are much more at a benefit than we are. Not only is the country they are living in based off of their beliefs (although they are not the correct beliefs) but they are not guaranteed tomorrow. They live in a world where a stray missile or a suicide bomber could take their life away from them at any moment. Would you be more addament about being 100% full-out for God if you knew that you weren't guaranteed to get off the bus at your stop? Would you take advantage of every opportunity and try to win every person God put in your way because you didn't know if you would wake up the next day?
We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Christ may come back at any point in time and it will be unannounced, like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:4). We must live every day to the fullest, and that begins with accepting the life that comes with the identity. When Superman shifts into his alter ego Clark Kent, it would do him no good if he still went around acting like Superman. Neither does it help us out going around acting and behaving like non-believers when we profess and claim to be born-again Believers.
"...When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire; dealing our retributions to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. Salvation is obeying the Gospel, refusing to obey the Gospel results in judgment. Obey the Gospel and these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord And from the glory of His power. When He comes to be Glorified in His saints on that day and to be marveled at Among all those who have believed - for our testimony to You was believe. So He is going to come - He is going to judge the ungodly. And the Bible says, those of us who are saved; are going to marvel; this is going to be an amazing thing."
-lyrics from Flame's song "2nd Coming"
(reference in the song is to 2 Thessalonians 1:7-1o)
When we look at other countries, mostly in the Middle East, where the religion of the normal citizen is also that of the state religion, it is easy to see why they seem to take their religion much more seriously and integrate it into every aspect of their lives. We as Americans obviously don't have a state-issued or state-backed religion such as those countries, so there is nothing really making us follow up with the claims we make about what religion we profess to belong to.
Except...
There are many passages that talk about growing in our spiritual maturity (2 Timothy 2:15, 1 Peter 2:2), taking up roles as soldiers for Christ and winning people for His kingdom (2 Timothy 2:24-25, Matthew 28:19), and living your life for God (Romans 12:1-2, Titus 2:11-12, Matthew 5:13-16). So much is asked of the people who call themselves brothers and sisters of Christ, yet most of us settle with the Sunday-Wednesday routine followed up by maybe telling someone that you are a Christian if there is no way to work yourself out of saying it. Why is it that it almost seems socially unacceptable to be a true and honest follower of Christ? This is why I think that people who live in the Middle Eastern part of the world are much more at a benefit than we are. Not only is the country they are living in based off of their beliefs (although they are not the correct beliefs) but they are not guaranteed tomorrow. They live in a world where a stray missile or a suicide bomber could take their life away from them at any moment. Would you be more addament about being 100% full-out for God if you knew that you weren't guaranteed to get off the bus at your stop? Would you take advantage of every opportunity and try to win every person God put in your way because you didn't know if you would wake up the next day?
We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Christ may come back at any point in time and it will be unannounced, like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:4). We must live every day to the fullest, and that begins with accepting the life that comes with the identity. When Superman shifts into his alter ego Clark Kent, it would do him no good if he still went around acting like Superman. Neither does it help us out going around acting and behaving like non-believers when we profess and claim to be born-again Believers.
"...When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire; dealing our retributions to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. Salvation is obeying the Gospel, refusing to obey the Gospel results in judgment. Obey the Gospel and these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord And from the glory of His power. When He comes to be Glorified in His saints on that day and to be marveled at Among all those who have believed - for our testimony to You was believe. So He is going to come - He is going to judge the ungodly. And the Bible says, those of us who are saved; are going to marvel; this is going to be an amazing thing."
-lyrics from Flame's song "2nd Coming"
(reference in the song is to 2 Thessalonians 1:7-1o)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Take a moment...
I want you to take a moment and think about your day and all the music that you come in contact with throughout said day. Think about how many of those songs have to do with someone singing about relationships, either how they like someone, are in a relationship, getting out of one, you see what I'm saying. There so many songs that constantly talk about the opposite sex, and those are just songs! So many people's lives revolve around meeting that right person, and what do you expect? Every media is constantly marketing items that will make you more attractive and appealing to the other gender.
Now, I just want you to go with me on this one. What if... all of the obsessions that people have, how hard they try, and how much of their lives they have devoted... what if all of that was focused on God? What if people tried that hard to get to know God? God created man and then wanted to get to know him and spend time with him, that God actually walked around with man in the beginning. Can you imagine spending half the time you spend worrying about the opposite sex and pursuing them and taking that time and putting it towards your walk with God?
I have been very consumed as of late in pursuing women. Why not focus on God and let Him bring the woman He made for me into my life when He feels I'm ready?
Just pondering life.
Now, I just want you to go with me on this one. What if... all of the obsessions that people have, how hard they try, and how much of their lives they have devoted... what if all of that was focused on God? What if people tried that hard to get to know God? God created man and then wanted to get to know him and spend time with him, that God actually walked around with man in the beginning. Can you imagine spending half the time you spend worrying about the opposite sex and pursuing them and taking that time and putting it towards your walk with God?
I have been very consumed as of late in pursuing women. Why not focus on God and let Him bring the woman He made for me into my life when He feels I'm ready?
Just pondering life.
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