Christians are to live in this time, where the breaking of the dawn dominates all life. We are to be light, to consume darkness, to learn from our past failures and victories, and pursue with confidence our God, that gives us strength to destroy all that attempts to barricade our path. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘purity’
The Dawn Is Breaking
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
The time after the gray morning, it is fulfilling, it is life, it is contagious. The dawn is consuming what darkness still remains. As it breaks, like an ocean wave cresting into white foam, it swallows that which is past, and does not look back. It pushes onward, growing stronger and brighter the further it goes. The path it has travelled is clear and cut, and the way ahead is shut, but it does not care: it simply destroys that which stands in it’s way.
Letting Go of the Acorn
Monday, February 9th, 2009
The seed falls into the ground, dying as the sprout rises.
The sprout grows strong, making due with where it is.
A towering tree has taken the place of the once small sprout.
A bud forms, the result of the tree splitting and breaking open.
The bud lets go, as a beautiful flower reveals itself.
The flower dies, making way for the juicy fruit.
The fruit falls, rots, and breaks open.
The seed fall into the ground, dying as the sprout rises.
The sprout grows strong, making due with where it is.
A towering tree has taken the place of the once small sprout.
A bud forms, the result of the tree splitting and breaking open.
The bud lets go, as a beautiful flower reveals itself.
The flower dies, making way for the juicy fruit.
The fruit falls, rots, and breaks open.
The seed fall into the ground, dying as the sprout rises.
The story above is a paraphrase of a paragraph I read in Passion & Purity. The author’s purpose for describing this regular occurrence is to help us recognize that without letting go, their cannot be life. This process of “receiving and relinquishing, gaining and losing, living and dying” is key to any Christians life. We must let go of our talents, our desires, our love, our blessings, indeed all of ourselves, and let God grow us. In every step of its growth, that tree takes a risk. It doesn’t know if the seed will produce a sprout; it doesn’t know if the sprout will grow into a strong tree; it doesn’t know if a bud will form and produce a flower; it doesn’t know if it will be able to produce fruit; it doesn’t know if the fruit will fall and release it’s seeds; it doesn’t know anything. And yet, it continues this routine, year after year after year after year. It is trusting God. It is constantly worshiping God, by it’s growth, death, and rebirth.
As Christians, our life is full of risks. I have often times found God telling me to do something, even something simple as saying hello to someone, but not willing to take that risk. If we truly believe in our God, we have nothing to fear in the risks we take. Think of Abraham and his son Isaac: God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, the son God had promised to Abraham, and would be the father of the children of God, of all Israel. What a risk for Abraham, to go off and sacrifice his only son, his promised son. And yet, Abraham trusted God. The Bible tells us that Abraham trusted God, that he fully expected that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Wow. I want a trust like that.
Quite often the things we value most in our life are the things we have the hardest time trusting God with. In my life, I value my relationships more than anything else: if I see a brother or sister in need or hurting, I will drop whatever I am doing to help them as best I can. Frankly, relationships are one of the things in life we have almost complete control over. We can bring about times of joy, cause pain, comfort others, etc. Releasing the thing I value most, and have complete control of is very hard. I don’t struggle with trusting God with my financial situation, cause I have little control over that (yes, I can go get another job, but even then, I don’t know how that will work out), so it’s easy for me to trust God in that area. But in relationships, the area that I have more control of and value more, it’s very hard. God convicted me of this yesterday, showed me that I have never trusted Him when it came to my relationships. God has changed my approach to relationships a lot: I used to be quite content taking care of me, not caring about anyone else. Thankfully, God working through me has given me the opportunity to help people in need, to overcome the sinful nature that tells me to only worry about myself, and to sacrifice myself to other people, but I’ve never trusted Him in each and every relationship. I’ve given thanks to God for most (if not all of them), but He deserves so much more than “thanks,” He deserves to be given back what He has given.
Reread the second line of the first paragraph: The sprout grows strong, making due with where it is. The sprout doesn’t have any say as to where it has been placed, of where it has to grow; it has to try and grow right where it is. So it is with us. No matter where you are, you have been placed there, for a reason. That sprout may die, so we may die. That sprout may become a tree and grow flowers, so we may be a witness by our lives for God only. That tree may bear fruit, so we may bear fruit. Whatever purpose, where you are, God is there working through you. Don’t be upset that you’re not in Africa or Ecuador or India, rather know that God is growing you, where you are, and the fruit that you may bear could end up across the state, country, continent, or world. Be content, abide where, thrive in the place God has put you. He loves you, right where you are.
Let go of the acorn, let go of the seed. Let it separate…let it grow. Even if it’s not as successful as you may have hoped, it fulfilled God’s purpose, right where it was, as much as it grew. Rejoice in that.
If It Is Godly, Keep It
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009Mindset: the things we cannot easily obtain, are the things we desire most. For instance, a new car, a house, a significant other, an education/career; all of those things are considered desirable in this world, and all require an amount of dedication and perseverance to obtain.
I am currently reading Passion & Purity by Elisabeth Elliot (if you are a young adult and have not read this book, do so immediately). The book tells of Elisabeth’s interactions prior to her marriage to her (now late) husband, Jim Elliot. In the 34th chapter, titled “Four Bare Legs,” Elisabeth paints a scene for us to consider. A guy is walking a girl to her door, after a wonderful date. Either out of chivalry or a sense of obligation, the guy will be compelled to give her a kiss goodnight, even if he doesn’t want to; it’s what society has engrained in us to do at the end of a date. As guys, we have enormous pressure from society (and from the girl, even if she is not aware of it) to follow “rules of protocol” when in a relationship with a girl. Even if our moral compass or our upbringing has taught us not to do what is expected or suggested, we will still often do it, because we do not know the girl’s expectations; girls are mysteries to us guys, straight up. But this is not the point I want to make.
Look over the things you own, the things you have obtained. Which of those things do you value most? If you were to exclude objects that represent memories or were of sentimental value, the things you prize, the things you treasure, are the things you had to earn, not gifts you were given (again, removing things of sentimental value). Why is that? Just like a little boy, we will value the bicycle we bought with our own money (savings from delivering newspapers for three years) more than the bicycle we got from Santa for Christmas. This anomaly of prizing what we cannot easily obtain is fundamental in a marriage-intentional relationship, and has existed since time was created. In the Garden of Eden, what was the one thing that Adam and Eve couldn’t have? The fruit from the tree of good and evil. When Eve was shown by the serpent just how appealing the fruit was, how tasty and juicy it looked, the fruit from the other trees did not wet her appetite at all; she began to despise that which was freely available to her, and her only desire was the one thing she couldn’t have, that God had forbidden them from eating, even touching. And yet, their desire for the forbidden fruit was so great, that they both willingly disobeyed God, and immediately became aware of the consequences.
Let’s shift gears now, and talk about relationships (don’t worry, it will all tie in). In any long-term relationship (for this example and for simplicity, I’m going to consider a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship), there will be times where things get tough and uneasy. The Christian knows that their reaction to the situation is to trust God, entirely, and I would agree with that. But trusting God, does not mean that your desire to have him/her – your willingness to fight for them – disappears. I would propose that if this does happen, if all feeling of obligation and desire to “win” that person to yourself retreats, then you are not trusting God at all, you are rather attempting (and so in vain) to force yourself to trust God by the only human way of trusting God, and that is by forgetting about the other person wholly. This is folly. I pity the person that loves someone, and because of a desire to serve God with their life, rejects the blessing from God that is found in the person they have loved. Their desire to do good (to serve God entirely, to crucify the desires of the flesh) has prompted them to remove any good feeling to the flesh, which is wrong! God looks to bless His children, to give them things, even things that the world would deem desirable: wealth, a great spouse, influence, etc. Having those things is not wrong, is not a sin. It becomes a sin when those things that God has blessed you with become your focus, when they become your identity, that you are sinning. In other words, when you love the gift and not the Giver, you have corrupted God’s purpose for those gifts, and He will respond.
Please understand that I am in no way suggesting that the above scenario holds true in every case of a Christian in a relationship labeled as “more than a friend.” There are times when the person you are with can distract you from God’s purpose on your life. If you find the other person constantly demanding your attention, drawing you away from God and the things He has set for you to do, than please sever your relationship with that person. If your boyfriend/girlfriend gives you no allowance for time with and serving God, you do not want to continue that relationship another day; do not make yourself vulnerable to soul damage.
Basically what I’m trying to say people, is that God will bless you with things of this world. Guys, God will bless you with a beautiful, great woman, that loves Him and desires to serves Him, if you are serving Him too. Just because there’s this girl that loves you and you’re spending time with her, doesn’t mean you are not in God’s will, that she is distracting you from God’s calling on your life; she may actually be your calling! Just because your body, your flesh feels good, does not mean that you are dwelling in sin. See the gift for what it is: a blessing from God, and treat it as such. Respect it, treasure it, protect it, and thank God for it (ladies I was not referring to you as “its,” simply allowing for inanimate objects as well).
Love you all.
Discussion Questions from the Peasant Princess Sermons
Monday, December 8th, 2008Throughout the recently concluded Peasant Princess sermon series based on the Song of Songs, I included a few discussion questions in the sermon each week. Some people have asked for a compiled list of these questions, and the following includes as many as I wrote down or can remember. Some of the questions, though, were made up during the sermons and therefore might not be on this list if they escaped my memory.
The Hardest Lesson in Lust
Friday, November 28th, 2008
Growing up in the Church I frequently heard lessons about the sin of fornication and the need for sexual purity. Yet, I never received any clarity as to why exactly purity was such a desired asset. I knew that God was entirely pure and holy and therefore that if I were not, we weren’t on the same page, but I did not know how to apply such a lesson in my life. (more…)