My Faith is Important

     I have found in all my life that whatever is foundational for me, whatever has held root in my life and has caused me to treat people in a certain way, it has been because of what I believe in my Heavenly Father.  It has caused me to desire deeper relationship because I know that I have only tasted a percentage of the cake that God has offered us and I love to experience the other "flavors" that people who have lived longer than I have experienced and have themselves come to realization about.  The questions I've had in my life have been answered and the purpose for my life has been found in what I believe about my God.  A life of purposelessness has never entered my heart or mind because I've always had purpose in Him.

     I have purpose.  Not picked out by my parents, by my friends or my pastors, but by God.  He has revealed it to me through His word and in my times listening to His still, small voice.  Having purpose causes me to live my life in a fashion worthy of that purpose, or calling on my life.  My purpose isn't only to bring God glory in everything that I do, be He has called me to live my life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ and to again, give all of the glory, honor, and praise over to Him who truly deserves it above all others.  And because of having a purpose, I don't have to go around searching for something to fill it, causing me to be empty and wandering to and fro searching for something to fill that void of having no purpose.  When I live my life in such a way, it leaves a legacy.  Not of a person who wanted it all for himself, or wanted to fit in and be the coolest, but of one who desired only to bring God the glory and shining His light in the process.  Lives lived like that change the world and leave a reverberating chord playing into eternity, bringing glory to the one and only Heavenly Father.

     One of the key things for my life is a continual "perspective shift" that I get from Him.  In my earthy perspective, everything is temporal and shallow, never lasting for more than a few weeks.  But because of God, He gives me perspective shifts from the temporal to the eternal, from the lack of a meaning to a life of meaning.  Even the perspective of myself changes because of God.  Due to my personality and being a person who is such a self-condemner and being my own toughest critic, when I come into contact with the God who loves me because of me and not because of the way I perform, the view I have of myself changes.  I no longer view myself as stupid, dumb, an outcast (or whatever the boohoo story would be about me), but I see myself as a son of the King.  As a valued child of God because the King of the universe wants to spend time with my 24/7.

     Sometimes life can feel complicated, like there are just too many chords (wires) jumbled into a big mess, like spaghetti and we're trying to untangle it all on our own effort.  But God does this: He shows us that it's not a mess of chords to be untangled, but it's all going to the same course, Him.  It's not the "all roads lead to God" believe, but rather that all of creation points to Him and it shouldn't appear to be complicated, though He's not simple in the least.  He shows that I shouldn't try to untangle the "mess" that He created because it's not a mess to be cleaned, but a "mess" to actually admire and follow where it leads.  This calms me; God tells me not to fret about the :"complicated-ness" of His creation, but to rather embrace the complexity and to not be concerned about anything else but what He has planned out for me in my day.  If it happens to intersect with people (which, of course it does!), I should just point them to the Source of the "mess" and it's not for us to untangle it, but to know and to seek after the Source of it.

     One of the single most important things for me, personally, in my belief of God, is that it places a price on people, and myself, that cannot be paid for by anyone on earth by God alone.  He alone is able to "own" us because He created us.  What this means for me is that it places a value on the person to my left or to my right, wanting what's best for them and for them to succeed more than myself.  First off, God gives me a glimpse of His heart for the person and gives me a taste of how much He loves them and then, in turn, it causes me to love them.  Certainly not with an earthly shallow love that we humans are able to conjure up somehow, but by spending time with their Creator and with them and hearing God's heart for them.  A love fills my heart for them that desires to see them act in the gifts that God has given them.  I believe it's part of having an "older brother's" heart for them.  And as an older brother myself, I desire to see my sister do as best as she can in whatever she puts her heart to; not only that, but I desire to see her working in the gifts God has given her.  It's an excitement that enters my heart, and an anticipation to see how they will be one they tap into the power and gifts God has given them.

     I have many favorite attributes of God, but among the top is that He is such a forgiving God and He gives me grace for the moment, for the hour, for the day and for my life.  I don't have to work for it, nor do I have to work up to it.  When I come to Christ, it's all right there for me and I just accept the gift that He has given me.  This sort of gift, though, is not the kind that is just for me.  Like a little kid at Christmas, you want to share it  with your friends because it's just so cool!  We forgive because He forgave us first, and because of Him we are able to extend forgiveness and grace to those who hurt us.  Which in fact, is a fact of life; you will get burned, you will get hurt, and life is far too short to think that I am the judge to deal out punishment for it and hold onto a grudge that will only fester and hold me captive until I give it to God.  With this, I have freedom because I don't have to go around thinking I have to find some sort of way to find revenge on a person who burns me, but to just forgive them because 1) Jesus tells us to, and 2) because if I don't, only bitterness will harbor in my heart and will create a wall between me and that person and between me and God.  That's something that I really do not want because I want to have no barriers between me and my Heavenly Father so He can access each and every area of my life.  (After all, the veil was torn when Christ died.  Why try and put another barrier up when Christ has torn the big one down?)

     I place a high value on life.  Not because of how I see it, because I don't really know how to perceive life that well.  By spending time with God, the Creator of life, I've acquired a glimpse of how special and precious life really is, and also just how fragile it is.  In the blink of an eye a life can be ended, but also, a new life can start.  Life is an interesting thing to me because it can just be so simple but then so complex with all of its twists and turns and ups and downs.  But God shows me something: though life can be complicated, living it in His will and in His power makes it incredibly simple.  It saves me time of worrying so much about this and that, and such and such, but rather the "that of the time; just the one thing that I need to worry about at the time is what God has for me and what He has planned for me in that moment.

     There's always a part of me that longs for more.  More relationship, more truth, more love, more peace.  Just more.  And as I ache and long for it, sometimes I get weary because of that desire.  Before I had come to relationship with Jesus, that desire for more was always left dry and never even touched.  Once I came to know Jesus personally, I discovered that He really has more for me than I could ever imagine: more love, more joy, more peace. He has more than my mind really can take.  I can take peace in the fact that I am lacking, because He has more for me.  And even when I am able to "perform," He still has much more for me than I can ever imagine.

Dear You

Dear you, yea you the person reading this.  I apologize if I ever come across as "holier than thou." My heart isn't to compare myself to you, no my goal is for you to see the Savior.  Sure, words on a screen only hold so much weight, and true impact is only by face-to-face relationship and not just words.  And hey, actions do speak louder than words, but words, they are not silent in the least.  What I don't understand is when I'm talked down to.  I don't front myself better or wiser or stronger or even wiser than you.  In fact, I recognize my faults, probably more than anyone I kick myself to the curb because of them.  But what I also understand is the grace God has given me.  Grace to live, grace to speak, grace to breathe.  I don't deserve any of this.  Please, we are all on level ground here at the foot of the cross.  My heart breaks for the lost, for those who feel that all Christians are, are judgemental people who only stick their noses at sinners and always push them away.  I apologize for those Christians who have inadequately represented my Jesus to you.  I do know that I fall in that area too, I mean come on I'm not perfect either.
     What I don't understand is the constant shouting of, "Don't judge me!" when in turn you judge me too!  Let's understand this:  "judging" one another is a part of being human.  We can't stop that.  What we can do, though is to not act upon those judgements and preconceived notions about whomever and live in accordance to how God sees the person.  We're all hypocrites, it's a part of being human.  Personally, I like to assume the best out of people; I like to give room to be burned (NOT because I'm perfect, but because I see that that is what Jesus did and continues to do for me).  Now, this does not mean I condone people being judgemental, but only give grace to those who do.  But I also recognize this: telling somebody that they're wrong because they are isn't judging them.  Would we accuse a doctor of "judging" us when all he tells us is that we're sick?  Nonsense!  Granted, I'm not equating myself with a doctor, because I'm not one, but understand the analogy, here.  Or even something like, "You're tall!"  I'm not gonna get defensive and yell that you've "judged" rather that you judged the fact that in fact, I am tall. 
     This is what I understand:  sin has corrupted and skewed our view of all things.  It caused a chasm to form between us and God, and the communion between us and Him is severed because of it.  I also understand that sin distorts our view of each other.  Sin affects our lives horizontally and vertically.  However, you put those together, you've got a cross.  (Horizontal beam, vertical beam, get it? =D)  There's one thing that fixes this:  Jesus.  His sacrifice for us.  God became man to die for man so that man may live.  There's one remedy for the disease that has killed billions since the beginning.  That disease is sin, the remedy is Jesus' sacrifice for us.  That's the only cure for this horrible curse that grips on our hearts and crouches at our door to ambush us and take us captive.  Understand this, too:  Nobody needs Jesus more than any one person.  We all need Him the same, because we all have the same problem.  The only thing is if we're in Christ, we're not controlled, nor held in bondage by sin, but still struggle with it because of our imperfect humanity that's being renewed day in and day out by the Holy Spirit.  We all need Jesus.  Find Him.