Selfish God

    If you sit down to really think about why most people do not give into religion or a relationship with Christ is because of Christ. Now that sounds just straight up absurd to say all the fault should be on Jesus. But if you took yourself out of your relationship with Christ you would see the other way non-believers see, which seems pretty terrifying. They see this man that walked through the biblical times calling himself God, claiming that he was worthy of all our praises. Then this man goes to die on a cross and does something with the sky to pretty much tell us that the heaven deems us all sinners. To make it even better unbelievers are then surrounded by us telling them this is true. And of course it is because we have seen the glory of God at work through our lives.

    This analogy might seem really harsh but I strongly believe this goes through the mind of some nonbelievers. And we might even picture God as this selfish person that "wants all the praise." I found myself thinking this in the times where I was upset with the Lord because I only thought that he wanted these things for himself. But when we look at God this way we make him the monster when he is anything but. It is such a horrible feeling to make God sound like the one that is worthy and we are trash. We think this way because we are always told that we aren't worth like God is and I think I can safely say that we automatically think that God doesn't really love us.

   

    The matter of the fact is this IS all for Christ. But why would we want it any other way. Could you imagine living life for yourself or someone on this earth? While we might think that would be so easy and fun because we would live however we want to, we wouldn't be satisfied in the proper way. We would be satisfied in sin. And of course anything that has to do with sin binds us to something beyond what we think is good. We need to have Christ as the center of our lives and give all the glory because he is the only one that deserves it. It is said in Colossians 1:15-16 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him." 

   

    Of course the bible is full of words that call God the "one and only".  He is the invisible and he is the firstborn of all creation. This alone is why he deserves to be the big man! It doesn't sound selfish to be the God the universe and act loving to every single person. This is because the Lord does it for us! God could act selfish and not even care for us or fess up to owning us. Imagine God existing (of course) BUT we did not know him at all because he never declared himself. We would be a total mess!! We wouldn't be able to function physically or mentally what so ever. I mean the man created everything so we should at least say we deserve to under his might hand. 

    There isn't much to say but the fact is God's love is covered by a horrible mask that he is a selfish man that only wants the best for him self. But fight it back with the fact that he gave it all and he continues to. God lives for loving and giving us what we need. Do not let these consuming feelings rule over you because they are full of lies. Christ is doing everything to make you a better you! And in do so he HOPES that you will choose to faithfully follow him. If anything we are the selfish ones because he died for US not the other way around. And yet we still think that we deserve so much better than what God gives us. But everything is just and right through the eyes and heart of Christ. 

Word of the Day: "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

                                       ~Ephesians 3:14-19

    

    

Bottom of the Totem Pole

    If you look back to all the classical Disney movies you will notice one thing. All of the characters face adversity and normally come from settings that is anything but a fairy tale or they end up there. Cinderella was treated as a slave until her fairy godmother came and rescued her for a better life. Sleeping beauty feel into a deep sleep because of evil magic until her prince charming awakened her with the breath of life. Mulan fought her way through war as "man" to earn her right to be heard in several ways. And we can't forget about The Little Mermaid. Ariel was a mermaid wanting to living on land so she could live and better life and once she got what she wanted the evil side took her voice from her and any way she could make life one land successful. 

    Now granted, not every Disney character needed the things they wished for but you bought into it right? You felt bad for whatever damsel in distress was up on the big screen? Yeah, well we all did because most of them came from the bottom of the totem pole and succeeded at what was the desire in their heart. No matter what their life seemed to deem on them they always came out on top. And we see this through the heart of Christ. Think back to manger where Christ was sent to a virgin. Can you imagine being persecuted for being pregnant and not having had relations with your partner? 

    Mary heard several slurs that made her unsure of what God was really doing in her life. But this story changed at the manger without her knowing. Christ. The son of God. The center of our love. Our savior. The one person we can never measure up to. The king....was laid in a straw manger. It was a rough travel all the way to manger to just be born. He was refused by everyone and the inn was full before he was even out of the womb. Not only did that put stress on Mary and Joseph but it made them question the future of their chosen son. 

    God started at the bottom of the totem pole. He was a king born in a stable. Can you imagine the royal baby of the Middleton's being born in a barn? No because that would be absurd and disrespectful. A prince to later be a king is to be treated and look up to with high importance. But the exact opposite was used for Christ. Sure he had his followers on earth but there were several groups of people that rejected everything that he was. Can you also imagine a prince being treated like this now a days? It wouldn't happen because royalty is seen as important.

    So what is the importance of God starting at the bottom of the totem pole? It shows the possibility of what can be and what was. This is not only a boost of encouragement  but a key to show you what Christ has done for us. It is always a great time to marvel at how amazing Christ is and what he really did for us. So starting at the bottom of the line isn't so bad because you find yourself at the top in no time.

Word of the Day: "for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

                                       ~1 Timothy 4:8

Temptations

    Everyone has a temptation. And any time we partake in a temptation we realize that it fills us for moments, then it is gone. Temptations were created through sin to make us aware that we are capable of unworthy actions or even thoughts. They are a little connection that will slowly but surely lead us away from Christ. People like to put the wrath of temptation on Adam and Eve because of the apple. But we bring our temptation upon ourselves. Christ warned us of temptation and told us the matter that it is the true test to see if we follow him through it. If you think about your temptation all the way from food to lust...it only last for a second.

    Temptation was created to only last a second. Because something that good could not last for a long time because it was not created through the Lord. The whole idea of it lasting forever is knowing that it is simply not capable of fulfilling us for a period of time. Sin and Satan is simply not capable of fulfill us. I think that is one heck of a promise that is straight evidence that we should run to God. It is easy to harden your heart to the Lord during these times. If you have a guilty conscience this is where it is mostly helpful. The whole time you encounter your temptation...you feel guilty. When I think of this I imagine a little kid getting into something bad that their parents would yell at them for. Like playing in the mud with their good school clothes on. They know the whole time that their parents will be very angry and they shouldn't do it but they do any ways because as a child it is fun to just get outside and it's okay to play with mud then cause it is not exactly gross yet! But they know playing in the mud will do them no good...in fact it might ruin the shirt they very much like wearing at the time. The child wants to have fun so the messy temptation continues.

    This is very much like our faith. Talking about temptation much seem like a very inappropriate topic. But it is a part of our everyday life so we need to learn how to control it. Like the child playing in the mud.... the world is our playing field and we need to learn how to play the game carefully. Temptation is an art the can trap us in an instant and it can change our way of thinking. It is so deceiving in that the little temptations here and there pushes us deeper in until we are in over our heads. The clean shirt that the child wears while getting it dirty in the mud is the destroying of our mind and relationship with Christ. In most cases when you move closer to something you move that much farther away from something else. The sad reality is we move away from Christ daily due to temptations without even knowing it. Christ knows this before we even do it but the most liberating thing is running back to Christ. He waits for us to repent and be aware of it. 

    God puts the value in our relationships that he trust us to follow and trust him beyond temptation. Because temptation tricks us into thinking that certain action or thing is so much better than what we already have and it is a deceiving lie that wears a blindfold. The most famous bible passage is the Lord's prayer. There is a verse that is so prominent that is sticks with us as a reminder that needs to be carried out in our relationship with Christ. "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." Matthew 6:13 states the exact key to this lesson. The evil one is the temptation.....it is everything about the devil that screams temptation. We should be asking the Lord to deliver us from the evil one. The verse should really be flipped around because it makes it sound like do not allow the devil to take hold of us so we aren't led into temptation. This verse is often misunderstood because it makes it sound like God makes us tempted. The evil one leads us into the actual temptation but the Lord is the only one that can deliver us from it.


"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
             ~1 Corinthians 10:13


      Temptations are hard to get out of  but the verse above gives us straight evidence that the Lord will not allow them to overtake us but we need to allow God to come into our lives in order to do that. He is faithful in all that he does and will not let us be tempted beyond our ability. But didn't we say that it's not God that tempts us but Satan does as well as ourselves? That is still true but like we also said earlier that God is the only one that can get us away from that. He will only get us away from it as much as we ask for because Christ doesn't force us to have a relationship with him we offers it because then it wouldn't be a relationship but a dictatorship.

    This week challenge yourself to be aware of your temptations and what causes them. They will keep coming along so you have to fulfill that temptation time needs to be filled with other activities. Try reading your bible or going outside or hanging out with friends. Something that gets you as far away from you temptation as possible.



Word of the Day: "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction."
                                            ~1 Timothy 6:9