Whats something we all seem to struggle with? Whats one thing in the human life that we all crave in one form or another? Acceptance. Whether when we are kids looking up to our parents or at school or in the work place, we all want to be accepted. Anyone disagree? If you do, go to any pastor or shrink and ask them, its sadly true.
Now, acceptance may be something we all need, yet we never seem to find enough of it. When we as humans crash and burn, we generally search for something to give our life meaning. This can take many forms: drugs, relationships, family, religion or an idea (patriotism, pacifism etc). Looking at these, what is one that stands out? Drugs? Yeah a little bit. The one that is truly different from the rest is "religion". Why you ask? Religion, if it should fail you is the one that thing you are guaranteed to shut out. Ideas fail yet there are many others for us, family can be acquired, drugs are an addiction, we are always forming relationships whether we like it or not. This "religion" on the other hand is very easily brushed aside.
Now personally I believe church/religion is a very hard place to find acceptance in the way you want it. We look to the people in the church to accept us, even sometimes adapt to us. Even if we just craved unbiased acceptance I believe church/religion will fail in giving you true acceptance. Yes the others all fail you too, but we expect church/religion to work. We expect the people in the church to accept us. . . . . . .
As a Christian I say that is a stupid thing to do. I say stop wanting acceptance from the people, for if you are or are not a Christian, we all can accept the fact that humans are not perfect. Stop going to church going to get acceptance. Its setting yourself up to fail. Christians and non Christians alike all do it. We crave acceptance in our little gatherings. We want to fit in, keep that meaning in life. In doing so we forget the reason why we should be there. We forget the greatest act of acceptance ever done. . . .
Its just been Easter. I ate some choc eggs. I ate hot cross buns. They all tasted great. I even remembered why Christians have the "Easter" holiday. I thought back to Christ, that He died for me, that He rose again and granted me salvation if I should choose it. Now as I pondered this on Sunday morning, as I read what Christ did and how He acted while going through this painful process I realised that Christ accepted that He had to die, that He had to suffer. No greater love have a man for his brother than to lay down his life for him. He showed us the ultimate love. The ultimate acceptance of us.
When we go to church, when we pray, do we think that God loves us no matter what? No matter how imperfect we are? I don't think we do. We need to get out of our heads that God is sitting up there with a big ugly stick waiting to beat us. God accepted us as we were, are and are to be. No arguments. God doesn't accept our sins, but our sins are not us. When we go to God, with all our imperfection and taint, with all that "ugly sin" or "impurity", we need to remember that God wants to forgive us, wants to wipe our slate clean, to help us. God wants us to be in relationship with Him. God wants us to feel loved by Him. God wants you to feel wanted.
Think on this old yet overlooked factor.
Try and get your head around the fact that God wants you.
LJA
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Heart
Psalm 86 :11 says "Teach me your way O Lord, that I may walk in you truth; unite my heart to fear your name"
I like that last bit, "unite my heart to fear your name". I like it a lot. "Unite my heart". Hmmmm. . . . .
Who remembers the parable of the farmer sowing the seeds? Where some land on rocks and get eaten by birds, some fall among weeds and some grow in good soil? Every time I got told that story in Sunday school or at church, I got told it meant that our faith are the seeds and that only a few make it. Now I guess that made sense. Problem is, we only look at the seeds as faith. Where does our faith reside? In our hearts.
Now if you look at that story again you see that faith is being planted in our hearts. That the field that the story speaks of is OUR heart. You may notice that the field is rocky is some places, hardened from pain. You may also notice that it is full of weeds, that choke our faith in the concerns of this world. Then there is the nice fertile soil, where your faith may grow, the untainted remains of your heart. Our heart is splinted, fractured.
James 1:5-8 speaks of faith. Speaks of the doubt in man, the double mindedness. Our faith is not in the mind though is it. It is in our hearts. James 1:5-8 speaks of the splinted, fractured, broken state of our hearts, the doubts of our mind like the birds eating the seeds off the rocks.
Now lets go back to the original verse, Psalm 86 :11. That little bit I liked. "Unite my heart". If you want to united a splinted heart, If you want GOD to do that, you are asking for pain. Like a shattered glass or a broken sword, a broken heart must be melted back together. Put through the furnace, refined.
Our hearts are broken, our mind doubtful. We avoid pain, we avoid what we perceive as danger to our nice little balanced hearts. If David can ask God to melt his heart down in the hope that he may truly fear Gods name, surely we can ask God to melt our heart in hope that we may better ourselves, strengthen who we are in Christ.
Want some refining? Want more of God?
Just ask, David did. He got it. So can you.
LJA
I like that last bit, "unite my heart to fear your name". I like it a lot. "Unite my heart". Hmmmm. . . . .
Who remembers the parable of the farmer sowing the seeds? Where some land on rocks and get eaten by birds, some fall among weeds and some grow in good soil? Every time I got told that story in Sunday school or at church, I got told it meant that our faith are the seeds and that only a few make it. Now I guess that made sense. Problem is, we only look at the seeds as faith. Where does our faith reside? In our hearts.
Now if you look at that story again you see that faith is being planted in our hearts. That the field that the story speaks of is OUR heart. You may notice that the field is rocky is some places, hardened from pain. You may also notice that it is full of weeds, that choke our faith in the concerns of this world. Then there is the nice fertile soil, where your faith may grow, the untainted remains of your heart. Our heart is splinted, fractured.
James 1:5-8 speaks of faith. Speaks of the doubt in man, the double mindedness. Our faith is not in the mind though is it. It is in our hearts. James 1:5-8 speaks of the splinted, fractured, broken state of our hearts, the doubts of our mind like the birds eating the seeds off the rocks.
Now lets go back to the original verse, Psalm 86 :11. That little bit I liked. "Unite my heart". If you want to united a splinted heart, If you want GOD to do that, you are asking for pain. Like a shattered glass or a broken sword, a broken heart must be melted back together. Put through the furnace, refined.
Our hearts are broken, our mind doubtful. We avoid pain, we avoid what we perceive as danger to our nice little balanced hearts. If David can ask God to melt his heart down in the hope that he may truly fear Gods name, surely we can ask God to melt our heart in hope that we may better ourselves, strengthen who we are in Christ.
Want some refining? Want more of God?
Just ask, David did. He got it. So can you.
LJA
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Disturbed
We live in a messed up world. Part of me says a swear word would be better than "messed" because well, I believe "messed up" doesn't do justice on how terrible this world is. We have diseases rampaging poor countries, teen pregnancy outgunning AIDS, general human evil, natural disasters. One could think (and many do) how could God let this happen? One could say and believe "This is all to big for me to change or handle or help with". In some ways these statements have a very strong 'standing' or 'argument'.I would like to think my statement has a bit more though. . . .
Do you sponsor a child? I do, because I can. Because I know I can help little BJ who lives in Zimbabwe. I know that Africa is a poor Continent, It messes with me. I don't like that. It disturbs me. So I give $40 a month to this kid, thinking that at least this little guy will have a chance now. Helps me sleep a little better as such. Now, I don't really care to much about people in natural disasters, because well they are natural occurrences. Sure I could give money so that people can get their lives back together. I don't though. I feel sorry for them, I wish they didn't have to get flooded or blown away, I honestly do. But it doesn't disturb me. It doesn't rock my boat. By choice (sub-conscious or not) I don't let it disturb me.
When man takes action against something, whether it be the current government or slavery or tsunami's, man does it because it troubles, it disturbs him. He sees the wrong and it gets to him, he gets up the balls as such to do something and he does. Action occurs because of a disturbance. An imbalance. Lake of equilibrium. Scientifically proven. The same happens in the human heart/mind. If we see something that we know to be wrong, our mind can make one of two choices. 1, Rationalise it and say it is a part of the unpredictable thing we call life. 2, Get Disturbed, attempt to change it.
As Christians we are WAY to comfortable with this "messed up" world. We are meant to be followers of Christ. Christ saw the wrongs in the world in His 'time'. He gave human life value when life was taken with very little thought. He promoted equality when women and people of different races and religions were disrespected. He went around changing it all, setting the standard. We (myself very much included) need to see the wrongs, the unjusts in this world and actually care enough to not switch the channel, to get up and do something. We need to choose to follow Christ's example like our name (Christian: follower of Christ) says. We need to choose to get disturbed by what we see. Stop switching the channel, stop thinking I can do nothing, stop giving excuses for your lack of action.
Get Disturbed.
LJA
Do you sponsor a child? I do, because I can. Because I know I can help little BJ who lives in Zimbabwe. I know that Africa is a poor Continent, It messes with me. I don't like that. It disturbs me. So I give $40 a month to this kid, thinking that at least this little guy will have a chance now. Helps me sleep a little better as such. Now, I don't really care to much about people in natural disasters, because well they are natural occurrences. Sure I could give money so that people can get their lives back together. I don't though. I feel sorry for them, I wish they didn't have to get flooded or blown away, I honestly do. But it doesn't disturb me. It doesn't rock my boat. By choice (sub-conscious or not) I don't let it disturb me.
When man takes action against something, whether it be the current government or slavery or tsunami's, man does it because it troubles, it disturbs him. He sees the wrong and it gets to him, he gets up the balls as such to do something and he does. Action occurs because of a disturbance. An imbalance. Lake of equilibrium. Scientifically proven. The same happens in the human heart/mind. If we see something that we know to be wrong, our mind can make one of two choices. 1, Rationalise it and say it is a part of the unpredictable thing we call life. 2, Get Disturbed, attempt to change it.
As Christians we are WAY to comfortable with this "messed up" world. We are meant to be followers of Christ. Christ saw the wrongs in the world in His 'time'. He gave human life value when life was taken with very little thought. He promoted equality when women and people of different races and religions were disrespected. He went around changing it all, setting the standard. We (myself very much included) need to see the wrongs, the unjusts in this world and actually care enough to not switch the channel, to get up and do something. We need to choose to follow Christ's example like our name (Christian: follower of Christ) says. We need to choose to get disturbed by what we see. Stop switching the channel, stop thinking I can do nothing, stop giving excuses for your lack of action.
Get Disturbed.
LJA
Thursday, March 19, 2009
"Faith"
I grew up as a nice little Christian boy. In a nice Christian home. I was the fourth child, though I did have to learn to pay for things myself as soon as I started earning. I had a nice upbringing. I grew up under pastors and elders of Churches. I had a strong faith. . . or did I?
My faith was circumstantial. It relied on my situation, my friends and my parents. If one was to fail, the lot would slowly cave in. Eventually something did fail and my faith crashed and burned. I stopped caring about God, about doing the "Christian thing". I became a non Christian within a matter of weeks. Though I didn't want to admit it at the time to anyone I knew in my heart that I had turned my back on God.
Long story short I came back to God. What is interesting about my little snap shot of my life is what my faith was like. My "faith" was a bubble that required perfect harmony of outside influences for it to survive and work. I see it in a lot of Christian youth today. I see that if they were left to life, without even one of the things that holds their faith together, they would crash and burn. Where is your faith? Is your faith reliant on the people and social structure around you?
Faith in Christ should never be built around others, your social status or your environment. Your faith should be relationship based. A relationship with God that is. Why? Because God Never fails. He Never changes. He Always loves. People fail, society changes, we are always searching for something we cant seem to find. If your '"faith" is reliant or built around who your friends are or your environment, start changing that by talking to God honestly, normally. Don't get all religious on Him, he doesn't want you to mention His name 50 times in your prayer. He just wants to have a proper relationship with you. Don't fall into the trap I did and let your life rule your faith.
God Bless
LJA
My faith was circumstantial. It relied on my situation, my friends and my parents. If one was to fail, the lot would slowly cave in. Eventually something did fail and my faith crashed and burned. I stopped caring about God, about doing the "Christian thing". I became a non Christian within a matter of weeks. Though I didn't want to admit it at the time to anyone I knew in my heart that I had turned my back on God.
Long story short I came back to God. What is interesting about my little snap shot of my life is what my faith was like. My "faith" was a bubble that required perfect harmony of outside influences for it to survive and work. I see it in a lot of Christian youth today. I see that if they were left to life, without even one of the things that holds their faith together, they would crash and burn. Where is your faith? Is your faith reliant on the people and social structure around you?
Faith in Christ should never be built around others, your social status or your environment. Your faith should be relationship based. A relationship with God that is. Why? Because God Never fails. He Never changes. He Always loves. People fail, society changes, we are always searching for something we cant seem to find. If your '"faith" is reliant or built around who your friends are or your environment, start changing that by talking to God honestly, normally. Don't get all religious on Him, he doesn't want you to mention His name 50 times in your prayer. He just wants to have a proper relationship with you. Don't fall into the trap I did and let your life rule your faith.
God Bless
LJA
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Circumstances
So here I am, pondering on a ride on lawn mower about what interesting insight into my thoughts I should give you this week. My thoughts eventually went to this:
A while ago I heard a story that went a little bit like this: A girl went to her mother one day with a problem she had at school. The daughter was getting worked up and stressed, seeing no end to the situation. Her mother sat there quietly listening as her daughter got more and more distraught. She then stood up and moved into the kitchen and put 3 pots of water on the stove. In 1 she put a egg. In the 2nd she put a carrot. In 3rd she put a table spoon of coffee. . . .
Ive noticed people get stressed about there circumstances a lot. People let their circumstances or problems in their lives get in the way of what really matters. They get worked up and one of two things generally happen.
1. It makes their heart hardened against any future situation that even resembles the original problem.
2. Their hearts become fragile and they withdrawal from anything that could look like a problem.
Now those are the end results of stressful circumstances. People do work through them, but in the end those are the hearts you see in people 35 years plus. Everywhere. Before you start to argue with me let me bring you back to the story. . .
The mother continued to listen and 30min later she went back into the kitchen and took the daughter with her. She pointed to the pots and said: "look into the 1st pot. The egg has become hardened and not very desirable". The Daughter nodded and looked a little lost. The mother continued: "The carrot in the 2 nd pot has become very soft and falls apart if you try to pick it up". Again the daughter was lost. The mother came to the 3rd pot and said: "The coffee has mixed with the water and smells nice. Unlike the egg and the carrot the coffee changed its environment for the better. The environment changed the egg and carrot for the worst."
When we get into circumstances that cause us trouble what do we do? Now sometimes we can be like coffee and change the circumstances for the better by ourselves, but not very often. When we get problems we rarely turn the the big man in the clouds. We try and go alone. We end up putting a mere tea spoon of coffee into the pot. The water changes colour but it tastes weak and bad.
Next time life sucks or you find yourself in a undesirable situation, ask God to help you be the tablespoon of coffee. Ask Him to help you change your situation for the better.
God Bless
LJA
A while ago I heard a story that went a little bit like this: A girl went to her mother one day with a problem she had at school. The daughter was getting worked up and stressed, seeing no end to the situation. Her mother sat there quietly listening as her daughter got more and more distraught. She then stood up and moved into the kitchen and put 3 pots of water on the stove. In 1 she put a egg. In the 2nd she put a carrot. In 3rd she put a table spoon of coffee. . . .
Ive noticed people get stressed about there circumstances a lot. People let their circumstances or problems in their lives get in the way of what really matters. They get worked up and one of two things generally happen.
1. It makes their heart hardened against any future situation that even resembles the original problem.
2. Their hearts become fragile and they withdrawal from anything that could look like a problem.
Now those are the end results of stressful circumstances. People do work through them, but in the end those are the hearts you see in people 35 years plus. Everywhere. Before you start to argue with me let me bring you back to the story. . .
The mother continued to listen and 30min later she went back into the kitchen and took the daughter with her. She pointed to the pots and said: "look into the 1st pot. The egg has become hardened and not very desirable". The Daughter nodded and looked a little lost. The mother continued: "The carrot in the 2 nd pot has become very soft and falls apart if you try to pick it up". Again the daughter was lost. The mother came to the 3rd pot and said: "The coffee has mixed with the water and smells nice. Unlike the egg and the carrot the coffee changed its environment for the better. The environment changed the egg and carrot for the worst."
When we get into circumstances that cause us trouble what do we do? Now sometimes we can be like coffee and change the circumstances for the better by ourselves, but not very often. When we get problems we rarely turn the the big man in the clouds. We try and go alone. We end up putting a mere tea spoon of coffee into the pot. The water changes colour but it tastes weak and bad.
Next time life sucks or you find yourself in a undesirable situation, ask God to help you be the tablespoon of coffee. Ask Him to help you change your situation for the better.
God Bless
LJA
Thursday, February 26, 2009
im back
So i haven't been on here in a while, due to circumstances etc.
Lets go straight into it. Spiritually I have been pretty average the last few months. I haven't been going anywhere in my walk with God. Then a couple of weeks ago something changed......
Christianity is like a mountain. A really steep mountain. A few years ago, myself and several mates decided to climb a really step mountain. Me and my brother Scott walked ahead of the others, chatting about life etc. When we got to the base of the mountain however, we were blown away by it sheer size and angle. The mountain seemed to penetrate the heavens. Cloud covered the summit. It looked uninviting and unforgiving. We all pressed on. As we started it was incredibly hard, for every two steps we took we slid a step back. eventually we figured out how to climb up without burning ourselves out. The accent became enjoyable, fun, energizing. Pretty soon we were at the summit. After some food and water we began to make our way down. We went down FAST. Every step, we would slide 3-4 meters. Admittedly it was fun, but it was dangerous. We fell over and rolled. We got hurt. My feet hurt, my hip was bleeding. We got to the bottom and began the walk home.
Looking at that brief account of that day what do you see in it?
This is what I see. Christianity is like that mountain. Christianity is hard, it requires you to put effort and sacrifice into it. But if you press on, continue in your walk, focus on the "summit" (Jesus, God), the route becomes easier. You can walk it with joy in your heart. Then there is the down side, literally. With every step accent is the steep descent. The higher up you are the faster and harder you fall. You tumble and you go in the opposite direction from God. Its a dangerous path to take.
Why do we tumble and fall down the mountain? Sometimes it is because we look back, we see the view and we lose balance. Sometimes we slip up and slide a little bit. Sometimes we get hurt on the way up, maybe from someone else falling, maybe because we don't like how other people climb or because of the "brand" (Church) of boots they wear. When we get hurt on the way up, we can decide that no, I'm sick of climbing and we CHOOSE to turn away from our ultimate goal of reaching the summit and we go for what looks like the easier, safer way in life.
What we forget as we climb, what we always seem to ignore is that everyone on this mountain called Christianity is in the same boat. Facing the same struggles. We also seem to forget that we have a guy at the top reaching down to us, wanting to help us. Jesus.
I want you today to look and see if you can get a fix on the summit. I want you to look at the goal. I want you to take up the challenge and climb with everything you have in you, with all your passion and desire. For reaching that summit is the most amazing feeling ever. . . .
God bless
LJA
Lets go straight into it. Spiritually I have been pretty average the last few months. I haven't been going anywhere in my walk with God. Then a couple of weeks ago something changed......
Christianity is like a mountain. A really steep mountain. A few years ago, myself and several mates decided to climb a really step mountain. Me and my brother Scott walked ahead of the others, chatting about life etc. When we got to the base of the mountain however, we were blown away by it sheer size and angle. The mountain seemed to penetrate the heavens. Cloud covered the summit. It looked uninviting and unforgiving. We all pressed on. As we started it was incredibly hard, for every two steps we took we slid a step back. eventually we figured out how to climb up without burning ourselves out. The accent became enjoyable, fun, energizing. Pretty soon we were at the summit. After some food and water we began to make our way down. We went down FAST. Every step, we would slide 3-4 meters. Admittedly it was fun, but it was dangerous. We fell over and rolled. We got hurt. My feet hurt, my hip was bleeding. We got to the bottom and began the walk home.
Looking at that brief account of that day what do you see in it?
This is what I see. Christianity is like that mountain. Christianity is hard, it requires you to put effort and sacrifice into it. But if you press on, continue in your walk, focus on the "summit" (Jesus, God), the route becomes easier. You can walk it with joy in your heart. Then there is the down side, literally. With every step accent is the steep descent. The higher up you are the faster and harder you fall. You tumble and you go in the opposite direction from God. Its a dangerous path to take.
Why do we tumble and fall down the mountain? Sometimes it is because we look back, we see the view and we lose balance. Sometimes we slip up and slide a little bit. Sometimes we get hurt on the way up, maybe from someone else falling, maybe because we don't like how other people climb or because of the "brand" (Church) of boots they wear. When we get hurt on the way up, we can decide that no, I'm sick of climbing and we CHOOSE to turn away from our ultimate goal of reaching the summit and we go for what looks like the easier, safer way in life.
What we forget as we climb, what we always seem to ignore is that everyone on this mountain called Christianity is in the same boat. Facing the same struggles. We also seem to forget that we have a guy at the top reaching down to us, wanting to help us. Jesus.
I want you today to look and see if you can get a fix on the summit. I want you to look at the goal. I want you to take up the challenge and climb with everything you have in you, with all your passion and desire. For reaching that summit is the most amazing feeling ever. . . .
God bless
LJA
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Random thoughts from Logan
Ok, so the other day i was thinking, as you do. These are my thoughts
We hate to be judged. What people really, deep down hate, is being judged.
We want to be accepted for who we are. We dont like it when people look down on us, when we do something (wether it be screwing up or just wearing a bright red shirt) we dont like people having a rant at us.
Now Im talking about society as a whole. As Christians I think we have taken it a step further. Heres how: All Christians judge, every single person judges. Some Christians do it more than others and some Christians do it so darn much people hate THEM for it. This not only goes against our core beliefs, its slaps those in the face we are trying to love and care for as Christ has commanded. This is where the real step comes in. People who judge lots are often in positions of power or in high social standing (no im not steriotyping). In the Church this creates Fear. The fear of "what are they going to think of me" or "i cant tell him, he will laugh at me" etc etc. This fear spreads from merely fearing certain people to fearing anyone who you view as "better" than you or have a more important job (in the Church) than you. This causes us to feel guilt, to feel shame, to always be looking over our shoulder, just in case "they" might find out.
We, as a Church, need to destroy this fear we have unwillingly created. We as youth (and as adults) need to relize that we as Christians need to have and show Gods Love, mercy and grace. God forgives us. God picks us up when we are down. We need to look past what WE see and SEE AS GOD views them: as His children, whom He LOVES. We are all equal in this world. We are all special to Him. We need to start showing the same Compassion, Love, Mercy, Grace and Forgiveness that God has shown us.
just a thought or two
LJA
We hate to be judged. What people really, deep down hate, is being judged.
We want to be accepted for who we are. We dont like it when people look down on us, when we do something (wether it be screwing up or just wearing a bright red shirt) we dont like people having a rant at us.
Now Im talking about society as a whole. As Christians I think we have taken it a step further. Heres how: All Christians judge, every single person judges. Some Christians do it more than others and some Christians do it so darn much people hate THEM for it. This not only goes against our core beliefs, its slaps those in the face we are trying to love and care for as Christ has commanded. This is where the real step comes in. People who judge lots are often in positions of power or in high social standing (no im not steriotyping). In the Church this creates Fear. The fear of "what are they going to think of me" or "i cant tell him, he will laugh at me" etc etc. This fear spreads from merely fearing certain people to fearing anyone who you view as "better" than you or have a more important job (in the Church) than you. This causes us to feel guilt, to feel shame, to always be looking over our shoulder, just in case "they" might find out.
We, as a Church, need to destroy this fear we have unwillingly created. We as youth (and as adults) need to relize that we as Christians need to have and show Gods Love, mercy and grace. God forgives us. God picks us up when we are down. We need to look past what WE see and SEE AS GOD views them: as His children, whom He LOVES. We are all equal in this world. We are all special to Him. We need to start showing the same Compassion, Love, Mercy, Grace and Forgiveness that God has shown us.
just a thought or two
LJA
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