Don’t get me wrong, I have a good handful of verses that rock me to the core, but just last week someone asked me what my favorite book of the Bible was.  My response was easy.  2 Timothy.  It was the book I was currently reading.  It always seems that way.  It’s always the book I’m reading right then!

I think it’s much the same with specific verses.  There are sections of scripture that resonate with me in different seasons of life. 

Early in my walk with Christ, my favorite section of scripture was Romans 12:2.  It challenged everything I had built into my image as a human being.  Paul urges to “not conform to the ways of this world, but to be transformed through the renewing of your mind.”  CRAZY!  I never thought to stand up to the ways of this world’s culture.  I saw nothing wrong with it until then.  Those verses turned my view on this world upside down. 

The past 6 months I have been continually challenged of the words in Ephesians 12:15.  We were saved so that we would pursue holiness!  People will not see the Lord in our life without seeing our pursuit of holiness.   Again…this is one that has invaded my thoughts and feelings, making me ask more questions about the things I do, whether out of habit or intentional.

I would love to be that person who has an easy answer…but in some cases, I feel that my “favorite” part of scripture is what’s wrecking me at that moment.  If it’s always the same verse, I would question how much I’m really letting the Word transform my life. 

• “…while others were applauding my ‘success’, I was an empty shell in spiritual atrophy”  - So often we applaud and reward ministry people because we reward busyness.  People in ministry think if they just work harder, they will win the approval of people…all while their intimacy with God is sacrificed.
• “Hi. I’m Doug, I’m a ministry-holic addicted to busyness, people-pleasing, saying ‘yes’, and the belief that my busyness is a unique season that will soon end.” - I know I’ve believed this at one time.  The problem is, I justify my busyness all the time…and try to convince myself that it’s just a season.  There’s always another season.
• “So while ministry busyness is often worn as a badge of honor, unfortunately, behind that badge we’ll typically find a damaged spiritual life, a damaged family life, and a damaged career.”

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21206577

1.  It’s easier to talk about what we’re going to do….rather than what we’re doing now.  We are master procrastinators.  Every day that we “look forward” to something else, we neglect having to think about “now”.  It gives us something to occupy our minds so we don’t have to think about today.  Fear of today makes us constantly hope for tomorrow.  Time won’t cure our fear.  You’ll just live in a constant hope for a different tomorrow.    

2.  It’s easier to be excited about the future, rather than being excited about today.  We all have bad days….I’m not suggesting any different.  How we deal with each day defines us.  We pray that God change the world…but rarely pray that God change US.  Each day we put off changing our outlook on the world is another day we think it’s someone else’s fault.  Make the best of today.  Do all you can with it.  

3.  It’s easier to ignore our circumstance rather than change it.  It would also be easier to ignore that there’s no toilet paper, but what would we wipe with?  Time gives us the option to wait.  The problem is, time doesn’t solve anything.  

I have a point.  I promise.  These are all examples of how we depend on time to change something.  The problem is, time doesn’t cure fears.  It perpetuates them.  Putting our hope in time implies that we are depending on time to change things.  Putting our hope in Christ surrenders it to Him.  Our greatest fear is not always negative…rather that we are capable of great things.  Once we prove this, we are obligated to continue pursuing it.  

We fear our potential.  Deep down we know we’re capable of making change TODAY, making the best of each moment, and even changing our circumstances.  We also know that once we start, there’s no turning back.  Excellence is a one-way street.  No room for U-turns.  The same is true with a decision to surrender our lives to Christ.  Like Elisha (1 Kings 19:19-21), we must slaughter our oxen and burn our plow.  Elisha knew there was no turning back.  New life in Christ meant that he must die to everything else in his life.  If he held on to ANYTHING, he knew that God couldn’t use him for great things.  Knowing this…he stepped up.  

The encouraging news is this:  When we un-cork our potential, it gives those around us permission to pursue theirs!  Just as misery loves company…so does greatness.  So go on, do something today, make the most of today, change your circumstance.  Be contagious, and pursue greatness in Christ.  It might be something worth spreading.

“Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” -Psalms 88:14

“And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”  - Revelation 6:10 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehr4MnAWd30

Christian or not, I’m curious to hear feedback.  

 

• It’s sweet when someone remembers every little detail about you, not because you keep reminding them…but because they pay attention #LOVE 

• Real men don’t love the most beautiful girl in the world; they love the girl who can make their world the most beautiful. #LOVE

• Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it’s better to leave them broken than try to hurt yourself putting it back together. #LOVE

• Everyone should focus on making their lives & the lives of others better, not worse. That’s love. #LOVE

• Love someone for who they are not for who you want them to be. #LOVE

I think we all have an opinion about love….what would your tweet be?

Check out this clip about how men and women differ in their views of romance….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGoC8FTLKSI

So I was bantering with God this morning asking him why in the world we can’t just find a house already. And then, he put this thought in my head…  

Once upon a me there was a little girl named Kyleigh and a little boy named Justin. Their father told them, “Eat all your meat and all your vegetables, please.” So they ate all of their hamburger. But they didn’t want to eat all of their vegetables. It wasn’t their favorite and they wanted to make sure they had room for dessert. They thought, “well, if we finish our dessert and we still have room…then we will eat all of our vegetables”. Their father came back into the room. They asked, “Can we have our dessert now?”.  Their father then said,

“You didn’t eat your meat and vegetables like I asked you to. You can have your dessert when you finished what I first asked you to do.”

Why did I think of this stupid story?? Well, I was thinking about what you said. How we need to go back to what we first felt. When we first decided to get off our rears and start listening to God’s whispers the very first thing he told us was GET RID OF YOUR DEBT. Then we felt he was telling us to SELL OUR HOUSE. The meat and vegetables, right? We have this money in our account that we are saving for our house that we don’t have. We keep saying, well maybe we will need it for our next house so let’s not pay off the car yet…

Maybe God is saying we can’t have our dessert until we finish our meal.

When she said that, i have to admit, I was kind of excited…and I wanted to see the crab out of the shell. I had no clue how long it would really take. I am impatient anyway….and the thought of waiting 5 more minutes to see this thing, I got jittery. I had some things i had to do. So I told her I needed to get going….and that maybe some other time I could see it. Without taking her eyes off the shell she said, “I wish I had a shell.”

I wish I had a shell.

The only thing i could think to say back was, “Yeah, but we build our own shells.”

I wish I had a shell.

6 words I haven’t been able to get out of my head for the past 6 hours. How true is this of every person we see in the hallways? In the parking lot. In the gym. At band practice. At the mall. A bunch of people looking for a shell. For some, that shell looks like popularity. Beauty. Busyness. Athletics. Art. Music. An alter-ego. All shells to climb inside to hide from this bitter and judgmental world.

Hermit crabs do this to protect their weakness. We do it to hide our insecurities. Regardless of the degree with which we hide, we all hide something. It leaves all of us to think about two questions.

What’s your shell?

What do you use it to protect?

The way the iron rotates at the core seems similar to situations in our lives.  There are always situations around us that seem to be the HOTSPOT of our lives at the time, or even for the week.  It’s what our attention is focused on, and the situation keeps rotating, swirling, and seems to not lose any heat.  All the while…the lava is burning us.  We don’t realize it because we’re caught up in it…and don’t worry if we’re getting a sunburn.  Each “swirling iron core” in our lives is also creating a magnetic pole.  It’s a pole of morals.  No matter what, if we would just look at our compass, we could see what direction we’re going.  Do you even carry your compass with you? Do you even know how to use one?  Or is it easier to do nothing, and let the situation define you?

How many times do we talk about someone behind their back? 

Who do you put down to make yourself look good?  At school?  In your job? 

How many times are we “ok” with bad things happening to others when we justify that they’ve deserved them…or brought it on themselves?

God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  He has created us in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago

 Ephesians 2:8-10

WHEW!  I feel relieved, but confused all at the same time!  He loved us SO much that salvation is a gift…not something we have to “qualify” for.  All we have to do is accept it.  Let go.  Let God.  We dont have to worry about finding an identity in this world…he has created one for us!  He has a plan for each one of our lives!!  So awesome!  But it just leads me to my struggle with one word…GRACE.  I love it.  By God’s grace we are saved if we believe, and live for it.  He didn’t ask for things in return…just that we honor Him with every day!  I absolutely struggle with grace. 

I didn’t give grace to the guy that swerved in front of me today on the way to the office…

I didn’t give grace to the person who forgot to file for a change of address…so I get mailings meant for him….for the past 3 years! 

I’m not perfect at all.  As a matter of fact….I SUCK.  The cool thing about it is that God loves me.  My “suckyness” and all.  So in the end…I don’t think that it matters if karma is on my side…God is.