You Can Be Famous

Fame is a thing that many people of this Earth aspire to. Everyone wants to be noticed and to have friends and to be popular, and they think they can find that in fame. But let me ask you a question: How many people have real friends when they are famous? How many famous people are remembered after 20 years of their deaths? Not many, so what is the point of being famous hear when you can be famous in a much better place.

Fame in this world in another word for being great, so, how would you like to be great in heaven? A lot eh? Well, there is one catch. That is: Instead of being famous here on this Earth, you have to be a servant. A servant which serves everyone without complaint or even a bad thought about it. On this Earth we must serve gracefully and live for God. There is on other way to be famous in heaven.

How do we do it though? Being a servant of God is more than continually praying to him and admiring him, alought we should =, but we also have to take action. If God asks you to do something, you would do it right? Well, we have to be like that to the people all around us. How? We have to serve them with the power of God to help us. Without Him, we will trash the service and be lost in sin forever, Not to happy eh? We need to serve people better with Him to help us. I can think of something that he can help me with to help my service. Submission. WE need to submit to God before he can work with us, and that is hard enough, but submitting to humans who we see as no better or worse than ourselves, it is no easy thing.

We are at His grace and mercy when it comes to this. Without Him we would burn in Hell forevermore and I don't want to end up like that, so what do we do? We need to follow Him into service as Jesus served us by taking away our sins. We need His grace to do it though because without him we are nothing. We also need to show grace to the people we are serving though. We need to show grace to the people who we serve but we also need to love them. Not "love" as in romantic, but "love" as in friendship. We need to love those we need in friendship. Our hearts must pour the love out to the people just as they also need to pour out the grace. We need to be "full of grace and generated by love."

Christian life: Flat as a pancake?

Christian life may seem easy for some people, but it is hard for everyone. It is never easy to leave everything you have and follow a God that you can't see. It is hard to leave everything behind. And this is the excuse of most Christians. They all have all the "God" paraphanalia with the fish on the bumber and the braclects that say WWJD but do they really live it? What's the point of having it if you don't live it? And if you don't live it, do you really have it?

Like the story in the article, Christians tend to act as Kevin did. We say "You! You be Jesus today!" And it keeps going on like this until everyone expects everyone else to be Jesus. Out of Kevin and Ryan, Kevin wanting a pancake and claiming it by getting his brother to be "Jesus" and Ryan wanting it but excepting the second pancake, which one would you be? As a whole, Christians tend to be Kevin. We all try to be Ryan but we are really Kevin. I aspire to being Ryan, but in reality, I am Kevin... and that is desturbing.

There are certain situations which can tip our judgement and decisions about being or not being "Jesus" though. If something we really want is at stake we will push everything else aside and rush ahead to be Kevin and to leave the Ryans to be "Jesus." If it is something we don't particularily care about though, we tend to pretend to be the "Righteous one" and let the other one be Kevin as we play Ryan. We have to always be Ryan though, not only when we don't want or feel like being Kevin.

This applies to be too. Especially for books. I am an avid reader and there are two books which both my sister and I seriously want to read. We haven't gotten them yet, but I do believe that we both will push to be Kevin and since she is the younger one and sees me as the "Alpha" out of the two of us, she will probably relent. This has to change though. I have to curbs my desires for what I want and step down and let her have them. These are the kinds of things that I need help with from God, and without God in on it, the equation is like, 60 against 0. My desires being 60 and me falling in with the 0. The equation would change though if you add God. It would then look more like, 10000000000000000000000 (infinity) to .5. You get the picture right? Compare the odds and take a guess at who is who in this equation. Without Him, we are nothing, but things change drastically when he is on our side.

Christian Cover Ups

There is alot of pressure on Christians today because of fitting in. Everyone wants to fit in, but most Christians try to fit in with the wrong groups. The cool groups. That is wrong for a Christian though because most cool groups tend to shame Christ. So what do the Christians do about it? Well, they might try to defend Him and then get kicked out or they might just do what lots of other people do.They might just put up masks.

The masks are the things that we think hide us from God. We feel like we can do anything and no one will know that it is us. God knows of course, but the masks seem to make us feel better about it. Almost all Christians have masks but it is not a good thing. I have a mask to. I call it the "Invisible faith" mask. The "invisible faith" mask is one in which you believe in Christ and yet you don't show him. You read your bible and you pray but you don't let anyone ever see you. You might share His word on the rare occasion but usually you will live your spiritual life in silence. That is the kind of mask I have and it is pretty popular.

Pretty popular with the people that is. With God,... not so much. God wants us to never be ashamed of Him and to always proclaim him to the nations. It says in His word, "If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you." We don't want that. We want God to be proud of us while we are humble in our deeds. We want him to say "Well done my good and faithful servant. Welcome into thine rest." That is the kind of thing we want. He wouldn't be very proud of our masks though so what do we do about it?

That answer can vary. It really depends on what mask you are wearing, for me, I wear the "invisible faith" mask, so how can I get rid of it? Well, I can, most importantly, ask God to help me. We can do nothing without Christ so the first thing we need to do is get His help on this. We need to ask Him to help us to share our fath and to make it visible ot the people around us and not just stuff it in our pockets when people on the street walk by. As my pastor says "If being a Christian was against the law, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" With the "Invisible faith" mask on, there wouldn't be.

That's why we need to ask God to help us change that. We need His help to get sent to the worldly prison so we can roam heaven free when that day comes.

Luke Chapter 6

Luke chapter 6 is a very powreful chapter. It talks about how Jesus teaches us to love each other and to take care of ourselves before critizizing others. This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest teachings of the Lord, especially when he said " But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend without hoping to get anything back" (Luke 6: 35) This is telling us, the Christians, how we should act and how we should be as the Lord in this and love and lend without wanting anything back. As our sinful nature, people go against that and we reject the people who follow Jesus and what he says. We as Christians, though, need to follow Jesus and so as he says. We need to follow Jesus with all of our hearts and this is a good place to start.

Check your watch

There are many peopel who get distressed about the end of the world. There are constant panics and discussions about it all over the world, but we need not be alarmed. As Christians we are to be ready when he comes but we are also to spread the word of God so others will be ready when he comes. Everyone knows someone who isn't a Christian, and I think it is time to change that. "Go and baptize nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." says the Lord. It is our job to spread the word and to make diciples for Christ. My sister has a friend who desperatly needs the Lord but she cannot see that. We all have someone like that and we need to spread the Good News to them.

Just as I said before, there are many things happening in the world today that get people to thinking that the end of the world is nigh upon us. Nay, it is not. Pastors and preachers and religious leaders thing they know when he is coming back but they do not. Only the Father knows for sure. It even says in the bible that the earthquakes and famines are only birth pains for what is to come. We need to be ready for what is to come. We need to be watchful and alert at all times and never fall away. We need to stay soiritually awake. If it feels like nothing is happening, we tend ot fall asleep, but we need to stay awake! For how else will we know when he arrives. We must read our bibles and pray continually to know him and to be awake and ready for when he returns to our lost world.

What must we do to be ready? We must read our bibles and understand the word. We must pray always to our Lord on high! Things get in the way of that though. Worldly things. Parties, and busy lives, and pretty much anything that is a distraction and pulls us away from God, usually, sooner or later, pulls us away from God. That is why he tells us not to get attached to the worldly things. And what are worldly things compared to the glory and splendor of God?!! We must be ready and space us from the things of this world as to be ready when he comes. I am not perfect in this. I spend more time in earthly things than with God but with God's help, I will change this and become ready for His return. AMEN!

The Luck of the Irish

In this world there are many different Saints and important people in our past. Probably the most accomplished of these is ST. Patrick. He converted an entire nation! And he did it because God told him to. Lot's of Christians admire him for his obedience there, but we have to have the same obedience. How can we do that? Well,... we ask God. We ask Him what we should do with our lives, and then we listen. Not with our ears or any human thing but we listen to the Spirit of God who lives in us. Then we full heartedly agree and do what he asks of us. This way we are more for Christ and less of us. That's a good thing. We all need to be committed and passionate about Christ and to do it, we need to ask, and listen. Really listen.

Just like St. Patrick. He really listened to God and he did what was asked of him. I don't know if I could do what he did. Especially if it involed public speaking. I am terrified of public speaking! He wasn't though, and if he was, it didn't really matter for him because he put aside his fear and did what God asked of him. That is one thing that many of us Christians don't have. When God asks us to do something, most of us nod in agreeance and then do nothing. St. Patrick saw life for what it was. God's creation in which he lives everything and everything matters. We tend to see it as a dark world and want to have nothing to do with it.

So what would you do if God asked you to do what St. Patrick did? Would you go whole heartedly or would you stand back in the shadows and point at someone else. Kind of like Moses did, come to think of it. My pastor likes to refer to it as "Here I am Lord, send Aaron." That's kind of what the world is like. We always want to send someone else to do the work. So, back to the question. Would you go and do what he  did? I don't know if I would. It is possible to do what he did, bcause he did it!, but we need to be willing to do it.God can change the nations for Him, but he needs us to be willing to do it. Are you willing? 

Cheater

There are many different aspects of my life. Some are easy to talk about and others, not so much. God knows about each and every one of them though. If that is true, then why do we Christians seem to believe that God is only looking at certain things in our lives, the good things? Christians seem to think that since God loves us, he forgives us of our sins and forgets, and this is true, but they also end up thinking that God doesn't look at the things they do bad. They seem to divide their lives into two different categories. The "Spiritual" and the "Non-Spiritual" sides. The "Spiritual" side is the one that they spend with God, learned and talkign to him, and praying and reading the bible. The "Non-Spiritual" side is everything else. We all have both sides but I think we need to change the names and do somehting else. I think we should call them, "Time with God in the right," and "Everything else that's bad!" Entertainment and other things aren't nessecarily bad, but God knows what we do. We can't hide from him.

 As it says in Genisis, "And God created man in his own image." That it pretty deep stuff. We are created in the image of God!! We were created period! And all he wants back is from us to know and love him! Good deal eh? Well, what do we do with that life which he gave us? Most of us squarder in for not even half of what it was worth! We are cheating ourselves and God in this! It says many times in the bible that we should obey God! We all find that hard to do, but we need to seriously work on it.

One way to do that it to read the bible more! We need to study the bible and to read the words of God, for how can we be his followers if we know not his own words!! We need to spend more time with our "Daddy" and really get to know him. A great way to do that is to read the bible and apply it!

Chasing the Wind

God is very important. He is the Creator and He wants all of his creations to live with Him in eternal splendor. That is His plan. And we, as Christians, are going to have that. What about the rest of the world? They need to know too! What good is it for us to be Christians if we don't tell anyone about Christ? As my pastor says, "We love all our family and friends to hell." We love our family and friends, but we never tell them. We are too caught up in worldly things. We want to be famous, and lave good lives, and reach our goals... Wait! What goals? Worldly goals? Or the goals that God sets for us? I want to follow God and reach his goal for me. What about you? Are you trying to achieve worldly goals like jobs and fame with only your human effort? Are you asking God for help? I am not saying that there is anything wrong with goals or jobs but we have to want His goals and strive to achieve them... and with His help, we will!

On that note, what are your goals? Me? I want to be an author. I have dreams and goals that I want to acomplish and achieve, but are they worthy goals? Do they need help? I say YES. We need help from God in everything we do! Especially me! We need him to take a look at what we are doing and let Him do what He wants to do. Our hearts are His home, so when we let him in, we also have to let him clean house. Everyone needs that! We need to have God's perspective on things and we need Him to help us live the way that He wants us to.

Butterfly Misses

Butterflies are very interesting. The float around on empty air and look very pretty. People find that interesting... but if you were to take a fake butterfly and a real butterfly to a child, the child would pick the fake butterfly becasue the colors are more elaborate or it's bigger than the real thing. The church is like that. We decide that we want the fake butterfly. The "butterfly" is not an actual butterfly mind you, it is just something that illustrates all the things that the Church would rather do and have more than they want Jesus. They put fake ideals and morals before the real Jesus. I find that wrong. Me? I want the real deal. Jesus is better than any fake butterfly.

This effects the Church greatly. Nowadays the Church goes for the fake "butterfly", the things that seem better and more cool than Jesus. They come in different forms though. One way that the church prefers the fake butterfly is when they burned bibles! The church believed that the King James Version was the only "true" bible so they burned a whole bunch of other bibles! Also, they are churches that except homosexuality. It says several times in the bible where that is wrong but still they do it. These things are unbiblical but they are becoming more and more popular. These are our fake butterflies.

That is a problem for me. I want the real butterfly before any fake one and I also want to show my real butterfly to my friends who don't believe. Now how do I do that? I show them forgiveness and love and try to be everything that the bible tells christians to be, but how do they respond? Usually they walk away, still walowing the disbelief and the void of emptiness. That is sad. They don't all see it that way though. Some see the real butterfly for what it is but have doubts about it because the church is playing with the fake butterfly. So how can we help them see? Without their consent, they never will.

We can't give up though. We must always try.

Busyness Bashed the Believer

Busyness it not a sin, but it is a great time waster. Everything seems to take time today and everyone is so busy! We all have "super important" things to do and we ignore everything to do it. That effects everything. It effects me quite often. Instead if reading my bible and praying I sometimes find myself talking to a friend on the phone for a bit or maybe watching a movie with my sister. For me, at the time, they seem like good reasons, but neither my sister (no offense)  or my friends are more important than God. I know it and he knows it, but he sees it in a different light. He sees it like I am randomly doing anything and spending no time with Him and considering that that is the creator, that is a very bad thing. I am busy too. I have homework and little things that seem important but aren't, and everyone around me knows it.

That's one of the problems that we have to face. So what do we do about it? We take a break! We set aside an hour or two and just pray and read the bible and listen to God. You have to do this alone though. If you do it with someone else, you are sure to get distracted. Maybe you could do it with two but you would have to be very focused. Well, the point is, you have to listen to God. It is kind of like a coffee break from the world. And believe me, every now and then, we all need a cup of coffee.

Speaking of coffee, think about your daily routines. Do you get up and immediatly make yourself a cup of coffee? Maybe, but what does  that do? It might keep you awake for a moment, but how long does a moment really last? IT flies by and is gone. Now, let's take that moment and think about it. Here we have a piece of time. The only piece of time that matters because when it gets there, that's all the time that there is. Now, let's say that in this moment, you make yourself a cup of coffee. WAIT! We have just wasted the moment. Rewind. Now we have no coffee, and we still have the same moment. Let's do something with it. Let's go and help the lady crossing the street, or let's go and talk to the kids down the hall. Be nice to someone and pray in that moment. Now, what is better, coffee, or Heaven?! With God, heaven is the reward. With coffee? Well... not so much. Now, let's look at that moment again. By talking to those people or by helping them. You could change their lives. you could help them make a decision about something. You could even impact the future! The future of even 1000 years, so would the coffee be worth it?

Beyond the Pole

In my opinion, the media has a very warped view of todays culture. Yes, I admit that there are a lot of kids who would rather play video games and not do anything but it is the human nature to seek purpose. Everyone once and awhile questions what there purpose for being here is. Teens do this as well... and during their search, the do things. They help out at a library or something, trying to find out what they are good at and what they like doing. They help people around their communities and do new and inventive things. The media sees us all as one big blob, but we are more than that. We are more that conqueres!

This applies to everyone. Everyone can be seen by the media as worthless, but that is more because they don't knoiw us. It is very easy for someone to be sterotypical when they don't know the person. Once you get to know us though, you will se what we are. We are people who do things. Take me this past summer. I helped my aunt reorganize the whole church library. It took two days of working eight hours straight. It was fun though, and they library had never been nicer. Also, the prayer-a-thon which my sunday school class/ youth group are going to be doing. We will be praying for the people of the church and everyone and everything. That is our purpose and our difference.

We all need to do something though. We feel a compulsive need to do something and not to just sit around and do nothing. That is good. It inspires creativity, and creativity is from God. So think about it readers. What do you want to do? Do you want to sit around and play video games just like the media blames us for, or do you want to be more than conquers for Gods and do something? Think about it. I know what I am going to do though. I am going to try to get a prayer time for my family to pray for things. You could to the same! I dare you to!

Beware the Mule

Beware the Bear

Satan is always prowling like a hungry bear. If he is not after you, he is after someone else. He usually does it all at the same time though. That is bad because probably let's say, 10 peope are being temped this very second, probably 8/10 will be sucessfully tempted and lose somethign to the devil. That happens a lot and we have to guard against it. I am not without fault here. I am as much a victim as anyone. The devil is constantly barging into my prayer and reading of the bible time by giving something more interesting. He always says "this would be more interesting" or "that would be fun to do. A lot more fun than  this is." Most of the time I fall for it though. So it is really my fault. It is the devil's fault that me is tempting me, but it is my fault for giving in.

I am aware of these schemes for a simple reason. It has become a habit to skip out on prayer time and to not read the bible, and that source of the habit is Satan. That is how I know it is him. The flesh would want me not to read my bible and to do something else. That is our sinful nature...but guess who started that! Well... actually it is Adam and Eve's fault but that was before the sinful nature... but I am not going to get into that. The point is that the Devil always gives us something more interesting for us to do and we do it because our flesh it weak. That is how we know we are being tempted.

That's when the fishing holes come in. Every once in awhile, the devil comes and attacks of hangouts and what we do for fun in our free time. Those places or things are our fishing holes. The devil knows what we like doing and then he attacks us there. If it is with your friends, he tries to get you to do bad things with them. If it is in front of your computer he gives the ideas to look for bad things. Evil is all around so sometimes, we just need to change holes. Find a new place to hang out and do new things. Make it harder for him to tempt you by being in the most safe fishing hole. God's! 

Been Walked On?

The way I see it, comparing a carpet to our Christian lives and walks is a very accurate analogy. People who aren't Christians think that Christians are all hippity-hoppity happy all the time but that is not true. We act like other people and we do the same things, but we have God with us to help us. We also have God to help clean the carpets.

Cleaning the carpet is a very important thing to do. If you walk into a house and cringe because the door mat is dirty, you start making inferences about the people who live there and you feel like leaving. Most people don't like that so they think of something they can do to fix it. The obvious thing to do to make the house more welcome is to clean the carpet. So, they get the vacuum and clean it all up and the house resumes it's friendly attire. Then peopel want to come in again. This is like our Christian lives.

If people look at your Christian lives and see a dirty door mat, they aren't going to be too impressed and are probably going to walk away thinking that Christianity is just doing the same thing as them, so they walk away and never even consider it again. How can we fix that? We clean the carpet! How do we do that though? It's not like a regular vacuum will work this time, we need something with more power to do this job... and what has more power than God!!

That;s right, you have just gotten a live time guarantee that  "Jesus's Vacuuming service" will always be there when you need it. You just call him up and tell him what the problem is. Tell him all that is happening in your life and ask for forgiveness. Then "BAM!" No more dirty carpet. Suddenly all the muck is gone!

So you can see, the carpet analogy is very accurate, and it is easy to understand. We arre carpets and God is the only thing that can clean them. All you have to do it ask.