class has already been canceled and it is only the second week of school so now im just sitting here with my coffee, content that I have more time to relax and read the Bible… to really soak up God’s word.
Recently finished reading James…. which is filled with verses about our faith in action… a life so filled with Christ that it flows from our hearts into what we are everyday to everyone.
But that connection to Christ… having the Holy Spirit live in us…. none of that would ever be possible for us (because we can by no means do it on our own) unless this happened first (Romans 5:8)…
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I want to live that verse… as a sinner saved and loved… I want everyone to know this redemption… and the motivating factor to have an understanding of what that means to live out in their lives…
Hola a todos!
primero, response para Mateo:
a few things….
Ananias and Sapphira were baptized Christians like you and me…. I think sometimes we (me) separate ourselves from these people and think it appalling that they would do such a thing.
The sin that they committed wasnt necessarily that they did or didnt give fully to the church… it was that they lied about it to make the other christians of the church believe that they were giving a lot (essentially giving glory to themselves)… a dangerous thing to have happen in the early beginnings of the church… but Peter calls them out on the truth behind their lies… because their plan didnt work… and they had only lied to God to try to make themselves look like good christians.
and i think contextually (uhm sometimes i really hate that word but im going to use it anyways) God was trying to teach them a lesson… basically they blasphemed… and God was trying to teach the early church that He wasnt going to stand for that…
but for your question… could it happen today? well… does it happen today? i mean i dont think we hear much about God striking people dead for bragging about how much they put in the offering plate and then heading out to the mall with the rest of their paycheck… but maybe God knew how, especially now, consumed we would be with self promotion… and that reading this passage would cause us to do things like have these ideas flowing right now and to bring us back to a place of surrender and awe of a God who knows our every thought and who demands respect and glory… and who can never be deceived.
any more thoughts?
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Still antsy lately.. but always having to return to Jesus for patience and peace in my heart right now. I think this strange patience battle really manifests in a physical aspect… I’m not a seemingly stressed out person… but the physical effects of stress/anxiety solely play out in my body… (aching back, neck, shoulders, jaw, ansty legs)… very strange. The pains come and go… but I’m praying that these things are only temporary… and just a sign of things that God is slowly working out in my life right now.
ok… I’ll write some more later… time for class!
Acts 5
Ananias and Sapphira
1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”
5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9Peter said to her, “How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
woah…
An Ode…
An ode to our dear friends, creep mugs…
a thrift store find that was one of a kind
we fell in love and lost our minds
blood shot eyes and toothy grin that I shall never see again
you kept our tea and coffee warm
until that awful, dreaded morn (night)
when our neighbor from down the way
did a dangerous dance while we played
michael jackson on my comp
(and suddenly heard a crushing “stomp!”)
the babes had fallen to the ground
broken to pieces with that doomed sound
oh the moon walk had taken our beloveds to a better place
their still skeletons laid on the floor with unchanging cracked face
The fleeting life of our creep mugs reminds me of the story of how I caught a bass off the dock at my grandparents house when I was eight….
We would always play along the beach… skipping stones and wading and swimming in the water, often having my mother pull the nasty seaweed out of our way before we dared to move forward. One day I found washed up on the shore one of those fake plastic-y worms (it was purple with sparkles) that are supposedly better for catching larger fish (i dont know much about fishing, really). I ran to my parents and told them I was going to catch a fish with it! I excitedly grabbed my fishing pole and went with my parents to the end of the dock to cast my pole into the water. It was summer and midday… and the water was not especially deep right off the dock, so I casted out as far as I could. I cant recollect how long we had been waiting (eight year olds tend to see time going by as slower) but I began to get impatient and wanted to go get a snack from the house. As I was about to hand the pole to my mother… it began to tug… hard! My parents were surprised and maybe thought I had just caught some seaweed.. but I was struggling so my mom helped me grab the pole and my father grabbed the net and before my eyes a large bass emerged from the water. We kept the fish and ended up eating it for dinner that night. It was quite an event for someone who had mostly caught sunfish and perch in my times of fishing. I think I have a picture somewhere of me proudly holding my fish.
Anyways… I was so excited about using the plastic worm device again but it had been lost in our rush to show the rest of my family what had happened on the dock. I think I remember it falling though the cracks in the dock… lost in the water. But my dad and I talked about how maybe it was someone else’s turn to catch their big fish, and if I had kept using it… the catching of the fish would not have been as special as it was.
SO THUR FOHR… short lived love is oh so sweet.
copy cat
ooo i am quickly turning into a blog freak! (ie reading blogs…. clicking on links on these blogs that then lead to other blogs… etc) So by doing that I came upon this guys adventure in discussing his ideas about capitalism. http://www.iamjoshbrown.com/blog/reimagining-capitalism/
also… make sure you check out other bloggers responses to his posts! they are awesomely interesting!
Definitely thought provoking as we as Christians in this western culture come to a time where we cant deny these ideas/discussions as a part of our lives… so chchchchcheck it out… i know my brain explodes each time i think about economics and such… love it!
While talking with a friend yesterday… we came upon the idea of commitment briefly (aka marriage, relationships, job opportunities..) and the fear we often have of it. I realized how afraid we are that by committing to something, for example someONE in marriage, we are scared that life will become mundane and predictable… that we are missing out on something better, or that we are closing our minds to new experiences. Then I remembered that Jesus calls us to this life of commitment to Him…and that this life with Him is anything less than ordinary. We are constantly being made new, and learning, and being challenged… there is so much JOY in this relationship… joy that makes every day a day to be a better servant to Jesus. In Psalms David is constantly praising God for the joy he feels in God’s presence. I get chills thinking about how much He loves me… We realized that committing to things can be an adventure. An adventure that takes us places and opens our eyes… something that is so exciting and scary at the same time.
To further on the previous post…
God has recently been planting these passions in my heart for women in need and those in poverty and injustice around the world… and all that I feel that I can do about it right now is read and learn and listen to God for opportunities to further these passions. It feels like a waiting period… but within this waiting period I feel like God is sewing things together and preparing my heart… and its really difficult to be focused and patient when I wish so much to have all the answers now.
A few Sundays ago, we had our yearly unity service here in town (State College, PA aka Penn State). Our unity service consists of multiple congregations from around the area meeting together to have one big (well actually two) services. It is really amazing to see how often different pastors from the area actually invest in each others lives, and what their plans are to further God’s kingdom in our area by working together. Oftentimes they have one pastor speak from a certain congregation, but this year they had a “tag team” effort of sorts with three different pastors doing one unified sermon. The theme was “Unfinished Business” and they all, on different levels, addressed the idea of the unfinished business that God has for us on an individual level, on a community level, and for the world.
Throughout the messages there was this underlying message of hope… that God takes this old self to make it new, and how He desires to see His work manifested in our life… and how although His vision may not be complete… that we have to focus on it and not give up. One thing I struggle with (and I think I might have mentioned this before) is my frustration when getting a taste of that vision that God has for my life and it not being able to be fulfilled instantaneously. God gives us this sampling of something so beautiful and appealing to our hearts, yet we can lose sight when WE try to own it and when we try to figure out how our life is going to go. To me, it is a really visually realistic/hilarious…
we are on a highway and were looking at our mapquest directions and scratching our heads.. taking a few wrong exists and getting back on the expressway… then finally we take the right exit (A duh… not B) smack the steering wheel in joyous celebration, throw the directions to the passenger seat and speed up the exit ramp to find our own way through the city in confidence because we have ended up close enough to where we are supposed to be going. we haphazarly drive through the city streets and round and round speed up slow down… crap quick left turn look over your shoulder make sure no one is behind you… agh im going in a circle… U-turn!… again and again until we begrudgingly pick up those directions to see that we are still miles from where our true destination is.
God wants to show us His plans…. but I think He knows how quickly we are to turn back to confidence in ourselves instead of Him. I want my perseverance to be in the purpose of God.
sorry this was kind of generalized… but my tummy is beginning to growl.. ill be more specific next post
Hosea 6
1 “Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”
I think that God has really shown His faithfulness in my life recently through redemption in friendships. We are such relational beings that when a relationship is practically ripped in two… it can really keep us from the hope that it will ever be mended again. But if God calls that He will mend us in our brokenness… then of course He will mend these broken relationships in our lives. I think we just need to “press on to acknowledge Him” like the verse states above so that we can be focused on the work that He is doing in our lives. He brought us into relationship with Him… and He never will ever let us go… and so therefore it pleases Him immensely for us to seek Him and trust Him even in our earthly relationships.
We are affected spiritually by the people that God has placed in our lives… and when it seems that there is a huge hole in us… we have to trust that only God can fill that.. and then when we least expect it His healing in you is followed by a healed relationship. It’s awesome.
Jesus, I just want to trust you with my whole life.
