What is common to man....

I Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."

I speak for myself. I am tempted to do all kinds of things everyday. Somethings I automatically recognize and resist, others I habitually fall prey to...like the temptation to gossip. Oh my word! There is nothing so tempting as a juicy bit of news! But when do we cross the line between sharing news and trading gossip?

Wikipedia says,

"Gossip consists of casual or idle talk between friends. While officially value neutral, the term often specifically refers to talk of scandal, slander, or schadenfreude relating to known associates of the participants, and discussed in an underhand or clandestine manner. Compare backbiting.

While gossip forms one of the oldest and (still) the most common means of spreading and sharing facts and views, it also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information thus transmitted. The term also carries implications that the news so transmitted (usually) has a personal or trivial nature. Compare conversation."

When I am angry about something someone has done to me, or I am having a bad day, there is nothing so satisfying as channeling it into gossiping about someone that has annoyed me. This is a HUGE temptation for me. While I may not initiate a conversation like this, I enjoy becoming involved it it. I revel in evil!!!!! AND IT'S WRONG! I will admit it.

Beyond the question of why it's so fun, I should ask myself, why do I continue to do it? Is it foolish to admit I struggle with this sin on a blog? :0

Choices and the Afterlife

I want to talk about two things today, making choices, and the afterlife.

First, choices. Have you ever been in a tight situation, one that forced you to make a tough choice? Were you ever forced to choose between scenarios or alternatives that could have eternal consequences?

All of us have choices that we make everyday: what to wear, who to befriend or ignore, what type of food to put in our bodies, and then we have the choices that we make that put us into categories: polictical views, sexual orientation, religion etc.

But there is a choice that carries eternal consequences. The ultimate choice each of us has to make that will have eternal significance is whether to accept or reject Jesus Christ as our saviour and Lord. Will we put out lives under the care and control of a man reputed to have lived over 2000 years ago, and who rose from the dead after dying for our sins?

If we believe the Bible is the inerrant, inspired word that God has given to men, then we must conclude that Jesus is God's Son and that he sent Him to die for our sins so that we could be reunited with him in heaven after we die. Would God have sent his only son to die in our stead if there were other possible ways to heaven. I don't think he would. This logic leads me to think that Christ's sacricfice is real, and that I am a sinner in need of Him.

It all comes back to the Bible. If you don't believe what it says, or if you only believe the parts that you agree with, then you might as well not believe in any of it. If you don't think it's culturally relevant today, and that people have evolved beyond needing God's laws to govern their lives, look at the behavior of people today, and it's ramifications on American society. If we're all living for ourselves instead of under God, making our own choices to truly live selfishly instead of by God's Word, we are doomed to moral decay and death.

A few questions for you

Anyone remember that DC Talk song about time ticking away? It just came to mind. When I was looking at my last post, I realized that we all have a limited amount of time to do things, on a grander scale than just a window of time before the next semester starts. Our days on this earth are numbered. We don't know the day when we will close our eyes for the last time, but God does.

So how do we make our time on earth count? What are your thoughts and suggestions?

Another thing...thinking about going to heaven is a wonderful thought, but the thought of dying is not. I've had this conversation with my friend Heather. It's not the thought of leaving this earth and going to heaven to finally rest eternally that really scares us, it's the thought of the process of leaving that frightens us. Death, and the unknown. Will heaven be fun? There are so many questions I have for God, that I wish He would answer now, but I know He doesn't speak audibly.

The sermon on Sunday was about discerning the will of God. God doesn't speak audibly, but he speaks through people, and circumstances. We were cautioned on listening to the circumstances though. They can be a little deceptive.

In order to determine the will of God, you must be in prayer, reading your Bible (so you know that your request is in line with the will of God as defined in His word) and you have to listen for a response through his people and through the circumstances he sends your way. Did anyone else get a different spin on that sermon? Let me here from you.

I'd also like to hear from anyone else who has an educated opinion. Thanks!

Complain Not

I was watching Joyce Meyer preach this morning on TV as I was eating breakfast. She talked about growing as a Christian and training yourelf not to complain. She made some really valid observations and points I'd like to share with you. But first let me boldy proclaim that this is an area of my life that I am currently struggling with...

I have determined that I really don't have anything worth complaining about compared to people in third-world countries. I should be counting my blessings. The struggle against the flesh will be consistant, as long as we are alive.

Joyce said a couple of things that really stuck out in my mind. Kudos to Joyce! http://www.joycemeyer.com/

After she pointed out the fact that we don't really have anything worth complaining about as compared to people in third world countries she went on to talk about the flesh and its desires and how those desires come about.

The first thing she said was that if you feed the desire of the flesh, that is the food it will come to expect. In other words, if you consistently feed it trash, that is what it will come to salivate over and desire.

The second thing she said that when we complain and give in the flesh in the process, we are giving the devil a foothold in our lives.

She was preaching from Romans 8. One important thing to note is that if we are saved we are no longer slaves to the flesh, but we are a new creation and now have a choice as to how we live, either to serve our own selfish desires or to deny ourselves and to follow Christ's example. She made a point to say that we should be following Christ's example and not the example of other people.

Food for thought!

Sometimes You're the Windshield, Sometimes You're the Bug

Do you ever have that paranoid feeling that someone is "out to get you"....Like you are a bug and someone is gunning for you with a giant windshield with your name on it and you just can't fly fast enough to avoid being squashed?

Sometimes I do. It's like that Gary Larson cartoon with those deer talking in the forest. The one deer says to the other deer (who has a large target in red on his chest) "Bummer of a birthmark Hal!"

Sometimes you just have those days where it feels like the world is out to get you...and sometimes you're right.

John 16:33 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

33"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

It's comforting to know that the Creator of the world has everything under control. God wants us to rest in His perfect peace. Life is not all champagne and roses, but God does give us those moments of peace. It's in those moments, when everything slows down, that you can let go, and fall into his presence and really feel comfort and even hope. Hope that circumstances and events and trials are working together for your good... Don't just find that happy place...pray for it. Peace. -Rigel

Keep Fighting the Good Fight

Hebrews 12:1 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
Hebrews 12

God Disciplines His Sons "1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

This post doesn't really have anything to do with George Bush, I just liked the fact that he was gesturing, "rock on!" to the crowd. What does the phrase "rock on" have to do with the aforementioned Bible verse? Well...perseverance of course!

My friend Greg emailed me not too long ago. He told me that I rocked. I replied with this picture of George W. Bush that I found on Google images. That's one of my favorite things to do...respond to emails with pictures I harvest from Google. It's really fun. Try it. You likie!

But back to perseverance... Merriam-Webster Online defines perseverance as: "the action or condition or an instance of persevering : STEADFASTNESS ." Keep on, keeping on.....or so the hippie quoth. Fight the good fight. Press onward...

I think of the lyrics to a song I used to sing in church in youth group days, that incredibly, just came to mind. I'm not sure I got ALL the words right, but what I can remember goes like this:

Forgetting what lies behind,

setting our hearts on the prize,

always keeping our eyes on our Lord Jesus.

We're running the race to win,

all the way till the end,

throwing off any sin that would seek to hinder us,

And we'll be faithful to our calling

'cause He is able to keep us from falling.

In His promise, we will trust,

He is faithful to finish the work He began in us.

Cool huh?! Keep on my bruthas and sistas.

Be Wary, Lest We Oversimplify

"Let us who claim to take the Bible as our norm not oversimplify. Our search for truth has by no means ended--although our facile mouthing of formulas could turn away some who are earnestly seeking. We have much to seek and much to learn. We are meant to "hold firmly to the truth in love, and to grow up in every way into Christ" (Eph. 4:14, 15, Phillips, italics mine).
"God is absolute. His Word is authority. Still, it is at the same time anything but cut and dried.

"For the Love of God is broader,
Than the measure of man's mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

But we make His love too narrow,
By false limits of our own
And we magnify its strictness,
With a zeal He will not own."
--Fredrick W. Faber

"As sons of God developing into maturity, we shall expect to be corrected in the process, and though this will be unpleasant, "when it is all over we can see that it has quietly produced the fruit of real goodness in the characters of those who have accepted it in the right spirit" (Heb. 12:11, Phillips). And will reference to the difficulties that are part of our daily education for maturity, Paul says, "Taken in the right spirit these very things will give us patient endurance; this in turn will develop a mature character, and a character of this sort produces a steady hope, a hope that will never disappoint us" (Rom. 5:5, Phillips). That marvelous hope--that we shall yet reach that ultimate end of all creation, fulfillment--maturity in Christ, for "everything that exists...shall find its perfection and fulfillment in him" (Eph. 1:10, Phillips). We shall reach "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13, KJV)."---Elisabeth Elliot, The Liberty of Obedience