A Life Worth Dying For

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. -- Philippians 1: 21
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. --John 15:18
...and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. -- Matthew 10:22

Last night I went to see a movie with some friends and some people we have been trying to minister to. The movie is about this guy who is willing to die for the honor of his country and his family. He wanted to restore his family's name and bring honor to his country. It made me start thinking about what is truly worth dying for. I have, as you too probably, heard the phrase "I would die for" or "I would kill for" this or that. Most of those people are just expressing how much they would love to have something. But that phrase, if we really disect it makes for a dangerous thing to say. We will use body image for this little example. There are girls who will say "I would kill to have her body" or "I would die to be a size 2, like (insert name of the size 2 girl you know here)". There are really girls who nearly kill themselves trying to become a size 2. Then when they hit a size 2, they are not small enough and they want to try for a 0 or a 00. Then they have to fight to stay that tiny. Here is another example for us as girls. As women we desire to be beautiful and have things that make us look and feel more beautiful. But sometimes that causes us to start trying to keep up with the Jones' and we end up in more trouble than we realize. Hearing girls say they would die or kill for a designer bag that is $800 is a little sad. Watching girls go into debt because they want to have the latest trend or the hottest fashion to feel better about themselves. They do not kill others nor do they nearly kill themselves physically. They are probably killing their credit, though.

Are those things really worth all the trouble? Is it really worth all the physical pain and the emotional stress? Honestly, according to scripture, no it is not worth it. Christ calls us to be satisfied in Him. He wants us to make His name known. According to scripture, making His name known is worth dying for. Christ has commanded us to know Him, make Him known, make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them. He wants us to work for Him and not the things of this world. Showy cars and hand bags and being able to fit into a size 0 are not worth the time. One thing God has been teaching me lately is I would much rather be hated here on this earth for trying to make His name known than die and get to heaven and have the blood of others on my hands. God has put people in our lives for a reason. Things are not by chance, not fate, not luck, not anything other than the divine appointment from an Almighty God. Our purpose in this world is not to be the coolest thing to ever touch the face of the planet. We are called to be aliens. Weird huh?! Scripture says that those who follow Christ will be treated as Christ was. Guess what, Christ was hated. He was not only hated but He was beaten and brutally murdered. This is not to say that everyone who is walking with God will be brutally murdered. But we will be looked down upon, especially if we are living radically for the gospel to be proclaimed among the nations.

In David Platt's book Radical he asks several convicting questions. "Are we willing to obey the orders of Christ? Are we wiling to be like Him? Are we willing to risk our lives to go to great need and to great danger -- whether it's in the inner cities around us, the difficult neighbor across the street, the disease-ridden communities in Africa, or the hostile regions in the Middle East? Are we willing to fundamentally alter our understanding of Christianity from a luxurious lifestyle to the life style of soldiers that forsake comforts in the world to accomplish an eternally significant task and achieve an eternally satisfying reward?" Is your current lifestyle justifiable before Almighty God? Are you willing to be considered a stranger to your family for the name of Christ? A "freak" in your workplace? Or even a variety of other names to the lost world around you?

Christ came and lived 33 years on this earth to provide you and me an opportunity for salvation. For that very purpose He shed His blood. He died to save you. Are you willing to give back to Him for what He gave you?

Growing Where We Are Planted

"...Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;" Matthew 6:28

This passage in Matthew is talking about trusting God in all things. Yet, today reading My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers something popped out at me. Chambers says, about the lilies, "They grow where they are planted. Many of us refuse to grow where God plants us." He later ties it to the question: "Am I (or are we) continually separating myself and looking to God every day of my life?" For some reason reading that was a completely new thought or analogy or way of thinking about it. We are just like those lilies. God has planted things exactly where He wants them. When He created the garden of Eden He didn't have Adam plant things, He planted them. Adam didn't have to plant or toil or labor until after sin came into the world. That is a completely different topic for a different post. :)

God has planted the lilies of the valley exactly where He wants them. So what makes us think any different about ourselves? God has placed us in a prime location. You or I may not think of it as anything because it may be some place you have been in one place for so long. Or maybe even you are in a new place and know next to no one. God has you right where He wants you. This is not to say you are never ever to move from the location you are in. No ma'am! I would never tell you that. God gives leading to people to stay or go. So if God has you where He wants you geographically (hehe) what is the task at hand? Well, at this point if you know me or if you read my other posts you know what is coming. We have been given a very divine task. It is the task of sharing. We are not to share just anything, but the very thing that could save people's lives. Let me put it in simple terms and then we will go from there.

Think about children playing in a play room or on a playground together. As children we are naturally selfish, this is because we were born into sin (once again...different topic for a different post). Children do not often willingly share their toys at first. They have to be taught how to share. They have to be taught how to even have the simple desire to share. So it doesn't come naturally for us to desire to share. We do not desire to share anything: toys, money, cars, space, ... the gospel. If a child of man has to be taught how to share then what is different for the children of God? Absolutely nothing (well within the aspects of teaching, ha!). He has to mold us and shape us and teach us how to share and how to even have a desire to do so. He wants us to make the most of our time in the field He has planted us in.

The neat thing about flowers is they cross pollenate AND they can be uprooted and moved and still flourish in the new location. Although God may have planted you in a po-dunk town in the middle of no where or even in a huge metropolis ... He has you there for a reason. Look around and see how many people are without Him. See the effects of sin on the world. The effects are all around us. Most diseases seem to have stemmed from sinful behavior. Prisons had to be opened because of this. The list could go on forever, and I will spare you. Just know that there is a purpose for you working the seemingly dead end job or going to school for what seems like no reason at all. He has a reason for you being single, married, or widowed. He has you right where He wants you. Let Him do a work in you as you seek Him out to become more like Him.

Live your life radically for Him. I dare you.

Is "The Modern Family" really "Better With You"?

This evening I watched a television program with my family called "The Modern Family." This show is about a family living in Los Angeles close to other relatives. This is loosely called a comedy. I say that because it laughs at sin. Claire (Julie Bowen) plays the role of a modern housewife. She has a brother who lives with his gay partner and their adopted vietnamese baby girl. Claire's father Jay (Ed O'Neill) divorced his wife and married a much younger woman. It saddens me to think that this is America's view of the modern family. We no longer care about family values. We simply care about what makes us "happy" or "comfortable" or even feel good. The show gives us a message that tells us it is not only ok to laugh at these issues but to allow them into our families.
I beg God that my own family does not chose this path. Everyday we are faced with the option to either choose God or to choose sin. This program shows these people constantly choosing to live in sin and openly laughing at the disfunction it brings about.
We also watched a program "Better With You." This is about three different relationships: 1) the marital relationship of the mother and father (Vicky and Joel Putney); 2) the relationship of Vicky and Joel's daughter, Maddie and her boyfriend Ben of 9 years living together; and 3) the relationship of 7 weeks between the other daughter, Mia -who is pregnant out of wedlock and preparing to marry the father of the child- and Casey.
This program also laughs at some of the issues that breaks God's heart. I found myself laughing at things I knew was not scriptural. These are things that absolutely break God's heart. If I saw my dad upset about something, maybe even crying, I would definitely not laugh at the issue! So how can we, as Christians (how can I) sit and laugh at these very things? I beg God to make me more like Him, to change my heart to desire the things He desires. For His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." We are called to a higher level of excellence. We are not called to be like the world. I John 2:15 and James 4:1-10 let us know that we are clearly not to love the things of this world. We are told that to be friends with the world means we are an enemy of God. We (Christians) were not sent into the world to become part of it, but sent to share with those who do not know our Father in heaven.
There is a silly yet simple question that can be asked, and has been by few, of why Christians remain on the physical earth once they come to know Christ. Why does Christ not allow them to go to Him in death immediately? We are told very plainly in John 17 that we are here to spread the message of Christ. Christ was sent into the world and we are sent into the world. We are not to become part of it, yet we are to take His word to those who are in this world (where else would we go :) ). We are also reminded here that Christ intercedes on our behalf. He also prays for those who will come to know Him after we have brought His word to them. We are not to be out there bashing others for not believing in Him. We are not to be yelling at others telling them they are going to hell for the wrong they are doing. We are to love them, give them grace, show them mercy, and share with them the love of Christ. How can we share with them if we are telling them Jesus hates what they are doing?
It makes me very sad that I have participated in watching these shows. Their elevated rating due to my laziness of walking out of the room. I basically spit in God's face and said the cross didn't matter in supporting both of these 30 minute programs. Is one hour really worth breaking God's heart? Is the modern family really better with you?

World Impact Conference (Malachi 1:6-11)

Written in April 2, 2009

About a week or two ago I was listening to a Paul Washer sermon. In his sermon he asked some questions and wanted those who were in the audience and listening to journal through them or answer them in their own minds. Well, these are some really good questions that I believe need to be asked by all of us. Please feel free to share this with others.

You can find the sermon by clicking the following link: . It is really great, God was speaking through him straight to my heart and helped me start seeing things a little differently. Hopefully the sermon will do the same for you girls!

1) What did I do over the last year to advance God's kingdom?

2) What were the fruits of what I did?

3) What am I doing within the fellowship of the church?

4) What are my plans for this year? What am I praying about for this year?

5) Either you go down in the well or you are holding the rope, either way you go you are gong to have scars. Where are your scars?

6) Am I holding the rope for those who have gone down in the well? (Meaning for those who are doing active mission work over seas and in other ways am I aiding in that ministry) What does that look like for me? Explain how I hold the rope.

7) What did I do in the great commission this year? What were the fruits?

8) What are my plans within the great comission this year? How am I going to advance God's kingdom this year?

9)Am I in love with missions or am I in love with sharing the Gospel to those who do not know?

10) Why do I go to church every Sunday? Wednesday?

Sweet Surrender

Written: April 24, 2009

For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.... Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Philemon 1:7,20

I am seeing how fellowship is used for spriritual growth and how sharing things with our brothers and sisters in Christ helps us so much more than we could know (or admit). So I thought I would share this with you guys.

Last semester a sweet friend of mine shared a conviction of hers with me that I basically wrote off as something just for her. The more I thought about it and prayed about it, the more I saw that it was not just for her, it was for all. My convictions are greater in this area now as well and thought you guys might be blessed in this also.

What started the conviction in my friend was the playing of secular music at evangelical meetings. Her heart was set on not having that type of music played there. The arguements made here were "we are to become all things to all men" yet the other side of that arguement was "God needs nothing added to attract people to Him." What to do in this case...
My thoughts (and I believe my friend would agree with me) on this are we really should not have to add anything to draw people in to hear God's word. Yes, we are to become all things to all men. However, Jesus did not become a drunkard to the drunkards nor did He become a gambler to those who gamble. So why should we conform to the world "Therefore I urge you, brehtern, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2

A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael (by Elisabeth Elliot)
Pg 126
"Saral came one day with an idea for drawing the women to hear the Gospel. She would teach them to knit with some pink wool she had been given, "and they will love me more and like to listen when I talk about Jesus."
Amy could not say yes to that. She explained that the Gospel needed no such frills. It is the power of God for salvation. Saral protested that there was nothing in the Bible which bore upon pink wool and knitting needles. Indeed there was-- Zechariah 4:6 'Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.' There was no need for tricks which might open houses-- houses were open. No need for methods of helping to humanize and fill bare and empty lives-- 'these women have a full day's work.' To try to help God with pink fancywork was, she felt, plain unbelief."

If it is not pushing us closer to God then it is pushing us away from Him....no matter what we think, it is pulling us away. So in thinking, praying, and searching the scriptures I have found that it is not for me to listen to any more. Psalm 1:1-3 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. What seperates us as Christians from those who do not follow Christ?

What in our lives seperate us from others? Are we walking in the same counsel as the world or of Christ?

Music
Movies
TV
Attitude
Speech (the things you say)
Actions
Clothing
Books (the things you read)

Our delight should be in the law of the Lord and not in the world. We should be meditating on God's law day and night. By doing this we will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water yielding its fruit in season...and whatever we do it will prosper. Honestly, I want things to prosper in my life and my bet is that you want yours to do the same. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1:6 If we truly understood how great God is and what He did/does/will always do then we would not spend so much time, energy, and money on things that do not matter. We would spend more time worshipping and rejoicing to God with reverence and trembling (Ps. 2:11), we would spend more time evangelizing and fellowshipping and seving as we have been called to do so.

May God bless you!