Apathy, Change, and Radical Relationship

Hey readers,


I posted this as my facebook status yesterday:


‎"...From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. From prophets to priests, they are all frauds...Are they ashamed of their disgusting actions? Not at all-they don't even know how to blush!...Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:13-16 (NLT)


Obviously, this is not the passage in its entirety. Facebook only allows a certain amount of characters in a status update. I have been thinking a lot lately about things like, Apathy, Change, and Radical Relationship like the title of this post says. These things arise out of my current state of restlessness about my own relationship with the Creator.


I often have periods of time where I feel really restless about my life, and feel as though I need to change things. Usually this means I think about radically altering the physical space that I am in, for example, thinking about moving to a different country or something extreme like that. I am realizing that this might not solve the thing that is causing me to be anxious or restless. Perhaps it is the Holy Spirit within me rebelling against certain things in my life that are hindering me from putting time and effort into my relationship with Christ, or perhaps God is actually calling me to go somewhere, or perhaps calling me to prepare myself for whatever may come in the next step in the journey we call life.


Apathy:


It seems to me that in this day and age of instantaneous media exposure and constant connectedness that apathy is rising. There are a lot of things the media tells are are fine, good, and acceptable. I'm sure that God would not approve of a lot of these things that we find normal and socially acceptable. I want to take a stab at sexual innuendo, there is so much sexual innuendo woven into dialogs and interactions on television and movies that it seems that saying things that are derogatory towards women are acceptable and even praised. I think that in a previous post I talked about "That's what she said..." jokes. I don't approve of these jokes anymore, even though at one point I prided myself at being "quick-witted" enough to beat my friends to the punch when it came to making these jokes. When we overlook things like the way that we talk, and the way in which we use our speech we ignore the clear warnings in scripture that the tongue is dangerous and we need to be aware of what we are saying and how it affects people around us as well as our own lives. The more we choose to let little things slide, the easier it will be to let bigger things slide. The way we talk is a representation of what's really in our hearts and minds. If we are to be ambassadors of Christ, shouldn't our speech be righteous and honorable and pure? We are all human, and make mistakes, but don't use this as a cop-out to not think about what you say.


Change:


In life, things are constantly changing. You can choose to accept this fact and adapt to what's going on around you, or you can take offense to every change that comes along and do your best to be a stick in the mud. I'll admit that often I have the urge to change things, just for the sake of changing them. This can be beneficial, and other times not so beneficial. I think that in my life, my focus has been distracted from my relationship with God a lot. I want to change that. I want to become a better person, but I've recently been thinking about that desire, and finding that as much as I try to change myself, which works for a time. I need to be focusing on knowing God more, rather than being better at looking like I know God. If I get to know God more, my actions, thoughts, and desires will change, and transformation will occur from the inside out. I want my life to be changed by the real relational knowledge of God, and time spent in his presence. Because, if I'm just changing because I want to be better, and not because I am getting to know God better, then I'm missing something vital. God is love, and he wants to share his love with us, so we can share it with others. God has promised that we will find him when we look for him, if we search with all our heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)


Radical Relationship:


As with a lot of my posts the topics I discuss all kind of overlap. I have been pondering the questions of "Why is Christ important in my life? Why would anyone who is not a believer need to believe in Christ?" These questions come to my mind because of my current job/ministry. I work with students who may or may not believe in Jesus, and may or may not care about knowing him. If being a good person is what Christianity is all about; putting on a mask that says everything is alright, and I love Jesus and am a good person. If bettering ourselves is all Christianity is about, then the message of Christ is irrelevant. Then we can get to heaven by doing good works, and nothing else matters. Jesus is the key, because a relationship with him will transform us. It should transform us. Thinking about this has caused me to realize that I have spent too much time trying to become a better person and do everything on my own strength and understanding. I need to lean on Christ, to spend time with him in prayer, and reading his word so that I can know him better. If I can know his heart, and experience his love, then there is a relationship. In youth a few weeks ago we were discussing the truth of Christ's second coming, and how his coming again will/should affect our lives. Most youth said that it should affect our lives more, but that it really didn't a whole lot right now. We need to spend more time building a relationship with God. If we have a vibrant relationship with him, we will be excited that he'll come back right? I want to be ecstatic at thinking about Christ returning to the Earth. I want to have a relationship with him that is deep, rich, and enduring. A relationship that affects my life and changes me, changes the way that I live and the decisions I make. If busyness is what is hindering your relationship with Christ, you are losing out on the experience of his love and need to unbusy yourself and MAKE TIME for GOD. He sent Jesus to die to save us from our sins so we could be in relationship with him, what have we sacrificed to work at that relationship?


Glory and Praise to the Almighty!

Learning and Growing.

Hey All,

So, I definitely am still not great at updating this regularly. I have 4 things I want to discuss today: Motivation, Integrity, Self-Control, and Discipline. They are all kind of similar, or at least they all seem to speak to my life similarly lately.

First off, Motivation. I am not a terribly motivated person. When I was in High School, I rarely did my homework, and didn't pay a lot of attention in class. When I was in College, I did most of my homework on time, but rarely started it more than a day before it was due. I paid more attention in class, when I was there, and not terribly drowsy from staying up late the night before. So motivation and I haven't been terribly great friends. I wish I were more motivated though, on things like: losing weight, eating healthy, memorizing scripture, reading scripture. There are a lot of things I would like to do more of, or put more effort into. 

Secondly, Integrity. I have always wanted to be able to say that I am a man of integrity. What does this mean? What is integrity? How does one go about being a person of integrity? I think that for myself this currently means trying to be the same person no matter who I'm with, or where I am. I want to be able to be myself no matter where I am. Part of this is keeping my mind pure. There seems to be an epidemic in our culture that says that sexual innuendo is good, and that these jokes are the funniest kind of jokes. I like to make jokes, because I enjoy making people laugh. If doing this is causing me to have to be seeking out the sexual innuendo in the things that people say it causes my mind to constantly be in the gutter. Sexual innuendos are not the things I want to come to my mind first when somebody says something that could be taken inappropriately (for example, "That's what She Said" jokes..)

Thirdly, Self-Control. I have never been one to force my body to obey me. I used to be pretty lazy, but I've always found the energy to eat when I was hungry...even often when I was not. This one kind of goes along with Integrity. I want my mind to be pure. I also want to be able to have control of the things I say and the things I do. I want to be conscious of the decisions that I'm making and the effects that they are having on my life.

Lastly, Discipline. Which is kind of the same thing as self-control, but leaks over into other areas of life. Doing things even if I don't feel like doing them. This one has the most to do with my devotional life. I want to get in the habit of studying the scriptures and learning more and more about my creator, while developing my relationship with him. I want to love the things he loves, and hate the things he hates.

So, all of these things: Motivation, Integrity, Self-Control, and Discipline are things that I'm working on in my life. I don't know if I'll ever have them figured out. I don't know if I even need to have them all figured out. I am realizing though, that as I journey through life, I want to constantly be setting, reaching, re-evaluating and setting new goals. I never want to stop learning and growing. I want to be healthy: spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Through all of this, God is faithful!

All Glory and Thanks to God my Father!

Playing at being a Grown-up

Good Evening,

As I was driving home from work today, I was reminiscing on the past few weeks/months. In the last while I have made a considerable effort to do things the way a mature, well-adjusted adult 23 year old male would. I sent all the paperwork in so that I could start paying off my student loans. I set up my online banking so that I can manage my finances well. I even designed for myself a budget spreadsheet that allows me to keep intricate details of where I want to be spending my money, and where I am actually spending it. All of this in hopes that I can keep myself more accountable of keeping track of my finances.

Out of this come two thoughts:

Thought number 1:
I am not great at organization, but I revel in the challenge that attempting to organize my life brings. I find it enjoyable spending time working on organizing my finances, my room, my schedule. If these things are organized, I feel as though everything is under control. My control. I realize that in this age of technology and social networking that one can be too connected. I realized today that I need to take a break from all of this at times. I need to be able to disconnect. The drive to be in control of my life, means that I want to be connected. To be able to check my credit card balance, phone bill, etc. all online, and pay them there as well. These things along with facebook, youtube, and email accounts means that I could spend hours online and hardly notice the time fly by until it is gone.
Encouragement/Challenge: So, I encourage you, if you're feeling stressed and life is getting too busy...maybe try taking a break from technology and being reachable everywhere you are. I'm going to try to do that this weekend I think.

Thought number 2:
Being 23, and recently graduated from college, I feel as though I need to have everything figured out. I see other people who are my age, married and seem to have things working out pretty well for them. Others may be well into setting up their careers. It seems to me that everywhere I look, there are people my age who dwarf me in their maturity and ability to handle responsibility. Maybe I just feel as though I don't want responsibility, or maybe it's that I don't think that I can handle it yet. I feel as though the past few years have been great in helping me to figure out who I am, and what I want out of life. At the same time, I think that they've taught me that I'll never completely figure it out, and that it's something we learn as we journey through life. Perhaps I need to take time more often to let God have control of my life, rather than grasping at any possible way that I can control it. Although, there's lots to be said for discipline, and organization, both which are weaknesses of mine that I am trying to work on (at times more successfully than others.)
Encouragement/Challenge: Perhaps life isn't just about having everything planned out to the last detail. Take a plunge, do something radically different from what you're used to. God is in control, perhaps we should ask his opinion on the things that we do a tad more often? And also, take time for yourself.

Relax. Unplug. (At least for a short time.)

Introduction

Good Evening,

I decided today that I should start a blog. Many years ago I kept a blog, as I felt that it was a helpful way to express myself to the people of the internet. I kept it updated for a little while, although shortly thereafter I lost the vigor and joy that I had in blogging, consequently the frequency of my thoughtful and thought-provoking posts waned. I decided then that it would be best to rid myself of this internet prison that blogging had become.

Luckily, I have decided to start writing a blog again, so that my life can be on display for the world to see. Welcome to my life. I love my life. I love Jesus. I love my job (some times, more than other times). I love spending time with my girlfriend Cassie. I love spending time with my friends as well.

Some thoughts:
People worry too much about what other people think of them. I spent many years thinking about the things that other people must have thought of me, and I assure you it was not heart-warming. I did not have a very good view of who I was, or what I was capable of. All I saw was what I thought other people must have seen, I was my own worst critic. I think that if I had spent more time encouraging and telling other people the good things about them, I would have had less time to think of all the things I hated about myself. I love encouraging people because it is something that brings me joy. I wish that I was motivated to be encouraging a lot more of the time. I often still get caught up on the things that I don't like about myself, and forget to encourage the people around me. Being encouraged feels good. I don't know about you, but I think that I would be very appreciative if people would encourage me more often.

So, I CHALLENGE YOU, yeah, you, internet peruser with nothing better to do than read this blog post...ENCOURAGE SOMEONE, do something nice for someone without asking for anything in return. I think it will make you feel like a good person, and it could potentially make the other person's day! So...do it!

Think about it. (But also do it.)