I saw this video on the internet and have been processing through it all and meditating on it all.
It really is an incredible and simple observation made by Pastor Francis Chan. Take a look and see!
Francis Chan
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Influencial Lives
I was reading in the book of Matthew Jesus' sermon on the mount. This is a specific sermon to the 12 apostles He had just commissioned to follow Him. The main theme and message is how to rightly follow Jesus defining how it should look and what the attitude should be. It has been something I have often meditated through but today the section talking about us being the salt and the light of the world really stood out to me. The concept behind the salt and light of the world is that these two items are very influential materials. As salt changes the flavor of a dish or light changes the environment of darkness so we are Christians are just that; influencers.
This concept is said time and time again but I tried applying it to my life to what the verse is really saying. It got me thinking though what does it really mean? There was verse that led me to that line of questioning. In verse 13 of chapter 5...
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."
-Matthew 5:13 NIV
So the second part is what caught my attention. Just because the salt loses its saltiness doesn't say its not salt anymore but just good for nothing. If I am a Christian and I lose that "Christianess" its not saying I wont be a Christian just that I will be worthless. This is bad in that if we are to be representatives of Christ we are going to be influential whether we want to or not. So if we are going to put on the title "Christian" we need to remember what that label does. People will put us into a category or put stereotypes on us, so really it comes to a matter of thinking what am I portraying to the world?
-Matthew 5:13 NIV
So the second part is what caught my attention. Just because the salt loses its saltiness doesn't say its not salt anymore but just good for nothing. If I am a Christian and I lose that "Christianess" its not saying I wont be a Christian just that I will be worthless. This is bad in that if we are to be representatives of Christ we are going to be influential whether we want to or not. So if we are going to put on the title "Christian" we need to remember what that label does. People will put us into a category or put stereotypes on us, so really it comes to a matter of thinking what am I portraying to the world?
Monday, September 28, 2009
Jumping to Conclusions
My devotions today started with reading a portion from "Our Daily Bread" (which is available to anyone on the internet.) The verse proposed was from the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 9, and it says
"Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools."
-Ecclesiastes 7:9 NIV
After reading this over and over I sought out where in my life this personally speaks to me. Our Daily Bread gave a small testimony of someone jumping to a conclusion and where it would result in a major and unnecessary conflict. After reading the verse many different cliches and proverbs jumped into my head about giving people the benefit of the doubt or being the better person and not judging but its not easy.
I then tried to think of how quickly anger leads automatically to conflict. That in general if anger is expressed subtly or explosively that underlying attitude will be picked up and it will be the beginning of conflict. Even if we can do well to mask our anger that anger is still evident in the way our tone might be, because anger is something we all know too well and know all the tricks behind it. The challenge then is not how do we hide our anger but how do we control it to the point that it doesn't dictate out actions and attitude.
"Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools."
-Ecclesiastes 7:9 NIV
After reading this over and over I sought out where in my life this personally speaks to me. Our Daily Bread gave a small testimony of someone jumping to a conclusion and where it would result in a major and unnecessary conflict. After reading the verse many different cliches and proverbs jumped into my head about giving people the benefit of the doubt or being the better person and not judging but its not easy.
I then tried to think of how quickly anger leads automatically to conflict. That in general if anger is expressed subtly or explosively that underlying attitude will be picked up and it will be the beginning of conflict. Even if we can do well to mask our anger that anger is still evident in the way our tone might be, because anger is something we all know too well and know all the tricks behind it. The challenge then is not how do we hide our anger but how do we control it to the point that it doesn't dictate out actions and attitude.
Purpose
This is a blog prompted by a course I'm taking in seminary. The idea behind the project is to widen my horizons to other ways of reaching the nations for the Kingdom of God. Since it seems like the world is turning into a digital and internet world it only makes sense to have a way of evangelizing from the web....
...So part of this blog is to learn and gain experiences on blogs as well as hopefully plant a seed, encourage a soul, or whatever it is that God can do to bring blessings. These posts will be devotionals that I experience and think through. May God bless you all!
-Andrew
...So part of this blog is to learn and gain experiences on blogs as well as hopefully plant a seed, encourage a soul, or whatever it is that God can do to bring blessings. These posts will be devotionals that I experience and think through. May God bless you all!
-Andrew
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