Beauty That Glorifies {Pt. I}

Over the past few months I have really realized how amazing the sky looks. Often I look outside or after getting out of the car look up and am amazed by what I see. Yes, there are many other examples of the amazing world we live on that was made by God, but the sky is one of things that has been really amazing me.

Here are some photos I took just to give you some sort of example, but to be honest even a good picture isn't at all the same.

To me the sky is really cool because its so big, so vast, and you see so much of it. Sometimes though we probably don't see its beauty because of our busy lives or our tendency to think I've seen that before. Now days we think so much about what is fresh, intense, and just crazy. We always look to what is new and fail to realize that just because we have seen it before doesn't reduce its incredibleness.

The beauty and vastness of the sky reminds me of how big God is and how amazing are the things that He has made. Maybe the sky isn't that amazing to you, but I'm sure there is something that God has made that you find very beautiful. When you see that thing that God has made, let it remind you of Him and His vast greatness.

There are many amazing things that God has made. We should profoundly realize that those things that were made by God, are a reflection of who He is and how great He is. God is great and what He made was very good. The beautiful sky has a beauty that glorifies God because it was made by Him and displays His greatness. In the same way we were made beautiful in His own image and we should display His greatness.

Praising and Cursing

One Sunday morning in sunday school we were discussing the taming of the tongue and reading James 3. Two of the verses stuck out to me.

James 3:9-10
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

These verses made me think of a phrase that is no longer commonly used, but I thought greatly pertained.

Do you kiss your mom with that mouth?

The phrase as you probably know is used as a reprimand to one who has said something reproachful. In other words, Do you kiss your mom with the same mouth that those distasteful words just came out of? That question and the verses in James bring me to create the question, Do you praise God with the same mouth that you use to bring down a fellow human being, even though of God's image he be?

James 3 clearly explains how powerful our words are whether they speak truth or not. Do our words speak truth and life? If we are living for God do the words we say glorify Him? If we truly desire to be more like Christ are our words pointing others to the Father?

How often do we talk negatively about someone? Do we really praise God with those lips one minute and another minute speak scorn of His creation? We should profoundly realize that our mouth should not one minute praise God the Father and creator of everything and then the next curse the very thing He made in His likeness.

Verseinsanity III

Once again I have decided its time to make another Verseinsanity post. For those of you who don't know what that is it is basically a post that showcases some verses I think are quite meaningful and good to remember, instead of my own thoughts.

Matthew 5:1-12 - The Beatitudes
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
Blessed are those who mourn,
 for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
 for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
 for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
 for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
 for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
 for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Galatians 5:22-23 - The fruits of the spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

When I look at all of these verses I see a lot of things for me to work on. If you see the same thing, my suggestion to you would be to spend time in prayer with God and ask Him to show you what things listed in these verses He wants you to work on. Then if you ask Him to help you to be able to become the peacemaker, the merciful, more gentle, more forgiving, or whatever you need to work on He will hear your prayer and help you.

If you want to see my other verseinsanity posts here are the links. Versinsanity and Verseinsanity II

Sin Is Worthless

A while ago I was trying to write lyrics to a song I was making with my friend, but I'm not very good at writing lyrics. We ended up throwing away my attempt. However, there was one line I wrote that I liked the concept of.

Sin is like a bad check.

If you understand how a bad check works you know that its when the person who wrote the check doesn't have enough funds to be able to pay you even though they wrote on the paper that said they would have the money. Sin is in a way a lot the same, sin seams good and looks like it has worth until you find out it was just Satan lying to you saying it has worth.

For instance, I'm pretty sure most if not all of us has that side of us that enjoys sin. Seriously, we often think sin feels good. We can get away with things we shouldn't, can acquire things we couldn't, and it makes us feel good because we are cheating the system.

However, when you really look at the sins you commit do you see worth? Or is it just like a piece of paper with a lie written on it? Sin may look enticing, but in reality when you go to "deposit" it in reality sin won't get you anything of worth. Sin won't get you love, joy, hope, peace, generosity, real wealth, or life. We so often want to get those things, but they cannot be acquired by mere acts of the devil's schemes. The only way we are able to get love, joy, hope, peace, generosity, real wealth, and life is by following and trusting in the one without sin to grant us those things in time.

We should realise how pointless and worthless our sin is. Do those little "white" lies get us any closer to where we want to be in life?

Sin is like a bad check, it looks good on the outside, but when its real worth is exposed its just a piece of paper with writing on it you can't trade for anything of worth, or in the case of sin its worthless. Sometimes the hardest thing for us to see is that there are some things in life we do that we should profoundly realize are worthless. Only until you see the problem can you address it.