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.

He Is Unchanging

The other day I was listening to a new album I received for christmas. The album is comprised of mostly instrumentals and one of the sings is Hot N' Cold by Katy Perry. Which of course reminded me of the original version and the lyrics.

'Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down
You're wrong when it's right

Why am I mentioning a secular artist's lyrics? The reason is because the chorus reminds me of how People change and they change their mind, but God doesn't change. God is unchanging. His grace is always sufficient. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He loves us unconditionally.

Katy Perry was singing about a relationship with a person. She was tired of this guy who was always changing his mind. We are human and therefore we are not perfect and we aren't always the same. Our relationship with God is much different though.

God's love is unconditional so it doesn't matter if we messed up again. He will still love us the same. He will never leave us either. He won't just one day decide to stop loving and caring for us.

It shouldn't be hard for us to trust someone who doesn't change, will always love us, and will always be there for us. Do we really let God have control of our life or do we still have one hand on our life because we are afraid to trust Him? We should realize that the truth that God is profoundly unchanging is a very important truth and it lets us know that we are in good hands.

He Gave His Life For You

The other week just like many other times I was driving to Williamsport and listening to a cd by an artist I haven't listened to for a while. The next song came on and it was always one I never liked too much because the music wasn't my favorite and slightly repetitive, but this time I listened to the lyrics and my opinion of the song completely changed.

Savior - By PureNRG
Let me introduce you to Jesus
Let me introduce you to Jesus
He's got so much love for you
That He opened up His arms 
and gave His life for you

That chorus right there explains everything about why I love Jesus and live for Him. I want to write more about those lyrics, but to me they explain just about everything.

Its crazy to think of how Jesus came down here to earth, but not to just dwell among us and try and make the world a better place by His love and example. He came down to earth to give the strongest and greatest display of His amazing and great love for us by dying for our sins.

Think about it. How high would you rate your life's importance to you? Would your life have any importance if you were dead or never given life? Life and death is a big deal.

God's son Jesus came and gave His life away so that we may receive everlasting life. He did not just give His love or words of truth, but He gave His life. Do we realize that He profoundly loves us so much that He gave His life for us?

Too Many Words

A while ago we read a proverb in Sunday school that for some reason has stuck with me for awhile. I guess its mainly because its something I feel like I struggle with and maybe others do too. Recently I have thought about the verse more and how if I head what it says I may get closer to being who I want to be.

Proverbs 17:27-28
The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.
Often times I know that there are things I say that I shouldn't have. I say things when I think of them unless I somehow have the mind to think enough to stop my tongue. This proverb also makes me think about how if I talked less I would be seen as if I was wise. If I didn't say too much, if I didn't voice my opinions so much, if I didn't have the nerve to say what I write on this blog would people think I'm more wise? When do we say something and when do we be silent? When is too much too much?

Now I don't mean to hate or attack those of whom argue or post unimportant or useless stuff on the Internet. However, whether it be on YouTube, twitter, Facebook, or whatever I think we have the tendency to say things we shouldn't. We want to say what we think and want others to think like we do, but is what we think good to say? Does what we think have wisdom in it? The second question is should others think like we do? If we think that others should think like we do because our way is best that is quite conceited if I may say so.

Like the proverb says, one with knowledge is careful of what he says and even if you are one who doesn't always say the best things if you learn to hold your tongue you will be thought of as wise. We should be careful of what we say, where, and when we do because the profound implications of our words can hold or take our reputation for knowledge, wisdom, or respect.

God vs. Sleep

This may be more of a teenager thing, but for me I know there are mornings, most mornings in fact, that when my alarm goes off I don't want to get up because I was up too late the night before. Well it so happens that in the morning is the best time for me to get into God's word and talk to Him.

In the morning my mind is more fresh, can think better, and is less distracted. Also there is nothing like being able to talk to God, the creator of everything, and being able to learn from what He says.

The thing is none of this happens if when my alarm goes off I don't get up, turn my light on, and start to read the Bible. I'm sure most of us have struggled with this at some point. Do we get up and talk to God  or do we get some more "needed" sleep?

A few weeks ago I was struggling with getting up early enough to talk to my maker. Then one day as I was driving it hit me, I'm comparing spending time with God to getting a little bit more sleep. Does it make sense that if I were to make an actual list of what is most important in my life based off of my daily actions God and maybe thirty extra minutes of sleep would be quite close?

I find that fact pathetic. What that pretty much means is based off of my actions I would rather do nothing and sleep a little than spend time with God.

I don't know about you, but I wonder if we all do the same thing, but in different ways. Do we do something of little importance instead of spending time with God? Are we going to do something about that? Is spending time with God and getting to know Him most important in your life? We should realize that spending time with God is profoundly so much more important, live changing, and exciting than spending a few more minutes asleep.

Forest Fires

Ever since you were little you have heard the phrase "Only you can prevent forest fires" which as you know was said by Smokey the bear. Even though that statement is true that doesn't mean that all forest fires are started by humans.

God created the world to have natural forest fires so that the undergrowth and dead trees can be eliminated. That way the forest isn't completely made up of old trees, there is more room for other trees, and there is new healthy growth. Even though it seams that the fire is killing that which is good and just destroying creation, in reality the killing allows for new healthier growth.

Sometimes we must experience the occasional forest fire to learn and grow. What I mean is that sometimes God allows for troubles and trials to come our way like a forest fire so that the bad unhealthy things are killed and new growth can flourish.

For us as human beings sometimes we have our dead trees, our sin that gets in the way and doesn't allow new growth to happen in our lives. God may send that fire or tragedy in our lives to help us kill that sin that is keeping us from growing in Him. We have sin in our lives that looks like the undergrowth it doesn't seem like much of a problem, but when God sends the fire we are able to see that our sin is a problem. We then see that our sin in our lives is keeping new healthy growth from happening.

We shouldn't just try and get through the fires in life we should be looking for ways to grow and learn because of them. We must realize that the fire allows us to see and learn that there are certain sins in our lives that are inhibiting new growth. Are we going to complain and blame God for sending trials or are we going to see that God is trying to teach about something and desire to learn. Are we going to just try and get though the fire alright or are we going to profoundly see that the fire will help us to learn and grow?