Well, it's fact, we are all fallen, imperfect and sinful. In our hearts we have all had a record smeared with murder, lust, treason, hatred, vanity and even worse. If there is anything good in the heart, it wasn't by our own doing. So in the church I think we've developed this mentality that we will always be forgiven because Christ is in our heart, so we can go and party from Monday till Saturday night, and then go to church Sunday morning and ask for forgiveness and it will all go away. Truth is, God WILL forgive you every time you ask Him, and there is no end to His forgiveness. But what have we become in this habit? We've grown to become complacent and hypocritical.
"No one's pefect!" Sound familiar? You are right, no one is perfect, perfection is not achievable, but we cannot let that be our excuse to become dead to our relationship with Christ. Sure, I have screwed up in the past, but I can't let that be my excuse to give up on trying to live for Christ. We can't become so discouraged that we've already made mistakes that it retards us from pressing into God. No, perfection is not achievable, but we need to strive for it. We need to continually walk down this old and beaten path we call life, and even as the soft meadows call to us, we must keep our eyes on our destination, even with the chains of our past trying to keep us down. Jesus Christ is always there, and when it all seems hopeless, we can give up our own strength and rely on His. Don't let imperfection be your excuse for complacency.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
True Meaning In A Plastic World
We're living in a plastic world. Everything is so breath-taking with its Hollywood charm and computer-enhanced edge. Our worth is measured with what we have, and what we have is never enough, some people make it their career to convince you that what you have isn't "convenient" enough and your life would be better if you had what they are selling. We (and I'm talking for myself as much as any of you) spend more on one pair of jeans than we spend on food for a week! Sure, we're good, but we can be great if only we had...
There is something so wrong with that. Why is it so hard to be content in a country where near anything is possible? We don't have to ever be hungry, yet young girls are starving themselves to be more perfect. This is so wrong. America, why can't you turn off your TV and wake up to what is happening, we need a revolution, we need a change. We are given freedom, yet we hold ourselves captive with our desires. Lets get back o what we really need. There are people half way across the world, in poverty and without appropriate food and clothing for their own families, who are happier than I am, sitting here having a coke and typing on my computer without a need in mind. They have peace, and it doesn't come from what they've got in their wallet, no, they have found peace of mind through Christ.
One day its all going to be gone, our bodies will wear out and we will die and all the money and clothes and cars and all our lifes goals... they will all be to nothing... at that moment, when we draw our very last breath only one thing will matter, and only one name will be of any importance. Jesus Christ is all that will remain. So next time those designer jeans are calling, think about the investment you are making, not just with your money but also your time, will it mean anything in a few years? We were put on this earth for one reason alone, to carry the name of Christ to a world that is longing for fulfillment. I want to change, I want to set an example for others to follow, and I want to bring His hope to others around me, but I am trying in vein if I don't put down my own pride and trust 100% in Him. We are content and fulfilled in God's strength alone.
There is something so wrong with that. Why is it so hard to be content in a country where near anything is possible? We don't have to ever be hungry, yet young girls are starving themselves to be more perfect. This is so wrong. America, why can't you turn off your TV and wake up to what is happening, we need a revolution, we need a change. We are given freedom, yet we hold ourselves captive with our desires. Lets get back o what we really need. There are people half way across the world, in poverty and without appropriate food and clothing for their own families, who are happier than I am, sitting here having a coke and typing on my computer without a need in mind. They have peace, and it doesn't come from what they've got in their wallet, no, they have found peace of mind through Christ.
One day its all going to be gone, our bodies will wear out and we will die and all the money and clothes and cars and all our lifes goals... they will all be to nothing... at that moment, when we draw our very last breath only one thing will matter, and only one name will be of any importance. Jesus Christ is all that will remain. So next time those designer jeans are calling, think about the investment you are making, not just with your money but also your time, will it mean anything in a few years? We were put on this earth for one reason alone, to carry the name of Christ to a world that is longing for fulfillment. I want to change, I want to set an example for others to follow, and I want to bring His hope to others around me, but I am trying in vein if I don't put down my own pride and trust 100% in Him. We are content and fulfilled in God's strength alone.
Friday, March 09, 2007
The Fight
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand" Ephesians 6:12-13
Ephesians 6:12 seems to be another one of those clichés in the church. That verse comes up over, and over and over again, and I must have heard it a zillion times as a little kid (Remember the plastic swords and shields, our "spiritual armor"?). But to be honest it never really came any further than dress-up time, and when I did start to read into it when I got a lil older all I could see was this mystical Lord Of The Rings sort of world where if we gave into temptation and put on the ring, scary black riders on horses would come and stab me to death that night... I don't know why my parents let me watch those movies... Well, I guess that’s a pretty good analogy for my 10-year-old-mind, however, I was still stuck in this mindset that "principalities" and "spiritual wickedness in high places" was something that I might never experience, I mean come on, how often do you get a chance like that to fight of demons in the spiritual realm? Right?
Wrong. Dead wrong. We are living in a state of being blind to the spiritual, every decision we make, every choice, every depression, every emotion. This is the spiritual, and I am pretty sure it looks absolutely nothing like Lord Of The Rings, there aren't magical rings, but there are everyday temptations (lust, cheating, lying) and there is only one way to combat them, with God's word. We are getting this so wrong guys, the spiritual world isn't all so "spiritual", there's a difference between the powers the Bible talks about and DOOM III, the war we are fighting is constant and its ultimately against ourselves (the "sin nature" or the "old man" that we give up when we accept Christ.) So when we are making a choice, like whether you are going to cheat on a math test, we are in a fight! Satan wants you to fall into that sin and bring you further from God, and God is trying to give you the strength it takes to do the right thing. It is you fighting "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" , and this is what the fight looks like.
So now that we've identified who we are fighting and what it looks like, what do we do to win? Ephesians 6:13 says that we are to put on the full armor of God. Basically this means to be able to 1) know the truth that when faced with lies you will be able to defeat them 2) be righteous, or stand up for what is right so that when people try to speak against you they will have nothing to say 3) be prepared to defend the gospel, hiding God's word in your heart so you will know whats right 4) and the Bible says that above all these, to have faith, faith that no matter where you are in your life God is always right by your side and you can only fight off the temptations and lifestyle of the world with His help 5) accept salvation, this obviously being the first step 6) finally, what do we use on the offence? The word of God. Over and over again we are told to hide God's words in our heart, and this is why. We can't LIVE for God if we don't KNOW God! We have to know what He says about life and WHY He says it so when we come to making those decisions we will know what to say or do.
This realization can to me only a few days ago; I have always been dreaming about fighting a spiritual battle, I need to look around, I'm already in one. We need to open our eyes here, this isn't just our lifestyle, its our fight.
Ephesians 6:12 seems to be another one of those clichés in the church. That verse comes up over, and over and over again, and I must have heard it a zillion times as a little kid (Remember the plastic swords and shields, our "spiritual armor"?). But to be honest it never really came any further than dress-up time, and when I did start to read into it when I got a lil older all I could see was this mystical Lord Of The Rings sort of world where if we gave into temptation and put on the ring, scary black riders on horses would come and stab me to death that night... I don't know why my parents let me watch those movies... Well, I guess that’s a pretty good analogy for my 10-year-old-mind, however, I was still stuck in this mindset that "principalities" and "spiritual wickedness in high places" was something that I might never experience, I mean come on, how often do you get a chance like that to fight of demons in the spiritual realm? Right?
Wrong. Dead wrong. We are living in a state of being blind to the spiritual, every decision we make, every choice, every depression, every emotion. This is the spiritual, and I am pretty sure it looks absolutely nothing like Lord Of The Rings, there aren't magical rings, but there are everyday temptations (lust, cheating, lying) and there is only one way to combat them, with God's word. We are getting this so wrong guys, the spiritual world isn't all so "spiritual", there's a difference between the powers the Bible talks about and DOOM III, the war we are fighting is constant and its ultimately against ourselves (the "sin nature" or the "old man" that we give up when we accept Christ.) So when we are making a choice, like whether you are going to cheat on a math test, we are in a fight! Satan wants you to fall into that sin and bring you further from God, and God is trying to give you the strength it takes to do the right thing. It is you fighting "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" , and this is what the fight looks like.
So now that we've identified who we are fighting and what it looks like, what do we do to win? Ephesians 6:13 says that we are to put on the full armor of God. Basically this means to be able to 1) know the truth that when faced with lies you will be able to defeat them 2) be righteous, or stand up for what is right so that when people try to speak against you they will have nothing to say 3) be prepared to defend the gospel, hiding God's word in your heart so you will know whats right 4) and the Bible says that above all these, to have faith, faith that no matter where you are in your life God is always right by your side and you can only fight off the temptations and lifestyle of the world with His help 5) accept salvation, this obviously being the first step 6) finally, what do we use on the offence? The word of God. Over and over again we are told to hide God's words in our heart, and this is why. We can't LIVE for God if we don't KNOW God! We have to know what He says about life and WHY He says it so when we come to making those decisions we will know what to say or do.
This realization can to me only a few days ago; I have always been dreaming about fighting a spiritual battle, I need to look around, I'm already in one. We need to open our eyes here, this isn't just our lifestyle, its our fight.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Christian Music
Christian music. That term used to mean little more than either old guys with cowboy boots and no fashion sense--at all-- or hymns that sound like they just stepped out of the 1800's. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those, but would you honestly listen to that vs. Green Day? For me.... and most American's between the ages of 10 and 25 the answer is no. Well, thank God (no pun intended) that things have drastically changed in the past 30 or so years.
The term "Christian music" or "Gospel Music" now covers everything from worship to Christian Death Metal to Christian Punk. The main difference in the giant we call the Christian music industry is lyrics, instead of showcasing and glorifying teen angst, aggression and explicit sex, Christian music addresses these issues with the actual biblical answers. At least that’s the case in general, yes, this may surprise many, but there are a lot of Christian bands out there with a less-than-squeaky-clean message. This, however, is the exception, not the norm. All music (no matter WHAT record company is promoting it or who the members thank in the credits) needs to be approached with a standard or what you will and will not allow into your mind.
So here's the big question that it seems everyone is asking-- "What is the benefit of listening to Christian music?". Good question, and one that deserves an answer, however all I can offer is my opinion.
The idealistic answer would probably go something like this... "It will improve your spiritual life, and bring you closer to God." I won't bore you with the 17-digit number of how many times I've heard this answer, but first lets look at some definitions here,
"Christian music is music created by or adapted for the Christian Church. It also includes Contemporary Christian Music, in which the music explores Christian themes but is designed to be played in places other than churches (Wikipedia)".
"Worship music is a sub-genre of Christian Music that is commonly used to denote songs that are used to worship God and set in a choral music style, often with repeating, short, easily sung "chorus" parts. Originally termed praise music, then later praise and worship, worship music has become the more current phrase to refer to any music used by Christians as part of their devotional practices, whether in the confines of a local church, or elsewhere."(Wikipedia)
and finally, "Worship: reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred" (Dictionary.com).
So we just learned a few things, 1) There is a difference between Christian and Worship Music and 2) There is a difference between Worship music and actual Worship. Christian music explores themes of real life importance and generally is applied outside the church where Worship music is that Sunday-morning good stuff. Then there's actual worship, which in this definition says absolutely nothing about music. Worship, as it was meant to be is more than just reading the projection every Sunday between 9:30 and 9:45, wishing you were still at home in your PJ's watching those famously mind-numbing cartoons they play around this time. No, worship is actually active, its wrapping your whole being around this act of giving up everything on your mind and all your own problems and purely admiring God's faithfulness and compassion in your life. Can this be achieved on a 10 cent piece of plastic and instantly turned on and off with the push of a button? I know I step on toes as I say this, but I feel recording and selling worship music as entertainment is a mockery of its very essence. I don't mean to say that you cannot experience the Lord's presence with recorded Worship, but 90% of the time we are turning it on in our cars as passive background noise.
Christian music on the other hand can be so flexible, from getting us through the tough times with the actual messages to an energetically blasting party song. Its huge, and to dismiss it so quickly is crazy. Well, I've wanted to post this list for a looooong while, so here it is, it compares some popular secular artists with Christian alternatives, and I highly recommend checking some of them out;
Nickleback-Kutless, Day Of Fire, Seventh Day Slumber
Evanescence-Plumb, Gretchen, Flyleaf
Slipknot-Becoming The Archtype, Demon Hunter, Staple
Green Day-MxPx
Avril Lavigne-Krystal Meyers, ZOEgirl, Stacie Orrico, Flyleaf
Hawthorn Heights-Dead Poetic, Emery, As Cites Burn
Papa Roach-Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch,Pillar
Coldplay-Copeland, Waking Ashland, Cool Hand Luke
3 Doors Down-Lifehouse, Sanctus Real, Jonezetta
James Blunt-Damien Rice, Sufjan Stevens
Godsmack-Chevelle, Decyfer Down, East West
Three Days Grace-Red, The Classic Crime
My Chemical Romance-Kids In The Way, Subseven
Linkin Park-Project 86, Dead Poetic, POD
All American Rejects- Eleventyseven, New Found Glory, Stellar Kart
Nine Inch Nails-Skillet ("Hey You, I Love Your Soul" cd specially)
For info on these and many other bands please visit www.jesusfreakhideout.com
The term "Christian music" or "Gospel Music" now covers everything from worship to Christian Death Metal to Christian Punk. The main difference in the giant we call the Christian music industry is lyrics, instead of showcasing and glorifying teen angst, aggression and explicit sex, Christian music addresses these issues with the actual biblical answers. At least that’s the case in general, yes, this may surprise many, but there are a lot of Christian bands out there with a less-than-squeaky-clean message. This, however, is the exception, not the norm. All music (no matter WHAT record company is promoting it or who the members thank in the credits) needs to be approached with a standard or what you will and will not allow into your mind.
So here's the big question that it seems everyone is asking-- "What is the benefit of listening to Christian music?". Good question, and one that deserves an answer, however all I can offer is my opinion.
The idealistic answer would probably go something like this... "It will improve your spiritual life, and bring you closer to God." I won't bore you with the 17-digit number of how many times I've heard this answer, but first lets look at some definitions here,
"Christian music is music created by or adapted for the Christian Church. It also includes Contemporary Christian Music, in which the music explores Christian themes but is designed to be played in places other than churches (Wikipedia)".
"Worship music is a sub-genre of Christian Music that is commonly used to denote songs that are used to worship God and set in a choral music style, often with repeating, short, easily sung "chorus" parts. Originally termed praise music, then later praise and worship, worship music has become the more current phrase to refer to any music used by Christians as part of their devotional practices, whether in the confines of a local church, or elsewhere."(Wikipedia)
and finally, "Worship: reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred" (Dictionary.com).
So we just learned a few things, 1) There is a difference between Christian and Worship Music and 2) There is a difference between Worship music and actual Worship. Christian music explores themes of real life importance and generally is applied outside the church where Worship music is that Sunday-morning good stuff. Then there's actual worship, which in this definition says absolutely nothing about music. Worship, as it was meant to be is more than just reading the projection every Sunday between 9:30 and 9:45, wishing you were still at home in your PJ's watching those famously mind-numbing cartoons they play around this time. No, worship is actually active, its wrapping your whole being around this act of giving up everything on your mind and all your own problems and purely admiring God's faithfulness and compassion in your life. Can this be achieved on a 10 cent piece of plastic and instantly turned on and off with the push of a button? I know I step on toes as I say this, but I feel recording and selling worship music as entertainment is a mockery of its very essence. I don't mean to say that you cannot experience the Lord's presence with recorded Worship, but 90% of the time we are turning it on in our cars as passive background noise.
Christian music on the other hand can be so flexible, from getting us through the tough times with the actual messages to an energetically blasting party song. Its huge, and to dismiss it so quickly is crazy. Well, I've wanted to post this list for a looooong while, so here it is, it compares some popular secular artists with Christian alternatives, and I highly recommend checking some of them out;
Nickleback-Kutless, Day Of Fire, Seventh Day Slumber
Evanescence-Plumb, Gretchen, Flyleaf
Slipknot-Becoming The Archtype, Demon Hunter, Staple
Green Day-MxPx
Avril Lavigne-Krystal Meyers, ZOEgirl, Stacie Orrico, Flyleaf
Hawthorn Heights-Dead Poetic, Emery, As Cites Burn
Papa Roach-Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch,Pillar
Coldplay-Copeland, Waking Ashland, Cool Hand Luke
3 Doors Down-Lifehouse, Sanctus Real, Jonezetta
James Blunt-Damien Rice, Sufjan Stevens
Godsmack-Chevelle, Decyfer Down, East West
Three Days Grace-Red, The Classic Crime
My Chemical Romance-Kids In The Way, Subseven
Linkin Park-Project 86, Dead Poetic, POD
All American Rejects- Eleventyseven, New Found Glory, Stellar Kart
Nine Inch Nails-Skillet ("Hey You, I Love Your Soul" cd specially)
For info on these and many other bands please visit www.jesusfreakhideout.com
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