I am a dorky Christian, husband to my beautiful wife & best friend and father of three amazing children. In my spare time, I like to play guitar and coach little kids' baseball.
I use this website to log my random thoughts (which doesn't seem to be that frequent).
I am a designer, developer and web analyst for my company, Visual Notion.
Contact me if you need something.
1 John 2:3-6 is pretty convicting on the Talk-It-and-Walk-It front.
"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."
I just read the article, 'Rob Bell says he has no regrets over Love Wins'
I noticed how Rob Bell twists, "universalizes" and generalizes specific, absolutely-defined terms to say what better fits his personal, unbiblical theology. Making well-defined and established words to have vague all-encompassing definitions just shows you can't sidestep what you don't like so you have to redefine it.
It seems the "Americanized" church is devoid of two crucial characteristics:
Christians should be trained to follow Christ through leaders who are upright and excellent examples every day of the week. to be more like Him. A Bible Study buffet of "topics" doesn't constitute discipleship.
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
– 1 Peter 2:2-3
They are the next generation of leaders and not just "things" that should warrant a baby-sitter (aka programs that keep them from "bothering" adults) at all times.
Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
– Matthew 19:13-14
Men, notice the last portion of this verse (emphasis mine).
"Husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered." — 1 Peter 3:7 (ESV)
There are two reasons for this: 1) For her good and the good of your relationship, 2) so your spiritual growth isn't hindered.
Attempting to isolate God to a particular day of the week and specific areas of our lives only, leads to a pretty pathetic existence.
To only "allow" God access to us and our life shows not only do we not trust Him or follow Him, but we don't really want Him to follow us, either.
This just shows that we want to look good; to look pious at a given time that may suit our whims.
It is not at all Biblical. It is not piety. It is merely hypocrisy at it's finest.
I was thinking about adoption this morning. How, as Christians, those who acknowledge and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that we have been adopted by the Heavenly Father; that is, God.
The Bible spans approximately 4,000 years of human history and God's interaction with mankind. We have a written account of God's character which remains consistent from one book to another while being written from the perspective of 40 people that penned 66 books that make up the Bible as we have it today.
"4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba,[a] Father." 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." — Galatians 4:4-7 (NIV)
We have a Heavenly Father that has adopted us as sons and daughters through the final payment for our sins through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. We have a God that has taken the time, over thousands of years, to get through to mankind; to tell us that He wants a relationship with us.
Don't you think that a God pursuing you and making every effort to get through to you is worth responding to?
Please don't spend all your time waiting for God to "call your phone", so to speak. He already has. He's just waiting for you to respond.
If you just need to respond more often, read your Bible, pray and get involved in a local Bible-studying church.
Just respond.
It has always bugged me that the verse in Matthew 7:1 is often misquoted by people. Here's what it says: 1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
Then they conveniently ignore or purposefully leave out the context of verse one by leaving out verses 2-5 as they provide more insight and practicality:
Had a lot on my mind and couldn't get to sleep. These verses certainly put all of these various things into a more focused and properly prioritized perspective:
I gave the "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" speech to our oldest children this morning when they wanted to pick at their breakfast instead of eat it. (It's frosted mini shredded wheat. What's not to like?)
My proud speech: "Do you know what the most important meal of the day is? Breakfast. You need it to get you going in the morning and help you make it through the day. It will give you energy to run, play, and think. It is very important."
My wife and I got the kids ready and I dropped them off for school as is our priority most mornings. I knew I needed to read my Bible this morning and spend some time with God. In that still quiet voice that he used with Elijah on the mountain, He kept reminding me: "Spend some time with me."
Studying Jesus' words on hell and the parable of The Rich Man & Lazarus (the begger) has always been very telling about what hell is like. I've always found this parable to be fascinating especially as God showed me, over time, new things about this parable I hadn't noticed before.