"...no, i promise I didn't do it, it wasn't me, I swear, i cross my heart and hope to die..."
Hmm...does this sound familiar? It does to me, yeah I can see me pleading with my mom that I didn't do it, I can see me passing the blame to my brother Brad or Scott. The problem here is not the plead...the problem lies in the oath or the swear.
Ever since the day Satan brought trouble to the Garden of Eden, people like me and you have found ways to shift the blame off of ourselves and onto others. This is nothing new, from the moment sin entered this world until this very moment and onward until our Savior returns the blame will be passed. We will continue to try and make ourselves look good at the expense of others. You see this doesn't just happen to random people we do it in our own families.
Check this out...so Adam and Eve eat the apple right? They have done the one thing God told them not to do... You see sin entered this world through a bite, and we see immediately how strong the grasp of sin can be. Read this...Genesis 3:8-12
Did you see it? "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" There are two people in the garden, Adam and Eve, God asks a question, a very simple question, a question that only requires a one word answer. Yes. Adam replies with this beauty of an answer..."The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Well done Adam, way to throw Eve under the bus. Its a simple yes or no question, yet Adam new what had happened and he thought he better remind God who gave who the apple in the first place. You see Adam also makes it clear that he didn't choose Eve, no, God you put her here.
Jesus said, "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil."
Matthew 5:33-37
Its simple, make your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'...although we all know that sometimes we feel like we need to power up our yes and our no. We need to put a little oomph behind it, give it some real power and meaning. Have you ever heard the saying...Your word is your bond? It refers to the fact that what you say can be trusted. You see this is a two sided problem, we feel like we need to strengthen our yes and no because...
"Hey Nate will you please take out the trash...yes...are you sure?" Now does that sound familiar...replace names where needed. Apparently my yes was not trusted, the question asker needed a little reassurance that my yes was a yes. Here is the root of the problem, our yes has become a 'sure' or a 'maybe', and the same goes for our no. The trust on both sides has been weakened, we feel we have to over-emphasize our yes and no because we may have burned our bond; our word may not be trusted.
Lets leave it here today. Let us work hard on making our yes a yes and our no a no. Let us work on making our word our bond once again.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
...life
How precious is life? When we look out of a window or walk down the street do we see life as precious? What makes life so precious? Is life precious because its here and then its gone? Is it precious because of the details? Is life precious because God created every living thing? Is it precious because he put his heart and love in every one of us? Yes, God did create every living thing, he did create us in love and with love and yet, he sent his son to atone for our endless attempts to run away, to live our own lives, to do it our way, to believe what we wanted to believe, to live the way we want to live...and he died for us, he suffered for us...and for what? For forgiveness, for eternal life...because his love for us is stronger than our reject, its deeper than our sin...you see life is precious because life has meaning. Life has a reason, life is given, life taken, but all are promised life everlasting if we know Jesus, if we seek Jesus, if we know that our Redeemer lives. You see life is precious to me because of all these things and many more...
What boggles me is that the lose of life often makes us think of how precious life is...and this is the case for me today. Over the weekend I found out that a friend of mine passed away. I say friend and I mean friend, but I only spent a summer with this friend...and its amazing how much you can take away from a person in just 2 months. Matt was one of those guys that was selfless, he smiled a lot, he was funny, he had many friends, he was outgoing, he was creative and energetic. I was graced with the opportunity to work with Matt at Miquon, a day camp in Conshohocken, PA. What a wonderful adventure and summer that was, I was truly blessed to be there. Matt and I were bunk counselors and so I had time to see him at work, Matt was gifted indeed. He was in the perfect position for his character and personality. He was a camp favorite, and I will never forget his smile and his laugh.
So what troubles me is that I often see life as precious once it has been taken away. Now this is not an absolute, but I could have written about how precious life is a long time ago...and yet I did not. I think that the problem could be that this world sees life as precious once its gone, because if you don't know your Father in heaven and more importantly if you don't know his Son, death is the end. You see i don't write from absolutes here, just from my thoughts on this world.... Every day is a gift, its another day with the Lord...that in itself is precious. But as fast as this world moves, with schedules and meetings, with the grocery store and the gas station...we are moving so quickly we fly right by how precious this life is...but we remember when its gone. Life goes so fast, time speeds on by not worrying about what is left behind.
But fear not, for we have a redeemer who reigns forever...who walks by our side, who carries us when we are to weak to continue, who loved us so much he laid down his life for his friends...you see we have been given another chance over and over again. And not even death can over come it; No! death has been defeated...the stone was rolled away, we have a promise that we too will one day rise again just as Jesus Christ did...we will have life everlasting in paradise. Life is precious even unto death, death is the beginning of new life, no pain, no fear, no hurt, no hunger...we have a promise.
When I was reading through Matt's Facebook page I notice a division. Those who stated very clearly that they would see Matt again one day soon, and those who would never see him again. How sad. I can't imagine going through the death of a close friend or relative and believing I would never see them again. I don't know Matt's heart, I didn't have the chance to hear his thoughts on God. My hope is ever strong that he knew his Redeemer, that I will see Matt again very soon. But there are many who do not know their redeemer, some don't know his promises, some don't care about his promises...but Christ still died for every last one of them. That alone makes life so very precious.
What boggles me is that the lose of life often makes us think of how precious life is...and this is the case for me today. Over the weekend I found out that a friend of mine passed away. I say friend and I mean friend, but I only spent a summer with this friend...and its amazing how much you can take away from a person in just 2 months. Matt was one of those guys that was selfless, he smiled a lot, he was funny, he had many friends, he was outgoing, he was creative and energetic. I was graced with the opportunity to work with Matt at Miquon, a day camp in Conshohocken, PA. What a wonderful adventure and summer that was, I was truly blessed to be there. Matt and I were bunk counselors and so I had time to see him at work, Matt was gifted indeed. He was in the perfect position for his character and personality. He was a camp favorite, and I will never forget his smile and his laugh.
So what troubles me is that I often see life as precious once it has been taken away. Now this is not an absolute, but I could have written about how precious life is a long time ago...and yet I did not. I think that the problem could be that this world sees life as precious once its gone, because if you don't know your Father in heaven and more importantly if you don't know his Son, death is the end. You see i don't write from absolutes here, just from my thoughts on this world.... Every day is a gift, its another day with the Lord...that in itself is precious. But as fast as this world moves, with schedules and meetings, with the grocery store and the gas station...we are moving so quickly we fly right by how precious this life is...but we remember when its gone. Life goes so fast, time speeds on by not worrying about what is left behind.
But fear not, for we have a redeemer who reigns forever...who walks by our side, who carries us when we are to weak to continue, who loved us so much he laid down his life for his friends...you see we have been given another chance over and over again. And not even death can over come it; No! death has been defeated...the stone was rolled away, we have a promise that we too will one day rise again just as Jesus Christ did...we will have life everlasting in paradise. Life is precious even unto death, death is the beginning of new life, no pain, no fear, no hurt, no hunger...we have a promise.
When I was reading through Matt's Facebook page I notice a division. Those who stated very clearly that they would see Matt again one day soon, and those who would never see him again. How sad. I can't imagine going through the death of a close friend or relative and believing I would never see them again. I don't know Matt's heart, I didn't have the chance to hear his thoughts on God. My hope is ever strong that he knew his Redeemer, that I will see Matt again very soon. But there are many who do not know their redeemer, some don't know his promises, some don't care about his promises...but Christ still died for every last one of them. That alone makes life so very precious.
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