This week has been a struggle for me mentally and emotionally. This past Sunday I stood in front of the congregation of Smith Street Baptist Church and asked my girlfriend to become my wife, and she actually said yes! Now, this struggle is in no way related to me popping the question so let me make that clear ( before I get in trouble). But life tends to get you down and out sometimes and you start to think yourself into a depression of sorts. This is happens to a lot of us I would say, and it's definitely no fun. But I was reminded this week exactly how good God is in a number of ways.
God has given me a beautiful fiancé. This woman is so kindhearted and selfless, always putting others before herself, sometimes even to a fault. She holds me accountable to the work I'm doing for the Lord, which I truly appreciate. She always respects my decisions and is a true biblical helpmate. But above all, she loves the Lord, more than she loves me. All these things that God has provided for me through my future wife are so abundantly good, that I should never complain about the trivial things that I go through.
I was also reminded of God's goodness through a student of mine in the 4Twelve Student ministry. This week this student sent me a text with a picture on it. The picture was of a paper for school that she had to read. The title of the paper was "Why God does not Exist". This student was a little upset, feeling that her teacher was unfairly teaching the students there that there is no God. Her assignment was to write a response to this paper. We both later found out that the teacher is a firm believer in Christ, and was trying to get the students to tap into their passionate side of writing, and it worked! I was given the opportunity to read my student's response to that paper, and it is simply amazing. In the paper, she explains exactly how good God has been to her, how no one can ever take that away, and how her faith will never be shaken because God is her rock and salvation. Reading the paper brought tears to my eyes because it reminded me how blessed I really am to have students like this in my ministry.
This week's post isn't 5 steps to accomplish this, or the top three ways of doing that. But, it's a post that I want to remind you of exactly how blessed we are, regardless of our situation. Because no matter the circumstance, we have a God that loves us and sent his son to die for our sins, the things WE have done, Even if I wasn't blessed with a great job, or an amazing fiancé, or great students, I still have reason to celebrate because of what Jesus did for me and for you. So when life gets you down this week, keep in mind just how blessed we really are! See you next time!
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Thursday, August 13, 2015
3 Things in Life Christians Should Never Take Chances With
Life is full of ups and downs, certainty and uncertainty, and encouragements and disappointments. Along the road we tend to take chances on a few things, some of which we really should've put a bit more thought in to before making the decision that we made. It's true that we must take chances on some things in life, but we need to be careful what we actually gamble on.
1) Dating
From my own personal experience, I remember in high school I had no particular reason to date a certain girl. The only requirement I had for a girl to date me was to be pretty. Looking back I see now that this was extremely shallow of me. If I could go back and tell my former self some things about dating, I would tell myself to date with a purpose in mind, which is to get married. Now I probably just made some of you parents nervous, and you may be thinking that you don't want your child thinking about marriage in high school, but hear me out. I could've saved myself so much heartache and pain if I would have dated with a purpose of finding the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I would've asked the hard questions sooner. If I would have known exactly what I was looking for, I wouldn't have wasted my time as much as I did either. The Bible tells us what a godly woman looks like in proverbs. If I would have dated with that purpose in mind, I would have never settled for anything less. So don't take a chance when it comes to finding your future husband or wife.
2) Your Children
I'm not talking about letting them ride in the car without a seat belt, although you shouldn't take a chance with that either. I'm talking about your children's spiritual journey. Many people make the mistake of allowing a majority of their kids discipleship to take place in church. Discipleship in the church is a great thing, but the parents should be doing the majority of this. You are your child's very first role model, and the first people they look to for guidance. Their walk with Christ is the single most important thing in their lives, so why do we take the chance of letting other people take the lead on this? Don't gamble away the chance to disciple your kids.
3) Your Friends and Family
I believe that we often assume that our friends and family have put their faith and trust in Jesus because they go to church. This is a HUGE gamble. This is putting someone's eternity on a guess. This is something that we need to be sure of. After all, these people are the most important people in our lives, the ones that we do life with every single day. We need to have those hard conversations with them, and be sure that they know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
These gambles are scary and dangerous, but they're all avoidable and correctable. I pray this week that each of us grow closer daily to Jesus, and that other people see His love and grace through us. God bless you all!
1) Dating
From my own personal experience, I remember in high school I had no particular reason to date a certain girl. The only requirement I had for a girl to date me was to be pretty. Looking back I see now that this was extremely shallow of me. If I could go back and tell my former self some things about dating, I would tell myself to date with a purpose in mind, which is to get married. Now I probably just made some of you parents nervous, and you may be thinking that you don't want your child thinking about marriage in high school, but hear me out. I could've saved myself so much heartache and pain if I would have dated with a purpose of finding the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I would've asked the hard questions sooner. If I would have known exactly what I was looking for, I wouldn't have wasted my time as much as I did either. The Bible tells us what a godly woman looks like in proverbs. If I would have dated with that purpose in mind, I would have never settled for anything less. So don't take a chance when it comes to finding your future husband or wife.
2) Your Children
I'm not talking about letting them ride in the car without a seat belt, although you shouldn't take a chance with that either. I'm talking about your children's spiritual journey. Many people make the mistake of allowing a majority of their kids discipleship to take place in church. Discipleship in the church is a great thing, but the parents should be doing the majority of this. You are your child's very first role model, and the first people they look to for guidance. Their walk with Christ is the single most important thing in their lives, so why do we take the chance of letting other people take the lead on this? Don't gamble away the chance to disciple your kids.
3) Your Friends and Family
I believe that we often assume that our friends and family have put their faith and trust in Jesus because they go to church. This is a HUGE gamble. This is putting someone's eternity on a guess. This is something that we need to be sure of. After all, these people are the most important people in our lives, the ones that we do life with every single day. We need to have those hard conversations with them, and be sure that they know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
These gambles are scary and dangerous, but they're all avoidable and correctable. I pray this week that each of us grow closer daily to Jesus, and that other people see His love and grace through us. God bless you all!
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