Gay Marriage....What does God Want?

First let me start off by saying that by no means am I scholar or an all knowing Guru of the bible. I do, however, feel like I know a thing or two about Jesus and about Love so I want to share my thoughts on the most recent hate filled topic taking over FB - Gay Marriage

Here are some facts I would like to share: 

• We are ALL sinners - That's why God sent his son to die for us so that we could be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life in heaven 

• In Revelation, when talking about those who are destined for hell, there is no order of importance. In other words, liars receive the same punishment as murderers. Add in the cowardly, the unbelievers, the vile, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and the sexually immoral and you have a full list of sinners that are all equal in God's eyes

• The Bible is full of laws - most of them are made by man with the purpose of 'walking a straight line' and following God. But we tend to get so focused on these 'rules' that we lose sight of the most important message Jesus tried to teach us....."Teacher, which command in the law is most important?" Jesus answered "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and MOST IMPORTANT command. And the second command is like the first. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the law and all the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands" ~ Matthew 22:36-40

Alright, it's Pop Quiz time! I would like to you to openly and honestly answer the following questions: 

1. Did you have sex before marriage? 
2. Have you had sex with more than one person? 
3. Have you divorced someone who didn't cheat on you? 
4. Have you married someone who has been divorced? 
5. Have you ever lusted for someone secretly? 
6. Have you ever watched a movie where there was nudity or sex? 
7. Have you ever cheated on your spouse? Either physically or in your mind/daydreams? 

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, congratulations! You qualify as sexually immoral according to scripture! 

Ok, ok.... I'll shut down the sarcasm now but I hope I've made my point. All of you finger pointers and hate spreaders need to look at what you're doing. Are you glorifying God with your hate filled comments? Are your actions in line with loving God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul? Are you loving your neighbor as yourself? Or are you too busy pointing out the speck in someone else's eye that you fail to see the plank of wood in your own eye?

           

               

Please don't misunderstand me - this is not a contest or a debate of "Well, atleast I didn't do _____!" It's about awareness and focus around Jesus. It's about creating an environment of love and for those of us who are followers of Christ, and it's about leading others to Him thru our actions.

In Phillipians there is a verse that is written around 'following the rules'. It really stuck with me and I would like to end this blog entry having each of you think about the words that are said here - especially the last sentence. It's not about being 'for or against' gay marriage. It's about being for Jesus - it's about loving each other. It's about living your life for HIM going forward and thanking Him daily that no matter how we've sinned, He will always forgive us if we place our faith and trust in Him.

"Those things were important to me (rules/laws), but now I think they are worth nothing because of Christ. Not only those things, but I think that all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ. Because of Him, I have lost all those things and now I know they are worthless trash. Now I am right with God, not because I followed the law, but because I believed in Christ." 

I Can Talk 'til I'm Blue in the Face...

What does this phrase mean? "I can talk 'til I'm blue in the face" 

Definition: If you say something until you are blue in the face, it means you keep saying the same thing over and over again but no one listens to you 

We've all heard it before - Maybe you've said it about your kids, maybe it's someone at work that you've been trying to communicate with, or maybe it's a phrase you've used with a stubborn family member. It wasn't until this week though that I realized Jesus may have also used that phrase too (maybe not in those exact words of course). 

In Mark 9:19 Jesus says "You people have no faith! How long must I stay with you? How long must I put up with you?" = He talked until He was blue in the face. 

I've been reading my bible these past few weeks and one of the things I keep seeing over and over again is:

"Let those with ears hear"

"Every person who has ears should listen"

So I've asked myself 'What does that mean?'. Why would this verse be mentioned so many times? I mean, it seems pretty obvious that if you have ears you are going to listen - Right?? Well....not really. 

I mean, think about it. How many times have you been having a conversation with someone and then afterwards they ask you a question and you're like "I'm sorry, what?" You HEARD them, but you weren't really listening. Do you think we hear Jesus but we don't really listen? How many times has He been with us but we haven't paid attention? How many opportunities have there been to let Him in our lives but we didn't "hear" Him?

Another verse from Mark says "They did not understand about the miracle of the five loaves because their minds were closed" Ahhhh, ok - It's starting to make more sense now. How can you hear if you don't WANT to hear? But wait, there's more! It also says "Let those with ears use them and listen! Think carefully about what you hear. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you, but God will give you even more. Those who have understanding will be given more. But those who do not have understanding, even what they have will be taken away from them" 

Jesus used stories to give people messages. He told story after story but many people did not want to hear them. Listening and actually HEARING what He says are two different things. This verse describes how Jesus felt after talking until He was blue in the face:

"They will look, but they will not learn. They will listen and listen but they will not understand. If they did learn and understand, they would come back to me and be forgiven" ~ Isaiah 6:9-10

Are you starting to get it now? He's giving us a warning AND an opportunity at the same time. He's saying "Look, if you have ears to hear then use them to listen to me and be saved!"One of the stories in Mark perfectly describes how we are and what we do with God's word. It goes a little something like this:

A farmer goes out to plant seeds. While he was planting, some seeds fell by the road and the birds came and ate them up. Some seed also fell on the rocky ground where there wasn't much dirt. That seed grew very fast because the ground was not deep but when the sun rose the plants dried up because they did not have deep roots. Some other seeds fell among thorny weeds which grew and choked the good plants out so those seeds did not produce a crop. Other seeds feel on good ground and began to grow. They got taller and produced a crop. Those plants made thirty times more, some made sixty times more, and some made a hundred times more"

Ummmm....ok?? So a farmer dropped some seeds and some of them grew and some of them didn't grow. Gee, thanks for the story Jesus.

But what happens if we listen to the story with different ears? 

• The farmer is like a person who plants God's message in people 

•  Sometimes the teaching falls on the road. This is like the people who hear the teaching of God but Satan quickly comes and takes away what was planted in them

• Others are like the seed planted on rocky ground. They hear the teaching and quickly accept it with joy. But since they don't allow the teaching to go deep into their lives, they keep it only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes, they quickly give up

• Others are like the seed planted among thorny weeds. They hear the teaching but the worries of this life, the temptation of wealth, and many other evil desires keep the teaching from growing and producing fruit in their lives

• Others are like the seed planted on the good ground. They HEAR the teaching and accept it/apply it. Then they grow and produce fruit - sometimes up to 100x's more 

I get it now - I need to do more than just listen. I need to HEAR, maybe even with different ears. I need to be WILLING to let Jesus into my life and then I need to accept what He's saying and apply it.

"Ask and God will give to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open for you. Yes, everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And everyone who knocks will have the door opened"

Are you searching? Are you seeking? If you're not, today is a perfect day to start. Let everyone who has ears listen - That's you :)

I hear you Jesus, all the way down in my heart...

Nothing a little Duct Tape won't fix....right??

Have you ever heard the saying "Trying to fit a square peg into a round hole"?

Or perhaps you're more familiar with the more "southern" way of doing things which is "Don't worry...it's nothing a little duct tape won't fix!" (said of course in a confident redneck voice, lol).

You might have seen that philosophy before in the form of something like this.....

                

                                                 
                         

Whichever one of these is your preference, it basically means you're trying to force something to be what you want it to be - You're trying to force it to be "perfect" and even though it's far from perfect you accept it by saying "It's good enough". 

How many of you do that in your lives? With your jobs, your girlfriend/boyfriend, with your friends, etc.? How many of you throw some duct tape on it or spend years trying to fit a square peg into a round hole?  

The bible says "Every good and perfect gift is from above". Every good and PERFECT gift is from above. It doesn't say anything about mediocre gifs or things that will simply just 'do'. 

God makes promises to us about our lives - He says: 

"For I know the plans I have for you - Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future" - Jeremiah 29:11

"But all those who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear or harm" - Proverbs 1:33

My challenge for you today is to look at your life and ask yourself if you are receiving God's gifts and following HIS plan or are you duct taping things together to make them work? One way to help answer that question is by asking yourself "Am I glorifying God in my current situation?" Or another way to put it would be "Am I thanking God in all aspects of my circumstances?"

Please don't misunderstand me. God did not promise a perfect life - And having been married for 15 years trust me when I say there's a reason they put in the "for better or for worse" clause in your wedding vows, lol.

What I'm trying to say is that if you are in a situation that you feel deep down is not what God's plan is for you but you are continuously ignoring the warning signs then it might be time to make some changes. After all, duct tape can't fix EVERYTHING. For some things you need nails and a cross..

"Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him and He will set your path straight" ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

Desperation & Salvation

"The problem is that the situation is desperate but we are not" 

des·per·ate  /ˈdespərit/

Adjective Feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with.

Think back to a time in your life where a situation came up at home, with your kids, or at work. Maybe it started out manageable but slowing increased to the stage of urgency. The phrase "desperate times call for desperate measures" means something different to each of us. Maybe you've had to pawn something meaningful just to eat or pay rent. Maybe you've been off work for so long that you had to take a horrible job just to make ends meet. Maybe that fight with your teenager quickly escalated from being grounded to taking away everything they owned to make them understand you mean business. Whatever the case, I can assure you that you went thru a number of steps before you hit the 'desperate stage'. By the time you were there though you didn't care what you had to do...you just knew you needed to do it. At some point in your life your response to a situation has been "I'll do anything!!!" which is true desperation. 

Tony Robbins said "In life you either need inspiration or desperation." What an incredibly true statement. In either case, it's something that gets you going. Something that causes you to listen more intently and take action. In life I can see where God has tried to inspire us with all the wonderful things that he has to offer. I'm sad to say though that due to a lack of action on our part, I truly believe He has hit his 'desperate stage' with us. At this point, He's doing whatever He needs to do to get our attention. There is so much hate, lack of faith, and evil in this world. We ignore the inspiration and become jaded to things around us, accepting terrible circumstances as if they were normal. In many cases we walk around with this sense of entitlement like life is supposed to be easy no matter what.  All you have to do is turn on the news or go out in public and it's there - Hitting you in the face like a ton of bricks.  Did you know that..... There are over 15,000 murders in the US each year - That's an average of 41 murders a day Over 85,000 people are raped in the US each year - That means 232 people A DAY 8.7 MILLION people are robbed each year - many cases involving assault  17.2 million households (that's 1 out of 7 families) are without food in the US  46.9 million people live in poverty in the US  But it doesn't stop there..... In 2011 it was reported that there were a record number of tornadoes, floods, rampant earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis One source reports that natural disasters have gone up more than 400% in the past two decades  A reporter for Geologic and Earth Changes Newsletter says "Our top scientists seem to be at a complete loss to explain what's happening. It just seems like there is one disaster or emergency right after another" STORY TIME...

Let's say you and your friend are sitting on a park bench together and in the distance you see a remote control plane flying in the air. You turn to your friend and say "Hey, look at that plane" but they ignore you. A few minutes later you notice it's flying a little lower and a little closer so you nudge your friend this time and say "Hey, we might want to move - that plane is getting a little too close for comfort" but they ignore you. Not long after you have warned your friend, you hear the roaring engine of a 3 foot metal remote control plane coming right at both of you. What do you do? Do you use your calmest voice to warn your friend again or do you scream "WATCH OUT!" and push your friend to safety on the ground? If you love them, you will scream and push :)  My point is, when someone you love is at risk of being hurt, you do whatever you can to save them even if it means taking desperate measures to do so.  Bible Time..... God wants each and every one of us to be saved. To do that, he will use you and your circumstances to help others. Know this though - God will not use you unless you are open and available to being used. "It is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick. Go and learn what this means; I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices. I did not come to invite the good people, but to invite the sinners" ~ Matthew If you don't know God, invite him into your life today. "Ask and God will give to you. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be open for you. Yes, everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And everyone who knocks will have the door opened" ~ Matthew  Teacher, which command in the law is the most important?  Jesus answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and most important command. And the second command is love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and all the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands"  So are you inspired or are you desperate? Hopefully you're a little of both.  Don't waste another day missing out on what God is trying to do in your life. And don't be the person on the day the Lord returns falling to your knees crying and saying "I'll do anything if you save me NOW!" By then it will be too late and He will say "Go away from me, for I do not know you" "The problem is that the situation is desperate.....and so are we" Lord, help us to see you in everything around us. Help us to open our hearts and minds to you so you can guide us. Lord, we are desperate for you - Please show us the way.