Temptation & Value

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. -Hebrews 12:2

Through Jesus' life he faced as much temptation as we face and conquered it, now he was fully God and fully man, which is naturally difficult to understand, all the same Jesus faced the temptations that we face. In the wilderness Jesus by the prospect of power, influence, money, and worldly love. Things that as humans we are naturally tempted by, but what inherent value do all those things have? None. Money only has the value that we give. Its just a piece of paper. No value whatsoever. So, then how do we see ourselves as valuable. 
It's simple really. 
In the beginning God created us in his image, the image of love, and then to even sweeter the pot even more he came and lived among us and then willingly submitted himself to worst death anyone could face in that time. That is where we find our value. God gives us value by love and grace and truth. There is nothing the world can provide that will come even close to comparing with that kind of value.  
So, i guess ill end with the same way I began with this post. 

"Fix your eyes on Jesus." 

Cause that is where true value in yourself is found. 

 




Defining Moment

I love Easter Weekend. I really really do because I feel so inspired to be a child of the king! As I went to church tonight and listened to the songs and what our pastors said I was really overwhelmed by what God taught me tonight.
"Are we defined by sin or grace?"
God saw the brokenness and suffering of his people and….Easter happened. It is not just mere happenstance, there is a purpose for Easter. Because of Easter everything has changed. Everyday is a new day, our old selves are no more and we transform into our new selves, the things we did before dont fit with what we do now, we have nothing to fear, no failure or any amount of mistakes can take away what Easter does for us. It defines us for who we are…grace.
Do you realize how significant this really is? God changed everything with this one defining moment. This is so big that we dont even have to fear death anymore because Jesus conquered it! My Savior took my sins and placed them on his shoulders and willingly got crucified and died so that I may be forgiven and set right in the sight of God. It is by his grace that we are given this. Nothing else. Everything changed.
In One Defining Moment.

The Day After

I was wondering today what it would have been like to have been a disciple of Jesus the day after he was crucified….you know, like to have known this amazing being and seen the amazing things that he did and felt the true love of God in your being everyday and then he's gone just like that.
Wow, what that must have been like really speaks to my heart today. I just wonder, and i feel much closer to the disciples, because they lost a friend or so they thought. Here's to tomorrow when the SON SHALL RISE

The Second Greatest News-but still pretty flippin sweet!

Ok, so normally I use a bible verse and share with you my thoughts, but today I feel the need to blog about the second greatest news that you ever hear. Of course we know what the greatest news that you will ever is, Jesus died for us while we were still sinners, but the second greatest news is…..man…..awesome.
So, Christians believe in God because he is all-knowing, loving, forgiving….did I mention loving? and many other reasons to I would assume, but we believe in God but what about God? Does he believe in us?
YES!! HE DOES!!!
GOD BELIEVES IN YOU!!!
Yes, it sounds like there should be more to it but their isn't, that's it. Just think for a minute about all the stupid stuff that we do to sabotage us from experiencing the overwhelming love and grace of Christ, Think about the thousands of people that have lost their jobs here recently, think about anytime you have felt alone and had no clue what to do. God doesn't see us as His children that constantly make mistakes. He thinks and sees us His children whom He Loves and Believes in, and there is no amount of stupid crap that we could do in our lives that will change that.
Now, that is an exciting thought for Holy Thursday now isnt it!? So, no matter what you have been going through recently or what has even happened today that may have brought you down DONT FORGET THAT GOD ALWAYS LOVES YOU AND BELIEVES IN YOU!!!
Be Love.

Saints

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,  "To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers[a] and deacons."
Philippians 1:1
I mean let's be honest when you look at yourself or even people in the community of faith do you think saints? So, this begs the question do we really know what we are capable of? or who we are?
In God's eyes we are a lot of things that we dont see that we are, but God sees us as those things. Saints is just one of the many things that God wants to do with our lives. He sees us as his children whom he loves so much that he would die for us, and he believes in us as the people that help bring the kingdom of God to earth, i mean that's the point isnt it. To make life better.
God is so beyond our own "rational understanding." I mean he is three in one, that just doesnt make sense, and neither does calling us saints.
No one ever said that being a child of God would make sense all the time. A lot of the time its not going to make sense because God is so beyond us, but its the truth. Even though at times it doesnt make a lick of sense.
God made us His voice, and asked us to be faithful and loving in response to His gracious gift of love and faithfulness in us.
God believes in His voice.