What do you value?

In Matthew 15:17-20 Jesus said,

"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"

When Pharisees asked Jesus about why He was letting His disciples eat without washing their hands, He responded with this. Jesus looked at the Pharisees and told them that nothing of this earth that God made could make them unclean. Things that are eaten pass through the body. But what does make a man unclean are his sins. The heart is the source of all of these sins because it is the source of our emotions and desires. All people have different desires depending on what is around them and what they are focused on. An example is that two people could be in a mall. One sees all the stores and wants to buy something, the other sees the food court and wants to go buy food. Someone who's very wealthy might want to remodel their pool. A poor child might just want to taste a piece of candy. We all desire different things at different times. The heart causes these desires. Are all desires good or bad? Well, it depends on what it is your heart is focused on. Matthew 6:21 says,

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Meaning, the things on which you place value, are the things you're going to desire. Jesus makes it clear that man's heart lies in this world. Wrong thoughts, lust, anger, lying, cheating, stealing, hurtful words; these are all the modern day terms for what Jesus listed in the verses above. Our sins come from our hearts, and they come from our hearts because we put our hearts in the wrong places by finding value in the world. What is the solution to this? It's to place our value in Jesus. To surround ourselves with Him and make Him our treasure. But the thing I struggle with is how to know whether or not I have put my heart in Him or not. 1John 3:19,20 shows me this.

This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.

So what does this mean? It means that we know that we have put our hearts in Jesus because of the condemning guilt we feel when we sin. When you are thirsty, you know you are thirsty because your body tells you with your dry tongue. So what happens when you throw a bunch of salt in your mouth? Your body yells at you and you feel really uncomfortable and in pain. In the same way, when we put more value in Jesus we desire more of Him. If we go and sin, then we are growing further away from Him, and our hearts condemn us because it wants more of Him. God is greater than our hearts. This means that He is stronger than the earthly desires that plague us and He takes over our hearts. I said in a post a while back that God does not share room with our sins. He either leaves, or kicks out the sin. What He does, depends on what we're willing to let Him do with our hearts. If we choose to stay comfy, then He'll leave us be with our sins. But if we truly pick Him and make Him what matters, He takes over. When that happens, He overpowers us and no matter what our body or emotions try to say, He makes us choose Him more and more. But this isn't a complete 100% change in our desires. We still find ourselves picking the world over Him from time to time. So what does that mean? It means that in those moments, we're not choosing God, and we're making other things more important. In short, we're sinning. This is where His Grace and forgiveness are needed. Because we are incapable of not choosing God 100% of the time by giving Him every second of every day of our lives, we need forgiveness. That is why Lord Jesus came down to die for us. To take away our sins, and to bring us closer to God, by taking up residence in our hearts. Because of this, we are able to feel His Holy Spirit move in a us and bring us closer to Him, and further away from this world.

I have personally found that the closer I get to God and the more value I put in Him, the more guilt I feel and the more sins I become aware of. It is a curse because of how much sin I feel bearing down on my shoulders, but at the same time it's even more of a blessing because of how much more free I feel when the weight is taken off by His Grace. In short: The things we value are the things we put our hearts in. The things we put our hearts in are the things we end up desiring. And the things things we desire determine how we act. So, again I'll ask what God asked me, "What do you value?"

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Complaints OR Peace?

Exodus 15:22-25

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is call Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

The context of this section of Scripture is very important. The Israelites just came from the Red Sea that had been parted by the power of God so that the Israelites could cross it. Just before that, the Israelites had seen God send plague after plague on Egypt so that Pharaoh would let the Israelites go. All of this had just happened a couple chapters before this. Then the moment the Israelites get thirsty they complain and grumble against Moses and God. How ungrateful were they? That's the question I asked when I read this. But I soon found a better question to ask myself, "How ungrateful am I?"

Like the Israelites, God has performed miracles for us and has saved us from our sins forever. He also continually blesses us each day. Yet, when we find something wrong, what do we do? We complain, either internally or vocally, about what went wrong. Ever order some food at a restaurant and when it finally gets to you it was put together poorly or it was done wrong? What did you do when that happened. Odds are you complained about what was wrong and forgot about the fact that you are blessed enough to go to a restaurant and order anything at all. I've done this and I know I'm not alone. But what happens when these little complaints happen again and again? As we complain, about more and more things, we see more and more things to complain about. We continually add on until we are complaining about every little thing that doesn't exactly the way we want it to. Soon we become obsessed and start doing everything we can to make life go the way we want it to. We start storing up for ourselves on earth and making earthly things our purpose. Eventually, we forget all about the word "blessing" and only know the word "mine." This sounds like a long and lengthy process that takes time to take control of our lives, especially the way it's written. It's not at all a lengthy process. It's a quick and destructive one. It took 3 days of this past week for me to prove that. It started with a lost book, then a broken ring, then I couldn't get any of the food I wanted, then I had to miss out on being with some friends, and so on until I was at the point I described above. I quickly became selfish. That's the scary thing about this, it's easy to forget the good and to focus on the bad. It's natural to do that. So how do we make complaining unnatural?

The true answer is peace. You obtain peace through 2 changes of thought. 1st, you acknowledge that God is the Great Provider. Not just that he provides, but that He is the Provider. When you acknowledge this, you see that you have no control over anything and that it is God who gives you what you have. 2nd, is to be thankful for what God has given you. If you spend time being thankful for what He gives, you focus less on what you don't have and what doesn't go your way. These give you peace because you realize that none of the things you have are in your control. You can let go and let God do what He wants. And if you remember that He is Love and what He has done for you already, mainly Jesus Christ's Loving sacrifice on the cross, then you can see that His will for you is the best thing for you. This peace finally brings you contentment. You are able to truly "go with the flow." You see that God is in control of what you have in this world and are able to live with an open hand. You are able to stay true to God in any situation, whether you end up homeless or a billionaire. You trust God control and Judgement. Now I'm saying it's wrong to want something, but you need to have the right motives behind wanting it. If it is for yourself to serve yourself for your own pleasure, odds say that you probably won't get it. But if you see the way something can serve others, serve God, and/or further God's Kingdom and ask for that reason, God will provide for that service. It doesn't always mean you doing it, but as far as the act of service itself, God's will is done as He sees fit.

The thing about obtaining this peace and contentment is that it is what's hard to do. It goes against our nature of "mine." But it's worth the struggle to reach it. You find you worry less, you get less angry and frustrated, you feel closer to God, and you see things more positively. You pray differently, and you see just how good He is. Reaching this point is a struggle, but a worthwhile one. The ability to see just how blesses you are by God is enough, in fact, it's a whole new thing to be thankful for.

We are like the Israelites more than we think. But we need to do our best to change that. Not just for our future, but because of what God did in the past. He died for us with the pain of all sin weighing on Him. Who are we that we should be complaining about a sandwich that has mustard instead of mayonnaise? If that sounds silly to you, look at what you complain about. I did, and I stopped laughing pretty quickly. Start the change right now. Look around you and you will be able to find at least 10 things to be thankful for. If anything, you'll find more. It changes everything.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Thorn

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses; so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul said a mouthful. Paul had been boasting about all the things he had helped accomplish, but he received a "thorn of the flesh" that stopped his boasting. It is not known for sure what kind of affliction it was, whether his eyes or his writing hand, but it impaired him and caused him suffering. First off he mentions that the thorn was a messenger from Satan. All forms of temptation and suffering are from him. Does God allow these things to happen? Yes. And always for His greater purposes. Just like with Paul's. Paul was hurting and suffering from this thorn and pleaded with God 3 times for relief from the thorn. But God said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." God gave a straight answer to Paul about his thorn. God told him, yes of course you are suffering, you have a weak mortal body and you live in a sinful world. You are weak, you will suffer this thorn and you can expect to suffer through more in the future. But, because you are weak, I have given you the power of my grace that is made perfect in you. We are weak. We are made of flesh and bone. We let ourselves get comfortable and forget that. I keep forgetting that. And like Paul, I am reminded of my weakness through my thorns, mainly my crohn's disease. And when I am afflicted, I am able to remember that I have a God who is stronger than my thorn. I have His grace that promises me a brand new life away from thorns and pain. And I remember than until the time when the pain stops, I have a God who is willing to put His powerful grace in me for His works. And this is what Paul realized when he heard God's answer to his pleas. Paul said that after hearing God say this, he boasted all the more gladly about his weaknesses. And he took delight in weaknesses and insults and hardships and persecutions and difficulties. All these things remind us of God's power and why we rely on Him: Because we are weak, and cannot do anything on our own. Paul used this to spread the Gospel and encourage his fellow believers. Can great works and wonderful achievements spread the Gospel, yes. But when a believer hears that it's okay to be weak, then the burden to be strong and carry the world on their shoulders is gone. They realize, they were never meant to carry the world, they were meant to live in it as their weak self and point out that it is God carrying them and the world.

Paul ended by saying "For when I am weak, then I am strong." We forget how weak we are until Satan reminds us with a thorn. But when we have received the thorn, we have a choice of what to do with it. We can moan and complain about it until it goes away, or we can let it teach us a lesson and remind us that God is more powerful than our problems. We can use it to show the world that we don't care what kind of suffering we receive and that we don't have time to complain on earth. We can show the world that we are living for more than the time when we feel better on earth. We live for the time when we get to feel better forever.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Words of Comfort

John 14:1-4

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

This passage is appropriately titled "Jesus Comforts His Disciples." Jesus is speaking to the disciples on the night he is going to be arrested and taken from them. He then speaks words of comfort to the disciples. He opens by telling them to not let their hearts be troubled. No by his leaving or what else is to come. In the same way let us not let our hearts be troubled by this world or what plagues us. We have been freed from our sins by His sacrifice. So let us do what He says and trust in Him and the Father. Because it is by His choice that we are saved or not. Can God choose to not forgive us for our sins and cast us out? Yes He most certainly can. And that is why we fear Him. But we do not have to worry about that because He has shown us all throughout the Bible that He is a Loving and Compassionate God. So He asks us to trust in Him and the Father who sent Him. Because He has saved us from our sins. And now He is preparing a place for us in His Father's house. If He were not, He already would have told us so. But He did not say that. Instead, Jesus told us that He was preparing a place for us so that He could come back for us and save us. He is going to come and take each of us at one point or another from this world and bring us with Him to Heaven. So we have no reason to doubt. I have struggled with my doubts many times before as a follower. At one point I almost left Christianity to join myself with the world on the basis that God just could not forgive me. But He told me, and now continues to tell me, that no matter what I've done to hurt Him and what sins I have committed, He already died on the cross and forgave me for it all. So now I can take comfort in His words in this passage and many others throughout the Bible that I am free. And with this freedom and can worship Him freely. Not to pay Him back for what He has done for me, that is impossible. But just to live for Him out of gratitude and thanks for what He has done for me, and so that the world may know what He has done for me.

Jesus ends by saying, "You know the way to the place where I am going." ... "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him." To know a part of God, is to know all of God. To know God is to be with Him forever. Such encouragement is more precious than anything this world has to offer. My doubts still show and try to tell me otherwise, but such things are eclipsed by God glory when I read such passages as this. What are your doubts? Do you have Scripture like this that comforts and encourages you in your hard times of doubt? I challenge you to go find one and start memorizing it. Because when we are out in the world we are most vulnerable to doubts and we do not always have a Bible with us. Having the Words or God with us in our hearts is the greatest cure for our doubts. Let us stay in Him and continue living this life encouraged by Him until He comes to take us with Him to the place He has prepared for us.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

Wings

The pain that's so strong

Of sin and all that's wrong

Brings us to cry

"I want to fly!

To grow my own wings

And flee from what stings!"

We make our own wings

of feather and glue

As we fly we discover

These wings aren't true.

We fly up high

And the light of the sun

Melts our wings

And our fun is done

We fall down

The earth calls us back

Our sin has

Ripped the wings off our backs

Living in a prison

Of thick liquid crimson

With broken wings, fallen

On earth we are calling

To the One who has wings

To the King of all kings

Who's wings can carry

The burden so heavy

These sinful things

We thought were wings

Now we fly high

And the Light of the Son

Brings us Life

Because our old one is done

We fell down

The Lord called us back

He took our sin

Upon His own back

We wait now

For Him to come back

To take us up

With the wings on His back

-God the Father through the hands of JoshJJ