Give and Take

Relationships are about give and take. Take comes naturally. Give not quite so much. Giving to others takes effort. It's sacrificing without an expectation for a return. In your relationships, are you in them because it's about you? Or is it about loving others, just as Christ loved you?

And that's all I have... I haven't slept much the past couple of days. Work deadlines..

Destroying Life

Life is beautiful. Abortion, day-after pills, and anything that attempts to destroy a baby are horrid things. I got to spend the day with a bunch of people, and some of those people are little. They are still learning to talk, or how to catch a ball, or maybe even learning how to read. Each of these little souls are a beautiful thing and we need to see them this way. I'm sick and tired of people who spend all their time pursuing money, cars, guns, and in general material objects. These people may get married, but it's so they can lower their taxes, sleep together, and in general serve themselves like fat kings and queens on high altars.

Life is about others.

Life is not about you.

Christ called you to serve. If serving involves taking care of widows and orphans in Uganda, great! If it involves writing books to encourage others, great! If it involves raising children and discipling them, great! If it involves you getting home from a looonnngggg 8 hour workday and then proceeding to complain about your job, opening a beer, and lounging on the couch while drooling on yourself while watching the four episodes of the Bachelorette that you missed because you were gossiping with your friends, then that is terrible.

Take some time and evaluate. What is your life about? Is it about serving yourself, or serving others? Are you willing to destroy another human's life, so you can watch your tv show in peace? Whether that human life is twenty-five years old, or in the womb for twenty-five days?

I'm going to eat ice cream and consider this question now.. XP

Life is Too Short

To be about yourself. If someone hurts you, ow. I'm sorry. But we can't sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. There are millions of babies that are being killed right now. There are others who need a hug and some prayer. There is a friend who needs to have coffee with you. There are about 7 billion people out there and more and more of them are becoming lost in this ever more and more lonely and hateful world. Use the gifts that God has given you to minister to others. Get them some coffee and then sit down and talk about the freedom Christ has given you in Him.

"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much." ~ Luke 16:10

May we be faithful. Not unjust.

Mortal

We're all weak. We all could easily die in a car accident, or a disease could destroy our bodies, or maybe we develop a blood clot. The thing is, mortality is something that people either ignore or fear if they don't have faith in God. It's either drowning oneself in media, alcohol, women, or power or it's living every day in a fear that may bring one to worship death, which may be expressed in demon worship, forms of tattoos, etc.

As a Christian, you have no reason to fear your mortality. You don't need to drown your thoughts out at the local bar. Mortality only gives way to immortality. Time may end for us in this life, but it goes on with great joy after we pass over the river. In this mortal life, we can rejoice in the troubles and trials because we know that we serve a good God who has promised much better things than even the good gifts he gives us on this earth.

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ~ Matthew 10:28

Life is a Bowl of

Strawberries. :-D

It seems that life is always handing you strawberries. They could be mushy. They could be sweet. They could be sour. They might be perfect. They may have mold on them. They may be tiny. They may be large.

But, they're all strawberries. ^_^ And that's pretty neat.

Stop, Pray, Love

We all get temptations. Some are harder for us to avoid than others. The key with temptations is stop, pray, love God. Most of the time, when we are dealing with temptations and fall into them, we are wandering. Wandering in our thoughts, not thinking critically, etc. The key with a temptation is to deal with it. Don't continue to wander towards it. Identify it. Pray about it. Then deal with it. Joseph identified that Potiphar's wife was seducing him. He immediately left. This is very important. Don't hang around a situation where you feel tempted. Whether it's lust, or anger, or envy, being unloving, or laziness, etc. If your brain is going towards a place it shouldn't be, take out the Word and meditate on it. You have to control your mind. You have to control your body. Proverbs says "A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." This is so true. 

Self-control is extremely difficult. But with the Lord's help, and if you aren't constantly putting yourself in situations where self-control is harder then it should be, you will grow more self-controlled. Self-control is a character trait that we all need to work on.

Love

Love is about others. It's not about you. Until you love someone because it's about them and not about your own desires and feelings, it's not love. Of course, it's never going to be perfect. But, yeah.. Something I'm working on.