God's Promise

"There is a light shining brighter than the sun. There is a love that can't be broken." -"Song for the Broken" by Abandon

God's light shines brighter than the sun. Think about that for a second. His LIGHT shines BRIGHTER than the SUN. If we look at the sun for too long, it harms our eyes. Depending on the length of time, it can even blind us. God's light is brighter than that! We are blinded by the beauty of His light. Now, the thing about the sun is that when the sun sets, parts of the world can no longer see it. That is not the case with God's light. It shines EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME! Ya see, those who CHOOSE to follow Christ, carry a piece of God's light. Wherever that person goes, so does God. But more importantly, wherever God goes, so does that person. And so does that light. It's blinding light that will NEVER burn out.

God's love can never be broken. Why? God doesn't have love; nor does He give love. God IS love. Love is who He is. Therefore, He cannot break. His love cannot break. He IS love. Relationships and marriages are constantly ending. That love breaks. Why? Because it is not set on the love that does NOT break. His love binds all things together.

God is so good! He will forever shine His light on us for us to choose to follow Him. He will cover us in His love, in Himself. When all else fails, God never will. That's a promise. That's God.

What is Christianity?

I was reminded of a verse when I read it in Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It is Philippians 3:10. "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death."

Chan mentions that he's always wanted to stop after the word 'resurrection,' but if he were to do so, he wouldn't be truly following Christ. He would, essentially, not be a Christian.

A few months ago, I read a book called What Are You Waiting For? by Dannah Gresh. This book is for teenage girls and up that explains the importance of waiting until marriage. Well, she gives the Hebrew and the Greek word for 'sex.' Since this verse is of the NT, I'll only focus on the Greek word. That word is 'ginosko.' It means: to know, to be known, to be deeply respected. This, of course, is basically what sex is. However, think of it on a deeper level. For example, look over Phil. 3:10 once more.

"I want to 'ginosko' Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death."

Ginosko: to know, to be known, to be deeply respected.

I want to KNOW Christ. I want to BE KNOWN by Christ. I want to DEEPLY RESPECT Christ. I want TO BE DEEPLY RESPECTED by Christ.

I also want to do the same with His resurrection. Not only did Christ die for us all, He rose for us all. He paid the ultimate sacrifice to ultimately conquer death. I want to KNOW that power. I want to BE KNOWN by that power. I want to BE DEEPLY RESPECTED by that power.

I want to KNOW the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. Think about this one. Fellowship. Fellowship is a time to spend time with friends and sharing thoughts, memories, or things of the sort with one another. God places us in certain situations to bring Him glory. After all, He did create galaxies upon galaxies and every single one of us. Shouldn't we bring Him glory? So. I want to KNOW the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. I want to BE KNOWN by the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings. I want to BE DEEPLY RESPECTED in the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings.

Finally, I want to become like Christ in His death. Christ was exalted by God. Why? Because He fulfilled God's plan for Him. If He can do it, and if we can do all things through Him, then we can also fulfill God's plan. We, too, can be exalted by God.

This verse is Christianity in a nutshell. There is no way around it. We cannot simply stop after the word 'resurrection.' There is more to it. There is more to Christ. Which is why we should KNOW Him, BE KNOWN by Him, and BE DEEPLY RESPECTED by Him. 

 

"But the man who loves God is KNOWN by God" (1 Cor. 8:3).

Innocent Blood

So today I came across a verse that made me stop and think for just a moment. I've read it a few times before but always just in passing. I never actually thought about the ways it can be applied.

• "'I have sinned,' he said, 'for I have betrayed innocent blood." 'What is that to us?' they replied. 'That's your responsibility." -Matthew 27:4

This is where Judas realizes exactly what he has done; he betrayed the Son of God. He tries to return the silver to the chief priests, but they refuse it. Because Judas is so distraught, he hangs himself.

We have all sinned. Because of that fact, we have betrayed innocent blood. We have betrayed Jesus. He was, He is, and He will forever be absolutely flawless.

The part that gets me about this verse though is: "That's your responsibility." This magnifies free will. We know that we have sinned, so now it is our choice to decide what to do about it. We can either put the blame on someone else (trying to return to silver) or... and I know this just sounds absolutely crazy... but we can actually take responsibility for our actions. We can confess to Jesus that we have done so many things wrong and allow Him to fix it. I truly believe if Judas would have asked Jesus for forgiveness, for the thing Jesus had been preaching prior to the crucifixion, He would have forgiven Judas. But instead, Judas took another route. He tried to take matters into his own hands, and it obviously didn't end well.

My challenge for you is this: Realize that without Jesus, we venture into another path that doesn't end well. Yesterday night, Jesus gave me a wonderful picture. His love is like a rollercoaster. (I know we've all heard an analogy like this before, but just go with it for a second.) His love is not a smooth distance from point A to point B. It has many hills, sharp turns, and drops. We always feel our stomach drop before going up or down a hill. But at the end of the ride, we always have a HUGE smile on our face. With His love, it's hard not to smile. He takes us through many paths. But that's just it. He TAKES us THROUGH them. He is with us every step of the way.

So don't take the "easy" way, if there even really is such a thing. Take the Highway. (Ha. Get it? Cuz Jesus is the High way. ahahahha!) But anyway, choose His love above all else. I PROMISE YOU... He won't give up on you, and He will love you NO MATTER WHAT!!! (And you can quote me on that.)