Hello Readers!
It feels like forever since I last blogged, but I'm going to take that as a good thing. I've been busy enjoying life and all of the beautiful moments it has to offer. This fall semester has started off with so many unexpected blessings. Wonderful residents, supportive coworkers, caring family and friends, and a sweet young man have made my fall nothing short of fantastic.
Last night, I had the opportunity to lead a worship and study night for my Christian service sorority, Kappa Phi. Our focus was on Colossians 3:23-24 and how we are expected to serve with a heart for the Lord.
"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ." (Colossians 3:23-24, KJV)
During one of the activities, I had the ladies jot down their to-do list for the week and consider which items served themselves rather than served others. As I anticipated, most of my own to-do list expectations were quite self-serving.
This week, I intend to take Colossians 3:23-24 to heart. I added a few acts of kindness to my to-do list and I can't wait to see how God works through these gestures. My hope and prayer would be for my readers to take some time to reflect on how they can apply Colossians 3:23-24 as well. Small acts of great love are a fantastic way to share God's compassion and kindness with others. All it takes is one small gesture to make someone's day!
We all have our dirty laundry. It's the pieces of the past we wish we could forget; it's the parts of our lives we wish we could wash clean.
As I sit and wait on my actual, tangible laundry, my mind has been wandering and reflecting on the figurative laundry of my past. To some, it might not seem all that wild, crazy or bad. But in God's eyes, any actions we have taken that remove us from Him are equally as ugly, dirty, and disappointing.
Thankfully, we don't have to live with the burden of that load.
Through His grace, we are saved.
Through His patience, we are guided to new paths.
Through His forgiveness, we can move onto better days of wiser decisions.
The past six months of my life have been a tumultuous time of reflection, growth, and perseverance in learning to take these steps of faith into a brighter future. Although I've been a Christian my whole life, I do not believe there has been any portion of that time that was more challenging of my faith.
The reality check I went through last spring was rough, dirty, and sometimes made me want to cry. But through Christ's love, I got through it.
Being back at college is showing me exactly how much I've developed as a young woman in these past six months. The pains of the past are lesser and the excitements of the future are greater. My moods are stable and my confidence in who I am in Christ has flourished.
God gave me exactly the detergent I needed to rinse my past hurts clean. He can do it for you, too. I hope and pray that my late night laundry thoughts are the encouragement you need to allow Christ to clean up your past. There is no need to live folded under the guilt and burdens of the past.
Through His love, we are cleaned and set free. He pulls us out of darkness and into light.
We see this with Job:
"God has delivered me from going down to the pit, and I shall live to enjoy the light of life." Job 33:28
"As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy." James 5:11
We see this in 1 Peter:
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9
We see this in Isaiah:
"'Come now, let us settle the matter," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'" Isaiah 1:18
These are just a few of many examples of God's remarkable love and forgiveness. Take some time to soak in His goodness, because He truly cares for you!
As I glanced at all the mess on my desk tonight, I noticed the worn edges of my Bible. Hmmm. Those are new.
Now that I think about it, I remember a conversation I had with my women's group leader, close to this time last year. I had nonchalantly mentioned how I liked my Bible to be in top-notch shape and didn't like to see it's beautiful pink exterior show the wear and tear.
Rather than simply nodding her head and agreeing with that casual statement, the leader looked me directly in the eyes and made a statement that should have sunk in sooner. Something challenging, along the lines of "an unworn Bible typically means it isn't being read".
I brushed it off at the time and didn't think much of it. I was attending women's group and church weekly, clearly I was "a good Christian". However, that concept of "how worn is your Bible" is proving to be true in my life as I reflect on the past year. Now, I am truly embracing that wear and tear because it is representative to the change that has been occurring in my life.
I have always been a believer in Christ, but I feel that in the past few months I have come to a new understanding of what it actually means to be a follower of Him. Reading my Bible regularly has been a key step in that direction. Sure, church groups are nice and acts of service are great. I used to enjoy simply perusing devotionals and Christian books, but without the actual Bible, those, along with the religious actions, are not truly effective. Those should be the books and experiences sought to enrich our walk with God, not as the sole provider of a relationship with Christ.
The Bible is a foundation of the Christian faith and I can now say thank you to that leader for her challenging words. Although it did not make sense at the time, it sure does now. I have not made so much growth in my faith and understanding of God since I started reading regularly.
I encourage all of you to pick up your Bible and just start somewhere. I supplement with an iPad app that provides a reading schedule (in less than a year, I should be all the way through it!). Nevertheless, Christ can work through any efforts, order, or structure you place upon your study of His word. Every verse of scripture has something to teach and has the potential to change your life. Give it a chance to wear down your walls and seep into who you are.
The worn edges of my Bible are a reminder of the work Christ has done in my life. I am forever changed by His grace and have the worn edges as a small way to prove it!
This title has been on my mind for a few weeks, but I haven't felt that my thoughts were developed enough to write until tonight. Disclaimer- The beginning of this post may seem dreadfully negative and disheartening. I promise there is a turnaround by the end!
Today, I experienced a few negative emotions that are what caused the idea of picking teams to pop into my head in the first place. I felt rejected. I felt offended. I felt backstabbed.
Picking teams seems like it should be a thing of childhood, a part of the games of gym class. However, people never cease to amaze me nowadays and I can honestly say I've seen some social team-picking here on the college campus. It's not fun to start being the last person picked on the team, especially when you have respect and trust in the people picking teams. It took me quite a while to come to peace with the fact that I had been dropped from one group and new people wanted me on their team: new friends, a new Bible study, and a new sorority. It was uncomfortable, risky, and scary for a slightly introverted person like me to branch out and seek new relationships. I fought feelings of inadequacy, taking the sudden lack of friends personally and thinking of it as a reflection of myself. I think a lot of people experience times like this, whether it be with a break-up, a failing friendship, or a challenging co-worker.
Tonight there was a conference at which I witnessed and experienced additional social team-picking. Cliques of people sitting together during the snack break. People walking past acquaintances as if they don't exist, ignoring them and pushing forward to give a cheerful greeting to more popular friends. Groups chuckling together at extremist and religious speakers during the controversial documentary "Indoctrination". People, in my perspective, love to have other people on their team. They seek that feeling of acceptance, sometimes even if it excludes, disrespects, or offends another person in the process.
Seeing, hearing, and experiencing that exclusion breaks my heart, but glory to God, those emotions passed with a quick prayer and a moment of reflection. Unlike a few weeks ago, tonight I was able to let those feelings of hurt, anger, and frustration dissipate. Rolled eyes, disrespectful laughter, and ignored pass-by were not enough for me to lose my cool.
So what was the difference? Why was seeing people pick teams, rather than acting respectfully and friendly, not enough to make me lose my temper?
I think the difference can only be answered with one word: Jesus.
The important thing to remember is that life isn't about picking our own teams. It isn't about me taking action by forming my own team against those people. It isn't about feeling hurt and isolated when no one wants someone on their team.
It's all about Jesus. He wants us to pick Him and to help put everyone on His team. He will always accept us and we are never alone; Christ is with us always.
Christ clearly stated His greatest commandments:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself." -Matthew 22:37-39
Loving Christ and loving our neighbor means giving them grace. Even when it seems contrary to our gut instincts to lash out in anger or frustration, we should be loving our neighbors with patience, the way Christ loves us. Life isn't about picking teams and making people feel excluded or judged. It's all about showing others the way to unconditional acceptance in Christ, the same acceptance we desire for ourselves.
A few days ago, I was reading Romans 6 and verses 10-14 really stuck out to me. They are:
"The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life, and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." -Romans 6:10-14
That's a hefty set of scripture! I highly recommend reading the entire chapter for more insight, but these verses in particular are a good reference for today's scripture study and for throughout your day-to-day life. Here are the main points I pulled from the passage:
a) The big idea- Jesus died for us! We no longer have to live under the weight of our sins because Christ carries that burden for us. His grace is forgiving of all sin and He wants us to use our freedom from sin to be instruments of His goodness.
b) A thought to take with you- College can be an especially tempting time to use our bodies for wickedness. There are so many opportunities to fall into the trap of saying things, doing things, and thinking things that are sinful. We need to remember that Christ can free us from the guilt and pressure these sins can place upon us and that He gives us grace and power to use our lives for His purposes, starting from the moment we ask forgiveness.
c) A question for you to consider- Have you accepted Christ's grace for freedom from your sins so that you can use your body as an instrument of righteousness?
I pray that this scripture provides some food for thought. Thanks for sharing a few minutes with me in studying God's word!
This is the first of many scripture study posts! Grab your Bible and get pumped! Scripture studies will be short blurbs focused around a snippet of the Bible. I'm a huge fan of devotionals, so I hope for these to turn out to be similar in the fact that they are short, digestible, and applicable pieces of scripture that can be referenced throughout your day-to-day life. I pray the verses selected encourage readers to take a deeper look at the Bible on their own time and to see what lessons they can learn through scripture study.
I was flipping through my Bible and found an old piece of paper wedged between some pages. When I checked out Matthew 16:24-26, I decided that scrap of paper was worthy of some discussion!
Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can man give in exchange for his soul?"
-Matthew 16:24-26
My interpretation of this piece of scripture comes down to a few main points:
a) The big idea- Following Jesus means giving up the ways of this world. Life isn't going to be the same, but that's okay because Christ will help us to find a new life in Him.
b) A thought to take with you- Decisions we make on a day-to-day basis should be able to say "no" to the question, "Am I forfeiting my soul?" Our souls are incredibly valuable. The ways of this world are not worth the cost of exchanging the eternity Christ offers to us.
c) A question for you to consider- Are you willing to take up your cross by doing what Christ desires and asks you to do?
I pray that this scripture provides some food for thought. Thanks for sharing a few minutes with me in studying God's word!
