I will lift mine eyes unto the hills, where does my strength come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. You are the one I need, Oh God! You provide for my souls desire, forgive me for seeking satisfaction in lesser things. Oh Lord be my all, take away my dependence on this world and scrape away my fleshly lusts. Be bigger to me. Hear me now.
Here are a couple songs I have listened to in the past week… In light of Valentines day I thought it would be fitting to consider love. Particularly the love of the one who embodies it completely. If I could make a mathematical formula for what some people believes the character of God to be like, I would assume it would look something like this:
Let k represent the number of character attributes of God, and let n represent some character attribute of God, such that n0 + n1 + n2 + … + nk, where n0 = (10% justice), n1 = (10% righteousness), n0 = (10% love),…
Does this seem odd to you? Definetly does to me. Let me give you a better one.
Let k represent the number of character attributes of God, and let n represent some character attribute of God, such that n0 + n1 + n2 + … + nk, where n0 = (100% justice), n1 = (100% righteousness), n0 = (100% love),…
Catch the difference?
God’s love is perfect. Complete. Do we believe that? Does it change anything? Send me a message and let me know what you think!
Balance is hard.
Have you ever felt like you can never get to the things you want to do? The things you enjoy and love? You fill your time with good things, school, work, church, but never have the time to spend on what you care about?
Maybe you do care about school and work, but the challenge of being on time constraints and schedules delimits your joy? I feel that.
I can go about my day doing all the right things – campus fellowship, homework, going to class… But by the end of the day I feel down. There is a weight on my spirit that can build week after week, assignment after assignment, motion after motion.
A common feeling is emptiness. A hollowness that lays on the mind and spirit. Left untouched it grows and spreads, deepens and takes root. It may not be depressive, but it is very impressive. One can feel it.
Without a solid friend nearby to peer into my life and examine my actions and spirit, I never would have caught it! It was so subtle. The question asked to me was not complicated. Do you enjoy? Questions like these can be simple and straightforward and which speak to the craving of every human soul for enjoyment. Are you enjoying school? Are you enjoying your classes? If you are not, what else are you doing that you enjoy? And I am not speaking to happiness. School is hard. That’s not always a happy thing. But striving hard at school and reaping the benefits of that hard work can be enjoyable.
The truth is… We were made for more than just work.
I have a really hard time wrapping my mind around this concept. Like God is okay with me not trying to be 100% productive all day long? So often I am almost controlled by the felt need to get as many things done as I possibly can, or if when I have “free time” to fill it with some uplifting book that I have not touched in week, or to catch up on my Bible reading plan that I am behind in… Filling my day with just stuff. Activities that are not bad things, but do not fulfill at the end of the day. The struggle comes in shifting away from an attitude of total productivity, because the result may be guilt.
Sabbath can be a very difficult subject.
Who is God when it comes to my productivity? Who is God in my rest? Who is God in relation to my fun?
Over the next couple weeks, I want to explore these conversations, with you. I want to challenge my theology and life actions by holding them up to the word of God. I hope to practically put them under scrutiny and pose real questions that will encourage and effect change.
What is driving your day?
I would love nothing more than to talk to you! Please reach out to me via the contact page. Let’s have these discussions together!
Today is Valentine’s day. Woohoo. Shout out to all those other people who do not get to spend it with someone (me)!
But seriously, Valentine’s day is a wack holiday. In 1969 he was removed from the Roman Catholic calendar because there was not enough reliable information about him. Stories and boxes of chocolates are pretty much all of what is left of his namesake, and they are just hazy and fictitious echoes of what actually was. I would try and write some nice post analogizing his myth, but I am not about that.
I love truth. I love truth that is real, vivid, and pure. Truth that cuts deep, clarifies, and changes real people. Truth that is so often missing from the hearts of my generation.
I am not perfect, I am a sinner. But God bought me by the blood of his son, and it is my greatest delight to call His name precious. Jesus is my savior, and my everything, I am nothing without him. My longing is to see his name lit in hearts and minds of my fellow young people, whether they be in youth group, college, or not! So today, on this February 14th I invite you to join me.
Will you accept?