"Christianity is a joke because Christians don't act like they are suppose to with Christ, you know what, its not a big deal, heres why..because you and I are the same person, we act the same, we talk the same, we do the same things, ask anybody that knows the both of us and they'll say the only difference between you and me is you don't get to sleep in on sundays and I do."


Since I came upon this video the beginning of this school year, I probably watched it about 5 times now and every time it still has the same affect on me. The thing with God's words is just that, no matter how many times you hear/read the same thing, something about it can still hit you whether its the same point or different. Thats because we're not perfect so everything that God says still has a relevance to us in one way or another. (I never understood people who say how they can't take anything else from the bible because they read it 5times, or a worship song is overplayed so they're sick of it now...theres always something there that points back to God!)

That line I quoted up there was the line that hit me every time i watched the video. I can never get sick of it because its always going to be something relate-able to me. I am a sinful person afterall. This line slapped me hard in the face because if i was in the man's shoes, i wouldve started crying on the spot. As a Christian we are called to be in his image, we are his ambassadors, people just automatically make the connection that what we do is who God is. That's how the world judges us and God knows it, thats why he wants us to walk in his image. He wants us to live a life that glorifies him...that means when others look at you they see how great God is. Like when someone punches you in the face and you turn the other cheek, if they ask you why you're not fighting back and you say wholeheartedly "because God told me not to" how would that affect the way they live? A friend of mine told me how the way she judges her actions is by thinking "if Jesus were to appear before me at this very moment would I be doing/saying the stuff I am now?"

When we come to Christ, our old selves die and we are made new in him. If we still live the same way we did before knowing God then is there really a point? And for all those lost people who sees your actions, they will only keep running away from God because you made him into someone who is a part of the world and nothing greater.

James 2:17 says "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

Don't just talk the talk, walk the walk. And do so wholeheartedly because God sees your heart.

Voting

Today is the day where all of America is going crazy about who the new president is going to be. Honestly speaking I've never been into politics. Not that I don't know the importance of it or I'm too lazy to pay attention to. Voting is a great privilege and I am thankful that we were given a voice through it but at the same time I have also chosen not to vote. Voting for someone whom I have no idea why I'm voting for him doesn't seem right to me at all.

Rather than taking part in something I don't understand, I rather pray to God that whoever is put on that spot would do what is right for his kingdom. That they would protect His people and that His will will be done. I honestly do believe prayer would have a greater affect than voting but that doesn't mean people out there shouldn't vote. If you know what you're doing, and you know what you're fighting for, what this president have to offer that can benefit your nation, I think you should definitely vote. (You should also pray that God's will will be done ofcourse haha)

But for those of you like me, who's tried to understand the different views of these candidates but can't and prayer is all you got...then pray. Prayer is the greatest weapon God has given us. So lets make use of it whether you can vote or not, just pray that God will reign over your nation.

Grace

Grace was always something I had a hard time understanding. I betrayed God so many times, why am I loved by him and his people? How can I possibly deserve it? But looking back now that is completely missing out the meaning of grace, grace is being given something you do not deserve. God's love is something we don't deserve, Jesus' death is something we don't deserve but these are all given to us because God is graceful. He loves us all THAT much that he was willing to give us everything we didn't deserve. He looked at each of us as if we precious jewels. We are all very undeserving of his love but it is also his love that gives us our value. Our worth is in the Lord, a lot of us know that but do we really believe it? Our worth is only found in the Lord and he looks at us with such love, who are we to say we're undeserving? Who are we to say we're not worth it?

Unloving Christians

I went to a retreat recently (right before the hurricane) and on the car ride back someone asked me what was my biggest pet peeve in a christian community. "Unloving Christians" came into mind. Those 2 words feel like an oxymoron to me. How can a christian be unloving when our belief is centered around God's love for us. It's crazy though how unloving christians can be, those who go around judging everyone as if they were created to be better than others, those who walk around bullying and hurting gays because "its part of our religion" (clearly not biblical btw)...it upsets me so much. I know only christians would go around judging each other on whether their actions are "christian-y" or not but have you ever wondered what a non-christian would think when they find out this person is a christian and yet they go around hurting everyone and doing all these things. We are called to be ambassadors of Christ and everything we do, they would take it as "so this what Jesus lovers are, if thats the case I must be better than God since I'm so much nicer/better than them" ONLY christians would give each other the benefit of the doubt and say we aren't created perfect, God still loves you and is waiting for you to repent. Non-christians would only be pushed further away.

1 John 4:8 says "whoever does not love, does not know God because God is love."
God also calls us to not only love him but love our neighbors the way he loves us.

Christians aren't perfect and we will always mess up here and there but we need to be willing to acknowledge our wrongs and repent. We may never become exactly like Jesus Christ but we need to strive to live in his image. For the sake of shining light to our darkened world, for the sake of God's broken heart seeing us like this, for the sake of others, for the sake of what Jesus has done, can't we all just try and love?