christianity

Being Thanks

Blogs about Heather, christianity, faithfulness, testimony

I’ve been through a lot lately.  There was an incident at the residence facility that I work at that, quite honestly, gave me “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”  My mother just lost her house.  I’ve already told you about my car hitting a horse and getting totaled. Things at church are a little dry.  School has been, eh (plus I graduate in 179 days and am freakin out).  I’ve been pretty discouraged in many things.

But I remain in having hope.  I know that the Lord is faithful; I’ve attested to that many times.  I wrote about in the spring how someone said that my faith in His provision was “irrational”.  I still see Him providing.  I still remain hopeful.

Is this what you look like when you give
thanks to God in the “bad things?

This week is Thanksgiving.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I feel like God has conditioned me, no matter the circumstance, to count myself blessed and to give thanks.  Thankfulness isn’t just about being thankful FOR things, but being thankful IN ALL things.  God gives, and he takes away; but his faithfulness endures throughout it all.  Can you honestly say that you are thankful IN ALL things?  And I’m not talking about the “My life is crappy. But God is still good!” and gritting your teeth with a fake smile.  Christians do that all the time, and sometimes I feel like I hear “God is so good” when people are going through the “bad things” more than when they are going through the “good things”.  I’m talking about LIVING OUT thanks. Having a thankful SPIRIT.  Living each moment knowing that you are blessed in ALL things.

God has conditioned me to live this way!  Life is so tough sometimes. Sometimes I want to be the old, depressed, self-centered Heather that centered her problems on herself.  But God has taught me that life is so much bigger than me, that He has a bigger purpose set for me.  So when I am faced with a situation, I rarely have the attitude, “Woe is me.”  I brush it off my shoulders and wait for God’s greater purpose.  I am LIVING thankfulness.

My college pastor told me that this is a lesson that most people learn when they are old.  He said that I was blessed to have learned this now.  How much heartache am I saving myself? (not that I haven’t experienced any to get to this point ;) )

My encouragement to those reading this not to GIVE thanks, but to BE it.

(wow, that was a lot of CAPS.)

Entitled…to what?

christianity, jesus, media, social activism

As Americans, we have rights: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  But we have other rights too, correct?  Right to a lawyer, right to vote, right to fair pay, right to etc.  All of our rights were fought for, and we still fight for them today.

We believe we have other rights, and although they may or may not be in the constitution, we still believe we are entitled to them.  We believe we are entitled to equality, a high-paying job, to be debt-free, successful relationships, success in general, etc.

As Christians (and also as ministers), we still believe we are entitled to things (not necessarily because of our Christianity, I’m saying in general).  We are entitled to that seat in church that “is ours,” entitled to eat first at the potluck, entitled to the best parking spot, etc.

Did Jesus have something to say about this?  Why else would I be writing this blog post?

And He began speaking a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in disgrace you proceed to occupy the last place. But when you are invited, go and recline at the last place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will have honor in the sight of all who are at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  Luke 14: 7-11

Yesterday our guest-preacher at church talked about a “Mop Bucket Attitude.”  Even when you are the highest position at your company, you should still be humble enough to mop the floors of the bathroom. He gave to illustrations–When he himself was the school principal, he was the one who, for some reason, was called every time a toilet was clogged.  Perhaps it was because he was accustomed to having his hand in deep crap all day as a principal (cue laugh).  He also told the story of a young man who was beaten in Africa.  When he came over to school in America, the principal told him he could have any dorm room on campus.  The young man says, “Give me the room that no one else wants.”  The principal wept, as did I when I heard this.

I have been feeling extremely entitled when it comes to…everything.  “I’ve been here longer, so I should get more benefits.” “I am an expert in X, therefore you are lucky you are even being graced with my presence.” “I know more than you about X, therefore I should be the leader of this organization.” Etc. We all feel this way sometimes.  But what we need to be is humbled.

Phillippians 2 talks about how Jesus Christ, although God, humbled himself to be just as a man.  This is the “Mop Bucket Attitude” that we need. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”  Not even that, but he died for men.

We have the show “Undercover Boss”, a show where the CEO of companies start at the lowest job in their company and see how things run, as well as attempt to do the “Mop Bucket” jobs.


The difference between this guy and Christ is plain: Christ was willing to do these jobs, and never complained.  Also, Christ is not a Cubs fan.

As Christians, we are called to abandon our rights.  Our life is supposed to be about glorifying God.  To hold onto what we believe we are entitled to is futile.  We are not entitled to anything, but death.  Yet God gave us grace, something that we SURE don’t have the right to have, and he sanctified us and made us righteous.

Christian Pet Peeves

Blogs about Heather, christianity

There are three things that annoy me the most in the world, and they all happen to be things that (some) Christians do.

1.  Bring politics into church.  I don’t want to hear how much you hate the president from the pulpit, in your Sunday School class, or every time we have a fellowship dinner.  I also don’t care whether you think America was founded on Baptists or Satan.
2.  Condemn people groups to hell.  Since when did man decide who gets salvation and who doesn’t?  How do you know you won’t see homosexuals, Mormons, Armenians, Democrats, or Rob Bell in heaven?
3.  Glorify man.  Your preacher is legit, but he is not God.

That is all.

I needed to vent.

What are your biggest Christian pet peeves?

Irrational Trust in God?

christianity

I trust in God too much.

Wait, what?

That’s what was brought to my attention this week.  I have been given a LOT to deal with in my short lifetime.  I’m merely a babe of 21, and I have dealt with a lot of things that many will never understand or comprehend.  I’m okay with that.  And I don’t want to glorify that, either.  There have been times (I talked about this a little bit in my last post) where all I had to do WAS trust that God would provide for me.

God is a god for the poor, whether it’s poor monetarily or in spirit.  This is a theme throughout the Bible.  God chooses to love on those who are hurting, those who according to society weren’t the blessed, those who got picked last in dodgeball (it’s biblical ;)).  When I talk to mature Christians about their conversion experiences and times in their life when they began to radically follow Christ, that moment always follows a period of brokenness.  Ben Rector put it in one of his songs that “You don’t need Jesus until you’re here,” meaning, you only need Jesus when you get to that point of brokenness.  Only when you realize there’s that void, only when you realize you need something more, can you realize your need for Christ.  God only calls those who need him.

I pray for brokenness alchl the time.  If I try to do this on my own, I will get prideful and cast God aside. God provides that brokenness, and always provides peace in that brokenness.  I have learned to really trust God in every aspect of my life.  Recently, God told me to believe that he could provide something extraordinary, something that is outside of my comfort zone.  I, knowing my God and knowing that he has always provided, trusted that he could provide even in this radical and irrational situation.  And that’s what someone (a Christian at that) called it–they thought it was irrational for me to believe that God could do this.  Irrational?  Trusting in God to provide?  I’m pretty sure that’s called Christian. Jesus the Christ, when calling his disciples to follow him, called them to leave their nets, their families, their comforts, renounce everything and hate everything in comparison to their love for him.  That sounds like one of the most irrational things I have ever heard.  Yet it makes so much sense.  Following Jesus Christ is irrationally rational.  When Jesus was teaching, nobody thought, “Wow, this guy is making so much sense.”  Everyone was like, “Who is this guy? What is he teaching? This is so different than the way I’ve been doing things.”

I encourage you to think about the way you are following Christ right now.  If it’s easy, then you are doing something wrong (unless you get to a point of ultimate trust, where trusting in God is automatically done without second-guessing…but I doubt that many of us do that).  We are called to live radically and irrationally with our time, with our money, with our talents, and with our love.  I suggest you read Radical by David Platt. It changed my life.  Literally.  I can only say that about a few books.  What this world calls radical, crazy, irrational, is what the Bible calls “Christian.” Check it out and challenge me if I’m wrong.

(as a random note, sometimes I feel like links are my footnotes, as if I’m writing a paper or exegetical. LOL)

How hard are your friendships?

christianity, friendship

The other day I saw an article about Westboro Church protesting at Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral.  Why?  Because she is an AIDS activist and friend to gays.

This post is not about Westboro.  Not about Elizabeth Taylor.  Not about homosexuality.  Not about AIDS activism.  I have plenty to say about each.  What this post is about is friendship.

When I saw this, I tweeted (5 tweets long!): “Westboro is protesting Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral b/c she was an AIDS activist & friend to gays. Really?! they’d be at mine too then.We are to produce fruit. What does that look like? Loving people, relationships w/ the scorned. Not hating people who are sinful. Remember: we ALL started out as depraved. Incapable of knowing good. You, by showing them goodness, could be helping 2 show grace too. In fact, if all your friendships are “easy”, it’s time to find new friends. Refer to the beatitudes for a few suggestions ;) Okay, off my theological #soapbox. My best friendships r the 1s I have to work at. That’s where the fruit’s at. Youthpastors should agree :)”

That’s kind of the sum of this post, but I’m going to elaborate:

Christians are called to love–not just other Christians, but our enemies, the poor, sinners, your neighbors, everybody.  It’s not in our job description to hate or condemn.  It’s just not.  Elizabeth Taylor was in trouble with those who claim to be followers of the same Jesus Christ who said all this for two reasons: being a friend of sinners and being an activist for the diseased.  I remember that my Jesus in the Bible were both those things.

It’s so easy to be safe in our Christian bubble–go to a Christian school in a Christian community with Christian friends and work with Christians in a Christian church.  But that is tooooooooooooo easy.  Fruit may come out of that, but not the best kind of fruit.  Apples might get produced, but what about something more exotic?  Something rarer?  Sweeter?  Papaya? :) (sometimes I think I’m hilarious)

If you want fruit to come out of your relationships, maybe you should seek out relationships that are harder–friendships with non-Christians?  Friendships with the ignored?  Friendships with those who are hurting and depressed?  Or how about loving your enemies and treating them as if they aren’t your enemies?  It’s difficult.

And I’m not perfect at this…in fact, quite the opposite.  I’m the type of person where if a relationship isn’t easy, I abandon it.  But what kind of fruit does that produce?  What could have happened with some of  my relationships if I had worked at it instead of deciding it wasn’t worth anything?

Insert Controversial Title About Hell Here

christianity, god, hell

Rob Bell said in his video promoting his new, very controversial book Love Wins, “What we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important because it exposes what we believe about who God is and what God is like.”

So to sum it up, our view of hell shapes how we view God.  But I think that’s doing it the wrong way.  Our view of God should shape how we view hell.

One of the most popular views of hell is a fiery pit where Satan reigns and billions of people spend eternity for sins, big or small.  Thus, God gets viewed as an unfair judge, and quite a bit less powerful, if Satan gets to reign in hell (which is false. For a concise layout of hell, read Mark Driscoll’s post here).  God isn’t so loving, but judging.  So of course, if Bell starts his theology with hell, he’s going to come to the conclusions that he has come to regarding God and who he is, and what his love is like.  Hell becomes a place for people who don’t necessarily deserve it under the “traditional” view, and in denying that one begins to adopt a view that people are inherently good and can come to heaven many ways.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.

But what if we start with God?  I believe God is loving, caring, gracious, merciful, and jealous for my affection.  I believe God is fed up with us not paying attention to him, yet is still pouring out grace and mercy.  Thus I believe hell is a place for people who are constantly rejecting him, and they are getting what they truly desire–separation from God.  Hell is not where God started when creating us, but what resulted from our separation from him.  We ALL deserve hell, whether we think we are “good” or not, yet God has been gracious enough to let us escape it if we desire him.

Bell is completely on the mark when he says, “Millions and millions of people were taught that the primary message, the center of the Gospel of Jesus is that God is going to send you to hell unless you believe in Jesus. And so what gets subtly sort of caught and taught is that Jesus rescues you from God.  But what kind of God is that?”  Once again, we are beginning our theology with hell.  And that’s what gets taught in the church!  I wonder how many “Christians” became so after hearing a fire and brimstone message?  Only becoming a Christian to escape hell?  What does that do to their view of God, if they are so afraid of him?  How can they ever learn to love a God who just sends people to hell all the time?

What happens when our theology begins with God–where it should begin, as theology literally involves God to begin with?  How much more loving does he look?  You see, the point of Christianity isn’t to escape hell.  The point of Christianity is a restored relationship with our creator.  Hell is the result of us denying that relationship.  Christ didn’t come to save us from hell or from a wrathful God, but to restore our relationship with Yahweh.

Bell makes some compelling statements, statements that many people make and resort to after hearing the fiery messages of God’s wrath.  And don’t get me wrong, we should fear hell.  It’s not something anyone should desire.  Yet the thing we should desire most is to be right with God–God. So. Loved. You. That. He. Sent. His. Son. To. Die. For. YOU. You, who are undeserving of such a thing. You, who daily deny him. You, who if you believe that God really does love you, and desire to have a relationship with your creator, can live for eternity with him.  An eternity that starts right now.  And guess what happens?  Love wins.

Why I Love Luther

christianity, theology

I never used to like history. I thought it was boring. I used to hate knowing different theologies of different people. I thought it was a waste of time. All I wanted to do was love on teens, and give them the gospel.

But I’m loving history more and more, and loving learning about theology more and more (so much I now minor in it).  I groaned at the thought of taking “History of Christianity” this semester, but let me tell you–my heart is changed. I am fascinated.

The other night I read about Martin Luther. I’ve read about his guy 30487 times, but something really hit me the other night.  Luther wanted so badly to obtain salvation.  He desired more than anything not to go to hell and to have a restored standing in God’s eyes.  Luther went on pilgrimages, beat himself, and was constantly confessing his sins to become closer to God.  I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around it.  In his quest, he ended up denying the church’s means of atonement through indulgences.  Luther desired God so much that he even spoke out against the church’s practices and began a movement of reformation.  And this inspires me.  Do I desire the Lord that much?  What have I done that shows this?

Christian-Speak #1–"I’ll Pray for You"

christian-speak series, christianity

(this is a start to a series!  I think as Christians, we sometimes say particular phrases thinking that it sounds super “Christian”, but it ends up being heartless through our abuse of words. I’m not sure what I’ll call the series permanently, but look out for more posts!)

I think we can all relate to the following situation: Someone who isn’t necessarily close to us comes to us with a concern, and pours out their heart to us. They kind of smack us in the face with this situation, and whether we really care or not, our response is, “I’ll pray for you.”

But do we? Or do we “forget” about it?

How many times have you told someone you would pray for them, but you “forget”? How many times has it probably been important for you to pray for them? And since when has “I’ll pray for you” become a substitute for “Convo over, get out of my face”?

I am guilty of this. Verrrrry guilty. I’m trying to make a practice out of, if someone genuinely needs prayer, to stop whatever I’m doing and pray for them. Even if they “pop” me on Facebook chat or send me a text message and pour their concerns to me, I can type a simple prayer to comfort them. Prayer is powerful, and it connects the body together and does some fantastic things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve just stopped and prayed “anyway”, even though I didn’t really “care” for the situation; then after praying for them my heart breaks for them. I feel like if we truly mean it when we say to our brothers and sisters, “I’ll pray for you,” the body of Christ will strengthen. We will begin to understand each other’s concerns more, as well as creating an atmosphere of comfort.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”  James 5:16

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”  Romans 8:26

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.”  Matthew 6:7

“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”  Matthew 18:19

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”  Colossians 4:2

A Radical Christianity

christianity, jesus

I read Radical by David Platt a few weeks ago, and I have been processing it.  This book has seriously changed my life and my way of thinking.  I encourage you to read it.


The book is about how we, as “followers of Christ”, haven’t been following the real Christ.  We have been following our own, Americanized Jesus that we have crammed into our quest for the American Dream.  We have molded Jesus into our own image and rationalize his words in order to fit ours.



When Jesus called his disciples, he called for them to drop everything and follow him.  People would come up to him and ask, “What does it take to follow you?”  And Jesus would tell them to sell all of their things, leave their careers, not even go back and tell their families goodbye, and completely leave their whole life behind.  We read these stories and go, “Yeah, Jesus, I could do that for you!”  However we know that Jesus would never ask us to sell everything to follow him.  Jesus doesn’t want us to be poor and starve to death!  And Jesus would never ask us to leave our families behind.  Who else is going to take care of them?  Jesus would never ask us to be uncomfortable.


Lies.


Jesus constantly told them that they were going to endure hardships in order to follow him.  They had to suffer if they were going to follow him properly.  But do we?  I wrote a post a year ago (exactly) entitled, “Finally Understanding What it Means to Die to Self,” and although my insight was good, and I was learning a lot at that time in my life, I did not indeed fully understand what it meant.


What are you going to have to do in order to follow Jesus?  What is it going to take?  Is Jesus really asking all of his followers to become hobos and forget their families in order to follow him?  Surely not, at least that’s what we hope.  So then no one steps up and lives radically so that another person might live eternally.  We have grown up being told that we must attain the highest status of money, status, and material things possible.  But that’s the complete OPPOSITE of Jesus’ message!

So what are we to do?  What are you to do?  I can’t tell you what you specifically are supposed to do.  I encourage you to read the book and read the Gospels and have a serious talk with the Lord about what it is going to look like for you to live radically.  I am going to share some of the things that I am going to do:


Sacrifice my money.  First and foremost, I’m going to make sure that I tithe, no matter what.  Secondly, I am going to refrain from buying things that I do not need.  I have never had very much money; by America’s standards I am classified as low-class and always have been.  If you know much about how I grew up, you would know that my dad has not had heating in his house for the last 3 years (including when that foot of snow hit there last week).  But even though I am considered dirt-poor by our American standards, I am still richer than 75% of the world just because I have a roof over my head and clothes on my back.  What am I going to do in order to sacrifice my money–sacrifice it, meaning giving it in a manner that hurts me in order to glorify the kingdom?  I sponsored a child last year through Compassion, but had to give it up because I couldn’t afford it anymore.  But I cut down on my phone bill and now have an itty bitty plan, and I am going to go deeper.  I’m not sure what that looks like completely.  I’m thinking a few things–donating my money to people’s mission trips, starting random acts of kindness for people, keeping money for when someone I know needs money and just giving it to them (paying it forward; I can’t tell you how many times I have been blessed by anonymous donations when I was strapped).  I’m also going to put a lot of money into my next point:


Go overseas.  I have made up excuses for a long time on this one, and I am honestly still terrified (and this is coming from someone who loves learning about other cultures!).  I am going to go on a mission trip overseas. Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…”  I have always read this and added at the end, “if you’re called!” and I know many who do the same.  But I am convicted that it is my responsibility to go overseas and preach the Good News.  Does this mean that I am abandoning my calling to innercity ministry?  No.  It means that I am going to other nations and not just sticking in my comfortable bubble.  In order for me to leave my comforts and follow Christ in a radical way, I need to go overseas.


Leave my family.  I read this book while I was visiting my family for Christmas, and it convicted me and caused a week straight of crying while I was home.  My family has been a stumbling block for me for a long time now.  My parents do not have relationships with Christ, as far as I can tell by their fruits and lifestyles.  I am constantly being weighed down by them.  I have noticed for the past few years that when I am around them, I get the most selfish and most “un-Christlike”.  This is due to their lifestyles’ impact, as well as the pressure of being Christ-like, as well as many other factors I’m sure.  I have realized that it is almost impossible for me to be a “good Christian” around them.  I try so hard, but I can’t do it.  In order for me to follow Christ, I need to leave my family.  This doesn’t mean I’m never going to talk to them ever again, that’s not what I’m saying.  I need to become completely dependent on God and quit being dependent on them.  Luke 14:26 says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. ”  As much as I love my family, my love for them needs to look like hatred compared to my love for Christ.  Am I willing to take a bullet or a beating for my little sister?  What more am I prepared to endure for Christ?  That bullet needs to look like I’m getting a daisy compared to what I’m willing to go through for my Lord.  So I’m going to detach myself.  I’m going to focus on trying to figure out what it looks like to follow Christ.  I’m not going to base my identity on how often my mom doesn’t call me, or trying to win over my grandma’s love, or being my sister’s parent.  This is the hardest decision I have ever made, but it is necessary for me to follow Christ.


This message of “Give up absolutely everything that is comfortable in order to follow me” is completely different from “Admit, Believe, Confess!” that we hear in our churches.  We read the gospels and say to ourselves, “Jesus didn’t really mean that we have to give up everything.  Just that we should be willing to.  It’s figurative.”  Oh, is it?  Are you willing to bet on it?  Is that a risk you are willing to take?

Mirror, Mirror

christianity, god, identity

What if my relationship with the mirror “reflected” my relationship with God?

(hahahaha, I had to make that pun)

I was thinking about this tonight as I was preparing to go out–how many times do you look in the mirror?  When you get up in the morning and get ready, you spend a good thirty or so minutes  in front of the mirror.  When you brush your teeth that two or three times a day, you look in the mirror.  How about each time you use the bathroom, do you check yourself out in the mirror while washing your hands?  Before you leave to go somewhere, quick look in the mirror to make sure there are no blemishes or marks or food on your face?  And even when just passing one of the many mirrors around us, take a look?  Pull out your phone to look after eating to check your teeth?

The point is, we look in the mirror NUMEROUS times throughout the day, even if you are not particularly narcissistic.  You spend a lot of time in it the morning, and probably quite a bit before going to bed at night.  Throughout the day you are continuously interacting with the mirror.  What if our relationship with God was the same?  What if we interacted with God and “checked in” with him all throughout the day instead of compartmentalizing him into one part of the day?

How about this–what if we relied on God like we do mirrors?  When you look in the mirror, do you ever doubt what you see?  What if you thought about God like this?  And when you look to God to give you truth about who you are, whether it’s to affirm your identity or reveal blemishes, how do you react?  Do you believe him and do something about it, or act like the mirror is a funhouse mirror?

I pray that I might spend as much time with God at least as much I do in front of the mirror, and certainly as often.  I pray that I might rely on God like I do mirrors to reflect my divine image and to reveal my blemishes and the areas I’m screwing up in.