Joy you Want to Share

I’ve been doing a great deal of thinking about what I value in life. What do you value? What do you place as important when it comes to how you spend your time, who spend time with, and how you view yourself? Do you value intelligence, popularity, strength, or appearances? Or do you value God above all? These are the questions I have been asking myself a lot lately—if my life and actions are a reflection of what I believe, then I’m not exactly practicing what I preach when it comes to this blog. In Matthew 6 Jesus tells us not to worry, to not look for other things to give us value because God is there to take care of us. He asks those around him “why do you worry about food” or “why do you worry about clothes.” Why do we worry about those things? I think it all goes back to what we value in our lives. If I value appearances above all things then I will worry about clothes, who I spend my time with, or what I do on weekend nights. But we are missing a huge point—that God values us above all things simply because He made us. Countless times we stress over the little things that we don’t have, and stop focusing on how truly blessed we all really are. God has provided so much for us, why isn’t He good enough? When I was younger all I wanted was to be bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, funnier, popular… Well, here I am a sophomore at Holy Cross, a decent athlete, and (I think) a bit wittier than I was five years ago. Here’s the thing, I still want more. What I have is never enough, instead I need the very best and when I don’t get it I feel cheated. God is all we need, and it is so hard to believe that yet it is true. The things of this world, sure they bring pleasure but they don’t bring joy. Only God’s love can give us joy. Only God’s love can satisfy you to the point where you feel filled up and want to share that joy with others around you. I spent time with a great man the other day; he was so full of God’s love that he walked around greeting perfect strangers just to share the joy he had. I mean these were people he didn’t know, and yet he showed them that they mattered to him. That is what joy looks like; it’s a happiness you want to share with others, not keep to yourself so you can be all puffed up. The rest of this week, and well every day, try to share God’s love with those around you—you may surprise yourself with your own change of heart.

True Justice Comes from God

I should keep a tally of all the times I read the Bible and through it God is basically saying, “why don’t you just listen to me and do this?” I’m pretty sure it would work out to God: 1,000,000 and me: 0. That’s just how life is. I’m continuing through the New Testament, and just finished 1 John today. Due to all the stress I’m going through and the extreme workload Holy Cross gives its students, I haven’t had much time to read my Bible or pray. Earlier this week I was reading chapter 4, and verse 20 struck me. John is writing about love (he always does) and in this section he talks about forgiveness. John writes, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” It’s a pretty powerful message, and that is mainly because forgiveness is so hard. I don’t know how many times I’ve written this, I feel like it’s a lot and that I should have learned this by now. I try very hard to let things go and live my life, but it seems to be inevitable that I will fall down and succumb to that anger at things from the past. Then I read words like these, I see how much my ability (or inability) to forgive is costing me a relationship with God, but also a relationship with those around me. Forgiveness is tough, mainly because we don’t want to let things go. We reason that if we let things slide then somehow an injustice is done to us. I’m not the vengeful type, but I’m not the forgiving type either, at least not as forgiving as I should be. I pray that God will open my heart to let go of things from the past, and show all of us what it means to truly love those around me. Sure bad things happen and people seem to get away with it, but is it really our job to judge them? The answer is no what our job is, is to move on past those things and turn to God to fill us up. Holding things against people may provide a sense of fairness, but true justice comes from God.

Check this out!

http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=41884 Follow the link (or copy and paste it). It's a collection of "letters to God" written by little kids. I don't always get too emotional over small things, but this is simply amazing. So often in our society faith can become complex and difficult to understand. Jesus said that we must have faith like a child. That doesn't mean believing something blindly, but it does mean accepting things with that same wonderment and awe that kids experience. When we were young we looked out at the world in pure admiration, now we take things for granted. It is my prayer that we can have the faith of a child and learn to see the world with a fresh pair of eyes and love our Creator wholeheartedly.

9/11

To anyone who lost a loved on 11 years ago you are in my thoughts and prayers. We live in a broken world full of evil and sin. Why does God allow these things, how could He allow these things? We don't know the answer to that. What we do know is that all evil is the work of the devil, not of God. While no one man can cure society of all its ills, we all can do our little part. My prayer is that we all respond to tragedies like this by going out into the world and making a difference in any way we can to combat the evil that pervades our society. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone, God bless.

Rely on Him

Where do you get your strength? I realize that this is a very provocative question; many people don’t like to be asked what they find strength in and why they do. Yet it is and important question to know the answer to because it tells a lot about us and our character. So where do you get your strength: from your physical appearance, athletic ability, intellect, charm, wit? What gives you confidence to go out into the world and say “get ready, because here I come!”? Well, I hardly utter such a statement, but I do have an underlying confidence that gives me the ability to keep going on and attempt the impossible. I get my strength from God, or at least I try to keep Him as my sole source of confidence. I consider myself smart, and very physically fit, but those things don’t matter to me. Sure, it gives you a boost to walk into the gym knowing you are strong, or write something for all to see knowing you have an ability to write. But is that it? What if I broke my leg, or worse? Where would my physical strength go? Or suppose I was in a car accident and lost my intellect, or what will happen when I gradually lose it in my old age? Will I no longer be strong, will I no longer be “worth it”? When you put your strength in God then all those things don’t matter. It doesn’t matter what your GPA in college was, how many homeruns you hit in your last season, or how much you can bench press. In the end, God isn’t impressed by those things, and they never last. Some day I won’t be physically fit, intellectually sharp, or athletic, but that doesn’t mean I have lost my value as a person. God made you, you. He handcrafted you right from the beginning, that is why you matter. It’s not what you can contribute to the world so much as the fact that you are living in it. Sure accomplishments are great, but they don’t really mean much in the long run. All that matters is if God was your “#1” and how you lived your life with Him in mind.

True Love

It seems that every book, movie, or teen drama puts an emphasis on feeling when it comes to love. They all focus on that “magical moment” or whatever (just me being unsentimental). While I don’t know a whole lot about that, I do know something about love from the Bible. I’m reading 1 John right now; John wrote three letters that are recorded in the Bible, they are actually really cool (and very short) so when you get a chance you should check them out. 1 John 3:16 (ironic right, because John 3:16 is one of the most famous verses in the Bible) “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” That’s it, that is a basic definition of what love really is. When you love someone (whether it be a family member, spouse, or friend) you are willing to put him before yourself. Jesus didn’t have to die on the cross for us, but He did. He did because He loves us, and so we are called to love others. It’s not just about being nice to someone, or giving out compliments. It is so much more than that; it’s about putting others first instead of focusing on yourself. I’m not perfect; there have been many times when I have said, “You know, who is looking out for me? I need to take care of myself first.” But in the end, what is the most fulfilling life? Sure you might not end up having the easiest life, but looking back you will know you were able to take the love God gave you and share it with others. Every year my family watches It’s A Wonderful Life. I always liked George Bailey, and identified with him too. He spends his whole life helping out others and ends up giving up his dreams. But in the end he realizes what an amazing impact he had on those around him, and found peace in that.

Please Pray!

I'm starting up FCA here at Holy Cross. It will be a very difficult journey to get FCA reinstated and revamped this year but I know God will be there to give me strength. Last year FCA had 4 members, if I can just get to 15 I would know I am extremely blessed. Jesus once said that if two or more meet in His name then He is there. Well, I know that no matter what happens I will be doing a good work for God. Whether or not I end the year as a success story, I know that God will use this experience to draw me closer to Him and I thank Him for it. Please pray that I will have strength and know when to rely on God. Please also pray that God bring many people to the club and that we do a good work with Him in mind. 

Missed Opportunities?

While living in college you see a great deal of things going on around you. There are many times where I feel a sense of loneliness because I do not partake in everything that my friends do. There are times that I feel a sense of resentment towards myself for always going the “straight and narrow” instead of “living it up” like everyone else. Have you ever heard the phrase “the grass is greener on the other side?” (of course you have, it’s one of those overused cliché’s). Well, like many overused expressions, it is true. In the Bible God calls us to set ourselves apart from the world; He calls us to be different from the mainstream life that surrounds us. There are a few verses that illustrate my point: the obvious choice is Matthew 5:13-16 where Jesus calls us the “salt of the earth” but another good one comes from 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” The straight and narrow road can be a lonely one, but is any other path really worth it? It all boils down to the difference between pleasure and joy. Sure pushing the little guy around makes you feel good, or cheating on the test to get a good grade helps you out, but does it really satisfy you? Does doing bad (for the lack of a better word) really fill you up, or is it more like a cookie that tides you over but never actually fills you up? It is tough to do the right thing, but I firmly believe that it is worth it. To forgo all the options around us to live a godly life means sacrificing a lot of missed opportunities but the alternative (to live sinfully and forgo a life with God) is unbearable and unfulfilling. I used to live a life without God, when He pulled me from the gutter I was eternally grateful. Then the devil took my faith and replaced it with doubt, since then I can’t imagine what it would be like to sink down to the depths of a godless life. Sure In resent my compulsion to always do the right thing, sure I miss out on a lot. One thing I do have though is the ability to go to bed every night and know that I gave it my best every day.