Brimming: Challenge Accepted

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Do you see what we've got?  An unshakable kingdom!  And do you see how thankful we must be?  Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God.  For God is not an indifferent bystander.  He’s actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won’t quit until it’s all cleansed.  God himself is fire!

(Hebrews 12:28-29, The Message)

Sadly, I’m not brimming with worship in these few hours after Christmas.  Nothing is bothering me except this fact.  So I’m writing this to get myself into a thankful mindset.  Let me also note that this post has an audience of one in mind (as Miss Piggy would say, "moi"). It’s three in the morning so I (somewhat...maybe not) apologize if the informality of this post somehow offends you.

Why should we even be thankful, let alone worship God?  Well Caleb, I’m glad you asked!  This is because God is constantly consuming your heart and clearing out all that bad junk inside.  The cool part is that, because of this, you are even more apt to worship.  

As you stay in the Word you will begin to take more joy in the blessing of an unshakable kingdom because all those ups and downs you are feeling will start to level out.  That is the power of God’s voice in our lives, this is also why Paul of the new Testament had a tendency to sing in his jail cell (Acts 16:25).  

So one day, you might be like Paul, but until then, just keep pondering the word and know that God loves you and is happy with you.  Know that God has a plan for your life; He created a work in you and He promises to finish it (Philippians 1:6).  God won’t leave you hanging!  

Even though life might get hard or even boring, you can rejoice that you have a God who has felt twice as bored and has had life 100 times harder (being nailed to a tree for our sins and all). Jesus has overcome the world and so can you (John 16:33), and you can worship in the process.  

So remember theses things to encourage your worship:

• God loves you and is happy with you
• God won’t leave you hanging
• God is a consuming fire--ponder all that junk that is no longer in your heart
• No matter your situation, Jesus feels ya
• Ponder the Word to ride out your dynamic emotions--God is unchanging, He has that effect on us.  Maybe you too can be a prison singer!

Now go to sleep you tired fool!

He's a Wonderful Christ

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Good morning and Merry...Eh...New Years!  You have woken up in an alternate universe in which Christ was never born.  As we will soon realize, we are in a very horrible situation.  As you walk about your local streets today you will realize there are none of those Santa Claus' with those bells in front of store windows and at street corners because there is no organized charity (2), there never has been.  Sorry Salvation Army and Samaritan's Purse...

Oh no!  You have slipped on some ice and broke your face.  It sure is a shame there are no hospitals around for you to check  in to.  That's right, even hospitals were started by Christians (3).  Notice how a lot of hospital names start with St. for Saint.

At this point you are probably pissed off, so why don't you get in your car and warm up while you listen to some tunes.  That is, of course, if you still have a car...or tunes.  It is debatable that many of the luxuries we have today would be as advanced as they are.  Some pretty smart people developed all that goes into cars and CD's and even radios.  Wouldn't you agree that some of those smart people most likely got a nice college education at Harvard, Princeton, or  Yale (to name a few).  Those universities and many more were started by Christians as well (1).  

Not even to mention what an impact Christianity has had on science.  Francis Bacon, remember learning about him in high school biology?  Well he invented the scientific method.  What a coincidence, as it happens he was a Christian.  

So if there were such a thing as Christmas, what would you want? What's that? Tickets to the the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug you say?  Well sorry, that doesn't exist either, seeing how J. R. R. Tolkein wove so many Christian themes throughout that book (4).

But worse than the fact that all of these marvels and luxuries are gone, there is one thing that all the world needs.  Hope.  Hell awaits us.  There is no eternity with our Heavenly Father because there is no atonement for our sins aside of sacrificing animals regularly if you are Jewish.  We have to live all our lives and into eternity with the weight of the horrible broken mess we are and knowing that it will never be restored.  Let us pray that our Hero will arrive soon.

God looked and saw evil looming on the horizon—

  so much evil and no sign of Justice.

He couldn’t believe what he saw:

  not a soul around to correct this awful situation.

So he did it himself, took on the work of Salvation,

  fueled by his own Righteousness.

(Isaiah 59:15-16, The Message)

---------End Notes--------

1) http://www.gospelapplied.com/2013/12/24/7-ways-jesus-changed-the-world/

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTbYsSnZ4I0

3) http://saltandlighttv.org/blog/reflections/had-jesus-not-been-born-part-3

4) http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/12/12/did-you-know-about-these-christian-themes-in-j-r-r-tolkiens-the-hobbit/