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| A kindergarten teacher has her class invite all of their fathers for a father's day talent show. At the end of the talent show, all the students in the class stand in a line and wait for their turn to tell the audience why they love their fathers. The first little boy goes up and says, "I love my daddy because he buys me toys!" The second student goes up and says, "I love my daddy because he drives a cool car!" A third student goes up and says, "I love my daddy because he plays games with me!" One by one, the students in the class go up to the microphone to say why they love their dads. Finally, the last little girl goes up to the microphone and looks nervous, as if she's not sure if her answer is the right answer or not. She slowly looks around the room and then quietly says into the mic, "I'm not sure why I love my daddy...I just do."
How many times do we try to objectify our love for God? I know that many times, I can list reasons as to why I love God; I love God because he keeps me healthy. I love God because he keeps my family safe. I love God because I'm allowed to get a good education. But, are these really the reasons why I love God? Because He provides all my needs, because He's given me all these things and has given be a good life? Maybe. But what if one day, I become terminally ill, or if my family dies in a terrible accident? What if everything I had was stripped away from me, just as they were with Job in the Old Testament? Does that mean I would stop loving God? To be honest, it would be really tough, and the doubt would come flooding in.
We all need to learn how to love God as loves us, because really, that's what God wants. In my previous entry, I mentioned how in this world, we have been conditioned to work for love. Sometimes, the reason why we struggle with loving God more is because we have put ourselves in the enslavement of the law of how things "should be" on this earth. But this shouldn't prevent us from loving God! God wants us to love Him just because we do, not because of the gifts He gave us, but because we just do. He wants us to love Him just as He loves us, without reasons; He loves us simply because we are his children, and we should love God simply because He is our Father and our Creator.
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| Galatians 4:4-7 (NIV)4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba,[a] Father." 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
When a couple adopts a child, it's understood that there is a long road of hard work ahead of them. Sometimes, adoptive parents have to work harder to show love to their adoptive children. When a baby is not yet born, it can still sense inside the womb when it is wanted or not, even if the biological mother plans on giving birth to it to give up for adoption. This causes potential psychological effects on the newborn baby. Studies have shown that, as the adopted baby grows older into a child, he or she tends to have more problems in school, as well as more problems in feeling more accepted by their peers and their parents. So, when a couple who already has children decide to adopt, they have to put more effort into loving their adopted son or daughter before their own biological children, just so that their adoptive child knows that he or she is loved.This is what God has done for us. We have all been created by Him, but, because of our sinful nature, it's sometimes too hard for us to comprehend that God simply loves us because he does. Many times, it's easy to feel like when we dishonor our parents, they don't love us, because of all the unpleasant consequences we have to face. We think, "They yelled at me and called me stupid, they must not love me." Even though it's not true, our parents love us very much, we still think this way, and this way of thinking transfers to the relationship we have with God. Whenever we sin or do something that we know is dishonoring to God, we instantly become so ashamed that sometimes, we don't go to Him right away. Although we may not realize it, the shame makes us feel like God's love for us diminishes, because that's how it is here on Earth.
Well, the good news is that it's not true! Sure, there are times when our actions are displeasing to God, but it doesn't mean He loves us any less, or even stops loving us. God is like that adoptive parent. He put all of us, His adopted children, before His one and only son, Jesus. God even sent Jesus to die on a cross so that we can realize we are loved, and that we are His children! What more could we ask for?
Nothing can keep God's love away from us, and we need to realize that God's love is a simple love: God loves us simple because He does. Simple, right? It's so simple that we make it complicated! God loves us because we are His creation, not because of what we do or what we say or how we act. We, as His children, need to remember that. -ACE
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| You know what I hate about paper cuts? Not only are they in the most inconvenient places, but I never get any paper cuts from actual sheet paper. I've gotten paper cuts from other things like binders and cardboard, but never lined paper or post cards or anything like that. It's so ridiculous! And I've never heard of a paper cut that isn't ever not painful. Even though they're so tiny, you can't take your mind off the fact that they are there, because they hurt so much.
This entry wasn't supposed to turn all devo-y, but writing about this has made me realize just now how paper cuts are like those "tiny" sins. When we do little things we shouldn't. I put "tiny" in little quotation marks because all sins are bad, and no sin is worse than the other because sin is sin and we are fallen no matter what sin we commit. But, it is true that some sins are less noticeable than others, say, gossiping versus killing someone. Oh my! Back the the point...
I think that, in all honesty, paper cuts are way more noticeable than these tiny sins, though. Paper cuts are always noticeable because they're tiny and they hurt mad crazy. But when we do things like gossip or think mean thoughts about others, we don't necessarily catch ourselves doing it. But man, imagine if all our "tiny" sins were like paper cuts! That would hurt a lot.
There isn't really a conclusion to this, but I guess I just thought it was interesting to find a link between paper cuts and sin.
-ACE.
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"The believer may fall into sin,
but he will not walk in it."
-John R.W. Stott
this is so true. we are all sinners, but by the grace of God and through Jesus' death, we have the opportunity to get into Heaven. we've been given a second chance, and it's our time to be driven to be more Christ-like. but as we strive to be good Christians, we are still imperfect, and there are still so many stumbling blocks that make it hard for us to chase after God. but how many Christians do you know out there who wallow in their sin? i think that, many times, we get discouraged because we'll mess up. when we do, all we'll want to do is give up, and this gives the devil a foothold to bring us even further down.
i want to encourage everyone to not give up! God made us in His image; He made us to be holy, not to be sinful. when you stumble and fall down, He'll pick you up. it's like you're walking on the narrow path to God's house, but on the way you trip over some rocks and fall into the river of sin. you struggle to get out, but your foot is stuck in some random whirl pool. would you just give up and stay in the river, to be complacent as you soak in the river of sin? no way! you would still try to get out. the good news is that, you're not alone, because God noticed you from His house, and has run over to grab you out of that river. i'm sure everyone has heard the saying that it's easier to be brought down than than to pick people up, but with God, it's the total opposite. let Him pick you up when you fall, and continue to walk the good walk!
-ACE
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| Joshua 6:2-20
2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." 6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it." 7 And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD." 8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the LORD's covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!" 11 So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent the night there. 12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. 15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted [a] to the LORD. Only Rahab the prostitute [b] and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the LORD and must go into his treasury." 20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.
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The Israelite's had Jericho surrounded- no one was going in, and no one could come out. The Israelites probably expected their next order to be "Take charge! Fight a glorious battle and then conquer over the city of Jericho!" But instead, God told them to march around the city, to blow trumpets, and to shout out loud so that the walls of Jericho would tumble down. How bizarre does that sound? What amazes me is that no one seems to question the instructions God has given them. Up to this point, all of the Israelites are fully obedient, and do exactly as they're instructed to do. The conclusion? The walls of Jericho fall, and the Israelites are victorious.
This is what it means to put full trust in God, and it is so amazing! Sometimes, the holy spirit might urge us to do something that seems weird or out of place, or something that we feel like we would've never thought to do on our own. But if we put all of our trust into God's hands, and are fully obedient to our Lord, then we will be victorious over everything, just as the Israelites were victorious over Jericho.
-ACE
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