Thursday, April 19, 2007
Faith
I often think that those that struggle with a strong relationship with the Lord and Jesus do so because of the element of control. Many cannot give up control to another, they want to hold onto it, not relinquish it, so that they hold the power and make the decisions. A large (and perhaps the largest) component of being a Christian is giving up control of your life and what happens to and in the lives around you to God., believing that He has a plan and that we can never understand it. It is difficult. As children we always wanted to know "why?", gaining our bearing on the world around us, and as children of God we grapple with the same thing. We want to be in the know. But this is the essence of faith itself, believing in the unknown, trusting in a power outside of ourselves. It is scary, it is hard, it is challenging, but if you truly believe it, it just feels right, you know it is truth. But to most in our society this is crazy talk. It is illogical. It also goes completely against all of our societal norms of Secularism, Humanism, Materialism, etc. Live for today! You're worth it! Carpe Diem! Most hardly ever if not NEVER look into an eternal implication of these lifestyles. We believe in a heaven when it is convenient. We only consider Hell when we want to condemn another to it. We weigh one sin to be much worse than another when God views all sin as sin equally. We are also always so quick to judge, and the audacity of people in this world thinking they have the right to choose/decide/comment on the eternal fate of another astounds me. That they think they know what God would choose. Most that do this are completely ignorant of God's grace. One cannot understand true forgiveness and grace without being able to forgive all others who have trespassed against us ourselves. This is what brings us true inner peace.
Faced with the nationwide tragedy at Virginia Tech it is especially difficult to trust that there is a plan for this world in place. It feels like such a senseless tragedy and what God would wish such pain on the world? In times like these though I am often stunned by the outpouring of love and support us members of the human race can offer one another. Perhaps God uses a tragedy like this to reinforce such points like life is precious, love your neighbor, do unto others what you would want done to you. If we ALL lived by these standards such senseless tragedies would never occur and the Devil would not be allowed to work his evil in our hearts, harden our souls, and take 32 innocent lives along with us. I pray that the entire world will come to understand God's grace and the amazing saving forgiveness that comes with it, before it is too late.
I often think that those that struggle with a strong relationship with the Lord and Jesus do so because of the element of control. Many cannot give up control to another, they want to hold onto it, not relinquish it, so that they hold the power and make the decisions. A large (and perhaps the largest) component of being a Christian is giving up control of your life and what happens to and in the lives around you to God., believing that He has a plan and that we can never understand it. It is difficult. As children we always wanted to know "why?", gaining our bearing on the world around us, and as children of God we grapple with the same thing. We want to be in the know. But this is the essence of faith itself, believing in the unknown, trusting in a power outside of ourselves. It is scary, it is hard, it is challenging, but if you truly believe it, it just feels right, you know it is truth. But to most in our society this is crazy talk. It is illogical. It also goes completely against all of our societal norms of Secularism, Humanism, Materialism, etc. Live for today! You're worth it! Carpe Diem! Most hardly ever if not NEVER look into an eternal implication of these lifestyles. We believe in a heaven when it is convenient. We only consider Hell when we want to condemn another to it. We weigh one sin to be much worse than another when God views all sin as sin equally. We are also always so quick to judge, and the audacity of people in this world thinking they have the right to choose/decide/comment on the eternal fate of another astounds me. That they think they know what God would choose. Most that do this are completely ignorant of God's grace. One cannot understand true forgiveness and grace without being able to forgive all others who have trespassed against us ourselves. This is what brings us true inner peace.
Faced with the nationwide tragedy at Virginia Tech it is especially difficult to trust that there is a plan for this world in place. It feels like such a senseless tragedy and what God would wish such pain on the world? In times like these though I am often stunned by the outpouring of love and support us members of the human race can offer one another. Perhaps God uses a tragedy like this to reinforce such points like life is precious, love your neighbor, do unto others what you would want done to you. If we ALL lived by these standards such senseless tragedies would never occur and the Devil would not be allowed to work his evil in our hearts, harden our souls, and take 32 innocent lives along with us. I pray that the entire world will come to understand God's grace and the amazing saving forgiveness that comes with it, before it is too late.
