"Everyone I know seems to be having a hard time right now." Those were the words of consolation my mom offered as I trudged off to my room today. Sometimes our spiritual seasons don't match the seasons of the earth, but sometimes they do. I've heard it's supposed to get cold again this week before it finally warms up for Spring. I tend to get bogged down easily with things. I let things get to me through my convoluted, over-analyzation of things that leads me to confusion rather than an answer. I don't understand who God is a lot of times. This is the third draft of this blog simply because I don't know what to say.
I am not a new Christian anymore. My relationship with God has been tried and tested and I'm still here, aware of the fact that God is very real and very faithful. I've got the concept of John 3:16 down. I think the next thing I, as a Christian, need to understand is found in 1 Corinthians 13. I won't go into breaking it down and saying what it is I need to learn and why I need to learn it, that's too tedious a task for my level of tiredness right now. God is Love and Love is very clearly defined in here. My hermeneutically sensitive friends will probably point out my failure to include context in removing this chapter from the rest of the book, but it stands well enough on it's own.
I think I'm going to sit down and try to memorize the whole chapter. I've forgotten most of the scriptures I've memorized simply because my mind doesn't retain things well, but this is too important to let myself forget. I've a lot on my mind that I either can't or don't want to put into words right now, so I'll end with this:
" 1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
"4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
"8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
"13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
I'm trying to become a man now. I can not do this, nor anything else, apart from Love.
Love, perhaps,
Colton
P.S. I must admit that I stole the title and somewhat the idea from miss Haylee, since I can't exactly get away from giving credit where due since 50% of my readership was there when the conversation was had that sparked this blog.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Psalms 51, the Heart, and Getting What I Want
"16For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar." Psalms 51:16-19
When I first read this while actually paying attention to what I was reading, it freaked me out. "But that's how they did things back then, having burnt sacrifices to attone," I thought. It messed with my head because that's how things were supposed to have changed in the New Testament. I then realized what people meant when they say that God is the same and is unchanging. It's always been about the heart, He's just changed how we interact with Him. Having a right heart is inescapable when wanting to deal and commune with God.
My dear friend Whitteny asked me how I communicated with God yesterday which was a question I'd never been asked before. My answer was something to the effect of "I thank Him a lot." It takes a certain amount of humility to thank someone. When thanking someone, you're showing your appreciation for something that someone did or something that happened that you didn't or couldn't have done yourself. Just the same, thanking God for whatever He's done is acknowledging that He's done something for you that you didn't do which means you've relied on Him to some degree. This is one way of showing humility while also showing your love and appreciation for God.
The Psalm above talks about a greater humility. Of course, it's possible to thank someone while not really meaning it. The broken and contrite heart is endlessly thankful and appreciative for anything that comes it's way. This Psalm says that God doesn't want our actions, but wants our heart to be accessible. Being contrite can be defined as being remorseful of our past sin and being resolved to avoid future sin. Basically, that's all there is to it. Yearning for God and avoiding sin not because sin is bad, but because it separates you from God. Once you do that, then He'll be happy with all the things you do for him.
I think I can say that I love God. Neither I, nor anyone else will be able to say that we loved God as much as we could, there's always something more we could have done. The important part, however, is having our heart in a good place, which is attained by following the above scripture. I'm at a point now where I'm tired of not experiencing what God has for me, not being obedient to His will for me. The thing that I've realized is that things are oftentimes not handed to people. To be obedient, one must pursue his (or her) destiny, for a lack of a better term.
In the Men's Fraternity meetings I've been attending, it was posed that Adam's sin didn't lie in eating the fruit so much as failing the task God set before him of protecting his wife and failing to own up to what he did. Let me pose this, then: if sin is moreso failing to fulfill God's plan for us, then having a broken and contrite heart, yearning to "go and sin no more," the heart would be filled with a desire to have what God has set for us. Of course, this is not the sole way of sinning, but it's a bigger part of it than we give it credit for.
All that said, I'm taking hold of my destiny. I've said before that I don't believe in coincidences, and I still don't, but I also don't believe in fate, or to use a more theological term, predestination. Obviously, it's possible to not make it to a destination you have plans to get to if you don't get in your car and drive there. Just the same, the future is not already written and has the chance of going differently than we or God has planned. There are some things that will come to pass, regardless, otherwise God wouldn't be God, but it's all too possible for a person to not live up to their destiny. Again, I'm taking hold of my destiny, my calling. I will have what I want and I will only do so with the help of God. But by God, I will have what is set for me.
Love,
Colton
P.S. I could go on this for a long time, talking about so many aspects of it, but I will leave it here, for here is enough to ponder. Also, I skipped breakfast to write this and it's almost lunch time.
When I first read this while actually paying attention to what I was reading, it freaked me out. "But that's how they did things back then, having burnt sacrifices to attone," I thought. It messed with my head because that's how things were supposed to have changed in the New Testament. I then realized what people meant when they say that God is the same and is unchanging. It's always been about the heart, He's just changed how we interact with Him. Having a right heart is inescapable when wanting to deal and commune with God.
My dear friend Whitteny asked me how I communicated with God yesterday which was a question I'd never been asked before. My answer was something to the effect of "I thank Him a lot." It takes a certain amount of humility to thank someone. When thanking someone, you're showing your appreciation for something that someone did or something that happened that you didn't or couldn't have done yourself. Just the same, thanking God for whatever He's done is acknowledging that He's done something for you that you didn't do which means you've relied on Him to some degree. This is one way of showing humility while also showing your love and appreciation for God.
The Psalm above talks about a greater humility. Of course, it's possible to thank someone while not really meaning it. The broken and contrite heart is endlessly thankful and appreciative for anything that comes it's way. This Psalm says that God doesn't want our actions, but wants our heart to be accessible. Being contrite can be defined as being remorseful of our past sin and being resolved to avoid future sin. Basically, that's all there is to it. Yearning for God and avoiding sin not because sin is bad, but because it separates you from God. Once you do that, then He'll be happy with all the things you do for him.
I think I can say that I love God. Neither I, nor anyone else will be able to say that we loved God as much as we could, there's always something more we could have done. The important part, however, is having our heart in a good place, which is attained by following the above scripture. I'm at a point now where I'm tired of not experiencing what God has for me, not being obedient to His will for me. The thing that I've realized is that things are oftentimes not handed to people. To be obedient, one must pursue his (or her) destiny, for a lack of a better term.
In the Men's Fraternity meetings I've been attending, it was posed that Adam's sin didn't lie in eating the fruit so much as failing the task God set before him of protecting his wife and failing to own up to what he did. Let me pose this, then: if sin is moreso failing to fulfill God's plan for us, then having a broken and contrite heart, yearning to "go and sin no more," the heart would be filled with a desire to have what God has set for us. Of course, this is not the sole way of sinning, but it's a bigger part of it than we give it credit for.
All that said, I'm taking hold of my destiny. I've said before that I don't believe in coincidences, and I still don't, but I also don't believe in fate, or to use a more theological term, predestination. Obviously, it's possible to not make it to a destination you have plans to get to if you don't get in your car and drive there. Just the same, the future is not already written and has the chance of going differently than we or God has planned. There are some things that will come to pass, regardless, otherwise God wouldn't be God, but it's all too possible for a person to not live up to their destiny. Again, I'm taking hold of my destiny, my calling. I will have what I want and I will only do so with the help of God. But by God, I will have what is set for me.
Love,
Colton
P.S. I could go on this for a long time, talking about so many aspects of it, but I will leave it here, for here is enough to ponder. Also, I skipped breakfast to write this and it's almost lunch time.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thoughts on Life, God, Relationships, and the Inescapable Human Imperfection
Fuck it, let's do this thing.
Love,
Colton
P.S. Thank you, Whitteny. For everything.
Love,
Colton
P.S. Thank you, Whitteny. For everything.
The Post-Modernism Blog and Thoughts on Something I'm Not Sure How to Put Into Words
It's not that it's such a grandiose topic, nor any great truth, but rather, a lack of knowing exactly what I'm talking about. I guess personal conviction and it's involvement with love is the topic I'm after. How does one stay humble, while being sure of his personal convictions? Moreover, how does one interact with another with different personal convictions in love? These aren't rhetorical questions, they are what's on my heart right now.
While Haylee's blog seems to be one of having figured out things, mine seems to be of things I've figured out that I haven't figured out. To clarify, I know now that I don't know much. Knowing that I don't know much leaves me reluctant to say anything definite. I think that people take the principle of having personal convictions, which can be clarified as one person feeling a certain way about something whereas another may feel the opposite, and take it too far to the point of truth being personal and relevant to the person, which would be Post Modern thought. (Hey, looks like I didn't put that blog off!) Whenever two people feel different ways about something, a lot of times, they are both right on various points, but neither is the sole winner.
Where I stumble lies in the interaction with people of different convictions. It's really easy for me to think that my way is the sole right way and everyone else just hasn't figured it out yet. Trying to be consciously humble can easily lead to being prideful, I've noticed. I know logistically that the way to do it is to talk calmly and explain your side without discounting the other person's as wrong, but doing so is dang hard. Even then, balancing that with staying away from the "everybody has their own truth" bullcrap is even harder.
I suppose a definition of Post Modern thought is needed. I define Post Modern thought in the phrase "truth is relevant" meaning there is no ultimate truth, but rather, each person has an individual version of the truth and that there is no greater form to it. People see things through their own filter and act accordingly, therefore ignoring the greater truth, unhindered by their filter, so in a way, the Post Modern mindset is self-fulfilling. The problem lies in the fact that the single actual truth is not changed by people's perception of it. Let's say there was a story being told by a person to a group of people. The people in the group will mishear parts of the story and when they relate the story to others, they repeat what they thought they heard, which was incorrect. Their retelling of it affects their life from that point, but doesn't change the events that actually occurred. This is where those of the Post Modern mindset and those who don't ascribe to it diverge. (I'm getting sick of typing out Post Modern all the time, so I'm going to shorten it to PM now.) PM thinkers think that if the perception is changed, the original event then becomes irrelevant because it no longer has the proper bearing on proceeding events. Non-PM thinkers still value and search for the truth, finding it to still have value.
I'm not a PM thinker simply because PM thought leads to chaos. If everything is relative to the person and if everyone is different, there soon becomes a lack of order. With no ultimate guiding light, any number of conclusions can be reached and unity becomes unattainable. On the interpersonal level, or even at the Church level, we need unity. It's not hard to figure out that humans are social creatures and the one thing that any social structure needs to work is unity. PM thought does propel us to think outside ourselves and make us realize that there are more viewpoints than our own, but that's where the pros end.
There is really only one answer to any question posed here tonight, whether it be how to deal with people who think differently or the debate on Post Modern thought. "Jesus answered, 'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" John 14:6 NIV. As cheesy as it sounds, Jesus is the answer to everything. If we turn our eyes to Jesus, whether we were right about anything or what we were right about becomes irrelevant.
Love,
Colton
P.S. Were this a persuasive paper, I would have done this differently, but this is a blog written by a guy who likes to border on stream-of-consciousness writing. That and this is just the truth as I see it. (insert sarcasm emoticon here)
While Haylee's blog seems to be one of having figured out things, mine seems to be of things I've figured out that I haven't figured out. To clarify, I know now that I don't know much. Knowing that I don't know much leaves me reluctant to say anything definite. I think that people take the principle of having personal convictions, which can be clarified as one person feeling a certain way about something whereas another may feel the opposite, and take it too far to the point of truth being personal and relevant to the person, which would be Post Modern thought. (Hey, looks like I didn't put that blog off!) Whenever two people feel different ways about something, a lot of times, they are both right on various points, but neither is the sole winner.
Where I stumble lies in the interaction with people of different convictions. It's really easy for me to think that my way is the sole right way and everyone else just hasn't figured it out yet. Trying to be consciously humble can easily lead to being prideful, I've noticed. I know logistically that the way to do it is to talk calmly and explain your side without discounting the other person's as wrong, but doing so is dang hard. Even then, balancing that with staying away from the "everybody has their own truth" bullcrap is even harder.
I suppose a definition of Post Modern thought is needed. I define Post Modern thought in the phrase "truth is relevant" meaning there is no ultimate truth, but rather, each person has an individual version of the truth and that there is no greater form to it. People see things through their own filter and act accordingly, therefore ignoring the greater truth, unhindered by their filter, so in a way, the Post Modern mindset is self-fulfilling. The problem lies in the fact that the single actual truth is not changed by people's perception of it. Let's say there was a story being told by a person to a group of people. The people in the group will mishear parts of the story and when they relate the story to others, they repeat what they thought they heard, which was incorrect. Their retelling of it affects their life from that point, but doesn't change the events that actually occurred. This is where those of the Post Modern mindset and those who don't ascribe to it diverge. (I'm getting sick of typing out Post Modern all the time, so I'm going to shorten it to PM now.) PM thinkers think that if the perception is changed, the original event then becomes irrelevant because it no longer has the proper bearing on proceeding events. Non-PM thinkers still value and search for the truth, finding it to still have value.
I'm not a PM thinker simply because PM thought leads to chaos. If everything is relative to the person and if everyone is different, there soon becomes a lack of order. With no ultimate guiding light, any number of conclusions can be reached and unity becomes unattainable. On the interpersonal level, or even at the Church level, we need unity. It's not hard to figure out that humans are social creatures and the one thing that any social structure needs to work is unity. PM thought does propel us to think outside ourselves and make us realize that there are more viewpoints than our own, but that's where the pros end.
There is really only one answer to any question posed here tonight, whether it be how to deal with people who think differently or the debate on Post Modern thought. "Jesus answered, 'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" John 14:6 NIV. As cheesy as it sounds, Jesus is the answer to everything. If we turn our eyes to Jesus, whether we were right about anything or what we were right about becomes irrelevant.
Love,
Colton
P.S. Were this a persuasive paper, I would have done this differently, but this is a blog written by a guy who likes to border on stream-of-consciousness writing. That and this is just the truth as I see it. (insert sarcasm emoticon here)
Monday, February 7, 2011
Thoughts on Emotional Maturity, Growing Up, Jesus and the Goodness of Everything
I've begun to understand what my older friends say when they say "the older I get, the less I know." I am at ease with the fact that I think I know everything when I don't actually know much of anything. The wonderful fact that seemingly opposing thoughts can in truth be the same thought is great. I've found some small emotional maturity in the fact that I now know I have none and will have only a little by the time I die. My complete and utter dependency on Jesus is the only thing of importance. In the light of Jesus' perfection, I am a very small and very dumb creature and that is good. I've grown up a lot recently, enough to realize I've a long way to go and for some odd reason, I look forward to it.
I've become truly happy with life recently. This, I think, is due in part to my allowing myself to be dependent on God and the fact that I'm beginning to experience love in the sense of the Greek word "agape". This is God's love for me and the love I yearn to show others because they have shown me. Unhindered, unconditional, benevolent love. I am thankful for what I have and am somewhat aware of Jesus and the Goodness of Everything.
The silly, un-Charismatic thing about all this is that I don't feel a darn thing aside from joy. I don't have the warm fuzzies when I hear the name Jesus, I don't feel approving eyes looking on me from Heaven, I don't see the slow-motion, billowy tunics of angels flying around, but I have an understanding and a joy that comes from that understanding and that is all I want or need. The warm fuzzies have led me astray far too many times for me to be too fond of them, but this, however, I think I'll keep.
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 ESV
All things work together for good and for the glory of God. That is freaking amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I feel no need for consistency in my posts or coherence in my thoughts.
Love,
Colton
P.S. Though I halfway promised I wouldn't talk about it anymore, the next blog will be dedicated to Post-Modern thought: the pros, cons, and why I generally don't like it.
I've become truly happy with life recently. This, I think, is due in part to my allowing myself to be dependent on God and the fact that I'm beginning to experience love in the sense of the Greek word "agape". This is God's love for me and the love I yearn to show others because they have shown me. Unhindered, unconditional, benevolent love. I am thankful for what I have and am somewhat aware of Jesus and the Goodness of Everything.
The silly, un-Charismatic thing about all this is that I don't feel a darn thing aside from joy. I don't have the warm fuzzies when I hear the name Jesus, I don't feel approving eyes looking on me from Heaven, I don't see the slow-motion, billowy tunics of angels flying around, but I have an understanding and a joy that comes from that understanding and that is all I want or need. The warm fuzzies have led me astray far too many times for me to be too fond of them, but this, however, I think I'll keep.
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 ESV
All things work together for good and for the glory of God. That is freaking amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I feel no need for consistency in my posts or coherence in my thoughts.
Love,
Colton
P.S. Though I halfway promised I wouldn't talk about it anymore, the next blog will be dedicated to Post-Modern thought: the pros, cons, and why I generally don't like it.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A Poem on Art
This pertains more to nude photography than art in general. I have my thoughts on general art, but I'll save those for another blog.
A Poem on Art
Fake porcelain skin and a vacant stare find my gaze.
Enticing curves, evoking emotion, supposedly.
A well-trained eye, and lines taught my attention to raise.
The naughty bits given an intrinsic meaning, given focus, uncovered.
The beautiful things, meant to accent, now amaze.
Lust becomes confused with emotion, but they are not the same.
Love,
Colton
P.S. For some reason, my typing sucks today.
A Poem on Art
Fake porcelain skin and a vacant stare find my gaze.
Enticing curves, evoking emotion, supposedly.
A well-trained eye, and lines taught my attention to raise.
The naughty bits given an intrinsic meaning, given focus, uncovered.
The beautiful things, meant to accent, now amaze.
Lust becomes confused with emotion, but they are not the same.
Love,
Colton
P.S. For some reason, my typing sucks today.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Life in Front of a Screen.
I've spent a large portion of my life either in front of a T.V. or a computer, oftentimes both. It weirds me out how I become uneasy when I'm at home and I'm not in front of a screen. I'm still getting used to not having a T.V. in my room after it being gone for months now.
I crave information. I'm terrible at storing the information away, perhaps in part due to the fact I take in so much. For this reason, I have the T.V. or computer or music or some combination of the three going a most times. I feel weird without one of those three, especially if it's quiet. I like feeling weird, however, so I've been going without these things more frequently lately. I'm still pretty terrible at not having things going all of the time, but again, I'm better than I have been. I don't feel so bad about the music as I do the T.V. or computer. I waste so much time because of those things and that's just not okay.
On a side-note, I also crave truth. I think the reason I'm argumentative a lot of times stems from my yearning for truth. I'm simply not happy with being close to the truth or having part of it, I must have all of it. Truth is hard to peg down these days, unfortunately, and not everyone wants it. Some people are happy with being approximatists, but I'm not so when it comes to finding out the truth of something. That's not to say they're in the wrong for not thoroughly searching the truth. Ideally, we all will search it, but we are made differently and that is okay, provided we understand that and act accordingly. That is one of my biggest struggles. Side-note ended.
But yes, information intake: I like it. I'd go on about it more and how it pertains to part of my personality and how it affects the rest of my life, but I'm too tired and wary of narcissism to do so.
In conclusion, I dislike silence and not being in front of a screen. I am a product of the 21st Century and that isn't so bad a thing, provided it doesn't get out of hand. As a friend has said, "good" is the worst enemy of "the best." I strive for self-improvement, but the fact that I'm nowhere near perfect is okay since Jesus is so dang good.
Love,
Colton
I crave information. I'm terrible at storing the information away, perhaps in part due to the fact I take in so much. For this reason, I have the T.V. or computer or music or some combination of the three going a most times. I feel weird without one of those three, especially if it's quiet. I like feeling weird, however, so I've been going without these things more frequently lately. I'm still pretty terrible at not having things going all of the time, but again, I'm better than I have been. I don't feel so bad about the music as I do the T.V. or computer. I waste so much time because of those things and that's just not okay.
On a side-note, I also crave truth. I think the reason I'm argumentative a lot of times stems from my yearning for truth. I'm simply not happy with being close to the truth or having part of it, I must have all of it. Truth is hard to peg down these days, unfortunately, and not everyone wants it. Some people are happy with being approximatists, but I'm not so when it comes to finding out the truth of something. That's not to say they're in the wrong for not thoroughly searching the truth. Ideally, we all will search it, but we are made differently and that is okay, provided we understand that and act accordingly. That is one of my biggest struggles. Side-note ended.
But yes, information intake: I like it. I'd go on about it more and how it pertains to part of my personality and how it affects the rest of my life, but I'm too tired and wary of narcissism to do so.
In conclusion, I dislike silence and not being in front of a screen. I am a product of the 21st Century and that isn't so bad a thing, provided it doesn't get out of hand. As a friend has said, "good" is the worst enemy of "the best." I strive for self-improvement, but the fact that I'm nowhere near perfect is okay since Jesus is so dang good.
Love,
Colton
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Rainy Day Blog on the Totality of Christ
I wish it were easier to understand the things that are hard to understand. It's obviously going to be hard to grasp something I don't want to be true, but unfortunately my desire for it to not be true has little to no bearing on how true it is. Hey, that sounds very un-post-modern! Okay, enough ragging on post-modernism for now. I have two friends who actually get my jokes on it and neither have read this blog. Wouldn't want to sound pretentious or anything. :)
Rather than doing the typical rainy day blog type thing and prattling on about how frustrated I am, I will defeat that attitude by focusing on the totality of Jesus Christ and how nothing freaking matters but Him.
1"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
AND...
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:8
People suck, we all (read as: I) fall short of the glory of God, but that's quite alright since we (read as: I) have an advocate Jesus who seems to be quite fond of us (read as: me). I've ended up talking about God a lot more than I intended to in the blog, which isn't a bad thing at all, I don't think.
Love,
Colton
P.S. I didn't say much in this blog because I did not intend to. I said all that needs to be said; the above statement about the totality of Christ is all-encompassing and nothing more ought to be said. Kick your personal problems in the balls because Jesus Christ, the son of the one true God, freaking loves you and is taking care of you. Nothing more needs to be said, we (read as: I) just need to realize His love for us and the power he has.
P.P.S. On a side note, for clarity's sake, today's emotion is fervor.
P.P.P.S. I've edited this dang blog five times now, forgetting to say or clarify things and making spelling errors. I'm leaving it be now.
Rather than doing the typical rainy day blog type thing and prattling on about how frustrated I am, I will defeat that attitude by focusing on the totality of Jesus Christ and how nothing freaking matters but Him.
1"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
AND...
8"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Revelation 1:8
People suck, we all (read as: I) fall short of the glory of God, but that's quite alright since we (read as: I) have an advocate Jesus who seems to be quite fond of us (read as: me). I've ended up talking about God a lot more than I intended to in the blog, which isn't a bad thing at all, I don't think.
Love,
Colton
P.S. I didn't say much in this blog because I did not intend to. I said all that needs to be said; the above statement about the totality of Christ is all-encompassing and nothing more ought to be said. Kick your personal problems in the balls because Jesus Christ, the son of the one true God, freaking loves you and is taking care of you. Nothing more needs to be said, we (read as: I) just need to realize His love for us and the power he has.
P.P.S. On a side note, for clarity's sake, today's emotion is fervor.
P.P.P.S. I've edited this dang blog five times now, forgetting to say or clarify things and making spelling errors. I'm leaving it be now.
Thoughts on John 12: 1-8
Since I need a blog for today and need to gather my thoughts on the aforementioned scripture, I thought I might combine the two. First, the verse in ESV:
1Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5"Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" 6He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7Jesus said, "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me."
One thing I got from reading this time around which I've managed to miss before, or forget about if I knew it before, was the part about Judas wanting to sell the ointment, not for the purpose of helping the poor, but so that he could steal some of the proceeds. The theme of this passage is about sacrifice, something Judas knew nothing about. Regardless of Judas' intentions, Jesus insisted they let Mary do as she meant to. It was a sacrifice from her to Jesus.
Many of us in the Christian worship realm have heard of the term "sacrifice of praise" before and thought it meant getting up at 7am on a Sunday to play in the worship band. The notion of having to wake up a little extra early on the weekend, pitted against pouring out every bit of something you have worked a year for seems trivial. If you were to space out your silly sacrifice, it would take you seven years to begin to equal what she did, and even then actually working at a job instead of getting up early, grabbing a latte and going to play five four chord songs is almost always harder. The fact she did this so easily and freely in one moment which would be soon gone speaks of how much she cared for the man who's feet she wiped with her hair. Think about that for a moment, working for a year straight in order to bless one man on one night, then to get down and wipe his nasty feet with your hair. None of us know sacrifice like Mary did, or like King David.
The amazing, wonderful, glorious, redeeming fact behind all of this is that Jesus loves whatever we do actually sacrifice to him. The story of the woman who gave all she had at the offering at the temple, when others were giving sizable sums, she gave what would be the equivalent of dropping a ten in the offering plate when that is every bit of money you had. Jesus saw this and it meant more to Him than all of the other offerings. Mary, if she had the chance would have done the same thing for Jesus if the ointment was worth 10 years' wages. Sacrifice is about giving what we have, withholding nothing.
Let me reiterate, Jesus loves any small sacrifice we give to him. He wants all of us, but is overjoyed when we, in our fragility and humanness, give him only a portion. He knows we are human and imperfect, that is precisely why He completed the work of salvation. In Jesus is completeness. He makes up for our lack.
In conclusion, give all you have. Withhold nothing, for the opening of our eyes to see who He is is what praise is, and this requires sacrifice. "Nothing good has ever come without sacrifice."
Love,
Colton
1Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5"Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" 6He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7Jesus said, "Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. 8For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me."
One thing I got from reading this time around which I've managed to miss before, or forget about if I knew it before, was the part about Judas wanting to sell the ointment, not for the purpose of helping the poor, but so that he could steal some of the proceeds. The theme of this passage is about sacrifice, something Judas knew nothing about. Regardless of Judas' intentions, Jesus insisted they let Mary do as she meant to. It was a sacrifice from her to Jesus.
Many of us in the Christian worship realm have heard of the term "sacrifice of praise" before and thought it meant getting up at 7am on a Sunday to play in the worship band. The notion of having to wake up a little extra early on the weekend, pitted against pouring out every bit of something you have worked a year for seems trivial. If you were to space out your silly sacrifice, it would take you seven years to begin to equal what she did, and even then actually working at a job instead of getting up early, grabbing a latte and going to play five four chord songs is almost always harder. The fact she did this so easily and freely in one moment which would be soon gone speaks of how much she cared for the man who's feet she wiped with her hair. Think about that for a moment, working for a year straight in order to bless one man on one night, then to get down and wipe his nasty feet with your hair. None of us know sacrifice like Mary did, or like King David.
The amazing, wonderful, glorious, redeeming fact behind all of this is that Jesus loves whatever we do actually sacrifice to him. The story of the woman who gave all she had at the offering at the temple, when others were giving sizable sums, she gave what would be the equivalent of dropping a ten in the offering plate when that is every bit of money you had. Jesus saw this and it meant more to Him than all of the other offerings. Mary, if she had the chance would have done the same thing for Jesus if the ointment was worth 10 years' wages. Sacrifice is about giving what we have, withholding nothing.
Let me reiterate, Jesus loves any small sacrifice we give to him. He wants all of us, but is overjoyed when we, in our fragility and humanness, give him only a portion. He knows we are human and imperfect, that is precisely why He completed the work of salvation. In Jesus is completeness. He makes up for our lack.
In conclusion, give all you have. Withhold nothing, for the opening of our eyes to see who He is is what praise is, and this requires sacrifice. "Nothing good has ever come without sacrifice."
Love,
Colton
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