Understanding Love undeserved....

     Its Easter afternoon, and am I at church? Sadly no, im on my Lunch break at Apple. Although its a great thing because I just had an epiphany of sorts. I read another blog just a moment ago from my buddy César, who i really consider to be a brother rather than a "good friend". Its a little lengthy, but its definitely worth the read. You can read it here, the Blog entry is titled: "You were created to be loved and accepted". Reading that prompted me to post this entry in my blog. Basically in response, or adding my thoughts on what he wrote on. The jest of it pretty much is the title of the entry; You were created to be loved and accepted. But, beyond that he goes into the fact that a lot of us don't understand that at all, and a lot of our everyday issues stem from that misunderstanding. 

Ephesians 2:8-10

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

     I believe a lot of us don't "understand" what God has done for us because He did it out of Grace. Grace is an unmerited favor. A LOVE thats un-deserved, and a perfect description of God’s interaction with us. The reason we miss this is because a lot of us operate spiritually out of a sense of entitlement or selfishness, even Christ followers and Christians. By Nature we see everything in light of a “what’s in it for me?” mentality. Because of that mentality, we presume upon God’s grace, and we forget our true sinfulness and guilt. This presumption assumes that God in fact owes US something. Thinking about it, I know ive felt that way sometimes, we all have. We begin thinking God owes us salvation because we go to church every Wednesday, Saturday, and 4 times on every Sunday. We always give everything we can afford to the church, and because of that we believe God owes us an economically stable life because we aren’t bad like everyone else. We don’t curse, drink, or vote for the wrong political candidates. Then I realized that this mentality is absolutely ridiculous. That mentality really boils down to this: "Since im great and goto church, do everything right, ect. God OWES me salvation". God owes you…. Do you realize how amazingly stupid that sounds? God owes you?? No, the reality is that we are his workmanship, created in His image to do good works. WE OWE God everything, while he owes us NOTHING! We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. 

     Jesus, I pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal any pride in my heart concerning your salvation, and remove from me. I pray that you will use me as an example to my family and friends of what Life following you should be. 

Amen.

Foundation Check....

     I have a friend at work that I always talk to. He questions me all the time about my faith, Jesus, etc. Not in a bad way though, more like he's curious, looking for a "reason" to believe, but wants proof i guess. For the sake of animosity, we'll call my friend "Bob". Bob stumped me today with a question. Its a fairly simple question in itself, but was difficult to for me to answer on the spot. Its probably one you've heard before, i know i have, but never really thought about it and i've never had anyone ask me directly. 

     He said, "So, if God really exists, why does he let all the recent tragedies happen? like the Haiti earthquake, the Tsunami in Japan, etc.?" 

     I didn't have anything for him there, i was caught completely off guard by it. we usually have great conversations together, and he's genuinely intrigued with what i have to say most of the time. but today, i had nothing for him but a blank stare for a few seconds, which seemed like forever. I then tried to explain, but i was fumbling over my words, going back and forth, i don't even remember what i was saying. He ended up cutting me off and said, "You know what, bro? Just get back to me on that one, ok?" I think he was amused at my attempt to explain, since he was laughing at my apparent sudden inability to to speak in complete sentences. it was embarrassing to a degree. 

     So, i came home tonight searching through my Bible. Of course, i remember what im looking for when i come home, not when i needed it earlier! It was in the book of Luke, and it took me fore ever to find it. It was the Parable of the Two Foundations. Its a little long, so ill link it here for you: Luke 6:47-49

     We focus on the foundation of the man whose house was built on the rock, obviously. He obeys the words of Jesus and his house stays up. But, we tend to ignore the fact that this man STILL does go through the storm. Both of these men go through the same storm, but there is a different outcome for each.  The only difference is their foundation. Following Jesus isn’t about everything being great and not having any storms. Its is about weathering the storms WITH Jesus as our foundation.  Jesus never said that who ever listens and follows him wont go through any "storms". He says that the man who listens and follows will be able to make it through the storms because he has Jesus as his foundation. Look under your feet, do a Foundation check!

Instant Gratification....

     If you think about it, our lives today have become pretty easy, no matter how busy or complicated your life is. We have become the "Now Generation". We don’t know what it means to wait for something anymore. If we want food, simply go get fast food. New album came out? Why spend time going to the store and buying it, when you can download it to your computer instantly? Whats your best friend doing right this second? Check their twitter/facebook or send them a quick text. Its all instant gratification. We have became a people who consume food, gossip, entertainment, news, and so on. 

     Unfortunately I've noticed that sometimes we look at God with the "Instant Gratification" mind set. We go to church because we know we can get an amazing worship experience. We don’t have to do anything the music is selected already, and we don’t have to think about the Bible because we are told precisely what acknowledge. Now don't get me wrong; These are excellent things to have and look for in church. But, the problem is that it can create an "Instant Gratification" mentality of God if you don't do your part in growing your relationship with Jesus. This not only deals with our experience at church, but our personal experience as we read the Bible individually. For instance: I gave away my study bible a while back because I realized that it gave me the answer I was looking for, or it explained to me the meaning of a given passage right away; rather than me actually taking the time to reflect on what I read, and discovering on my own what God wanted me to take away from it. Again, I'm not saying, "Go throw away your study bible!" Not by any means. It's  not bad resource, but it can cause us to be dependent the instant gratification aspect, instead of being dependent on God. 

"Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight on all of this."

      2Timothy 2:7

     In 2Timothy chapter 2, Paul is giving instructions to Timothy. The instructions were hard to understand, but I realized that Paul didn’t want Timothy to just depend on him. Instead, he knew Timothy should depend on God and the Holy Spirit that was in Him. 

When you read your bible, think over what you have read and ask God to give you the understanding. 

     When I first started going to church, I just believed what people told me about what they got out of reading certain passages of the Bible. But, as I've grown closer to Jesus, I've realized that I get a greater greater joy in God’s word when I think and pray over it, than just read or listen to what others have said of it. 

Be careful that you don’t become a simple "consumer of God."