He loves me, He loves me not!!

In the theme of genuine Christianity, I'll be honest sometimes I forget that God loves me. I guess my intellectual self has a hard time not going through periods of doubt. 

We all want to be loved and so since I wasn't so sure that God loved and approved of me, I looked to functional gods to do the trick. I've been reading this book called "No other gods" by Kelly Minter. It's so good. If you are a person, you should read it. Anyway she talks about how we can look to other people to give us the love we desire instead of looking to god. 

This is honestly something I struggle with. I've idolized my parents approval for years and I've idolized my best friend. However, it has been the worst when I'm interested in someone. 

Quite frankly, I'm tired of it. It is exhausting!!

Relying on someone other than God to fill your heart is kinda of like this...

*not my picture btw 

Today on an island, we climbed through these rock caves on the beach. We climbed under rocks and over rocks, through rocks and between rocks. It was quite a workout after a day of busy activities, and when that was done we walked across more beach under some trees into a very pretty area where I found a rock shaped like a heart. Wow!! That's really cool...so I picked it up wanting to take it back to keep. So I had to carry the very heavy rock back through the caves of rocks. Up the stairs and down the stairs, through rocks and under rocks. Then I had to put on my snorkel gear and swim back to our dingy with the not so light rock. 

The burden of longing for love is kinda as heavy as this rock.  I've lugged and dragged my heart too long. 

Jesus said that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. I to be reminded of Gods love for me this week. I mean I found a heart rock that's pretty cool!! However, I want to keep this rock as a reminder that I can't go through life on my own. I can't carry my heart..Jesus can though. 

Just imagine if I could have swam without my rock..I would have had a free hand to hold someone I love. Loving people no longer becomes a burden but a joy. 

When we know Jesus loves us and that He gives us all the love we could ever need than we no longer need to carry our heavy hearts!

I pray that we give our heavy hearts to Jesus so we can know his love more than ever, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light!

A Fake Engagement Ring!

Imagine this…a beautiful charming man gets down on one knee and proposes.  Your heart swells with excitement and you say "Yes." You spend the next few weeks planning your future together and it seems to be a bright one.  

Then, one day you realize that your ring isn't a real diamond and  you confront him.  Yes, a ring is just a ring, but it is also a symbol.  You realize that maybe his love for you isn't genuine or authentic.  He isn't the real deal.  

I tell this story to remind you that we all crave the real, authentic and genuine things.  Some of us in this pursuit find ourselves settling for the superficial, but the superficial never leaves us satisfied.  

So, I am a Christian and because I want something real and genuine it leads me to Christ.  Well, as Christians we are supposed to image Christ to the world.  Our role as Christians are to be real, honest people on the narrow road toward Christ.  

In my next few blog posts I'm going to talk about how important genuine Christianity is in our world especially for those of us who live in an America, and for those reading who are not Christians I might just answer some of your questions.  

So first, why is genuine Christianity so important?  You show how much a item is worth by how much you pay for it correct?  Well as Christians, we are asking non-Christians to give their life for Jesus, now that is a high cost.   

I wouldn't give my life for anything fake just like I wouldn't pay the full price of a diamond for a fake engagement ring.  No!! If I'm going to pay the genuine price, then I expect the fully certified diamond to end up in my hand.

I think that sometimes as Christians we think that the best way to evangelize to people is to show them how perfect our life is.  If we could just tell them that with Jesus that our life is perfect and that everything is happy and great, then they might just want to except Jesus Christ.  Well that isn't true!! 

tbh, life is really hard.  The struggle is real and when your a Christian there is an enemy constantly trying to beat you up.  However, God is with you, and He gives you a hope to know that this life that genuinely sucks isn't what you are living for because you are living for a God who is faithful and will always be there when the world is crashing down all around you.  

When I went to public school, I also felt the need to be a perfect person, and to represent Christ by not showing any weakness.  However, this is contrary to the gospel!  My friend said it perfectly yesterday, "when we declare we are Christians, we are saying that we are so wretched and so sinful that someone had to die for us." That is the genuine gospel.  

Perfect people are intimidating.   I mean if there really was a perfect person.  When we try to be perfect the world is just waiting for us to screw up, which we will.  Yet instead of trying to be perfect, we should be pointing to the perfect God.  

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" 2 Corinthians 12:9

He is glorified when we admit our weaknesses and tell the world that the only hope that we have in being a person that makes less mistakes than we do is because God has saved us from the pit that we have put ourselves in.  

If we are truly a Christian, then we have been honest with ourselves and our God that we are sinners who are dependent on God.  Well, it's time we were honest to the world as well, for this is the only way God can be glorified.  

I will leave you with this thought….Sunsets are beautiful, however the colors that make them so pretty are made by the pollutions in the sky.   If we allow God to shine through our weakness, then we can be something as beautiful as a sunset.  So, lets start being real.