I heard someone say the other day how thankful we should be that we don’t serve a mean, vicious, spiteful, or angry God. We don’t serve a God of ancient Greek mythology who meddles in our lives for self-gratification or, worse, out of boredom.
No, we should be thankful because we serve a good God–a kind, generous, faithful God. I’ll admit, though, that I had never really contemplated the fact that our God could have been some other type of God. He could have been a mean, forgetful, neglectful God.
And what if He was? What if God treated us the way we treat Him? It’s not a perfect, apples-to-apples comparison, but play along anyway.
When I thought of Jesus, I used to think of a lover. He is the lover of our souls, after all. When we see images or interpretations of Jesus in Biblical times, He is always portrayed as gentle, kind, and loving. I always used to imagine Him almost whispering His parables, as if to say, “Hush, still your hearts, quiet yourselves before me, and listen to what I am saying…shhh.”
We have all seen the stereotypical Jesus painting: The Son of Man, in a white flowing robe, with children, sheep, or both, strewn around His feet.
Today’s guest post comes from my friend Destiny Alfonso, who is not only lovely herself, but has a stylish blog called A Place for Us. She blogs about home decor, entertaining, and all things beautiful (If you’re into decor like me, be sure to check her out). She also happens to love Jesus and so I invited her to share with us today.
…Or Jane. Average is a word that’s followed me most of my life. I’ve always thought of myself as an average girl. Not horribly bad,not angelically good. Just average.
Maybe it’s because I had two super smart siblings, one older and one younger, who were both labeled “gifted a”t an early age. Meanwhile, I had undiagnosed panic attacks during those gruesome second grade multiplication tests.
But then again it might be because while straight A’s put students on the honor roll, I brought home a mixture of A’s and B’s and the dreaded C. I was on the average roll.
Throughout high school I lived for sports. Volleyball was my passion.During the off season I ran on the track team. I certainly wasn’t the worst person on the team. Nor did I ever come in last place in a race. But the best? First place? Eh. Just average.
I also love music. I played the clarinet and used that knowledge to teach myself to play the piano. I remember recording myself on my pink and teal boom box singing Brandy and Monica “That Boy is Mine”… It was ok. Not GREAT. Actually, it was pretty funny. Yep… just average.
It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized that I was labeling myself average. Every time I would try something new and have some success at it I would find myself saying, well, you’re not the best so maybe this isn’t for you.
I have trust issues. I’ll be the first to admit it. I don’t always go around parading my trust issues on a big, grand, tissue-covered float, but they are there nonetheless…just beneath the surface.
I’m pretty good at appearing to be trusting. I nod my head when people say they love me, or care about me, or will pray for me, but somewhere deep inside, in the quiet places no one likes to talk about, I doubt everything you say.
Sure, you love me, Sure, you care about me. Sure, you’ll pray for me…right.
I mean, I want to trust you. I want to believe every single word you say, but it just ain’t happening. I don’t trust you. Here’s why…Continue reading I Don’t Trust You…
People usually fall into two different camps. There are those who long for the past–who drift in reminiscing and nostalgia and can never seem to escape yesterday. And then there are those who look optimistically to the future–daydreaming of the things to come, never looking backwards, but also never feeling settled in the present.
I guess I am more of a look-to-the-future-type-girl. My life has always been marked by daydreaming and wondering about the “what if’s” and the “somedays.”
Yet, here I sit typing a blog I had never intended on starting, having a third baby I wasn’t sure I wanted, spending my days as a stay home mom–a position, at one time, I wholeheartedly resisted.
You would think daydreaming about tomorrow would be my solace, my sanity, my refuge. But the more I try to conjure up visions of the future, the more right now seems less appealing and less satisfying.
God is the Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. But lately, He is wanting to impress upon me something more. There is another side to Him that I keep missing.Continue reading The God of Now
Shortly after becoming a Christian, while sitting in church one Sunday morning, my pastor gave a sermon that helped shape my view about sin forever.
He asked us to imagine that God had declared a day, Free Sin Day (which he pointed out would of course never happen). On Free Sin Day, we believers could commit whatever sin we wanted with no consequences or repercussions. We were absolutely free to sin that day, no shame, no guilt, no worry.
My best friend who was sitting next to me looked over at me. She smiled. I smiled. We both knew exactly what the other one was thinking. I knew what sin she would commit and she knew what sin I would commit. Continue reading Free Sin Day
Today’s post is a guest post from one of my favorite bloggers, Rachel of The Lazy Christian . She writes with great wit, heart, honesty, and truth. She might be my blogging soul-mate. I am excited to introduce her to you. If you don’t already know her, you should! (Did you catch her cleverness in the title?)
Oh, no. I’m about to end a sentence with a preposition, which I hate to do, but it has to be done:
What are you afraid of?
Me, I seem to be afraid of a lot of things. Misplaced prepositions, for one. Kidding! I think the biggest problem with my fears is that I can’t tell if they are irrational or not. I have a fear of wrongful imprisonment, which is a little irrational. I just think I watched The Hurricane one too many times in college. I have a fear of someone breaking into my house. That’s probably not irrational. It’s something that happens fairly frequently, and it may have been borne out of my desire to protect my family. In that vein, I also fear things happening to my husband and son which is—rational?
See, I have a hard time making the distinction. Part of me thinks that the quantity of worrying associated with a particular fear directly relates to how rational it is. The more I worry, the less rational the fear becomes. Does the likelihood of a fear materializing increase its rationality?
So much talk among Christians revolves around “getting” and “gaining.” God gave me this. God gave me that.
So much of our Christian life is focused on the things we’ve received: freedom, hope, peace, a future. Of course these are all things worth being excited about. But the Christian life is also about giving up things. This is the part people are less quick to talk about.
Yet this is the part I think Jesus talked more about. Losing our life…not getting stuff from Him. Being a Christian is not simply a list of tings God has done for us. It is more so about being losers. If you call yourself a follower of Christ than you should also be prepared to call yourself a loser…
You see, the Cross means losing. The Cross is not only, or simply, about gaining a new life in Christ, but rather losing your life to find it.
When you think of danger, what comes to mind? James Bond? Racing cars? A haircut at Great Clips? Or perhaps the ever-gripping-television-phenomena, Ice Road Truckers?
When I think of danger, I think of “Mayday, mayday! Get out of the way!” To me, the word danger signifies a potential danger, something to come. I tell my kids not to cross the street alone or to touch the stove because it is a “danger.” It is the trouble that could come from not obeying the rules.
The word “danger” and Christian are not often associated unless someone is, unfortunately and incorrectly, stereotyping Christians. Christians are thought to be kind, gentle-natured, loving folks. Or they are portrayed as hypocritical, judging, fundamental, big-fat meanies. But can a Christian be dangerous and should they be? Continue reading The Dangerous Christian
I’ve known so many. I’ve met so many believers who are alone. Alone in the Body. Alone in their thinking and doctrine. Alone in their expression of church.
We all know them–the person who doesn’t attend church or isn’t part of any church community. The person who walks around feeling isolated even among other Christ-followers. The person who is rejected or misunderstood for whatever reason.
I heard someone say the other day how thankful we should be that we don’t serve a mean, vicious, spiteful, or angry God. We don’t serve a God of ancient Greek mythology who meddles in our lives for self-gratification or, worse, out of boredom.
