Hey All,
Happy Thanksgiving!
Joke's on you! You get to read my cheesy this is what I'm thankful for blog:
This morning I woke up and my throat was full of phlegm and felt like it was on fire, and my head was hurting and felt like a balloon on the verge of popping, and not too mention I woke up at 6:30. What an awful day, I thought.
Then I was reminded of the people at Kwanzaa Church, a church in the middle of the Mpls Ghetto, a group of people that show up every week and they praise the Lord for breath, at least once a week someone will say that they are happy to be awake, they are experiencing God's blessing through the idea of being awake, they are breathing which reminds them that God is alive and active in them.
So as I rolled of bed I asked myself, "how can I be thankful for today?" and I came to the conclusion that God is alive and active in our lives, as he is in the lives of the Kwanzaa community. We're here, we're breathing, we woke up, and heads up! God is active in your life today, God has been blessing you today, and hold on tight because today he's going to continue to bless you! *Challenge* Today pay attention to the blessings that God has given you.
As I think about how God has blessed my physical body and has spoke life into me today, I can't help but look for God in the spiritual. Again and again I can look at life and feel unsatisfied with who I am, and the lifestyle I am living, even through all the blessing, I'm simply not Good. So I turn to biblegateway.com, and I found this piece of scripture, and now I truly have something to be thankful for.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
How blessed am I that there is a God that loves me so much that when I turn to him, he pulls away my veil and allows me to see him more clearly. How blessed am I that our God is alive and active in not only my physical but my spiritual and he has given me freedom of mind, and freedom of spirit. He has given me the power to break free from the bondage of sin, he has poured a life of power and glory into me. How blessed are we?
This thanksgiving I am most thankful that God isn't done with me yet. Through the power of the holy spirit I am being transformed. Greg Boyd spoke of how today we may look like an acorn, but through the spirit we are created to be the oak that the acorn has become. Today I may not look like an oak tree, but I know that everyday God is alive and active in me working to produce a new and perfect me.
He's calling to produce a new and perfect you, turn to the Lord, let him pull away your veil, and allow God to work in your life as he is working in mine. Because today when you woke up God loved you so much he was alive and active in you, blessing you with life, maybe today is the day for you to turn to the Lord. Be new! Be perfect! Be transformed!
God Bless You
-WIT
Jared
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The Tip of The Tongue
Hey all,
So there is a topic that seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue lately, and especially here in Minnesota with the vote yes, vote no, for the marriage amendment. But for some reason, which I just can't figure out, I have had many people ask me what I think about gay marriage, my stance on homosexuality and what I think the Bible has to say relating to homosexuality and all the things related. So I thought I would say something so people would stop asking me.
I think there are a few different lenses to see this issue from, the lens of the christian, the lens of the homosexual christian and the lens of a normal homosexual person. Regardless of the lens I want to try to bring this into scripture and see if we can draw some answers from some text. So I guess I'll start here.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13
12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. 13 God will judge those on the outside...
Paul is writing here to the Corinthian church, previous to these versus he is telling the church that they need to remove the people in our midst that are claiming to be believers, but are refusing to turn from their sin and submit their lives to Jesus. Then Paul says I can't be the judge to the people that aren't in the church. I believe that this is a very applicable verse to homosexuality because we see and hear so many horror stories about christians telling people that God hates gays, or that gays are going to hell. But I submit to you that, that is not your job. looking at the life of Jesus he never used the threat of hell to help anyone find the truth of him (Jesus). As an end result the christian people are pushing more and more people away from faith than to faith. We do these things and we continuously harden the hearts of all kinds of people that are watching the church. When I look at Jesus I believe that he was the greatest lover of all time and by casting judgement and condemning those outside the kingdom isn't showing the love that Jesus has shown for us. Plus I think it is doing the opposite of what Paul is writing in this passage. Love your brother, love your neighbor, love the sinner, love the homosexual.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
This verse speaks to a lot of sin that we need to turn away from. As we look at homosexuality in the church, we need to see this verse as truth. I have been surrounded by the idea that as christians we have to be practicing our faith or be faithing. John 3:16 says that all who believe will have eternal life, but James 2 says even the demons believe, so are these authors contradicting each other? No. From Bruxy. If you are trapped in a burning building with Jesus and He says follow me I know a way out, if you are faithing you will take off and follow Jesus, and with only belief that Jesus can save you, you will find yourself standing in a burning building. Without faith you will die. We need to be faithing, we need to be practicing our faith, living in a way that when we see something as sin in our life (burning building) we need to walk out of that sin (following Jesus). We can't stand in Jesus and stand in sin. We've all heard a million different ways to say it, where there is light there is no darkness, we have to burn away the hook of sin, but the bottom line is that you cannot choose a lifestyle that is sinful and choose the cross. At what point are we taking God for granted? Sin is disgusting, and we can't be okay with looking at our life and making a conscious decision to choose sin. Some people can't see it as sin and I believe that God is continuously convicting us in different ways and calling out different sin our lives, specific to our walk. But in the same way that God reveals the sin to us, we are called as Christians to be faithing, to walk out of the things we see as sin in our lives. I'll close this section with this, Revelation 3 says that it is better for a person to be hot or cold, but the lukewarm will be spit out. Don't be stagnant, don't settle for lukewarm, and remember that we are called to submit our lives to do all things in the name of the lord, we live to serve the lord, not to serve ourselves or our wants and if we submit to Jesus our wants will look like God's wants.
For the straight christian, let's remember that we aren't called to judge anyone, we are called to love everyone. There are situations in which we need to call out sin in each others lives, but let's do it in love. Remember that we are called to see the plank in our own eye before we see the dust in another's eye. Know that you are sinful and icky just like everyone else, don't become the pharisaic christian. Live in who God is calling you to be first and foremost, and if/when God opens a door for you to talk with the homosexual community, love them as God has loved you, give grace as God has given you grace. Don't condemn people, but point them to the cross. if they are gay or Straight, rich or poor, christian or non-christian, nice or mean, healthy or unhealthy, etc. love them, continuously strive to reveal who Jesus is in the situation, always, ALWAYS point to the cross. Remember that to love someone is to show them truth, God's truth, but do this in love to turn them from their sin as God has loved us to turn us from our sin. When I think about this I am always brought to the image of Jesus in John 8, I picture him reaching down and drawing a line in the sand, tossing me a stone, looking me in the eye and saying, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone." I'm struck with that image and immediately humbled, and I'm reminded God will never call me to throw stones.
I would be interested to hear thoughts, ideas, beliefs, how I was right or wrong, if you have a different scriptural take. If you don't want to comment and have one of the above, I encourage you to send me a facebook message.
-WIT
Jer
So there is a topic that seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue lately, and especially here in Minnesota with the vote yes, vote no, for the marriage amendment. But for some reason, which I just can't figure out, I have had many people ask me what I think about gay marriage, my stance on homosexuality and what I think the Bible has to say relating to homosexuality and all the things related. So I thought I would say something so people would stop asking me.
I think there are a few different lenses to see this issue from, the lens of the christian, the lens of the homosexual christian and the lens of a normal homosexual person. Regardless of the lens I want to try to bring this into scripture and see if we can draw some answers from some text. So I guess I'll start here.
1 Corinthians 5:12-13
12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. 13 God will judge those on the outside...
Paul is writing here to the Corinthian church, previous to these versus he is telling the church that they need to remove the people in our midst that are claiming to be believers, but are refusing to turn from their sin and submit their lives to Jesus. Then Paul says I can't be the judge to the people that aren't in the church. I believe that this is a very applicable verse to homosexuality because we see and hear so many horror stories about christians telling people that God hates gays, or that gays are going to hell. But I submit to you that, that is not your job. looking at the life of Jesus he never used the threat of hell to help anyone find the truth of him (Jesus). As an end result the christian people are pushing more and more people away from faith than to faith. We do these things and we continuously harden the hearts of all kinds of people that are watching the church. When I look at Jesus I believe that he was the greatest lover of all time and by casting judgement and condemning those outside the kingdom isn't showing the love that Jesus has shown for us. Plus I think it is doing the opposite of what Paul is writing in this passage. Love your brother, love your neighbor, love the sinner, love the homosexual.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
This verse speaks to a lot of sin that we need to turn away from. As we look at homosexuality in the church, we need to see this verse as truth. I have been surrounded by the idea that as christians we have to be practicing our faith or be faithing. John 3:16 says that all who believe will have eternal life, but James 2 says even the demons believe, so are these authors contradicting each other? No. From Bruxy. If you are trapped in a burning building with Jesus and He says follow me I know a way out, if you are faithing you will take off and follow Jesus, and with only belief that Jesus can save you, you will find yourself standing in a burning building. Without faith you will die. We need to be faithing, we need to be practicing our faith, living in a way that when we see something as sin in our life (burning building) we need to walk out of that sin (following Jesus). We can't stand in Jesus and stand in sin. We've all heard a million different ways to say it, where there is light there is no darkness, we have to burn away the hook of sin, but the bottom line is that you cannot choose a lifestyle that is sinful and choose the cross. At what point are we taking God for granted? Sin is disgusting, and we can't be okay with looking at our life and making a conscious decision to choose sin. Some people can't see it as sin and I believe that God is continuously convicting us in different ways and calling out different sin our lives, specific to our walk. But in the same way that God reveals the sin to us, we are called as Christians to be faithing, to walk out of the things we see as sin in our lives. I'll close this section with this, Revelation 3 says that it is better for a person to be hot or cold, but the lukewarm will be spit out. Don't be stagnant, don't settle for lukewarm, and remember that we are called to submit our lives to do all things in the name of the lord, we live to serve the lord, not to serve ourselves or our wants and if we submit to Jesus our wants will look like God's wants.
Romans 2:1-4
You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. 2 And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. 3 Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? 4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
I would be interested to hear thoughts, ideas, beliefs, how I was right or wrong, if you have a different scriptural take. If you don't want to comment and have one of the above, I encourage you to send me a facebook message.
-WIT
Jer
Monday, June 4, 2012
To whom it may concern
To whom it may concern,
Jeremiah 3:14 "Return faithless people." Declares the Lord, "For I am your husband. I will choose you."
Psalm 139:19 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb."
Jeremiah 29:10-14 "I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity"
My friend I love you, I love who God has created you to be, and I love who God is in you. But I hate this person you have created. I hate how you have ran away from God's call on your life. Why have you turned your back on your creator? why have you walked away from the truth? Can't you see how the lies have swallowed you? Can't you see how the lies have begun to form your reality?
Escape the lies, "Return faithless people." Find the truth once again. You were once created in the image of your father. Has it been so long that you have forgotten? Has it been so long since you have walked through the garden with your father?
"Return faithless people." Your father calls you, return to him. He knows your truth. He has created you, he longs for you to return once more. Come back to your father's embrace. Can't you see he has created you, and he has chosen to create you.
He has created your inmost being; he has knit you together in your mother's womb. You have been deliberately chosen, you have been specifically created. Return to your father. Can't you trust that the creator knows you more truly than you can know yourself? His truth is waiting for you.
"Return faithless people." your father has chosen you, and he has great plans for you. Your creator has a plan for you. Can you trust in his promises? Can you trust that just as he has chosen you he has chosen a great path for you?
"Return faithless people." Your creator awaits you. Your father longs to walk with you once again. Call on your father, pray to your father, he will listen. seek your father for if you seek him with all your heart you will find him. He will choose you, he will love you, he will show you the truth. Don't be afraid, embrace your father. step away from your lies, live in the freedom of truth.
"Return faithless people."
-WIT
Jared
Jeremiah 3:14 "Return faithless people." Declares the Lord, "For I am your husband. I will choose you."
Psalm 139:19 "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb."
Jeremiah 29:10-14 "I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity"
My friend I love you, I love who God has created you to be, and I love who God is in you. But I hate this person you have created. I hate how you have ran away from God's call on your life. Why have you turned your back on your creator? why have you walked away from the truth? Can't you see how the lies have swallowed you? Can't you see how the lies have begun to form your reality?
Escape the lies, "Return faithless people." Find the truth once again. You were once created in the image of your father. Has it been so long that you have forgotten? Has it been so long since you have walked through the garden with your father?
"Return faithless people." Your father calls you, return to him. He knows your truth. He has created you, he longs for you to return once more. Come back to your father's embrace. Can't you see he has created you, and he has chosen to create you.
He has created your inmost being; he has knit you together in your mother's womb. You have been deliberately chosen, you have been specifically created. Return to your father. Can't you trust that the creator knows you more truly than you can know yourself? His truth is waiting for you.
"Return faithless people." your father has chosen you, and he has great plans for you. Your creator has a plan for you. Can you trust in his promises? Can you trust that just as he has chosen you he has chosen a great path for you?
"Return faithless people." Your creator awaits you. Your father longs to walk with you once again. Call on your father, pray to your father, he will listen. seek your father for if you seek him with all your heart you will find him. He will choose you, he will love you, he will show you the truth. Don't be afraid, embrace your father. step away from your lies, live in the freedom of truth.
"Return faithless people."
-WIT
Jared
Monday, April 9, 2012
Oh Greg you're fantastic!
Real briefly,
Today I was listening to Greg Boyd I listened to two different sermons at work today and it was kind of what I needed, didn't answer any questions, but it definitely set me on track.
One idea that I loved was the idea that the sun is always shining. Always, sometimes it on the other side of the world, or maybe it's hiding behind some clouds, but the sun is still shining. God is the sun! so when we can't see the sun we know that the sun is still there but we need to figure out why we can't see the sun. So as I was listening I was thinking, I don't feel like the sun is shining in my life. Where is my sun, or what is my sun hiding behind? That is the question.
The second idea was that as Christians we are living in God. God is in us, and around us. We are filled with the glory of God right now. Even though we may not see the sun, it's still there. In you and in me. Continuous flow of the King in us! It's fantastic.
For me I think that I need to focus on that, seeing God here now, in me. Experiencing God in the now and allowing myself to follow where he is taking me, and not trying to plot out something, but instead letting it flow.
-God Bless-
Monday, January 9, 2012
a little something for me
I guess as of late it has been an uphill battle, fighting the person I am. Is it ok to hate yourself? I have to say yes, because over the last month it is safe to say that I hate my life and the person I am in it. I think it is important to distinguish between who and I am, and the person I am. I think that we can all look at this distinction and see that there is truth of both people in us. Just as we are our own worst critics, I think we are continuously battling the idea that we are never truly satisfied with who we are. We all have pieces to the puzzle of life, but how often do we put the pieces together scrambled? How often does the true and intimate version of ourselves get hidden by the person we have created?
Now I am trapped in the person I’ve created hiding some of the most vivid pieces of who I need to be. I suck right now. When I look out at life I can’t see who I am, I can’t see myself. It is a terrible thing to stop and look into your life and see the things you’re missing. Sometimes we respond to how life is and we just respond poorly, other times we just make bad decisions and run with it until we reach a breaking point.
For me, I know that I have some pieces that look like my dad and some pieces that look like my mom. I seem to do my to exemplify my mom’s pieces and try to hide my dad’s. Obviously as a response to who my dad was for me. The problem is that my dad has a lot of great pieces. It’s just that as I was growing up he didn’t use a lot of his pieces the right way. So now I can’t help but try to reject them so that I don’t live like he did. But now I look at how he has made the choice to change his life in order use his pieces appropriately and I can’t help but want to use my pieces the way that he is using his. My dad wrote in my Christmas card this year, knowing where I am, he said something along the lines of Jared your young, and I’m so proud of you, but remember you’re going to make mistakes. For the rest of your life you’re going to be trying to figure it out. Man was he right.
We’re always going to be able to look at ourselves and think crap I’m messed up, but we have to understand that we never have to be that person again. We have every right to change the person we’ve created, the person you are doesn’t have to exist anymore. We all have been uniquely designed to be who we are, so stop hiding your pieces, and figure out how they fit. Hey, life’s a bitch and sometimes we miss out on who we are, but don’t live in it, change it. Be who God has created you to be. Stop hating the yourself, and be made new.
Now I am trapped in the person I’ve created hiding some of the most vivid pieces of who I need to be. I suck right now. When I look out at life I can’t see who I am, I can’t see myself. It is a terrible thing to stop and look into your life and see the things you’re missing. Sometimes we respond to how life is and we just respond poorly, other times we just make bad decisions and run with it until we reach a breaking point.
For me, I know that I have some pieces that look like my dad and some pieces that look like my mom. I seem to do my to exemplify my mom’s pieces and try to hide my dad’s. Obviously as a response to who my dad was for me. The problem is that my dad has a lot of great pieces. It’s just that as I was growing up he didn’t use a lot of his pieces the right way. So now I can’t help but try to reject them so that I don’t live like he did. But now I look at how he has made the choice to change his life in order use his pieces appropriately and I can’t help but want to use my pieces the way that he is using his. My dad wrote in my Christmas card this year, knowing where I am, he said something along the lines of Jared your young, and I’m so proud of you, but remember you’re going to make mistakes. For the rest of your life you’re going to be trying to figure it out. Man was he right.
We’re always going to be able to look at ourselves and think crap I’m messed up, but we have to understand that we never have to be that person again. We have every right to change the person we’ve created, the person you are doesn’t have to exist anymore. We all have been uniquely designed to be who we are, so stop hiding your pieces, and figure out how they fit. Hey, life’s a bitch and sometimes we miss out on who we are, but don’t live in it, change it. Be who God has created you to be. Stop hating the yourself, and be made new.
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