Transcending Earth to Heaven's Transforming Light

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is –his good pleasing and perfect will.

Our thoughts, words and actions can take us places we’ve never been.  We can think, talk, and act our way into a dark place and allow our souls to dwell there or we can choose to think, talk, and act our way into the light where everything is fresh and new.  Only on mountain tops can you see the furthest vistas, the sun rise and set and what once looked like the largest obstacle now seems minute.  I want my mind to live there, on the mountaintops. But what if there was a better view?  Heaven, yes, from Heaven’s perspective, that must be the best view where even Earth finds its place amongst the stars and the planets dance in perfect harmony. 

From Heaven’s view all of the worries of Earth seem but a speck on the massive scale of time of which is eternity.  

From Heaven’s view, you might ask the question, what is worth holding onto and what is just sand slipping through our fingers?  The dark places still exist on earth but the light, that light that illuminates those dark places, that everlasting light from Heaven’s throne, surely there is no better vista.  I want my thoughts, words, and actions to not only live there but be propelled from there bathed in the light of my Creator, who’s transforming me from the dark places and into his glorious light. 

My thoughts, words, and actions need transformation to keep me from the dark paths and places.  God’s word has the answer.  Colossians 3:1-2 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

It begins with setting our hearts and minds on things above.  

Focusing on what is lasting and eternal verses the temporal.  To put this another way, what are we going to take with us when we die?  Those things that we can’t take are the temporal things, the sand that will continually slip through our fingers.  No matter how hard we try to grasp, those things will always evade eternity.

Once we shift our focus to the lasting and eternal, then we as believers are to choose to put on our new self which is in the process of renewal by the knowledge of God.  God’s knowledge is found in every word throughout the Bible.  Next we are to daily put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  We are also to forgive each other and to put on love as a part of this daily renewal.  Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Transformation by renewing my mind is a process and it’s a journey worth taking.  This journey will take me to new places I’ve never been.  I’ve challenged myself to focus on the transformative knowledge of God that I wrote about in this blog above.  I’m focusing on one virtue a week, meditating on that virtue and letting it sink deep into my soul and allowing it to transform my thoughts, words and actions. I’m choosing to do this until I can put on these virtues daily whilst keeping them in mind throughout my day. Will you join me?

Week 1: compassion

Week 2: kindness

Week 3: humility

Week 4: gentleness

Week 5: patience

Week 6: forgiveness

Week 7: love

What other ways, through the knowledge of God, do you renew your mind?  What are other ways you focus on things above verses the things of earth?

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LOVE

Have you ever asked yourself, “What does it mean to be a Christian?”  There are millions of people around the world that claim that label for themselves, yet that label seems to send a confusing message. 

We hear of people who kill others because they say God told them to; claiming they are Christians.  Alternatively, we hear of people who serve others generously with their time and resources. 

We have friends who gossip constantly about others who claim Christianity.  Then again, we know of a select few who never gossip and hold their tongue when it comes to others weaknesses. 

What about others who protest with literal messages of Hate written on signs who claim they are Followers of Christ?  Contrasting the message of Hate, we quietly search for the few who will stand for truth in Love.

No wonder the world pushes away the idea of being a Christian, which is simply a Follower of Christ.  Why is the negative seemingly so dominant?  Why isn’t Love being loudly proclaimed from every Christian life? 

John 13:34-35

³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  This is a command from Jesus himself!  When others see Christians they should see Love. 

Love.  As you and I both know, there are many forms of Love.  So if Followers of Christ are to show Love to others, what form of Love would set believers apart from others who don’t follow Jesus? There are people I know who happen to be Atheists that display Love better than some Christians I know.  So what kind of Love is Jesus talking about?

He is talking about a self-less kind of Love, the kind of Love where you don’t expect to get anything in return.  I’m talking about where the person you are showing Love to couldn’t repay you physically, emotionally, or monetarily.  That is the form of Love that Jesus took on the cross.  John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

God demonstrated his Love for ALL people when he gave Jesus as a sacrifice for our punishment for sin.

You see the form of Love that Jesus commands us to live out is a self-less, sacrificing of ourselves kind of Love.  Do you claim the label of Christian for yourself?  Are you living out the kind of Love that Jesus commands us to?  If you haven’t been, then start TODAY!  Find one person this week that you can show Love to that will cause you to sacrifice something (time, money, emotional investment) and with no benefit to you.  Then tell me and others who read this blog in the comments section if you took action and did it!

Let’s show the world what being a Christian really means, LOVE.

Baby, I Aint No Angel

While I realize “aint” isn’t a word, I tend to hear people use it every so often.  I suppose that it’s more of a representation of an attitude then the assumed meaning of “am not” and that’s why I’m using it in my blog title.

Most people consider the term “Angel” as a compliment, for example, “Doesn’t she look just like a little angel?” or how about “You’re such an angel” or even being termed “Angel” as a pet name by a husband or a boyfriend.  When in fact, to be considered or called an angel is quite an insult!

Angels play out many roles in the Bible, such as messengers of good news, destruction, comfort, and prophecy.  But did you know that in 1 Corinthians 6:3, the bible says that “Do you not know that we will judge angels?...” (NIV)  Wow!  We will judge the angels at the end of time.  God has placed us as believers in a place of authority over angels.

Not only that, they are sent by God to serve us.  This is found in Hebrews 1:14 “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (NIV) 

Finally in Hebrews 2:5-9, it seems like the author is placing angels at a higher level of importance than we are as people, but as you will read, that’s not the truth.

 “It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified:

   “What is mankind that you are mindful of them,

   a son of man that you care for him?

You made them a little lower than the angels;

   you crowned them with glory and honor

 and put everything under their feet.”

   In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (NIV)

So in this last verse we see that angels are subject to us as believers in Christ and not only that, but Jesus died for us, not for the salvation of angels.

God holds us in a higher regard than angels, and we need to think of ourselves that way too.  God made the angels to serve him and his people, God made us for relationship with Him.  We are loved, we are unique, and we are God’s special creation.

So the next time someone calls you an Angel, let them know, you’re better than that.  Let them know the love of God for his unique creation, YOU!

Gardening 101: Weed Prevention

In the past I have struggled with gardening; pulling out weeds over and over every week, frustrated with the fact that they just keep coming back no matter what I do.  I tried to prevent those darn weeds by pulling them but it wasn’t until I washed (so to speak) those weeds with a liquid weed killer that I finally got results.  Have you ever had that problem?  Not only are there weeds in our physical world but in our spiritual world as well.

In Matthew 13:37-39 Jesus tells us that the world is like a field and there has been planted good seed by God and weed seed by the Devil.  In fact, the bible goes on to say that at the end of the age, every weed is pulled up and thrown into a fiery furnace to be burned up. (Matt. 13:40-42, Matt. 15:13)  Yikes!!

“Lord, I don’t want to be a weed.” 

(This was a short little prayer I wrote when I originally did this study in 2009.)

So to prevent becoming a weed, first you have to know what a weed looks like.

Weeds are:

Planted by the enemy of our souls (Matt. 13:39)

Offended by the truth (Matt. 15:12)

People who follow religious teachings and rules meant to control the lives of others (Matt. 15:9)

People who honor Jesus with their words, but their hearts don’t know him at all (Matt. 15:8)

People who have an “unclean” heart and speak out of that (Matt. 15:18,19)

What is “unclean”?

   -Evil thoughts

   -Murder

   -Adultery

   -Sexual immorality

   -Theft

   -False testimony

   -Slander

-Whoa!  Wait a second, you might be thinking….”Hey, I have done some of these things on this list.”  Well you know what? So have I!  The good news is that time isn’t up yet; you still have time to ask God to forgive you and then move on.  Don’t continue in that behavior and it will be as if you never did anything at all.

One last thing to add to what weeds are:

Everything that causes sin (Matt. 13:41)

So that last sentence pretty much sums it up.  Unless you have led a perfect life, you are a weed.  So what can be done?  Now that we know what a weed looks like, how do we prevent ourselves from living the life of a weed?

The answer:  Get into relationship with Jesus Christ, the gardener of our souls.  Let him wash you with forgiveness, washing away all of those weed qualities and turning you into good seed.

The Gardener knows we aren’t perfect, so he is always waiting to restore us to the good seed that we are intended to be.  So what’s stopping you from your weed prevention? 

"Who is SALT?"

You might remember a movie that came out last year, 2010, with this tag line at the end of the trailer, "Who is SALT?" with the movie title as "SALT", it starred Angelina Jolie as a US agent named Evelyn Salt accused of being a sleeper Russian agent. It was a constant questioning of the character's identity, was she really a true blooded US agent or was she a secret agent for Russia?  SALT was a woman with unique abilities, mysterious abilities and no one really knew who she truly was.  She was very effective at what she did, flawlessly executing her plan to reveal the truth of who she was.  You might say that SALT was trying to regain her true self, her flavor, her uniqueness. 

I myself at times have questioned who I am, who I truly am.  Do I appear as one type of person one day and the complete opposite the next?  Are the words that I am speaking holding true to who I truly am, or are they reinforcing an image of someone that I am pretending to be?  Do people really know the real me?

Quote from the movie SALT: "Do you think everyone is who they say they are?"- Evelyn Salt.

The bible says that if you are a follower of Jesus Christ then we are SALT (Capitals are added).

Matthew 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses it's saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

This statement made by Jesus really got me thinking, I certainly didn't want to be "thrown out and trampled underfoot" or in other words, discarded and worthless.  I want to be the type of believer who makes a difference in this world for Christ, so I decided to find out how I could avoid ending up in this situation.  I started researching salt, Dead Sea salt (that's where the salt in that region came from, the Dead Sea) and as I was researching salt, and trying to figure out how salt could lose it's saltiness or it's flavor, I came upon several answers that aren't totally certain.  Some websites say that Dead Sea salt can lose it's saltiness when mixed with other molecules creating a whole new molecule, and some say that when you add minerals to your salt, it has become impure and now no longer in it's pure salt form.....this is just too technical for me!  So then I found a quote based off of the usage of sea salt in food, (now this I can relate to)!

Quote from eHow Health:

However, the Food Network states sea salts are "usually expensive; it is worth keeping in mind that they lose their unique flavor when cooked or dissolved," making them a better choice for sprinkling on top of food than using as an ingredient in a recipe

Read more: The Advantages of Sea Salt | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_6016836_advantages-sea-salt.html#ixzz1SsBWqMag

Ah-ha!  So when you cook or dissolve salt in food, it loses it's flavor or it's saltiness!  Sea salt has a uniqueness about it, just like us as followers of Jesus.  When we, as SALT, are not living out who our true selves are in Christ, then we are just simply cooking and dissolving away our flavor or our effectiveness.  The bible says that if we continue in this way, then we will be discarded for we are good for absolutely nothing in the Kingdom of Christ.  The good news is it it's not too late, as long as we have life in us, we can make a decision to change; repent.  Start living out our true selves.

So to answer the question, "Who is SALT?", it is you and I as believers in Christ.  Are you who you say you are?  Are you living out your true self?  Maybe you are in the process of regaining your identity just like Evelyn Salt, don't give up, find out who you truly are in Christ by asking Jesus himself and make that change.

Feel free to comment, what changes have you made to reveal more of your true self as SALT?

How to Live a Life Set Apart by God

In my last blog, I talked about the beatitudes, and Jesus described how we ARE set apart from the world.  You might ask yourself, "Well, if Jesus sees me that way, how in the world am I to live that out in today's society?"  You can find the answer to that question in Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 through the end of chapter 7.  So let's break it down....and I encourage you to read Matthew for yourself and see what the Lord is saying to you.


How to Live a Life Set Apart:

1. By letting our light (our good deeds) shine before all men
2. By practicing and teaching the Ten Commandments
3. By not being angry with another person
4. By not lusting after another person
5. By not divorcing unless there has been unfaithfulness within the contract of marriage
6. By doing what we say we are going to do; follow through
7. By not responding to the insults of another and if that same person asks anything of you, bless them
8. By loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you
9. By giving to the needy in SECRET, not bragging about it or announcing it to others
10. By praying sincerely and humbly, not to impress others with your words; pray the Lord's Prayer forgiving everyone
11. By fasting in a humble manner, not bragging about it or announcing it; dressing like you would normally do taking care of yourself
12. By using your wealth for things that have eternal value
13. By living free of worry about your financial future
14. By being wise in what you say before others and not judging them in a hipocritical way
15. By treating others the way you want to be treated
16. By expecting good gifts from our Heavenly Father when we ask (an example to others of our faith)
17. By thinking of others before yourself
18. By being in relationship with God; knowing him, and doing his will not ours, even if our desire is for something spiritual, if it's not God's will for us to be involved in that activity we are not demonstrating a life set apart

We not only need to HEAR the words of Jesus in this Sermon on the Mt., but also PUT THEM INTO PRACTICE.  Our lives will remain indestructable in times of storm and will be an example for all to see. (Matt. 7:24-27)


So tell me, have you had experience in any of these areas and been blessed because of it?  I want to hear from you......

How Followers of Jesus are Set Apart by God

Have you ever been casually reading the bible and come across the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5?  What in the world is a beatitude? - I don't think I've ever used that word my whole life!  Well the Beatitudes are a part of a very important sermon that Jesus himself gave, so this word is worth looking into.


The word Beatitude is defined as: Supreme Blessedness; Sainthood; Saintliness.  -Ok...I don't use any of those words on a daily basis either, but after reading in Matthew chapter 5 verses 1-11 the word that I can most easily connect with is Supreme Blessedness.


You might be asking yourself, how does this relate to me as a follower of Jesus?  Well the scripture starts off by saying that Jesus sat down and began to teach the disciples the following beatitudes or rather the supreme blessedness/blessings.  -Can we just shorten this to blessings, so from now on I will refer to each beatitude as a "blessing." Lets take a look at each blessing that Jesus is teaching about and soon we will begin to see how we are set apart by God just through relationship with him.

• Verse 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (NIV) 

- The blessing here is not to be "poor in spirit" or humble, but the blessing is the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven.  When we come into a new relationship to follow Christ, it involves humility on our part.  It's not easy for us to surrender our own way of thinking, and our own way of living to follow the path that Jesus has for us.  It begins with salvation.

• Verse 4 "Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted." (NIV)

- The blessing here is again, not in the "mourning" but in the comfort that will be provided by God through the Holy Spirit.  We will all go through times of mourning, but in that process, ask yourself if you are finding comfort in the Lord or in other things.  When we are in relationship with Jesus as a follower that is one of indicators that you are in relationship with him.

• Verse 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

- "Inherit the earth" is one of the blessings given to Abraham in Genesis and now is a blessing spoken over the followers of Jesus.  This is not only a actual inheriting of land or prosperity, but also a much broader term for God's promises.

• Verse 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

- When we seek righteousness or right and moral living, we will have it; righteousness is a blessing.

• Verse 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

- We all need mercy, and as followers of Jesus we all have the capability of showing mercy towards others and in return receive mercy.

• Verse 8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

- Well you might think to yourself that this one will count us out for the whole thing!  "Pure in heart" sounds impossible right?  Well hold it right there, if you have made a decision to follow Jesus, surrendering your life to him, then all of the impure things in your life was settled at the cross.  Jesus has taken ALL of our impurities and washed us as white as snow.  So when God looks at us, he sees a pure heart.  Everything that we repent for has been forgotten by God -and when I say forgotten, it an on purpose kind of forgotten.  The blessing is in the promise that we "will see God."  

• Verse 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."

- If you are a follower of Jesus, then you are already a son or a daughter of God.  So if you are a son or a daughter of God then you are a peacemaker.  It is in you, placed there through relationship with Jesus.

• Verse 10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

- I personally didn't really like this blessing at first, it doesn't sound like much of a blessing....I mean, persecution, who wants that?  But it is NOT a blessing to be persecuted because of our right and moral living, but the blessing is the kingdom of heaven.  So why the persecution?  Well if you look closely the words are "persecuted because of righteousness."  Righteousness isn't something only done by actions, but it is also something we just are because Christ has made us righteous by his GRACE.  (Remember the  pure heart from earlier?) So in deciding to follow Jesus, we are made righteous and therefore will be persecuted. -It just comes with the territory so to speak and as heirs to the kingdom of heaven as a child of the King of Kings.

• Verse 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me."

- Again, not sounding so good, huh?  This persecution comes not just from who we are in Christ, but by what we do for Him, this is found in the words, "because of me." "Because of me" refers to the acts that Jesus Christ does through us. This type of persecution will result in blessings as we will see in the following verse.

• Verse 12 "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

- The prophets took action; they spoke, they demonstrated, dreamed all with the power of God moving through them.  I believe this is the type of "because of me" acts that Jesus is referring to that brings persecution.

Now did you notice one little change in the wording through the Beatitudes?  It went from a generic message of "blessed are the (fill in the blank)" to "blessed are YOU" (emphasis mine).  We have received and we ARE in Christ all of these things: (v.3) Humility, (v.4) The Holy Spirit, (v.5) God's Promises, (v.6) Holiness, (v.7) Mercy, (v.8) Intimacy with God, (v.9) Authority, (v.10) Royalty, (v.11) Power of God in Us.

We ARE these things through relationship with Christ through his amazing grace, there is absolutely no way for us to receive any of these blessings if we had to do anything to receive them.  The only thing we had to do was to get into relationship with Jesus, that's it.  So how are we set apart by God?  The answer is we already are just by knowing him.  

Get that deep down in your soul, know that you have everything that God desires you to be already planted within you the moment you made a decision to follow Him, now it's your turn to release those blessings in your life.