Should have passed on French Class

One of my regrets in school was taking French over Spanish. In order to look good for college I knew I had to take a foreign language. I wanted to take Spanish but my sister was in French. I knew she did a good job kissing up to the teacher (Thanks Onna! Made my grade great for a while) and it would make it easier for me. I did enjoy what I learned and the teacher was good, but it was pointless. I never had a desire to go to France and I have used French maybe five times in my life. One time I can barely count because it was in Haiti. I was told they speak French/Creole. So I tried speaking some French, they spoke Creole and it was an extremely awkward five minute conversation.  Some things we learn are extremely practical if we remember them. Paul reminded the Thessalonians in the second book.

Education from the apostles was important. Paul shared this line with the people in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” Stand firm to the knowledge the apostles gave. False prophets and teachers that spoke well but deceived people filled into the church. Paul wanted the people to stand firm on what he taught, be filled with the knowledge of Jesus and what he did, this way they would know the true truth.

We need to apply Jesus’s teachings to our own lives. French class wasn’t as beneficial for me, it was still a good class, just not practical. What Jesus taught was practical, beneficial and worth applying the teachings to our lives. With what Jesus taught, what do you need to apply to your lives?

Have a great day.

Being good isn't good enough

In high school, I didn’t sleep around, spend time partying all the time and doing other illegal things some high school kids did, but I was far from innocent. I cussed non stop, was very inappropriate with my language and often went for jokes that easily crossed the line. While I wasn’t horrible, I was far from being a saint.

I felt like I was a good person, wrong. I still did things daily that were sins. Even though I thought daily my good outweighed my bad, it wasn’t good enough in God’s eyes. It never is good in God’s eyes without Jesus.

Colossians 2:13-14…

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

The cross was a game changer. No matter what, we are bad in God’s eyes. The only way that is corrected is with Jesus. All of our sins, mistakes, false steps and failures are all washed away when we give our life to Jesus. This is what it takes to get to heaven.

No matter how good we think we are, it’s not good enough. Jesus is an eternal life changer, but only when we give everything over to him.

Where are you with Jesus? What steps do you need to make to be closer to him?

Have a great day.

Giving up because of you

It’s all on you. Imagine if the good and the bad of people was blamed on you? People weren’t afraid to say you are the reason someone else isn’t held in high regard. What you did and how you act effects other people. This is true with faith. What if instead of a person it was God?

If you say one thing and do another it makes people question you. I was in high school and still trying to figure out what faith was all about.  I attended several different churches and talked about faith with several different friends. One friend invited me to church and infrequently I would go with him.

Seeing this guy at church and outside of church was a different world. This was a guy who drank, smoked, did drugs and would have sex with any girl he could. Once we got into church it was a different world. We were in a class and he was the one people looked up too. He had scripture memorized and would quote scripture as he talked. People would come up to him and tell him how amazing it is that he takes his faith so seriously. These same people would give me the dirtiest looks at church. A major reason I thought all Christians were hypocrites was because of friendships like this, people that lived one way and did another.

Paul calls out the people faithful to God at the time. In this case, if you were a follower of God during this time (Esp. before Jesus came) you were a Jew. Jesus was a Jew too. Romans 2 has some harsh words about these people that claimed faith but lived a different way. He said this in Romans 2:24, “As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

God is not lifted up among those without faith because of you. More and more studies show that most people have attended church for a while when they were younger and give it up after high school. One of the main reasons, Christians are hypocrites. They live one way Sunday morning and completely different during the week. When people know you are a Christian you represent God wherever you go.

Some people don’t mind representing God and are good examples of Jesus others are not. A while ago I talked to a student whose parent always talked down to them. This parent would say why aren’t you like Jimmy, Susie and Johnny (Made up people)? The student wanted to tell them because they drink, smoke and have sex all the time. This parent thought the people they mentioned were great Christians, but they had no idea. Little did they know their son was one that did none of the three.

We all make mistakes and misrepresent ourselves at times. As a Christian, I have done things that have turned people away from faith, I am not proud of that. I screw up and honestly don’t represent Jesus well at times. Yet Jesus forgives me and can forgive you too. Church was never meant for the perfect but the imperfect. The home of Jesus is meant for everyone no matter how righteous or unrighteous you are.

If someone has caused you to turn your back on God because of them, I’m sorry. Give God, Jesus and the Church another chance. What other place can you seek forgiveness like the Church? Don’t give up on Jesus because of the actions of a Christian. We can all make mistakes and God is a graceful and forgiving God. Jesus loves you.

Have a great day.

39 game losing streak

Losing is never fun.

There is not a person I know that loves to lose.

During high school, I dealt with losing a lot.

In between cross country and swimming (The two sports I played varsity in) my combined record was 8-91.

We won one cross country meet in four years.

Losing happens.

Our school was more known for our football losing streak.

We had about a 39 game losing streak.

We went almost four consecutive years of losing in football.

Going to a high school that had a history of losing, it could be hard to be motivated to do well.

We did.

If you are not motivated to do well, you won’t, plain and simple.

I remember asking one of the football players how can they still try when they are down at the half by 28 points or more.

This is what he told me…

“Our coach motivates us.  I am a smart guy and honestly know the likely hood of a comeback is slim to none.  At halftime, our head coach speaks and by the time he finishes talking, not only do we believe we are going to come back, but we are going to crush the team afterwards.”

Makes me think of speaking bold.

The definition of bold is…not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger.  Necessitating courage and daring.

There are people I look up to that speak bold and I hang on every word they say, they can lift me up.

Bold is one of the key words used when the disciples spoke in the book of Acts.

During one of their prayers they said this in Acts 4:29…

“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”

This is what was written after they prayed in verse 31…

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

Bold.

How often do we speak with boldness?

Now one of the problems with speaking with boldness, people can think they are speaking with boldness when in essence, they speak like a dictator.

Part of the problem with Christianity is to speak with boldness while moving people closer to God.

Do you speak with boldness?

Do you do this at…

Home

Work

In public

Among friends

Among enemies

It can be difficult to speak in boldness and from the heart.

This is why the apostles prayed for God to fill them with boldness.

He came through.

If you struggle to talk or get your point across pray for God to give you the words to say.

Boldness can help out everyone.

Speak bold.

One day our football losing streak ended, if they didn’t have a coach that believed it could happen, it never would have.

Speak bold.

Have a great day.