Out of the Cocoon: February 2010

I read an article today about the church in Laos and how they are being driven from their homes and villages unless they renounce their faith in Christ. Their animals (income) are being taken away. They are forced to leave with only what they can carry. As I think about this, I can't help but compare it to our Christianity in America.

In America, our Christianity is convenient. If we have any belief in Christ, we consider ourselves to be Christian. Even when nothing about our life reflects or "walks out" the commandments of Christ, we still consider ourselves Christian. We are "good people" so that ought to be enough, right? It doesn't matter if I'm trying to sleep with every girl or guy I date, God knows my heart, right? Yeah, I watch things on t.v. that mock God (i.e. Family Guy), but it's all in good fun. So what if I drink a little too much every now and then or smoke a little weed. God made it, so it's all good! I haven't been to church in years, but I still believe in Jesus. He knows I love him. He's my homeboy! Maybe these jeans are a little tight and this shirt dips just a bit too low, but they accentuate my figure and make me look HOT! It's not my fault if the married guy at the office looks just a little bit too long. If you've got it, flaunt it!

I mentioned all the above scenarios because I used to be all of them. I thought sex equalled love and didn't really care if the person receiving my affection was only using me. I lived with my boyfriend and even though deep inside I knew it was wrong, I didn't care. It is what people these days do and it's normal. ("Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband." 1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

I laughed hard at episodes of Family Guy even when their Jesus character made a mockery of Christ. (For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." Matthew 15:19-20)

My weekends consisted of going out at least one night of the weekend and drinking (Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Proverbs 20:1) until I was "feeling good." My friends smoked weed so why not try that too?

Even though I had once been actively involved in my local church, I had stopped going for years. I still believed in Christ and knew all that He had done for me, but I didn't want to give up all the "fun" I was having. I use the word "fun" here very loosely because deep inside I was miserable. There was no joy in my life. Only an endless pursuit of the things I thought would bring me happiness. ("Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:25)

I dressed the way the world told me was cool. If you are going out to the club, you have to show as much skin as possible. If you dress modestly, you are an "old maid" and who wants to be seen that way? ("As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion." Proverbs 11:22)

You see, in my "christianity" I was still living worldly. There was nothing in my life that reflected the true love and sacrifice of Christ. One day I had a wake up and realized the path I was on was miserable. I figured, why not just TRY giving myself 100% to Christ. I'll give it an honest run and see what happens. Trust me, when you make this decision, satan WILL attack you. It's never a question of IF, but WHEN.

A big influence in my life has always been music. Satan is very aware of this. Recently he used music to get back into my life. Before I realized it, I was making some of the wrong choices that had caused me so much heartache and pain in years prior. God revealed to me what was happening and I had to earnestly repent of my choices. Repentance doesn't mean a simple, oh God, I'm sorry.....until next time. Sorry means you regret your actions and you don't do them again. Repentance is apologizing for breaking God's heart and turning away from the things that grieve Him. I had to move away from the influences that had caused me to stumble. The only music I have allowed myself to listen to recently are all Christian artists. I have had to make changes to what I watch on television and cast out the idols I had allowed to be raised up in my home. I am the guardian of my children's hearts and it is up to me what I allow them to watch and hear. If these things affect me negatively, how much more do they influence their young minds and hearts? There is no double standard in my home any longer. If I would not let my children watch or listen to something, I do not allow myself to do so either.

All of this is to say, what would I do if told to leave my home or renounce Christ? Several years ago my choices would have been to stay home. Because I now see the joy and peace and eternal life that ONLY Christ can bring, I would gladly sacrifice all that I have to follow Him. Someday this may mean following His call into a foreign land to share the hope and grace of all He has done for us. It may mean leaving behing friends and family to be obedient to Christ. After all, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world "(James 1:27). God, please plant in me the heart, desire and ability to walk out your TRUE RELIGION.

POT LUCK!!!! So we had a potluck at work today. Why is it that when you are around a potluck, you tend to eat WAY more than you normally ever would at any other time? You may also find yourself eating things you never would. It was a football themed potluck so of course we had chicken wings and your over-abundance of chips and dip. There was also the one required "mystery" dish. You know the one. The one everyone looks at and says WHAT THE HECK IS THAT? Bless the heart of whomever actually brought the dish. You just hope they aren't standing the room when someone says....WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?

You also always have the coworkers that refuse to participate because they don't "do" potlucks. Since they don't know what everybody's kitchen looks like or what kind of "critters" they may have running around, they don't want to take any chances. I find this HILAROUS! These are the same people I see going out every day for lunch at restaurants around town. Have they inspected THEIR kitchens? My guess is that in most cases, someone's home kitchen is probably cleaner and "critter-free."

I think of people all over the world that have no choice but to find their meals from trash. One of the places we are visiting in Kenya in August is the landfill. This is a place where the trash is dumped and people live ON the landfill. I'm not talking about next to the landfill. Not across the street. ON the landfill. How blessed we are here in America that we can be picky about where our food comes from and what we eat. We often go out and in one meal for our family spend more money than most of the world sees in a whole MONTH. $30 for us is a MONTH of income for the majority of the world. Seriously! Stop and think about that. If you gave up going out ONE night of the month with your family of four, you could donate that same $30 and perhaps save a life. The reality is, it isn't even a "perhaps" scenario. It's a definite.

I'm feeling a bit guilty about all the food I have consumed today. Lord, thank you for the blessings and abundance of your provision in my life. Please forgive me for every time I have taken your provisions for granted.

Out of the Cocoon

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Persecution

Friday, February 5, 2010

Gluttony

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Is This Thing On