Making Time For God

Okay!...so one thing that God has really been working on my heart with lately is spending time with Him. Ever since I started college two years ago, I have constantly struggled with setting time aside to get in God's Word and spend time in prayer with Him. Of course, my excuse is about as lame as everyone else's is: Life just gets so busy! Between classes, work, homework, studying, and everything in between...it's hard to set aside time to spend alone with God!

Disclaimer: I KNOW how ridiculous that sounds. I think that actually seeing the words should help us to see how ridiculous it actually is that we sometimes do not "make time" to spend with God.

But anyways...

The Bible makes it very clear that we are to be constantly seeking God and His Word. An example from Scripture comes from Romans 10:17, which says: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ."

Now, my devotional thought for today isn't just to state the obvious in that we need to be constantly seeking God's Truth. Rather, I would like us to take a step back from this notion that we need to "make time for God."

If we claim to be Christians, then we should not be "making time for God." Our salvation through Christ Jesus is something that should be present in every aspect of our life.: In our attitudes. In the way that we dress. In the way that we talk to people. In the way that we carry ourselves. In the way that we behave. In the things in which we invest our time into. ...the list goes on and on.

If we are serious about our faith and about what all God has blessed us with, our time with God would be constant throughout our lives! We would desire to want to be in His Word. We would desire to want to have conversations with Him on a day-to-day basis. We would want our entire lifestyle to be devoted to a life made up of time spent and dedicated to Him.

Let's not "make time"....let's give all of our time over to Him.

You Know What Will Help??

Okay! So, we all have our pet peeves. You know...the things that just really, really get on your nerves?? Well, I have quite a few on that list, but today I want to discuss the one that could very well be #1: complaining! 

This pet peeve is actually funny because....we all do it! (Spoiler Alert!: Even me!!). What makes this something that bothers me so much is quite easy to explain: BECAUSE COMPLAINING DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO BETTER YOUR SITUATION!! 

This summer at camp, one of my favorite things to say whenever somebody would complain about something was: "Do you know what would help?" And whenever they continued on and asked me what would help, I would always reply, "If you complain about it just a little bit more." (And by the end of the summer, people would return the favor by saying the same thing to me whenever I was caught up in the pointless act of complaining!)

What's even more ridiculous than the actual complaining itself is what we are normally complaining about. We complain about feeling tired or not feeling well. We complain about our clothes. We complain about food. We complain about how far we have to walk to class. We complain about how early we have to get up. We complain about what other people are doing. We complain about our jobs. We complain about how hard a class is. 

By the time we really evaluate what all we have ever complained about, it becomes pretty blatantly obvious that sometimes it might be easier to think about what we don't complain about!

Now, from my very first blog, I had a post that was very similar to this one, in which I used the camp's theme Bible verse for reference. Well, I believe that it is just as useful with today's entry as it was then:

Philippians 2:14-15 says: "Do everything without grumbling or complaining, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God, faultless in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky."

As I sit in my ethics class that I have to take this semester, we find ourselves constantly talking about what is right, what is wrong, what is ethical, and what we can do to make our society a better place overall. As I sit in the classroom with 49 kids probably smarter than I am and a professor that has every degree one can obtain, I constantly just find myself thinking, "Our society needs Jesus! If we would all just realize this, this country would be in a much better state than it is right now!!!" 

While this scenario does carry some humor, it is nonetheless very true. Our world is in desperate need of hope that can only be found through our Savior. The world needs to hear His name, and we are the ones that need to let them hear it!

So, next time you start to complain or find yourself in an unfavorable situation, think about the fact that you have a faith that has saved you. You have a God that loves you more than anyone on earth will ever be able to. And you have a hope that the world needs to know about way more than they need to hear your complaints!  

What Goes In, Must Come Out!

Okay!...so this is one of my favorite stories!...mainly because I find it to be EXTREMELY relevant to our society today. And, to me, what makes it so cool is that the story really isn't that cool. (I know...that contradicts what I just said!) But, what I mean by that, is that it's just something really simple (that nobody else probably remembers), yet it had a cool impact on my life.

So, one summer back in high school, my youth group was at South Mountain Baptist Camp. Now, during the afternoon time, people are free to do whatever they want until it is time to go to supper. So one day my youth minister asked a group of us if any of us had an iPod that he could borrow so that he could listen to some music during his free time. I ALMOST raised my hand and said, "Sure!" I mean, I had an iPod with me, that was fully charged and ready to go and everything! But- I didn't say anything. Why? Because in that split second after he asked us, I realized: There is some songs on my iPod that I would NOT want my youth minister to know that I had. This situation, in return, allowed me to really think.

In the above story, from a Christian standpoint, there are two big problems:
1) The obvious problem: I should not be listening or exposing myself to things that are not of God!
and
2) I should have been more concerned with what God would think of the music rather than what my youth minister would think about my music.

Now, I can try to make myself feel a little better by thinking more along the mindset of: "Well...I only had a few bad songs...but everything else was just good Christian or country music." But, to say this to myself, would be me pretty much saying, "I give most of myself to Christ when it comes to the music that I listen to." So, my response to the first problem would be this: God wants ALL of us....not just part of us. He doesn't just want us on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. He doesn't just want us when we're at Christian camps or retreats. He doesn't just want us when we're around our Christian friends. He wants us to die to ourselves everyday and live a life reflecting of Christ.

Galations 2:20 says: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

If we want to live sold-out lives for Christ, we have to allow our own flesh to die upon a daily basis. Do the lives that we live in the body truly reflect lives living by faith in the Son of God?


In Matthew 15, Jesus is sharing a parable. I think that the heart of the parable is best explained in verses 17 and 18, when He says: "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out the body? But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them." 

Now, in the society that we live in today, it is very hard to avoid "bad" stuff altogether. With television, music, movies, and everything in between, ungodly things that expose the things of this world are found on every corner! However, as Christians, we should strive to censor ourselves and allow the things of Christ to be what we expose ourselves to each and every day. Now, in case you haven't realized, that is quite a challenge!!

I don't always expose myself to music or television that is pure to my Christian faith....I actually fall short to that constantly. But, I would like to remind us all that sin and temptation normally start with one thing: a thought. And these thoughts normally originate from the things of this world that we expose ourselves to.

So, my challenge to us all, is to cling to Christ in all that we watch or hear...because doing so is the life we are called to live, as well as the life that desires clean hands and a pure heart.

 

Just Keep Going!

Well, as I've recently said, it's the start of a new school year. And, if you're like me, that normally comes with one super awesome thing: MOTIVATION! At the start of a new school year, I set goals for myself....and I make the promise that I'm going to follow through! These goals normally include how well I'm going to do in my classes, how diligently I'm going to be reading my Bible, and last (and probably least): exercising!

That's right!...it's the beginning of the school year and my walking shoes from camp have now become my running shoes! And, so far three days in, I've done awesome! (haha). However, as many of you can probably relate, that motivation is something extremely hard to hold on to!

Whenever I start running and exercising after a hiatus from it, I can always tell that God has a bit of a sense of humor. I'll be running (or some may call it slow jogging), super pumped while listening to TobyMac, and then all of the sudden, it'll happen: a parent pushing a stroller will pass me!! I'm not even joking, people! It's as though these parents are strategically waiting for me to run by so that they can laugh as they take their body (that's twice as old as mine) and push their kids around at a speed that is faster than what I am going. And let me tell you, nothing can get one more discouraged than to be reminded of how out of shape you are by a parent pushing around a 2-year-old!

Now, as you can imagine, this scenario is always super discouraging to me. I'm already sweating out of every pore of my body and my heart rate is up because it's in shock from my lack of athletics for the past couple of months....but then I have to look at the evidence around me that tells me that I am not doing as great as I think I am.

Well, when I got back this morning, I knew God was tugging on my heart to seek Him in this situation. So, what does Scripture say about motivation?

1 Corinthians 15:58 says: Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 

Whether you are studying for an exam that's coming up, working diligently for the job that you're currently at, or trying to get back into shape, I challenge you to two things: (1) don't give up and (2) do whatever you're doing for the Lord!

If we desire to seek God's best for our lives, we have to stay motivated to live the life He has called us to live! So, no matter what you're doing or how small the task at hand may seem, keep your eyes on the Lord....because when I think about how much the Lord has done for me, there's no greater motivation than to give my all for Him!

He's Always By My Side

Well, tomorrow marks the big day for me, the day that I haven't necessarily been looking forward to all summer: the first day of classes! Normally, I am one of those strange people that loves and enjoys school. However, tomorrow is going to be the start of the hardest semester that I have ever had to face. My classes aren't the easiest, and I've even looked at my schedule over and over again, wondering how on earth I am going to be able to get through all of these difficult courses!

But, like many times in life, the second that I started to waiver and show fear, God got a hold of me. As I was reading through my Bible study for today, the last "task" that I had to complete was to read through Psalm 27, and allow that to be my prayer for the day.

Psalm 27: 1-3 says: "The Lord is my light and my salvation- whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. Though an army deploy against me, my heart is not afraid; though war break out against me, still I am confident."

Pretty amazing, huh? Out of all scripture that my Bible study could have used today, it happened to be on fear and having confidence in the Lord! Our God is such an awesome God! I would encourage you to read that whole chapter (It's only 14 verses).

When we oftentimes think of "fears" in our lives, many of us immediately think about things such as spiders, snakes, heights, etc. However, if you're like me, the things that sometimes scare me the most are the things that I cannot avoid, and that I know that I must face. Change that comes with time scares me. Growing up scares me. Breaking out of my comfort zone scares me. And yes, difficult classes that I have to take scare me, too!

As Christians, we face the same days that all others face: we have to get up each and every day and face all that the world is going to throw at us. But- the wonderful thing is that we have the hope and peace that is beyond this world. We have the security of knowing that we have a Savior that already overcame this world and all that it has; so, when we look at it from that perspective, whom should we really fear??

Open Up!

I got a new cell phone cover for my phone last week. My old case had been beaten up so much because of the number of times that I've dropped my phone, basically because of my constant use of it. After getting this new case for my phone, I started to think about how much most of us actually use our cell phones. I think that this use can best be summed up in this excerpt that I had heard sometime while I was in high school:

**I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?

What if we gave it to kids as gifts?

What if we used it as we traveled?

What if we used it in case of an emergency?

What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?

This is something to make you go...hmmm...where is my Bible? 

Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don't ever have to 

worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill. **

Pretty neat to think about, huh? Or, if we are being honest with ourselves, that can actually be hard to hear if we took it to heart.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says: "All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."  

I know our lives can get insanely hectic from the demands that come from everyday life: job, school, relationships, friendships, etc. But, no matter how busy our lives may get, the Word of God is the one and only source that never fails to answer....It's just up to us to open up and listen to what God has to say.

Never Give Up!

Whenever I arrived at UNC two years ago, I was in for a rude awakening. I was fresh out of a high school where if I studied hard, I got great grade. As I sat at my freshman orientation in the summer of 2011, a man stood before us and said, "You were valedictorian or in the top 10% of your class? Good for you....so was everyone else here." Ouch.

I carried over the same study habits to college as I had in high school. I still remember the first exam I ever took. It was for my Biology 101 class, and I had studied hours for the exam. A few hours after I took the exam, I checked online to see my grade: it was a 67. I remember being upset, crying my eyes out, and questioning how I was going to make it through four years at UNC if I couldn't even get a good grade in an introductory course!

Galations 6:9 says: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Whenever I did not receive the grade that I desired on that first exam, I could have let that defeat me. In fact...I almost did! I remember calling my sister crying and telling her I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it at UNC! However, God grabbed a hold of me and blessed me with the attitude and gifts of perseverance and optimism. Following this, I studied as hard as I always do in school; and by the grace of God, I did well in the class!

Now, I don't always receive as high of grades as I would want while at school; but, I can say that I do my best. And whenever we do our best, all we can do is leave the results up to Him. So, as long as you are obedient towards what God is asking of you, you can find peace in your perseverance....because our God is the God of faithfulness.

while you're waiting...

This week, I had to serve on jury duty. I know what you're thinking: every great story starts off with someone saying that they had jury duty! Okay, so not really!...but, I actually had a wonderful experience while serving on jury duty! The case that I was assigned was a criminal case, and I found the overall experience to be extremely interesting, entertaining, and educational.

As enjoyable as my experience was, there is one thing you should know about jury duty (if you have not yet ever been selected for jury duty): there is a BUNCH of waiting! In my experience, there was waiting in the courtroom so that the lawyers could have their arguments. On the first day, you wait to hear your name called. You wait to hear for instructions. You wait to be able to enter the courtroom. ....it really never ends!

While waiting is probably one of the top hated things in America, something really cool happened while I was waiting to enter the courtroom this morning. I, along with the 11 other jury members, sat in the jury lounge and was waiting to be summoned into the room. They were taking forever in the courtroom!...They told us to be there at 9:30, but we actually did not enter into the room until around 10:45! While I was waiting, an older gentleman on the jury came and sat next to me. We started to have small talk about a number of different topics....and then, suddenly, it happened! A door became open in the conversation where I could bring up my faith! I seized the opportunity, and eventually got to know that he was a brother in Christ! Shortly following this encounter, he went to the bathroom, so I opened up my devotion book to do today's devotion. Not even a minute later, another woman on the jury then came and sat next to me and asked me if I was reading for school. Another awesome opportunity! I then told her that I wasn't reading for school...and then I got to discuss my faith with her as well!

Following both of these encounters, I got to think about how amazing it was that God allowed for such events to take place. What was especially cool about it was that the event didn't take place within the walls of a church or Christian camp, in a place I planned to have a serious discussion in, or even during a time I would have expected. These awesome events took place while I was just sitting and waiting around for other events to occur!

In our society today, we have all grown to be at a constant pressure to not want to wait. We don't want to wait for Mr. or Mrs. Right...we want them now. We don't want to wait to get that job we've been longing to have...we want it now. We don't want to wait for this difficult semester of school to be over with....we want it to be over now.

The funny thing about waiting is that we always try to make the waiting disappear, without having to contribute much to it. For example: if we are ever in a waiting room, we normally grab a magazine or browse through our cell phones just so that the time will pass with greater ease.

Some people look at waiting as a burden: a period of time that they much rather be doing other things with their life. However, the way I see it, there is no greater time to serve the Lord than while waiting! Instead of putting all of our focus, time, and energy into what we are actually waiting on, why not take that precious time and use it for the uplifting of His kingdom??

1 Corinthians 10:31 says: "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

Whatever you do. I'm pretty sure that "whatever you do" includes all that you do while waiting as well! So next time you find yourself short on patience while waiting, think of ways that you could glorify or serve Him instead.

For extra encouragement during your time of waiting, here's the link to a song that I find to be absolutely amazing!:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-M7oGrOa2I

What's This Week's Verse?!?

This summer, I was blessed with the opportunity to finally work at a place God had laid on my heart to work for quite some time: South Mountain Baptist Camp. God worked in many powerful ways this summer, giving me experiences and friendships that I could have never possibly imagined. 

Every summer at South Mountain, there is always a theme and a Bible verse. For the summer of 2013, our theme was "One Shining Moment", and the verse(s) was: Philippians 2:14-15. 

Philippians 2:14-15 says: "Do everything without grumbling or complaining, so that you may become blameless and pure children of God, faultless in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky."

I absolutely LOVE this verse! I think that it is extremely uplifting whenever the circumstances or situations in your life get you down. This summer, I showed my love for this verse SO much, that I pretty much mentioned it every day! Every time I heard another staffer start to complain about something, I would always jokingly ask him/her: "What's this week's verse?!?" 

Looking back, I know I was always halfway joking when I said this to another staffer. And because of that, it has now caused me to think. I think it's funny how, as Christians, we can sometimes get so comfortable with certain things, that we sometimes allow them to lose meaning to us. You see, in my situation, I knew that the Bible had called all believers to do all things without grumbling or complaining; yet, I would allow myself to get so caught up in the routine of saying my same expression, that I began to not even take myself seriously. 

I realized this whenever I started thinking about going back to school. I started to think about how much I dread going back to school: especially since I attend a University in which being a believer makes you somewhat of a minority. I started complaining to myself about how I didn't want to go back, how I liked being at camp with all of my awesome Christian friends, how I knew this was going to be a really tough semester, etc. But, as I started to have all of these thoughts, I found myself suddenly thinking, "What's this week's verse?!" 

Philippians 2:14-15 wasn't just "This week's verse": it should be a true life verse to all Christians. God has given each of us a beautiful life to live: a life that we get to live in His Son's name. So, no matter what situation or circumstance you find yourself in, understand that life is not meant for grumbling or complaining....and if we keep our focus on Jesus, we would find that there is absolutely nothing in this world worth complaining about anyways.