Dr. Pepper and Heineken
Rebellion is something you hear about semi-regularly if you attend church much. Rebellion could be against God or man/the world.
Let me tell you a little about my rebellion since I’ve had my fair share of rebellious moments against God and my family. But, this is one is epic, so let me give you this scenario: I was a senior in high school on spring break AND it was my 18th birthday. I was feeling like I was king of the world and could do no wrong.
I decided not to go home that week, choosing to spend time with my friends and crash at one of their houses rather than spend time with my family. I only went home to change clothes, disrespect my mom, and grab some money out of my hidden stash. We had a “good” time that week, fighting each other in air soft gun wars, cruising town in Shane’s ’64 Ford Galaxy, and calling Bret’s mom to get “permission” to drink her beer that had been taunting us in the fridge, mixing it with Dr. Pepper, which is the WORST thing I have ever tasted.
In our my rebellion, I disregarded what was important, which was to honor my God through obedience. See, I was a Christian, very active in student leadership in my youth group, and growing in my relationship with the Lord. I also wanted to experience more out of life and wanted control of it. I laugh now, realizing how stupid of a kid I was. I also see that I had an opportunity to grow.
Romans 5:19-20 talks about how disobedience brought about the law by which we’re held accountable. The law entered the world by the action of one man, Adam. We always have a choice to choose God or man and any choice that disobeys God is rebellion.
But, the end of Romans 5:19-20 says that while sin abounds, God’s grace is EVERMORE present. So, while I am a wretched, sinful man, God sees more and even desires to use me. Even when I was a dumb kid who rebelled against God and my mom, God knew that He still wanted to use me.
So now, since I’ve been rebellious, I see rebellion from the inverse side and see it as something to strive for. Wait, what? Yep. I strive to rebel against the standard of the world. I work to choose God with every action and every decision. It’s not always easy and I do often fail. I need to constantly remind myself to “seek first the kingdom of God.” (Matt 6:33)
God willing, I’ll be better at honoring Him as our relationship continues to grow. I hope I also become better at honoring my parents and family as I seek to obey them even now as an adult.
Rebellion is something to strive for and avoid. You have the choice to rebel against the world or God. Make the right choice.
-Jarin
Don’t Categorize
First, as you’ll notice, I am a guy, and I write like one. I am part of The Blush Network , and I hope you’re cool with that.
Now then.
I always seem to think about what dangers lurk in ministry. Not physical dangers, but dangers to the Gospel. The danger of dismissal is one that I keep constantly in mind.
Dismissal can be filed under ‘categorization.’ What do I mean? Let me explain.
In all of our lives, we have those select few people who are just ‘that guy,’ or ‘that girl.’ They’re just the token ‘____.’
Or, try this scenario out. I’ve recently been in contact with a gal I dated years ago. Nothing romantic – we were just catching up. I’ve learned that in the time following our break up years ago that she’s since ‘lost her faith.’ She thought I’d ignore her or decide that talking to her would be a waste of my time, so she was reluctant to tell me where she was at this point in her life.
Pause.
This is where I tell you one thing. Be intentional with the Gospel with your relationships in dating and in non-dating. Being intentional with the Gospel of Jesus Christ should drive your every interaction.
Being intentional looks like letting the understanding of who you are and who Christ is drive your interactions.
Un-pause.
If you’re tracking with me still, and I hope you are, the young lady was under the impression that my attitude toward her would change. Much to her surprise, it didn’t. To quote her, “…also a good feeling to not be categorized by a religious person, based on that single factor.”
That should mean the world, right? The person will be surprised by knowing that you value them like God does and delight in knowing that you will not disassociate from them based on differing beliefs.
However, keep in mind that you’re not necessarily condoning a different lifestyle or sinful natures. You’re simply showing that person they’re of value, as Romans 5:8 so clearly states: “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
That Scripture shows us the infinite value of life and should give us the push we need to love others.
Back to my original point. I am that “token” person. I get typecast as the funny guy. I get overlooked for opportunities to speak or teach because I am funny. While I can deal with it and press on, not everyone can do that and some people get really hurt by church people typecasting them because they’re good at something.
So, for people who know the Lord, make sure that you shuffle positions around in your ministries every so often. This’ll do a couple things — first, it’ll ensure that your people don’t get burnt out, but it’ll also allow for others to bring new ideas to the table and hone new skills.
If you’ve kept reading after my opening couple sentences, congratulations, you’ve already worked against categorizing me. Thank you for that.
-Jarin
Is Your Love Like The Dew?
Guest Blog by Alex Martinez
There have been several times I’ve forgotten my godly routines. To be honest, it seems there are more of those routines than I can count. I’d probably get lost after the tenth or eleventh one I can name. The most prominent and forgotten routine is praying for my food before taking that first bite. And you know what? People who know I’m a believer, including other believers and non-believers alike, have stopped me after taking that big juicy “I’m-freaking-hungry” bite and asked, “Did you pray for that?”
Most times I explain my actions – “Well you see, I don’t always pray for my food because I simply forget sometimes and other times, I just don’t.” The ultra-conservatives usually snicker at me or look offended as they awkwardly move on to the next subject. The non-believers look absolutely lost and confused. Although it’s biblically proven praying before meals is always a good thing, I don’t think it is proven praying for my meals means I love God. I’ve seen several of my non-believing friends, who grew up in church, pray before meals. I ask them afterwards why they prayed, and the usual answer is “It’s how I was raised.”
I find the first manner in which these routines are defended by believers is, “We need to sacrifice certain things for Jesus”. I’m quickly reminded of how some people treat lent, as opposed to the biblical reason for lent. So you gave up your time and prayed for your meal; So you gave up video games for a whole week; So you don’t eat meat on Fridays in the span of forty days; So what? Is any voluntary sacrifice of personal time truly an act of love to the one true God, Creator of the universe?
Current Climate? HOSTILE.
It’s been a few days since the election for the President of the United States, and President Obama has been re-elected for a second term in office. So, even those people who live under a rock should know what’s going down now. That being said, if you didn’t know, well, SURPRISE!
It’s been long enough now that Facebook has calmed down a bit, at least in my group of online friends. It seems many times huge events draw so much fervor. It rages for days and days and days, then, suddenly, disappears. KONY 2012, Facebook Gold, football, and the list goes on and on. These all gather so much distress, or praise, and people get upset or on fire for them, then suddenly it’s withered away
So, now that many people have calmed down, I think it’s safe to make some assertions about how the Body of Christ should react to the re-election of Obama. So many people want to call him the anti-Christ, or talk about how terrible he is, or how Texas should secede from the Union. We’ve heard all this before, right? But is it right?