Individuality

So this week while I was at school, I had to get a serial number for something, I dont remember exactly what it was, but it was nice, I do remember that. Serial numbers give a lifeless object individuality, an example would be a computer or a television; if it is stolen, how do the police find it? They look for the serial number. So I started wondering, "Whats the difference between me and the 7 billion other people on the earth?" I know for me I first thought of things like our hair color, eye color, height, weight, all the physical aspects of life, but then I thought, "yes, all of that distinguishes us from one another one earth, but at the core, we are all still sinners who screw up all the stinking time." Romans 3:21 says,

But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight--not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago.

The one difference between Christians and the world around us is Christ. We are privileged. He gives us our individuality by blessing us with different gifts, maybe its teaching, or giving, or singing, or writing. He has shown us how to be right in his sight, by using our own individuality for His Glory.

Preparation

This week I had a precal test on Tuesday, and me being me, I did not study for the test and as a result I failed the test. This morning I forgot to set my alarm and had to rush out the door with out a shower, and as a result, I looked like a train had smacked me in the face. I taught Sunday School for the middle school boys last week and it turned out alright at the best. One thing that could have made all of these events better is preparation - if I would have prepared they would have turned out better. I might have passed that precal test. I wouldnt have looked so terrible today, and my lesson would have been the best it could have been. So how do we as Christians prepare for our daily temptations? Ephesians 6:11 says:

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For those who are not completely familiar with the armor of God, it includes the belt of truth, breast plate of righteousness, shoes of peace and good news, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. If we put on this armor and use it to our advantage, no plot or attempt made by the devil can stop us. It goes on to say in verse 16 to pray and stay alert at all times. Our preparation for the temptations we face on a daily basis is right there. When we wake up in the mornings we put on the armor of God and we let God fight our battles for us.

Joy

Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!
Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die
Do not let my enemies gloat, saying,
'We have defeated him!
Do not let them rejoice at my downfall.'"
-Psalm 13:3-4

Whenever we as humans screw up, it always revolves around one thing, earthly possessions sights or sounds. These are all temporary they give us pleasure for five to ten minutes, or maybe an hour or two, but they emotional high eventually dies down. This Psalm was written by David after he took Bathsheba as his wife and killed off Uriah. He was in a desperate situation in which he had screwed up in a major way, that temporary emotional high had died down and David was left completely empty inside. The thing in this verse that catches my attention is the part that says "Restore the sparkle to my eyes." This shows Davids to me how David constantly found happiness in the Lord. So even though we do stupid things we need to follow Davids lead and have the Lord "restore the sparkle to our eyes."

Leadership

Quiet Strength, a book by Tony Dungy, the head coach of the Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts, is a book that Coach Dungy wrote about his faith has effected his leadership of the Colts. He uses the verse Matthew 20:26-27 which says:

Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.

I absolutely love this verse. Tony Dungy constantly explains how he got the players to respond to his message, he served them. Coach Dungy would stay at nicer hotels with the team, he would make sure his players could get the family time they needed by ending practice earlier than most coaches, Dungy would respect his players and take his time to listen to the problems they had, this is why Coach Dungy can get his team to respond so well to him, he serves them. In the same way, I believe this is the way we have to approach witnessing. When we serve people, they see our actions and those actions open the door to much more conversation. People notice our actions and a consistent lifestyle and I think thats what the verse is getting at. Witnessing, in my opinion, is a combination of adequate leadership skills, which is defined by serving others, and a consistent lifestyle.

Ministry

Tonight, Matt began a three week series on words. He was using a passage from Jeremiah and I got reading a little bit after we ended and came across this verse.

"Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. You are to uproot some and tear them down, to destroy and overthrow them. You are to build others up and plant them." Jer. 1:10

I got to thinking about it and this is the way I see this verse. We are called to minister to people of all kinds, different religions, races, beliefs, etc. When we minister to a person, one thing you must do is point out the contradictions in their belief system. I think this relates to the verse in the sense that, "some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow." But the awesome thing about this verse is the next part. "You are to build others up and plant them." This is the coolest part because after God has helped tear down a belief system, we have to replant them in something that will help them grow. So, I do not know that this verse is talking about literally tearing down nations and kingdoms, I believe that those kingdoms and nations are people and belief systems.

Worship

Worship - what is it? Is it singing? Is it sitting in a church listening to a preacher preach? Yes. It is all of those. But yet it also includes so much more. As I'm sure we have all heard, worship is a lifestyle. A lifestyle, according to dictionary.com, is defined as, "the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level, etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group." This is everything we are, every thought, sight, taste, sense, smell - everything. Worship is everything that we as Christians do to serve Christ. Matt this evening talked about miracles. And we came to a conclusion that a miracle is something that happens that is unexplainable, not scientifically stable, or even logically possible. But I got to thinking, miracles happen everyday, every moment, weather we realize them or not, they are there. I believe miracles and worship come hand in hand.

Then the LORD reminded him, "When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will make him stubborn so he will not let the people go.

This verse (Exodus 4:21) happens when Moses is in Egypt pleading with the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. If you remember in this story, Moses thought of every reason why he should not go, but because of the lifestyle he chose to live, he went. Because he went, and followed through in his worship, miracles came. Miracles happen when our lifestyle matches what God wants us to do. So in a sense, are we not all performing miracles all the time?

Stars

What thoughts do the stars provoke? One of amazement, one of littleness, one of the world? I was looking out at the sky the other night while I was doing the paper route, and saw one of the most breath-taking sites I have ever seen - the stars. I got to thinking about them and night and thought about how stars only appear at night when it is dark. I started looking at just one star, and found that one star, though very powerful (powerful enough to send light to the earth from light years away) almost a tiny detail in the whole picture. One thing I found interesting, while thinking and observing the stars, was that God calls us to each be a light to the world, no matter how dark the sky may be.

You are the light of the world--like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Mat 5:14

One other interesting thing is, if you were to take a step back and look at the world as you would a clear night sky, would you be one of the, seemingly tiny, but yet HUGE, stars?