Being Thankful

Being Thankful

Dear Champions,
 
The short excerpt is by Appalachian State FCA campus minister Jim Musser, and the Scripture is Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

If you listen to people, being thankful is not a very common attitude. They complain about their classes, their jobs, their practice schedules, their parents (or kids), their friends, the weather, their teammates, and on and on it goes. In the world, it is easy to complain because everybody does it. Yet, as followers of Jesus, we are called to be thankful. That is no easy task when everyone around us is doing the opposite, so it is just easier to fall in with them and do the same thing.

So how do we change, and how do we stand apart from the crowd? The answer I think is found in Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… As we get to know Jesus better, He begins to change us from the inside out. It will likely begin with an uneasiness when you complain, and what used to be so natural begins to feel inappropriate. Complaints that once flowed so easily off your tongue become more uncomfortable to share; and at the same time, expressions of thankfulness begin to increase.

Ezra Taft Benson says the following:  The Lord works from the inside out, but the world works from the outside in.  The world would take people out of the slums; but Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums.  The world would mold men by changing their environment, but Christ changes men, who then change their environment.  The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

What is Your Ultimate Beauty?

What is Your Ultimate Beauty?

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is 1 John 4:10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
When I was in college I had a music appreciation course, and I had to listen to Mozart so I could pass the test.  I had to pass the test so that I could get a good grade on the course, so I could get a degree.  I had to get a good degree so that I could get into a good grad school, and I had to get into a good grad school so that I could get a white-collar job.  I used Mozart to get money.
 
Something has happened to Mozart and me over the years, and now I use money to get Mozart.  Why do I do it, and what does Mozart give me?  Mozart just gives me Mozart. 
 
When you find something beautiful; then it is its own reward, and you look at it or have it or  listen to it or you are  with it just for what it is.  If, on the other hand, you listen to it or look at it or have it in order to get something else, then you are not doing it for itself. 
 
Some people obey God in order to get something that they find beautiful.  However, when you recognize that you are a sinner saved by grace you begin to find that you love God for who He is, and you obey Him not for what He has given you.  As a result your obedience becomes personal and absolutely unconditional.  If you have a condition on your obedience, if you say, If God does not answer that prayer, then what good is being a Christian?  Then what you are saying is that God is not really the thing that you need.  God is not your ultimate beauty; and He is not the thing that your heart is really after. 
 
What makes you a Christian or not a Christian is not so much whether you are obeying the will of God, but why are you obeying the will of God. 
 
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

False Intimacy

False Intimacy

Dear Champions,

The first two paragraphs of the short excerpt is by Greg Speck from his book Sex: It is Worth Waiting For, and the Scripture is Song of Solomon 2:7 Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires, and Hebrews 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure. . .

When you go out with a person, you get to know him or her spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually, and you begin to develop open communication.  If you decide to sleep together, now suddenly you know each other very well physically.  You say, I feel we are so close and know each other so well.  This is a false feeling because there is a gap between where you feel you are and where you really are.  When you become sexually involved, you have fooled yourself and settled for an imitation of intimacy, and you can lose an objective view of the relationship.

Listen to your parents and others around you about your relationship, because they can see the situation more objectively.    Also, if you are in a relationship that is corrupting you and causing you to become deceitful and to do things that you would have never dreamed of doing a few months before, then it is a bad relationship.  Bad company ruins good character.

God created sex, and He has a perfect design for great sex-with one person in a committed marriage. 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

On A Journey!

On A Journey!

 
Dear Champions,
 
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is in the excerpt.
 
To be a Christian is to be a disciple, and discipleship is a journey.  To go on the journey means to give up My right to self-determination and to say, I will obey You, Lord, and I get rid of all the ifs and conditions.    However, after your decisive beginning of the journey, the fact of the matter is that it is still a journey, and you do not have to have it all together.  It is a process, and it takes time. 
 
If you think that discipleship is the way you are saved -- by being committed, focused, and by giving Jesus the priority – you are missing the point.   Jesus does not say, If you follow Me, I will go to the cross for you.  No -- He says, I am going to the cross for you, so follow Me. 
 
Of all of the religions and philosophies of the world and every basis of every identity says that what makes you right with God is things that you have done.  Christianity says, No, what makes you right with God is things that He has done.
 
Other religions say that their founders were prophets.  But our religion says that Jesus was the Son of God and that the resurrection proves it.  Christianity says our founder is not just pointing the way to God – but rather, He is God.  Christianity says, Our religion does not tell you how to find God by your efforts, but how Jesus came and did it all for you.  He died for your sins and was your substitute; and He brings you to God.
 
Why would you want to try and submit and give up the Lordship and control of your life to God knowing that you will stumble some in the journey?  Mark 14:38 Jesus says, Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.  In Christianity you have a God that has already submitted and given Himself away for you, and no other religion gives you a god like that.
 
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining