Matthew 16:25
[The words of Jesus] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
This verse is very very interesting to me. The wording is very thought provoking. I looked up the word, "find" in this verse, and one of the definitions for the original word is, "obtain." To me this would imply that until we lose our life for Christ's sake, we haven't even truly found our life.
In my own experience, I find this way of thinking about this verse to be correct. I'm never truly happy unless I'm just giving my life away to the cause of Christ. Selfishness makes me feel rotten inside; however, I tend toward selfishness for the majority of my time.
If I could instantly change one thing about myself, I think I'd make myself much less selfish. Selfishness plagues me. I believe it plagues a good portion of the world.
But when I give up that selfishness, and let God just have my life, no strings attached, I just feel so much better. Living selflessly is so much more rewarding than living selfishly.
Often times we just lose sight of what's really important. We're so focused on the new guitar amp we want that we forget the purpose we want to use it for- to praise the Lord and spread the gospel. We're trying so hard to keep the church running smoothly that we forget what church is all about- praising God. Besides that, the world flies around at a million miles an hour, filled with thousands of things encouraging you to be selfish and have a good time for yourself, when all you really have to do in order to be content is give your life away to God. We get so busy trying to save the life that we're living, when we could just give our life over to God, and he can make it the life that we were supposed to live- the one we were meant to live.
If you don't give your life to God, you will never even find the life that you were meant to live.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
"I wish"
I used to say, "I wish ... " quite a bit. I'm learning not to say that.
I have a friend, a very good friend, and we talk to each other a lot, and so she would hear me say, "I wish" a lot. But when she would hear me say that, she wouldn't just be like, "Okay, he wishes that. Cool." She would ask me why I wished it, for which I usually had an answer. What I didn't have an answer for most of the time was when she started speculating on how things would be different if my wish came true.
I bet you that if you think of the last few times that you said, "I wish" and took time to really think that wish through, and be honest, and figure out what would be different today if it came true, you'd decide that things are better the way they are.
Now, let me say that this does not apply to everything. There are certain things that are a little different, like wishing that you had listened to somebody and by so doing avoided a big mistake, or wishing that you had done something when you had the opportunity. But I'm beginning to realize that basically the only things that I should wish about are things that I did. Anything else, it was out of my control, and I don't want to change it.
For example, my friend that I was talking about has a lot of health problems including seizures, tons of allergies, and a lot of other stuff that I don't understand. I said to her once, "I wish that you didn't have to deal with so many health problems." Her response was that her health problems were a part of her, that they've been a part of making her who she is. She wouldn't change her life if she could.
Now, she really doesn't like her health problems. She's told me so. Nobody would like them. But she's accepted that this is the life that God gave her, and she's okay with it. It has made her who she is. I must say that I would never want to change who she is. I love her. She's awesome.
Things that are out of our control are controlled by God. Do we really think that we know better than God? Do we really think that the things we're wishing would make our life better?
As an artist, I've come to think of the entire world and all that happens in it as a piece of art. God is the artist. There are things in this world that are hard, but they're part of the piece of art that God has made. Don't wish that they were different. Those things make His artwork beautiful.
The next time that you start to say, "I wish," stop for a second and think about what you're saying. Consider what the consequences of that wish coming true would be.
I think that you'll start saying, "I wish" a lot less often.
~H-A Forgiven
I have a friend, a very good friend, and we talk to each other a lot, and so she would hear me say, "I wish" a lot. But when she would hear me say that, she wouldn't just be like, "Okay, he wishes that. Cool." She would ask me why I wished it, for which I usually had an answer. What I didn't have an answer for most of the time was when she started speculating on how things would be different if my wish came true.
I bet you that if you think of the last few times that you said, "I wish" and took time to really think that wish through, and be honest, and figure out what would be different today if it came true, you'd decide that things are better the way they are.
Now, let me say that this does not apply to everything. There are certain things that are a little different, like wishing that you had listened to somebody and by so doing avoided a big mistake, or wishing that you had done something when you had the opportunity. But I'm beginning to realize that basically the only things that I should wish about are things that I did. Anything else, it was out of my control, and I don't want to change it.
For example, my friend that I was talking about has a lot of health problems including seizures, tons of allergies, and a lot of other stuff that I don't understand. I said to her once, "I wish that you didn't have to deal with so many health problems." Her response was that her health problems were a part of her, that they've been a part of making her who she is. She wouldn't change her life if she could.
Now, she really doesn't like her health problems. She's told me so. Nobody would like them. But she's accepted that this is the life that God gave her, and she's okay with it. It has made her who she is. I must say that I would never want to change who she is. I love her. She's awesome.
Things that are out of our control are controlled by God. Do we really think that we know better than God? Do we really think that the things we're wishing would make our life better?
As an artist, I've come to think of the entire world and all that happens in it as a piece of art. God is the artist. There are things in this world that are hard, but they're part of the piece of art that God has made. Don't wish that they were different. Those things make His artwork beautiful.
The next time that you start to say, "I wish," stop for a second and think about what you're saying. Consider what the consequences of that wish coming true would be.
I think that you'll start saying, "I wish" a lot less often.
~H-A Forgiven
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
We believe that death is not the end. Do we live like we do?
As a Christian, most of us believe with all our heart that death is not the end of existence. Far from it. But do we live like that? What do we view life as? Do we view it as a short time to get a job, make some money, have some kids, go to Disney World, and try to cram as much fun in before we go on? Or do we view it as a short amount of time that we have to witness to a lost world? I fear it is the former for most of us.
The other day I was just going about my day, when suddenly it just kind of hit me that I'm going to live forever. Like forever! I suppose that because I've been going to church nearly every sunday since before I was even born, that fact has become not so incredible to me. I've always known that people live forever, but it had never really just hit me like that.
I've lately been thinking about what I'm going to do with myself once I graduate highschool- whether or not to go to college, if so, where to go, and what to major in, whether or not that degree will be able to support a family, when I'll be able to have time to write music, whether I should become a part or full-time musician, you know, "How am I going to make it in the world?"- but then I just kind of stopped and realized, "So what if I end up starving to death because I chose to follow God and change the world with my music?". If God wants me to do this, then I need to just do it, and if I starve to death, then I'll just go on to the next part of life a little sooner.
Something I saw the other day helped me to think of it in an interesting way. Think of yourself before you were born, and imagine you could actually think then. Maybe you know that there is life after you are born, but you just kind of forget about it because life inside of your mother is all that you've ever known.
Now, think of yourself here on earth, and you know that there is life after death, but you just kind of forget about it because life on earth is all that you've ever known.
But there is eternity after death, not just another hundred years, but eternity!
So we have just a short time here on this earth as we know it. But what are we doing with it? A lot of us are getting rich and having fun. That's a poor use of your time on earth. See, all people have eternity after death, it's just a matter of where you spend eternity. You know what the two options are: Heaven and Hell. God left us here for this time for just one purpose, and that is to let this world know. That's the name of this blog. We have to let this world know. Let them know that there is eternity after death, and they can decide how they spend it.
Don't think of your life on earth as the sum total of your entire life. It's just the very beginning.
Let this world know.
~ H-A Forgiven
The other day I was just going about my day, when suddenly it just kind of hit me that I'm going to live forever. Like forever! I suppose that because I've been going to church nearly every sunday since before I was even born, that fact has become not so incredible to me. I've always known that people live forever, but it had never really just hit me like that.
I've lately been thinking about what I'm going to do with myself once I graduate highschool- whether or not to go to college, if so, where to go, and what to major in, whether or not that degree will be able to support a family, when I'll be able to have time to write music, whether I should become a part or full-time musician, you know, "How am I going to make it in the world?"- but then I just kind of stopped and realized, "So what if I end up starving to death because I chose to follow God and change the world with my music?". If God wants me to do this, then I need to just do it, and if I starve to death, then I'll just go on to the next part of life a little sooner.
Something I saw the other day helped me to think of it in an interesting way. Think of yourself before you were born, and imagine you could actually think then. Maybe you know that there is life after you are born, but you just kind of forget about it because life inside of your mother is all that you've ever known.
Now, think of yourself here on earth, and you know that there is life after death, but you just kind of forget about it because life on earth is all that you've ever known.
But there is eternity after death, not just another hundred years, but eternity!
So we have just a short time here on this earth as we know it. But what are we doing with it? A lot of us are getting rich and having fun. That's a poor use of your time on earth. See, all people have eternity after death, it's just a matter of where you spend eternity. You know what the two options are: Heaven and Hell. God left us here for this time for just one purpose, and that is to let this world know. That's the name of this blog. We have to let this world know. Let them know that there is eternity after death, and they can decide how they spend it.
Don't think of your life on earth as the sum total of your entire life. It's just the very beginning.
Let this world know.
~ H-A Forgiven
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)