Hebrews 12:11

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have trained by it.

Hebrews 12:11

In the past couple months, I was glad to witness my college group at my church display brotherly love in, not necessarily rebuking each other, but just reminding one another to be cautious about what we say and do as Christ followers.

Most of this started when the video about Christianity being a relationship and not a religion by Jeff Bethke.  At first, I agree fully what Jeff had to say and there was no doubt that it contained some truth about Christianity. However, I came to realize through the help of some friends (who were older and wiser), that  Christianity is just a religion as any other. A friend of mine, Mark Brunke, who is a youth pastor wrote nice article summing up what Christianity is as a religion and it reminded me that yeah, it's okay to say my faith, Christianity, is a religion. (Click on Mark's name to read his whole post) 

Most young Christians, including myself, believe that since people are turned off at the mention of religion, they might not be accepted to start a conversation about Jesus or just won't be accepted in general. Almost everyone I knew was posting on Facebook left and right about this video and amen! and all that good stuff. Though I do like to see my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ being passionate for the LORD, it really does convict me that we should really look at both views/sides to anything; not just religion, but also politics, news, etc. This leads to my next subject, the recent hype about KONY 2012. But before I switch gears, let's make one thing clear: 

Christianity is not JUST a religion. It is ALSO a relationship.

Anyway, I was one of many that saw the KONY 2012 video and jumped right on the band wagon. I'm not saying that the campaign is a sham, I'm saying that there are other layers to this story.

There have been criticisms of Invisible Children with the way they spend their donations, their method of using military force, and the actions of some (not all!) people who are involved with ulterior motives.

Visible Children - We Got Trouble

Criticisms of the KONY campaign

Seems kind of fishy right? After reading some more, I was starting to think, man, you gotta know both sides of the story! I just started contemplating about having discernment in campaigns such as these. I was starting to feel, "Okay, glad I didn't invest much further without investigating more."

BUT.

Lo and behold, there's another layer:

Invisible Children Critic Response

This time around, I just sit in my chair and think, "Well then..."

The conclusion that I've come to is that we as humans just aren't perfect. Something good may turn out to be bad or have skeletons in the closet. Something bad may actually be good in the long run. No one knows. This is a broken world where there are skeptics and pious people. But there are still people who genuinely care about others and want to do things the cleanest way possible and I admire that.

I'm not telling people to swing one way or another. I'm just drawing attention to the fact that yeah, we have to know both sides of the news and of the stories, even if you have to sit and wait a couple hours or even days for all the information to present itself. Then you can do your own research and determine what you believe is true or not. 

The ultimate thing is that, let's all try and take a step back, do our research thoroughly before you decide to jump into the fray.

I titled this post as Hebrews 12:11 because people will disagree. I have brothers and sisters in Christ with conflicting views on matters such as these. But whether something was right or wrong, we should continue to respectfully inform one another, to help each other be discerning.

So, don't cause division amongst friends just because of one thing, do it in brotherly love and with respect for one another. These little ripples in the water will soon pass, so please don't get overly biased and hyped about things so quickly.

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 

Hebrews 12:14

God Is Good. All The Time. No, Seriously!

Wow, I have not posted here for a long time. And I really want to again. And I will. But so much has happened within the past three months. There was sorrow, there was anger, there was anxiety. But there was joy, there was peace, and there was healing.

I want to start by saying, I never knew that I'd be posting more about my faith than what I originally intended, which was my art work and other miscellaneous rants. But I guess that just goes to show you and myself about how much more important my Christian faith has become in my life. To be brief, I am coming to understand what it really means to take up my cross and follow Christ. And honestly, it has been a real ride. A good ride.
A couple of my past posts have been dwelling over someone. Someone who I grew to care about, but it has been a rough time. In the end, I realized that I was starting to make similar mistakes in a past experience: I was starting to place that person over what should be the most important thing to me; my relationship with God. In the end, God pulled me out of my messy situation even if I had to feel hurt in the process. But it was good. It was necessary. It was what I needed.

A part of God's process in healing me was through getting back into His Word, being more honest with my family (biological and church), and also through a special someone, because it'll be a long story. But the point of this post is, God is good. All the time. No, He seriously is!

(Augh, I can talk about so many things branching off from this post alone, but I don't have the time to, nor is it the purpose of this particular post.)

I kind of want to make this fairly short, so I'll get straight to the point.
I've been through a lot of emotional and spiritual distress and I have not seen one moment where God has failed me. Never. Even when I feel at my lowest point, slowly but definitely, God was working in my life at my side for the better. There are a lot of lies that I tend to fall into and it tears me up from the inside, but every time I bow my head or look up, and just say, "God, I can't do this! I need Your help!" He answers. Leaving things in God's hands is to give up all of your desire to control things for your desired outcome. These past three months, I've come to fully understand that God's plan really is the best plan for me. Starting the second semester of my freshman year of college, I saw myself growing spiritually immensely and I have never felt such peace and joy in my life. Yes, sometimes it's tough. It's not easy to be Christian, but you know, God already told us it'd be hard. But it's all worth it in the end, because I'm alive because of a God who loves me so much that He came and died to repare the distance between us. How amazing for a love like that to exist? The best part: it does :]

If you're a Christian and feeling stuck, don't give up. Look up to Him who is more powerful than anything in all the universe, whose heart is bigger than all the universe. If you're not, then just ponder on what you've just read. I'm sure you have a lot of questions of your own.

Until next time :]

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

John 10:10