Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

"If you return, return to Me."

He who has an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.


These are quotes from the Holy Bible that speak to my heart. I don't know what you can take from them, but know that they are filled with CONVICTION.


"There was only one man who was completely perfect, one man who succeeded where we did not. And we nailed Him to a cross."

"Do I not deserve the ones I suffered for?"

First Love

I was recently listening to a whole composition of different sermons from very influential Christians. It was called "the Revival Hymn" and, I have to tell you, it was absolutely amazing.

There were quite a few different preachers (though I do have to apologize because I am not sure of their names), and they all spoke on revival (hence the title). There was so much I could have taken from that presentation, and when I was watching it, I felt like I was being hit in the gut.

Statement after statement after statement came at me, and all I could do was listen. There was not really time to sit and contemplate each thing that was being said, but I simply had to listen. Just listen. What I heard moved me in my soul and made me cry.

The most influential statement came from a man that had, at one point in his life, went to Africa do do missions work. He went to tell un-knowing, naive little tribespeople (as he thought them) that there was a wonderful savior that wanted to make their life so much better. Upon arriving and living with the people, he found that they weren't naive. They weren't waiting for some person to come and tell them about Jesus. They knew they were sinning, and they liked it. They indulged in their flesh, they lived for pleasure. And they did not want God.

Now, the man was in great turmoil in his soul and he wanted to leave that place. He wanted to let the people live in their sin because they wanted nothing to do with God. He thought, "Let them live in their sin! They don't want to clean up their lives, so why should I make them?" That's when God got a hold of him.

What He said sounded something like this, "Do I not deserve the ones I suffered for?"

"But, God, they don't want anything to do with you! They like their sin. They want to live in it. They don't deserve to go to heaven."

"Do I not deserve the ones I suffered for?"

"God, I cannot speak to these people when they refuse to hear me."

"DO I NOT DESERVE THE ONES I SUFFERED FOR!?"

Silence.

"I died an agonizing death! I went down to depths of hell! I defeated death! I rose to life. I paid for those African souls with my flesh, my blood, my life, and you won't speak to them because they won't hear. What does this have to do with them wanting me? What does this have to do with you? Do not I DESERVE the ones I suffered for?"

"Yes, Lord."

"Go."

It may have not gone like that. It may have not even been a conversation. But what I know is that God set something straight in that preacher. Do I not deserve the ones I suffered for. Have you ever thought of missions that way? Have you ever thought that you're not going there for the Africans. You're not going there because you have any power. You're going there for Him. Christ paid for the lost with his blood. They did not ask Him to do it. He did it because HE loved them... because HE wanted them.

We love Him because He first loved us.

Ethics, Morality, and Human Rights

I think that one of the most frustrating topics nowadays is that of ethics and morals. Think about it. What does "ethics" mean? Well, it's living according to what one knows to be true. I guess it seems simple enough when you put it in those terms, but really, it's more complex.

Just think about the stupidity of debating ethics in today's world. Ok. Let's see... everyone has at least some concept of what right is and what wrong is, but not necessarily what actions are right or wrong. So, we sit down and talk about what it means to live according to your morals, but that's as far as anyone can get.

I've seen this first hand in my World Issues class. We did a unit on ethics, and I think it was a complete waste of time. We talked about the meaning, and then we were given some hypothetical situations to discern what we would do in. They were mostly like this-- "Your friend steals a 50 cent comb. What do you do?" Most of the people in my class said that they would just leave it because they valued their friendship more. The teacher replied to this by saying, "So, in some small way, you're saying stealing is right." This got almost everyone a little flustered, but we moved on. It soon moved to bigger, more expensive items, and pretty soon almost everyone was saying they would do something. But then the teacher reminded them that they had said it was ok to steal the comb. Now, this could be a really good thought-provoking conversation that could aid people in making decisions, but after it was all said and done, the teacher just stood up there and shrugged his shoulders as if to say "who knows what's right?"

This was so disheartening to me! No one feels like they can speak about right or wrong because they are afraid they'll infringe on someone's rights!!! We are a spineless people. We are content to sit back and enjoy life and let everyone else enjoy life, even if their form of "enjoyment" goes against everything that has been taught in the past.

Basically, my point about this whole thing is that ethics without a foundation is pointless. You see, people feel convictions, they feel like something isn't right, but they have nothing to base it on. They only have their feelings, and feelings never find a place in a court (unless they somehow could add that to the Constitution! and that would be scary). I guess what I'm kind of thinking here is that there is no truth outside of God. Leave God out of the equation, and the only thing you can ever be convicted about is your own emotions. THUS THERE IS NO STABILITY. I get so angry when I hear someone say "well, that's right for you, and this is right for me." NO!!! How can you label anything "right" if right and wrong is left up to the individual?!?

What our world needs is to let go of our silly need for comfort, our silly need to keep our little worlds in our little bubbles. The truth is, sooner or later, that bubble will burst. And then what will we have to say for ourselves??!?