Get It Really Real

Jesus as: Your best friend.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 20:13:00 +0000

As you sit there crying, the razor having fallen from your fingers and the blood beading on your arms and thighs, he steps into your room and sits on your bed next to you, saying nothing. You cover your face with your hands, and he places your head on his shoulder and lets you cry for a while, stroking your hair to comfort you. Your sobs finally slow, and you place your hands in your lap, exhausted. He lifts your face to look into your red, watery eyes for a moment before he kisses your forehead and leaves the room to return with a damp cloth, antibiotic cream, and bandages.

He kneels next to you on the floor and takes one arm in his hands and gently dabs away the blood, kissing between each new mark on your skin, which he painted onto you in the womb. Once the blood is gone, he gently applies the cream and soft bandages to protect the healing process. As he repeats this with the other arm and both legs, tears fall from his eyes for your pain that he wishes you would let him take.

When the last strip of gauze is in place, he sits on your bed and cradles you in his arms, curling you around your healing wounds and into his love for you, and slowly rocks as you fall asleep. While you rest, he whispers his promises over and over until you awaken, once more in control of yourself, and return his embrace.

Declaring War on My Demons

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:30:00 +0000

I am so sick of always being on the defensive when it comes to my lusts and temptations. I'm constantly casting a wary eye around for surprise attacks, and am still blindsided on a regular basis. So this is me declaring war on my demons, especially those of lust and a lack of self worth. I will pray. I will read. I will worship. I will commune with my Father. I will wield my sword and shield. I will fall. I will get back up again. I will confess. I will humble myself. I will lift others up. The one thing I will not do is win, because that's already been done. All I have to do is clean up the stragglers. Get ready, Satan, because I'm coming for you in the name of my Lord Jesus.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like A Smartphone

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 01:00:00 +0000

What is the Kingdom of Heaven like? To what shall I compare it? The Kingdom of Heaven is like...a smartphone.
If you own a smartphone, you know there are three major operating systems: Apple iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. Which "flavor" of smartphone you have isn't important here. What we're focusing on is that the reason the Kingdom of Heaven is like a smartphone is that it can't operate unless Jesus is the operating system.

This may seem like a "duh" statement to you, but hear me out. Let's take a look at what the operating system does:

The operating system controls the hardware of the phone. (camera, wifi and cell antennae, touchscreen, etc.)
The phone cannot operate without it, and it can't be uninstalled, like an App can.
Apps "talk" to the operating system in order to use the phone's hardware. (i.e. the GPS App)

We'll leave it at those three for the purposes of our discussion, here.

So, about the hardware. In life, the hardware is your body. Simple enough, right? The problem is, we have a virus infecting the system, called "self." We try to undermine the operating system in order to control the hardware to do our own bidding, and not that of the true command and control system. When we choose our own desires over what we know God would have us to do, it's like a virus or hacker taking over our phone and making it call or text someone we didn't intend and saying something that isn't true. And while computers have antivirus programs, the best option for a smartphone is a factory reset--completely undoing everything that has been done and handing control back over to the operating system, the way it was originally intended. We do that with repentance: coming to God, confessing our sins, and choosing his will over again.

I debated putting this one first, but I felt that it was essential to understand the relationship between hardware and operating system before we got into this second aspect. Let's pretend, for the purpose of our discussion, that our smartphone is an iPhone (simply because it is the one with which I am most familiar. I'm not here to say iOS is better than Android or anything else). The operating system for an iPhone is iOS. It contains the instructions needed to make a call, send a text, turn on the camera, lock the screen, etc. Take that away, and you essentially have a several hundred dollar paperweight. Have you ever heard of someone "bricking" their phone? It's when they tried to hack or change the operating system in a way it wasn't designed to be done, and it just stopped working completely. That's my point, here. The phone can't make a call, send a text, turn on, or even take a charge without the operating system in place and working properly. I realize this isn't the case with older phones, but we're not addressing them here. Christian life, indeed life period, is like this. Without Jesus as our source, as our way of interacting with the world, we're useless. Jesus said himself that "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing," (John 15:5, my emphasis). But, conversely, with the operating system in place and working as it should, "with God all things are possible," (Matthew 19:26, emphasis mine).

Lastly, let's take care of the way apps work with the operating system. At the time of writing, there are over half a million apps in the App Store, and about the same number in the Android Market. The possibilities there are pretty high, but there is literally NO LIMIT to what we can accomplish with Jesus as the way in which we live our lives. The problem I've seen, especially in my own life, is that we treat Jesus, his word, and the Spirit inside of us as Apps. Things to add on to our own, broken operating system. God keeps reminding me that if I will set him as the source of my life, if I'll set him up as the way through I interact with the world, I could accomplish anything. I don't pretend to do this perfectly, but I'm moving toward uninstalling the virus of "me," and completely changing the way my life works by letting God have control. The way you would do that with a smart phone would be to connect it to a computer, connected to the company the operating system came from (in our case, Apple,) and remove absolutely EVERYTHING that is on the phone, then put the real operating system back in place, with nothing in the way. From this base, you can install apps, make calls, and use the phone as it was intended to be. With us, it's not so different. The idea is to plug in to the word and presence of Jesus, have him remove everything that isn't him, and then fill everything back up with his life and identity, so we can operate in the way we were originally designed. And this isn't just a one time thing. I've had to factory restore my smartphone several times since I've owned one, and we as humans are even more prone to errors, and have to constantly be refreshed with a new copy with the operating system by reading and resting in his presence.

So, there you have it. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a Smartphone. Any questions or comments? Burning sensations? Good gossip? Just kidding about the gossip. Let me know what you think!

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

Go and Sin No More

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 00:30:00 +0000

Jesus did, indeed, tell people to stop their sinful behavior. But, that's not the first thing he did when he met with someone. He showed them love first.
I'm continuing with the spirit of "I don't know how to tell you this...but you're wrong" here. Looking at John 5 and 8, Jesus did say "Go and sin no more," (paraphrasing) but it was after he had already healed the lame man and forgiven the woman caught in adultery. The gist of what I'm saying is that we aren't called to tell people to stop sinning. We're commanded to call out, "Come!" To tell the world, "Come find the life that is waiting for you! Life more abundantly! Life beyond your wildest dreams! Come and get it!" Isn't that so much more appealing than "You're a bad person! You're filthy and unworthy of my respect! But come join my church full of people who will think all the same things about you, so you can maybe get cleaned up enough to be respectable." Yet this is the message we so often send out to the world, whether it's in those words or not. I think the best thing to do is to remember how you were before you got saved. And then remember the words that someone, whether it was a pastor, an evangelist, a missionary, a friend, whoever it was, spoke to you to show you God's love, not condemnation. Those are the kinds of things you should say to people. Let them know that they're valuable just for being alive. That Jesus' precious blood was spilled to redeem them, not to condemn them. That they can know a love beyond anything they can dream, and that it will change who they are, which will in turn change their behavior, from the inside out. And lastly that they don't have to stop sinning before they come to him, rather that it will be the natural flow of events after they receive his love and forgiveness.

This came to me as I was typing the last few lines up there. No one remembers Mother Theresa because she was constantly telling people what they've done wrong. They remember her because she constantly showed how much love God has for people. I'm sorry to pull the "Mother Theresa" card, but the reason she's always held up as an example, is that she truly is an example. Think about it.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter: @GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

Don't push away His hands

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:41:00 +0000

Ok, so Joseph, Jesus' earthly dad, was a carpenter. I imagine he taught Jesus a thing or two about carpentry. In fact, a lot of people, including me, believe that carpentry is what Jesus did before the whole disaster aversion at a certain wedding. Now, imagine that you're his apprentice in carpentry. He's working on his magnum opus, and he wants your help with it, even though you've just started the job.
At first, you tell him no, and sit to watch him work. Eventually you get comfortable enough around him that you ask for a side project to work on, and he assigns one to you. Maybe it's putting together a chair, or sanding the inside of a bowl, or putting finish on the corners of a cabinet so he can take care of the bigger parts later. Eventually, you feel like you're "ready" to help him with this masterpiece he has been so meticulously working on. It's a single piece of hardwood, cedar or oak, you think, about 4 inches thick, and about 20 feet square. It must have come from an absolutely ancient tree, to be this big. He's got it propped up on saw horses, taking up the vast majority of the space in the shop. You can't tell what it's supposed to be yet, because all he's done so far is start a slightly curved groove about 18 inches long into it about 10 inches from what you call the "bottom," the edge closest to the door. When you approach him, he smiles eagerly and hands you the planing tool he's been using. He points to the groove he's already started, and you set the blade into it, placing your hands on the two handles of the tool. He nods at you, and you push forward as hard as you dare--and nothing happens. So you push a little harder, still with no result. So, you scrunch your face and set your jaw and push your whole weight into the tool, and it moves about a foot, digging about half an inch into the wood, but not in the same direction as the groove. You gasp and drop the tool and cover your face in shame, but he just smiles and nods, picking up the tool, and sets it back in the groove. He invites you back over to the piece, but you tell him no.

He walks over to you and hugs you tightly until you calm down, and leads you back over to the tool, and places your hands back on the handles, but in a different position than you had originally tried. He leaves his hands over yours, and starts to gently guide the blade forward, into his proper groove, and right past your erroneous one. A curl of wood slips over the blade and pops out onto the board as you and he both lift the blade at the end of the stroke. You look up at him, smiling, and he smiles back, and sets the tool back down for another pass. You continue this way for a while, making a little progress toward and slightly around the corner, and you start to feel like you have the hang of it, so you push his hands away, and try it again yourself.

One pass is almost perfect, a little wobbly, but in the groove. The next, though, is as much of a disaster as your very first, but in the opposite direction. Whereas your first goof went toward the middle of the board, this one goes toward the edge, just as deep. You throw the planer toward the middle of the board and storm to the corner, fuming and crying, your fists balled, pressing on either side of your head. You let out a short scream of frustration and stomp back over to the board and roughly grab the tool and give it another go, making sure not to exert any pressure in the direction you just went. As a result, this one veers off toward the inside, like the first, and you just bow your head, squeezing the handles as tight as you can, teeth clenched, tears dripping off your nose and into the gouge you just made.

During this, he has stood just to your side, hands in his pockets (we'll pretend he has them), watching you patiently throughout your outburst. He places a hand on your back and rubs it back and forth softly a few times, then sets his hands back on yours and lifts the tool back over to the main groove and sets it down, and waits for you to compose yourself and set your stance to try again.

This pattern repeats all the way around the enormous board, of him guiding your hands, you gaining some confidence in your own abilities and gouging out tangents to his groove, some deeper and longer than others, and him bringing you back to his original groove. When at last you make it back around to the beginning, the surface of the board scarred from your attempts and tantrums and outbursts of throwing the tool or anything metal you can get your hands on toward the board, you step back, exhausted. Jesus just wipes his brow, and picks up a hammer and chisel, and leans over to work. You try to watch him, but you're too tired, and collapse into a chair you had put together earlier, and sink into sleep.

When you wake up, it's early morning, and the sun is coming almost straight through the door, bathing the enormous piece of wood in its cool, soft light. As you rub the sleep from your eyes, you glance over at it, wondering how much work Jesus had to do in order to remove the evidence of your repeated failures. You figure he let you make it all the way around in order to not waste time fixing them as they happened. But as your eyes focus, you start to see shadows on the board, and not just the even circle of the main groove. You stand up and gasp at what is before you. In the night, Jesus has placed a blanket over you, and it drops to the floor, completely unnoticed.

While you slept, Jesus had gone around the piece, finessing with the chisel around the times you marred the plank, pointing the ends, deepening one side, and turning the whole piece in to a relief carving of his crown of thorns. Each gouge of yours has become a thorn, coming out of his main groove. Each time you threw a hammer, a chisel, a drill, or a knife, has become a drop of blood. And in the center of the crown, he had carved Isaiah 53:5: "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

The Old Woman and Her Offering

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 00:03:00 +0000

Remember when Jesus and His disciples were at the temple, and Jesus watched people putting their offerings in? Everyone remembers that old lady who put in "everything she had to live on," right? I always felt bad, hearing that, because in my heart of hearts I know that it's very unlikely that I'll ever be able to give every penny to my name. But, I just read it again, and realized something. Jesus was not saying we should feel bad for "giving our of our abundance." Jesus only ever built people up. He was even helping the Pharisees, et al, when He berated them. At any rate, He didn't say that the people who were giving from their extra were doing a bad thing, just that the old woman's offering was more than theirs. So don't feel bad if your offering isn't 100% of everything you have. Jesus still loves you. The end.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

There Never Was A Better Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 02:19:00 +0000

If you're like me, you've wondered why God decided to make us. If He knows everything that's going to happen, why go through with it at all? How could He, knowing all we would do, still create us? How could He put Himself through our continual and repetitive betrayal? How could he let Satan into the Garden, knowing that Eve would take the bait? Wouldn't it have been better just not to do it? To avoid it altogether, by not making us in the first place?

Simply put, the answer is "No." Redemption was always the plan. Never did the Father intend to have us living in the garden forever. God is love, and He only does perfect things, perfectly. He loves Himself, as the Trinity, and that is enough. But, here's the thing: He had us in mind the whole time. We were always meant to be, so how could He not give us the opportunity to be loved? He can't change. It's not like one day He hadn't thought of us yet, and the next He had. From long before there was the idea of "before," He knew and loved us. Before the angels were, before the demons fell, He wanted to make us and to love us. Please get this. Never were we not on His mind. He knew we would be imperfect, that we would need His love, and He wanted to give it to us.

Starting at day one, he showed us His love, in the detail of the creation made for us to enjoy. He worked through all of human history, using Satan's workings to His own ends, to make the conditions just right to send Jesus. By that time, we had ample opportunity to see that we aren't good enough. To show the state we were in without forgiveness, through His love. Without the dismal track record we had accrued, we wouldn't have been able to tell just how high His love is above our own filth. If we would have remained blameless, there would be no opportunity for us to be grateful, to worship him for the love that He is.

If we had never fallen, there would have been no way to know just how much we're loved. He didn't just want perfect people who were happy in His presence, because they'd never known anything different. He wanted us to know why His presence means so much. We wouldn't have appreciated the gift without first having been without it.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

I don't know how to tell you this...but you're wrong.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 03:49:00 +0000

Actually, I know exactly how to tell you; you're wrong. It doesn't matter if your facts are all correct, you have all the evidence in the world, and you've been able to shoot down every argument they have. You're still wrong. Why, you ask? Because you're missing the point. The point of life, and even less so the point of following Christ, is not to be able to prove that you're right.

In the last two years or so, I've been troubled by two things: my lack of a clear purpose from God, and the deficiencies (for lack of a better term) I've seen in the church. Recently, it seems that those two things have come together to set a purpose for me, at least for now. I don't want to simply nitpick at things the church has long been called out on. Rather, I want to build the body up. I don't want to share mere knowledge, but love and wisdom. "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God." 1 Corinthians 8:1-3.

One of the most fundamental problems I see is the proliferation of people and groups of people in the body who are more concerned with being right than being an example of love. Paul puts it this way, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Philippians 2:3-4. Tell me how proving someone wrong values them above you, and I'll print this post out and eat it. The world doesn't need more pharisees who are only concerned with their way being the only way, "so help me God." Rather, it needs people who are willing to put aside their own insecurity and concern with looking foolish, and simply love people.

Now, I realize I could easily fall into the trap of trying to prove myself right even as I type. God willing, I'll be able to draw His wisdom out, rather than using my own words or arguments to make my case. With that said, I'm still an imperfect human, so I can't guarantee that all of this will be from the Spirit.

I don't know about you, but I can't remember the last time I thanked someone for proving me wrong. What I can remember vividly, on the other hand, is the first time someone told me that Jesus died to save me from my reservation in hell, even though He knew everything I had ever done or would do. No one had to prove to me that what I'd been doing up to that point was wrong. All that was necessary was to communicate how unconditional His love is.

So what makes us think, especially on the internet, that we need to take it upon ourselves to pick out every flaw and inaccuracy in something that we disagree with? For example, say someone posted something to the effect of Christians being ignorant, bigoted, self-righteous, mentally deficient, or fanatical sheep. I can already feel the heat from the flame war that would begin in whatever comments were available. The problem isn't that what this person posted is wrong, because there are a lot of people who claim to be Christians who are those things. It's that we're so concerned with being right, that we miss the point of what Jesus came to do, and called us to do. To love.

I seriously can't understand why so many people can't see this simple truth. It doesn't MATTER whether you're right. The universe doesn't revolve around you, and Jesus doesn't need you to stand up for Him. If they want to bash God, let them! He took a beating like none other in history, so I think He can handle a few words from someone who doesn't know better. In fact, I seem to recall Him saying something like "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Now, apologetics, as in showing someone who has never heard of Jesus that He does indeed exist, has its place. But when it becomes about proving evolution or Islam or Buddhism or whatever wrong, that's when we lose sight of the point of Jesus' work--love. He loves the person you're talking to. He doesn't care if you can prove yourself right; he cares that you can show them how much He loves them.

So, let's have it. Will you try to prove me wrong? Or will you give up your pride and simply love selflessly?

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

You don't have to be scared of demons

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 00:30:00 +0000

I've been reading "Demon" by Tosca Lee. I'm not very far in, but Dad has been telling me some things that I've not considered before. I don't know how much impact on other people's lives this may have, but there are two things that I want to look at, briefly.

First, it's that I feel sorry for demons. Hear me out, here. They were created to do one thing, to worship God constantly and completely. When they were led astray, they lost their purpose. Now, they're miserable. They can no longer do the thing that they were made to do. And so, since misery loves company, they're lashing out in their pain to drag as many of us humans down with them as they can. I'm not saying they're not evil, nor that they don't deserve their punishment. Just that I'm not scared of these beings that no longer have a reason to exist. We were created to do the same thing that they were: to worship God. And since we were given a choice, we have it better than them, because they can never be redeemed. They fell, and that's that. We, however, can make the choice as late as on our death bed, and God will welcome us back, giving all of His love and power to us, because we made that choice. I know people who are terrified of demons. They shrink away at the mention of them, because they've been led to believe that they're so powerful, and can do things to people that no one should be allowed to do. But I just can't buy into that, when I see that they're pathetic, weak masses of created things that are no longer good for anything. The only power they have is what people give them. The only reason people are scared of them is because they give them the power to scare them. It's a cycle that the truth can break, though. You're given more power than them at birth, simply because you can choose to do what they will never be allowed to do again: to worship God.

Second, the Spirit is reminding me that the root of all sin is pride. Lucifer tried to put himself above God, and so he was cast down. Think about it. Every sin people commit; murder, theft, adultery, drug use, etc. are all fueled by the idea that we know better than God what is good for us. For example: a young man struggles with sexual temptation. He knows that his body is not his own, that he's been bought with a price, but still he makes the choice to disregard that and put his will over God's. Or thieving. Whether or not someone knows that God has promised to provide for them, everyone knows at the root of it that stealing is wrong. And still they make the choice to do what they feel like doing over what is ultimately right. And so, what's the antidote to this? I've been working on that for half the day, and the best I have is that we're to do our best to bring our selves down lower, and to raise God up. To continually and consciously choose what is actually better, not what we think is better. And how do we do that? By doing as Jesus said, we abide in Him and in His word. And, like Paul said, we pray without ceasing. These are our tools for humility.

Alright, so it wasn't as brief as I intended. At least I feel like I got my point across. Demons are bad, but not scary, and we have to humble ourselves in order to avoid sin.

What do you say? Yea or nay?

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

God Loves Fags

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:43:00 +0000

First, I want to apologize for the use of "fags" in the title. I wanted to grab attention, and it was the best way I could think of. I know that a fag is a cigarette butt, and not a person.

Second, I want to repeat it. God loves people who are lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender. The operative word, there, is "people". They are still human beings, created in His image, and He still loves them. I know what the people over at Westboro and the like will say. "What about Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13? I won't get into an argument about whether people should still be stoned. I think Jesus covered that in John 8:7, don't you?

So, let's look at "detestable," or the King James' "abomination," according to Webster.

detestable, adj: arousing or meriting intense dislike

abomination, n: 1: something abominable 2: extreme disgust and hatred

For the sake of completeness, let's define abominable as well.

abominable, adj: worthy of or causing disgust or hatred

See? It says it right there, "hatred". Twice, even! But wait! Let's look at some pronouns...

In 18:22, it says "they have done what is detestable". It does say "they," which is a personal pronoun, referring to more than one person. But, "what" is an impersonal pronoun. It refers to a thing, not a person. It does not say that the people who have done it are detestable, but the act of homosexual intercourse is detestable, or an abomination. It's what they have done that God hates, not the people themselves.

In fact, nowhere in the Bible, that I have found (correct me if I'm wrong), does it say that God hates a person or people. But, over and over, it says that He hates what they have DONE. In fact, a quick search of "lord hates" (with quotes) shows 4 results in the NIV, and NONE in the King James, to which many of these Pharisaical zealots hold. Of the four in the NIV, one is the people of Israel being rebellious, talking about how the Lord hates them and brought them into the wilderness to die in Deuteronomy 1:27, then Psalm 97:10 says "those who love the Lord hate evil." The other two, Deuteronomy 12:31 and Proverbs 6:16 talk about things that the Lord hates, not people. A similar search of "God hates" (again, with quotes) finds one in the NIV, and NONE again in the King James. Deuteronomy 16:22, says that the Lord hates "sacred stones," which are, again, things. I could go on with "lord despises" and "lord detests" and all the synonyms for "hate", but you get the picture. God doesn't hate people. He hates the things people do.

In closing, I want to toss something your direction that has struck me recently; it seems that the reason so many people don't like the church, and use that as an excuse not to get to know God, is not just that we're a bunch of hypocrites, for the most part (though that is a large reason). From spending time on the internet, it looks like the world's problem with us is that we're constantly trying to prove ourselves right. To defend our position. To "stand up for Jesus." Well, let me tell you something. First, Jesus doesn't need anyone to stand up for Him. He can take care of Himself. Second, get over yourself! Who cares if what an atheist or a gay person or a professor or another denomination or anybody says that offends you!? Life isn't all about you! Everything comes down to love, which puts others above yourself, and doesn't seek its own ends. Try it sometime?

P.S. I know that someone will point out that I've done exactly what I've said you shouldn't, proving myself right. In my defense, I submit this: I'm advocating love, not trying to prove myself right.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

It's All About the Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 03:19:00 +0000

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

We quote this often (Luke 6:37-38), praying for a great return on what we give so that we can get back more than we gave. And often, we give an absolute minimum (to the church, missions, church family members, etc) and expect many times the return on our "investment." I bet you can already tell where I'm going here: we're selfish.

I was recently able to buy a computer for a friend of mine who was very much in need of a new one for school. Her old one had been dropped repeatedly (by people to whom she had lent it) and was not functioning properly. I'm very grateful that I've had experiences and education that allowed me to revive her old machine at least twice after she had given up on ever using it again, but after a series of revelations and blessings in my life, it was time to replace it. It isn't the fact that I gave her the computer that is astonishing to me, it's the changes in my heart and attitudes that led up to it that have me looking back and wondering by what grace I've arrived here.

In the month or two before this, at church, we had been going through Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church's teaching on giving, called the Blessed Life. If you haven't tuned out, navigated somewhere else, or closed the window yet, let me implore you not to do it right now, either. He isn't advocating the "prosperity gospel" or trying to get you to send money to his church, he's trying to get you to become more like God, in whose image we were made.

Consider what is probably the most popular verse in scripture, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (NIV). No matter what translation you have, even the Message, the verse points out two things that God did: He loved, and he gave. Also, notice the order of them: he gave BECAUSE he loved. If God is love, and He is the ultimate expression and expressor (I think I made that word up) of everything that is good (James 1:17), and if we are made in His image (Gen 1:26), we ought to behave like Him, oughtn't we (John 5:19, Lev 20:26)? I don't feel like the conclusions I'm drawing here are heretical, or that I'm drawing a thin connection between obscure verses taken out of context. These things are core doctrine for the vast majority of the church. So, I say all that to say: if God gave out of love, so should we.

Pastor Morris starts his teaching on giving with tithing, and I won't go into how it isn't just an old testament thing, and that tithing itself will bring you blessing, and how it needs to be brought first, before you spend on anything else. Suffice to say that I've always tithed, and his teaching just helped me to do it in the right way, at the beginning, not after I had made sure I had enough. In this series, God opened my heart and mind to understand that He wants me to be more generous, so I started asking for opportunities to do so. At first, It wasn't much. Buying a meal for a friend, or a movie ticket, and not allowing them to pay me back. But the point was that I was putting my treasure into people so that my heart would be there, rather than with things I'd bought for myself. Then, over spring break (2012), I got some unexpected income from a series of computer service calls that totaled $350. The Sunday before this, I had revived my friend's computer for the second time, and we had been talking about me helping her look for an affordable and adequate replacement. So, when Dad told me to buy her a computer, I am somewhat pleased and surprised to say that I didn't balk at it--at least not right away.

The truth is, I was excited at first, and then it gave way to some resentment, because there are things I sort of need to get done, mostly to my truck, that this would have taken a large chunk out of. None of these things were keeping it from running, but it's nice to have an intact bumper and a power window that actually works. I prayed, though, and told Dad, myself, and the devil (yes, he's the one who "helped" me remember all the other things I could have done with the money) that this money was never mine in the first place, and that it was definitely going to pay for a new computer for my friend. So, that Sunday, we looked for computers like we had planned, and found a refurbished one with nice specs at well below what a new one with the same capabilities would have cost, for $299. Then, I brought it up to her, and at first she told me no. Which is understandable, except for the fact that God had told her that morning that I was going to do this for her. I eventually brought her back around to accepting what Dad and I were giving her, and I ordered it within 5 minutes. It is now in her possession, and from what she tells me, she loves it.

My point here is not to pat myself on the back for being a "good christian." I wanted to show you how God can turn a selfish heart into a grateful and giving one. I'm not saying I'm ready to sell everything I own and give it to the poor, but in this case I gave just to make her happy, and to be more like my Dad. I know there's no way she can pay me back, and I don't want her to. I'm just happy to know I could meet the need. And for those of you who may be thinking "yeah, but I bet you're waiting for that ROI, aren't you? (paraphrased)," I can honestly say I'm not. Like I said before, it was money I never expected to get, and it was immediately apparent to me that I wasn't meant to keep it. I don't think it counts as a sacrificial gift, yet. I am hoping (expecting) to get there, though.

To quote another friend of mine, may you have peace, love, joy, and happiness.

Have you ever been able to bless someone like this? Or have you been the recipient of a gift you could never pay back?

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

Disenchanted in this land of a thousand chances

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:39:00 +0000

I have friends who have become disenchanted with God, because He didn't fulfill their expectations for their lives, or because the circumstances they prayed about didn't get better, or because they couldn't get over how He could let the horrible things that happened to them, happen.

The problem is, what they're seeking is a feeling of happiness. God isn't there to make them happy, He's there to love them beyond all reason.
God doesn't want your life in order to solve all your problems and make it smooth sailing for you. The point of life isn't to be happy, it's to have joy and to give Him glory, no matter what's going on around you.

This is why, when I pray for you, I don't stop at asking for the specific circumstance to change, but above it, I ask that you would come to know fulfillment and wholeness in Him, no matter whether the circumstance improves or not. I thank Him for His will being accomplished, even if it goes against what you or I want.

So, beware; I pray god's best for you, even if it doesn't make you happy in the short term. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him (James 1:17), and His will is good, perfect, and pleasing (Romans 12:2).

Do you have a hard time accepting that an all-powerful, loving God could allow terrible things to have happened to you? Let me know in the comments, so I can pray for you, and we can maybe talk it out.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

Is God still big enough to save the world?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 02:00:00 +0000

For a long time, I thought that the apostles had it easier than we do. They could preach and teach in their world, because the world was smaller, there were fewer distractions, and because most people already believed in something(s) supernatural. Today, we have to deal with atheists, agnostics, cell phones, round-the-clock news, genocide, and so many other things that make people doubt that anything exists beyond the life they're living now. My question is, has the God who made the world changed such that he can't save that same world today?
While those reasons for the apostles having had it easier may be true, logically, God is the same now as He was two millennia ago, and so He is still MORE than able to save anyone and everyone! It has nothing to do with the condition of the world or people's inclinations--it's all about what God wants and what He's able to do. People always have been and always will be drawn to everything but God, because the god (little "g") of this world is in charge of what is presented to their senses. It's up to God to change people's hearts, but before that it's up to us to recognize that He hasn't changed, that He still has the power to overcome anything in the way of His love for people, and to make Him known to them. it's not up to us to do the saving, but to present the gospel, and to disciple those who have accepted God's lordship and life.

We put way too much stock into how much our own abilities affect the outcome of God's will. If God wants to build his kingdom, and all you and I can do is bring one brick, board, nail, or tool at a time, He can turn our contributions into something much bigger than anything we could imagine. So do what you can. You can't do everything, but you know that something that you CAN do. Tell that person at the store that Jesus loves them, for instance. They might look at you funny, or tell you to buzz off (that politely, too), but you've planted a seed, and God's part is to bring the harvest. He doesn't require our help, rather, He allows us to have a part in what He's doing.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

Happiness isn't good enough for you

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000

That's right. You were made for better than being happy. Happiness is temporary, and it's based on things going on in your life, things which are usually out of your control, and aren't fulfilling anyway. If happiness isn't good enough for us as children of the One who is Love, then what is?

What you're really made for are joy, wholeness, and influence! Joy is internal and eternal. You have joy no matter what goes on in your life. It's caused by God in you and loving you from the inside out, which WILL NOT change. Wholeness is similar--it's from God removing your old self, the person whom your life experiences cut and chipped you into (like a cold, hard, marble statue) and replacing it with your new identity, molded (like a hand-crafted clay vessel) in His likeness before time began, and kept especially for this place in time.

And then there's influence. You don't have to sit by passively, powerless against the things which change around you, and how they make you feel. You have unlimited power, drive, and ability to shape and build the world around you into the way it was truly meant to be.

I hope I was able to encourage you with this. I'm in a beginning of the year fast, and Dad gave this to me during church, and I know that as much as it was for me, it's part of what He's called me to do to encourage my brothers and sisters. Be blessed in your new year.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

Never good enough? Feels like it, doesn't it?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:39:00 +0000

Some days I curse the internet, some days I bless ARPA for creating it.

I find it far too easy to get my hands (eyes) on content that is not beneficial to moving closer to God (also Dad, in my world), but I also get to share lessons and encouragement easily and for free. Today, I've done both. Unfortunately, for the first, but now I have a reason to write something. I realize this isn't the best way to get content, but in my weakness, He is strong, and His will will always be accomplished.

So, don't discount yourself if you've failed. Even if you've failed, and continued to fail, long after you feel like you should have overcome whatever it is. I've been saved for a little over 5 years now (I know, kind of still a toddler) and I still struggle with two big issues, in particular. I won't reveal them here, because it's not the place, but there are things about myself that I feel that if people in my life knew, they would end the relationship, or change it such that it's not worth having anymore. I'm working on getting past that fear, but I'm not there yet.

I say all that to say, while it may feel like a big deal to you when you fail, Dad's not surprised. He knows that you're not perfect. What's more, He expects you to fail, and is even happy when you do. It means that A) you're trying, and B) since you feel the conviction and yes, guilt, it means that you're still sensitive to the Spirit calling to you, and there's still hope. It's when you stop feeling guilty that your heart has become calloused, and the likelihood of you turning back to Him lessens. Also, I know guilt is a dirty word in Christian language, but I believe that as long as you don't just sit there feeling guilty, if you commit to listening to the Spirit and not your own feelings/knowledge, it's definitely constructive. I know how easy it is to feel hopeless after you fall victim to an aspect of your old life that died when you were reborn. Trust me, I know. But the thing about grace is that not only does it not do to as you deserve, it gives you what you don't deserve. Through His grace, He gives you His Spirit of power and love and and mercy and wisdom and all the things He is, so that you can live the life He's called you to live. It's just up to you to choose to listen to the Spirit inside you, rather than what you feel like doing. And don't feel bad if you only go a day between falls. When you were a baby, learning to walk, did your parents ever say, "Only three steps? That's not good enough. I expect you to make it across the room, already."? Of course not. It was completely new to you, and so you had to practice. And each time you fell, you learned a little more about how to do, and not do, the series of controlled falls that we call walking. I can't stress enough that when you fail, it's less, "Goodness, why did you do that? I expected better from you," and more, "Great try! I'm so proud of you for attempting that! What do you say we try again?" from God.

Please don't ever forget that it's His power that gives us what we need to live a godly life, not our own willpower (1 Peter 2:3). It's not our job to build up the self control and strength and determination to do what we know is right. It's His job to provide all that. It's our job to listen for His will, in the Word and directly from Him, and to carry it out. (John 15:5). I feel like I'm rambling, so I'll stop for now. I'm available, if you have any questions. Just click the link below and email me. Present your requests to Him, with thanksgiving, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

Does Jesus really need us to stand up for Him?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 23:00:00 +0000

The other day on Facebook (I know, I'm not on Google+ [what!?]) a friend of mine gave voice to her outrage about President Obama not having Christmas trees in the White House this year, that instead they would be called "Holiday" trees, since this is no longer a Christian country, but a country of many faiths, and how we need to let him know that this is still a Christian country and "stand up for Christ."

While I appreciate her virtual zeal, I believe the President is right, for three reasons.

First: This has never been a "Christian country." While the majority of its citizens have professed to be Christians, that does not make our system of government and rule Christian. Even the founding fathers, most of whom were influenced by Christian beliefs, worked very, very hard at keeping them out of designing a system of rule that has yet to be bested. Thus, "in the name of God" could not be used to justify any type of action, whether good or bad. They stated that this was a government "for the people and by the people," not by the God that they professed. While a theocracy, with God as the ultimate authority, is the ideal form of rule, that won't happen until He comes back. In the mean time, we humans will have to do the best we can, calling on His help if we believe. Apparently we, the people, have chosen a representative who does not believe in the same God that I do. Constitutionally, that's perfectly fine. There is no law stating that the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Drive need be a Christian, or believe in anything at all, for that matter. Only that he, or she, be at least 35 years of age, a natural born citizen, and elected by the people whom he or she serves.

Second: This is, in fact, a country of many faiths. I'm not sure what the numbers are, but I've heard that we're second in religious diversity only to the UK. And that's alright. It's part of what makes this country the greatest country in the world (again, not a perfect country). Here, anyone can accomplish anything and be anyone they want, without the government telling them they can't, or that some other way is better. It's not the President's job to be a Christian and represent a Christian nation. If he is and does while he's in office, then that means we chose the type of man (or woman) who would do that. If he doesn't, that means we chose a person who wouldn't do that. The officials elected reflect the true desires of the people who elected them. It's that simple.

Last: Does Jesus, the One who was, and is, and is to come, the One by whose Word all things are held together, in whom we live and move and have our being, whose words become reality, who sees all of eternity before Him, really need anyone to stand up for Him? He's the One who gave the office of President authority in the first place! Don't forget: He wasn't surprised when Adam and Eve sinned. He had planned all of time before there was such a thing as time! So, instead of "standing up for Jesus", I think we should get on our knees before Him and then change the world around us. Go witness to a lost friend. Put up the biggest manger scene in your neighborhood. Pray for that single mom who looks so forlorn at the store. Smile at your coworkers. Teach your children about His love. Read the Word. Pray.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

My heart hurts for this kid.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0000

I recently read a book--actually an "illustrated novel" according to the cover. You don't need to know the name or the author--it's not important. What is important is that in it, the protagonist remembers a time in Sunday School (I really don't like that term) when the teacher essentially told him that his God-given talent and desire for drawing was useless in the Kingdom. That in heaven, we would do nothing but sing to God all day. While there will be singing from the pure joy of being in His presence, worship isn't just singing. What I've been learning and working on for several years now is that worship is a way of living, doing everything you do to make Dad happy (I call God Dad. It's Biblical). If this kid had a talent, it was from God, because we literally don't have anything that He doesn't give us. Colossians 3:23 says "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord." He says "whatever" so I think He means "whatever." I don't know what church this author went to as a kid, what denomination it was, or whether this is even based on any of his own experiences, but this character was failed by a well-meaning teacher who had a narrow view of what a ZÖE, abundant, God-filled life was. It's easy to second-guess the actions of someone else (especially a fictional character), but I think it just shows that a lot of people who are teaching children about God and His ways and will need to work on breaking down the limits they've placed on Him. The protagonist should have been encouraged to draw to his heart's content, and present it to God as his very best, like a kid with a misshapen clay bowl on Father's day.

It turns out that the main character (presumably the author) ends up abandoning his faith. From the story, he says that he found too many inconsistencies in the Bible and couldn't believe it as infallible and inerrant. While that may be so, I can't help but wonder if he wouldn't have become so critical of the Word if the believing adults in his life hadn't been so limited in the person of God that they presented to him.

How would you have handled this boy's gift for drawing?

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal. Please subscribe and/or share.

The Kingdom of Heaven is AT HAND

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:11:00 +0000

"From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" - Matthew 4:17

The word for "repent," here, is "metanoeo." It means "to think differently afterward." It's not so much the "I was walking this way, now I've turned around and am walking the opposite direction," or changing the way you behave because you know it's wrong, as I've seen illustrated many times. It's more changing the WAY you think, which leads to turning around and behaving righteously.

What causes this thinking differently afterward is the fact that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Literally, it's within arms reach, ready to be grasped and utilized. It's here, where we are, all around us, available for us to live in. It's filled with righteousness, peace, and joy by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Bob Hamp at Gateway Church puts it something like this: Think about before God created the universe. When it was "In the beginning, God". Before there was anywhere or anything. "Place" isn't an accurate word, but we'll use it because as humans we can't understand it any other way. So, in this place, where there is only God, what's there? Well, the Bible says that God is love. So there's love. The love that has spent all time working on preparing us to be Christ's bride. He is also the God of all peace. So it's full of peace that's beyond understanding, because there has never been, nor will there ever be a threat to God. Period. He is also a righteous God. Every good and perfect thing comes from Him, and so there would be nothing not good in this place. The fruit of the Spirit. All the things that are true about God, are in this place.

While it's not explicitly stated in scripture, wouldn't this place -- where there is nothing but God -- be accurately called His kingdom?

This has helped me big time with the "in the world, not of it" way of life. As a citizen of heaven, I get to have these things at my disposal at any time. In this world, I can live rightly in peace and joy, regardless of the circumstances caused by the people and events that are outside this kingdom, because the Spirit and the kingdom are in me. Circular, I know, but it makes sense if you put some effort into thinking about it.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out.Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments!If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too.Twitter:@GetItReallyRealPlease subscribe and/or share.

A Prayer for Me

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:47:00 +0000

A revelation just struck me, and I had to get it down somewhere before I forgot it: I need to find something to do while I'm single that will be a sacrifice to give up when I'm not anymore. I don't know what it is yet, but I feel like it needs to be something for the Kingdom that a guy who has a girlfriend/wife can't do. If anyone has any ideas, let me know? Thanks.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

The Lion King (3D)

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:45:00 +0000

I saw The Lion King 3D this past weekend with some friends, and as I get older I notice more and more that Disney are geniuses when it comes to making content that the whole family can enjoy, even as time goes by. I'm not talking about the timeless stories or unique characters, but their ability to insert elements that parents would get, but fly over their kids' heads. But besides that, it struck me that without meaning to, and even using pagan (please don't get offended) traditions/imagery, they illustrated that the world just isn't right without God in charge.
I looked (very) briefly for anything covering parallels between The Lion King and biblical principles, but what I found was mostly that values are shifting and that the earth-centered beliefs in the movie were leading people away from God. Whether those are true or not, I'm focusing on the fact that we were made to worship, and Disney did it unintentionally. And you'll forgive me for leaving out the magic that Rafiki uses. Suffice to say that people watching this movie outside the Afican continent are not likely to buy in very heavily to the beliefs that Mufasa, Rafiki, etc. express.

Moving on. There is a scene where Simba steps back into view of pride rock, onto a dried out piece of some kind of plant that disintegrates under his paw. Then the camera tilts up to show how devastated the entire landscape is. Everything is gray and dead. The river has dried up, there are no more herds moving across the grasslands, and Nala then tells him how Scar has allowed the hyenas to wipe out the food and water in the kingdom. The life has essentially been drained from the pridelands by this illegitimate king and his cohorts.

Sound familiar at all?

It's not Simba's fault that the pridelands are in this state. His rightful place was taken by an enemy who lied to the kingdom and got them to do what he wanted. But, Simba is the only one who can set things right and save his subjects and family.

Sound familiar?

I don't know that there is anything deep or profound here, but when Simba risked his life to fight and defeat Scar, he was able to return to where he and his people knew he belonged. His right and true rule restored the kingdom to its balance and beauty. Even the other animals knew that he was born and destined to be king, and submitted to him.

Sound familiar yet?

When Adam and Eve had God as their father and king, the entire world lived and worked perfectly in harmony. Then, when the devil forced his way in, the world went to crap. And it will continue to do so until it's time for Jesus to come rule. Once he does, all of nature will become the way it was created, with everything under our authority, because we're under Jesus' authority.

Like I said, I don't expect this is anything new or deep, but I felt like I needed to share. See any other biblical parallels in The Lion King or (I hesitate to add) other Disney movies?

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

The universe doesn't revolve around me. Neither should MY universe.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 04:13:00 +0000

I really appreciate how my mentor hears from God so well. He seeks out revelation big time, and gets it. And since he leads my Bible study group, we get to benefit as well. This time, we started out in Haggai, chapter 1. That would be the third from the end of the Old Testament.
Haggai is from during/after the Babylonian captivity, after the temple that Solomon had built was destroyed. They had attempted to rebuild, but had let circumstances and outside influences discourage them, and so had been trying to live their lives as best they could, ignoring the temple. God wasn't happy with that. He wanted them to seek his presence, which at the time was synonymous with the temple, and they weren't. So, God didn't allow them to be successful at their own pursuits. Once they decided to follow his will and seek the Lord, he could bless them again. Now, jumping a few hundred years in the future, Jesus said pretty much the same thing in Matthew 6:33, to seek first the Kingdom, and then everything else will be handled. Money, food, clothes, success, everything that people run after in place of the things of God. It made me realize I have something I'm chasing before the Kingdom.

About a year ago, I was reading in Proverbs and saw a verse I'd never noticed before. Proverbs 24:27 says "Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house." I immediately knew it meant for me to establish my life and purpose before I get married, but I've been stubborn about it ever since, trying to find whoever He has for me rather than just seeking Him and allowing the rest to follow. I could make excuses, but the bottom line is I've been disobeying, and it needs to change. I'm still in the process of figuring out what it means practically, but I do know that it means writing more. I'll explain why (hopefully) in a later post, but I do know this is part of my mission.

This means that I'll probably be posting more, shorter posts on things I pick up from church services, Bible studies, and personal readings. Hopefully the last one will become more and more common as I study more and open myself up to more personal revelation, rather than receiving it from someone else. I realize I have few (if any) subscribers right now, but I'm looking forward to earning more as time goes on. Until next time, be blessed of the Lord and seek Him always.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter:@GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

Church Signs - Blessing or Bane, Good or Bad?

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 02:07:00 +0000

"Free trip to heaven, details inside," and "Santa never died for anyone" are definitely cliché, but that's not my strongest feeling about church signs. I'm a little torn on whether they help or hinder the church.

Credit: au_tiger01

I'm ambivalent about church signs, because they're only as good as the people who choose what to put on them. I'm not going to get into a discourse on denominations and who's right and wrong here. I'm just going to look at some things churches might want to consider when deciding if they should have a customizable sign, and what to put on it if they do.

My first question is, should you have a sign? I honestly don't see any harm in a sign, in and of itself. The thing about things (objects, feelings, actions, etc) is that they're rarely ever good or bad by themselves. As the only lifeforms capable of true choice making, we decide how we're going to use a thing, and for what reason. For example: A gun isn't good or bad on its own. It's the choices people make on how to use them that are. A gun can be used to get food for one's family, or it can be used to take the life of another person for a purely selfish reason. The gun had no say in how it was used, but the person using it did.

So, back to the sign.

Credit: funkblast

A few questions to ask when deciding whether to get a sign are:

Why do you want a sign?

If the answer to this is something like, "Because all the big churches are doing it," or "such-and-such church down the road got one," you may want to do some praying and see whether it's an expense your church can afford for what look like frivolous reasons.
If it's more like "to let visitors know what we're up to," or "to share an encouraging word," or "to make it easier for passers-by to know when we meet," you're probably in a better ballpark. Dictionary.com defines a sign as "a notice, bearing a name, direction, warning, or advertisement, that is displayed or posted for public view," so if this is the kind of information you want to share, a sign may be a good idea.

Who will be in charge of what goes on it?

It's usually not best for any organization, let alone the church, which people are constantly trying to find fault with, to allow just one person to decide what the non-believing public sees of them. Sure, it's tempting to allow just the Pastor or worship leader or youth leader to have at it, and correct them if something they do isn't exactly right. But, again, the world has a microscope on us and one poorly thought out message could spell disaster.
Conversely, the entire church or board of directors doesn't have to vote each and every time the sign is changed either. It's probably best to assign two or three people to pray and then decide on the content of the sign.

My other question is, what exactly is going to be on the sign? This is where I'm ambivalent about them. I'm all for sharing scripture or encouragement, but the signs that say things along the lines of "repent or you're going to hell" (paraphrasing), or do the cliché word plays and Church-isms thing don't really serve to advance the gospel, in my opinion. I don't hold to the "you have to get your hands dirty to pull people out of the mud" idea of stooping to the level of the world when you're trying to reach them. Jesus never acted like those He was with at Simon the leper's or Matthew's house. Instead, He was an example of how to love people where they were, but not in the way they expected.

The "best" of wordplay AND cliché...
Credit: au_tiger01

Some of my favorite signs have been ones that shared a verse that spoke to my spirit exactly when I needed it. And there is plenty of reason to advertise church events, service times, sermon topics, and contact information in a physical, easy to see medium. Signs can be thought-provoking without being provocative. We're not here to pick a fight, but to do our part as beggars and tell others where to find true food. Signs can help us to be a blessing, but we can quickly become a bane if we're not considerate.

I listened to "Missing" on Memento Mori by Flyleaf while writing this. You might like it.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out. Have an idea for me? Let me know in the comments! If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too. Twitter: @GetItReallyReal Please subscribe and/or share.

List of Church-isms and why they bug me.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:17:00 +0000

Since first believing in Jesus in 2005, I've heard several clichéd terms, phrases and practices over and over, until they've started to set my teeth on edge whenever I hear them. These "church-isms," as I call them, aren't really harmful, per se. I've just gotten tired of hearing them, when there are something like a million (official) word choices in the English language. List after the break.

"Begin to" or "Just begin to": This is number one to me because I've heard it since day one as a believer. Example: "Father, begin to reveal Yourself to so and so," or "You have no idea the power given to you if you would just begin to..." I think I understand the origination of it, that you'll never be "finished" with any aspect of life in God. So they don't want to say something like, "Understand that God is not limited by what we see..." because we'll never fully understand it. I, however, think that it's implied and doesn't need to be in every other sentence
"Bless your/their heart": This one is mostly in the south, as far as I can tell, and I see it used as both a justification for saying something that was a little meaner about someone than they should have, and as a replacement for something like "Oh, that's so terrible!" when someone has gotten sick or hurt, etc. The second usage doesn't really bother me, because no one likes to be reminded that their situation isn't so great. I do think that instead of just saying "bless your heart", you should actually pray for them and so bless them. As for the first, I'm going to go ahead and call it a sin. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4:29 (Underline is mine). So the simple solution here is to do like Jesus said, and only do what you would want others to do to you, including what you say about them.

Can't you just hear it coming out of her mouth?
Using a title of God every third word: The most prominent place I've seen this is in certain family members of mine, but I've heard it out of pastors, too. If you were having a conversation with nearly anyone (unless you were brown-nosing a higher-up, which isn't so great anyway), would you say their name at the beginning, middle, and end of each sentence? For example: "Friend Robert, I would like to thank you, Friend Robert, for inviting me to your party, Friend Robert, since it's such an honor, Friend Robert." Ridiculous, no? I understand that God is God, and He deserves all honor, but He's also your best friend, who decided to come down here to get you and lives in your physical body. Look at a prayer from a man after God's own heart in Psalm 8:

¹ LORD, our Lord,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!
   You have set your glory
   in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
   you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
   to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
   which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
   human beings that you care for them?
⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
   and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
   you put everything under their feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
   and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
   and the fish in the sea,
   all that swim the paths of the seas.
⁹ LORD, our Lord,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!
He only used the title of the Lord twice in the entire thing! My point is, you wouldn't address any other person in this way, so why address the person of God like this?
Pastors soliciting praise from the congregation: This is one of the few things my pastor does that makes him imperfect. One of his favorite lines is "I know I'm preaching better than you're Amen-ing!" This bugs me for two reasons. First, it's not about the pastor, but about God and the word, so he shouldn't be worried about receiving positive reinforcement from his audience. Second, the audience should know that the pastor is still a man, and men need affirmation. Let him know that you're listening and that you agree with the word being preached, and he won't have to incite you to respond. You don't have to shout "Amen! Preach it!" every time he pounds his fist on the pulpit (I thank Jesus that we don't actually have one), but give him a nod, take notes, lean in when he starts getting intense, and when he flourishes a big truth, applaud. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Some of these may even build up your own faith.

Aren't you glad we're not European?
Image credit: Geograph.org.uk
Calling church leaders (especially males) "Brother/sister so and so": This bothers me for a similar reason as using God's title all the time. If we're all really brothers and sisters, why use the title? Just like not addressing my friends by their title, I've never addressed my siblings as Brother Brandon or Sister Shelby, have you?

I realize this was a bit of a rant, but I think one of the problems in the church (besides gay pastors and Westboro) is that everyone tries to be so polite with one another that if something bothers them, they never mention it and it just sits under the surface and festers, making people unproductive. Even secular therapists will tell you that letting your (valid) complaints against others be known will help them to be resolved. Nothing can be done about a slight if no one but the slighted knows about it.

Did I leave out one of your pet peeves from church? Let me know in a comment!

One of the songs I listened to while writing this was "My Savior, My God" by Aaron Shust.

I may not have it all figured out, but I do say what I think. If you have any questions about faith in Jesus, don't hesitate to email me. It's my job to help you out.
If you see any spelling/grammatical errors, PLEASE let me know in a comment. I expect others to use correct English, so I should too.
Have a topic idea? Let me know in the comments!
Twitter:@GetItReallyReal
Please subscribe and/or share.