The thing that separates the people with the problems who make it to heaven and can live on earth in right relationship with God and the people that aint gonna make it is perseverance. You must commit in your heart that no matter how many times you mess up, you are NEVER going to give up. As long as God gives you breath to breathe, you have to make the choice to do right and if you mess up and do wrong, you have to choose to repent and try again. In this life you will not win by being the fastest. So if you look around and it seems like you are struggling while other people are just shooting past you in growth, don't believe the hype. Some of those same people may burn out or wipe out before the last call and how fast they are going wont have made any difference. You also don't win just because you have the strength to win. So just because you have the ability to achieve victory does not mean you will. You may look around and see some super gifted people. And think wow, if I could just do what they do how they do it, I would be good. Again that is hype, because all the gifts and the talents in the world will not ensure your destiny. No matter how gifted you are or how fast you advance, if you give up it wont mean anything. On the other hand no matter how ungifted or behind the curve you might feel, you can still beat the breaks off this life and make it to see the Lord. You just need to take a long hard look at whatever mess you feel like you have made and say SO WHAT, I'm winning anyway because I refuse to stay in the mess. Choose a different path, get on it and start walking. It is absolutely not too late, if you are reading this, you are right on time!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Everybody Aint Goin To Hell
We all make mistakes but there are so many young people I know (like my dear Rae Rae) who are actually trying to make positive changes. I know of a young lady this weekend who was extremely embarrassed and apologetic when she found out my husband saw her twitter account. I just want to say two things to all of you. First, it is pointless to be embarrassed because someone finds out you were doing something wrong when you were not too embarrassed to do it (and probably to keep doing it). If you are going to be embarrassed (and you should be over some of this stuff), be embarrassed because you did it and it was wrong. Whether anyone finds out or not, God knows and you know and it is wrong. Second thing I want to say is something a preacher told me a long time ago: Many people are harder on themselves than God is on us. A lot of people who read this blog are young or young Christians and we are all human and therefore prone to messing up (repeatedly). No one is perfect so give yourself some room to breathe. If you set an impossible standard for yourself, like trying to never mess up, you will be disappointed and discouraged because it does not work that way.Listen, I had so many terrible habits, AFTER I got saved. I had a serious potty mouth, like the F word, was my favorite word. I used to put it in the middle of perfectly good words just for emphasis. I also did far worse things than curse like a sailor and I did them habitually. It didn't mean that I didn't love God in my heart. It was a reflection on my lack of maturity and my distant relationship with the God that I really did love. But I am going to let you in on a secret, every Christian has issues that we are dealing with. No matter what it looks like on the outside, the inside is either a total wreck or a partial wreck. The bible even says that all of our right actions when put on display look just like filthy rags (I'm taking this scripture out of context purposely to suit my point but since it does suit my point, just go with me). So, there is nothing you see people doing that you may think is just so great that is actually anything more than a tattered mess, we all have problems.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Bad Company: A Bad Idea
Ok, hang on to your hat. Someone asked me this week if I thought that the church really had an impact on young Christians. She wanted to know if young people understand that there is a better life for them than doing the same old stuff everyone else is doing. I told her I didn't think church was enough and now I'm sure that it's not. Most teenagers and young adults are infrequent church attenders (meaning they don't come to church that much). For those who are forced to attend with greater frequency, they are regularly inattentive (meaning you are there physically but not mentally, like you aint paying attention). But here is the thing, even if you come to church on Sunday and whatever bible class night is, it wont be enough for you to live a different life, a better life. Ok, I'm about to get really real, so put the kids to bed.
I have said before that you can't make it as a Christian without prayer and opening that bible (both of which build your relationship with God) but I may have neglected one very important point. THE PEOPLE YOU HANG OUT WITH/OR TALK TO CAN DESTROY YOU! When I was in my late teens or early twenties I had a very good girlfriend. If I was stressed or having a problem she used to always say, 'all you need is some dic! in ya life.' (Who needs help figuring out what that means?) I promise you she used to say that (I think we even had a little song). I had other friends who were convinced that excessive (excessive) drinking was the solution to everything, they called it getting effed (but they said the word) up. Then there were the weed smokers (always tryna get blowed), the club hoppers (it's 3am, do you know where your self respect is?), the pill poppers (I used to always say they were going to wake up one day and forget how to use the bathroom), and on and on and on. And those were just my close friends, who knows what went on with everyone else's friends. So what kind of person do you think I was? You got it, I was wild or "doin me" as some of yall call it now. I'm going to tell you one of my secrets because I am really trying to help you. I felt like having sex was a sign that I was grown and in control and doing whatever I wanted to do. As far as drinking and partying, I felt like those were lifestyle choices. Not only that, EVERYONE around me felt the same way. We were young and sexy and ready to mingle........
If I ever had a second thought about the way I was living, I just consulted one of my homegirls and they straightened me right out. They told me that you could have as much sex as you wanted with as many people as you wanted as long as you understood that it was just sex..... 'don't let anyone control you, eff em and leave em cause we don't effin need em.' Some of yall think that the stupid stuff your friends are saying, your friends invented. Um, no, sorry. You all may have invented new and more ignorant ways to say things but we have been saying and doing the same stuff forever. And here is the clincher, I was saved the whole time I was living this life. I got saved when I was like 8, dipped in the water, speaking in tongues and as many years of Sunday School as I was in grade school but stiiiiiiiill doin me!
My choices were "normal" to me because my friends had a much more significant impact on me than the church did. I'm not saying my friends made me do anything. It does not work like that. Just like I didn't make anybody do anything when I was repeating all the dumb stuff I believed to be true. Buuuuuut bad company corrupts good manners (1 Cor. 15:33). This means that no matter how into the church you might be, if you spend enough time with other people who are into other things, you will become like them. The bible says don't fool yourselves into thinking otherwise and I now know why. We fool ourselves in 2 ways: 1. We think that our friends and their negative choices will not have a negative effect on us and 2. that we will have a positive effect on our friends- both wrong. Here is your proof, take a look at the people who hang out with each other, don't they bear a striking resemblance to each other? They dress alike, talk alike, listen to the same music, enjoy the same activities and eventually they think alike. DUH, it's why they get along. Why would you be hanging out with someone you have nothing in common with?
So now you look at your friends and listen to the things they say and see if you don't find those characteristics in your life. You got friends who tell you, it's ok to have sex, you will soon be on your back or on someone else's.... You got friends who just need a little drank here and there, you will be poppin bottles in no time. It's even deeper than that, if your friends are kinda dumb, you probably are too. Yup, I said it. Underachievers roll in packs. You don't find one ivy league bound student with a bunch of friends just praying they can get into a community college.... That's right, you may be going 'I thought this was a Christian blog' well, it is and in the name of Jesus, I am telling you the truth. You hang out with hoes, you gon be a hoe! KEEPING BAD COMPANY RUINS ALL THE GOOD THE CHURCH OR PRAYER OR THE BIBLE CAN DO FOR YOU!
To the second point, you can't make your friends into good Christians by hanging out with them. Most of your friends are a part of the world of unbelievers, they don't think changing your behavior is necessary. When you are with your friends and you have bonded yourself to them in relationships, you are on their territory, they are not on yours. Once you leave the safety of your relationship with God and start keeping bad company, you have no power to persuade them that Christian living is the way to go. You don't believe me, perform an experiment of your own. Get a group of your wild friends together and try to tell them about Jesus, HA! They will look at you, like you just grew 2 horns and a tail because the gospel has no place there. If you want your friends to become Christians you are going to have to change (and stop being so much like them) so they can see that we are more than a bunch of people who talk a good game and go to church occassionally. Let that sink in.
I know we were talking about spiritual warfare but this is it right here. If you are with an army of unbelievers who are focused on "gettin it in" or whatever, this fight over here, you will lose. They say all they do is win win win all the time, UNTRUE! You can't win doing things your way or your friends way. If you want to ignore me, fine but at least sing the song right- all you do is lose lose lose all the time... and you stay theeeeeere.
I have said before that you can't make it as a Christian without prayer and opening that bible (both of which build your relationship with God) but I may have neglected one very important point. THE PEOPLE YOU HANG OUT WITH/OR TALK TO CAN DESTROY YOU! When I was in my late teens or early twenties I had a very good girlfriend. If I was stressed or having a problem she used to always say, 'all you need is some dic! in ya life.' (Who needs help figuring out what that means?) I promise you she used to say that (I think we even had a little song). I had other friends who were convinced that excessive (excessive) drinking was the solution to everything, they called it getting effed (but they said the word) up. Then there were the weed smokers (always tryna get blowed), the club hoppers (it's 3am, do you know where your self respect is?), the pill poppers (I used to always say they were going to wake up one day and forget how to use the bathroom), and on and on and on. And those were just my close friends, who knows what went on with everyone else's friends. So what kind of person do you think I was? You got it, I was wild or "doin me" as some of yall call it now. I'm going to tell you one of my secrets because I am really trying to help you. I felt like having sex was a sign that I was grown and in control and doing whatever I wanted to do. As far as drinking and partying, I felt like those were lifestyle choices. Not only that, EVERYONE around me felt the same way. We were young and sexy and ready to mingle........
If I ever had a second thought about the way I was living, I just consulted one of my homegirls and they straightened me right out. They told me that you could have as much sex as you wanted with as many people as you wanted as long as you understood that it was just sex..... 'don't let anyone control you, eff em and leave em cause we don't effin need em.' Some of yall think that the stupid stuff your friends are saying, your friends invented. Um, no, sorry. You all may have invented new and more ignorant ways to say things but we have been saying and doing the same stuff forever. And here is the clincher, I was saved the whole time I was living this life. I got saved when I was like 8, dipped in the water, speaking in tongues and as many years of Sunday School as I was in grade school but stiiiiiiiill doin me!
My choices were "normal" to me because my friends had a much more significant impact on me than the church did. I'm not saying my friends made me do anything. It does not work like that. Just like I didn't make anybody do anything when I was repeating all the dumb stuff I believed to be true. Buuuuuut bad company corrupts good manners (1 Cor. 15:33). This means that no matter how into the church you might be, if you spend enough time with other people who are into other things, you will become like them. The bible says don't fool yourselves into thinking otherwise and I now know why. We fool ourselves in 2 ways: 1. We think that our friends and their negative choices will not have a negative effect on us and 2. that we will have a positive effect on our friends- both wrong. Here is your proof, take a look at the people who hang out with each other, don't they bear a striking resemblance to each other? They dress alike, talk alike, listen to the same music, enjoy the same activities and eventually they think alike. DUH, it's why they get along. Why would you be hanging out with someone you have nothing in common with?
So now you look at your friends and listen to the things they say and see if you don't find those characteristics in your life. You got friends who tell you, it's ok to have sex, you will soon be on your back or on someone else's.... You got friends who just need a little drank here and there, you will be poppin bottles in no time. It's even deeper than that, if your friends are kinda dumb, you probably are too. Yup, I said it. Underachievers roll in packs. You don't find one ivy league bound student with a bunch of friends just praying they can get into a community college.... That's right, you may be going 'I thought this was a Christian blog' well, it is and in the name of Jesus, I am telling you the truth. You hang out with hoes, you gon be a hoe! KEEPING BAD COMPANY RUINS ALL THE GOOD THE CHURCH OR PRAYER OR THE BIBLE CAN DO FOR YOU!
To the second point, you can't make your friends into good Christians by hanging out with them. Most of your friends are a part of the world of unbelievers, they don't think changing your behavior is necessary. When you are with your friends and you have bonded yourself to them in relationships, you are on their territory, they are not on yours. Once you leave the safety of your relationship with God and start keeping bad company, you have no power to persuade them that Christian living is the way to go. You don't believe me, perform an experiment of your own. Get a group of your wild friends together and try to tell them about Jesus, HA! They will look at you, like you just grew 2 horns and a tail because the gospel has no place there. If you want your friends to become Christians you are going to have to change (and stop being so much like them) so they can see that we are more than a bunch of people who talk a good game and go to church occassionally. Let that sink in.
I know we were talking about spiritual warfare but this is it right here. If you are with an army of unbelievers who are focused on "gettin it in" or whatever, this fight over here, you will lose. They say all they do is win win win all the time, UNTRUE! You can't win doing things your way or your friends way. If you want to ignore me, fine but at least sing the song right- all you do is lose lose lose all the time... and you stay theeeeeere.
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