The Divide.

Micah 6:8 says "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Most of us already know that subconsciously there are two kinds of people in the church. Those who take Biblical mandates seriously and those who take them lightly. Sometimes the difference is really clear to us. For example, the difference between one who gives money to charity so they can feel like they are helping out and then those who give money and also do the work of helping. There is also an approach to reading the Bible to let you know more clearly where the divide is. On both sides of the divide there will be people who can quote scripture to you, but what they use the scripture for can tell you a lot. Sometimes it is used to judge people and to name others as sinners but sometimes it is used to love the children of God and to push us further towards the realization of Heaven on Earth. That's where you find the dividing line. 

Well, what does the Lord require of you? To do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. These things are required. Not requested. Many people would choose this simple verse in Micah to summarize the teachings of Jesus. But if you watch the lives of many Christians, many do not consider this verse as a requirement but rather a request. 

With each generation, it becomes harder for some to identify with their heritage. Some of it has to do with culture or a difficult time understanding it clearly. Many white Americans seem to be filling in the gap of our lack of a sense of heritage with Christianity. It's like a silent claiming of heritage of Christianity. Christianity has a lot of non practicing Christians who still observe certain rituals for the sake of remembering their heritage and passing it on. But what non practicing Christians do not realize is that they are passing on the heritage and not so much the faith. 

Look at church on Sunday morning. We all assume each other is there for the same reason that we are. But one group is there to maintain Christian heritage and another to pursue Biblical mandates. Because of this, we find ourselves at impasses that won't reach a lasting resolution. These two understandings of what it means to be Christian are not compatible. They define the dividing line where a lot of churches find themselves splitting. 

God requires us to be about seeking justice and practicing kindness and love. And doing so in a humble way, not feeling privileged because of it. Followers of the teachings of Jesus will not settle on ritual repetition for the sake of Jesus, because Jesus didn't either. The church as the body of Christ should never become a cultural heritage club, because when we do we displace the brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity. This is simply not the way of Christ. As we look to expand and grow the body of Christ, we should be asking ourselves "what does the Lord require of us?" God requires that we do justice, even when it's not easy. Love mercy, even when you don't like someone. And walk humbly, always remembering that God walks every step with us. 

Will it bridge the gap of the divide? Probably not. But if we can recognize what is required of us and not requested, we might find that God's love peace and hope will continue to grow in all of our churches,

Courtney

You are More Than the Sum of Your Parts.

We are not nearly as mature as our parents were at our age. Do you ever hear them say "when I was your age…?" While the maturation process is slowing, the age we are exposed to life impacting decisions is getting increasingly younger. It used to be that drugs and alcohol weren't exposed to kids until the ages of about 16-18, now kids are being exposed at the age of 11. It's not unusual to have young kids to get hooked on these things, and they don't have the capacity to make life long decisions at this age. We can see these impacts on our lives in so many areas. The current music, tv, movies, culture all influence us. Sometimes we are being forced to deal with things way before we are ready to. 

We live in a culture that tells us that we are sexual beings, therefore we should be sexually active. We live in a culture that challenges the church in telling people you are wrong to not be sexually active outside of marriage, in fact you are causing them to have mental issues because they are repressing this natural drive and it's making everybody crazy. Some peoples mindset is that God gave us parts and He is a brilliant designer, so we might as well use them. Tragedy results because of our decisions that rationalize, justify, and abandon God’s commands. But you are not your own. What you do with your body is a way of worship to the Lord. You are not a thing. And you are not to be used. What is His Word telling you to change? How has the Holy Spirit been speaking to your heart about an area of your life that’s out of line with God’s perfect will for your life? We are called to be Godly men and women, regardless of the situation or the circumstance. Temptation is designed to meet the desires of your heart. If you grab hold of your wants and thoughts, it will sooner or later become an action. 

Paul tells us that we are more than our desires. We are more than our body. We are more than that. Don't keep living like you are less. It's not the church that has lied to us, it's the world. We are attracted to stories of celebrities self destructing, after all "if it bleeds, it leads" right? 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 Paul tells us that the body is not for immorality, it is for the Lord. Our bodies are members of Christ. He says that we have come from God and that we are not our own, so glorify God with our body. When we get healthy in Jesus, then our sexuality lines back up. We glorify God in the way that we live. 

Someday you will meet him or her, and you'll fall like a big tree in a forrest. Will you stay for the right reasons? Will you love them enough to postpone whatever you're feeling and the desires you might have so that they can be honored and cherished? Will you pay any price for them? "Love" isn't giving in when your partner wants to cross an established boundary because you are both subject to temptation and you know God will forgive you when it's all said and done. That is not love. Love is respecting a commitment you both have made and valuing each others hearts above all else, and honoring God in your relationship and with your bodies. 

Will he not love you if you don't compromise yourself? I don't know what that is, but it isn't love. We are designed to connect, soul to soul. When you are deeply connected with another and that touching of souls holds you together, it gets deeper and deeper and stronger so that you may become one. Giving our hearts in relationships outside of marriage kills our dreams. When you aren't connected and the two souls pull apart, they rip and bleed and scar. And eventually get to a point to where the scars can't feel. In that moment when God answers your prayer and says here she or he is, the person I've been preparing for you, your heart will be so scarred over, you won't be able to feel it. That's not what God wants for you. He knows there is a moment when your soul will touch another and He wants it to be as deep and as rich and as beautiful and as bonding as it can be, with no scars. God wants what is best for you, a relationship that holds you together in thick and thin because sooner or later it gets hard. Your future spouse doesn't deserve to receive you covered in scars, they have valued your heart before even knowing you and deserve your whole self when you two decide to enter into a relationship rooted in Christ. 

Why Is Sex Outside Of Marriage So Destructive? | Tim Keller:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKdSLsGMcnA

He is holding out for you, and yes, it is worth waiting for. 

Courtney

Unbind.

What fear is limiting you from living fully into your God given potential? What unclean spirit has you?

Welcoming all types of people is part of who we, as Christians and members of the church, are called to be. It is not because it shows that we are good and accepting people, it is because of what it allows us to do. It puts us in a better position to follow the lead of Jesus. We can be considered "unclean" if we are bound by something, maybe in the spirit or affliction, or a social stigma that we need to be released from. Think of the homeless that we see on the sides of the streets? Don't we consider them to be unclean?

There are all sorts of things that limit us and bind us, things that hold us back, things that keep us from achieving the fullness of life which God desires for us. Some of us have some demons in our lives that bind us and constrict us from being everything that God hopes for us. Greed, self doubt, self centeredness, no matter what it is we have things that limit us from being all that God calls us to be. We all have our demons bind and limit us. 

This requires being in a relationship with Him, forming a community together, and loving one another enough to rebuke the things that are binding us and the evils that make our spirits unclean. Confronting the evils of this life that hurt people, like homelessness, hunger, prejudice, and any number of things that bind people up and distance them from society. We as Christians and members of the church are responsible for releasing people from these things that hold them captive and help them to overcome their demons. 

Jesus actively did the work of unbinding people. He strived to eliminate evil from the world. As the modern day Body of Christ, we the Church are called to do the same. Welcoming the homeless or those who society avoids is part of who we are called to be. We are called to name the demons of others and call them out of peoples lives and promote life for them in the face of their demons. As I mentioned earlier, we can't be arrogant or blind and think that we don't have these demons…Because we do, we all do. It's a harsh reality to know who you are on the inside, to feel the person you know you can become, yet you look around and your reality reflects the exact opposite. A lot of us are scared to face this. The thing that binds us more than anything else is fear itself (s/o FDR: "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself). As followers of Christ, we're not only to help unbind others, but to unbind ourselves. We can do this by confronting and facing our fears, chase them out of our lives. 

If we are to live unbound lives, lives that are meant to help others, we must recognize and name our own fears. This will look different for every person. It might be educating yourself about something, talking about a fear that you've never talked about before, observe what others are doing, or maybe even directly confronting it. The point is to cast it out. Cast out that fear and tell that demon that you don't have room for it in your life. Most importantly, see that we must trust in God and cast our fears upon Him. We must trust in the face of our fears, cast them upon the strength and love of God. The thing that we fear will NEVER be able to overcome that strength and love. 

Mark Twain said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why." When you find out this "why" is when you become unbound. 

The only thing that we should bind up is a broken heart, everything else that we see that binds, we should be unbinding.
Courtney