W.A.I.T. Part 13: Do You Attract Moths or Bats?

With summer approaching, I think of the times I have watched moths dancing around a porch lamp or a campfire. They are completely drawn to the light, to the point in which they are occasionally consumed by their interest and desire to be close to the light. This desire to draw close to the light should be how Christians react to Jesus. We should have a desire to draw closer to the light of Christ so that he might shine through us. A good self check on whether you are thriving to shine with the light of Christ, or whether you are living in darkness, can be found in Luke 11:33-36: "'No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.'" This is reminiscent of the new song by Kari Jobe, entitled "We Are." The chorus of this song states, "We are the light of the world. We are the city on a hill. We are the light of the world. We gotta, we gotta, we gotta let the light shine." It is our job as Christians to shine as beacons for Jesus in order to guide the lost to Him and glorify our Father in heaven.
On the other hand, a winged animal that completely avoids the light, but prefers to come out in darkness, is the bat. Bats can always be found sleeping in the rafters of homes during the day, only to come out at night when it is utterly dark. Sure, these are nocturnal animals, but it reminds me of John 3:19-20, which states, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed." There are many in the world who are afraid to have their pasts exposed, so they flee from God. Instead of realizing that Jesus is the only one who can bring healing and forgiveness, many assume they will be harshly judged for their actions. As Christians, we must help to alleviate this misconception in order to allow others to be drawn to the light of Christ.
Christians must also be aware of some warnings that are found within the book of 1 John. These warnings should help Christians to focus on whether or not they are honestly drawing closer to Christ and reflecting Him in order to thrive. 1 John 1:6-7 tells us that "If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." We cannot claim to be walking with Christ if we are deliberately sinning and choosing to not change our ways because our personal desires trump our desire to live a life pleasing to God. The other verse to be aware of is 1 John 2:10-11, which says, "Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them." I'll admit that this is a verse that I need to remember and focus on some days. I don't necessarily have outright hatred for any of my brothers and sisters in Christ, but I'll admit that I can get rather frustrated with people in certain situations. When I find myself in those moods, I think it's important for me to reflect on the fact that I'm not reflecting Christ if I am seething over a silly situation or misinterpretation. A song that helps me during these difficult times in my life, and serves as a good reminder of how to thrive in the light is "Spark" by The City Harmonic. The opening of the song goes like this: "Could a spark of Your love light a fire in me? Just a spark, warm my cold heart. It's the living that breathe."
If you find that you are living more in the realm of darkness, take your cue from Paul when he spoke to the church in Ephesus. In Ephesians 4:17-19, Paul said, "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed." We are to flee from darkness and into the arms of Christ. The closer we are to Him, the more closely our actions will mirror His and bring God glory.
So after analyzing your current life situation and your day to day lives, are you attracting frantic moths or do you have bats in your belfry? My hope is that you are attracting moths because that means that your relationship with Christ is growing and thriving, which is glorifying your Father in heaven.

W.A.I.T. Part 12: Don't Lose Focus, Keep Your Eye on the Prize

Hebrews 12:1-2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Each and every one of us endures distractions over the course of daily life. We have meetings, work, community events, dinner engagements, and family obligations, just to rattle off a few on the never-ending list. What we must learn, though, is to toss these distractions aside and focus on God. If He is the one guiding our steps, we need to focus on Him in order to remain on the path He has set forth in order to thrive and flourish. As the writer of Hebrews said, we must "throw off everything that hinders."
The person who wrote the hymn "Come Thou Fount" obviously knew what it was like to feel distracted. Why else would he lament, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above," if it was not for dealing with distraction from God? The City Harmonic also discuss our tendency for wandering hearts in their song "Fell Apart": "Put me back together I fell apart. You are Creator. You understand my heart. Mine is prone to wander, I feel it everyday. Put me back together. Won't you find a way." I can definitely relate to the lyrics I've presented because my heart has strayed due to my inability to stomp out the distractions in my life.
Ridding our lives of distractions to God is no easy task. It could mean sacrificing some earthly enjoyments, whether it's a group of friends that are more focused on partying than walking with God, or choosing to skip the premiere of a movie in order to get some alone time to read the Bible. Maybe it's time we limit our internet surfing, video game playing, or marathons of our favorite television program. Sometimes it's not always clear cut why we're distracted from God. We might think that our gatherings with other Christians are always beneficial, but if there is excess strain on your schedule because you are trying to meet these obligations, maybe it's time to start saying "no" a little more frequently. God should be our priority and the central focus of our lives, not an afterthought.
Back when I was training for my marathon, I made that the central focus of my life. I would schedule my entire day around when and how far I would run. Much like my marathon training, I must approach life with a singular focus. Instead of running being at the center, though, having eternal life with Jesus needs to serve as my primary goal and focus.1 Corinthians 9:24-27 presents a vivid picture of  how we must train ourselves: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." Our goal of eternal life with Jesus should never be far from our minds. If our lives are centered on Him, we will thrive and have it become more apparent to others that we are children of God.
Jesus is the only one who can fill that empty void in our hearts, so why not focus our lives completely on Him? If we are focused on Him, we're less likely to allow our sinful hearts to be tempted, or to easily fall for the scams of the insincere. The City Harmonic reminds us in their song "Fell Apart" that, "You're something real in a world of fake," with the "you're" referring to Jesus. Why not gravitate to the only real thing in this world? He is in fact in control of everything and you will find peace of mind the more you meditate on that fact. This can be difficult to fathom when enduring hardships in life, though. These hardships can distract us from the fact that God is utilizing our circumstances for a greater good.  But one can thrive amidst hardship by focusing on the eternal, not the earthly. Without hardships, we wouldn't learn to fight for the cause of Jesus. At the end of my life, I want the words of Paul from 2 Timothy 4:7 to hold true: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

Refreshed!

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." ~Hebrews 10:25

"Sing the praises of the LORD, you his faithful people; praise his holy name." ~Psalm 30:4

Yesterday was thoroughly refreshing for me. In church, members spoke about how God had blessed them throughout the year and expressed why they were thankful. During the afternoon, I came across new songs by the band The City Harmonic. I purchased some of these songs and the lyrics really spoke to me. The song "I Have a Dream (It Feels Like Home)" has these lines:

O we will meet

Our souls are longing 

We'll be a symphony of peace

Brothers and sisters will be free

Thank God Almighty they'll be free

It is awesome to look forward to what we have waiting for us in heaven, and this song does a great job expressing that fact. 

The song "Spark" has these lines: 

Could a spark of Your love light the whole church on fire

When we care for our neighbor
More than we care for style
When we breathe in
Hope we breathe in
Create some meaning God
When we breathe out
Peace will breathe out
Just to breathe out love

I love how God's love is expressed in terms of being a spark because that's all that is needed to ignite something really great. It makes me think of forest fires that can consume acres upon acres of land from just one match spark. The immensity of God's love and how it envelopes us is just amazing.

The song "Mountaintop" reminds us that God saved us from this lowly world using the lines, The valley low that's where we'll make our homes, but this I know that's what He saved us from. We forget our great potential for settling in the valleys of life. We need to charge up the hills to the mountaintop where we belong to proclaiming the glory of God. 

The last song that I bought was called "Wake Me Up." The following lines are my favorite:

How long, how long will the river run dry
Cause I'm so busy living I forgot to be alive...

Cause when You sound You bring to life
Even my darkest of nights
Wake me up to shine...

Yeah, I've come home like a prodigal son
If home's where the heart is that is in the hands of God
And that is just where my heart belongs
Turn on the light, come on wake me up

I really like how this song reflects how much God longs for us to come back to Him. We must escape our little worlds and remember to live for the Lord. He is the source of all light in our lives and we must desire for Him to wake us up to the life we were meant to live.

In the evening, I met with a friend for frappucinos and discussed life, baking, and foreign accents. Definitely a friendship that will strengthen with time because we each know that God blessed us with the timing of us becoming friends. This was followed by Bible Study in Coopersburg, which is just a great place to have fellowship with other believers. We had a teaching from Matthew 9, which was very enlightening. My favorite part of the evening, though, was the lengthy conversations. I talked with numerous people about varying topics, but the best conversations were those that got me to think deeper. I hardly ever get to have deep theological discussions with anyone anymore for various reasons, and it was great to be able to sit and talk about different theological ideas, and also how current events could impact the church. Two Penn State students home on break explained the impact of the scandal and how outsiders perceive it in such a different light. We also discussed the possible implications it could have on youth group attendance for the area because people may begin to question the safety, all because of a scandal on the other side of the state. Other concepts, such as how to have righteous anger and maintain the compassion of Christ, anti-Baptist theology and what to have assurance in, oral tradition vs. historical accuracy and believing the Word of God over archaeological discoveries made by humans, being weary of allegorical meanings within Scripture, and the impact of pantheists were all discussed amongst a handful of us who stayed late. I was very intrigued by all of the topics and the questions that were asked to expand upon particular ideas. It was definitely a refreshing evening with fellow believers that I desperately needed and am quite thankful for, even though I didn't get home until 1:30am. In my mind, it was totally worth it.