God's Temple

Now I felt kind of uneasy when my friend asked me to post about how we should dress as Christians. Like what's appropriate and what isn't. See, I don't even know myself what is appropriate or not. Sometimes I want to give in to what's "In" and wear revealing things. It's really hard for me to want to understand what God wants me to wear. So when my friend asked me to post about this topic, I dismissed it. I didn't want to say something and then not do it myself. I didn't want to be hypocritical. So those of you who are exactly like me, we will work through this issue together.

So I was just at a camp and the speaker brought up a topic about how we are God's temple. I found it really interesting. As 1 Corinthians 3:16 states:

Do you not know that you are the

temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

So if we are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us, then how should we dress so that we are a holy temple? 

And what agreement has the temple of God

with idols?

For you are the temple of the living God.

As God has said:

I will dwell in them 

And walk among them. I will be their God,

And they shall be my people.

2 Corinthians 6:16

In like manner also,

that the woman adorn themselves in modest apparel,

with propriety and moderation,

not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,

but, which is proper for women professing godliness,

with good works.

1 Timothy 2:9-10

So it says not to put your hair in braids, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't. Braids were the really fancy hairdo's back then. The message that Paul wanted to bring to our attention from these two verses was that we shouldn't use our money to look rich or to look higher than anyone else. He wants to tell us to be humble in the way we dress. 

The Bible doesn't have specific teachings about the type of clothes we should wear because fashions have come and left. But I believe that the clothes we should wear as Christians should not draw eyes to ourselves. Should not cause people to stare at our bodies, but should cause people to stare at our love for Christ and our spiritual beings. Our clothes should bring attention unto our souls where the presence of God dwells. 

How do we wear clothes that cause that?

Well our clothes should reflect our personality and not our bodies. God has given us our bodies so that we could respect them and use them to bring glory to His name. The clothes should not draw attention to our bodies but cause the looker to look at the personality. The clothes don't have to be so unattracting but not too attracting that all the person looks at is your clothes and body. 

I hope this answered your question dear friend. I tried my best. :)

Continue reading →

Bragging is Alright With God, Just Do it the Right Way

I was in church today and we sang a song during the Breaking of Bread meeting in the morning. It was "How Deep the Father's Love For Us". And as we were singing, the lyrics just touched me and made me think.

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Verse 5 stood out the most to me. I had come across a verse that mentioned that as well as I was looking through my Bible.

So, as the Scripture says,

"If people want to brag,

they should brag only about the Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:31

The part of Scripture that was mentioned there came from Jeremiah 9:24, which states

But if people want to brag,

let them brag that they understand and know me.

Let them brag that I am the LORD, 

and that I am kind and fair,

and that I do things that are right on earth.

This kind of bragging pleases me," says the LORD.

Sometimes we find that we want to brag about what we've done to show others how good of a person we are. We always want to brag about earthly things. Things we've accomplished and things we're involved with. But have we ever taken a moment and tell others about how great our God is? Just like how easy it is to brag about ourselves, we need to be able to brag about the LORD that way. It is quite hard since many people reject the LORD. But what is keeping us from bragging about how awesome our creator is? And when we brag about ourselves, do we then take a moment and thank our God for giving us that opportunity or talent in front of everyone? Our God has done more than is comprehendible for us. We've failed him numerous times and dishonoured him. We cursed him and yet he accepted us and forgave us. So why can't we brag about the God who loves us so very extremely much that he rejected his own perfect son just for us to have a way to be with Him? 

Continue reading →

Man

Man

We are made out of the dust,

and we will return to dust.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust

of the ground, 

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;

and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread 

Till you return to the ground,

For out of it you were taken;

For dust you are, 

And to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19)

We are made in the image of  God.

And as we have borne the image of the man of dust,

we shall also bear the image

of the heavenly Man. (1Corinthians 15:49)

Whoever sheds mans blood, 

By man his blood shall be shed;

For in the image of God He made man. (Genesis 9:6)

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. (Genesis 1:26)

So God created man in his own image, 

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

God knew them before he made the world, 
and he chose them to be like his Son
so that Jesus would
be the firstborn of many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:29)

We are sinners.

For there is not a just man on earth who does not sin. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

Truly,
this only I have found:
That God made man upright,
But they have sought out many schemes. (Ecclesiastes 7:29)

In the eyes of the Lord we cannot function independently.
Nevertheless, neither is man
independent of woman,
nor woman independent of man,
in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 11:11)

We do not deserve Him.
What is man,
that You should exalt him,
That You should set Your heart on him (Job 7:17)

We have a spirit and an understanding.
But there is a spirit in man,
And the breath of life of the Almighty
gives him understanding. (Job 32:8)

We betray
But Jesus said to him,
Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man
with a kiss? (Luke 22:48)
And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined,
but woe to that man by whom He is 
betrayed. (Luke 22:22)

Now I've talked about how "Man" is explained in the Bible, but there is also another Man that is spoken of in the Bible.


THE SON OF MAN
For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. (Matthew 18:11)

THE SECOND MAN
The first man was of the earth,
made of dust;
the second Man is the Lord from heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:47)

HEAVENLY MAN
As was the man of dust,
so also are those who are made of dust;
and as is the heavenly Man,
so also are those who are heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:48)

THE MAN OF WAR
The Lord is a man of war;
The Lord is His name. (Exodus 15:3)


We betray the Son of Man,
we sin against the heavenly Man,
we curse the Alpha and Omega,
the Lamb of God,
the Son of God. 
And he still loves us,
forgives us,
cares and tends to us.
He treats us as if we are sheep and He is our shepherd.

I'm forgiven, 
because you were forsaken.
I'm accepted,
You were condemned.
I'm alive and well, 
Your spirit lives within me,
because You died and rose again.
Amazing love,
how can it be?
That You, my king would die for me?
Amazing love,
I know it's true.
It's my joy to honour You,
in all I do I honour You.


So what are YOU going to do for the God who forgot all you did to Him, who loved you when you didn't think it was impossible for anyone to love you,
who forgave you for the many times you sinned against Him?

Continue reading →

Blogging Prompt.

It's been such a long time since I posted, and I have not been very consistent. It's always the summer. My family is like the family that always travels each summer, we just love traveling!

So Faithful Blogger asked a question as a blogging prompt. It asked: If you had to recommend only one book of the Bible for a person to read, which book would you recommend?


Now I have two different answers for that because it depends on if the person is Christian or not. 

If the person I'm recommending the book to is a Cristian, then I would definitely recommend Ephesians. I picked Ephesians because it talks about how we should live our lives as Christians which I think is extremely important. I really love that book for that reason. One of my favourite verses in Ephesians is: (NCV) I am in prison because I belong to the Lord. Therefore I urge you who have been chosen by God to live up to the life to which God called you. Always be humble, gentle, and patient, accepting each other in love.  Ephesians 4:1-2

This is the American Standard version, it's a bit different and I thought I'd add in verse 3 as well. 

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians talks about how we should live in the light and it mentions the unity of the body.
The unity of the body is defined in Ephesians 4: 3-6.

You are joined together with peace through the Spirit, 

so make every effort to continue together in this way.

There is one body and one Spirit,

and God called you to have one hope.

There is one Lord, 

one faith,

and one baptism. 

There is one God and Father of everything.

He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything.

It also speaks of the body in Ephesians 4:16

The whole body depends on Christ,

and all parts of the body

are joined and held together. 

Each part does its own work to make the whole body

grow and be strong with love.

If I were to recommend a book to the unsaved, I would recommend Romans.

Romans is a really good book for the unsaved because it talks about what Christ has done for us and how we are all guilty of sin. It takes the unsaved step by step to being saved. It shows how you can receive eternal life and how to be saved. It helps the reader understand why God sent his son to die for us. It's like a miniature manual for the unsaved.

Romans is divided into 5 different parts:

1. All Men are Guilty Before God (1:18-3:20).
2. God Justifies the Sinner who Believes (3:21-5:21).
3. The Believing Sinner Can Have Victory Over Sin (6:1-8:39).
4. What About the Jew (the past, present and future of Israel)? (9:1-11:36)
5. Principles of Christian Living (12:1-15:33)

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/newtesta/ntesta5.htm

Parts 1-3, and 5 would be of so much guidance to the unsaved. 

In conclusion, I would recommend Ephesians to the saved and Romans to the unsaved.

Continue reading →