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 →

One Moment

Some people say that God is always just, merciful, loving, kind, and generous, but

There was one moment when God wasn't just, when God wasn't merciful, when he wasn't loving,

when he didn't show kindness and turned his face away, when he wasn't generous.

That moment was when he sent his son to die 

for the sins of man and suffer on the cross.

God did not show mercy to Jesus, 

he was not just, 

he wasn't loving and turned his face away,

he was not generous and kind to Jesus. 

When Jesus bore our sins upon himself, 

God could not bear to look upon his son.

He did this so that WE may be forgiven,

So that WE could live and praise him forever and be with him in eternity,

so that WE could have a second chance

so WE could walk with him like we once did.

He loved us SO MUCH that he allowed this to happen:

Continue reading →

Kindness that lasts a Lifetime

Just this past weekend, I was at a teen winter camp retreat in the States. It is called camp Li-Lo-Li and I was looking through my Bible during chapel time and I found this one verse in Psalm that caught my eye and brought peace to my heart.

Sing praises to the Lord, you who belong to him;
praise his holy name.
His anger lasts only a moment,
but his kindness lasts for a lifetime.
Crying may last for a night, 
but joy comes in the morning. 
Psalms 30:4-5


Right away, I fell in love with this verse. How it expresses that God's Kindness lasts a LIFETIME. Isn't that just amazing? Sometimes, when you read the Bible, it talks about God's anger, but even in anger, he expresses grace towards us. That grace lasts longer than His anger. The last section of this verse, "Crying may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning" reminds me of a song I mentioned in an earlier post called "Before the Morning" by Josh Wilson. It says in the chorus, "The pain that you've been feeling, is just the dark before the morning." You may find yourself asking God "Why? Why did you let that happen?" But know that whatever happens, God is using that to work out your relationship with him. And even the pain, sorrow, and guilt that you have come across, instead of being those awful things that they are, can be used to bring glory to his name and all the wrongs that you have committed will be forgotten. Isn't that just amazing to know that he will forget the terrible things that you have done that bring guilt upon you? This doesn't mean that it's okay to commit them though.

The almighty, powerful God, that created the world from the smallest insect, to the largest mammal. The God who created you and I. His anger ONLY lasts a moment, whereas His kindness lasts a LIFETIME.
It still marvels me! His kindness outweighs his anger. Our God is quick to forgive and slow to get angry, and that's how we should live as well. I know for a fact that I’m the opposite. I'm struggling to forgive as much as I get angry, let alone forgive! I, as a sinner, am great at holding grudges and bringing it up every time I see the person that I'm holding the grudge against. It's a terrible "Habit" that we as sinners cannot get rid of easily. I called it a habit because truthfully it is something we can't control. We all struggle to forgive and do what is easiest, get angry.

Continue reading →

Verses of Love

Love is one of the most important things in our lives; that we show love to others.

“I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. (John 13:34 NCV)

1. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. (1 John 2:15 NCV)

2. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. (1 Corinthians 13:4 NCV)

3. (for men) Husbands, love your wives and be gentle with them. (Colossians 3:19 NCV)

4. Most importantly, love each other deeply, because love will cause people to forgive each other for many sins. (1 Peter 4:8 NCV)

5. Hatred stirs up trouble, but love forgives all wrongs. (Proverbs 10:12 NCV)

6. And God gave us this command: Those who love God must also love their brothers and sisters. (1 John 4:21 NCV)

7. The second command is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’  (Mark 12:31 NCV) (neighbor in this case means your enemies or the people you ignore, in other words everyone else whom you do not love)

8. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8 NCV)

9. This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins. (1 John 4:8, 10 NCV)

10. (what love isn't) Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. (1 Corinthians 13:5 NCV)



Take a look at number 5. It says "Hatred stirs up trouble, but love forgives all wrongs" see how powerful Love is? Think about it...is it easier to hate someone you don't love or to love someone you do not love already?

Most of you would probably say to hate someone you don't love, that's probably what I would've picked. You don't know this person, so why bother with trying to humiliate yourself and bugging yourself to love this person?

Love can change many people's lives. You may not know the girl whose locker is 5 down from yours and may have seen her once in a while in the hallways, not know her name, never had a conversation with her...so why does it matter if I show love to her?
You don't know what is going on in that person's mind, she could have problems at home, being abused by her parents, or even witness abuse from her father towards her mother, her family is never around, always at home alone, mother lost her job and can't pay rent so they are having financial problems, think that she's not worth anything and cuts herself wishing to die...well that's not our problem, is it?

We may not need to know what is going on in a person's personal life in order to show love to someone. Just a small act of love towards a person like an occasional smile when passing by in the hallway or at work, or saying "hello" to them every morning, maybe even including them in your little group during lunch. This could truly change a person's thoughts or feelings, it will give them a hope to keep going on in life, it will give them something to look forward to in their life, it will give them someone to trust and to love back.

Take a look at love verse number 8. It states " Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." If we know God, it says we should love.  Whenever you see someone whom you never talk to or acknowledge, remember this verse and show love at every point in your life and the Lord will truly bless you.

Continue reading →

Amazing Love

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


CHORUS
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


BRIDGE
You are my King
You are my King
Jesus, You are my King


God's love is greater than any love that you will experience and it is the only love that will give you Joy, when you are sad, Peace, in troubling times, Confidence, in things you never knew you can do, and Courage, when you face the giants of the World.

Continue reading →

WWJD? (What Would Jesus Do?)

A good tree does not produce bad fruit, nor does a bad tree produce good fruit. Each tree is known by its own fruit. People don't gather figs from thornbushes, and they don't get grapes from bushes. Good people bring good things out of the good they stored in their hearts. But evil people bring evil things out of the evil they stored in their hearts. People speak the things that are in their hearts.
Luke 6:43-45

We are like those trees, there are bad people and there are good people. The Christians in the world should produce good fruit for all to collect. We, as Christians should be like the good tree and only do things that are good, we want to tell and show everyone who see us that we are followers of Christ without telling them so. They should be able to walk by and identify that we are born again Christians. Sometimes though we tend to do the wrong things and end up in the wrong crowd that causes us to do the things that God would not like us to do. It all depends on what we are living around and what type of world is surrounding us. The movies we watch for instance, affect the way we think. If our friends use alot of inappropriate language then we might start using the same language as them which will eventually lead us away and farther from God. What we need to do in order to stop us from making the wrong decisions is use the famous saying WWJD. What Would Jesus Do? That way we would know for sure whether or not we are making the right choices. Praying to the God would also help in making the right decision. In conclusion, just imagine Jesus doing what you think you should do and if the picture doesn't fit then know it's the wrong thing to do.

Continue reading →