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? 

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Always Been Loved

He loves you ALWAYS, even before you took your place in this world.

I cannot even comprehend that He knew me even before I took my place in this world, to even comprehend that He LOVED me before I was born! God's love for us is way too great for us understand. I could say that I will love my child that I might give birth to in the future, but I am way too young to be thinking about that now and I don't even have that certainty of knowing that I will conceive. What if God's plan for me is to adopt or not have kids at all? But God, he KNOWS you before your parents get to know you, before he makes you. Isn't that awesome and weird at the same time? Before he made you, he loved you and knew you? Wow, that is some amazing God. I just get butterflies TRYING to think about it, I can't even think about it, I have to try! That's how great God's power is! We can't even begin to think about it, we can't even try to think about it. 

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You be the Judge

I believe that we should work on our character before we judge others. We are just like the ones we judge, we are not worthy to judge others whom we think are worse than us because we are sinners just like them. It is like a liar judging another liar saying "Why do you lie to everyone? You are just destroying the trust that those people had in you." The one that said this was also a liar and really should've judged himself before he judged that other liar.
What does God say about judging?

He told them, "Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict.
2Chronicles 19:6 (NIV)


You are judging by appearences. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.
2Corinthians 10:7 (NIV)


Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
Matthew 7:1 (NIV)


Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Luke 6:37 (NIV)


"Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?" 
Luke 12:57 (NIV)




Let's go through each verse and understand it's meaning of the type of judging that is presented.

2Chronicles 19:6 states that when you judge, you judge for the Lord and that you do not judge for a human. God will be with you when you present the case, meaning that it will almost be like you're working side by side with God when you judge, so judge carefully.

2Corinthians 10:7 states that some of us judge by how others present themselves to the world and think highly of themselves while judging. You may deny it, but really when you judge others because you feel or think that you are greater for you are Christian or are forgiven of you sins, remember that they are just like you. They have an equal opportunity to believe and before you believed you were just like them. As it says, we belong to christ just as much as they do.


Matthew 7:1 says that if you judge, you will also be judged. This can go many different ways. For instance, If you judge someone, they will eventually judge you back and find some fault in you. It can also mean that when our time has come, you will be standing before the throne of God and you will be judged for all sins that you have committed while you were on Earth. If you have judged before, you will be judged before God.

Luke 6:37 basically states that what you do is what you get. If you judge others, you will be judged, if you curse others, you will too be curse, if you forgive others, you will be forgiven back.

Luke 12:57 says what I think is most important and I think should be taken into action before all the other verses. It asks us to judge our actions and decisions so that we may do what is right. To judge for what is right, not for what we want, for what is the right thing to do. This is the hardest of all to do for our lusts for the world are great and overpower our urgency to do what is right and to do what God says is right.

If you have another opinion or reflection of any of the verses please share, I may be wrong with my interpretation of the verse, but that is why I post these up. To get feedback and to learn. 

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I Find You When I Fall Apart

I was listening to a song called "Fall Apart" by Josh Wilson, my favourite christian singer/song writer, and it was saying in the song

 "Why in the world did I think I could only get to know you when my life was good? When everything just falls in place, the easiest thing is to give you praise. Now it all seems upside down. Cause my whole world is caving in, but I feel you now, more than I did then, I cannot come to the end of me, and somehow still have all I need. God, I want to know you more, maybe this is how it starts, I find you when I fall apart."

I just love the lyrics to this song because they're absolutely true words. I find myself praising the Lord more when I feel blessed and in my time of trouble, I don't praise Him, instead, I call out to Him. I find that I get to know more about how my Lord works, and I find Him better when my life is "falling apart" or when I don't understand why these little problems and troubles keep popping up in my life.

As it also says in his other song, "Before the morning", "The pain that you've been feeling is just the hurt before the healing, just the dark before the morning." The problems that your faced with in your life, they will turn into something better than that, they will help you gain wisdom, confidence, a stronger character, peace, happiness, and many more marvellous things. When you think that your life's about to end, think again, it is just the beginning to greater things.

Here's the song if you want to hear it.

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Merry CHRISTmas!

All the excitement  and gifts/stockings, the things we've wanted, the things we got, the dinner and the family, the desserts and the activities. The boxing day sales on the next day. With all these things in mind, we can forget the true meaning of Christmas, or we might remember, but it is not as exciting as the gifts or the events. It is just a story that you hear every year, or really, are you listening? Or thinking about the dinner and presents that you might be getting?

"But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not just an insignificant village in Judah. A ruler will come from you who will be like a shepherd for my people Israel. "
Micah 5:2

This verse is a prophecy of the event which we know as the Birth of Jesus. It says that a RULER will come from an INSIGNIFICANT village, not some high and mighty nation, Jesus our saviour came down to Earth not to be known as great and mighty but as one of us. Once you look at the details of the story, it is truly significant.

"The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I am bringing you good news that will be joy to all the people. Today your SAVIOUR was born in the town of David. He is Christ, the Lord. This is how you you will know him: You will find a baby wrapped in pieces of cloth and lying in a feeding box."
Luke 2:10-12

This verse is kind of humorous, the angel told the shepherds that their SAVIOUR was born and that they will know who they're looking for is the SAVIOUR because he will be wrapped in pieces of cloth and he will be sleeping in a feeding box. First of all, how many people do you know were born in a feeding box wrapped in pieces of cloth? It would be more likely back then, but theses shepherds were looking for a SAVIOUR. You'd think that he would be born someplace amazing and expensive, but he was practically born in the worst possible place, pretty much. But if you look outside  the box, God had a greater plan for Him. If you just take a second to step into the shepherd's shoes, Jesus didn't sound that significant, but considering that it was an angel that delivered the message, that probably would've been enough for them.
I just thought I'd share this, I know it's kind of random, but I really hope that today I will be and that you'll be focusing on the real meaning of Christmas amidst all the excitement and family.

 Merry Christmas Everyone!

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Josh Wilson - I Refuse

I was just watching this music video. It touched my heart, I have been oblivious to many things and acted as if I hadn't noticed that that person had been hurting or that even my friends needed a hand sometimes, I would be too lazy to help and when my turn came, needing for help, I didn't take time and think that they were being kind and gracious to me.

http://youtu.be/6B1Lv8k5pEc

Sorry,  this video doesn't work if you try and play it on my blog, you'd have to click on the link above to view it.

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