Progress not Perfection

We have all heard the saying progress not perfection, but I do not think that many of us hold to that ideal. It makes perfect sense that when you want to fix something about yourself then you should be able to do it immediately right? Yeah I did not think so either. I believe that in sin this can go the same way. Do not get me wrong, sin is sin. I just think that we look at our approach to overcoming it in the wrong way. There are two sides. The first is that you use God's grace cheaply. You do whatever you want, because you believe God is going to forgive you. That is a dangerous way to live. The second is when you hide in your shame, and let the sin eat at you until you have succumbed to it even further. Much like Adam and Eve you felt your vulnerability after a failure and hid from God instead of stepping into his loving light. This is where, I believe, our view on failure is fundamentally flawed. You see disappointment implies that something unexpected happened that is also not favorable. This is why God can not be disappointed in our sinning. Stick with me here. He does hate sin, but it is not unexpected. If we did not sin or had the capacity to be free from it then there would have been no need for Jesus. There ABSOLUTELY WAS a need for Jesus. We do sin, it is wrong, and it is our job to continuously try to overcome that. We can only do so with the loving help of our Lord and Savior. Yet God calls us to embrace our weakness and offer our vulnerability up to him so that he can be glorified. This is where strength is drawn. So the next time you sin do not push it out of your mind in the shame of guilt. Instead realize your flaw and notice the part where you did not lean upon the Lord. Then ask him to give you the strength to overcome it the next time, and the time after that. I promise you that you will start to win battles. get back on the horse, and know where your strength truly lies. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Progress not Perfection. God Bless.
-Joshua

The Complacency Curse

Go to any church in a third world country, and ask them what Christianity means to them. You will hear some of the things you would expect such as love, grace, hope, and Jesus Christ. However, a word that they would all use that you might not be familiar with is suffering. Third world Christians can not imagine following Christ without suffering. In America we see this as wrong or unjust. Did Jesus and Paul not continually say that we would suffer. Nevertheless, in America we have become complacent. We do not have to suffer, and it is easy for anyone to claim Christianity a system for their own personal beliefs. Paul lived in a world where the cruel Nero was burning Christians to provide lighting for his parties, and throwing them to the lions for mere entertainment. I can walk down the street right now, and tell anyone I know that I love and follow Jesus with little or no persecution. Yet this has not been a blessing for us. Instead it has become the very thing that is drying up our bones and making us a church that would sit inside a building's walls once a week instead of a group that is risking everything just to get a small glimpse of the word. We have every freedom to speak to others about Christ, yet most everyone who has claimed Christianity has never shared the gospel with anyone in their life. Can suffering be a blessing? If you ever met someone who still stood for Christ in the face of persecution then you would know it to be true. Paul spoke of a thorn in his side continuously torturing him all so he would know that the grace of Jesus Christ was enough for him. I fear that we have become so ego centralized that we have become so absorbed with our idea of freedom that we forgot to actually be free. If you look at some of the modern day issues concerning ISIS, and how American Christians are getting a reputation for hateful bigotry I think we might have to start seeing that America might not have a choice for complacency anymore. I believe that there will come a time where your faith will not be in question, and neither will your ability to suffer. It will be choice of taking up the gauntlet at the risk of your life as Christ asks in Luke 9:23, or going home and living the way we have continued to live over the past several hundred years. I am not so sure this is a bad thing. So why wait until things turn for the worst? Why not learn now what you can always use later. Suffer for Christ, and live your life in the flesh by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you. (Galatians 2:20). With love for all.


-Joshua

Father's Day

Today is father's day. For me, mother's day and father's day have never been big deals. I had never seen the point. Especially on father's day. My relationship with my father has always been strained, and so has his with his father, and so on. Yet it also reminds me that I take for granted the fact that both my parents are still around. Sometimes I cannot stand them, especially in transitioning to independence, but when I need them they are there. Even though my dad isn't the most understanding, loving, or kind father. He is still more than just a father, because he is a dad. He may not always participate, but he is around. We see that when children do not have fathers in the home they are twice as likely to get into trouble with the law, three times as likely to get into drugs and alcohol, and five times more likely to walk out on their children. I have to be reminded that as I go into being a dad that I should take what good I learned from him, fix the bad, and ultimately just strive to be more like our father we share in heaven. No father is as perfect as God, but I know my dad tries to be and that means more than any action he could perform. I hope to be a father who reflects the type of father our Lord is. I am learning, and so is my dad. Yet our imperfection also gives hope. There millions of people who hate this day more than me, as they sit with no father. They could have passed away, or perhaps were never there. However, we can rest in the fact that our true father is very much alive, and watching over us as the children he loves. We share a father with our fathers, and that is cool. So enjoy your day, and enjoy your dad who will always love you. Happy Father's Day! God bless.

Greatest Truth Ever Known

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

The Extra Push

It is most certainly impossible to make everyone like you. Even Jesus was hated, and he was the Son of the living God. Yet there are times when you have to admit you are at fault, and it is always time to show everyone love. There was a time in my life where I struggled with injustice in the world. I also had a massive temper, and wanted to fix anything that I thought was wrong. I was getting in the way of God. There was a time where these two flaws mixed, and it made me someone I was not necessarily proud of.said what I thought without filter, or even thought of consequence. I am not going to waste my time talking about that. That part of my life has ended, and we can all agree that it is not the right way to live. Needless to say, the person I once was said some hurtful things, and hurt a lot of feelings. I thought I was standing up for what was right, but never did I show love, humility, or grace. So what I am getting at is the extra effort I took to fix some of these relationships. Like most offenses mine seemed less extreme over time. However, even after apologies, time passing, and playing nice it just seemed like I was unable to restore those relationships. I went on for awhile just playing nice, forgiving, and assuming the other person just was not okay with me. That is where I was wrong. I realized that I was assuming they still had a problem with me, but they were probably assuming that I did not like them. After all I was the one who went off on them last time. So I did something new, and tried the extra push. Instead of just playing nice I made deeper conversation and actually listened, I joked around, and I did what they enjoyed. It was not always easy, but it was something I felt necessary. Guess what. It worked. Do not hold on to the things of the past, and assure others that you only wish to show them more of God's love. No matter what either one of you have done. After all the end goal is to spend eternity with them. Is it not? God Bless.

Don't Just Feel It

One of the biggest blunders we are taught blindly as growing persons is that actions follow emotions. You are to always act off of them, feed off of them, and make life decisions based on them. There is only one huge problem with that. We were born into sin, and our hearts desire the things we are not supposed to have. We are merely told that we are to balance how we feel and what we think in order to go through life, but when it comes down to it we are supposed to "follow our hearts." If we follow this philosophy of life then we will have the following: we will marry the wrong person, get divorced when we realize that we are not in love with them, choose not to worship God because you don't want to, we will go to the wrong schools, get the wrong job, and etc. You see it is going to be rare if you WANT to do what your supposed to do over 50% of the time. God loves it when we do things we don't want to but he has asked of us, and he even calls us to this life of sacrifice. Nevertheless, we get this idea that we can quit something or never start it because we are just not in the mood. We need to use our heads and prayer to make right decisions. Never does the Bible say to just follow your heart. The heart of God, but not just our feelings. Unless Jesus is living in there that heart is not going to be feeding you much good anyway. There are many reasons for why we should not just "go with the flow." Here is an example of how we get in the way of God, and make a mess of ourselves. It is very possible for you to not be in love with your significant other for a time. We get this all the time where people love their wives, but are not in love with them anymore. Most people freak out and ruin marriages with divorce or adultery. They are just reacting to what they feel is right for them. Yet they do nothing about it, because they are expecting actions to follow a feeling that is not there. However, when they think about it and pray about it God will restore what he intended to be there. You chose to be with them in the good times and bad. That is exactly what marriage is. A choice. A choice to live sacrificially for someone else on a deeper level, as God calls us to do with everyone. If you act as if you are in love with them, and do things to show that then I guarantee that the feelings will come. God does not believe in divorce, and he absolutely heals. He is just searching for someone who is going to look back to him in obedience. Actions do not follow emotions, but emotions follow actions. God shows us so much about acting as he intends even when we do not wish to do so. This is the epitome of obedience. God just wants us to love others when we do not, serve others when we want to be served, and give our lives when we need someone else's. By no means is it the modern way to live, but God shows us that it is the right way to live. What can be better than that? God bless.

The Struggle

It is a fact that I am rarely going to admit that someone has taught me something life changing. Especially when I am extremely humbled by what I have been taught. I have been in a relationship with the love of my life for years, and more than anything else she taught me something that changed the way I viewed life. Our age difference is a larger deficit then what most couples would choose to engage in. Nevertheless, I believe with all of my heart this is what God has intended. I have the absolute intention of marrying this girl, and the more I pray the more I realize that God has given me one of the biggest gifts I could ever receive on earth. I can love and feel love back, I am cared for, I am listened to, I have a best friend, someone who has my best interest at heart, and most of all someone to make me a better person. It would be impossible to list all of the things God has showed me by using her. I have learned about love, life, and everything else. However, one thing she does has changed my life more than she ever could have done on our own. I have only spoken of it to her once so I do not think that she will ever understand the weight of what she has done for me. She does not give up no matter how hopeless it seems, or even in the face of absolute failure. I am in love with her, but even more so I am in love with HER. I am not saying the cliche that "the only way to fail is to give up." No. God used her to show me something bigger. Our relationship is far from perfect, which is what makes it perfect. We struggle to agree, to keep things pure, to have our families coincide, to communicate, to be the best we can be to each other, and every other problem you can have. There have been many times where I challenge her with the question of, "Why are we even doing this?" Yet I can always rest assured in her answer, "because we love each other." I ask a lot of her and as she grows in mental, physical, and spiritual maturity I am to be patient as she is with me. There are many times where she does not meet expectations, and in our relationship very few people would survive what we have been through. Nevertheless, we are still here. We both aim to be completely obedient to God, and he gifted us with each other for the time being. No matter what comes along she never even sees a break-up as an option. She fails, but she never gives up. She is always herself, and comes out of the hard times as herself. This is life changing for me anyway, because it put true love into my life. It is the type of love in 1 Corinthians 13, the kind that keeps no record of wrongs, forgives, is patient, and kind. However, even more so there is something that the entire world can learn from my love. We are unworthy of salvation. We ruined that long ago. What is even more is that we will continue to sin, and we will fight that until our life on earth ceases to exist . How crazy is it that we will probably sin on the day that we die? We will never be a perfect Christian, and we will never reach a point where our life is perfect. So one might say that they understand why we need Jesus for salvation, but why even try if we will never be completely delivered from sin on earth. Well my answer is this: God knows we will sin (Romans 3:23), so he sent us a gift in his son, Jesus, to pay our debt (Romans 6:23). Even more so God calls us into a losing battle in a part of a war that has already been won. He wants us to keep on trying, and to continue to strive for perfection. Simply because he asked us to. It is not about being perfect. We can't. Yet God asks to look into the face of our failures, turn to his everlasting grace, and keep fighting the good fight. I thank you God, I thank you my love, and I thank you all. God bless.