Loss

"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ..."
-Philippians 3:8
      Some of you may already know, but recently I lost my grandfather. Today I attended his funeral with my family. This is the second funeral I have attended (that I can remember), the first being my grandmother's. My father and his siblings especially were distraught in this time because they had lost their father who had loved them so much. There were also many other people who knew my grandfather from various things, like church or folk dancing. This was a sad time for me as well because my grandfather was the only grandparent I really knew at all. My mother's parents died before I was even born, and my grandmother had Alzheimer's disease so I only ever really saw her in a nursing home.  
      No matter how prepared you may think you are to lose a loved one, you never are. My family all knew that my grandfather was sick and close to death, but his death still brought much sorrow. It's hard to lose something that you hold dear to yourself, especially when it's someone who has loved you as best as they could. However, nothing you do can stop someone from dying, because everyone dies eventually. This is just an unfortunate reality of life.
      The good news is that there are many things in life that we can choose to give up. Often we don't want to give things up, but that's because we don't see the point. We think that losing these things we hold dear will make us feel upset and leave an emptiness in our heart. The reason we have this mindset is because we aren't looking at what we can gain from giving certain things up. If I offered you a million dollars and all you had to do was give me your shoes, you would not hesitate to give them up. This is a humorous example, but the point remains the same. We can choose to give things up and gain something worth so much more.
      God is offering us a chance to live a blessed life, if we would just choose to give up certain things. God is asking us to give up our plans, our desires, our pride, and to simply trust in Him. The trade off is that we get to know the "surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus". Paul understood that he would have to suffer the loss of everything he had, but knowing Christ was worth the cost. Compared to knowing Christ, Paul considered everything he had to be worthless, even "rubbish". If we could just see the greatness of Christ, nothing would hold us back.
-Smart
     

Asking God

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
-Matthew 7:7
      I've been meaning to write about this for a while now, but I've kept putting it off due to school and other things. The topic I want to discuss is asking God. There are many times in life where I had to make a decision, and without consulting God I would make them. It's very natural for us as people to try to make decisions based on our own knowledge. However, I don't believe God wants us to live in this manner, because relying on ourselves only brings trouble.
      During a message, I heard a preacher talking about how he deals with his kids. When his kids would do something they should not have done, such as watch a bad movie, he would ask them a series of questions. The most interesting thing he would ask them is whether they asked to Holy Spirit about their choice. I thought this was very strange, and I'm sure most people would. The preacher wanted his children to understand how to live under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
      I think we too should learn how to ask God about choices we have to make in life. Often it is easy for us to ignore God in order to suit our best interest. For example, when I had to choose classes, I didn't even think to ask God about it. I just chose the classes I thought would be best for me. God must find it funny that we think that way, because God knows us much better than we know ourselves. God not only knows what is best for us, and He also wants the best for us. Asking God is a simple thing we can do to honor Him, and help ourselves at the same time.
      Many Christians would believe that it is important to obey God, but I would bet that most don't ask God about different things in their life. One of the best examples of this is "grey" areas in life, such as dating, drinking, etc. People don't ask God whether they should or should not do certain things, and claim that because the Bible does not explicitly say otherwise, they are justified in what they do. This mindset totally ignores that fact that God wants what is best for us. God loves us too much to allow us to indulge in things that will hinder us from loving Him back.
      It's easy to ask God about difficult decisions in life, but not so easy to ask Him about things will feel strongly about. If we don't ask God, how will we know what He wants in our lives? Even if we are convinced that we are doing the right thing, God may feel otherwise. God doesn't lead us in certain ways so that He can control us, but so that He can bless us. In my life I know it is difficult to even remember to ask God what He wants, but I'm learning that it is critical. He is willing to bless us, if only we would ask.
-Smart (P.S. This didn't turn out quite as I expected)

Paradigms

      I watched the film "Lincoln" starring Daniel Day Lewis, directed by Steven Spielberg. It was an excellent portrayal of the struggles Abraham Lincoln had to go through to pass the thirteenth amendment to abolish slavery. He had to do some shady things as president to get support to pass this amendment. The main obstacle that Lincoln had to face was the fact that people did not think slavery was wrong. People in that time believed that black people were lesser than white people. African Americans were treated as property, and were unjustly forced into slavery.
      It's interesting to look at different periods of time and to observe the trends. These days we hold the belief that all men (and women) are equal and that slavery in wrong. However, in Abraham Lincoln's time, people thought that there was nothing wrong with enslaving blacks. Therefore, Lincoln had to change the way people viewed slavery, which was very difficult to do because slavery was an accepted practice. People seriously believed that blacks were not equal to whites and that they deserved to be slaves.
      Another shift in beliefs that has happened more recently is how people view Christianity. In previous times, Christianity was the dominant religion that people in the United States had. Being an Atheist was viewed as a bad thing, because Christianity was pretty much the norm. However, these days people are starting to move away from Christianity. Christians are being attacked for believing in what they believe, and Atheism is becoming the norm. People think that you have to be a fool or an idiot to believe in Christianity, but even more than that- it's becoming acceptable to say so.
      I find that the movement towards Atheism is an unfortunate reality. People simply don't care about Christianity anymore, and think that those who follow Christ are not "keeping up with the times". Unfortunately, not all paradigm shifts are good, like the change of view on slavery. People are much more aggressive against Christians and Christian beliefs than they have been before. Personally, I believe that everyone should have the right to believe what they believe without being insulted. I don't think it's right to look down on someone because they don't believe what you believe. I think it's okay to tell them what you believe, but it's not okay to insult their beliefs.
      So why are people moving against Christianity? I think one part of it is that we aren't representing what Christianity is. It's not supposed to be some religion, but a relationship with a Savior and Redeemer. We are called to be salt and light of this world, but we aren't. Salt changes the flavor of bland foods, and a light in a dark room cannot be ignored. In the same way, we should be changing the way people view Christ. Our lives should reflect the love of Christ, and our lives should not be ignored. How are you being salt and light?
-Smart