Fear God

Matthew 7:13-14 "(13)Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. (14) For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

(21)"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (22) On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' (23)And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'"

I don't know about you, but this passage scares the heck out of me. Sometimes I wonder if this will be me... I am on staff at a church, I lead the congregation weekly in worship songs, but that doesn't mean that I am saved. I am sure there are many pastors that preach weekly that do not believe that Christ rose from the dead. I know that throughout my life, I am going to have to constantly change. That's what sanctification is. There will be no "glorification" in this lifetime for me, I know that. Paul writes in Philippians 3:12 "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." Paul recognized that he was not perfect, (if you know anything about Paul, from the outside he would have looked perfect!) Paul knows, he KNOWS, that Christ is the only perfect one, and that he should strive to become perfect through sanctification. Perfection will not come until we die and we are glorified through Christ.

The question is, will we be the ones shouting, "Lord, Lord...?" We need to have a passion to know Christ intimately. This is the only solution to the problem of Christ saying back to us, "I never knew you, depart from me..."

-cg

Falling in the Whole

I often ask myself why Christians compete with each other. It seems that every one of us falls in the hole of thinking we are better than other churches and or other believers. Why do we do this? When are we going to fall into the whole?

We are ONE BODY of believers. There are many parts to the body, and we all have different attributes that distinguish what we do as part of the body. Some of us are ears, some of us are mouths, some of us are even feet. If we cut off one part of our body, we would not be able to function correctly, thus resulting our inability to share the gospel. So many of us are constantly back-biting ourselves are we don't even realize it. I cannot say that I have never done this myself. I have talked badly about people, talked badly towards people, thought things I could never repeat, and so on. I have to constantly stay on my toes regarding this subject, and I am sure I'm not the only one.

Don't forget that unbelievers are watching everything we as Christians do. "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable" -Carman

to live-
cg

something to hold on to

"...both we and our words are over-produced by influence." -Anthony Green (Circa Survive)

This statement really sinks in every time I hear this song. It's crazy to think that around certain people you act totally different. I know for a fact that I have done this many times. A friend of mine said to me last night that men have this innate characteristic to only take in information that is going to somehow effect them. I thought that statement was so true. I act totally different when I am in "my element" and Courtney knows that best. She has said to me many times that I was different when I was on stage then I was the night before when we were hanging out.

I constantly remind myself that I need to be me. That looks like horrible grammar at first glance, but really take it in. I remind myself I need to be me. I get caught up sometimes in trying to mimic other artists, songwriters, composers, scholars, pastors, and so on. The only person I should be trying to be like would be Christ. The least that I can do is be myself. I am not an old man by any means, and I am certainly not a teenager anymore, so what am I? I have another friend that leads a bible/worship time on Friday nights. He had said a statement I agreed with whole heartedly, "The most difficult time in life has to be right now." Now to you that might not sound like much, but need I remind you he is speaking to kids ranging from ages 18 to 29. How much more difficult can it get? "I don't know what college I want to go to...I don't want to get a 'real' job...I can't stand living with my parents any longer, but I don't have the money to move out...I want to get married...I never want to get married." These years are the most complicated in life. I recently started school at Liberty University. Believe it or not, I am actually excited about going to college. I do not regret taking time off between high school and now. I know the time spent in between has prepared me mentally to actually put forth effort in my studies now. In high school I was a huge slacker...I always wanted to do the bare minimum when it came to class (that is when I attended.)

A man was "texting" me last night about wanting to be something more. He kept telling me he wanted something more, "I want to be used, I want to be something more, I know that I could be better, I feel like I am a joke." I had to say, "God created you and me for a reason. Sometimes we don't know what it is, or even how we are going to achieve that, but it's still true. To say that you are a joke says that your creator is a joke. I know that's a lie!" Every other message I would say something like, "Try to get plugged in at church." But then his reply would be, "how do I go about that?" This is one of the many times I ask God, "what's going on?" (dude, I use a lot of quotes.) God does have a plan, I don't know what it is, nor should I. He is in control and that's all I can rely on.

This is the most informal blog about nothing. I am just writing my thoughts that I believe might mean something to someone. It's a hard life if you are in the ministry, but it's so worth it! I love my work. I get to lead people every week into the throne room of our Lord. I get chills just thinking about it.

I wish that I could say life is fair, but you know that would be a lie. God is good!

to live-
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