Everything is Poop...Say What?

Good evening lovely people! I would like to share some thoughts and expand on the Bible study I enjoyed while at the Youth Gathering. We studied the book of Philippians and I have to say I absolutely LOVE that book! Man so much great stuff packed in there!

I am going to focus on chapter 3 verses 8-9.
     " Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. "

In our world, having stuff is a big deal. The more stuff you have, the cooler you are. It's a fact and sadly it's normal. I deal with dis-contentedness ALL the time. I see what my friends and others have and I want it. I think I need more and more. We as Christians, though, need to count earthly things as loss because they will not last. They will not come with us to heaven as much as we want them to. 

Our worth is not in what we own, but in Who owns us. We are Children of the Heavenly Father! Heirs to the Kingdom of heaven. God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to endure a horrific death so that we might be with Him in Heaven ( John 3:16) When we except His love and forgiveness we can boast in that. We are works of the Ultimate Creators hands. What other evidence do you need to prove that you have worth?

In this chapter Paul describes what he owns here on earth as rubbish...in Greek terms that means dung or poop. Wow, some language there! The point is He wanted to get HIS point across. Without Christ we are nothing. But the good news is, We DO have Christ!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is SO much joy in those words. I pray that, not only for me but for you who read this, realize this as you grow in your faith. That if we lost everything we ever owned, including our loved ones, we would still have joy and hope in the Lord and His promise of Salvation. Just think about Job and how the devil attacked every aspect of His life. He lost all of his riches, his family and even became deathly ill. But he STILL praised God. I pray that we can also do that too :) 

To finish this off I want to point out verse 9. We do nothing to gain Christ. He has done it for us. We don't have to stress about how much good or bad we have done in life. Because if we did that, we would all go to hell. JESUS took care of the cost. Don't make his sacrifice seem like not enough by trying to get Salvation on your own. Rest in peace that it's taken care of. All you have to do is follow.

FYI a lot of these thoughts are from the leaders of the Bible Study. Though some are my own. Just a disclaimer.

Choose Joy this day!!
Mel~

Unexpected Experiences

I have to apologize for not posting in about four months. Here I thought that during the summer I would be writing a post twice a week. But I back and I am excited to be sharing how The Lord has been working in my life this summer.

Typically I like to hang out at home and not really travel. This summer though the majority of July was spent away from the comforts of home. One of the places I went was New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering for Lutherans.
I was really excited to finally be a part of it! I was hoping to grow in my relationship with Christ and to be refreshed! Well The Lord had a different plan, as almost always. Instead of being uplifted, I was   frustrated and annoyed. Instead of getting advice through the seminars that I could apply to my life, none of it seemed to really apply to my situation. I was so upset with how the week was going. I tried to put my motto of Choosing Joy to action and to hold my tongue when I could have said a lot of nasty things.

But now as a look back on what happened that week, The Lord really had a plan to teach me some things. He taught me how to hold my tongue and how to be a positive witness among those who were negative and whose actions were of the world. Through some of the mass events, Christ spoke directly to me and made me bawl of happiness and relief. Oh how I felt the loving arms of my Savior around me during those moments!

The fact is, we all know we all have flaws. It a part of the whole sin package. But The Lord knows we can't overcome those flaws on our own. We need his forgiveness and his grace and his love. Without those things we are dead to sin. I thank God for the unexpected experience I had on the trip. It has strengthened my faith more than I could have known!

Your sister in Christ, Mel