The Journal

Hey guys.

Time is short, and my classes are long, so I’ll try to get something posted here before I head to my next class in about 30 minutes. (Don’t worry, i’m already finished with homework)

Well first off, I’m where I’m supposed to be. I have found exactly where God wants me for at least the next few months. As far as the rest of the year, or four years, only God knows. God is good to me. I have grown more, spiritually, over the last week here at college than I have ever grown before. That ‘out on my own’ feeling was a far more frightening feeling than I could’ve anticipated. From the moment I set foot on campus, I began praying with all my might that God would provide good friends and people who would keep me responsible, accountable, and sane. God has more than come through. I have been meeting SO many amazing people over the week, it is really just overwhelming.

We have a Bible study now, filled with wonderful people who truly love God, and His Words. First day of classes is almost over, but i’ve got one more to go. I’ll post again tonight.

Later peeps!

(prayer appreciated!!)

ah… so much happening in my life, these days. It seems each of the last few months have been brimming with enough life lessons for me, to fill an entire year. But I feel sad for my blog, I have neglected it so. Unfortunately, I do not have long to spend on this update, busy day ahead tomorrow. But I will attempt to capture in words one of the most important lessons being taught to me these days. Wisdom.

What do you think of when you read the word- Wisdom? I think of a ‘wise old man’ who has travelled the world and knows the Bible cover-to-cover. He has experienced life and love. He has been brought through the darkest valleys, climbed the tallest mountains, and swam the deepest rivers. The kind of guy you just want to sit and talk to all day long as he re-counts his life experiences to you.

I suppose that is a normal answer. I have always thought (as most people, I suppose) that wisdom is gained only through experience. But what does the Bible say about wisdom? On the subject of ‘wisdom’, there is no book in the Bible more simplistic, and straight-to-the-point as the book of Proverbs. Written by the wisest man who ever lived, one of the most powerful passages on wisdom I have ever read goes like this:

“Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:”

Whoa! Hold it. Wisdom does what??? It cries aloud? So wait, we don’t have to DIG for it? We don’t have to go through 80 years of life experiences to uncover it? We don’t have to experience pain, frustration, anxiety and anguish trying to uncover the ‘wisest’ approach to a problem?

Proverbs 8 says “Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gates leading into the city, at the entrances, she cries aloud: “To you, O men, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding…”

Peoples, if you are looking for a beautiful description of wisdom, please please please read Proverbs 8. I wish I could post the whole book here, but unfortunately the length of my blogpost would likely scare away most if not all of my readers (that are left, that is).

Guys, wisdom is not difficult. You need only ask for it, and seek it in God’s Word, and you will always always always be granted it. Now, you may not recognize it. Like me, for instance, who knows the ‘wise’ thing to do, hears Wisdom cry, but ignores her time and again. What happens to those of us who ignore ‘her’ voice? Proverbs 1 goes on to explain…

“Since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you– when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke… For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.”

I have done this before. Ignored wisdom. I cared not for what God wanted me to do, but only what I believed to be ‘wise’. I have payed for it, and am determined to never let it happen again. Guys, wisdom cries aloud!! Hear her! Pray that God will allow you to obey her when you do. I believe an 18 year old man can be as wise, or wiser than a man of 80 years old. The ‘experience’ needed is recorded in the Bible, and many times, the ‘wise’ thing to do is in your conscience.

The trick is not hearing wisdom, it’s recognizing her voice, and obeying it.

To help recognize her voice, I’d suggest two things.

1. Get familiar with it. The Bible is wisdom. Read it, and get familiar with it. I can pick my Dad’s voice, and even his cough out of a crowded room with a blind-fold on because I have become familiar with it. Read your Bible.

2. Pray. Believe it or don’t, God wants you to be wise, too! Probably even more than you do. But you cannot recognize wisdom without the help of God. So humble yourself, get down on your knees, and pray!

As for obeying wisdom, this can only happen once you recognize it. But recognizing wisdom is totally and completely useless if action does not follow the recognition.

1. Pray. Pray. Pray. Oh yeah, and pray again. Ask God to help you excersize youself to do the wise thing. He will.

2. Throw out idols, and distractions. You have to focus on God to apply wisdom to your life. Seek Him first, and everything you need will be added to you by Him. Seek yourself first, and everything you thought you had will be gone, in the blink of an eye.

I’m still learning this lesson every day. Pray for me if you get the chance! I’m off to bed, now. Goodnight, readers! :)

I love my large family. 7 brothers and sisters, and I wouldn’t trade one of them for a million mansions in Scotland.

I have always cherished the role as ‘brother’. I’ve often contemplated the meaning and significance of the responsibilities vested in me by God as a brother. What is a brother for when it comes to siblings?

Well, maybe just because of my natural (and not so inherently good) personality as a male, the first duty i consider is

protection

This one makes me feel good. It gets my adrenaline running just to think about how I could go about rescuing a sister from danger, or defending her honor. Is this a necessary function? yes. But can this duty be taken too far?

Yes.

I am guilty of that very common (and slightly stereotypical) problem with guys these days. Over-protection. But we’ll get back to that. What’s another duty given to brothers?

unconditional love

A brother must be loving at all times. Unconditionally. No matter what. This is by far the less glamorous, and definitely most ignored (by me) aspects of a brother’s duty. That is not to say I have not  ’loved’ my siblings, but I have failed to express my love in the right way perhaps when it mattered most.

Unconditional love means you forgive all, for nothing. It means you sacrifice all your desires for nothing. Nothing but to know that you are doing what is best for the one you love.

Not only is it most ignored, least glamorous, and most difficult of the duties of a brother, but it is by far the most important.

The love is what motivates us to action. But as I said, this action can be taken too far. So far, that it doesn’t much become ‘being loving’ as it becomes ‘being protective’. That’s when you know…

… you’ve gone too far.

I have gone too far.

A loving brother should be a shoulder to cry on, not just a shoulder to surround you. A good brother doesn’t always have to be protecting, but should always be there.

A friend of mine once explained brotherhood to me this way:

“Sometimes, a brother doesn’t have to DO something. He simply has to be there.”

Hey guys. I have decided that from now on, I will no longer be beginning my blogposts with an apology for the blatant neglect for this blog. Because as you probably can tell, I don’t update even semi-regularly anymore. With that out of the way, I do have something on my heart to share.

Those of you who even slightly know me, know that speech and debate has been a major part of my life for the last 3 years. I have spent months on end working desperately to become the best speaker and debater that I can. And you who have talked to me about debate have more than likely heard me elaborate on the reason I participate in speech and debate.

I have one over-all goal in life: to glorify my God.

The way speech and debate has fit in with that goal was two-fold. 1st, it has taught me to communicate. I don’t think the importance of this in Christians could possibly be over-stated. and 2nd, speech and debate has allowed me to fellowship with some of the Godliest Christians of our day. The relationships I have gained through speech and debate will continue the rest of my life.

This is pretty much what you’ll hear me say if you ask me about debate, and very little, if at all, will I mention awards. But let me tell you, I am human.

Yes, as a human, I get a rush when I receive one of these ^ bad boys ^. I like trophies, and there’s nothing wrong with achievements. But I’m writing this blogpost because God has recently been teaching me a lesson more important than anything speech and debate had taught me, before. A lesson I had been dreading since I began debate.

Humility.

You see, I have been telling people for 3 years “It’s not about getting to nationals, it’s about learning, meeting new people, and glorifying God.”. This year, God has faced me with a situation in which I must prove once and for all, that I meant what I said.

Last week, during the regional tournament, my sister and I debated 6 times and won only 2 rounds. We did our best, debated our hearts out, but it was not enough. God had something else in mind for us.

Because of this, we will not be going to nationals this year. And after being in speech and debate for 3 years, I will have never competed at the nationals level. Some may see this as a complete and utter failure at competition. And they would certainly have a point. But I am reminded of what I told my friends, so very long ago: “the duty is ours, the results are God’s”

I certainly have no regrets as to how hard I worked for the opportunity to compete at nationals. I blame no-one for any of my mistakes, or failures. They were necessary to teach me this lesson: That no matter how big my plans are, God’s are bigger and better.

“I have set the LORD always before me.  Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” — Psalm 16:18

Thank you, God, for the lessons you’ve taught me through speech and debate! I know they’ll come in handy.

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  – Exodus 20:3

“Hey! Sounds simple enough! *tosses out golden statues*

 There can’t be much more to that commandment, right?”

 Have you ever been guilty of putting something before God? I know I have.

 This verse in Exodus is not merely referencing statues, or the worship of false gods (although those are most assuredly commanded against in this verse as well). But in order to understand the full meaning of this commandment, we must examine not only the letter of the law, but the spirit behind it as well.

 God wants to be first. In everything. He warns us about ‘serving two masters’. We cannot serve Him AND our desires.

 God must be first in our lives.

 Like I said, I am guilty of this sin. In fact, I’ve been guilty many many times of  putting my desires before God. I always justified my actions by stating “Well, God put these desires in my heart so that I would act on them.”

 I couldn’t have been more wrong.

 It’s not that God doesn’t want us to have fulfillment and happiness. On the contrary, Christ has offered us everlasting life! We have every reason to be joyful and happy.

 But here is where I went dreadfully wrong:

 I went to my desires before the Word of God. Sure, God gives us some desires. He gives us the desire to help others. He gives us the desire to be successful. He gives us the desire to love, and to be loved. Are any of these desires inherently bad? Absolutely not.

 However, when we put our desires before God leaving His Word in our dusts as we go our own way, we fail. 

Here’s how it should work. 

1. We have a desire, so we surrender it to God.

 “What do you mean by ‘surrender’?”

 To surrender is to give up. Literally allowing God to take away what we know we cannot handle on our own.

 We ought to do this out of humility, and out of obedience.

 ”I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

 He is the VINE! Without Him, we get no water to grow out branches, without Him, we die and cease to exist. Without Him, we can do nothing. So why not surrender our wants and desires to Him?

 ”Trust in the LORD, and do good; [so] shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass.”

 - Psalms 37: 3-5 -

I believe the above verse says what I’m trying to say far better than I could ever say it. From this verse, we can obviously see what the next step should be.

 2. Trust in God, do good. Delight in HIM (not our desires). Commit ourselves to Him, and to His Words.

 3. And God shall give us our desires, and shall bring it all to pass.

 What difficulty. But at the same time, what comfort! God has promised that He shall give us our desires, if our minds and our actions are fixed on Him!

 I have had this message on my heart for some time. God is still working with me in this area, but I thought I’d share it with you all in the hopes that it may speak to one of you. God bless, and thank you for reading!

(is going to try to format this blog into more of a Journal-type format. a-like so:)

Dear Journal, (be amazed by my Journal-typed format.)

Oh boy, where do I start? So many things lay heavy on my heart right now.

Have you ever gotten so far behind on something, that you feel like if you went back to try to “catch up”, it would be absolutely futile? That’s how I feel right now in regards to this blog/journal idea. However, I absolutely refuse to give up.

Why? I have no idea.

So let’s start with how I’m feeling right now, and we’ll go from there, okay?

I am just getting over one of the worst sicknesses of my life. It wasn’t the high fever, incessant coughing, over-whelming fatigue, splitting headaches or chills that really got me, though. It was definitely the fact that I’ve had it for over a week now. *sigh* It is almost gone, though.

So, I guess you might say that I am a little tired, but am definitely okay!

Actually, I take that back- I’m not really feeling that good.  I’m in need of some serious prayer right now. I know God’s got something planned for me, but I’m pretty majorly discouraged right now… I guess if you want something specific to pray for, pray that God would comfort me as He always does. If you would do that for me, you don’t know how much I would appreciate it.

I honestly wish nothing more than to write a perky happy entry right now. But, in all honesty, I’m simply not feeling it. (Does anyone else get the distinct impression that I’m writing this post with a frown on my face?)

OKAY! That’s IT! Enough depression and sad stuff!! *ahem*

I shall now spend the rest of this blog-post focusing on good things happening in my life.

1. My sister, hero, friend, and mentor Charity Chambers is coming home for a WEEK!!! (refuses to mention the fact that he’s scheduled to work each of the days she is here, cuz it’s just TOO sad.)

2. I am going to the Colorado National Open in 2-3 weeks!!!! (refuses to mention the fact that many of his dearest and closest friends won’t be able to make it. What’s that? Want me to mention it anyways? Sorry, nope, I can’t. It’s just too sad.)

So there! I did it! 2 happy facts. Didn’t think I could do it, did you?

Hmm, perhaps I’ll try again tomorrow. :-/

And no, I’m not talking about placings in my events.

Tournaments are often a mix of the sad and happy, much like the mixture of sweet, and sour experienced while enjoying a good piece of candy.

This tournament was definitely no acception.

I love making new friends, and I met some rather AWESOME peoples at this tournament.  What Region V lacks in size, it makes up for in genuine nice-ness.

I also rekindled some old friendships from a year ago. Luke Peterson and I met about a year ago at a Communicator’s For Christ conference in Texas, and hung out quite a bit there. We met again at the Springfield Qualifying tournament last week, and I was reminded why I liked this guy so much a year ago. He’s pretty epic, actually. (as is his younger brother Benji, who, like Luke, is an AWESOME actor.)

Sweet: I met and hung out with a lot of REALLY cool peoples

Bitter: It was the last regionally qualifying tournament I’ll ever participate in.

Bitter, and sweet.

(response to The Asker’s post here: http://jibenow.com/david/)

“Ok so for a movie to Honor God then it has to be perfect.”

Oh David, I wonder if you’re reading what I’m writing. *sigh* Perfection is not attainable for anyone. Therefore to Honor God (as He commands) doesn’t mean following the letter of the law, but instead the Spirit. What does the Spirit of The Law tell us to do? “Flee youthful lusts!”

FLEE!! RUN from the theater with ALL HASTE in obedience to the Word of God. Watching evil scenes to “learn good” is nothing short of compromise. And “Woe!!” to you that compromise as Christians.

 2 Corinthians 6:17,18 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, … saith the Lord Almighty.”

Touch not the unclean thing!!! TOUCH NOT THE UNCLEAN THING!!!!!

David, this verse requires not revision: this (as the rest of the Bible) is plain. english.

If a movie glorifies sin, tempts you to sin, or in any way goes against what the Bible says, CUT IT OFF! FLEE FROM IT! TOUCH IT NOT! (all from the (unchanged, un-re-reinterpreted) Word of God.

“I’m still confused how honoring and glorifying are different.”

To Honor is to obey (and love) - to glorify is to praise.

“You didn’t respond to my argument that temptation is different for different people.”

You are not ignorant of Satan’s devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11)

“If you think your going to be tempted to do more bad than good, by all means don’t watch the movie. Just don’t be a perfectionist.”

Perfectionism is for Jesus! I’d rather honor God by meditating on His Word, and watching movies that don’t glorify sin, like Fireproof!

“You’re saying “Because the movie is not making you as good as it could therefor you should not watch it.””

Nope, I’m saying if the movie tempts you to sin, or hurts your Christian testimony, you should not watch it.

“You are making the assumption that something cannot both honor God in one way and dishonor God in another.”

I make no assumptions. Your premise is that compromise is good. I’ve already shot down your one (half-of-a) Bible verse supporting that. You didn’t even attempt to ressurect that Bible verse in your last post.

“Since in total the damage done is much worse than the edification therefor you shouldn’t read the magazine.”

^Human comparison not based on scripture ^ Because this decision is not based on Scripture, your standards WILL change. Sorry, David, but your criterion by which you judge movies is not based on The Solid Rock of Scripture God has given us. Therefore, it is wrong.

“translation is “changing God’s words.”

No. Translation is necessary only to change the Words from one language to another. As nothing I have posted thus far is in arameic, or hebrew, and is instead written in plain english, it is not in need of “re-reinterpretation”. Thank you, though!

“And that is the purpose of media: To communicate the truth in a way that the world will embrace.”

The world will not embrace The Truth. Jesus gave The Truth, without compromise, remember? He was crucified. We are to be different from the World as Jesus was. Unity at the sake of our convictions is too great a price to pay.

“The reason I haven’t brought up verses is because you have done that for me and I’m just using those to support my arguments.”

The only verse you’ve quoted thus far was cut in half, and mis-interpreted (as i clearly pointed out (unrefuted) last post).

“Should we willingly subject ourselves to evil? Wrong question… Nothing is purely evil.”

Sin is purely evil.

I notice, once again, that you did not answer the question.

“The question is: how much evil should we subject ourselves to?”

None. The Bible says it. Everywhere. Once again, David, you deny the power of Christ to keep us from sinful movies – while feeding us with His Words. “All Scripture… is profitable for reproof for correction, for instruction in rightousness. That the man of God may be perfect.” (2 timothy 3:16) You also deny the duty of Christians, to Love the Lord God with all our hearts!! (“If you love me, keep my commandments!”)

“Does this mean that because anything we create is imperfect and therefor we should never write anything?”

If what is written does not line up with the teachings of God’s Word, we are to flee it. That’s all I, or the Bible itself has ever argued.

 If we honor Christ, and don’t glorify sin by condoning it- The movie can be good.

Luther is awesome.  Perhaps you saw another version other than the one I and Pluggedinonline.com did. “Luther and his wife are shown in bed (wearing nightclothes with little exposure).” Not my definition of a “bed scene”, actually.

(http://www.pluggedin.com/videos/2004/Q3/Luther.aspx)

 ”In regards to the last verse you posted, (Mathew 5:30)… its talking about church discipline so I don’t see how it applies.”

Apparently you got the wrong Bible verse… this one has absolutely nothing to do with Church Discipline, but Christian Discipline. Allow me to paste the whole thing for context:

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.”

‘nuf said.

“You are judging a book by its chapter.”

Yep, if a chapter has evil in it, and we pretend that the movie glorifies God, then sinners see this and think that their evil is justifiable to God as well! “I don’t have to worry! I saw this sin in a Christian movie and the movie painted it as alright!”

“Yet as all my sources state, [The book of eli] does honor God.”

I only value one source, the Word of Jesus Christ. If others contradict the Word of God, they are wrong. No matter what their credentials or how many there are.

Accepting evil to get good is a sin as

“The end does not justify the means.”

(this is a response to the response of my response to The Asker’s post found here: http://jibenow.com/david/)

I do not believe, for God to be GLORIFIED, a movie must be perfect. However, in order to honor God, we are to obey His commandments.

“Now flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22); “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11-12)

The question is, can we honor (obey) God while watching a movie that depicts people dis-honoring God. (note: this does not say “an edited version” of the movie, nor does it say that we “don’t watch certain parts”… I’m assuming that a person is watching a movie with no prior warnings of content – except maybe that God is dis-honored.)

“So what your saying is that if sin is ever glorified in a movie then the entire movie is bad and has no good in it.”

No sir, I do not say that. If there is a Bible verse in a dirty magazine, then there is “good” in the magazine. But the magazine does not honor God, nor does the quoting of His Word because He wishes to abstain from all appearances of evil. But just because there is a Bible verse in the magazine, (or, let’s say a Bible verse per page, even) there is glorified disobedience to the commands of God – God is not honored.

“(Phillipian 4:13) The key word here is: any.”

No, the key word is in the earlier part of the verse you didn’t address: ”Pure”. Now “pure” does not denote praise or virtue. A blank white screen could be described as “pure” but is not “praising” anything. I believe that is why “praise” is added there. That way we would not simply stare at blank walls, but instead find pure ways to praise God. I find it interesting that this is the only (however mis-interpreted) … (half of a) Bible verse that has been found to support your position.

 ”You are assuming that Jesus is refering to complete items and not parts of items. If a part of an item has any virtue shouldn’t we dwell on that?”

We should only dwell on the part that is virtuous, therefore watching things that dis-honor God ought not be included.

“we must use human reasoning to understand what verses say.” (once again, human reasoning)

Who are we (imperfect and sinful creatures) to change the Words of God? (perfect and Holy… and did i mention, realllllly smart??) God says what He means.

“I would contend that if a movie ever glorifies anything evil then all that proves is that part of the movie is evil.”

Sweet! We agree! Now my question: Why would we willingly subject ourselves to evil?

Look, we as Christians are under this dillusion that we have to allow ourselves to view evil in order to get good – this is a false dilemma! We have a pure and perfect source from which to obtain good – the Word of God.

“Under that logic all books except the bible should be burned.”

Context, David. I do not contend that the Bible is the only source of that which is good- rather, my question was simply to respond to the false premise that we must accept some evil to learn good. The Bible is not at all evil (as it is the written form of God Himself). You have yet to answer the question.

“Also its a lot easier to influence culture through movies then through screaming verses that nobody understands.”

Hmm, I thought we were talking about Christians…? now we’re talking about influencing culture. God has been drawing people to Himself without movies for millenia… no excuse.

I do not believe it is a sin to be tempted. But to willingly and knowingly put yourself in situations to be tempted is sinful.

God says He will be faithful to keep us from being tempted beyond what we can bear. But, does that mean we can do whatever we want and expect to be delivered from temptation? No, this is tempting God.

 ”Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Luke 4:12

“I hope you aren’t arguing that [fireproof] is perfect or anywhere near the level of the bible”

Once again, I am not arguing that movies ought to be perfect. Fireproof Honors God because it depicts sin (in a way that is not tempting, or hurting of Christian testimony) as it really is: Seperation from God, and requiring the washing of Jesus’ blood to cleanse.

Again, back to the two guidelines.

Fireproof does not conflict with #1, or #2. There are no scenes by which a Christian could be tempted. If there were for instance, a bed-scene, I would not have watched the movie. Even though I could’ve easily skipped the scene, the whole reputation and testimony of the movie would have been flawed as Christians would be viewed as “okay with watching bed-scenes”… a characteristic I would never want to be applied to myself. It also would undermine the one of the main teachings of the movie itself: to abstain from sexual immorality – keeping yourself pure before God.

(Please! I mean NONE of this personally, but) I really could care less if J. Vernon Mcgee himself endorsed the Book of Eli. If watching it will cause me to sin, tempt God, or hurt my testimony to others in any way, I’d much rather learn the lesson where I would not be so tempted. Again, if the movie were edited to where I were not watching sin, I would not have such a problem with it.

“its advantages outweigh its disadvantages.”

Once again, human comparison with no Biblical backing.

“You also said we should compare media to the Bible.”

Nope. I said we should get our standards from the Bible. BIG difference. No media will equal the epic-ness of the Bible, but media ought to line up with what the Bible teaches,  or it is worthless at best, and dangerous at worst.

“God doesn’t judge Christians that way.”

I’m sorry, but I fail see your point, here. How do Sanctified Christians compare to wordly media?

“If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast [it] from thee”  – Matthew 5:30

Today, Valentine’s Day is one of the major holidays in the U.S. and has become a booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are “valentine”s. The Valentines cards are often designed with hearts to symbolize love. Valentine’s Day, said to be spread through Christianity, is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest valentines was sent in 1415 AD by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife during his imprisonment in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.

Interesting, eh?

But what about those of us with no “valentines”?!?!?! No person with whom to exchange cards expressing our undying affection???

Lemme’ tell you about the greatest Valentine’s Day Card of ALL!!

Have you ever thought about giving a valentine’s gift to a complete stranger? A bum on the street? A CEO of a major corporation? To the world- that would be preposterous! To ask someone to “be yours” without any prior knowledge of who the certain person is, what they are like, is completely ludicrous!

Jesus knows YOU!

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” (John 1:48-49)

Nathanael was so shocked that Jesus knew Him… everything about him, that he fell on his face to worship the Creator. God sees you!

“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:6-7)

God knows every sparrow, but values human life much more – He knows you better than you yourself!

To many of us (including me), this is a very scary fact. Who would indeed want someone to know EVERYTHING about them? Even less so, the Creator of the Universe, with the power to destroy whole nations with a mere word from His mouth?

There is yet another “problem”. This Creator who knows you better than yourself and has infinite power can not tolerate sin!

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin [is] death;”

“Death” here being translated as “eternal seperation from God”

Hey! This does not sound like a Valentine’s Card!!!

Okay, hold up a sec… lemme’ explain my sudden shift into epic sadness and tragedy.

On Valentines day Teens everywhere will be handing out chocolate and cards to people they “like”… maybe they think “they’re cute!” or maybe they like the person’s personality. Sad thought it may be, this is how our teen-culture views love.

True Love is a verb. An unconditional action taken constantly – sacrificing wants and desires – laying your life down for a certain person.

Jesus loves you unconditionally.

Knowing YOU (aka, the person reading this post right now), your short-comings, your evil deeds, your defects, Jesus chose to come to earth, live a long and sinless life, then take the punishments for our sins by giving His life in our stead.

Many of you have heard this verse quite a few times, but I beg of you to let it soak in. Understand the beauty and wonder of these Words…

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

I ask you this Valentine’s Day, to thank God for His love.