Here’s a personal post.

This is and has been one of the toughest semesters of my life. Why? God is definitely convicting me and taking away everything I value:

-Friends and other relationships

-Time

-Physical health

-Possessions

-Excellence in school…or anything really

-Security about my future

It’s been quite a lonely and disheartening semester, to say the least. But in the midst of all the chaos, I know my love for God is growing. And I know God is shaping me to become a man of God, dependent on Him alone. So yea, externally, my life is a mess, but internally, I’m at peace.

It’ s hard to become a man of God, for sure. But I’m thankful. God is good. He knows what He’s doing.

I vow never to become a fat doctor. Ever.

The Compromise of Language (The original title, but I thought the one above sounds cooler)

Is it just me, or has anyone noticed how people throw around abbreviated swear words left and right these days?

Examples:

1) Efff

2) Freakin, friggin

3) WTF, What the freaks

4) LMAO (this one caught me by surprise when someone texted me and I had to look it up)

5) Freakin A

6) Son of a

7) Jeez

8 ) God dang it

9) What the heck

When people use these expressions, yea, they’re not technically using “swear” words, but the intention of the word/expression is the same.

So What’s Wrong With Swearing Anyway?

From http://www.cusscontrol.com/swearing.html

Swearing Imposes a Personal Penalty
It gives a bad impression
It makes you unpleasant to be with
It endangers your relationships
It’s a tool for whiners and complainers
It reduces respect people have for you
It shows you don’t have control
It’s a sign of a bad attitude
It discloses a lack of character
It’s immature
It reflects ignorance
It sets a bad example

Swearing is Bad for Society
It contributes to the decline of civility
It represents the dumbing down of America
It offends more people than you think
It makes others uncomfortable
It is disrespectful of others
It turns discussions into arguments
It can be a sign of hostility
It can lead to violence

Swearing corrupts the English language
It’s abrasive, lazy language
It doesn’t communicate clearly
It neglects more meaningful words
It lacks imagination
It has lost its effectiveness

Or has Arthur’s mom nicely puts it in the Arthur bleep episode, “I guess you can say they mean, ‘I want to hurt your feelings.’”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhuLyk1FjgQ&feature=related

From a Christian perspective, three clear passages:

Exodus 20:7⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

Leviticus 24:10-16

¹⁰ Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. ¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) ¹² They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.

¹³ Then the LORD said to Moses: ¹⁴ “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. ¹⁵ Say to the Israelites: ‘If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; ¹⁶ anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

¹⁰ Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. ¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) ¹² They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.

¹³ Then the LORD said to Moses: ¹⁴ “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. ¹⁵ Say to the Israelites: ‘If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; ¹⁶ anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

¹⁰ Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. ¹¹ The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) ¹² They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.

¹³ Then the LORD said to Moses: ¹⁴ “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. ¹⁵ Say to the Israelites: ‘If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; ¹⁶ anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

Colossians 3:7-8⁷You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips

_______________________________________________________________________________________

When we use these expressions, are we glorifying God? Are we encouraging the people around us? Are we building up the church? No, we’re just complaining in a subtle way.

Let’s fight to show thankfulness even in the words we speak. Let’s not compromise. Ever.

Wow, you can get a hardcover ESV Study Bible now for only $30.49 (Shipping Included)

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Currently on the ESV Study Bible official website, it is endorsed by John Piper, Mark Driscoll, C.J. Mahaney, J.I. Packer and Dan Ko

Just reading through the OT with a commentary by my side…

Context: Jacob is blessing his sons.

Genesis 49:21 Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. (or he utters beautiful words)

Just reading it, I normally would think, ‘What the freak is this talking about? Oh well, I’m gonna skip over it to get to the exciting stories of Exodus.’

I check my commentary, here’s what it says:

Naphtali is likened to a doe that has been released from confinement. It springs forth with tremendous speed to carry good news. All the disciples except the traitor came from the territory of Naphtali, and much of the Lord’s ministry was there (Mattthew 4:13-16).

Is it just me…but isn’t this stuff ridiculously AMAZING???!!!

Wow, how in the world did Jacob prophesy this? What in the world was he thinking when he said this?

This is so cool…if only I had more time to study the Bible…

New John Piper book RELEASED!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh…

I’ve been waiting for this for over half a year now.

Finally Alive

Order it online or download it for FREE at http://www.desiringgod.org/media/pdf/books_bfa/books_bfa.pdf

What does the Bible teach about the miracle of rebirth? In this new book, John Piper explores Jesus’ peculiar command, “You must be born again.”

Spiritual rebirth is precious and crucial. When Jesus said, “You must be born again,” he wasn’t simply sharing interesting information; he was directing us toward eternal life.

It is essential to know what God intends when he uses this language of being born again, so that we may experience new birth and help others do the same.

Just had this thought while sitting in the bathroom…

The world population right now is  6,757,510,195.

If one person shares the Gospel with 20 people in his lifetime, and each of those 20 people share with another 20 people, and so on…then after 8 cycles, 25,600,000,000 people will have heard the Gospel.

If one person shares the Gospel with 10 people in his lifetime, and each of those 10 people share with  another 10 people, and so on…then after 9 cycles, 10,000,000,000 people will have heard the Gospel.

If one person shares the Gospel with 5 people in his lifetime, and each of those 5 people share with  another 5 people, and so on…then after 15 cycles, 30,517,578,125 people will have heard the Gospel.

If one person shares the Gospel with 1 person in his lifetime, and each person shares with another person, and so on…then after 33 cycles, 8,589,934,592 people will have heard the Gospel.

All these numbers are well over the current estimated world population. Isn’t this amazing?

Everyone in the world can hear the message of Jesus Christ (pretty quickly too) if every Christian just did his small part.

It is possible.

That would be a worthy attention-grabbing sermon title.

Anyway, after the New Year’s eve service at my parents’ church, I was looking at this Adam and Eve family tree poster…(it’s a pretty cool poster, something I always have the urge to make while reading through the OT, but won’t have to do…cuz it’s available on Amazon.com for $35.49, jyeaaaa)

Anyway, one thing that caught my eye was that among King David’s many wives, his wife that gave birth to Solomon who is in the direct lineage line to Jesus, was Bathsheba.

Ironic.

God is funny. Or maybe He was trying to hammer down a point. Why in the world would He choose Bathsheba, who represented David’s failure and darkest moment, instead of the many available wives, to carry on the lineage to Christ?

There’s many commentaries on this, but the thought that screams out of my head concerns God’s all-encompassing sovereignty. Do you think God knew David was going to choose Solomon to be the next king? Or rewind a bit, do you think God knew David was going to fail in the situation with Bathsheba?

Point- God’s sovereignty is above our failures. He uses broken people for a reason: 1) We are all sinners in need of Christ, i.e. human beings = failures (as in our nature) 2) It’s not about what we want to do, it’s about what God wants to do.

Out of man’s failures, comes man’s Savior. Mark Harris comments, “Bathsheba gathered from the wreck of her life, the wreckage caused by a king, fragments and from that built a future for her son and her grandson many times removed. She becomes a part of the memory of hope among the fragments, a hope made perfect in Jesus.” (First link if you google “Jesus and Bathsheba”)

Practical point for 2009- WHEN we fail this year, repent, fix your eyes on Christ and remember not to have the mindset of ‘God CAN use our failures’ but get up with the mindset of ‘God IS USING our failures.’ Let’s press on.

EDIT: The more I reflect on this and my current circumstances, I feel like God is telling me to STOP judging people’s character and if they’re ‘good enough’ to serve, etc. If God can use me, he can use anyone. I have no right to put myself above people, or put myself above God. I must pray, unconditionally love and unconditionally encourage.

I have a few weeks left of precious vacation time, so I decided to read as many books as I can and write mini-reviews on them as well as share my own insights…instead of posting my day-by-day ab workout challenge in pictures (I’ll save this for next semester).

I read this awhile ago and wrote this note awhile ago, but thought it was worth re-posting for this blog.

Today was one of those days that reminded me that this is all so worth it.

Small group sharing today went much better than the first one during the middle of the semester (where we all literally shared for less than a few minutes about superficial things and blabbering the ‘right’ answers).

Today, sharing went for a little more than 5 hours and 45 minutes. Not saying that I believe that quality is measured by time, but this was definitely a drastic change from the first time around. Especially given the dynamics of our group. I think our group is made up of 70% non-Christians who are seeking, 20% who are lazy Christians, and maybe 10% who are actually fighting their hearts to grow. (This is all probably a little reflective of how I’m doing spiritually). Anyway, we’re made up of the most diverse group of people imaginable–not your typical cfc churchgoers. If it weren’t for Christ and small group, I would not even speak with a lot of these guys, and I told them this straight-up.

But today was good–a lot of them were very honest with their struggles and questions about the faith, one of the older guys shared a 40 minute testimony about his family and it was really encouraging for the small group…after that, everyone else started opening up like crazy about their family situations. One non-Christian guy was really encouraging and shared about how he started reading the Bible for some reason a couple weeks ago, but he doesn’t know why…

I definitely wasn’t the most prepared for this sharing as I had classes all morning and took a nap and hastily prepared everything before sharing (we ordered Rosati’s deep dish pizza–kinda shows  my laziness), and God showed me again that it wasn’t about me, it was about Him.

Before I forget, this was my driving point. Paraphrased from the book ‘Jesus Freaks II’ by DC Talk (225-231).

Constantine, the Roman emperor, was a non-Christian and hadn’t even heard about Christ. But he had been taught by his father to believe in prayer, even though it was to Sol, the “unconquerable sun.” However, Constantine was a man hungry to know God and could be found in his tent in fervent prayer. His prayer was simple,  yet earnest. “Reveal to me who you are, your true nature … and stretch forth your right hand to help me in these coming difficulties.”

As he continued praying, a ruckus began to grow outside. One of Constantine’s servants then entered the tent and motioned for him to follow. When Constantine emerged, he saw his troops all gazing upwards and pointing. When he followed their gaze, he too was awestruck by what they were looking at. It was the answer to his prayer, though he didn’t know it at the time. There in the sky, shining brighter than the early afternoon sun, was a cross with the inscription beneath it, “Conquer by this.” It was not the “unconquerable sun” who had answered, but the “Unconquerable Son.”

Constantine pondered the meaning of this vision the rest of the day, attempting to make sense of its message. Yet that night, when he finally got to sleep, he had the answer: Jesus came to him in a dream with the same sign. “Make a likeness of this sign which you also saw in the heavens, and it will be a protection in all of your confrontations with your enemies.” Thus the cross became the symbol that was carried before the armies of Rome wherever they went.

In a later dream as they approached more closely to Rome, it is also believed that Jesus again appeared to Constantine and instructed him to “mark the shields of your men with the heavenly sign of God.” This sign was a melding of the letters Chi (X) and Rho (P), the first two letters of the word “Christ.” He thus marched into battle behind the sign of the cross and the name of Christ and won a decisive battle over Maxentius’s troops at the Milvian Bridge outside of Rome in A.D. 312, which secured his place as emperor of the western half of the Roman Empire.

My Thoughts

The most encouraging aspect about this passage was that Constantine wasn’t even Christian! And he had no idea what the cross meant and had little to no understanding of God and Jesus Christ. But yet, he earnestly seeked God through prayer, asking God to reveal Himself, and God answered his prayer in a supernatural way. Even though he wasn’t even Christian and probably had wrong motives about praying, God still answered his prayer. For non-believers, if you seek God earnestly, He will reveal Himself to you. For believers, if God was willing to reveal himself to an oblivious non-believer and answer his prayer, how much more will He reveal Himself to His children and answer our prayers! The problem is that we don’t seek! Let us pray, seek God, and ask Him to reveal to us His goodness and Himself. For surely He wants to and will answer this prayer.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Matthew 7:7-8-

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. -Hebrews 11:6-