Seeking God

It seems like a lot of the time we get really wrapped in Christianity. We get wrapped up in church and friends and songs and praying and kind of forget about God along the way. We focus on not sinning and we focus on making it to church and we focus on reading our bibles every day and we forget to just focus on God. And it's hard. We can read our bibles and talk to our friends and sit in church and sing songs, but we can't really do something tangible to God. God is big and mysterious and universal and majestic. And even though He is Love and intimate and compassionate, He can't hug us and we can't hold His hand. He is living but invisible, He is in us but also uncontainable. He really is Indescribable. We don't have good enough or even enough words to begin to describe Him. And that makes it hard to seek His face.

Psalm 27:8 - When You said, "Seek My face," my heart said to You, "Your face, O Lord, I shall seek."

How did David do that? How did he seek God's face? And how did his heart truly say that to God? I sometimes feel like there's this secret to seeking God. That there's something missing on the pages of my bible, or something I don't hear at church, or something that's being kept a secret from me. I hear people talk about "seeking God", but I don't know how to do that myself. I pray and I read and I talk to people about it, but it doesn't feel like I have some special way or something to really seek God or His will or His face. It just feels like I'm reading about Him and praying to Him and talking about Him. Is that all there is?

I started talking with Joy about it, well she started talking to me about it really, and I still think it's confusing, but a little more clear. There is a difference between serving God and seeking His face. Both are necessary, but different. We should be serving and encouraging and going to church and praying about things and etc. But we should also be seeking God's face and waiting on the Lord. We should be taking time to read His word just to know Him better, and pray just to become better acquainted with His character, and talk about Him just because He's awesome.

Psalm 27:14 - Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

It's still confusing and I don't quite get it all. But just seeking God and His face and His attributes and everything He is, it's amazing. And it just keeps getting better as I see Him a little better. He is truly Awesome.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! And I hope all of you really do have a merry Christmas.

For those of you from FBC, we already learned about the amazing faith of Mary and Joseph about a week ago at youth group, as well as the story of Simeon and Anna last night if you went to the Christmas Eve Service (which was really really good). But, there is always more to be learned about the Christmas story, or at least more to really think about and focus on a little more deeply.

This afternoon I got a chance to read some scripture from the books of Isaiah and Matthew. I took a more focused look at the prophecy of Christ from Isaiah and His genealogy in Matthew. Both of those things really made me think about God's absolute sovereignty in the Lord Jesus Christ's birth. The fact that God used prophets generations and generations beforehand to tell Israel about Christ's coming, and then how He used numerous "chance" happenings to fulfill that prophecy. The genealogy of Christ found in Matthew includes the names of 5 women. And although women were rarely included in genealogies and these particular 5 women weren't particularly great or godly women, it's still important that they're listed. It's important because they show God's total sovereignty in all circumstances. To show how he used even prostitutes and adulteresses to keep the line of David intact until the birth of Christ. He was in perfect control before, during, and after the birth of Christ. And still is!

I'd love to hear something you guys learned about Christmas, Jesus, God, or anything else this Christmas season. I think it's awesome to see people focusing on things of true importance this time of year, even though I know all of us (myself included for sure) love presents and cookies and break as well.

So thank the Lord for how He's blessed us so amazingly through His Son and then blessed us even more on top of that! Merry Christmas!

Alexithymia

Since I'd like to keep Alive focused almost exclusively on theological, abstract, and generally deep discussion; I've decided to create a separate blog for my other things. It's a blog for my thoughts on music, school, work, daily life things. Since I am a Christian and Christ is my Lord, it'll obviously still have biblical and deepm things scattered throughout, but won't have a deliberately theological or discussional purpose. It's called Alexithymia, so check it out if you want to know about my life a little more.

Love

Countless songs, books, movies, etc. focus on love. A lot of them even have love in their names. P.S. I love you, The Beatle's "Love", Lovedrug, just to name a few titles with "love" in them.

People use the word "love" in a number of different ways. We say we love our family and friends, we say we love the meal we just ate, we say we love the color of the new shirt we just bought. Husbands and wives say they love each other. All the same word, but most would agree that most of those are on different levels and mean different, although similar, things.

So what is love? Since that's a question philosophers, theologians, psychologists, and people in general have been trying to answer for centuries, I don't claim to have na exact answer. But I do think there are things that love is indefinitely characterized by.

From life we see love in relationships. We see selflessness of couples. We see sacrifice of mothers and fathers. We see obsession. People love a lot of things in a lot of ways.

From God we see love. God is love (1 John 4:8+16). He first loved us (1 John 4:19). God is a God of love (2 Corinthians 13:11). He is abounding in love (Exodus 34:6). He chose us in love (Ephesians 1:4-5).

We should live in love. Serve each other in love (Galatians 5:13) Love our enemies (Luke 6:27). Do everything in love (1 Corinthians 16:14).

So how do we love? And why is it so hard for us? How can we love more? What are your thoughts on love?

Spiritual Gifts (Poll)

This is just about the new poll. Check whichever boxes you really feel apply to you. Think about what you check though, because if it's really your spiritual gift then you should really be exercising it or have a great desire to do so. And, you can check more than one because i think people get amounts of each, just try to limit it to the 2 that you feel you have the most strongly. Hopefully this poll will create some serious thought and maybe even some action!

vvv Don't Miss "Above Reproach" vvv

Above Reproach

1 Timothy 3:2 - An overseer, then, must be above reproach...

The verse goes on to list a number of qualifications for overseers/elders/church leaders. And no matter what you call them or how many a church has, they are all called to be above reproach.

Philippians 2:15 - so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, amidst whom you appear as lights in the world

Here, all Christians are called to be blameless and innocent, above reproach.

But what does it mean exactly, to be above reproach. That question is partially answered just by looking at the phrase itself. Above reproach, above blame, blameless. Unfortunately, our very nature of imperfection keeps us from being entirely blameless. We can't be perfect, we can try, we can progress, but we can't be perfect. So how do we get to a point of being above reproach? The pursuit of perfection is the only way I see possible. We have to be so focused on perfection (things above!) that things deserving of reproach aren't on our minds at all. At least nowhere near the forefront of our minds. We need to be so set on perfection that we forget it's impossible to reach. It's so much harder than it sounds though. We doubt the perfect power of God to complete us, we doubt the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us, we doubt Jesus' power to fully forgive us.

It's just so hard to stay focused, to stay joyful and content and pure and disciplined and loving and peaceful and Christ-like. Partially because those things are a high calling, but also because of how we perceive that calling. As a burden instead of a joy. I think joy is a key component to being above reproach. We've gotta joyfully love and serve Christ, we have to joyfully submit to others, joyfully obey God and the authority He set up.

I think if we did everything in life with complete joy we'd end up being above reproach without even trying so hard to be above reproach. Just living life to its ultimate fullest. Its spirit-filled, joyful, above reproach, fullest.

Thanksgiving

What are you thankful for?

First "Real" Post

Now that this thing is pretty much set up, there are a few new and interesting features to tell you guys about.

On the right of the blog you'll find:
- A Bible Verse (subject to change weekly/monthly/over time)
- A little something about myself
- Our first weekly poll question (please feel free to answer)
- Recommended reading (books and blogs)

And at the bottom there's an archive so in the future you can always find previous blogs by date and title.

Now that that's out of the way, here it goes for the first thought-provoking and hopefully enjoyable entry on the blog:

Colossians 3:1 - Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Here it is Christians, a call to mental action. a call to set our minds on the "things above". To be focused on Christ and the things where He is. This verse has been a lot more personal than ever before in the past few months. This verse implies not only that we think about heavenly things, but that we continual seek those things, that we set and fix our mind on things above, and above all else. And to be honest, this is one of the most amazing, challenging, and beneficial experiences all at once. It's hard for me to think consciously 100% of the time, let alone be focused on good and excellent things all the time. It's also hard to find things to think on all the time when our knowledge of God is so limited and the time we spend in the word is so small relative to our time doing other things. It's hard to focus on things above when we have to focus on work and school and friends and family and food and the list goes on. It's hard to really focus on God and what He considers worthy to focus on. But it's so worth it when we make time to think about those things. It's so worth it to have peace and joy in our lives and minds. It's so worth it to be growing all the time. It's so worth it to glorify God even in the confines of our own minds. Setting our minds on what is above with Christ is not just something for "mature" or "older" Christians. It is essential for growth, enhancing to all other areas of thought, and amazingly joyful in its result.

Memorizing verses is one way that this has impacted me lately. Also, having an attitude like Christ's at work and school. It is possible to enjoy your job, and to enjoy it consistently.

As fellow believers, I would love to share and hear about all the ways, all the benefits, all the joy that comes from focusing on the things above. Comment away, tell me your thoughts, tell me how this is in your life, tell me ways to do this better, ways it's helped you, anything. This isn't a place for me to give a sermon or advertise my opinions. This is a place for all of us to engage in real, deep thought and conversation. To encourage one another. To be open. And hopefully to fuel our face-to-face interaction and fellowship with one another.

The Start

Hopefully the start of something new, something good, something big. I'd love for people to read the things I put on here. Not just for the sake of reading what I have to say, but because we need each other. We need each other for guidance, we need each other for interaction, we need each other to live life to its fullest. This blog isn't the answer to all those things, or even the best way to interact. This blog is only a way to share ideas, thoughts, insights. Hopefully this blog will be a place to discuss scripture, struggles, humanity, and life in general. Hopefully people read this.

Update: I added 2 boxes at the bottom so you can check whether or not you think the blog's a sweet idea.