Is It THAT Important..?

You know, I don’t understand why, as humans, we put EVERYTHING before God. Some people get it. They get…it. They get what loving God is about because they love God with all that they are. I’m gonna be honest, I suck at putting everything before God. I put friends, relationships, school, and the idea of religion before God. I put all of that ahead of loving my Savior. WHY?? Why does that stuff matter? God gave me all of that stuff. We have to wake up, guys. It’s not about us. We’re idiots to think that everybody cares about us and we’re idiots to think that everything revolves around us. ‘Cause guess what?? IT DOESN’T REVOLVE AROUND US.

God should be ahead of all other things. After all, He did give us life. I feel like this current-day, it’s-all-about-me, follow-the-rules-and-traditions CRAP is taking over. Everything has become about religion and not loving GOD. God even rebukes the Pharisees in the book of Matthew because they don’t practice what they preach. They latched on to religion and lost sight of loving people in the name of God and, essentially, just…loving God.

I recently saw The Book of Eli in theaters. The movie is basically about a guy who has the only surviving bible in the world and he does everything possible to protect it. There’s a seen in the movie where Eli and a girl are riding down the road and he’s talking about the book and what it means to him and he says something along the lines of, “I’ve focused so much on trying to protect this book that I’ve forgotten what the words say.” Meaning, he’s spent so long worrying about keeping anybody from getting the book that…..he’s forgotten what the words tell him to do: go out and love.

Forget about staying safe guys. Put God first. Get down in the crap, the mud, the muck, and love God with all that you have. God is first. At least, He should be.

-Carter L.

Why do we GIVE?

In light of everything that is going on over in Haiti, I feel the need to say a little something about the “spirit of giving.”

What makes you WANT to give? Why do people give so much to people they have never met? I heard a conversation today between two of my classmates. One of the kids was saying that he had donated $30 to the Haiti donation going on at our school and, of course, the other kid had to say he had given $35 dollars. He HAD to give more than the other kid. He felt the need to one-up his friend. WHY?? Giving isn’t about being better than someone else. It’s not about giving more than the person next to you. It’s about doing something for someone IN GOD’S NAME because they may not be able to help themselves. In doing that, we’re showing God’s love. We aren’t glorifying ourselves because, well…that’s not what it’s about.

Our world is so bent on being better than the next person that comes along. We build up our lives with all of these material things that mean NOTHING. There are multiple stories in the bible where God calls people to give all of their possessions away and follow Him. So our possessions are obviously more important than God, right? No, not at all.

Now, I’m not telling you to go out, give all of your things away, and roam the countryside proclaiming God’s name. I definitely wouldn’t hold you back if that’s what you wanted but, I understand that could be a little drastic. What I am asking you to do is think about what your possessions mean to you. Then think about what God means to you. I assure you, God is more important than that car of yours. Also, don’t feel like you have to be better than someone else when you are giving. Know that what you are doing is for God’s glory and not your own. It’s not about you anymore. It’s about God. It’s about those people all over the world that are hurting. It’s about those people KNOWING God. Who cares if you gave more than your friend?

-Carter L.

Masquerade

Have y'all ever heard of a masquerade? According to Dictionary.com, a masquerade is a party, dance, or other festive gathering of persons wearing masks and other disguises, and often elegant, historical, or fantastic costumes. It's a gathering of people disguising themselves. A gathering of people trying to be something they are not. Ever feel like the church today is just a big masquerade? Do you ever feel like the church is a bunch of people dressing up, putting on their masks, and being this "perfect Christian" on Sunday mornings? I sure do. Now, I myself fall captive to masquerades a lot so, this is directly aimed at myself as well.

This "perfect Christian" persona has become very evident to me recently. Everyone comes to church and enjoys the social aspect but, when it comes time to worship their God, we just go through the motions. It becomes almost painful for us to worship God because, well, we think socializing is more important. Does this make any sense at all? To us, i suppose it does. We think that nobody will see through our mask. We think we can get away with this crap that we try to pass off as being a "good Christian." Well guess what? Not only does God see through our masquerade, but other people do as well. The people that we, as Christians, need to be chasing after see right through our masks. What kind of image do you think that gives them? That Christians are a bunch of fakes? Guys, we have to give up the charade. Nobody believes us anymore. More importantly, God is calling us to be the light unto the world. He is calling us to stand out. To stand out and be TRUE with what we're living out. This masquerade we're living? Yeah, it's total crap. It's time to drop the mask. Don't just drop it off when you're with your Christian friends. They're probably just as guilty as you are. Drop the mask off and LEAVE it off. I don't know about you guys but, I'm not a huge fan of Halloween parties anyways.