Truth and Beauty

I see so much beauty in this world. Last night I felt my baby in my wife's belly kick for the first time!! Life that God put together at has my blood, is created in the image of God and is a beautiful thing. I see God!! As I see beauty, I see God. Many people do not see God but they see beauty. How do we point God out in the beauty that they see? How do we bring the truth of God to a people who don't believe in God but see beauty? Just some things to chew on after the blog that I posted before this one.

Big Gaping Hole!!!

I lead worship for a church that meets in a high school. We came in this morning to set the stage and there was a big gaping hole in the center of the stage. We couldn't get it covered in time for the service. Many times I couldn't focus because I thought that I was going to fall in.

Thought's on St. Augustine

I was going through a bunch of books that Kellie brought home from work last night and came across one with complete works of St. Augustine. Some thoughts that I have been chewing on from my readings of his books "On Christian Doctrine"

_He say's that we need to view God as more than a being. He is life itself. To be disconnected with God, is to be disconnected from life.

_Augustine puts a huge push on love. He says that God uses us as we enjoy him. We are used to love one another and enjoy one another in Him.

_Right interpretations of Scripture should uplift love.


_The three things above are things that are strived for in our American evangelical churches today, but the thing that I have been wrestling with that goes against what we are taught in churches today is that Augustine believes that when a person is matter in Faith, Hope, and Love, they no longer need the Scriptures. Scripture teaches us how to love and loving God one another is the greatest commandment. Because my brain is so trained by beliefs from the church today, I have a hard time wrapping myself around this.

I grew up in a very legalistic church world were people would flaunt Bible knowledge and how much they read the Bible, almost like they wanted Jesus points or metals for it. The problem was that many of these people didn't even have an ounce of love in them.

These beliefs from Augustine were all the way from the third century when the common man didn't have a Bible. If the common man didn't have a Bible, according to standards today, they couldn't be a strong Christian. See Jesus came for common man. Those who didn't have a Bible to wake up to every morning, those who didn't have a Daily Bread with a cool little story and a verse in the margin to start the day off with, could be devoted to Jesus and the gospel of Jesus.

Maybe this is why Jesus says, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus came to bring purpose to a world of sinful chaos. The purpose is to join into the salvation through faith in Jesus. To join into the restoration of the world unto God, is the ultimate example of love. Jesus left heaven to live as and with common people, teach them about the Kingdom and die. All this was done by love so that all who turn to Jesus, receive salvation.

I am thankful for my Bible! I am thankful that since the time of Augustine, we have Bibles in the hands of anyone who wants one.

I just pray that as I thirst for Biblical knowledge that I am not thirsting for my own arrogance, because arrogance lacks love. I pray that I am thirsting to know more about the story of Jesus. I want to be thirsty to be a Kingdom bringer and a history maker, to help Jesus restore a fallen world back to the Father. I pray that I may be a person who leads people to Jesus for eternal life and that I don't waste my time on anything else. May I study the scriptures to empower me to lead through love!!!

Salt Of The Earth

We know that we are to be salt of the earth. So many times I hear that we are made to make people thirsty for God. That is true, but the whole purpose of what Jesus came to do is restore the earth from the deadly result of sin. Sin brings pain and hurt. Salt can be used to disinfect. We can be used to disinfect! Salt is used to inhance flavor. As followers of Christ, we help restore the world unto God by making the world tast good. You see, salvation is not meant to be a selfish personal thing. Salvation is the means in which Jesus brings restoration to a world that,because of sin, has turned away from a righteous God. A world that you know just by turning on the news tasts bad, now has the ability to tast good and become the things of heaven through us. When we realize that this is the good news, this is salvation, we live for something greater than ourselves.

Check out this video