To Fear the Lord (What Does it Look Like?)

 In my post on women who fear the Lord, I got an anonymous comment that I wanted to take a whole post answering because I know that my response comment would be just as long. :)

This is true. But what’s the opposite thing that we’re supposed to be doing?[Opposed to getting nail done, etc.] What are the big and small ways in which we stand out as Christian women?

 Well I think the best answer I have is to tell you what I admire about the women that I listed in my previous post. In my opinion, the biggest thing these women all have in common in a wholehearted passion to Jesus Christ. They love him like crazy and they are not just halfhearted about it. A heart that is passionately in love with it’s Savior is going to stand out. Love for Christ flows out into our actions. (1 John 2:28-29, 3:1-10, 2 John 1:4-6) These are the main things I look up to in these women.

• Self Sacrifice. These women are all characterized with being willing to give things up for Christ and what He has called them to do. They fear God rather than man and focus on Him. They are willing to go off to foreign countries, stay at home and raise their children in a way pleasing to God, are being counterculture in ways that make the world stop and stare.
•  Faithfulness through trials. These are real women who have gone through real things that have been tough. Almost half the women on my list have struggled, or still struggle, with health problems. Yet they have learned to praise God in the midst of it and they see that God has a plan with all things.
• Love for People. These women LOVE people like crazy!!!! I can’t even begin to talk about the amazing love I have witnessed in these women. They are willing to serve people in humility and take joy in helping others. They want to see the weak Christians become strengthened, they want to see the lost come to Christ, they want to see their families love and serve Christ. It’s all an out flowing of their passionate love for Christ.
• Love for the Bible.They know the importance of the word of God and of good doctrine. They seek to know God through His precious word and each day is a search for what God says about different issues. The Bible is their light and guide.
• Encouragement.I have been so blessed by the encouragement I have received from these women, even those I have never met. But specifically those I do know personally. They’re the type of women who say “keep going!” “You can do it!” “With Jesus you are going to go so far!” and it is amazing the power it has had on me.

These are the general things that I admire in these women and seek to do myself. I could get into why I admire each one of these women, but that would take far too long and a dozen blog posts. J I don’t think any of you want that. God bless you all and I pray that you girls and women reading this will seek to be like this and those guys that are reading my blog will remember that this is what they should look for in a wife.

Own Your Life? (Continued, They Found the Secret)

 Well when I wrote the previous post I thought that I was done. Well obviously not. Let me start with how I decided I had more to add.

 On Sunday there was a small table with some books on it that were to give away outside the church library. They were books that usually looked older and were the ones that weren’t used as much. On that table was a book called They Found the Secret: Twenty Transformed Lives that Revealed a Touch of Eternity. I looked at the back and it had Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, John Bunyan, Oswald Chambers, and D.L. Moody so I decided to take it. I enjoy biographies, even if I already own a ton.

 This book isn’t a normal biography! Not in the least sense. Last night as I read the Introduction and the first chapter that was on Hudson Taylor I was blown away. This book isn’t of what these people did, it isn’t about what their ministry is, it isn’t about how they touched the hearts of the world. It is about their spiritual journeys. How they found the secret of life. What made them such amazing people. Let me share with you a quote from the introduction;

 “Every now and then we come across a life that is radiant, revealing a richness, a warmth, a triumph that intrigues and challenges us… Out of discouragement and defeat they have come into victory. Out of weakness and weariness they have been made strong. Out of ineffectiveness and apparent uselessness they have become efficient and enthusiastic.”

 A huge part of this was focusing solely on Christ. Caring for nothing else other than him. That is how these men and women found the secret. They came to a point in their lives were they could no longer go on without Jesus. They came to a place where they were broken and tempted, hurting and lonely, when they cried out to the Lord to fill them. To take their meager lives and make them so much better.

 Throughout the first chapter I was underlining passages and writing notes in the margins. I was just finding so much truth in this book. This is what I wrote at the bottom of the last page of the chapter:

I must decrease so that he may increase. Only Jesus should matter. I am nothing, he is everything. He is the God of everything, I am dust. I have nothing to offer, he has everything. May my life be exchanged for one far more beautiful. May he fill my every thought. May he give me rest, joy, and a peace that passes all understanding.

 So that is what I took from what I have read of this book so far. I would love you all to read this book too. I think it will be a great encouragement. Another thing I learned is to not judge a book by it’s cover. I really hope that you guys read this book and it will strengthen you all.

In Christ Alone, Nobody <><

Don’t Waste Your Life

DON’T WASTE YOUR LIFE

This is not a challenge for the timid, the cowards, the lazy, the bums. This is a challenge for the brave, the strong, the noble, the hard workers, the radical fanatics. So which will you be? I can’t make that choice for you. Only you can choose whether you want to give God your all and live a life with a meaning to it. Or you can live a life that has no meaning, a life without purpose. Which sounds more exciting? More profitable? More enjoyable, yet harder at the same time? For me to not waste my life is my choice. Will it be yours? I hope and pray that it will be. I don’t want you to look back on your life and say, “I’ve wasted it”. That would be worse than just a pity.

So, will you take the road less traveled, one that has bumps on it? A rough road but a road that leads to true fulfillment? Or a road that is often used? A road that is smooth, but in the end leads to pain and death? A road that when you come to the end realize that you did it all for nothing? As my brother would say, “I don’t want to live if there is nothing to die for”. I agree.

There is something worth dying for. That is the gospel. The unwasted life is one focused on the gospel and sharing it and doing God’s will. No matter if you do good things, without God with you they will all fade away. They are vain and fleeting. They come and go and no one will ever care. But when we do things to glorify God and do things for him, or life is full. It is not wasted. It has purpose, we can go back to the original purpose of man, to glorify God. The original purpose of man is beyond our comprehension because it was perfect. An unwasted life is one that seeks to go back to that purpose.

So to repeat my challenge here it is in different wording: “Live everyday like it is your last. With meaning, with purpose, and with joy.” Let me know if you take me up on this challenge. I will pray for you. I know some of you have already taken this challenge upon your shoulders. Please share a comment on how this has changed you and the results of this in your life. I am praying for all of you.

In Christ alone,

Nobody <><