The Silent are Killed

More than one-third of the people in America are killed legally before they are even born. This means that every single person in this nation right know, had about a 37% chance of being aborted in their mother's womb. Abortion kills 2-3 children per minute in the United States alone. Every day babies are stabbed and snatched out of their mothers' wombs.

Back when the Declaration of Independence was written, it was said that a person is "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights... Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Now that first one really caught my eye. Life. Where has the value of life gone?

Where is God in all this?

Psalm 139:13-14a
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Sadly, our government does not believe that an unborn baby has rights at all. So, at the expense of millions of lives, abortion doctors will continue to perform abortions and women will continue to choose abortion over life. The ending of abortion will not come from you and me. We need help from the Creator of all. First of all, we need to pray for our government and our leaders because nothing we can do will change anything. God changed things. Secondly, we need to tell others about the harm of abortion and open others' eyes to what is legal in America. We can change our friends' minds about abortion.

Now, I am not writing all this to say how terrible America is or to condemn abortion doctors. I am saying this because we need to spread awareness about abortion. Through help from God, we can start opening others' eyes to the value of life.

"I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born." -Ronald Reagan

A fail of a title.

Sometimes it seems like everyone wants a good relationship. Sadly, I think we look in all the wrong places. Seems like many people from school want a boyfriend/girlfriend, or just friends period. You see it everywhere you look--teenagers talking about how much they love their significant other and then the next month they are talking about how he or she broke their heart. They get all goo goo and lovey dovey just to be let down. So immature and SO typical.

Often I wonder how much precious time is put into an empty relationship. Now, don't get me wrong, time should be put into relationships, but people spend too much time fretting over acceptance from someone they "love". The most valuable time that could be spent in our teen years would be to strengthen our relationship with Christ. If our earthly relationships are not God-honoring, then why are we even bothering with them?

Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

If we seek God's will, everything will fall into place, though not exactly how we planned! His righteousness should be what we strive after every single day. Seeking acceptance from a boy or girl is silly and can be dishonorable to God. Just love God and he will do the rest!

My Thoughts on Winter Camp 2010

Each year, my church's youth group goes on a winter youth retreat (as many of you know) and this year we had a blast! There's usually some very exciting activities such as tubing, tobogganing, broomball, horseback riding, and, quite possibly my favorite of all, chapel. During chapel we worship and learn about, well, God of course. This year, one thing that the speaker addressed really hit me--Christ is not concerned with religion, he wants a relationship. I have heard this phrase before, but it seems like I hadn't really thought about it as deeply as I did this weekend.

First of all, let's define "religion". According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, "religion" is defined as, "a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices." Now for me, that doesn't sound like my faith. Nowhere in that definition does it mention a relationship with Christ; however, it mentions practices. Religion is an "institutionalized system". Religion is focused on good deeds, rules, and standards. If we are genuine Christians, we should not be focused on laws. Christ died so that we wouldn't have to live by rules, but by grace.

C o l o s s i a n s 2 : 1 3
And you, who were dead in your trespasses...God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Jesus canceled our "legal demands". Jesus lived perfectly so we would not have to be religious, he wants a real relationship with each and every one of us. So we don't have to worry about doing, doing, doing. What an amazing God we serve who wants to know us!

My last post was about how Jesus was hated by the Pharisees-- the religious group of people. I just find it interesting how the Pharisees were very prideful in their good works. This can relate to the religions of today and how they can cause people to be prideful in themselves because they teach that you can get to Heaven by your good works. If we live by grace, in a relationship with Christ, we don't point to ourselves for glory, but to Jesus.

Jesus was Hated

Everyone wants to be loved. Sometimes the temptation to be a people-pleaser is almost overbearing. But the Bible says that we will be hated for not being like the world. It's almost inevitable. Jesus was despised and rejected by the world. They nailed him on the cross for goodness sake! So who better to look to, than Jesus, the One who was hated the most?

John 15:18-19
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it has hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Now, I don't think that Jesus was the most popular person in his day. I think that he was misunderstood and hated. The Pharisees hated Jesus. Jesus spoke with the authority that was from God and He was not like them. Jesus wasn't rich nor did he hang out with the Pharisees. Jesus spent his time with the lowly sinners. People in general hated Jesus; they thought he was a hypocrite. Jesus died because people hated him, not to mention that we hated him as well at some point.

If we are not of the world, we will be hated. If we don't do the things that our peers do, we will be hated. If we don't conform, we will be hated.

So, is it worth it? Is God worth being hated and teased? Is He worth losing our popularity and acceptance from others? Wasn't Jesus hated for us? The path that Jesus took was uncomfortable. We have to choose whether we are willing to be uncomfortable in order to give God all the glory that he rightly deserves. It all comes down to what is more important: Christ or acceptance.

Snowflakes

I've recently been intrigued by snowflakes. Have you ever looked closely at a snowflake? It's amazing what you can learn about God by looking at the things he created. By looking at a single snowflake, we can learn that God is an awesome, creative God. He pays attention to detail and he is an intricate designer. All the computers in the world could not make something as beautifully complex as the snowflake. No explosion of chemicals could form the designs and patterns of God's creation.

The sad thing is that people would like us to believe that our whole world is an accident. They'd like to tell us that we weren't created with a purpose, we are just some organization of gases. But how do we have thoughts and emotions? Even our mind testifies to the greatness of our God!

Job 12:7-12

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food? Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

Psalm 19:1-3

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

Science classes can be very convincing. Don't let them fool you.

I Judged a Book by it's Cover

I was in the library the other day, just browsing, when I decided to look at the section labeled "Young Adult." I walked by, and read a few of the titles. Rehab was the first to catch my eye. As I continued to read the titles I noticed they were all about drugs, sex, alcohol, gossip, prison, and a good portion were about vampires. I asked myself- Really? Are drugs, alcohol, and vampires all we have to our name? We are practically adults, aren't we?
Honestly, all of those books would thrill an average young adult. But we are not average teenagers. We have a purpose for our life and that is to give glory to God. So when we are tempted to engage ourselves in silly books about gossip and vampires, we can think about how we are honoring God through that action.
If we are considered "Young Adults," then why don't we act like it? Why can't we be interested in something more than what society gives us? Why is a teacher surprised when their student knows more about the Bible than the Twilight series? And why are peers alarmed when their classmate doesn't swear?

1 Timothy 4:12
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Young is not a synonym for immature.

Garbage in...

The media is constantly putting trash out into the world. Sometimes I don't think we, as young adults, notice how much we need to be protected from things on the T.V., in music, or on the computer. Do we ever stop and think about how it will affect us? Do we ever think about what God wants us to think about?

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Now, in light of this passage, are the things we listen to or watch lovely? honorable? pure?If it is not, we should not be participating in such things. Instead, we should be filling our minds with things like Paul mentioned in the above passage. This would include memorizing scripture so we are more apt to following God's path, not the world's.

Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Garbage in, garbage out. We need to guard our hearts against all things ungodly, so that our lives can be glorifying to God. I don't want my life to reflect that of the people on T.V., I want it to reflect Christ. If God says this is the way we are to be living, then the only things that should come out of us will be true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent.

If God is really number one in our lives, we will honor him through our thought life.