Tag: faith

The Root of our Thankfulness

Hello, my friends! I’m back, and happy Thanksgiving! Now that it is Thanksgiving break, I finally have time to write. And just in time, too, because now is the perfect time to talk about being thankful.

Being thankful is commanded in the Bible. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Give thanks to God in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” It explicitly says that it is God’s will for us to be thankful! 1 Chronicles 16:34 says, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

It couldn’t have been made more clear that God wants us to thank him constantly. However, many are mistaken in their beliefs of where our thankfulness comes from.

John Piper has inspired me time and time again of this topic in his series “The Blazing Center” (you can watch it on his website here). He speaks on how God commands us to be joyful over and over again in the Bible. But, he says, we shouldn’t be joyful simply because it’s commanded. We should be joyful because God’s grace fills our hearts to overflowing, which then spills out in our own lives in the form of joy. You are so satisfied in God that you can’t help but be joyful!

It is the same with thankfulness. We understand that God has filled our hearts with joy and that he has saved us and given us what we really need: Jesus Christ. Therefore, we express thankfulness to God because of what he’s done! Not with an attitude of, “I have to be thankful. It’s commanded. I am going to be thankful whether I like it or not. I’m going to write down 5 things I’m grateful for even if my heart doesn’t feel like it.” But with an attitude of, “God, you are so great and so good to me. I know that you have saved me and supplied me with what I need. And not only that, you have given me even more: shelter, food, friends, a job, education. And I am thankful.”

What I Learned From Ruby Falls

I visited North GA last week with my Grandfather and one of my best friends. First of all, it was absolutely GORGEOUS.

But I was thinking about something on our way to Ruby Falls (the waterfall in the above photo). To get to the falls, you go through nearly a mile of beautiful caves. You see amazing rock formations, stalagmites and stalactites, streams and, of course, the falls. I was in awe of God’s beautiful creation, and that by His grace he allowed us to find the caves so that we can drink in its beauty. But our tour guide kept saying things like “this formation is over 3 million years old!” or “These are still forming, after several million years!” And then the majority of the tourists would respond with oohs and ahs.

And that made me sad.

Why?

Because people are willing to credit God’s beautiful handiwork to evolution. They push Him out of the way and say “Look what science did! And aren’t we so smart that we found out how it all works?”

As followers of Jesus, seeing His creation should urge us to worship Him. It shows a tiny bit of His glory and splendor. Even the broken state of the world can serve as a reminder that He will make things new, and that we can hope for a better creation.

Morning Bible Study #1 – Matthew 23

Hello, everyone!! Today I read Matthew 23 and thought I might share what I learned with you.

In this chapter, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Dictionary.com defines Pharisee as “a member of a Jewish sect… that differed from the Sadducees chiefly in its strict observance of religious ceremonies and practices, adherence to oral laws and traditions, and belief in an afterlife and the coming of Messiah.” It’s obvious that Jesus did not like the Pharisees. In fact, he goes on for 24 verses of “woes on the teachers of the law and Pharisees”. Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites 6 times in this chapter alone! What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a person who has many rules and practices, but rarely if at all follows them himself. In verse 4, Jesus says they “tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” When they actually DO follow their rules, they only do it to show off. “Look at me, I’m following the rules. I’m a good person!” Matthew 6:1 says: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven.” He also points out to them that they follow rules and practices such as giving a tenth of their spices (verse 23) but ignore much more important commands- things like being just, merciful and faithful.

How do Jesus’ words affect us today?

Many Christians of today behave like these Pharisees, often without even knowing it. They may know all the rules, but they don’t follow them. Or, they may follow ALL the rules, but they do it to gain attention or favor from others or God. Verse 12 says to HUMBLE yourselves, which means we are not to show off our good works. We don’t do good things because they make God love us more or get us into heaven- we do them because it is a natural response to what God has done for us! Why WOULDN’T you want to obey such an awesome God, who has shown us so much grace?

That’s all I have for now! Thank you so, so much for taking the time to read my blog!

Your sister in Christ,

Robin M.

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