Monday Night Thoughts

A few Monday’s ago, I was in one of my (many), “I-kind-of-want-to-write-what’s-on-my-mind“ kind of moods. (Plus I haven’t ‘blogged‘ in a while hehe). So, here is a little bit of what I chose to write about:

Monday Night Thoughts: (Faith/Relationship)

My definition of faith is “divine persuasion”. I believe that I was persuaded to believe that Jesus sent His Son to die for me, because of how evident and real the Lord has made Himself to me. Just to be clear, I did not persuade myself to believe in the work of Jesus Christ, nor anyone who has taught me the gospel during my childhood or teenage years (“have they helped, Jak?” “Yes, yes they have”). I was persuaded by God, Himself. Anyways, so many times I hear famous people, typically athletes or celebrities say stuff such as “thanks to the man above” or “first, I want to give thanks to God”, yet these people don’t live in a way that would reflect what they say in front of so many people on TV. Now...yes, fruit is the last thing that grows on a tree, so you could argue that they are still growing in their faith, but I was being reminded of the fact that not everyone believes just because they say they believe. They use the term ‘Christian’ as a backup net. They use it as a name tag, rather than a lifestyle, thinking they are bringing something to the table, but don’t realize that they are giving Christianity a bad look, instead. I think that one of the most important parts of Christianity is my relationship with my Savior. He didn’t save me only to watch me live an abundant life, but also to have a relationship with me. So many people don’t know the depth of a personal relationship with God. Like for real...just think about it. You have an opportunity to have a personal relationship with the God of the universe! It just bothers me very often, because people don’t know what they’re missing out on. They don’t realize what the Lord has done and what He will be faithful to continue to do. Let me remind you; there are humans right now who have a unique relationship with the Father of the man who died on a cross and rose from the dead, some two thousand years ago, while some people are more worried about having relationships with multiple women instead. Thank you, Father for gifting me the opportunity to call You my friend. May I thrive through worshiping, in spirit and in truth, the Savior of my once wretched heart.

Another Monday Night Thought: (followers)

What does Jesus mean when He says, “follow me”? Well, the original Greek word for follow (ακολουθηστε) means “come with”. When I first read this I thought, “well yeah, that’s kind of common sense; of course follow means “come with”. The only problem is, I don’t apply it to my life. Am I following Him, or asking Him to follow me? So many days, I have this thought of, “Lord, You can come with me on my adventure” and then I thank Him for the provision for that day, like it was my job to ask Him to follow me rather than the other way around. We always get caught up in this thought of “we are following You, by You being with us where we go”. That’s simply not true. To follow means to drop everything and ‘come with’ the Lord. To go where He is calling you, not where you are calling Him to go with you. Just ask yourself...there is a leader and a follower; which are you and which is the Lord of your life.