The Shack: Blasphemy?

Found this interesting. Thought I would share.



Thoughts?

Desiring heaven or desiring God?

"Perfection comes when the pride of seeking heaven is sacrificed

for the pleasure of pleasing God" - Eric Lampkin

In the 1700's David Brainerd wrote in his journal about a woman who came to hear him preach. she was very upset and kept talking about how she was going to hell, and deserved it, and she didn't deserve God's grace saving her. He prayed for her over a period of time and when he saw her again she was quite happy, joyous in the Lord. He approached her and questioned what had changed, she told him she had realized even if God sent her to hell, she would happily go to be in His will. she later realized that it was God's will for her to be saved and spend eternity with Him.

This woman realized that seeking heaven won't bring us anything, but we should seek to follow God's will.

I had a thought about a year ago, that I still ponder upon to this day: "If I knew, for a fact, that when I die I would go to hell, would I still praise God and serve Him? If not, do I truly love God, or do I just want what He can give me?"

This is a good question I think we need to ask ourselves. It is not an easy one to answer. While I'd like to say I would continue serving Him and praising Him, I can't honestly be sure.

I do know, however, that we need to desire God, love Him truly, and serve Him, not just seek our ticket into Heaven. We will find that truly seeking God will fulfill our needs and desires, bringing us true joy. Everything else just brings temporary satisfaction, that pales in comparison.

Matt 23:25

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."

Don't follow God for your own selfishness, follow Him out of love, because He loved you first. (1 John 4:9)

Deny yourself and take up your cross

^{Mark 8:34-38}
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Do we really understand what it means to follow Jesus and deny ourselves? To be Dead to ourselves? I don't understand how anyone could read this and think they didn't have to give EVERYTHING up to follow Christ. I think we should all pray and ask what is holding us back, and ask for help to give it up.

But more so, I'm coming to see, if it isn't helping you grow, it's not worth holding on to. It's hard enough to follow Christ as is, why waste your time with things that aren't helping you grow? Maybe when Paul said all things are permissible but not beneficial (1 Corinthians 10:23), He was calling us to rid ourselves of all things that aren't beneficial. not just what hinders us, but what doesn't help. Why waste time with it?

I urge you to pray about all this. I will be. and feel free to let me know what you think about it all.

Romans 12:1
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship."

Matthew 13:44-46
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it."

Twitter

I figured I would make a post sharing my Twitter with anyone that doesn't know I have one. I post scripture and christian quotes I find to be true and helpful on a daily basis, along with some normal personal twitter stuff, but that's really minimal.

Anyways, I really like following people who post scripture or Christian quotes often, and even if you don't I may still follow you.

So hit me up:
www.twitter.com/flesheater

The Cross

"The cross is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men. The cross of Roman times knew no compromise, it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, but slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross. and completely dead when they took Him off of it. That was the cross the first time it appeared in Christian history.

"With perfect knowledge of all this, Christ said, 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself take up his cross and follow Me.' So the cross not only brought Christ's life to an end, it also ends the first life, the old life of every one of His true followers...this and nothing less is true Christianity. We must do something about the cross, and there's only one of two things we can do - flee it or die upon it!"

-A.W. Tozer

Forgiving the Unforgivable

(Corrie ten Boom tells her story of forgiveness when approached by one of her concentration camp guards.)

"It was in a church in Munich where I was speaking in 1947 that I saw him--a balding heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat, the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones.

Memories of the concentration camp came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment of skin.

Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland. This man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent.

Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: "A fine message, fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!"

It was the first time since my release that I had been face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.

"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk," he was saying. "I was a guard there. But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein--" again the hand came out--"will you forgive me?"

And I stood there--and could not. Betsie had died in that place--could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?

It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

For I had to do it--I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses."

Still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling."

And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

"I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!"

For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.

With Corrie's willingness came God's power to forgive her former captor.

When you and I are willing to see our need for God's forgiveness, He is willing and able to forgive our sins. The Bible says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 3:23; 6:23). But it goes on to explain that "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)."

We could all learn from this.

What fruits are you producing?

Sitting on the porch the other night, I talked with my dad about many things, as we sometimes do. We were talking about how you can never know a man's heart, only G-d can. Then, I brought up that we could know a man by the fruits he produced, as the Bible says.

To this my dad replied with something that dumbfounded me... "What fruits have you produced?"

I didn't know what to say... I was racking my brain for something... anything... I eventually named off a few things I could think of and we continued our conversation. However, this stuck with me. I think it is a question that we should daily be asking ourselves. "What fruit am I producing?" and maybe even with every action, "what fruit will this produce?"

The Bible says "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew5:14-16) and 2 Corinthians 5:20 calls us "Christ's representatives." If we are looked at as representatives of Christ, we need to be aware of what fruit we are producing and showing to the world.

I found myself at a lack of words with this question and realized, a plant producing no fruit is just as bad as one producing bad fruit, both are worthless and will be pulled up. I could eventually think of some fruit I had produced, but I realized this is not something I have ever had to think of before.

Remember to ask yourself "What fruit am I producing?"

John 15:2
"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes"

Matthew 7:15-20
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."