At this present moment, with social distancing going on, we are all in a long distance relationship with our friends, church family, and even significant others. I want you to stop and think about how you are currently feeling about not being able to physically be with those you hold so dear to your heart. Seriously, take a minute and create a list of what you’re feeling. Maybe it’s sadness, frustration, or anger.
Being physically away from the important people in your life for an extend amount of time is hard. But you know what makes it a little easier? Communication. Texting, calling, and video chatting makes long distance relationships not as hard. Imagine if you didn’t talk with your friends, family, or significant other for a couple of days or weeks or even months. What would happen to that relationship? Would you drift apart? How would that make you feel? Would you be longing for that connection you once had with that person? We are essentially in a long distance relationship with God. We can’t physically be with Him until we pass from this earth. If we don’t talk to God daily, how can we have a close relationship with Him? If our relationships with physical people on this earth don’t work without communication, what makes us think a relationship with God without talking to Him will work? You see, God wants us to talk to Him. The subject of prayer is strewn throughout the entirety of His word, the Bible. God wants a relationship with His people. God isn’t going to walk away from us but if we don’t talk to Him, we are walking away from the relationship we have with Him. God will “never leave you, or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6). If you find yourself distant from God, it wasn't because He left you. “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” Psalm 145:18 Take some time to recall the last time you talked to God. And I don’t mean when you prayed as a family before meals or going to sleep. When was the last time you truly prayed to God privately? When was the last time you poured your heart out to Him? If it has been more than a day, I want you to stop right now and have a heartfelt conversation with God. He is always there to listen to us. “Because He bends down to listen, I will pray until I no longer have breath” Psalm 116:2 Relationships of any kind takes effort and communication. You can’t accidentally have a close relationship with someone that lasts a long time. You have to be intentional about talking to someone long distance. Be intentional with spending time with God and talking to Him. Don’t just talk to Him when you need something either, no one likes people who only talk to them when they need something. We have to go the distance if we want a relationship with God. Take this time of social distancing to work on your relationship with God. Talk to Him, spend time in His word, lean upon Him during this time on uncertainty. You will find rest and peace when you do that. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” Romans 12:12
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I’ve wondered what my life would be like if I were famous. I’ve thought about how cool it would be to travel around the world and perform in front of millions of people. I’ve wanted to be popular. I’ve wanted to be successful in the eyes of society.
I’ve wanted to make my name known. But I have realized that that’s not my purpose in life. My purpose in life is to make Jesus’ name known. Everything I do in life will be pointless if I don’t make the name of Jesus known. If I don’t share His love and mercy and the salvation He brings, then my life will have been a waist. My purpose isn’t to live comfortably in this world. My purpose is to spread Jesus and His word to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, etc.). That purpose may be uncomfortable at times. It may not always be pretty. It may not be what’s popular but it’s what’s important. I never want to be famous. Because how could I live in a world where people know and love me more than they know and love our Lord and Savior? How could I take the spotlight off of Jesus and shift it to me? I pray that I never shift the focus to me, that I never put myself above Jesus. Because in the end, none of that will matter. Being famous and popular won’t get me into heaven and it certainly won’t help get others into heaven. No other name saves than the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12). Jesus needs to be exalted high above any human being. He needs to be known. He is the only one who can save us from our sins and failures. Only Him. Not me. Not the Jonas Brothers. Not any human being, no matter how well their name is known. Only Jesus saves. That is my purpose in life. I am here on this earth to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I am here to spread the gospel to everyone that I meet. I am here to make Jesus known and so are you. You and I both serve the same purpose. What are you doing to fulfill that purpose? How are you exalting Jesus’ name? Will you allow society to put your name above Jesus’ name? Or will you take a stand to proclaim Jesus and make His name known? You’re at a major life event (a wedding, graduation, etc.).
Everyone is buzzing around with happiness in the air. Then something happens that reminds you of a loved one who passed away. And then it hits you. That loved one should have been there. But they’re not there because death took them from this earth far too soon. For a moment, you’re overwhelmed with grief. For a moment, you’re frozen with tears running down your face. For a moment, you long for that loved one to be there celebrating with you. For a moment it seems impossible to feel happy at such a joyous occasion. You begin to wonder if the grief will ever truly go away. But then you realize that everything will be okay. Everything will be okay because you remember that you have an awesome God who provides comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). You have a God who loves and cares for us (1 John 4:7-11). You have a God who knows what it’s like to have a loved one die (John 3:16). You have a God who is always there for us in every situation (Matthew 28:20). God’s got you during this wave of grief and He’ll continue to carry you after the grief passes and through the next wave that comes. In that moment, you realize that grief never really truly goes away but God is always there. In that moment of grief, you allow yourself to grieve. No one is ever happy all the time. In that moment, you think about how much of a blessing that loved one was to you and then count the other blessings God has given you. In that moment, you pray. In that moment, you seek God for comfort. In that moment, you trust in God and that’s why you know that everything will be okay. I cried this morning during worship for the first time in a really long time...and that's okay!
I used to hold back my tears during worship until eventually I became numb to feeling the emotions that made me want to cry. I used to be embarrassed to cry during worship. It's not something that I usually see people do during worship so I thought that I was weak for being so emotional. Recently, I have gotten myself back to where I get emotional during worship. I feel and understand the weight of the words we sing. I allow myself to be pricked by prayers and sermons and scripture. I am allowing myself to feel and not just go through the motions. I have finally realized that it is perfectly okay to cry during worship and personal Bible study. It is okay to cry tears of joy and tears of sorrow. It is okay to be overwhelmed with joy or overwhelmed with sorrow. Even Jesus cried and felt emotions deeply (i.e. when He was praying in Gethsemane, when Lazarus died, etc.). When you listen and reason correctly, it should produce an emotional response. God's words are so powerful that we should feel emotions in response to their greatness. It wasn't easy for me to get back to producing an emotional response during worship. It took me a while to knock down walls I had built and push past being numb to feeling deeply. It took hard work and determination to get to where I am today. I am not ashamed for crying. If you are a crier, I hope that you're not ashamed either. We need to feel in order to better understand God's power and grace and mercy and forgiveness. We were given emotions for a reason. Let's use them to help us grow closer to God. Let's shift from just going through the motions to going through the emotions. Forgiveness. It's what I need to work on. It's what I need to practice more. Because it's so easy to be angry and frustrated with someone. Because it's easy to hold on to that feeling of "they deserve to feel my anger". Because forgiving others is hard.
I'm working on being forgiving because it's commanded in the Bible. Because Jesus forgave me. Because I don't deserved to be forgiven and yet I am forgiven. I'm not saying that we can't feel the emotions of anger or frustration. For even Jesus got frustrated and angry at times (driving out the money changers in the temple, the apostles falling asleep while he was praying in Gethsemane, etc.) but he was forgiving anyways. If I were in Jesus' shoes, I would have been very angry and frustrated with those who were crucifying me. I wouldn't want to show them compassion or mercy or forgiveness. And yet, Jesus forgave them. "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). It would have been so easy for Jesus to be angry with the people. It would have been easy for him to save himself. It would have been easy for him but he chose the road of forgiveness. Those who crucified Jesus didn't deserve to be forgiven. They deserved fire and brimstone because they killed the Son of God. They deserved the same death as Jesus on the cross. We deserve the same death because it was your sin and my sin that drove the nails through Jesus' hands and feet. He was on the cross because of you and me and yet he forgave us anyways. We need to imitate Christ in every aspect of our lives. That includes being forgiving toward others no matter what. It may not be easy to forgive someone, but if Jesus forgave those who killed him, then we can forgive those who do us wrong. Remember the forgiveness Jesus showed us the next time we have to forgive others; it makes forgiveness a little bit easier to show. Choose to follow Jesus down the road of forgiveness. I recently had an audition for something that I really wanted. I made it to the callbacks but I didn’t get it. I was rejected. I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t take the rejection well. I wasn’t angry at the people in charge of the auditions. I wasn’t angry with those who were accepted. I was angry with myself. In that moment in time my best wasn’t good enough.
In that moment of rejection I began to become afraid. I was afraid to audition for other things that I had planned on. I wanted to back out for fear of being rejected again. Rejection isn’t easy to get through. It drags you through the dirt. But it’s up to you whether or not you dust yourself off and get back up. You can let rejection keep you down or you can rise above it and see it as a learning experience. You cannot give up after one failure or even after a thousand failures. We, as children of God, have hope. We have a loving God on our side who knows what we go through. Jesus was rejected by many but He didn’t let that stop Him. It took me a while to realize that my worth is not determined by that moment of rejection. I am still myself. I am still a child of God. I am not defined by my setbacks. We grow from our trials (James 1:2-3). Growth can be painful but it is necessary and you don’t have to go through it alone. So many brothers and sisters in Christ were there to comfort me through this rejection. They were encouraging me by saying things like “you’re more than good enough, this one just wasn’t your timing” and “don’t let the road block keep you from succeeding.” They were there for me and that meant a whole lot. Rise above the things that knock you down. Rejection and failure does not define your worth. And perhaps this wasn’t in God’s will for my life. Perhaps this is for the better. I can never really know for sure, but I trust in God. I trust that He knows what He’s doing and that He has an ultimate plan for my life, a plan far better than I could ever imagine. Place everything in God’s hands and you’ll make it through. You have an army of brothers and sister in Christ on your side. Get back up. Don’t be afraid to try again. Learn from the rejection and rise above it. I believe in you. There is peace.
There is peace in knowing God. There is peace in knowing that you’re not blindly following a Divine book without supporting evidence from the world around you. There is peace that passes all understanding. There is peace that can only be obtained from God. But it’s not just about having peace during the good times in life. It’s about knowing that even though I may “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4) I will have peace because God will “turn the shadow of death into morning” (Amos 5:8). It’s knowing that because God is in control, I can have peace no matter what may happen to me. It’s knowing that peace will be there in the midst of chaos. Before today, I didn’t really have true peace. I felt like my life was in a whirlwind of chaos and stress. Last semester, I found myself overwhelmed with stress. I attempted to find peace but my efforts were fruitless. I was looking in the wrong places. I prayed for peace. I prayed for God to take away my pain, to take away the chaos. But I had to do my part in order for God to do His. I didn’t find true peace until I spent numerous of hours studying God’s word (thanks to a class that I’m taking). I didn't find peace until I intentionally dug into the deep pits of the Bible. I didn’t find peace until I shifted my focus from the chaos to the cross. But I have now found peace. I found it in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have peace in Christ because He “overcame the world” (John 16:33). We have peace because of the promises God gave us. Because Jesus took what we deserve and gave us what He deserved. Because of Jesus’ sacrificial love, there is peace. This fall I came back to school early for a two week course. I’m not gonna lie, I was slightly overwhelmed after the professor posted the syllabus. The amount of work and the thought of sitting in one class for four hours a day, five days a week for two weeks stressed me out a little bit (the work load isn't as bad as I thought it would be and we get a coffee break during class). But what really got me stressed out was the specific subject of the class. Apologetics. The defense of the Christian faith.
I’ve tried reading books about the evidence of God’s existence but I felt like a lot of it went over my head. I didn’t understand a lot of the content. I was stressed about this class because I thought that I wouldn't understand any of what would be taught. I thought that I would struggle through this class. I was wrong, granted I’ve only been in class one day (but one day during a two week course is equivalent to two and a half weeks during a regular semester). I’m actually understanding what is taught, I understand what I’m reading in a book (I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be and Atheist, which I highly recommend reading). I think a lot of it had to do with maturity, I can dig into more meat than I could a few years ago. I’ve only just begun learning the importance of studying apologetics. 1 Peter 3:15 commands us to “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” We cannot defend our faith without a good, solid foundation. How can we truly believe in something if we don’t know why we believe in it? How can we spread our faith to others if we don’t have the evidence to back up what we believe? We can’t be ready to make a defense for Christ if we don’t study the evidences that prove God’s existence. If we’re always prepared to defend our faith, we won’t be as timid to share the Gospel with others. We will be more apt to seek opportunities for evangelism rather than shy away from them. I encourage you to study the evidences of God; it will help strengthen your faith. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about how to study apologetics or if you have questions about the evidence of God in general. Sin is ugly. It makes scars on our hearts and on our bodies; it has an eternal effect on our lives. “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). We can’t heal ourselves. We can’t take away our scars but Jesus can. He came to heal our scars. He can “sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus became like us; He understands our pain. His cross shows us that He understands. Isaiah 53:3-7 shows us that God’s love for us meant that Jesus would have scars just like us.
“But one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.’ And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain…” (Revelation 5:5-6). There stood Jesus, the living Lamb, with scars from His sacrifice for us on earth. He was slain for you and I. Jesus has scars so that you and I can live with ours. We cannot have eternal life without His wounds, for “by His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Because of His scars, we can be saved. We need to trust God with our scars. We need to trust Him with our sins, with our flaws, with our wounds. We trust God because He earned it on the cross. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). We need to tell God about our struggles and our sins. We need to talk to Him daily. There is no scar that is too big to be healed. Paul called himself the “Chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15) and he was healed. Let your scars remind you of Jesus’ scars. Let them remind you of God’s unending love and mercy. Let them remind you of how much we need God. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:7-11). “There stood a Lamb as though it had been slain…” Dear single women of the world,
You do not need to be married to live a successful life. You don’t need a man to accomplish your dreams and aspirations. You can make a living for yourself. You can be independent. Even the Bible talks about being unmarried in a favorable way. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 7:25-40 (for the sake of space, I will not post the entire passage here but I urge you to read the entire text from your own Bible). In verse 28, Paul makes it clear that being married isn't bad, that it’s not sinful. People get married all the time (especially at Freed-Hardeman, am I right?!). There's nothing wrong with being married but as Paul later mentions, there are some benefits for not being married. “I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband” (1 Corinthians 7:32-34). Paul is telling the Corinthians that it is easier to give undivided devotion to God if they aren’t married. From what I have gathered, providing for and raising a family takes some devotion and sacrifice; and sometimes people get so caught up in their family and marriage that they forget to turn to the Lord. “I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:35). Paul told the Corinthians these things for their benefit, so that they may live in full devotion to God. If you can live your life focusing on God while being married, then go for it! However, we are not promised marriage; life does not revolve around being married. You can serve God whether you're single or not. Don’t dwell on the idea of needing to get married but rather, dwell on Jesus. We need Him. Jesus. Because without His sacrifice, His blood, His everlasting grace, we would have absolutely no hope in going Heaven (1 Peter 1:3). It was unfair to Jesus that He had to go through an agonizing death. It should have been me and you who died on the cross. We deserve that death. We fail God daily. But through the immeasurable love of Christ Jesus we have hope (John 3:16). We need Him. With Christian love, Jenny |
AuthorMy name is Jennifer Odom and I've been a Christian since October 2011. I'm a 20-year-old junior at Freed-Hardeman University. I hope to speak at several ladies days, become a music teacher, get involved with mission work, and bring as many people as I can with me to heaven. Stepping in Light is affiliated with the church of Christ. Archives
April 2020
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