Jesus Wept

Jesus wept.

-John 11:35

This verse is a pretty well-known verse. It’s the shortest verse in the Bible (although you can correct me if I’m wrong). But most people don’t really think about everything that this verse really says.

Yes, I know this verse is only two words long. Yes, I know that it just says that Jesus, well… wept. But you know what it also says?

(1) Jesus was human. Crying is something you can’t do unless your human. I’ve personally never seen anything other than a human cry. But you can correct me on that, too.

(2) Jesus had emotions. Jesus was sad. Hey, one of his friends had just died, and some of his other friends, who were also Lazarus’s sisters, were crying, too. Jesus wasn’t some stone-faced, stoic statue. He was real, human, and felt things just like we do.

(3) It’s okay to be sad. When people die, it’s natural for us to be sad. We shouldn’t take that too far, though. After all, if they’re Christians, they’ll be in a much better place with Jesus.

I hope these points have helped you to see what you can see when you look closer at verses and think about them. I pray that you’ll learn something from this and learn to do this with other verses.

Challenge: Study a verse in depth like this and come up with three points about it that aren’t necessarily obvious.

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Just A Few Rambling Thoughts and A Gut-Punch (Hopefully)

Please share this post! I’d love for this to reach as many people as possible and to hopefully motivate them to share with others.

Interesting title, isn’t it? 😀

Last Wednesday, in my small group, one of the girls was talking about a skit she’d seen at a church camp a few years ago. Basically (and this is probably not going to be the best description, sorry) there were two guys talking to each other, and one of them said “I found the cure for cancer!” And the other guy said, “Really? That’s awesome, let’s go tell people about it!” And the first guy said “Well, you know, I’m not so sure, I mean, I’m so small, and young, and insignificant…” etc, etc, etc.

You and I are that first guy.

We have the cure for cancer.

Well, not for cancer, exactly. We have the cure that can save people from having to spend hundreds and thousands and millions and billions of years in hell. All of eternity in hell. Which is kind of hard to wrap your mind around.

That cure is Jesus.

Also mentioned during small group was this: If you, knowing about that someone isn’t a Christian, don’t share the gospel with them, you’re refusing to give them eternal life.

So why aren’t we sharing it?????

Bible Trivia: 7-5-14

The Ten Commandments appear in the book of Exodus and which other?

1. Leviticus
2. Matthew
3. Deuteronomy
4. Revelation

The fruit of the Spirit is made up of how many traits?

1. 3
2. 4
3. 9
4. 10

Who burned David’s city of Ziklag?

1. Amalekites
2. Nazarites
3. Gibeonites
4. Israelites

Brought to you by our Bible Trivia Challenge Calender. Answers will be revealed tomorrow.

Bible Trivia: 5-31-14 Answers

Where did Paul go to prepare to preach the Gospel?

4. Arabia

In the book of Revelation, what was the name of the old serpent?

1. The Devil

On watching Jesus’ arrest and trial, what disciple claimed three times he didn’t know the Lord?

4. Peter

Brought to you by our Bible Trivia Challenge Calender.

Alien

I originally wrote this for the Weekly Writing Challenge – Fifties, but I was a little late, and it was 67 words instead of fifty… Here it is.

Alien

Kyle struggled through the desert sand next to the nearly-deserted road next to his friend Wyatt. He looked down at the bright green paint still on his clothes from the “paint incident” that morning. And now the breakdown. A car whizzed past and Kyle noticed the gaping faces in the windows?

“What’s their problem?” he griped aloud.

Wyatt grinned. “I think they thought you were an alien.”

Purge

Purge v.

To rid of whatever is impure or undesirable; cleanse; purify.

As Christians we need to purge the sin from our lives. We need to completely reject that sin, cleanse ourselves from what is undesirable to God. We must purify our hearts from… impurities.

Here’s the bad news.

You can’t do it.

No matter how hard you try, there is no way that you can completely rid yourself of your sin. It will simpy lay dormant and wait for the right time to come back and attack you. It’s impossible to do.

The good news?

Our God conquers the impossible.

On our own, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. He can completely cleanse and purify you. Ask Him to do it today.

Challenge: Ask God to purge you from your sin. He will give you His strength.

Weekly Writing Helper: Change

Weekly Writing Helpers are here to help you when you get stuck or are fresh out of ideas. I’d love to read what you come up with! If you post your story, you can link back to this post or tag your post with Weekly Writing Helper.

Planning Stages Idea:

Plan for your main conflict to be a character experiencing a major change: moving, losing someone, etc.

Plot Twist Idea:

Add in a sudden change for your character, like a new job or a move.

Writer’s Block Idea:

Try rewriting a few paragraphs of your story, changing your setting or some characters. It may get you started on a new idea!

I Double-Dog Dare You To…

…do seven random acts of kindness (one for each day of the week).

…talk to someone you don’t know.

…tell someone that Jesus loves them.

Challenge: Do one of the three dares above!! 😀

Weekly Writing Helper: Description

Weekly Writing Helpers are here to help you when you get stuck or are fresh out of ideas. I’d love to read what you come up with! If you post your story, you can link back to this post or tag your post with Weekly Writing Helper.

Planning Stages Idea:

Create a main character, describing him/her with as many adjectives as possible. Then take one or two of the adjectives and start planning a story based on those.

Plot Twist Idea:

Add a mysterious book (locked, of course!) into your story and describe what makes it so mysterious

Writer’s Block Idea:

Try describing your setting in detail; it may help you come up with a new direction for your story to go.

The Lord’s Temple: Part 1

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

-1 Corinthians 3:16

That’s kind of scary. God’s Holy Spirit lives in us! That means we might want to keep his “temple” nice, right? I mean, God is living in you!

Let’s use an analogy. Close your eyes and imagine this. Wait, then you won’t be able to read. Ha-ha. Never mind. Let’s just imagine two hotel rooms.

Hotel Room #1: Beautiful. Clean. White sheets on the bed. Extra soap and shampoo in the bathroom. A plate of (fresh) cookies sitting on the nightstand. And a beautiful view of the ocean. Or the mountains. Or whatever you think would be a beautiful hotel-room view.

Hotel Room #2: Cramped. Dirty. Sheets have stains on them. A pile of dirty towels in the bathroom. And a couple of dead cockroaches in one of the corners. And a dead spider on the pillow.

Ugh. I think that’s enough. So, if God’s staying in your “temple”, which room would you rather be like: Hotel Room #1 or Hotel Room #2? And I hope you say Hotel Room #1.

Challenge: Make an effort to make your “temple” like Hotel Room #1. (More about this tomorrow) Feel free to bake God some cookies.