Sacrifice

We’re a Time Bomb

I’ve never been good at spotting possible spoilers, so if you haven’t watched The Avengers, I would suggest that you don’t watch the video. Just to be on the safe side. 😉

When Dr. Banner (The Hulk) says that they’re a time bomb, it’s kind of like partnerships between believers and unbelievers. Everything may be fine, but, at some point, there’s going to be a clash. Or a KABOOM. One of those two. Either you’re going to be forced to sacrifice your beliefs and convictions, or your partnership is going to be ruined because of a disagreement about faith. Or both.

The partnership above doesn’t just refer to marriage or dating. Friendships, work relationships, and almost any other partnership with unbelievers also count. I’m not saying you should lock yourself in a room with Christians. Nope. You still need to reach out and love unbelievers. We need to show God’s love to them, just like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18:

 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:

“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch their filthy things,
and I will welcome you.
And I will be your Father,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”

Learn more about pairing up with unbelievers with this great devotional from Josh McDowell.

Hi, guys! Please let me know if you liked this very first Superhero Sunday post! And, as a small disclaimer, I’ve only watched The Avengers and Captain America: The First Avenger, so I’m relatively new to the superhero world. I’ll mostly be using things from those two movies (or others if I watch them :D).

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God’s Delight

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

Proverbs 15:8

God delights in the prayers of those who love Him and trust in Him. Remember that today.

Like Sheep

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.

Isaiah 53:6

Everyone has strayed from God. None of us deserve to be saved, but God still laid all of our sins on Jesus. Jesus died such a horrible death. For you.

If It Is God’s Will

When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come back if it is God’s will.”

Acts 18:20-21a

In these verses, Paul is leaving Priscilla and Aquila in Ephesus as he sails to Caeserea. What I like is that he says that he will come back “if it is God’s will.” Paul would like to stay with them, and he wants to go back to them, but he is so devoted to God that he will only come back if God wants him to. He’s willing to sacrifice his comfort and pleasures to follow God. Are you?

Isaiah 53:4-6

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

-Isaiah 53:4-6

Response to Daily Prompt: I Believe

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/daily-prompt-i-believe/

Three things I believe in my heart to be true:

  1. Jesus died on the cross, was resurrected, and was truly the Son of God.
  2. Jesus is coming back to take believers with him to Heaven.
  3. I am loved beyond a shadow of a doubt, and I am never alone, for I have Jesus in my heart.

Three things I believe in my heart to be false:

  1. I will never live up to be the person God wants me to be.
  2. I am alone and unloved.
  3. There’s nothing I can do to change the world.