Currently reading: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney
So first off, I'll just explain the title of my new blog. "A Work In Progress" is referring to me and that I am not and will never be perfect and I will ALWAYS have something to change and improve about my life and how I live it. I am a Christian and I put my trust in God and was saved by the blood of Jesus in September of my sophomore year in high school. I was blessed to grow up in a Christian, church-attending family and so I've had years of biblical knowledge in my brain for years and for the past four and a half years, I've been trying to make sense of it all. God has taught me so much when I've made the effort to seek after His knowledge. I want to encourage you to seek. Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." If you are looking for answers, where better to look than God's Word? How better to ask for wisdom than through one-on-one communication through prayer? I'm here to try and live out Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other." I've been affected, taught, and encouraged by so many people and it is my job to serve others. I hope I can be of service to you by sharing what I'm learning.
I was in choir tour at my home church and right now some lyrics from a song come to mind. "I have a hope and I believe my faith is alive, my Spirit is free." My faith is alive. It's not something that I did my sophomore year and I've just had it since. It didn't stop then and it wasn't a one time thing. My faith lives, breathes, and changes everyday. It grows and learns and seeks. Matthew 4:4 says, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes fom the mouth of God." I need God every single day. I sin every day and I'm in need of mercy and forgiveness every day. Not a day goes by that I am not in need of God. He is my "strength when I am weak, the treasure that I seek" and nothing, NOTHING can replace Him in my life.
Needing God every single day means that I need constant intake of His word. When I don't hear His Word through Christian speakers (I'd like to shout out to one of my favs - Shane Claiborne), or read His Word, or read insights from other Christian authors, or spend time in prayer I have denied the ability to be blessed by Him. He can still bless me, yes. But He wants to bless me even more through my ability to learn. I just need to give Him the opportunity. I need tools to learn and He's given them to me. I just have to use those tools and listen and study and He will give me the love and wisdom I seek. 1 Timothy 4:7 says, "Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness." Proverbs 23:12 says, "Apply your heart to discipline." I don't view the word 'discipline' as getting a spanking (and here's a debate starter: I don't think parents should spank or hit their children. Christ was not a man of violence. Anger and violence are separate things. The soldiers who crucified Him were violent. Christ was not.) but rather, I view 'discipline' as an opportunity. A privelege. In fact, the word 'disciple' is rather similar to 'discipline' and I want to be a disciple of Christ. I want to learn under Him and try to reciprocate the unconditional love He has for me. I want to serve others as He has served me. I want to "hear the word of God and obey it" (Luke 11:28b). Christ will set my Spirit free when I discipline myself to follow, obey, and learn about Him. I cannot wait to get older to learn about Him. I cannot put off loving others until I have more time. I cannot wait to trust Him when things are going great and I feel secure. Revelation 1:3 says, "Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."
That was very beautiful.
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