Alive

Take a deep breathe in. Now breathe out.

God is active in your life.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

God is active in your life.

In. Out.

God is active.

Every single breath you take is a gift from God--a deliberate act of God's will to give you one more breath of life...and another...and another.

God's not done with you yet.

Look all around you! Look at the life existing throughout our world! Marvel at the mountains, embrace the beauty of the trees, and look at the people. See the people? Oh my gosh, there are so many people. Children and elderly; black and white; singles and couples. There's life and there's beauty--diversity and unity. (And you know, what?) It's ALL good!! And, all good things come from God!

Breathe In. Breathe Out.

God's goodness is all over the world we live in. But, the sad thing is that, through the cracks, evil is allowed to seep through. Dark clouds rise over the world. The darkness rules these places and as a result, our visions start to blur. It can even get to the point when we are having trouble seeing the light--the magnificent, marvelous light of God.

Bad things happen in this world.

Depression. Abuse. Death. Divorce. Betrayal. Rejection. Grief.

Suffering is a part of our lives. As human beings, we a forced to experience such things because, sadly, we do not live in a perfect world.

Trust me, life gets rough. It gets hard to push through it sometimes. Some days I just want to escape from it all, but I can't. I just can't run away from life. It doesn't work like that. I have to push through it and keep on living my life.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

There it is: another gift from God.

Now, we know all good things come from God, but for some reason, God allows all those bad things to happen (even though He never starts it). I mean, we can go ahead and shake our fists at Him and ask Him why He would do such a thing to us, but honestly, that would accomplish nothing. However, there's another option: we can submit ourselves to His glory and hold on tight to His promises of goodness and love.

One day (when the time is just right), He will penetrate this awful darkness and His light will shine upon our weak and fallen bodies. And we will realize that every pain and every struggle we encountered in the dark abyss of the world was NOTHING compared to the glory we will experience with God.

We're human. We're going to experience intense struggle. There's no doubt about that. But, we should remember that every single excruciating moment is stuffed full of meaning. We are alive and God is working in us. We can't ever forget that.

"Let everything that has breath..."

Breathe in.

"Praise the Lord."

Breathe out.

Superhero

In my last post, I talked about the sin of comparison and of jealousy. I realized (with some help from a friend), a few days later, that I only discussed the evils of the sins. Now, inherently, all sins are evil. That's something that we cannot argue. However, for a little while, I want to discuss the differences between jealousy and admiration, between unhealthy comparisons and healthy comparisons, between idols and role models.

In order to move forward in our spiritual growth, we, as Christians, need to appreciate the value of a role model.

We are called to emulate others ("Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example." -Philippians 3:17), even as they sought to emulate Christ ("I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you." -1 Corinthians 11:1).

Now, you may be wondering why we are commanded to imitate others. It's probably because, as humans, we are natural imitators. As children, we pick up on our parents' mannerisms and begin to imitate them. As teenagers, we (whether good or bad) seek to imitate our peers and those celebrities we hold in high regard. Then, as Christians, we usually seem to imitate those people we hold in high regard (such as preachers or elders).

However, we should look at the value of role models, as we are supposed to be careful with whom we imitate.

We are supposed to look at good role models. These are people who:

1. By example, show us what is possible.

        An example of this is of John who, in the book of Mark, was called a son of thunder (Mark 3:17) and then, as time goes on, grows and matures into an apostle of love (1 John 4:7-8).

2. By example, each us how to reach the same goals. Goals such as:

         a. enjoying a relationship with God. ("Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me--everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." -Philippians 4:9)
   
         b. remaining steadfast in the midst of trials. ("That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So, we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." -2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

You see, there is a difference between being jealous of someone and admiring them.

Let's go back to my friend, Blake. He loves Eminem. Is he jealous of Eminem? No. Does he want to be Eminem? No. He says that he and Eminem "use the skill of rhyming in different ways and stand for different ideals. But I still compare myself to him because it makes me better".

Choose to imitate someone who makes you a better you. That's what makes for healthy comparisons.

I like to use the term superhero to describe my role models. They are my superheroes--the people I look up to for my faith, my relationships, and a lot of my life. They are people who, while I was in my depression, were the ones to encourage me and to lift me out of the dark hole I had dug myself in to.

So, whether you are a "superhero" to someone else or you find a "superhero" in someone else, just remember:

Admiration is productive. Jealousy is destructive. 

Choose love. Choose life. Choose positivity.

In His Love.