Respect for each other

"The spirit of hate and revenge originated with Satan, and it led him to put to death the Son of God. Whoever cherishes malice or unkindness is cherishing the same spirit.... In the revengeful thought the evil deed lies enfolded, as the plant in the seed.... In the gift of His Son for our redemption, God has shown how high a value He places upon every human soul, and He gives to no man liberty to speak contemptuously of another. We shall see faults and weaknesses in those about us, but God claims every soul as His property—His by creation, and doubly His as purchased by the precious blood of Christ. All were created in His image, and even the most degraded are to be treated with respect and tenderness. God will hold us accountable for even a word spoken in contempt of one soul for whom Christ laid down His life.... " strong words

Me me me!

So you know when you realise that you aren't actually the centre of the universe....it's like what....? You mean I've been living a lie all this time??! God has a way of showing us things that stop us in our tracks and, if we are attentive, rethink our way of thinking. If we aren't attentive...it will probably just make us momentarily unhappy but ultimately we carry on with life as we have always known it. I'm sad to say that for a large part of my short life, I have done the latter. Merrily floating along thinking "it's all good" when in reality...it's not even remotely good. Recently I've been learning me in an interesting way and I've come to realise that when God shows us who we really are...it's not always a pretty picture. Sometimes it's downright scary! So how does one deal? A wise man once wrote that many people are afraid of God's will but the sweetest and best thing one could ever do is to surrender one's own will to the FATHER and have His will instead. I'm learning that this fear is actually irrational...that in fact "Perfect love casteth out fear" but there's a catch...*gasp* For the fear to be cast out...we first need perfect love! And there is only one source...Neither Tom, Adam, nor Jerry can give me perfect love...this only comes from the Father...He is so misunderstood!

So here begins the documentation of my journey towards perfect love...stick around...I think it's gonna be an interesting one.

Getting used to it

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" 1 Corinthians 6:19

So I'm vegetarian. I made this choice about two or so years ago, and that in itself was difficult enough (I very much enjoyed eating chicken). Being vegetarian certainly makes life more difficult at times. Especially when it comes to eating any place other than at home. So why do it? All in the name of health! When people ask me why I'm a vegetarian I always have a little bit of a problem...I never quite know what to say. It's always a case of how do I explain it? Do I tell them about the health message? Do I mention the whole "we won't be eating chicken in heaven thing"? Do I go down the meat eating + disease route? But when I think about it now, the answer is simple! It's that my body is God's temple. It isn't mine. I was bought with a price and therefore, I am to do the best I can to look after myself! Though my decision wasn't initially based on this fact, when I think about it now, it's so very obvious! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people have to be vegetarian to take care of what God has given them. Let's face it, health conscious meat-eaters are probably healthier than the not so health-conscious vegetarians out there. The mere fact of being vegetarian doesn't automatically make us healthy. Neither am I saying that I've arrived. If I were a superhero, I wouldn't be superhealthyvegetariangirl! But I'm working on it, and the point is that fact that my body is the temple of God should re-arrange my thought processes. And it isn't just about being veggie. It's about all the things we put into our bodies, the way we take care of ourselves, our behaviour, the way we dress. Do these things reflect that we belong to God? Or do we just look like every other person out there who doesn't know what they're worth in God's eyes? I once heard someone talking about eating for God's glory. Sounds strange, yet it's right there in the Bible: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31. That really hit home for me. Paul tells us that everything we do should be to glorify God. So we should eat, drink, walk, talk, dress, think, and so on for God's glory. That's some heavy stuff isn't it! So where does that leave me? Second guessing everything I do. Struggling, forgetting, regretting, falling, not quite making it, asking for forgiveness and trying again. In short, I'm getting used to it. After all, if a just man falls seven times, where does that leave me? Fortunately, God reminds us that though we fall, we shall not be utterly cast down because guess what?! God upholds us with HIS hand!! And that's good news to me! Once again, it's all relational. It's still just between us and God and the great thing about that is that in all things, He gives us the strength to overcome the temptations, to gain the victory in our struggles and reminds us that in Christ, we're more than conquerors. When we come to Him, He upholds us with His hand.


~Kiki Labelle: Getting used to it~