Spiritual Worth

So, after that last post, I felt like having a lighter subject. Something fun to write, maybe even something cheerful! So, I am here to talk about spiritual worth. Now I intend for this to be a short post, but you know me, so it may end up taking on the looks of the last Harry Potter book (yes, I hope not too).

In this blog I will be using Matthew 10:26-31 (HCSB). This is Jesus speaking:

Therefore, don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered, and nothing hidden that won’t be made know. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper, proclaim on the housetops. Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Don’t be afraid of therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Woah, what a passage. Right before this passage, Jesus was predicting persecution. Matthew 10:19-20 says

But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you should speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour, because you are not speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you.

How encouraging is that? I mean, we get to have the Spirit, as believer, speaking through us saying the right things! I know for me that is SO encouraging. If you have ever had a conversation with me that has lasted more than… 2 seconds, you know that I can’t speak. Well, I’m not mute, but I have a problem getting the point across. I stumble, search for words, and say “um” a lot. But when I am filled with the Holy Spirit, boy do things happen. I am not the source of these things! I don’t want the credit for ANYTHING I say. NEVER!!! It is not me who is speaking, but rather the Spirit who says all things true.

That is who I am. I am not someone who stutters through life and can’t find the words to say. I am God’s child! I am filled with the Holy Spirit and have my worth in THAT. The Father, my Father, knows how many hairs I have on my head. He knows how many hairs I have EVER had on my head. The Father doesn’t let birds die without His consent! Jesus tells us here that we are worth more than the sparrows. What more does the Father have planned for His children if we mean more than birds that He controls?

Our worth is found in Christ. If there is any good in me, it is good that Christ is in me. I really hope that makes sense. The Holy Spirit that resides in me is the only good that shines from me. As evil beings, humans have no good. There is only one good: God. I don’t want to be compared to the only good. If the only good is God, then who am I to call myself a “good” person? I want the only good produced from my body to be from the goodness of my good God. (I really hope that made sense. If not, just ask).

My musical abilities, intelligence (though not lots), and analogies have no significance outside of the Father. These abilities mean nothing! I have NO worth outside of the Father. My value is found in my relationship with Christ.

So, that’s about it. Don’t take this for truth. Research and struggle with it on your own. I’d encourage you to read Romans or 1 Corinthians. This is Romans 8:1-11 (paraphrased)

Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. …For those whos lives are according to the flesh think about things of the flesh, BUT THOSE WHOSE LIVES ARE ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT, ABOUT THINGS OF THE SPIRIT. For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace….You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit , since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he does not belong to Him. Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus form the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.

Well, that is all for now.

Grace to you and peace from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.- 1 Corinthians 1:3

-Meghan

My Story

Well, I feel it is about time to give my testimony of what the Father has done in my life. Just a reminder, this blog is not to glorify myself but to glorify the Father and who He is and what He has done in my life. Most of my close friends have either heard my testimony or lived it with me. This is going to be the full version (somewhat) and if you make it to the end, you may or may not get a cookie.

I was born and started attending a Southern Baptist church. I have always been Southern Baptist at the same church since the date of my birth. I was saved in the fall of my third grade year and baptized shortly after. I went to the new believers Sunday School class and everything. I even have the certificate to prove it. I thought that was enough.

Fortunately, it’s not. Christianity, I have learned, is not about going to heaven. Yeah, heaven is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, but being where my Father is will be so much better than heaven. I would rather be with my Father than heaven without my Father.

Back to the story. Well, I went through the rest of elementary school and middle school and was very successful in avoiding the “bad stuff.” I wouldn’t say that I wasn’t a Christian or was a lukewarm Christian, just that I didn’t get it. When you are saved at a young age (and I don’t discourage being saved at a young age at all), you get that you will go to heaven and why Jesus came to die for you sins, but having a relationship with Him isn’t what you get. You pray for safety, the new toy for Christmas, and world peace, but you don’t really get the whole “relationship” concept.

Let’s fast forward to April 2009. I’m in the tenth grade, sitting on a Wednesday night in youth group hearing the gospel presented. I had heard it hundreds of times (or it seemed like it), but something about this time was different. It wasn’t the message being presented, the way it was presented, where it was, but God had a special tug being pulled on my heart. I decided that night, in silence that that was the point that I was going to change. I would read my Bible and give the “all-in” Christianity a try.

I began reading Nehemiah. It is a great story for someone who has just rededicated their life. It is about rebuilding, confession of sin, resettling, faithfulness, and dedication. Then I read Esther, 1 & 2 Samuel, and kept going. I just kept reading. Well, at that point it was summer.

Then I met Anna Ralston. She didn’t change my life, but God did through her. She showed me what the Father looks like. She showed me that you can be crazy about Jesus. She showed me that I can live a life that is Biblical in this society. I realized that we weren’t called to just call ourselves Christians. I realized that we were called to be followers of Christ. Calling yourself a Christian and being a follower of Christ are two totally different things. Radically different things.

I went to a little camp called Super Summer and experienced the Father. I learned about things that you don’t hear talked about in the church such as the Doctrine of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and the Trinity. I learned things that I thought only preachers needed to know.

Ok, so in short, that summer was a life changing experience. Then I went back to school. At first it went well, but then I got into a rut. A deep, muddy, ditch that I couldn’t get out of. I was developing a relationship with Christ and couldn’t understand why I felt so bad. I don’t think it was circumstances that I was in this rut, but rather the desire to go deeper and feeling so alone in that feeling. It got a little better as the semester went on, but not great.

The next semester I have named “the worst five months of my life.” Not trying to be dramatic, but it truly was. I was stuck in my life and had nowhere to go. Trying to get out of a rut isn’t easy, but God is faithful.

Through many prayers and great friends, God pulled me out of the situations I was drowning, so to speak, in. Some people may think that because you are a Christian you will have a great day, every day. Hate to say it, but life is hard. It isn’t easy. Being a Christian doesn’t exclude you from being in storms. But, Christianity does give you a way out of the storm.

VERY LONG story short, God plucked (pretty much) every bad influence, or thing that was tearing me down, out of my life. He placed a wonderful friend, Jessica Letson, in my life and blessed me with a great Sunday School teacher and mentor, Heather Anderson, and many others to help me through this difficult time. I am so thankful for them.

Ok, so back to the story. This past year I have named, “the most rewarding year in my life.” I was able to see some of the people I have known for my entire life grow massively in the Father after praying for them and sitting patiently in Sunday School and Bible studies waiting for them to “get it.” These girls, after “getting it” have been a TREMENDOUS blessing to my life. Thank you to Caroline, Meg, Jordan, and Tara for being there for me this year. I will really miss y’all.

God also blessed me with a great friend base through IB. Though I know too much about these people, I am truly blessed and I don’t deserve it. Thanks to Mindy, Miracle, Connor, Jalen, John, Allysa, and Christian for not letting me go insane. It is going to be such a shock not having y’all in my classes next year. It will definitely be a new experience having different people in each of my classes.

Now, I am not saying these things to brag about what God has done in my life. I am saying these things as a sinner who does not deserve the blessings of her Father. Only by grace am I saved, which I don’t deserve, and only by grace am I blessed.

This past year I have experienced God in so many ways. The devil has tried to take away my happiness (such as step and the flu during D-NOW and fifteen billion papers due on the same day), but the Father provides me with joy.

Though I have had weeks where I have had less than 15 hours of sleep and am running on an unhealthy amount of caffeine, I am so blessed because I am alive and have great friends and a great support system. I am also really blessed to have a heavenly Father who knows all and will hold my hand through the good and the bad.

The Father has also provided me with a great college that I will be attending and has blessed me with a way to pay for it. He has blessed me with a great roommate, Kristyn, who has a heart for God. I can’t wait to see what else He has in store for me as I go to Carson-Newman and serve him there.

Ok, if you made it to the end, congrats, go get yourself a cookie. (I never said you would get the cookie from me) Thank you to everyone who has blessed me. I would really like to write more, but then you would deserve an entire box of cookies, and that might make you sick. So, for your health, I will end now. I hope to write more about my life and what the Father has blessed His undeserving child with, but for now, this is it.

The grace of the LORD Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.-2 Corinthians 13:13

Meghan

Unity in the Body

A month or so back, I began to wonder what life would be like if we greeted and closed conversations how Paul started and ended every one of his letters. As Christians, don’t we have a responsibility to encourage, pray for, and build up the body of Christ in a healthy way?

Yes, I understand that there are many different ways to do this. But when I start a conversation with “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 1:2), I have a really hard time not to encourage and help the body of Christ.

As someone who has a hard time looking at people the way Christ sees them, it is really hard to begin a conversation, letter, or other various forms of communication with that line or one like it. If I spent even half of the time in my life loving the body of Christ as I do attempting to tear it down, I cannot imagine the way Abba would bless that.

Another way that I look at it is we are tearing down His Son. Woah… the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:27). When we do not exemplify the body of Christ described in 1 Corinthians 12, we ARE tearing down what Abba, Father has established.

Hold the phone. Did I just say that we are tearing down the body of Christ? Uh, yeah, I did. From my scriptural research and what I have found, that is exactly what I am saying.

We must build up the body of Christ, not tear it down. Judgment from someone other than God, malice against other believers, and lack of encouragement and accountability is tearing down the body of Christ. As believers we MUST spread the gospel as a WHOLE and nothing but. We MUST be unified in our differences.

Now, when I hear or read something like this, I try to find loop holes. Well, let’s define unity via Google.

u·ni·ty

noun /ˈyo͞onətē/  unities, plural 1. The state of being united or joined as a whole, esp. in a political context § - European unity § - economic unity 2. Harmony or agreement between people or groups § - their leaders called for unity between opposing factions 3. The state of forming a complete and pleasing whole, esp. in an artistic context § - the repeated phrase gives the piece unity and cohesion 4. A thing forming a complex whole § - they speak of the three parts as a unity 5. In Aristotle's Poetics, each of the three dramatic principles requiring limitation of the supposed time of a drama to that occupied in acting it or to a single day (unity of time), use of one scene throughout (unity of place), and concentration on the development of a single plot (unity of action) 6. The number one

Ok, so I really like the second and fourth definitions. As the body of Christ, we must be in harmony and form a whole. Woah, I don’t do that. Rarely ever and almost never do I do that.

If we became what is described as the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians, lots of crazy awesome stuff would happen for the glory of the LORD.

So, when was the last time you (and this is directed to myself as well) began a conversation or ended a conversation with a fellow believer with “may the grace of the Father be with you?” Well, I know that was, uh, almost never for me. I attempt to write it in emails, facebook messages, encouragement cards, and recently, blog posts, but honestly, I think I have done it once in an actual conversation.

So my challenge to you (and myself) is to in the next few days start or end a conversation with a fellow believer with Romans 16:24, 1 Corinthians 1:3, or even Ephesians 6:23-24. I guarantee it will be REALLY hard to not build up the body of Christ when you do it. If you have any other suggestions, facebook me, mention it on twitter (@meghanc1229), send me a carrier pigeon, owl, or a various other form of communication such as smoke signals or Morse code. (With the last two, I probably won’t be able to understand it, but that is up to you) Oh, you can talk to me in person too. I love talking about my Abba with other believers!

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.-Philippians 4:23

Meghan

Spiritual Salads

As my first blog post, I feel like I need to explain my attempt here. I will post semi-regularly (hopefully) on my life, the analogies that I hear and think of, my feelings about Jesus, and really anything I feel like. I am no Biblical scholar, but have a love for the Word and my LORD. What I write here is from my study of the Word and don’t take it for yourself. Actually, I encourage you to research it on your own. Don’t take my word for it, but rather wrestle with my words and read the Bible for yourself. Send me a Facebook message if you wish and maybe you will be able to shed some light on the situation. Most importantly, my words are not the Bible. This is just from one girl who is passionately in love with her Creator and wishes to share with the world. I hope to share more about myself and what Abba, Father has done in my life. God Bless and enjoy!

Though my absolute hatred for salads might make this post seem a tiny bit odd, it will (hopefully) make sense in the end.

What are most salads made of? Lettuce, spinach, arugula, or various other types of greenery. Our basic foundation of any salad (yes, I am excluding fruit salad) is lettuce or greens. Every Christian should have the same foundation in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:16-17; 1 Cor. 12) yet be different.

While our spiritual gifts, struggles, and sins give us our diversity in Christ (as the body of Christ), we still, as the Body of Christ, are unified in this.

Something I struggle with personally is desiring to be like others in the faith. I desire to be like “so and so” with an ability to do “this or that.” Until recently, I used to think that striving after other’s abilities was ok.

We are each made distinctly different for one single purpose: to glorify Christ and expand His Kingdom. When we do not follow and cultivate our own attributes that God has gifted us with, we are defying God’s purpose for our lives. We have to be satisfied with ourselves and the gifts God has given to us in order to advance the Kingdom. If we are striving to be someone else, no matter how closely that person follows God, we are not following Abba, Father, and therefore will be striving after something other than what our main purpose is. “You can be passionately wrong.”

Personally, after taking a spiritual gifts test this past week, I discovered that my lowest score was mercy. I scored a 12/25. Now, it isn’t super-duper low or anything, but I almost felt as though if I am desiring to follow the Father, I should be more merciful, like He has been in my life. But what I didn’t focus on was my main score. Administration scored 23/25. God has blessed me with the ability to plan and organize and make things happen. If I am so busy focusing on the lack of tomatoes, if you will, in my life, I am not focusing on the boldness of the carrots.

Yes, my “spiritual salad” doesn’t have a lot of tomatoes, but my salad does have carrots. Now, what we have to do is take the prominent spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit provides us with and use them for the Kingdom.

Because I have bookoodles of carrots and not a lot of tomatoes does not mean that God cannot use me. As Christians, we are founded upon the lettuce and the Spirit adds carrots, tomatoes, fruit, croutons, nuts, and various other salad paraphernalia.

So, the entire point of this is to use your gifts and even struggles to glorify God and expand the Kingdom. Use your particular “spiritual salad” to the glory of God.

Peace to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have undying love for our LORD Jesus Christ.-Ephesians 6:23-24

Meghan