It's been a long while since I have blogged, and now I have a million ideas flowing through my head all at once. So, if I come out with a bunch in a couple days, I'm sorry.
It's been a whirlwind since returning from the race. The only blog I have written was on the Chick-Fil-A ordeal, which was an odd blog for me. And so is this one. Since being back, I have spent some time with my family in NY,
and since then moved to St. Louis, gotten engaged!!!!!!!!!!!
and worked a couple of different jobs to start "real life". But one thing that's happened, that AIM told us would happen, is being unsatisfied with the way things were before you left, and the way things are still when returning.
Even to a point of anger.
But for me, and the people closest to me, anger is something I don't show often and think on for a while to make sure I have a good reason to be angry. And most of the time it's not a good reason. And to be honest, being angry is something that I try to restrain from being because there's a fine line between a good angry and a sinful angry, and I can't say thatI have found it yet.
But then I was curious. What makes Jesus angry?
So I studied where Jesus became angry and what is was that made Him angry. And you know something interesting that I found? He showed anger the most in Scripture when those who call themselves Christians are not behaving like His children. Not 100% of the time, but pretty darn close!
As I sat in a men's breakfast a while ago, a guy who served as a missionary in Papua, New Guinea talked about having passion for God's Word. He talked about how fortunate we as Americans are to have access to our Bibles, when there are still 300 million people who don't have the Bible in their language. We should feel blessed and have a passion for it, and help reach those who don't. And I thought to myself, "A lot of the time I don't, and the church doesn't. I wonder why a culture so focused on greed, money and self has been blessed the most with the Word of God… We are so fortunate, yet we focus more on the American dream than on true Biblical lifestyle and community." I obviously don't think this is the case for everyone, but it's true for me and true for a lot of American Christians. It seems pretty unfruitful. And being unfruitful is something that made Christ angry.
In Revelation 3 in the story of being hot, cold or lukewarm, Jesus is telling a story about being fruitful. A passage most often misrepresented by saying Christ would rather you be cold, meaning far away from Christ, than lukewarm, He is actually telling a parable about the water springs in the local area. Long story short, there were three water springs in the area: a hot one used for sterilizing, bathing and the like; a cold one used for refreshing drinks and keeping animals and people cool; and finally a lukewarm one, which couldn't really be used for anything productive. So, what Christ is saying is to be productive, like the hot and cold water. Don't be like the lukewarm water, it's unfruitful.
Christ has a big emphasis in the Scriptures on being fruitful. It's something that made Him angry, like when He cursed the barren fig tree in Luke 13. We, especially myself, should be fruitful with what we have. It should make us angry when we aren't.
It has been a tough reminder since being home. It's easy to see why Christ says is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than through the eye of a needle. Because in rich areas, there are so many conveniences that hide our need for dependancy on Him.
Side note: I have 3 amazing friends about to go on the most amazing, life changing World Race trip. Consider supporting them prayerfully and financially, as well as read their blogs. Here are their links:
Emily Gironimi
http://emilygironimi.theworldrace.org/
Alison Stultz
http://alisonstultz.theworldrace.org/
Amanda McConnell
http://amandamcconnell.theworldrace.org/
