Are we doing things just because they feel cool. I mean, 20 years ago, the word "cool" wasn't even said normally. It was just getting cool to say cool. Society has changed over the ages, and drastically, but how are we to live in a way that honors God in the midst of a different culture with different values... Are we acting in certain ways just because society has evolved in that way? Is our open-mindedness just because the world tells us to be open-minded? Is all our youth and vigor in vain?
"Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint."
-Isaiah 40:30-31
This verse means to me that we in our youth, with all our hopeful emotions will still come to points in our life where we must come face to face with reality and embrace it (that's when we faint and get weary) :-). From my life, I have come out of a place where I had utterly fallen, and I'm having to learn what waiting on the Lord is all about... At night, going to sleep, this is my toughest time, but, praise the Lord, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Out of true suffering,
true joy arises.
Out of pure misery,
Pure love.
Gold refined,
Purify me,
Purify me,
All of me.
Anyway, so... my point was that we as youth are growing up relating to people in different ways than our parents did, yet we need to be unified with the older, wiser generations. This starts with respecting parents, et cetera. Our dreams and emotions should be based off truth, and not feeling. I feel like there's many subcultures that are considered cool and popular that have many different components to them, including mainly just how we relate to people, but is closely related to society with all our coffeeshops and blogs and facebook accounts and whatnot. What I'm getting at is I and the rest of our generation, perhaps, should realize, first, how blessed we are as a nation, but secondly, that reality awaits us, and there's only so long we can live in our coffeeshop, emotion-based worlds.
At the same time, life is still the same, people still desire the same things, and we are just expressing ourselves in different ways, with different fun things in society to be consumed with. I think farm life might be healthy for many-a-kid living in the city. The end.
Bearing, Believing, Hoping, Enduring,
-Greg Wilson
Love Never Fails
Friday, May 9, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Exodus 14 and the Weaned Child
God split the waters at the Red Sea, and saved Israel from their enemies in His perfect way. Our battles are different today, but we still have them. Whether its fear, anger, or any other thing that doesn't go along with living "Spirit-filled" lives, we battle aginst thise things in ourselves.
"The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. "
-Exodus 14:14
We should be holding our peace amidst the trials of life - The Lord is big enough to rescue us from them. He allows things to happen to us that will strengthen us, but he thinks we are capable of handling them (with His help)! Be encouraged that God will give you victory as long as you are surrendered to Him and trusting Him.
In the Psalms, David says,
"Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother,
Like a weaned child is my soul within me."
-Psalm 131:1-3
This is a perfect picture of how we should be found -- like a weaned child, calm and quiet, simply waiting for the Lord's salvation, whatever way it will come. A weaned child is one who is "accustomed to take nourishment other than by suckling." God gives us the milk to calm us, but he wants us to get to the point where we don't need that milk anymore, so to speak. :-)
In my own life, I have these anxiety attacks, and I don't know where they come from. In the midst of these, it is SO HARD to be like that weaned child, and I can eventually lay down, but its been rough at times. I store tension from anxiety in my jaws, I guess, so my jaws always feel tight, but when the anxiety attack hits, its worse -- a feeling hard to describe. I feel like I have to do something, but my jaw feels just tormented even though I'm walking or jogging or whatever. Long story short, I must trust, despite my circumstances, that God will rescue me; and he has and will, but there are those times when its like I'm just crying out to Moses (God), why did you lead me here, to be killed? (figuratively). Thats life, trials, and yet joys - and God will get us through alright.
Bearing, Believing, Hoping, Enduring,
-Greg Wilson
Love Never Fails
"The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. "
-Exodus 14:14
We should be holding our peace amidst the trials of life - The Lord is big enough to rescue us from them. He allows things to happen to us that will strengthen us, but he thinks we are capable of handling them (with His help)! Be encouraged that God will give you victory as long as you are surrendered to Him and trusting Him.
In the Psalms, David says,
"Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother,
Like a weaned child is my soul within me."
-Psalm 131:1-3
This is a perfect picture of how we should be found -- like a weaned child, calm and quiet, simply waiting for the Lord's salvation, whatever way it will come. A weaned child is one who is "accustomed to take nourishment other than by suckling." God gives us the milk to calm us, but he wants us to get to the point where we don't need that milk anymore, so to speak. :-)
In my own life, I have these anxiety attacks, and I don't know where they come from. In the midst of these, it is SO HARD to be like that weaned child, and I can eventually lay down, but its been rough at times. I store tension from anxiety in my jaws, I guess, so my jaws always feel tight, but when the anxiety attack hits, its worse -- a feeling hard to describe. I feel like I have to do something, but my jaw feels just tormented even though I'm walking or jogging or whatever. Long story short, I must trust, despite my circumstances, that God will rescue me; and he has and will, but there are those times when its like I'm just crying out to Moses (God), why did you lead me here, to be killed? (figuratively). Thats life, trials, and yet joys - and God will get us through alright.
Bearing, Believing, Hoping, Enduring,
-Greg Wilson
Love Never Fails
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