Thoughts Released On My Own Recognizance

Product of Grace Spreading Hope to the Hopeless: I need to be more concerned with Christ and him crucified than all the...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 17:36:33 -0500

Product of Grace Spreading Hope to the Hopeless: I need to be more concerned with Christ and him crucified than all the...:

ivebeenfoundworthy:

I need to be more concerned with Christ and him crucified than all the little intricacies. Sometimes (many times) I get to concerned with studying theology instead of living for the glory of God that I end up trying to dot all the i’s and cross every T and don’t serve him. Theology can very…

Come Lord like you promised. Just like you said you would. Oh do not delay, Lord.

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:49:35 -0400

Abide in the Vine: America's Sex Symbol

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:49:22 -0400

Abide in the Vine: America's Sex Symbol:

abideinthevine:

I’m sitting here in a coffee shop fighting to hold back tears as I read the autobiography of Marilyn Monroe. It’s the story of a woman who was not loved as a child, one who was tossed around as an orphan through 9 different homes. One in which she was sexually abused by an older man. I had no idea. This story completely saddens my heart. No wonder she became America’s sex symbol and ended up overdosing on sleeping pills at age 36.

This reminds me that I have no business “judging a book by its cover”. The Marilyn Monroe’s of the world tend to be despised by the Christian community. Why? Because of their actions. Based solely on her actions, Marilyn was indeed a sex symbol and seen as a “siren”. However, when taking a deeper look, there is much brokenness & pain: “I never lived, I was never loved.”

This reminds me of two verses:

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40)

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneselfunstained from the world. (James 1:27)

As Christ-followers, we should be in prayer for the lost and seek to love & serve those who are in need of a Savior.

A reminder that we need to show grace in all cases.

Sidethought: beautiful women are destroyed by the world really quickly.

Abide in the Vine: America's Sex Symbol

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:45:42 -0400

Abide in the Vine: America's Sex Symbol:

abideinthevine:

I’m sitting here in a coffee shop fighting to hold back tears as I read the autobiography of Marilyn Monroe. It’s the story of a woman who was not loved as a child, one who was tossed around as an orphan through 9 different homes. One in which she was sexually abused by an older man. I had no idea. This story completely saddens my heart. No wonder she became America’s sex symbol and ended up overdosing on sleeping pills at age 36.

This reminds me that I have no business “judging a book by its cover”. The Marilyn Monroe’s of the world tend to be despised by the Christian community. Why? Because of their actions. Based solely on her actions, Marilyn was indeed a sex symbol and seen as a “siren”. However, when taking a deeper look, there is much brokenness & pain: “I never lived, I was never loved.”

This reminds me of two verses:

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. (Matthew 25:40)

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneselfunstained from the world. (James 1:27)

As Christ-followers, we should be in prayer for the lost and seek to love & serve those who are in need of a Savior.

A reminder that we need to show grace in all cases.

Sidethought: beautiful women are destroyed by the world really quickly.

johnnyis: What is air.

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:35:59 -0400

johnnyis:

What is air.

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God."

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:35:02 -0400

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

- Romans 15:7 (via grace-isms)

weshallneverstop: Stars Above, Thunder Below | Christopher...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:34:51 -0400

weshallneverstop:

Stars Above, Thunder Below | Christopher Eaton

"Worship… is a larger and more encompassing than singing some songs at a church service a couple of..."

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:34:31 -0400

“Worship… is a larger and more encompassing than singing some songs at a church service a couple of times a week. It is the way of life for those entranced by and passionate for the glory of God. We worship God when, while we partake of his good gifts, something occurs in the deepest parts of our soul that forbids glory terminating on the gift itself or on our enjoyment of it but that runs deeper into and extends out to the Giver.”

- Matt Chandler (The Explicit Gospel)

"Worship is the attributing of ultimate worth to something. When this ultimate worth is attributed to..."

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:33:52 -0400

“Worship is the attributing of ultimate worth to something. When this ultimate worth is attributed to anyone or anything other than the one, true triune God of the universe, it is idolatry. The root of Christian worship, then, is acknowledging, submitting to, and enjoying the supremacy of God’s glory. In all things.”

- Matt Chandler (The Explicit Gospel)

Instead of crying out to God & asking Him to set us free from our chains, perhaps we should thank Him for already doing it on the Cross & simply live in His freedom.

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:32:50 -0400

youngrestlessandreformed: “You will never be more than a common Christian until you give up your...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:32:35 -0400

youngrestlessandreformed:

“You will never be more than a common Christian until you give up your own interest and cease defending yourself” — A. W. Tozer (via compassionatelyscarred)

tisthecirclekey: Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:31:38 -0400

tisthecirclekey:

Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:1, 2 ESV)

"When you understand the driving force behind everything, all of a sudden there’s an eternal amount..."

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:31:18 -0400

“When you understand the driving force behind everything, all of a sudden there’s an eternal amount of joy at our disposal, because everything we do is enlightened and enlivened by the endless glory of the eternal God.”

- Matt Chandler (The Explicit Gospel)

christianmeme: Happens all the time….

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:30:52 -0400

christianmeme:

Happens all the time….

"God delights in you. Because you’re awesome? No, because He’s awesome."

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:24:51 -0400

“God delights in you. Because you’re awesome? No, because He’s awesome.”

- Matt Chandler (via littlethingsaboutgod)

johnnyis: Here is another installment in the “Rick Warren’s...

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:15:44 -0400

johnnyis:

Here is another installment in the “Rick Warren’s Twitter Theology” series. This one is a little more blasphemous and a little more blatant.

If you choose to read Psalm 22, the first verse will sound a bit familiar:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Recognize that? It’s what Jesus said on the Cross (Matt. 27:45-46). Jesus quoted that Psalm in order to draw attention to the fact that it was being fulfilled in Him on the Cross. Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm, in which David prophesied of the Christ (remember how all the scriptures really do point to Jesus). Here are a few verses, with my commentary thrown in:

All who see me mock me;
    they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;
    let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Verses 7 and 8 bear witness of the Elders and Scribes who mocked Christ at His beatings (Matt. 26:28), and of the crowd who said “…He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if He desires him…” (Matt. 27:43).

I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
    it is melted within my breast;

Vs. 14 revealed the suffering of the Messiah to come, pointing to the spear that would pierce Christ’s side, and how from the wound blood and water would pour out (John 19:34).

For dogs encompass me;
    a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.

Here in verses 16-18 we see prophecy of (1) the Roman soldiers surrounding Christ at His death (‘dogs’ was a derogatory term for Gentiles); (2) the nature of the Crucifixion, which had not been invented at the time of the writing of the Psalms (Psalm 22 was written about 1000 years before Christ); and (3) the gambling that took place for Christ’s clothing (Matt. 27:35). This is an incredibly detailed description of the Passion of our Christ.

I hope you do some of your own research on Psalm 22. It’s a compelling Psalm, full of the riches of the Word of God. I also hope you see, even in this brief context, that this Psalm isn’t meant to condemn self-pity—in fact, Christ wasn’t speaking out of self-pity when He quoted this Psalm, nor does the Psalm prophesy of anything similar to self-pity. The Psalm prophesies of the victory that Christ would win for us on the Cross, and Christ quoted the Psalm in victory. Though He had become sin for us, and was experiencing the full wrath of God, it was “for the joy set before Him,” not for any sense of self-pity, that our Lord cried out.

"Unless God changes his stony heart, man is never willing or able to believe the Gospel. His natural..."

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 08:43:15 -0400

“Unless God changes his stony heart, man is never willing or able to believe the Gospel. His natural will is always bent toward sin.”

- Jason Stephens (via whollynew)

This is so evident. Every day!

(via learninganapauo)

onwander: No. 38 / Becca Clason

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 08:43:05 -0400

onwander:

No. 38 / Becca Clason

Do not judge others just because they sin differently than you do.

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 08:42:08 -0400

Photo

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 08:41:13 -0400