Merry Christmas to ALL

It seems like the general message every Christmas season is to GIVE and LOVE. However, if we really thought about it, there are those people in the world that we just wouldn't want at our table for Christmas dinner. When I walk down the street on any given day, I can look at certain people and just shake my mind (that is, shake my head in disbelief in my thoughts). Some of the people in the world are just so lost and far away; it seems hopeless for some. But, let me tell you a story that I learned just a little while ago that changed my point-of-view on all of this.

It started with Adam and Eve, the first two beings ever created, and the first to sin. The moment they took bites of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, their eyes were opened to sin; a gap was formed between God, in his perfection and justice, and man, in his sin and darkness. The only thing that could save them now was a Savior. 

God made a secure promise to the serpent, the one who had tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit, that he would be destroyed in the end. After that moment, the human race began to hope for redemption, knowing that the promise would someday be fulfilled. 

Later, after Adam and Eve's children had children and their children had children and so on and so on, a man named Noah was chosen by God to build an ark to save himself and his family from a worldwide flood. But, Noah was still a flawed man; the Bible describes one of his least honorable moments in Genesis 9 when he got very drunk. But, the story continues on.

Noah's family line continued until it reached a man called Abram. He and his wife Sarai were both very old  and childless. God promised them that they would have many descendants. Instead of trusting their God, Abram and Sarai laughed; Sarai even decided that she was smarter than God and told Abram to sleep with her handmaiden, a woman who would actually be able to have kids. But, God had a better plan and Sarai gave birth to Isaac. 

Isaac had a few sons, Esau and Jacob. Jacob was a sneaky one. He managed to receive his older brother Esau's blessing AND birthrights, by lots of trickery. 

Judah, one of Jacob's sons, was most definitely one of those creepy people you'd never want at your Christmas dinner. He had twin sons called Perez and Zerah, but we discover through a barbaric, nasty account in Genesis 38 that the mother of these two sons was actually his daughter-in-law called Tamar, who was dressed up as a prostitute.  

Let me continue the story. Perez had several generations of children. Eventually, he had a son named Salmon. Salmon and a prostitute named Rahab (that name should sound familiar... hint: look up Joshua 2) had a son named Boaz.

Boaz did the unthinkable and married a Moabite named Ruth. Back in those days, foreigners were considered "unclean", so this was quite a controversial decision.

Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David.

David was a shepherd boy, the least of his brothers. He also made a lot of pretty bad mistakes in his lifetime, like the whole Bathsheba hoopla ( 2 Samuel 11).

His son, Solomon, wasn't any better. He used his power and money to do all sorts of things all for himself, like building personal gardens, hiring tons and tons of people to work for him, and all sorts of extravagances (Ecclesiastes 2:4-9). Solomon also started worshipping idols after being pressured by his foreign wives. 

All of these people were less-than-heroic, if you look at these faults. Yes, many of them did great things for God, but deep down inside, they were doubters, lusters, liars, drunkards, and overall, sinners. But, God had a plan. Solomon had a son, who had a son, who had a son, and eventually, one of Solomon's descendants, a man named Jacob, had a daughter named Mary!

So, in the end, God used the most unlikely people to carry out His perfect plan to redeem mankind. I think we can learn great lessons from this entire story. Anyone, and I mean, ANYONE, can be used by God. So, this Christmas, we shouldn't love and give to others just out of obligation or tradition, we should do it to be part of God's story, knowing that he has a plan for everyone, even those people you wouldn't want at your Christmas dinner. And this shouldn't just be during Christmastime either. Let's do it all year. 

*Blink* it's all gone

No, I'm not a Whovian, in case you're wondering. However, since I'm related to one and friends with many of them, I have sat through my share of Doctor Who episodes. The most memorable and famous episode that I got to see a few years ago is titled "Blink". In this show, a girl known as Sally Sparrow must get back the Doctor's phone box from some nasty alien-monster things known as "Weeping Angels". In a terrifying turn of events, Sally realizes that these angels that appear as "harmless" garden statues, can move when there aren't any living things looking at them. So, when Sally is looking at a Weeping Angel, it seems to just be a normal, lifeless statue. But the moment she even blinks, they have the opportunity to move. As you can imagine (and have probably seen), things get pretty intense as Sally tries to escape from these creatures, having to stare intensely at them to make sure they don't move and attack her. I think the scariest concept about the Weeping Angels is how quickly they move. If you so much as blink, it has the opportunity to suddenly be THERE, in front of your face, ready to attack you the moment you blink again.
 I've come to a reality about this concept: our lives are like a blink. If a Weeping Angel represents death, then I'll say it this way. Death seems so far away, but if you so much as blink or look away from it, it will suddenly be there, ready to take you away. No, I'm not saying that we should constantly think about our deaths; God has that all covered so we don't need to think twice about it. What we really need to do is to always realize the brevity of our lives because the end can appear suddenly, just like a Weeping Angel.
Earlier today, I learned about this idea first-handed when I stepped into an assisted living home to sing Christmas carols to the residents. The people surrounding me were so close to the end of their lives. They were barely dragging along, many of them struggling with physical handicaps and mental degradation. A thought suddenly hit me and caused my heart to skip a beat as I was in this facility. I am seventeen years old. Multiply that number by five and add a few years to it, and I am the age of the people in the nursing home. That really isn't that long from now. This feeling of being youthful forever that I'm currently feeling as a teenager will disappear, in the blink of an eye.
My most favorite book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes, really hits home with this concept.
"Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. Remember him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop. Remember him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.
 Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.
Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.
 Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it."
Ecclesiates 12:1-7 
That passage may seem depressing, yes. But it is SO powerful if we can actually take it into consideration. 
Next time you feel like falling into a pit of despair because of drama, members of the opposite sex, homework etc., just remember this passage. Why, you might ask?
Well, because it reminds us all that our lives are so brief and miniscule that we need to look to something greater than ourselves to find true purpose. And if your entire life is that small, how big is this little section of your entire life? It's like the size of an atom in the universe of eternity.
What will you do with your tiny gift of time?

"Teach me to number my days
And count every moment
Before it slips away
Take in all the colors
Before they fade to grey

I don't want to miss
Even just a second
More of this

It happens in a blink, it happens in a flash
It happens in the time it took to look back
I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time
What is it I've done with my life?

It happens in a blink
It happens in a blink

When it's all said and done
No one remembers
How far we have run
The only thing that matters
Is how we have loved

I don't want to miss
Even just a second
More of this

It happens in a blink, it happens in a flash
It happens in the time it took to look back
I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time
What is it I've done with my life?

It happens in a blink
It happens in a blink
It happens in a blink
It happens in a blink

Slow down
Slow down
Before today becomes
Our yesterday

Slow down
Slow down
Before today becomes
Our yesterday"
- Blink by Revive

Camazotz

We sit down. We listen to the announcements.  We stand up and sing some songs. We sit down again. We drop money into the offering plates. We listen to someone talk about the Bible. We nearly fall asleep, but rouse ourselves again when the closing prayer finally starts. We get into our cars. We drive home. This happens once a week. It's a routine. 

I think one of the greatest problems with Christianity is this habit we've gotten into of making our faith a routine. We pray before we eat, we go to church once or sometimes twice a week, we sometimes force our eyes open in the morning to "have a quiet time", and occasionally we actually pray a few times. God becomes obligation, not joy. 
However, King David addresses his feelings about God in Psalms and they seem to go completely against this:

"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere..." Psalm 84:10a

"As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
    When can I go and meet with God?"

Psalm 42:1-2

Do we really thirst for God that much? Or are we just content going through the motions, day after day after day? 

I thought of a very interesting illustration for this concept from one of the strangest but most wonderful books ever written: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. In this story, Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace, three children who are traveling through the universe to search for Meg and Charles Wallace's father, encounter a very strange planet known as Camazotz. The moment they set foot onto this planet, they instantly realize that something is amiss. As they walk down one of the streets, Meg, Calvin, and Charles notice that all of the houses are identical. There are children playing outside of these uniform houses, but there's something very strange about them all. It takes a few minutes before Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace realize that all of the children are bouncing their rubber balls in UNIFORM, all of them following the same rhythm. As they go into the depths of this planet, our heroes are in for a horrible surprise. They realize that everyone on Camazotz is controlled by a single power: a huge brain known as IT. Rather than controlling the people by sheer force, this mastermind (literally, a mind) sends a pulsating rhythm throughout the entire planet. Everyone on the planet sinks into mindless drifting, just following the rhythm at every second of their lives. If anyone breaks the routine of IT's pulses, they are immediately tortured and re-hypnotized to follow IT again. 

This planet is dark and lifeless as the people living on it continue to brainlessly move through the lives like zombies. 

Two things happen as the three children as visiting Camazotz ( if you don't like spoilers, stop reading at this point... once you finish the book, you can come back and read this post...) . First, Charles Wallace, who is a deep-thinking child genius, believes that he is perfectly able to resist IT, and in his pride, actually falls into hypnosis and becomes part of the rhythm. Next, Meg and Calvin are able to find Mr. Murray, Meg and Charles Wallace's father. 

So, let me pause from the summarizing for a second and relate this back to the original point. It is so easy to fall prey to the rhythm of routine. In the story, Meg and Calvin get VERY close to falling prey to IT's powers, just like Charles Wallace. As they are actually IT's headquarters in the presence of the massive brain, their entire respiratory systems and heartbeats suddenly line up with the pulsating rhythm. 

Another thing to think about is the fact that the people of Camazotz had no idea what they were missing by following this easy, rhythmic pattern. But, their enslavement to IT was getting rid of their freedom. 

In the same way, our freedom to love God and truly enjoy the mercy he has given to us will be gone if we start to follow a routine.

But how do we defeat this complacency?

Well, the solution can actually be found in A Wrinkle in Time.

Meg defeats IT and releases her brother through something rather unexpected: love. Out loud, she tells IT how much she loves Charles Wallace. She feels this love deep in her heart. In the end, this is what frees Charles Wallace from his bondage to the giant brain.

We can defeat complacency with love. If we begin to love God passionately, everything can change. But here's the thing, we have the inability to love God that much on our own. So, as strange as it sounds, we need to ask God to help us love Him. If we begin to do that, the routine fades away. Although we will still read our Bibles regularly and pray on a daily basis, it won't be a drill; it will be part of an ongoing relationship and conversation with God. And THAT'S a spectacular thing. 

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
John 10:10 

"This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break
At least I'll be feeling something

‘Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything 
Instead of going through the motions?

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind 
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something

‘Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

‘Cause I don't wanna go through the motions 
I don't wanna go one more day
Without your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking 
What if I had given everything 
Instead of going through the motions?"

~"The Motions" by Matthew West

The Paradox of Christianity

The never ending staircase, an example of a paradox

 par·a·dox  (pr-dks) n. 
1. A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true



For many of us, we have had the basis of Christianity drilled into our heads at a young age. The Bible stories, the message of salvation, and the little nuances, phrases, and such are part of our everyday lives. Even if you weren't brought up in a Christian household, church culture is probably quite familiar to you because of the way it has penetrated our society. So, if I were to tell you that Christianity is unbelievably complex and mind-blowing, you might just brush it off. That's what I've been doing over the past few months. For me, things outside of my realm of understanding are very uncomfortable. So, I've been trying a horrible experiment; unconsciously, in my mind, I've been trying to minimize my faith into a feasible, neat little box.
But then, I started studying the book of Revelation with a group of my friends and I realized that true Christianity goes much, much farther than simple one-worded answers and formulaic approaches to our problems.

Christianity is a paradox.

Let me explain two of the hugest paradoxes that my friends and I have realized:

1. Christianity embraces grace and truth.
"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John 1:17
 
Truth is defined as conformity to fact or actuality. In a Biblical context, this means that truth is conforming to the truths stated in the Bible. What are some of these truths?
"When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,  envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God."
Galatians 5:19-21
This whole passage explicitly states a truth: people who do any of these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Yet, God also addresses a seemingly opposite issue in the Bible: grace. 
Grace is defined as "mercy, clemency, pardon"
A very well-known Bible passage covers this idea:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9
So somehow, there are these two concepts, truth and grace, sitting side-by-side in our faith. Wow. 

2. Joy and Suffering
"You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit."
1 Thessalonians 1:6

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
James 1:2-4

We are called to make the harder choice and starve our sinful natures, yet somehow this suffering is joyous...? Yet another paradox.

 So, what's the point of this confusion?
This is why: we need to feel uncomfortable. The moment we try to put Christianity into a formula or a set of instructions, we are losing all of this messiness. And I think that the messiness is supposed to be there because it reminds us that God is so much bigger than our understanding. It also lets us know that we need to be dependent on God in making decisions that involve any of these paradoxes. 
Why?
Well, try to answer these questions:
what is the balance between truth and grace? Should we as the church be condemning to sinners in truth or loving to them in grace? HOW MUCH should we accept from them?
How much suffering do we need to undertake to discover true joy? Is it wrong to enjoy things that aren't involved in suffering? Where do we need to go to step out of our comfort zones so we can begin the self-denial process? 
These questions all begin to arise if we start to think through the two paradoxes. But how do we answer them?
We go to God. We learn about His character and His desires for us. I think if we begin to do this, we can go forward in the Christian life in a radically different way. Instead of approaching everything with a formula, we can conquer everything in a case-by-case manner, going to God for help and guidance at every turn, yet preserving the messiness and confusion so we can always remember that our own understanding just doesn't get it.
That's why we need a God that's so much greater. 


"Lord of empty space
You breathe and then create
Before the earth was made
You are

The king of every age
Outside of time and space
The heavens speak Your name
You are
You are

Lord of brilliant light
You separate the night
And everything inside
You are

The one who calms the seas
And every part of me
With just a word you speak
You are
You are

So I give You all of me for all You are
Here I am
Take me apart
Well take me apart
Yeah I give You all of me for all You are
Here I am
Take me apart
Well take me apart now."
~You Are by Tenth Avenue North



Word definitions from thefreedictionary.com and dictionary.com 

The Story of Your Life

I've been writing a book for months now. If you were to ask me what I do in my free time, I'd probably answer by telling you all about this book. My life now includes all sorts of nonsense involving this book; I drew out maps for it, wrote out pages of character development stuff, and spent hours and hours scrutinizing my book of baby names to figure out the perfect names for each of my characters. Yeah, I'm a geek- it's true. But as an author, that's what I do with my free time and I absolutely love it. My characters, my plot line, my settings, and everything else that are involved in creating my book mean quite a lot to me.
Did you know that God is an author too? If you don't believe me, read Hebrews 12:2, 
"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."(NASB)

But, what does God write about? YOU, of course! He is putting together the most magnificent story ever told right now, and you and I are some of the characters in it. Here are a few of the elements of His beautiful, spectacular story.

1. Setting- In a story, the setting is very important for making the mood for the entire tale. Look at the beauty around you. The blue sky. The green grass. The millions of different animals that live here on earth. You do realize that God invented all of this, right? Seriously, that's AMAZING. It sure creates a mood of awe when we realize that there is someone so much greater than ourselves out there. I think that's what God was intending to do. The Psalmist wrote about this too, 
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
Psalm 19:1

2. Characters- The characters are the heartbeat of a good story. Each one is developed uniquely and three-dimentionally if it's a good book. God develops us in this way too. He gives us each a special design, a unique personality, and a purpose to fulfill. So in other words, you matter. I think back to how much I meticulously design each of my little fictional characters. If I can spend that much time thinking through fiction, how much more does God think about you? The Psalmist said a great thing about this too:

"How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.  They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them;  they outnumber the grains of sand!" 

Psalm 139:17-18 (NLT)

¹⁸ 

Another thing about characters: I went to listen to a talk by an author who has published five fictional books and she said something very interesting: every character in a book has a piece of the author inside of it. I know this through personal experience since I tried to measure all of my characters against the four temperaments test (look back on past blogs if you don't know what this is) and almost every single one of them had quite a bit of melancholy in their personalities. Well, we're created in the "image of God", so this is absolutely true about each of us as well. We, as the characters, reflect the Author; all of us have the thumbprint of God on our hearts. That sure changes a lot about how we think of ourselves.

3. Plot

In a good book, there is always a conflict in the plot line. There is most definitely a big-picture conflict going on in our big story: the fight between good and evil, between heaven and hell, between Jesus and Satan. 

This sounds cliche, yes. So, what about the smaller conflicts that happen in the story, the battles in the great war? In a book, every skirmish is written in for some type of purpose, whether it be to bring the characters closer to victory, to develop their character, to put the right two characters together in the right place to develop a vital relationship or friendship, or to prepare the characters for a bigger conflict coming ahead. The author has to be very skillful in putting together the puzzle pieces of situations in just the right way to make the story happen correctly. It is the same way in our lives. Every conflict in our lives has been ordained by God for a specific purpose. Paul talks about this in Romans:

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28 (NLT)

4. Ending

I hate books with bad endings, really, I do. I am forever grateful that the huge story that we're part of has a guaranteed happy ending. How do I know this? Well, my favorite verse in my favorite book of the Bible says so, that's why...

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Ecclesiastes 3:11(NLT)

So, in the end, God is going to make everything beautiful. The other amazing thing about this verse is the fact that we have eternity set in our hearts. 

This reminds me of another literary term known as "foreshadowing". Foreshadowing is when the author puts hints of what is to come inside the storyline. Think about it: we each have foreshadowing put right inside our own hearts! God has planted the idea of an eternal life in heaven inside all of us. One of my teachers once talked about this in one of his devotions. He talked about how we see tiny glimpses of heaven throughout our lives- tiny flashes of the wonder and majesty of God. It's spectacular that the Creator of the universe would give us this foreshadowing gift. 

So, what does all of this mean for each of us? Well, for me personally, it's a huge comfort to know that there is a loving Author who is creating a wonderful story for me. Even when I'm in the middle of a terrible day or a difficult season of my life, I know that everything in the plot line of my life is somehow contributing to the beautiful ending. That's amazing.

  "...Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed."

Psalms 139:16

There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again
I'm awake in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over and over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
and pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now you're my only hope

Sing to me the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing
and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have for me over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands and pray
To be only yours
I pray to be only yours
I know now you're my only hope

I give You my destiny
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

~Only Hope by Switchfoot (sung by Mandy Moore too)

The Power of Influence

So, my Facebook has been buzzing about the VMA performances last week, specifically about one performer, Miley Cyrus. Now, I never actually saw a recording of that awful event (not do I want to), but I've read enough about it in the World Wide Web to realize that Miley's innocent days of Hannah Montana have been violently pulverized into non-existence. People seriously haven't stopped talking about her raunchy performance, so I began to think about it a little bit too.

I came to realize something very important that we can learn from Miley: the power of influence. Even though none of us may realize it, we have huge influence. Even though we don't sell hits on iTunes or appear on national television, we have direct influence on the people all around us. 

I actually learned this fact last year. While I was at school one day, I saw one of the new 7th graders sitting by herself in study hall. Now, before I continue, you have to understand the layout of my school. It is set up with 7th grade being the beginning of middle school. When you move from 6th grade to 7th grade at my school, you go to a completely different floor in the building where you are grouped with everyone from 7th grade to 12th grade. So essentially, the leap into middle school makes you feel like a tiny minnow in a sea of whales (my random analogy). I remembered experiencing this drastic leap, so when I saw this 7th grader, I decided to go and talk to her for a while. She was a nice kid, and we talked for about fifteen minutes until I had to leave. I didn't think anything of this conversation until about a day later when my mom told me that this 7th grader's mom had talked to her. The 7th grader's mom said that her daughter was SO excited that I had come to talk to her. She even came home that day using my full name and saying, "she actually talked to me!" 

I was so shocked. Just the fact that me, a normal junior in high school, had stopped to talk to the 7th grader made a huge difference to her. It made me realize that every little thing I do and every choice I make is being watched by someone and could even be mimicked by someone who looks up to me. Pretty scary, isn't it? 

The Bible backs up this point very clearly too. I'm sure you know this verse very well, but read it again anyway, thinking about it in the context I just discussed:

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."

1Timothy 4:12

It's all about influence. 

And if you want to see the example of a bad influence, you can always look back to our friend Miley. In the end, the key to having a good influence is to have a good reputation. See, I realized something. Despite all of the good values and concepts Miley communicated through her Hannah Montana days, I'll bet that in years to come, the only thing people will remember about her is the negative: this MTV performance and the awful things to follow.

It reminds me of a saying that a fabulous teacher and role model of mine said once,

"It takes years to build a good reputation. It only takes a moment to make a bad one."

Think about that for a second. Your influence and reputation can be changed that quickly. In just a moment- the snap of a camera, a step outside your room after choosing what to wear, the click of a button on the Internet, a single word out of your mouth, and your entire reputation can be ruined and your influence changed from good to bad.

What will you do with your power of influence: use it for good or for bad? 

Snacks and Spiritual Leaders

Walk through the grocery store on any given day and you're bound to see all sorts of grandiose claims.

"No Trans Fat"

"All-Natural Ingredients"

"Low Fat"

"Gluten-Free"

"No High Fructose Corn Syrup"

etc. etc. etc.

However, many hidden secrets can be found if you flip over that box and begin to wade through the lengthy list of ingredients. For example, several years ago, my mom discovered the folly of eating trans fats and she immediately trained my brother and I to be on the lookout for the dreaded fat whenever we walked into the supermarket. Trans fat was sneaky when it was put on the back of boxes; it had a secret identity to hide its true intent to DESTROY THE HUMAN RACE (insert dramatic music here). Its real name... partially hydrogenated oil. 

 So as a little 9-year old homeschooler, I became a pro at zooming through the lists of unpronounceable ingredients listed on the back of cracker boxes and cake mixes to find the villain of all oils. As I became a detective for finding partially hydrogenated oils, I realized something very shocking indeed; some of the boxes would claim to have "zero grams of trans fat" on the front of the box but have trans fats in the ingredients on the back! Then, I would figure out that this was simply because there wasn't enough partially hydrogenated oil in a serving to add up to a gram- a pretty cheap way to cheat people.  

As I've gotten older and continued to shop, I have realized that this paradox can be found in many other forms, such as the claim that Lucky Charms cereal helps kids grow stronger because it has "whole grains" in it. Basically, they're trying to say that their cereal is healthy simply because they add those little cat food-looking things amongst the rainbow marshmallows (and most kids don't eat the kitty kibble anyway...). Even the healthiest-looking snack that you can find at Whole Foods is bound to have something that can't be very good for you. Even an all-natural snack that contains "cane sugar" is still not the best for you to eat (even though it may be better than eating a bunch of artificial nonsense). Ultimately, the only food that is really trustworthy to be the healthiest of them all is... *drumroll*... FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

That's right. Go ahead and think through all of the other foods that you could be eating and see if you can find another food that is guaranteed to be 100% good for your health. It's hard to think of anything.

So, now I'm going to tell you why I just spent several paragraphs discussing Lucky Charms and partially hydrogenated oils. It all stemmed from an article I discovered on Facebook several weeks ago. This particular article was actually written to discredit the teachings of one of my favorite speakers, Joyce Meyer. It basically went through many things that she has said and discussed why they are against the Bible. While this article was rather shocking for me, it also opened my eyes to something that we Christians need to be aware of. We need to practice discernment when deciding what to believe. 

1 John 4:1 talks about this concept. It says,

"Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world."

When I bring up this verse, I'm not saying that Joyce Meyer, or anyone else for that matter, is necessarily a "false prophet". I just bring it up because it makes me think a lot and ask myself this important question: Am I actually testing everything I hear from my pastors and spiritual leaders, or am I just blindly absorbing everything they say?

Back to the unhealthy food examples, I like to think of secondary sources such as pastors and teachers as those snacks put into boxes; although they have lots of good things to say that stem from their faiths, there are also bound to be those things in them that are not good. The truth is, everyone here on earth is a sinner. All spiritual leaders are sinners too, so if we are blindly consuming every single thing they say without thoroughly scanning the "ingredient list" of their doctrine, we could be making a big mistake by believing the wrong concepts. Even blindly absorbing this blog is a bad idea. I'm a sinner too, you know. But, how do you test what these leaders are saying? 

Isaiah 8:20a tells us,

"Look to God's instructions and teachings!" 

That's it. You take everything your pastor or teacher says and weigh it to "God's instructions and teachings", also known as the Bible. I love it when a speaker backs up his or her points with LOTS AND LOTS of scripture, because that's a telltale sign that the ideas he or she is discussing really did stem from the Bible. Back to the food example again, if secondary sources such as pastors and teachers are like those snacks in the boxes, the Bible, the primary source, is like fruits and vegetables. It is the only way to find absolute truth. So, in order to have a healthy "diet" of teachings, we need to get daily dosage of the purest, healthiest food out there. Ultimately, by studying the Bible, we will be able to build an understanding of God's character and how he feels about us. With this basis of understanding, we will be able to move forward and test every spiritual leader that we hear. Then, we will truly receive impact from these spiritual leaders by picking out what we know is true and applying it to our lives. Plus, if you are thoroughly analyzing everything your pastor says in comparison to the concepts from God's word, I'll bet you won't be tempted to fall asleep in church anymore...