Fractured Saints - never beyond mending - a christian blog for the broken ones

This morning sunrise was amazing on the way into work and I just had to agree with Chris Tomlin. How great is our God.

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Where have you noticed God today?

As I ran at the gym this morning, I noticed advertisers must think 1 of 2 things about those people who are up at 5 in the morning. Either we need a better mattress or we need to get in shape. I have seen my share of workout and diet commercials, but no matter how many I see I know that having the resources doesn’t produce results, only using the resources you have will be of benefit.

Even though I know that is true I still buy things in hope that owning them will produce results. I wonder how many bowflexs and thigh masters are sitting in a closet gathering dust right now. I wonder what percentage of folks look like the guy in the bowflex commercials or have thighs off…..iron? And then there’s the shake weight, I’m sure that flew off the shelves for mothers day… never mind.

I feel the same way as a Christian here in America. I feel like we have the most Christian resources at our disposal between the book stores, tv & radio stations, and even our own music industry. But from what I hear we are also the most stagnant church, the slowest to help those in need, the slowest to love past our areas of comfort. So I guess my question is do we need more Christian resources or do we need less stuff and more Christ?

Faith (Scripture)

Faith (definition)

Faith (its personal meaning)

Faith is the belief in things unseen. It is provided by the Holy Spirit and is not something that we can control (basically I am saying that we cannot increase our own faith). In my life it has helped me to rely on the character of God when tough questions have come up that I didn’t find answers to. Faith is great at filling the gaps in our logic when our minds just can handle the jump.

What does faith mean to you? What effect does it have on you?

Whether you struggle with lust, food, adrenalin, pride or coveting other peoples stuff, you know the addictive power of sin. You also know that if you have struggled with a particular sin in you life that it didn’t start where it is now. For example food, I haven’t always eaten a whole pizza when I went to CiCi’s (please note this is just an example…. I actually normally eat more then that). No I started eating less then a piece many many years ago but that’s the way sinful nature and addiction is. I start small and the more I live in the struggle the more I just accept the little sins. I down play the seriousness of the sin by saying hey its only one piece (I’ve moved on from pizza now), but these little sins hold me captive and keep me in the struggle. They keep my chained up in sin, right where Satan wants me to be and right where Jesus wants me to be set free from.

So I ask, What little sins do you allow to hold you captive? Even if you see no effects from them in your life, what do you allow yourself that you know you shouldn’t? Two of the main things that come to mind in my life is speeding and downloading things illegally. Now that I have said them maybe you can help me figure out how these sins affect my life.

This past Sunday during the sermon our guest pastor, Hunter, said that a lot of people thing of different things when they think of the word “Grace”. So I thought it would be interesting to define this word and some others and get your thoughts on what they mean. Today we will talk about grace and later I will post some other words.

Grace (Scripture)

Grace (definition)

Grace (its personal meaning)

I thought Hunter hit the nail on the head with his definition of Grace. It is the undeserved justification of our sin. Jesus taking our punishment and giving us his righteousness. But it doesn’t stop there, because once we realize the power of the grace given to us it produces a reaction in us to it. We act out the things we are called to do in the gospel not out of guilt or obligation, but because of the over whelming generosity and love of the provider.

What does grace mean to you? What effect does it have on you?

James 5:16

For Mantown, Friday night Q asked us to read 2 Kings 6:8-18. We have been discussing spiritual warfare and the importance of things unseen. While James 5:16 is definitely a verse that’s easy to understand in the physical world, I think it’s importance is more profound when thought about in the spiritual context.

In our spiritual fight, we cannot do it alone. We have to have people come along side us to fight with us and support and protect us when we are week. Without confession though our brothers do not know of our battles, we strip them of their ability to intercede for us and their ability to care for us.

We need to seek out the prayers of our brothers in this battle so that we can be healed. Don’t we all want rest, support, nurturing, and healing? Then what holds us back from open honest fellowship with our brothers, our family, our church? I think one thing that holds me back and pushes me to confession (yes I know its an odd combination) is trying to be the cool christian. What holds you back?

The interesting thing about faith is that it is one of the areas in Christianity that we know that we cannot manifest or control. So when you are not “growing” at the rate that you think you should be, you cannot increase how much faith you have in God.

The realization that I came to today was all the other aspects that I try to control I shouldn’t. I should relinquish control and find comfort in my Savior’s control. Honestly though I’m not sure what that looks like, how that plays out. What does it look like to relinquish the controls in your life? What does it look like to rely on God for everything?

I am a Christian. Sure I don’t wear the t shirts, have the bumper stickers, hand out traks, or tote a Bible under my arm all the time. I mean come on its a brown leather Bible and I normally wear black, you cant do brown and black leather everyone knows that. Oh no I drink beer, smoke every once in a while, and even say words that my parents said were bad.

Here’s the conundrum. I strive as a Christian to not fall into the mold of a stereotypical christian, but in doing so I loose the resemblances that people associate with Christianity. I have been struggling lately with understanding how to show my faith without falling into the mold and it is harder then I thought. I have come down to the only thing that can set me apart from others is my overwhelming love and care for people, that I feel the Bible calls us to. That scares me though that’s a really big investment. Are there some way to work around this that I’m not aware to show my Christianity (maybe with a little less investment)(and oh yeah stay cool)?

It hit me today that everything America is selling me is to induce pride in me. I need a great job, so I can make a lot of money, so I can buy the nice car and build up the nice nest egg, all so I can improve my status, look better in front of others and rely only on myself. Check out what John says.

John 3:22-30

Note verse 30. It’s tough for me to understand what is involved in my decreasing. What do you think it looks like? How do you counteract the constant influx of building up yourself, the world throws at you?

I know I talk about food a lot, but I find it to be a great way to talk about things that are needed in life that we misuse. I could talk about sex, work, or money but those are much more touchy and private subjects in some Christian circles. So, I talk about food. Even when I’m not talking about food, I usually talk about food.

So I wanted to talk about getting what you want even when it isn’t what you need. Indulging in things that are unhealthy and/or hurt us. For this food example we will use Fast Food. If you want to apply it to sex you can pull from porn (or lusting after anything else you shouldn’t be). For work and money, you can pull from finding your status in how well your doing or what you own.

I love fast food. The low cost, the sodium content, the horrible quality meat with a little extra fat. You can mock me on this if you want to but I have a feeling most people are the same. Otherwise McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Burger King, and Wendy’s would have found it harder to make it through the last couple of years. All that is to say I love it and indulge in it even though I know its bad for me. So why do I do it? Do I value the rich flavor over the health aspects? Is there a part of me that wants to believe that in smaller amounts somehow this food is actually good for me (or maybe in small amounts it really isn’t bad)?

My problem with the idea of say “hey in small amounts it really isn’t bad” is that there are better things out there. There is a better way to meet my need for food (sex, status). And even though I see the world really isn’t happy (or joyful), I still buy into what they are selling as far as what will make me happy, what will make me satisfied, what will make me who I want to be.