Jealousy

Hi all,

This week I felt writing my blog post on jealousy. This is because I have noticed how prevalent it has become in our culture and society, whether that be directly or indirectly.

By this I mean these kinds of posts:







Yup. We've all seen them...

There is no problem with having goals, but see, to me, these kinds of posts show that you aren't satisfied with what God has already given you.

This is going against what the Bible tells us in Hebrews 13:5.

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.""

When we are content, we have softer heart, allowing room for Jesus to heal us. We are reminded of this in Matthew 13:15.

For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'

Right now, when we post these "goals" posts, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment and seeking wholeness in worldly things. In turn, we should seek Him, and good things will come. The Bible tells us in Romans 8:28.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

So, that's my challenge this week. Instead of spending that time looking through these copious amounts of "goals" posts, let's crack open our Bible and spend some time with Jesus. :D

Feel free to comment, tweet me @sinkinginhisgrace8, or direct message me on Twitter at anytime! 

-C.R.

Friendship

Hi all,

I felt led to write about friendship today due to some stuff that recently happened in my life over the past couple days. This blog is not meant to be a place for me to complain and grumble about my life, so I won't go into details.

However, I do want to blog about the idea of a Christian friendship.

I personally believe that in order to have the friends you want... you need to be that kind of friend.

So what might that look like?

Well, I believe that a Christian friend should be:

Someone who loves you unconditionally and trusts you completely.

We see this in Proverbs 17:17.

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

 And then again in Proverbs 18:24.

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

 This is important to recognize because we need to realize to be a friend like we are called to be... we need to love our friends even through the rough times. When the going gets tough, the people that stick around... those are your true friends.

It would also look like someone who is there, but is willing to call you out on your crap.

We see this in Proverbs 27:6.

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

 I think this is an important to recognize. This is because I have come to realize that our society and culture likes to dismiss any criticism. We prefer things to be sugar-coated. But does that really get us anywhere? I don't know about you, but I have told my two best friends that I want them to call me on my crap. I have also told them I will call them on your crap. As long as it's from a place of love and compassion instead of bitterness and hate, I really don't see any issues with it.

We need to realize that in order to have good, strong, Christian friendships, we need to be a good Christian friend. We need to recognize our flaws and make them become our strengths. We need to realize that sometimes it is okay to get called out on our crap. We need to see that how someone behaves during the rough times that... that's what matters.

I know I am working on this myself constantly. So my challenge to you is, well, to do the same.

Feel free to leave a comment, tweet me @sinkinginhisgrace8, or direct message me on Twitter anytime!

-C.R.

Faith

Hi all,

So, this is week I was praying about what I should write my next blog post on, and I felt led to blog about faith.

I feel like this a word that our culture & society toss around lightly... like we do with the word "love". And I just want to look at WHAT faith really is biblically. Because I know that I'll hear, you are so faithful to God... or have more faith in His plans for you!

The classic, go-to verse we gravitate toward is Hebrews 11:1.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

 This verse, in my opinion, speaks volumes because I know for sure I struggle with being sure of what I do not see. I like results. I'm an inpatient person. I like concrete answers.

I was scrolling through Facebook a while back, and this picture came up...



In my opinion, there could not be a better illustration to show faith...

It's like, "Yeah, Jesus, I trust you and everything... but just to be sure... I'm gonna wear my floaties."

I don't know about you all, but I know I definitely catch myself saying that at times.

Faith, to me, is when we get rid of those floaties and give it ALL to Him!

I've found that is difficult to do, but when you do, it's totally worth it because you grow SO much in your relationship with Him.

So yeah. Try your absolute best to get rid of those floaties... one by one... and give it all over to Him...  We can do it together.

Remember, there is no problem too big or too small for Jesus.

Feel free to leave a comment, tweet me @sinkinginhisgrace8, or direct message me on Twitter anytime!

-C.R.

Homosexuality

Hi all,

I am warning you now, and I am guessing you can tell by the title of this post, that this blog post is going to be on a rather controversial topic in today's society.

I want to start this blog post off with this video that I came across because of a YouTube video one of my good friends tweeted.

 WARNING: THIS MIGHT BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS! WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK!


When I first watched that video, and even watching it now, I am gutted. My heart is pained for this young man. He should not be having to go through this.

So here are my thoughts:

The Bible does say that homosexuality is a sin, but I just want to put 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 out there:

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adultery, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

 What's interesting about this verse is that many Christians will use this verse to support their belief against homosexuality. However, sadly, many of them neglect to mention the 7 other types of people who this verse says will not inherit the kingdom of God. Isn't that sad?

People who use abusive language aren't going to inherit the kingdom of God.

People who are greedy aren't going to inherit the kingdom of God.

People who have committed adultery aren't going to inherit the kingdom of God.

Yet, do we see Christians bashing these people? No. Not usually, at least.

So why do they bash people who struggle with homosexuality?

I know that there are other verses out there that God explicitly condemns homosexuality, but guess what? There are verses where He condemns other sins too.

For example, let's look at Mark 7:21-23:

"For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come-- sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person."

 How about pride?

"The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished."

 Nobody is free of sin. We are all sinners; we're born that way.

Romans 3:23 says:

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

 As I am typing this, I want to say that because we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that we are in no way in the place to judge. There is a problem I have noticed, and that is, that our society and our culture has made some sins "worse" than others. When in reality, all sin looks the same to God.

I want to offer a couple Bible verses about judging now:

Matthew 7: 1-3

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?"

 John 8:7

"When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Lastly, I just want to say this too. As Christians, we are called to follow Christ-- to grow to be more like Him the best we possibly can.

I don't know about you, but I have never seen Jesus treat people who are far from Him the way our society and culture does.

In fact, He does quite the opposite. He pursues them.

Mark 2:13-17 is just one of the places in the Bible where we can see this:

"Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collectors booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

The most important thing to realize that Jesus loves us despite our sins. He loves us so much that He DIED for us. He doesn't ever say that you are too far from God. Instead, He says, "I love you anyway."

And that is what I pray all Christians will come to realize.

Instead of condemning the people you come in contact with, try saying, "I love you anyway."

Because that's what Jesus does, and it's what we should do as followers of Him.

I also feel it is important to mention this as well:

I believe with all my heart that homosexuality is sin just as much as lying and everything else is. We can all say yes to Jesus and accept his free gift of salvation. However, through my own experience I have realized, that the closer you grow to Him and walk closely with Him in your life, you are going want to leave that sinful life behind. Sure, you will still struggle, but you are going to want to leave it behind. You will realize that His plans for you are SO much more than you could ever imagine and that will become what you desire.

Feel free to leave a comment, tweet me @sinkingingrace8, or direct message me on Twitter anytime!

-C.R.

Stress

Hi all,

After my first post last week, I honestly was not sure what my next post was going to be about. I knew I wanted to blog, I just was not sure on what exactly. 

However, when Monday came around, it became clear to me on what exactly this post needed to be about. 

As the semester is now winding down, I had been given a slew of assignments, and I truly thought I was about to reach my breaking point. I had 4 big assignments due in the time span of 3 days. I did not know what I was going to do. 

I was stressed.

I walked into my Psychology class, which was my last class for the day, frantically trying to plan out how I was going to get all of this work done. I was shaking, and my heart was racing.

But then, my Psychology professor opened up the class by saying that due to unforeseen circumstances, our paper's due date was being postponed until Friday.

The best way to describe how I felt at that moment is that I was just overwhelming relieved. 

There is no way to explain this, and I just know it was Jesus reminding me exactly HOW much He is there for me. I hadn't even turned to Him about this problem yet. It was so small; I thought I could handle it all on my own.

He wanted to carry the burden for me-- just like He did on the cross.

However, after processing it all, I now believe that this was Jesus reminding He will handle what we think are small problems the same way He handles what we think are big problems. 

Is that not amazing?

During my quiet time, I was reminded of three verses that always have a way to comfort me when I am stressed. 

The first is John 14:1.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me."

The next is John 16:33.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

And finally, the last verse is Philippians 4:6.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

So, if you are stressed, I cannot promise you such an intervention as the one I experienced, but I can promise you that if you give it to Him that you will feel better. 

Thanks Jesus for that reminder. I truly needed it.

Feel free to leave a comment, tweet me @sinkingingrace8, or direct message me on Twitter anytime!

-C.R.

Welcome!

Hey there.

Thank you so much for checking out my blog. I am new at this. I mean, I have had a blog before, but it did not really go anywhere because there was no real focus on content.

I have decided that I wanted to try my hand at blogging again; the idea of one is just extremely appealing to me.

I am going to try my best to update regularly, but there are no promises there as I am currently a college student that is always struggling for time.

As of right now, my blog is going to be focused on following Jesus. I chose to name this blog, Sinking in His Grace, because first of all it is inspired from a line from "How He Loves" by David Crowder Band that still speaks volumes to me even to this day. Secondly, I think it is a great metaphor for the goal of this blog-- growing closer to Jesus.

Again, thank you so much for looking at this little post. It means the world to me.

Here's to blogging and Jesus!

C.R.
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