Purpose

Purpose. The fuel in the engine, the dream in the distance. Purpose is the circumference of the entire journey. It will give you energy. Often times it's created out of where you've been and it becomes who you are. Purpose is the ingredient in life that is as vital as air and water. Without it, all life is in vain. One quote worth sharing really attests to this. It's by someone relatively famous, you may have heard her name before. She was known as Joan of Arc. (ok, so I really hope you actually do know who she is). :)

As she was being burned alive... these were her dying words:

"Every man gives his life for what he believes, and every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, and yet they give their lives to that little or nothing. One life is all we have. We live it and it's gone. But to live without belief is more terrible than dying. Even more terrible than dying young."

A lot of people have it backwards. I have most of my life too. People tend to see purpose as a goal worth accomplishing; a task needing to be fulfilled. Rather, as Christians, than seeing purpose as a victory we are working from, we see it as something we are working towards.

As I have the view that all people will be saved, I have the belief that victory is done. Christ already won, humanity is already saved, and God's will is already fulfilled. This idea of living with purpose comes through in many lights. From an evangelism perspective, it comes through in that since the victory is already won, I no longer evangelize in hope that I will be successful, knowing I have a limited amount of time. I evangelize knowing I will be successful because God has already won! I am now free to be His hands and feet and share His love with those around. Work from Jesus' victory, rather than for it.

Another light to shed this view in, is the idea that I can now live with a purpose that extends beyond this life. Use the victory we have in Jesus to create an eternal legacy that will live on beyond this world, rather than waiting to be raptured and escape this world. Instead of waiting to escape, I labor, with God, in the world He's given us, to fulfill the plan that is already decidedly complete. What a wonderful life! What a wonderful joy! What a wonderful God.

With a 3000ft view, then, of living with purpose, I delve deeper. How does this look? What plans for me does God have to manifest this? Where can I show His love and glory? How can I play a part in bringing His justice? This is where the journey lies.

Whatever your view, I know you must believe you have a purpose. Here is the challenge. Flip your view 180 degrees. Instead of working for victory, realize that you already have salvation, and a sovereign, loving God. Realize that no matter what, you are going to spend eternity with the Savior you love. And work from that victory to create a life that makes sense in the light of eternity. Don't work for victory. Work from it.

I must thank my friend and mentor Brad for helping me grab ahold of that concept. It is definitely a paradigm shift. I also found Rob Bell's new book "Love Wins" very encouraging in that light. He talks about living with that kind of a purpose in a way that brings so much clarity and joy to life.

In His love, I am learning and growing, and working from victory.
Rebekah

Thankfulness

Ok, this is short and simple. A sentiment to share. When I'm stressed, bitter, frustrated, and tired, I am so thankful God brings the right people at the right time.

Got coffee today with one of my most prominent mentor figures. He took the time to just listen to me and sew into me and counsel me. Lord knows I needed it!!!!

When you're tired just think about those people who encourage you and do so much for you. Reach out to them if you have to. God gave us each other to uplift and support.

I am so thankful.

Sharing Love

Leviticus:17-18:
"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD."


Over and over in the Bible we see a concept of loving each other. A simple concept, but one that is often forgotten. In our world today, we see bullying of all sorts, we see every kind of injustice, sin prevails around every turn. And love, it seems, is forgotten. It starts young, very young, with kindergarteners even, not sharing toys, calling names, etc. All our lives we grow up victims of name calling, teasing, insults, and more. So why, as we get older, do we tend to become a part of it instead of remember how it hurt and rise against it?

Here is an example. Growing up, I loved Hilary Duff. She was amazing! I had her pictures on my wall, listened to her music all the time, and just adored her. I was her biggest fan! I was also very distraught. I had friends and acquaintances who continually bashed her. Said terrible things about her, and intimidated me by telling me how stupid it was to like her. It caused many, many tears. I remember crying to my mom so many nights about how mean everyone was, and it wasn't fair that they should tell me I can't like her. That sadness turned into anger, and I became the fiercest defender of why she was good and how everyone who said she wasn't was dumb for not understanding. This lasted a good two or so years. Now while you may say I should have controlled my anger and not let it get to me, when I was 14 and everyone else was 16, 17, and 18, it seemed logical and right to me to model after their examples by "dissing" on them the way they "dissed" on my favorite Hilary Duff.

All in all, what came out of that is that I have a sympathy for fans of a younger age. These days I will not bash on anyone for who or what they like. We all have different preferences, right?

Now on that note, I think it's important for everyone to reflect on our words and actions daily. Ask yourself, "Is what I'm doing, saying, or posting, going to hurt anyone? Even if I don't think it will, could it? Would there be a reason for it?" If it could hurt, then it should not be spoken. Encouraging words uplift and share love, and never have the possibility to hurt. With the exception of a mentor or guardian giving corrective criticism as allowed, those of us who are out of place to speak ill never should.

Maybe this is a soap box, but all I know is it makes me so terribly sad to see people hurt over unnecessary words. In addition, I have noticed that there are people that believe in a literal, eternal hell, who make jokes about hell or people in it. How dare you. If you honestly believe there are people who will be tortured for eternity, how can you possibly joke about it or find any humor in it whatsoever?

There is a reason we don't make jokes about jews in concentration camps from the holocaust. When a terror is real it is never a joking matter.

Choose your words wisely. Find ways to uplift and encourage one another, and abandon anything that is counter to that. What other purpose have our words?

Proverbs 18:21:
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."


Your words have the power to destroy, or bring to life. Which will you choose?

As always I speak in His love.
Rebekah

Learning to Love

Isaiah 41:26:
Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.


Romans 3:10:
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:


There is none righteous. Not a one. So why is it, that as Christians, we tend to see others living in great sin, and think less of them? Do you ever see a family who each of them looks stoned, dirty, maybe they cuss a lot, and present themselves poorly? The natural reaction of course is "wow...I feel bad for those kids. What a sad, dirty family." then proceed to justify the remark (or thought) with "they need Jesus."

Well, let me tell you, today I learned quite the lesson! I met a family like that. And to be honest, I am ashamed to say I sort of brushed them off. I wasn't in the mood to deal with "that type." I sure asked God to do a work on my heart though, when I found them to be strong Christians, as the lady proceeded to tell her testimony. At first I was annoyed, see I thought she was just complaining. I thought she was someone who just thought the whole world was against her and had to complain about her life. As she talked though, I realize how her story lead in to her testimony, of how she was brought to have a relationship with the Lord! At that moment I was ashamed. I asked the Holy Spirit to convict my heart. To help me love. I was reminded that we cannot judge. We cannot know a person's heart. And we have no grounds to ever believe God loves us more, or we are more worthy. There is none righteous. Not a one. We all need to be reminded of that sometimes.

So as I move from today into tomorrow, I pray that the Holy Spirit will really convict my heart and help me love. Sometimes I don't feel like I love other people. Sometimes I have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that God can love "that person" as much as me!! To be honest, sometimes I think that "I'm God's daughter! I'm a Daddy's girl! He has a special love for me!" But the truth is, we are all precious in His eyes. And God does have an incredible love and desire for me, but no more than for everyone else.

Think you can ask the Holy Spirit to help you learn to love?

Think on these things...
Rebekah

The Hot and the Cold

Has anyone else noticed something lately?

I've noticed that recently, God has been separating the lukewarms into either hot or cold. People that have long been a "Sunday Christian" if you will, are suddenly either developing a strong passion for God, or falling away from Christianity completely. I don't know what God is doing here, but it has stuck me.

As always, I turn to scripture. I don't have much discernment here as of yet, but I put up scripture anyways, perhaps if God grants me discernment regarding what's going on next, I will be able to fall back on these verses.

Psalm 39:3:
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,


Revelation 3:15-16:
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.


Genesis 8:22:
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.


Matthew 24:12:
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.


Matthew 25:32:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats


2 Corinthians 6:17:
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.


Jude 1:19:
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

Alright, so maybe these verses aren't all in the context of the hot and cold separating. Fair enough. However, I love gathering verses with similar words and themes. You never know what connections might manifest.

Or maybe I'm just reading into nothing. Still, God is doing something...(when is He not?) and I thought it worth pointing out.

Are you becoming hot, or cold?

His Mercy Endureth For Ever

"His mercy endureth for ever."

41 times in the King James Version these words appear. Clearly, God wants us to know His mercy endures for ever. What does this imply though? Short answer, that His mercy endures for "ever."

A topic of great debate among the controversy of an eternal hell or a restorative fire is the meaning of ever and forever. Of course, it would suffice to examine every time these words appear and deduct the true meaning through context. For some, however, it is just not enough. Perhaps it seems too far fetched. Perhaps it's thought the term forever can have multiple meanings. I of course cannot know what would cause a person to reject context and deductive reasoning. Here, though, I see a simple point to be raised.

Mercy implies sin. Like compassion, grace, and forgiveness, there can be no mercy without sin. So if His mercy endures forever, does not also sin? Of course the objection raised to this point would be that once He has mercy on someone, it extends forever, and He never "takes back" His mercy or "unforgives" someone. That the mercy He shows on someone lasts forever. There is truth in saying that no one will ever be unforgiven. This is not, however, because God consistently has mercy to keep up with the memory of the sin like a never-ending neck-and-neck race. No, sins are never unforgiven because God cannot unforgive. A simple reason is because when He forgives He also forgets (Heb. 8:12). A forgotten sin does not require a continuation of mercy. A forgotten sin is vanished completely and finally. The other point is because sin is reckoned as debt. The only way to owe more money once a debt has been payed is to incur more debt. For God to forgive and forget the debt we owe Him means the only way He can possibly forgive again is if we incur more debt. So once again, mercy implies sin.

In order for God's mercy to endure forever, sin must also endure forever. God cannot forgive what does not exist. So the question to be begged is how long is for ever?

Sin ends, therefore mercy and forgiveness end. So for ever must also end. Perhaps this is why Jonah's time in the belly of the whale ended. For we see:

"I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God." -Jonah 2:6 KJV

The Hebrew word for "ever" in Jonah 2:6 and 2 Chronicles 7:3 ("His mercy endureth for ever") is the same word.

עולם
'Owlam
Translated here as "ever."


And thus we rely on scripture.


In His love,
Rebekah

It Starts in the Heart

While I believe a solid theological understanding must be first and foremost rooted in scripture, I also believe our beliefs are significantly influenced by our emotions, and that it is not out of line to really examine and look at those. We should ask ourselves why things bother us, and why others don't. If God did indeed write His law on our hearts, and He does indeed dwell in us, then it makes sense that our spirit would have a sense of His character. So I start with some questions, rooted in a combination of emotion and logic, and answered through scripture.

The first things I would like to ask, is a rhetorical question that has always haunted me, and has only been reconciled by my belief in God's plan for the salvation of all mankind.

If anyone I had ever known, a friend, colleague, family member, even acquaintance, had died and gone to hell for eternity because I lacked the courage to speak up, could I live with myself? Could I live an eternity with the thought that their blood would forever be on my hands? That every moment they suffered, they would remember me as the one who was too shy to share? That they would curse my name for all eternity. Could I live with myself? Could you? If I believed there would really be an endless suffering in the torture chamber of hell, I would probably hate myself for not being bold enough. If it sounds judgmental to say this, forgive me, but I truly do not know how anyone can live with themselves, if they know there is even one person they could have saved.

Another question I would like to ask regarding evangelism. For anyone with the right heart can be evangelical regardless of his theological beliefs. Let me ask this though: Out of what motive do you evangelize? Is it love, or desperation? Have you ever driven down the road and seen "Turn or Burn" signs, or threats of hell from protestors? How does that make you feel? Personally, I feel a great sympathy. When you believe there is only a blink of an eye in comparison with the eternity that lies ahead, what choice do you have but to evangelize out of desperation? There isn't time for love when a person could die at any time. There is only a hectic, desperate attempt to get them before it's too late. Is that what we are called to? Is that the good news of the gospel? Turn or burn? Really? See I believe that when you have the good news that everyone will be saved, that God loves everyone, and someday He will reconcile each to Himself, you can proclaim with love and joy the wonderful, breathtaking plan of the Father for those He loves so very much. Then people don't feel pushed. They feel loved. Isn't love that much more effective?

And one final question that I wrestle with, for you to chew on. Simply asked, how could I worship a God that could not save me from myself? If God must bow down to my choice, or accept my stubbornness, and either could not, or refused to, save me from my choice, how can I worship Him? If I knew I was saved because of my faith, and that while His grace made it possible, my faith made it real, would I not just worship myself? Would I not become my own God? No you say, for it is a cooperative effort. Ok then, would I just not worship at all, because God and I came to a mutual agreement, and shook hands on the business deal of Jesus' blood for my salvation? I believe that Jesus' blood was the price, and God's love was the will. I am not saved because I choose to be. I am saved because God, in His infinite glory and grace and love, called me out of death into life. Paul says we are spiritually dead. I, in my death, did not save myself and pull myself out of the grave. Jesus invaded my life and made it impossible for me to deny Him. And so He will for everyone in His own time.

So now I ask you these questions. Chew on them, answer them. Can you live with blood on your hands? If not, will your attempt to evangelize be so desperate it will lose love? And finally, do you worship the God whom you believe just sat back and watched, hoping you would choose salvation? Or do you worship a God who would not relent until He had you?

Think on it. Pray on it. Our beliefs start in our heart. Check your heart, and as we delve into theology we will build on scripture. But first, check your heart. I have too.

In His love,
Rebekah