Fine Linen

Revelation 19:8 says, "It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure - for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints." Two things about this verse intrigue me: 1) Our righteousness, everything we do on this earth for the glory of God, is our preparation for how we will present ourselves before Him on that day. As a bride eagerly prepares herself and clothes herself in beauty on the morning of her wedding, so should we eagerly seek after righteousness. Our righteous ...

There's only one way they'll come around, and it's love.

“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.” - Napoleon Bonapa ...

A Real Man

"What makes you a man is being defined by who you say you are in Christ. If you have Christ, you have all that you need. Everything that you need is bound up in the resurrected Savior! Manning up is not just managing your sexual temptation. It's not just managing your sin. That's not what it means to be a man; because you can try harder, and you can do better, and you can hang on longer. That's not manning up. Manning up is our ability to lay down all of our effort and all of our trying and ...

Why do you call me good?

Often, we tend to overuse the word good. We associate the word good with how we're doing or how the weather is in April. But by definition, good is that which is morally right; righteousness. I have realized (after conversation with a friend) that to call someone a "good guy" apart from mentioning his worth and perfection through Christ (if he is saved) is incorrect. All of us are evil. "There is no one righteous, no not one." Christ is the one who gives us life. He is the one who makes us ...

Come

So, a while back I was reading Isaiah 55, and the words just really resounded with me. God is our living water, and if we forget that, we will be just like those who spend money on bread that does not satisfy their hunger. Today, I read over the passage again, and found it to be just as amazing, so I figured it might be time to record the song I wrote when I read it the first time. Enjoy.  ...

This Life I Live, I Live for the Glory of God

Practically every morning, I wake up with this reminder. Not because I'm a super-righteous person, but because I'm a desperate man, who needs the hope that God gives. If my life is not lived for God, then it is purposeless, hopeless, and meaningless. I see so many people from day to day that seek hope in so many wrong places, and it's hard to not feel depressed with all the hopelessness that seems to permeate this campus. For them to share in the hope that I have would be glorious. But how will ...

Church Signs

So, as I was driving to get coffee with my dad after basketball this morning, I couldn't help but notice all of the "creative" messages some churches had on their signs. I feel that some of them were less than legitimate, so here is my humorous and somewhat serious critique. First sign: "Free Coffee, Everlasting Life: Benefits of Membership." 1. It really bothers me that they only give free coffee to their members. I mean, how would you feel walking into a church and having to pay for coffee while ...

I can do nothing, and I'm content with that

God is faithful when I am not. He persists when I give up. That about sums up the last 2-3 weeks for me. I think it would be reasonable to say that, in the short time of those few weeks, I had more anxiety and doubts about faith in my life than I have had in the past year or even two years combined. I was utterly miserable at points, and I definitely couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, I felt as though the darkness would be unending; that I would just have to live with my anxiousness ...

Leadership

To start, it's been way too long since I've posted, and hopefully as this next semester starts up, I can get back into a rhythm of posting every so often. I know in my life it is so encouraging to read other people's blogs, and I want to be able to share with and encourage others in the same way. I'm sitting in a hallway at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City at the National Worship Leaders' Conference. On a rather humorous note - I read a post from a live twitter feed ...

Let's put some salt in this tasteless world.

So I've recently started doing an in-depth study of Romans, and today, while reading Chapter 2, God really hit me with some tough stuff. In the latter part of the chapter, Paul condemns the Jews for the way they've been acting. The reason? Hypocrisy. Shameless, God-dishonoring hypocrisy. It would have been easy to just look at the passage and think, "Man, those Jews in Rome were screwed up," instead of actually trying to apply it to my life. But God had some stuff he wanted to teach me, so here's ...

Help Me Give It All

So, this last weekend was pretty great. Getting to hang out with Aaron and everybody else was the highlight of my year so far. The parts of Impact that I sat in on really changed some perspectives of mine, and Aaron and my late-night talks were irreplaceable, as usual (and also him asking me to be his best man - pretty awesome if you ask me). God's lesson for me over the weekend was really that I needed to be giving more to Him. Specifically, He taught (and is still teaching) me that my time and ...