Old post from previous blog

This was the topic of one of my churches this past week…(yes I “go” to two churches- one that I physically attend and work as a youth leader and the other that I watch every sermon on Mondays after it is released online) So the concept of the sermon series was about different life verses. A life verse is a verse of the Bible that has either changed or fully impacted your life. It’s something that everyone probably has even if they do not realize it. As soon as they were asking for each of us to quiet our hearts (which I have never understood…hearts don’t talk…and if they get too quiet that means you’re dead…) and to think over different scripture that has influenced our lives.

It took me all of twenty seconds to think of my life verse (mostly because for 19 seconds I was thinking about whether my heart was quiet enough). Psalms 46:10, a verse that saved my life. That may sound overly dramatic but I promise you it’s not. I was going down a pretty bad path when my youth pastor got up and preached his passage one Wednesday night when I was 16. Having grown up in a Christian home I had already heard what the verse was about but at that moment I realized that was MY VERSE.

“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.””

“Be still and know that I am God.” As an someone that overanalyzes possibly every situation and interaction in my life (I’m pretty type A….something I’m working on) being told to be still is hard. It’s even harder if you look at the Hebrew root word raphah which has many meanings but one of them is to let go. Giving up control is not something I do well. It’s something that our culture warns us against.

But when you come to Christ you don’t get to just say, “Okay Lord I want salvation because Hell sounds like it kinda sucks so okay I believe in you so come into my heart whatever that means? Oh but I don’t want to give up control. I’ll come to church and stuff and I’ll cut down on the cussing and drinking and stuff but I’m doing that because I want to not because you’re controlling me cause that sounds like I’m a robot and that’s weird.” No you have to give it all up you have to be fully willing to commit to your salvation. You have to be willing to give up control and lay down your life to gain the glory and mercy that God offers us in grace.

Matthew 16:25-

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it

Matthew 10:38-39-

“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.

So this was what challenged me about Christianity. I can’t just continue down a destructive path knowing that I’m saved. I’m saved and now I need to turn and run in the direction of safety and salvation. What I have control of is my ability to bring the gospel to the world. I once heard the phrase: “If you’re too busy to pray and spend time with the Lord than you’re busy doing things that God never intended for you to do in the first place.”

God has a plan for us and God has set aside his whole presence to be a part of our life. All we must do is take the time to pray and spend time in his Word in order to experience that presence. But if we clutter up our lives and our schedules and squeeze God into the back of our priorities how do we expect to feel his love or know what his will is in our lives? We need to take the time to “Be Still” we need to take the time to be with him and unplug from this temporary sinful world and invest in eternity.

God has given us grace and hope for a better and more perfect life with him. We must take the time to learn from our Heavenly Father and to turn away from the distractions of this world. Try to take time from your day to simply Be Still and see how different after a week your prayer life, social life, and stress life is when you learn to lay everything at the cross and turn their first and foremost and give up control.

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” Titus 2:11-12