A Rose Amongst A Bush Of Thorns

You know what I don't understand? How we are all so ignorant. That's right, all of us human beings are so full of ignorance. I hate to admit that, because ignorance is one of those things that really grinds my gears; but in a way, I am just as guilty of it as the next person.

How can it be so simple for us to push away someone that loves us beyond comprehension? Everyone in our life will fail us. Be it a parent, a friend, an elder, a spouse, a family member...anyone. But I can say undoubtedly that there is One who has never failed me, never let me down, and never betrayed me. I, however, have done Him wrong and He still accepts me lovingly, with open arms. He allows me to move on completely and start over. He doesn't hold grudges or judge me based on my past mistakes. Time and time again, I continue to take advantage of that and throw it away as if it is completely meaningless and I am absolutely deserving of His mercy. I am selfish and I want to be made selfless.

It is impossible to be intimate with anyone else, in any form without having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. You truly do not know love if you do not know Him. Just think: the creator of the universe, the One who flung the stars across the sky, has been taken by you. You have been noticed by Him. He wants to romance you and know you better than anyone else does. He's reaching out to you, but can only reach so far. He will not force you to love Him, you must make the decision to do that on your own and to reach out to Him as well. Now why would you not want to know the One who created you personally? To me, that is just silly.

You see, we are all undeserving of this great love. We do what we want, not caring if it pleases Him or not. We would rather please our friends or the person we're crushing on, rather than the One who actually matters. The more I really think about it, then more pathetic I see it is to continue on with our daily lives as if He doesn't exist. We go to church when we need to, we pray before our meals, we do what we should to fill the role of the 'Average Christian'. Allow me to help you understand how this is an issue, bluntly.

We attend church on a regular basis because we feel that is what is expected of us as a Christian:

"The Lord says: 'These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up of only rules taught by men."
--Isaiah 29:13

Okay, so let's worship in church. But only worship, as in sing the songs that the worship band is playing and lift our hands. No, I believe that the Bible itself says many times that we were created to worship. Why is this such a difficult concept for us to grasp? We were literally created and placed on this earth exclusively to worship the One who made us. That made everything. We are to worship in spirit and in truth, which means that we are to live for Him and all of our actions, decisions, thoughts, and words should be to glorify Him. Otherwise, we are living a life without purpose. We are a lost cause.

We give money to charities as long as it's just pocket change and won't put a dent in our wallets:

"As He looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 'I tell you the truth,' He said, 'this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.' "
--Luke 21:1-4

We play it safe. We know we're all afraid to give, because even though we hear that what we give will be given back to us, we are too concerned that it won't be. We're selfish and faithless, that's what we are. We are too worried about running into financial issues along the way and we don't trust God himself, who promises us that He will bless us in return enough to give as we should. So where's the faith?

We don't care to be saved from our sin, just the penalty of our sin:

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full"
--John 10:10

Alright, so we get saved and think we're good to go. Now that we're safe from hell, we're free to do whatever we please. We sin, ask for repentance, sin and repent, and repeat. It's an ongoing cycle. Not only is it a cycle that happens periodically, but it becomes a lifestyle. We get comfortable with sinning everyday and asking for forgiveness at night. We take advantage of the fact that we are born again and we are saved from hell's flames, but forget that we are supposed to live out the life of a true born again believer. We are to live a life that glorifies God in everything we do and follow His word. The dead has gone, the new has come. Receive the gift of forgiveness that you have been given, and move on. Remember that it is not just a freebie, but it was paid for at a very high cost, by the blood of Jesus.

We hear stories of martyrs and 'radicals' and are in awe of the way that they life their lives on the edge for their faith:

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says"
--James 1:22

Do we seriously consider those that actually LIVE for Christ to be radicals?! Why do we sit back and continue on with our daily lives living for ourselves, instead of the One we were created to live for? We are too afraid to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ in an intimidating situation; which is when one of our friends declare that they don't believe that a God exists. What a life threatening situation! We're too ashamed to speak of the King of kings because we're afraid of being rejected, questioned or made fun of! Wow, now what place are we in to really call ourselves 'Christians'? The way that I think of it, is that in the end; the truth will be revealed. As brutal as it sounds, it is completely true. If you do absolutely everything you can to witness to your neighbor and they just continue to deny everything you have to say, who will be right in the end? But on the flip side, if you haven't done anything or made any attempt to lead your unsaved neighbor to Christ, then what kind of friend are you?

All in all, we just want to get by. We ask ourselves how much sin we can get away with without 'crossing the line'. Well I've got news for you, all sin is sin. God sees it all the same, weather you commit adultery, steal gum from a gas station, murder someone or tell a little white lie. We are too afraid to stand up and speak of the love of Jesus Christ, so we leave it up to the next person. We come up with excuse after excuse and it's really just unacceptable. We are too timid to hand our lives over to God completely. We are just so desperate to have control over our lives, because then we feel like we can sneak in some sin here and there and be happier that way. Our mindset is that we can come up with a much better plan for our lives than God alone can. What nonsense. He created us with a specific purpose and plan designed precisely for our life and we are not ready to accept it. We find ourselves saying "maybe tomorrow I will be ready for God to take over, but today I want to do what I want."



Well you know what? I am tired of this lifestyle. I am tired of watching people proclaim their faith, but not live up to it. I'm tired of praying before bed and meals, and reading the Bible at church, and that being the extension of my relationship with Christ. It doesn't matter what your excuse may be, there is always room for growth. I can't control others and make them completely fall in love with Him, but I can and will cling onto Him myself. I can only hope and pray that I will be a beacon of light even to those who know God's love. I pray that they will see Him through me and decide to surrender their lives to Him completely. I am ready to receive the plans He has for me. The gifts, the peace, the love, the reassurance and the pure bliss. I cannot describe in words the feelings that I have when I am at a peak with my Lord and Savior. I want to experience these feelings all day, everyday. Not just once a month or once a week. The music is playing, and He's asking me to dance. I am ready to take his hand and give Him control of my every step.