It was said that He would be despised...and rejected... (Isaiah 53:3)
It was said He would carry our sorrows, but we would enjoy Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted (Isaiah 53:4)
It was said He would be wounded and crushed for our wrongs...(Isaiah 53:5a)
It was said that the stripes on His back would heal us... (Isaiah 53:5b)
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?"
Isaiah 53:7-8 (ESV)
Jesus was crushed for our sin, He who knew no sin.
Jesus was beaten for sinners, the Lamb of God.
God's own Son lived and was crucified for you, and for me.
The Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, died the cruelest death on that tree on Calvary for you and me, sinners with no hope for eternity.
He left His home, His Father, to live and die amongst sinners on this earth.
He didn't have to, you know, He chose to. God showed Him what He was going to have to go through. God showed Him what was about to happen. God gave Jesus the full knowledge of what He was about to go through, yet, He stayed. He knew what was about to happen to Him, but He stayed! He willingly went to the Cross. He went because He loved us to much to let us go to hell. People ridiculed Him, threw stuff at Him, spat upon the Son of God, but He stayed. He stayed because His love for us was greater than whatever agonizing pain He was suffering through. He absorbed God's just wrath so that we may look clean to His Father's eyes.
On that day, 2000 years ago, the Son of God died, becoming the Final Sacrifice, the Perfect Lamb, for all people.
On that third day, after He died, oh! what a glorious day, the stone in front of the tomb was rolled away.
Jesus, Christ, Savior, Friend, He rose again, breaking the chains of death forever. For you, and for me.
He rose again to set us free. He did this for one reason. That reason? His undying love for us, the sinners who crucified Him.
He loves us so much, us filthy, proud, sinful humans, He was willing to die that horrible death so that we may spend eternity with Him and His Father.
How could He love you so? Because He is a merciful God. He created you. How can you experience this love? This unrequited love He has for you?
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."
John 3:16-17 (ESV)
Believe that the Son of God came down from heaven. Believe in His awesomely amazing love for you. Believe that Jesus Christ was the Perfect Sacrifice, and by dying on the Cross and raising from the grave, He has made a way for you to be free from the chains of death.
Tomorrow, Easter, we celebrate of His rising. Yes, Easter really isn't about the rabbits, eggs, and jellybeans. It's about the love Jesus Christ has for us.
I hope, if you haven't celebrated Easter for that reason before, you will consider the things I have said.
Jesus cam and died for you too. Even if you think you don't deserve it, that is what makes it so amazing! No one, nope, NO ONE deserves this love. We all deserve to live eternity in hell. But God is a merciful God and loves us. I mean, He could just wipe the human race off the face of the earth, but instead, He had His only Son killed for our sins...
He did this to forgive us of our sins so that we can have eternal life in heaven, worshiping our God.
Now He wants us to go and make disciples of all people, to point everyone to Him, so that they too may worship the amazing God we serve.
He wants us to tell others of the amazing love Jesus showed for us on the Cross.
I hope y'all all have a happy Easter!
~Teen Jesus Follower
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
You Alone for Me
Jesus, the Chosen One, God's own Son,
Loves me so.
Jesus, the Chosen One,
Oh! how You love me so!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You alone for me!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You're the only One for me!
Jesus You are!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You died up on that tree!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You suffered and died for me.
Jesus, You alone for me.
Jesus, You have set me free.
Oh how loved am I,
That You sent Your only Son down here to die.
Loved, set free, made clean,
A sinner, made whole, made whole through Your blood.
Oh! how loved am I,
You alone for me!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You alone for me!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You're the only One for me!
Jesus You are!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You died up on that tree!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You suffered and died for me.
Jesus, You alone for me.
Jesus, You have set me free.
I'm in Your arms,
Broken and weary.
You hold me close,
Wipe my tears away,
Oh! how You love me so,
Jesus, You alone for me.
Hallelujah, Jesus, You alone for me!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You're the only One for me!
Jesus You are!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You died up on that tree!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You suffered and died for me.
Jesus, You alone for me.
Jesus, You have set me free.
Jesus, Son of God, Chosen One.
Jesus, the Perfect Sacrifice...
You, You alone for me!
~Teen Jesus Follower
Loves me so.
Jesus, the Chosen One,
Oh! how You love me so!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You alone for me!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You're the only One for me!
Jesus You are!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You died up on that tree!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You suffered and died for me.
Jesus, You alone for me.
Jesus, You have set me free.
Oh how loved am I,
That You sent Your only Son down here to die.
Loved, set free, made clean,
A sinner, made whole, made whole through Your blood.
Oh! how loved am I,
You alone for me!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You alone for me!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You're the only One for me!
Jesus You are!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You died up on that tree!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You suffered and died for me.
Jesus, You alone for me.
Jesus, You have set me free.
I'm in Your arms,
Broken and weary.
You hold me close,
Wipe my tears away,
Oh! how You love me so,
Jesus, You alone for me.
Hallelujah, Jesus, You alone for me!
Hallelujah, Jesus, You're the only One for me!
Jesus You are!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You died up on that tree!
Jesus, You alone for me.
You suffered and died for me.
Jesus, You alone for me.
Jesus, You have set me free.
Jesus, Son of God, Chosen One.
Jesus, the Perfect Sacrifice...
You, You alone for me!
~Teen Jesus Follower
Saturday, April 9, 2011
4 Words
Jesus in my place. The Gospel in it's simplest form.
You look at this and think, well, there's gotta be more to it than that! Nope.
It's not Jesus, plus this. No, Jesus....end of story.
It's not Jesus, plus that. I get to go to heaven now. No, Jesus in my place.
It's Jesus, now...
It's Jesus, now I want to love orphans.
It's Jesus, now I want to love the homeless.
It's Jesus, now I want to help those in need.
Jesus, now I want to tell others of His awesomely awesome love for them.
We do, because of what's done.
We do, because of Jesus did.
Not because we have to. Because now, we want to.
"It is already done for you.
The only work that will get you to heaven is the work that has already been done on the Cross." -Jason Gaston
Sometimes it can be hard to remember that, I know it is for me. I have to remind myself of this often.
Well, that's my random thought of the day.
~Teen Jesus Follower
You look at this and think, well, there's gotta be more to it than that! Nope.
It's not Jesus, plus this. No, Jesus....end of story.
It's not Jesus, plus that. I get to go to heaven now. No, Jesus in my place.
It's Jesus, now...
It's Jesus, now I want to love orphans.
It's Jesus, now I want to love the homeless.
It's Jesus, now I want to help those in need.
Jesus, now I want to tell others of His awesomely awesome love for them.
We do, because of what's done.
We do, because of Jesus did.
Not because we have to. Because now, we want to.
"It is already done for you.
The only work that will get you to heaven is the work that has already been done on the Cross." -Jason Gaston
Sometimes it can be hard to remember that, I know it is for me. I have to remind myself of this often.
Well, that's my random thought of the day.
~Teen Jesus Follower
Friday, April 1, 2011
Sometimes
Sometimes it seems hard,
Sometimes it seems no one is there.
Sometimes, it feels like no one is by your side.
It's times like these I question,
times like these, I cry.
Times like these, I gotta remember,
There is One always by my side!
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is there.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is by my side.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He still cares for me.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He'll put my heart at ease.
I don't have to care what people say,
I don't have to care what people think.
I don't have to worry about what others do.
I do need to care, about Who, Who they see in me!
Sometimes it'll be hard.
But He loves me
Sometimes, the words won't come.
But He loves.
Sometimes it may seem, I'm all alone.
But Jesus, He still loves!
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is there.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is by my side.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He still cares for me.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He'll put my heart at ease.
He loves me, He died for me.
He loves me, He died on that tree.
He loves me, Oh! He set me free!
He loves me, He rose that day,
Yes He rose and set me free!
Because He loves me, I will care.
Because He loves me, I will tell.
Because He loves me, I can love!
Because He loves me, I can trust!
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is there.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is by my side.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He still cares for me.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He'll put my heart at ease.
My heart's at ease, because He loves me so.
Oh I trust, He loves.
I trust, He cares.
I trust, He's there.
I trust...
Jesus loves me this I know...
Sometimes it seems no one is there.
Sometimes, it feels like no one is by your side.
It's times like these I question,
times like these, I cry.
Times like these, I gotta remember,
There is One always by my side!
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is there.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is by my side.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He still cares for me.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He'll put my heart at ease.
I don't have to care what people say,
I don't have to care what people think.
I don't have to worry about what others do.
I do need to care, about Who, Who they see in me!
Sometimes it'll be hard.
But He loves me
Sometimes, the words won't come.
But He loves.
Sometimes it may seem, I'm all alone.
But Jesus, He still loves!
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is there.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is by my side.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He still cares for me.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He'll put my heart at ease.
He loves me, He died for me.
He loves me, He died on that tree.
He loves me, Oh! He set me free!
He loves me, He rose that day,
Yes He rose and set me free!
Because He loves me, I will care.
Because He loves me, I will tell.
Because He loves me, I can love!
Because He loves me, I can trust!
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is there.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He is by my side.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He still cares for me.
All I've gotta do is trust Him,
He'll put my heart at ease.
My heart's at ease, because He loves me so.
Oh I trust, He loves.
I trust, He cares.
I trust, He's there.
I trust...
Jesus loves me this I know...
Monday, March 21, 2011
Ephesians 1:1-14
So I realized that I hadn't posted this even though I wrote this like a year ago...
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:3-14
Wow, awesome passage! This entire passage, Paul talks about blessings from Jesus, our adoption by Jesus, Jesus' resurrection, and just the Gospel really.
Verses 4-14 are the verses I'm going to focus on right now.
Verse 4, 'even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,' Check this out. Do you see what this says? 'even as he chose us.' Do you realize how crazy and AWESOME this is? Now look at verse 5, 'He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,'
Before the world was made, God knew each one of us. He adopted us! He made us His family when we had none. He loves us unconditionally when we deserve to burn in hell. He forgave us when we just needed a good kick in the pants. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die an agonizing death so we could be in His family, His sons and daughters. And THAT is crazy. Crazy love.
Anyhoo, adoption. Picture this, you are an orphan. A little girl or boy who all he remember is that his parents died or left him there when he was a kid. He's never known real love from anyone. A couple walks in and sees him sitting in the corner. They see him and thus begins a new journey for that kid.
They love this child with all their heart, and he loves them back. A sense of happiness fills his heart. He loves this family that saved him from being unloved for the rest of his life.
This child is you. You were a child, left alone with no one to care for you. But God steps into the orphanage and pulls you into His arms. You are adopted into His family.
The sad thing though, is though He saved us from eternal damnation, some of us don't love Him like we should. How come, when He saved is from that, we aren't always like the orphan that was adopted? Why don't we show our Father the same unwavering love that this child shows to his new parents? Doesn't our Father in heaven deserve to be loved and worshiped?
Well, moving on...
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Eph 1:7-10
What's this talking about here? Um the Gospel!! 'In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.'
Whose blood? Jesus' blood. Forgives what trespasses(sins)? OUR sins. AWESOMELY AWESOME!!!!!
Verses 9 and 10 'making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.'
Here Paul is reminding/showing us what Jesus wants us to do. 'to unite all things to him, things in heaven and things on earth.' This is what Jesus wanted to teach us. Go, disciple, and reach. That's putting it simply. The Great Commission.
'In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory'
Verses 11 and 12. Do you see what he is saying here? The inheritance, God's love and a place in heaven. Awesome! What greater inheritance could we possibly want?
But wait, listen to verses 13-14.
'In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.'
Paul didn't wait long to hit us with the Gospel again, but that is what this guy lived for. Anyway, the part 'in him you also...were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.' Sealed. Back then, something that was sealed was a BIG thing. A document that was sealed by the king was taken very seriously. So when Paul says that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, he is talking not about a BIG thing, but a HUGE thing. A MONUMENTAL thing. Our salvation. When we accept God's gift of salvation, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. That is God's seal. That is the KING's seal on your life. It is a seal no one can break, no one can take. It'll stay with you forever.
Awesome, right?
I hope that this has been a help to someone.
This has been a random thought/rambling of a teen Jesus follower.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:3-14
Wow, awesome passage! This entire passage, Paul talks about blessings from Jesus, our adoption by Jesus, Jesus' resurrection, and just the Gospel really.
Verses 4-14 are the verses I'm going to focus on right now.
Verse 4, 'even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,' Check this out. Do you see what this says? 'even as he chose us.' Do you realize how crazy and AWESOME this is? Now look at verse 5, 'He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will,'
Before the world was made, God knew each one of us. He adopted us! He made us His family when we had none. He loves us unconditionally when we deserve to burn in hell. He forgave us when we just needed a good kick in the pants. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die an agonizing death so we could be in His family, His sons and daughters. And THAT is crazy. Crazy love.
Anyhoo, adoption. Picture this, you are an orphan. A little girl or boy who all he remember is that his parents died or left him there when he was a kid. He's never known real love from anyone. A couple walks in and sees him sitting in the corner. They see him and thus begins a new journey for that kid.
They love this child with all their heart, and he loves them back. A sense of happiness fills his heart. He loves this family that saved him from being unloved for the rest of his life.
This child is you. You were a child, left alone with no one to care for you. But God steps into the orphanage and pulls you into His arms. You are adopted into His family.
The sad thing though, is though He saved us from eternal damnation, some of us don't love Him like we should. How come, when He saved is from that, we aren't always like the orphan that was adopted? Why don't we show our Father the same unwavering love that this child shows to his new parents? Doesn't our Father in heaven deserve to be loved and worshiped?
Well, moving on...
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Eph 1:7-10
What's this talking about here? Um the Gospel!! 'In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.'
Whose blood? Jesus' blood. Forgives what trespasses(sins)? OUR sins. AWESOMELY AWESOME!!!!!
Verses 9 and 10 'making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.'
Here Paul is reminding/showing us what Jesus wants us to do. 'to unite all things to him, things in heaven and things on earth.' This is what Jesus wanted to teach us. Go, disciple, and reach. That's putting it simply. The Great Commission.
'In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory'
Verses 11 and 12. Do you see what he is saying here? The inheritance, God's love and a place in heaven. Awesome! What greater inheritance could we possibly want?
But wait, listen to verses 13-14.
'In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.'
Paul didn't wait long to hit us with the Gospel again, but that is what this guy lived for. Anyway, the part 'in him you also...were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.' Sealed. Back then, something that was sealed was a BIG thing. A document that was sealed by the king was taken very seriously. So when Paul says that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, he is talking not about a BIG thing, but a HUGE thing. A MONUMENTAL thing. Our salvation. When we accept God's gift of salvation, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. That is God's seal. That is the KING's seal on your life. It is a seal no one can break, no one can take. It'll stay with you forever.
Awesome, right?
I hope that this has been a help to someone.
This has been a random thought/rambling of a teen Jesus follower.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Trust Him
Things happen.
Life goes on.
Things change.
Life still goes on.
People...they change.
You have changed.
Why do some of these things happen?
There is a reason.
Why do things have to change?
God has a plan.
Why, why do people change?
Trust Him
I don't understand.
You don't always have to.
But why must I wait for things to make sense?
God has His reasons.
Why all the pain?
Trust Him
Why all the tears?
Trust Him.
When will it end?
In His time.
What must I do to make it through?
Trust Him
Is that all it takes?
He'll help you through.
All I have to do...
Trust Him
Is trust...
Trust Him
Trust the One Who died for me?
Trust Him, He'll carry you through.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
Psalms 37:5 (ESV)
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalms 91:2 (ESV)
Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Prov 30:5 (ESV)
Life goes on.
Things change.
Life still goes on.
People...they change.
You have changed.
Why do some of these things happen?
There is a reason.
Why do things have to change?
God has a plan.
Why, why do people change?
Trust Him
I don't understand.
You don't always have to.
But why must I wait for things to make sense?
God has His reasons.
Why all the pain?
Trust Him
Why all the tears?
Trust Him.
When will it end?
In His time.
What must I do to make it through?
Trust Him
Is that all it takes?
He'll help you through.
All I have to do...
Trust Him
Is trust...
Trust Him
Trust the One Who died for me?
Trust Him, He'll carry you through.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
Psalms 37:5 (ESV)
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalms 91:2 (ESV)
Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Prov 30:5 (ESV)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Bearing Another's Burdens
In the student ministry at my church, we're going through the book of Galatians. Last night, my student pastor taught on chapter 6 verse 2.
Bearing another's burdens, sounds easy, doesn't it?
When you think of this, more than likely you think of helping each other out, but what about things that, well, you can't exactly help with? Like take family problems, you can't exactly help out there. How do you help a friend carry these types of burdens? A friend of mine asked me this question, and I realized I didn't know what to tell her. I had no idea what to say...
I began where my student pastor was last night, Galatians 6.
"Bear another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2
What does this mean exactly? Well, I used a large study Bible(no, really, its gigantic.) and looked up the cross-references for this verse.
Romans 15:1-2 "We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of is please his neighbor for his good, to build him up."
Build him up. Hold your friend above yourself. Love him, pray for him. How you help your friend going through something like that, how you help them carry that burden, is you don't allow them to become discouraged. You pray with them. You let them talk, if they want to talk, and you try to understand. You don't allow them to get down, no matter how hard things are.
You say 'but what if I don't want to listen? What if I have hard problems of my own in my life?'
Philipians 2:3b-4 "...but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
That answer your question? You need to realize it's not all about you.
Not that you don't have to think about your own problems. That's the best part about having close friends, in having a close small group. They share with you and you share with them, and you all help carry each other's burdens.
When you don't have this, the closeness, it makes it difficult to share with one another. I know this from experience. If all you have are 'shallow' friendships, it's hard to tell all your problems. All you get is awkward silence.
You want to have a 'David and Jonathan friendship', a 'David and Jonathan small group'.
You know about these two guys, David and Goliath? Jonathan, son of Saul? These two guys were really close. It says 'The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.' (1 Samuel 18:1)
Can you say that you have a friendship like this? Where you can go against everything you know to help your friend? That's what Jonathan did for David. He went almost as far as risking his life for his friend. Just like Jesus did for us. Jesus sacrificed His life to save ours.
That's what I call close friends.
I hope one day I can say that my small group and my friends, that we are close. Even closer than we are now. It's going to take a lot from me. I've gotta let myself trust people again. I know that these people are people I can trust. To truly be what God wants a small group to be, we need to be close.
Bearing another's burdens, sounds easy, doesn't it?
When you think of this, more than likely you think of helping each other out, but what about things that, well, you can't exactly help with? Like take family problems, you can't exactly help out there. How do you help a friend carry these types of burdens? A friend of mine asked me this question, and I realized I didn't know what to tell her. I had no idea what to say...
I began where my student pastor was last night, Galatians 6.
"Bear another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2
What does this mean exactly? Well, I used a large study Bible(no, really, its gigantic.) and looked up the cross-references for this verse.
Romans 15:1-2 "We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of is please his neighbor for his good, to build him up."
Build him up. Hold your friend above yourself. Love him, pray for him. How you help your friend going through something like that, how you help them carry that burden, is you don't allow them to become discouraged. You pray with them. You let them talk, if they want to talk, and you try to understand. You don't allow them to get down, no matter how hard things are.
You say 'but what if I don't want to listen? What if I have hard problems of my own in my life?'
Philipians 2:3b-4 "...but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
That answer your question? You need to realize it's not all about you.
Not that you don't have to think about your own problems. That's the best part about having close friends, in having a close small group. They share with you and you share with them, and you all help carry each other's burdens.
When you don't have this, the closeness, it makes it difficult to share with one another. I know this from experience. If all you have are 'shallow' friendships, it's hard to tell all your problems. All you get is awkward silence.
You want to have a 'David and Jonathan friendship', a 'David and Jonathan small group'.
You know about these two guys, David and Goliath? Jonathan, son of Saul? These two guys were really close. It says 'The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.' (1 Samuel 18:1)
Can you say that you have a friendship like this? Where you can go against everything you know to help your friend? That's what Jonathan did for David. He went almost as far as risking his life for his friend. Just like Jesus did for us. Jesus sacrificed His life to save ours.
That's what I call close friends.
I hope one day I can say that my small group and my friends, that we are close. Even closer than we are now. It's going to take a lot from me. I've gotta let myself trust people again. I know that these people are people I can trust. To truly be what God wants a small group to be, we need to be close.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)