Judges 14:3
His father and mother replied, “Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?’”
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She's the right one for me.”
Samson knew what he wanted, and he thought he knew what he needed. But Samson was a human, and we humans have this awful habit of wanting things that aren’t good for us. We also have a tendency to know the right thing, yet refuse to act upon that right thing.
Situations requiring us to act occur many times everyday. Situations as easily solved as where you want to go for lunch. These situations usually don’t have a defined “right” or “wrong” answer. However, there are situations with right answers as variables.
Samson was an imperfect human being, just like we are. He was an immensely strong human, but still a human. That means he made a lot of the same mistakes we do. Probably one of the most common mistakes made by our species is the mistake of knowing the right thing, and not doing the right thing.
We often know the exact answer to a problem, yet we don’t act upon this answer. We tell ourselves we don’t want to step on any toes. Our answer might offend someone: we wouldn’t want that, now would we? So we refuse to act upon the right thing, thinking we’ll keep ourselves out of trouble that way. But guess what? Not acting upon what we know is right is just as much of a sin as acting upon what we know is wrong. The only remedy for this apathy is to seek the presence of God to gain a better understanding of what is right, and then allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us to do the right thing and act upon that truth.
Prayer: Lord, I pray we would seek time with You. I pray that You would expand our wisdom and knowledge of what is right. I pray that You would send Your Spirit to fill us and set us on fire with a holy conviction to act upon Your truth.
Madelyn Leembruggen
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Anger
Anger. Gah. I get angry. A lot. Now anger isn't always a bad thing, but it's not always a good thing either. Anger can be turned into positive things if you choose to turn it into that. Anger is often the best motivator. But anger can also be unhealthy. Anger, depending on the kind, can drive us to do just as many bad things as good things.
What makes you angry? Does it make you angry when your little brother changes the channel when you were watching tv first? That makes me angry. Does it make you angry when someone tracks dirt all over the kitchen right when you just finished sweeping? That makes me angry. Does it make you angry when your neighbors decide they're going to party allll night? That makes me angry. But are these things good things to get angry about? Is this kind of anger productive? Will we change or fix anything by this anger?
You know, God gets angry, too. Some people try to say that God is a scary, unjust, unloving God simply because He gets angry. I get angry. Does that mean I'm incapable of love? I like the way Rob Bell says it: "Which is more disturbing? A god who gets angry, or a god who can see exploitation and abuse without getting angry?" See, God IS love. Love cannot exist apart from God. But God still gets angry. The only thing is He gets angry when one of His children kill another one of His children. He doesn't get angry when Jesus forgets to take out trash. See, God's anger is productive. It motivates in a way that will change and fix things. This is the kind of anger we need.
So along with the things mentioned before, what makes me angry? I get angry when people talk about things they know NOTHING about. You can talk politics all you want, but until you educate yourself on the subject, I don't want to hear a word of it. I get angry when people complain about their pizza being 5 minutes late while a child dies every 30 seconds from preventable malaria. I get angry knowing there are people who believe it is okay to kill your living, moving, unborn child. In the U. S. alone, nearly 4,000 heartbeats are silenced by surgical abortion every day. I get angry driving through the 70-75 intersection. why? Because the majority of drug and slave trafficking takes place right there. Did you know slavery is still active all around the world including the United States? Most of the humans trafficked are little girls. I get angry when I see little kids sitting on the street with no place to go. It makes me MAD when I think about how the average age of a homeless person is nine. I get furious!
I look at all these things and I want them to change. I want someone to change them. I want to change them. I'm willing, but it's hard! But I need other people to get angry, too! Not because someone ate your leftovers, but because there is so much injustice in our world.
What makes you mad? Little and big things. What are you going to do with this anger? Are you going to let it burn as a negative influence, or are you going to turn it around and creative positive motivation? It's your choice.
What makes you angry? Does it make you angry when your little brother changes the channel when you were watching tv first? That makes me angry. Does it make you angry when someone tracks dirt all over the kitchen right when you just finished sweeping? That makes me angry. Does it make you angry when your neighbors decide they're going to party allll night? That makes me angry. But are these things good things to get angry about? Is this kind of anger productive? Will we change or fix anything by this anger?
You know, God gets angry, too. Some people try to say that God is a scary, unjust, unloving God simply because He gets angry. I get angry. Does that mean I'm incapable of love? I like the way Rob Bell says it: "Which is more disturbing? A god who gets angry, or a god who can see exploitation and abuse without getting angry?" See, God IS love. Love cannot exist apart from God. But God still gets angry. The only thing is He gets angry when one of His children kill another one of His children. He doesn't get angry when Jesus forgets to take out trash. See, God's anger is productive. It motivates in a way that will change and fix things. This is the kind of anger we need.
So along with the things mentioned before, what makes me angry? I get angry when people talk about things they know NOTHING about. You can talk politics all you want, but until you educate yourself on the subject, I don't want to hear a word of it. I get angry when people complain about their pizza being 5 minutes late while a child dies every 30 seconds from preventable malaria. I get angry knowing there are people who believe it is okay to kill your living, moving, unborn child. In the U. S. alone, nearly 4,000 heartbeats are silenced by surgical abortion every day. I get angry driving through the 70-75 intersection. why? Because the majority of drug and slave trafficking takes place right there. Did you know slavery is still active all around the world including the United States? Most of the humans trafficked are little girls. I get angry when I see little kids sitting on the street with no place to go. It makes me MAD when I think about how the average age of a homeless person is nine. I get furious!
I look at all these things and I want them to change. I want someone to change them. I want to change them. I'm willing, but it's hard! But I need other people to get angry, too! Not because someone ate your leftovers, but because there is so much injustice in our world.
What makes you mad? Little and big things. What are you going to do with this anger? Are you going to let it burn as a negative influence, or are you going to turn it around and creative positive motivation? It's your choice.
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