“It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love.”
― Billy Graham
Some years back, I saw the iconic movie, Freaky Friday. A lot of you may have seen it, but for those of you who haven’t, it’s about a mom and daughter who don’t see eye to eye. When they go to a Chinese restaurant and read their fortune-cookie-messages, they wake up the next morning as the other person. As they live in each other’s bodies for a while, they learn things about each other that they did not previously know, and find that the other person has a lot more challenges than they would have suspected. Aside from being an awesome chick-flick, I believe that there’s a a lot we can learn from this movie. While it is highly unlike that any of us will ever wake up as someone else, it can be helpful to try to see life through another person’s eyes.
Oftentimes, it’s easy to get caught up in our own lives, and not see what life would look like through a different lens. But, what would it be like to actually take the time to put yourself in someone else’s shoes who is different than you? It can be easy to judge a person based on what we see, but what if we tried to understand people beneath the surface? I’m not saying that we shouldn’t use discretion in who we choose to hang out with, I’m merely saying that when we try to understand another’s life, we’re almost always going to gain compassion from it.
One of the biggest stereotypes of Christians right now is judgmental. I find this very sad, considering that it’s God’s job to judge, not ours. We cannot change the attitude of every person, but we can change our own. What if, every time we are tempted to judge another, we instead looked at their circumstances and tried to understand them. We don’t always have to agree, but we ought to always see people for who they are.
Fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator.
Just because someone has a different struggle than we do, doesn’t make them any less of God’s masterpiece. John 3:17 says “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” If Jesus himself did not come to the world to condemn it, than we certainly aren’t in a position to do so. We’re called to love others as He did, which often means taking time to try to understand them and their situations. And, it always means cultivating compassion for our fellow humans created in His image. 🙂
I’ve never followed this guy’s music, but I must say, this article is powerful.
“So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” John 8:7
In modern day society, there has been a lot of conversation surrounding the term role model. For better or for worse, many celebrities are viewed as role models. Some celebrities have embraced this, and have strived to be a good role model. Others have rejected this, feeling that they shouldn’t shoulder the responsibility of being anyone’s role model. Along with celebrities in Hollywood, some athletes have been viewed as role models, two notable examples being Bethany Hamilton and Tim Tebow.
I suppose today’s topic is somewhat of a continuation of my previous post, which pertained to defying cultural stereotypes about young people and doing great things. Today I would like to branch off of that train of thought to the second point in the Bible verse 1 Timothy 4:12: Set an example. Even if you aren’t a celebrity or an athlete, there may very well be younger people in your life watching you. Perhaps you have younger siblings, cousins, or neighbors; are you the kind of person that you’d be comfortable with them emulating? I know that I personally try to be conscientious of this, and set a good example. As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and as important as it is to speak about your faith, it’s just as important to live it out. I found a quote just now that says “Character is doing the right thing when no one is watching.” J.C. Watts. I believe that being a role model applies not just to the moments when others are around, but also those secret moments with only the company of yourself and God. I don’t know about you, but I want to walk the path that I’d feel comfortable with others following in. Within the insanely crowded depths of my brain, I’ve often wondered what that looks like for me, as a Christian teenager. I doubt I’ll be able to cover all of the bases, but here’s the basics of what I’ve come up with. The following points illustrate my definition of what it means to be a role model.
Stay connected to God- I believe that this is the most important point. Psalm 119:68 says “You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.” In order to be a good role model to others, we need to know how God teaches us to live. Now, obviously none of us are going to do the right thing all of the time, as we’re all fallen. Nonetheless, I believe it’s important to try to do the right things in life, not out of duty to God, but out of love for Him. If we stay connected to God, He’ll lead us and guide us in making the right choices in life.
Love others-This is another important one. Too many Christians nowadays are known for being hateful and judgmental. This should not be the case, considering that in Mark 12:30-31, Jesus commands us to “Love the Lord your God with all your soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.” I believe that loving others, and caring about who they are and what they’re going through, is an amazing example to set.
Remember your younger self-One thing that I try to always keep in the back of my mind is my younger self: Would my eight-year-old-self be happy with the choices that I’m making today? I feel that keeping our younger self in the back of our minds can serve as sort of a compass for making good choices. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus even instructs His followers to become like children. This does not mean that we shouldn’t have the intellect and wisdom of an adult, but it does mean that we should maintain the belief and purity of a child, as children are often quite innocent and filled with belief in the unseen. Thus, I believe that remembering who we were as a child can help us pave our way towards becoming an adult.
Be transparent-One of the things that I most admire in people is transparency, or in other words, realness. I have a lot of respect for celebrities like Britt Nicole and Demi Lovato, who have been generous enough to share their own struggles and pasts in an effort to teach their fans the things that they’ve learned so far. It’s not always easy, but I try to be open about my own struggles and experiences, sharing what I know currently and what I still have questions about. On another note, It drives me crazy when people act like they have everything figured out, because the truth is, none of us do. There are so many things that I can only raise questions on, rather than provide answers to, but that’s OK. As long as we turn to God for wisdom and continue to “love our neighbor as ourselves” we’re allowed to have questions; we’re finite humans, not mini gods.
Know what you value-What are some of the things that you value in life? What negative behaviors irk you (Bullying, phoniness, lying, etc.) and what positive behaviors do you celebrate (Kindness, transparency, honesty, etc.)? Model the positives and be concientious to avoid the negatives. What are some values that you’d like to see more people model? Be the spark that starts a fire.
Respect yourself-In order to be a role model for others, you have to have respect for your own self and your own life. I believe that if we have self respect, we’ll be less apt to engage in behaviors that are harmful to us. This isn’t pride, it’s acknowledging that God created us as His temple, and that He wants us to respect it. If we respect ourselves, it will set an example that others ought to respect themselves as well.
To sum all of this up, I believe that the song The Words I Would Say by Sidewalk Prophets illustrates some of the truths that I hold dearly and would like to demonstrate to others in my life and in my words.
“Each person must live their life as a model for others.”-Rosa Parks
“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12
I suppose it was inevitable that, considering my blog is titled 1timothy412girl, I’d speak about that Bible verse at some point or another. As it would seem by the looks of this passage, negative stereotypes about young people are an age old problem, dating back to the time of the apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy. On almost a daily basis, you’re likely to hear some sort of negative stereotype about teenagers, including but not limited to: Stupid, selfish, rude, and rebellious. Being that I’m a teenager myself, I find these negative stereotypes somewhat disheartening; Especially in light of the fact that I know plenty of teenagers who do not fit these long held stereotypes. This blog is not intended to be a rant, but merely information about teenagers and encouragement to those who are, like myself, in this particular stage of life. One thing that I’ve found interesting is that statistically, less teenagers are engaging in high-risk behaviors.
Last year, the rate of illicit drug use among children and teenagers 12 to 17 years old dropped to 9.5 percent, down from 11.6 percent a decade earlier, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) latest national survey. (http://abcnews.go.com/US/drug-drops-americas-youth-rises-50-crowd/story?id=20155714)
Cigarette smoking rates among high school students have dropped to the lowest levels since the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) began in 1991, according to the 2013 results released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.By achieving a teen smoking rate of 15.7 percent, the United States has met its national Healthy People 2020 objective of reducing adolescent cigarette use to 16 percent or less. (http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0612-yrbs.html)
Perhaps the 21st century American teenager is paving a new path in a positive direction. It would seem by these statistics, that teenage life looks different than many people would guess.
I cannot speak for every teenager, but I know that for me personally, a big part of my “teenage experience” has just been trying to figure out who I am. I think that the legendary Christian singer Michael W. Smith sums it up perfectly with the lyrics to his song Place In This World: “Looking for a reason, roaming through the night to find my place in this world.” Trying to find your place in the world as Christian teenager can be a bit tricky at times. A lot of times, Christian resources and community tend to focus on adult issues, such as marriage or finance. Resources aimed specifically at teenagers often focus heavily on what not to do, rather than what to do. There have been times that it’s seemed that I couldn’t have my own voice until I was an adult, but that’s simply not true. You may be at a stage of life that’s often looked down upon, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have the capacity to make a difference, right here, right now. A couple of years back, in 2008, two teenage brothers named Alex and Brett Harris wrote a book called Do Hard Things. I read that book, and I would highly recommend it to other teenagers. They started what has been called “the rebulution”, which is, in essence, “a teenage rebellion against low expectations.” Though that book came out seven years ago, I hope that the message promoted in it remains: Young people have the capacity to do great things and defy cultural stereotypes surrounding terms like “teenager” and “millennial”.
I can think of examples from my friends’ lives as I sit here and write this post. One friend ran a campaign for a local politician last year, another volunteers his time at the hospital, and yet another is on the worship team at her church. All of these people are or were high schoolers at the time of accomplishing these things. Never let negative stereotypes handicap you from doing something to make a difference. You may be young, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t set an awesome example in speech, life, love, faith, and purity.
Dare to break the mold of the stereotypical teenager.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
This seems to be a lesson that God is trying to teach me right now, as the concept behind this verse appeared in a Christian nonfiction book that I was reading last night, as well as the sermon that I listened to in church today. Both places emphasized something that I tend to have a bit of a rough time doing.
Trusting God even when He’s calling you to do something that doesn’t make sense in the flesh.
Sometimes, God calls us to things that we may have never pictured, prompting us to lead in a way that we feel less than equipped to do. By this, I don’t mean things that we would hate doing. I believe that along with a particular calling, God will also place in us a desire to fulfill that calling. Nonetheless, we may sometimes doubt if we can really succeed at the task that we feel God has given us. When God stretches us beyond what we feel we can handle, it’s easy to start making excuses and questioning it in our minds
“I’m not qualified. I’m too young. What if I fail?”
Lately I’ve been battling these types of thoughts in my own life as I feel led to take a leap of faith in the way that I believe God is calling me. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably battled similar thoughts of incompetency in your own life. Nonetheless, we’re not alone and we’re certainly not the first to question God’s calling for our lives. Moses felt inadequate in speech and eloquence when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Jonah obviously felt afraid when God called him to go to Nineveh and preach, as his first instinct was to run. It seems that God often uses people who feel unqualified or incapable. “Why is that?” you may ask. After all, God could call anyone. Why would He choose the unlikely?
Perhaps He does so on purpose. Maybe He calls the unlikely so that we rely on Him, and so that His power is made evident through us. Maybe He wants us to be in a place where we’re humble enough to rely on His wisdom and not our own. Maybe His power is made the most clear when our callings seem illogical according to human reasoning.
You may feel inadequate by your own power, but as Philippians 4:13 states, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” I believe that whatever God is calling you to do, He’ll walk with you every step of the way.
If you feel unqualified about God’s calling, know that you’re not alone. We all have moments when we wonder if we have the strength to follow through with the way that God is leading us. Nonetheless, I believe that if we trust God and follow His will, He’ll lead us on the right paths in our lives and make a way when it seems there isn’t one.
In the words of the Christian band Anthem Lights, we just have to keep following God’s heart, allowing Him lead us, guide, us, and direct our path.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
It is sometimes hard to put my jumbled up random thoughts and musings into words. There are a lot of things that I think about over the course of the day, and blogging has given me an outlet to try to organize these thoughts and put them into words. Recently, I have been thinking along the lines of sorting though life’s issues through the lens of a Christian perspective, and what that means for each of us. For some reason, I have a tendency to speculate over some of the most complex questions going on in society. A good recent example of that is the topic of transgenderism. I do not feel equipped yet to speak in depth about this issue, but I’ve spent hours watching videos and reading articles relating to this topic. I’ve even begun keeping up with the TV reality show, Becoming Us, which is a TV show about a transgendered dad.Some people may find it odd that I spend so much time on topics that don’t immediately relate to me. “Why do I do this?” You may ask. I suppose my reply, is why not? Why not go about understanding current issues in the society we live in the through the eyes of Jesus? I believe that part of living in the world while not being of the world, involves trying to understand people and walking alongside them in unique quests to lead them to God. Doing so involves what I’ve decided to label the three C’s. Courage, Conviction, and Compassion. I’d like to elaborate on each one and give my thoughts on what they should mean for us, as Christians
Courage. Let’s be honest. Being a Christian in today’s world takes courage. It takes courage to hold views that may not be mainstream. It takes courage to explain your thoughts and opinions to those that may disagree. It takes courage to try to find answers where there seem to be none. I think we all need to understand what we believe, why we believe it, and how we can apply this knowledge to real life. At times, we may even need to have courage amongst other Christians. Courage to look at an issue that brings knee-jerk reactions to many of your fellow believers. This is a courage that we can only obtain from God, who gives us the wisdom to muddle through life’s big questions. Which brings me to C #2.
Conviction. As Christians, our one source of truth is the Bible. When looking at new information from psychology websites and news articles, it’s important that we make sure it lines up with the Bible. I don’t think we should fear scientific studies and psychological research, as truth in life will always point back to God. In modern society, the Bible has gotten somewhat of a bad name. People say that it’s outdated, but I’ve come to find the exact opposite. Many things in the Bible speak into current issues in society. And I believe that even the most complex problems can be solved with the wisdom of God’s Word. Nonetheless, we can’t be effective witnesses with just the first two C’s. We also need the third C, one commonly demonstrated by Jesus during his time on earth.
Compassion. Anyone can preach words out of the Bible. Nonetheless, it will mean nothing if we don’t have compassion and love for hurting people. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” This verse is along the same lines as a popular For King & Country song, likely based after this passage, called The Proof of Your Love. To have compassion is more than just giving your view on an ethical issue. This is walking with people living that issue. Christians can preach all day long on things like homosexuality and abortion but until we’re willing to walk alongside people in those situations, no one will see what Christianity and God’s love truly looks like.
Here’s a song by Christian singer, Josh Wilson that beautifully illustrates the point of this blog post. It’s called I Refuse.
A couple of days ago, our American government made a decision that has been talked about nonstop since it happened. The U.S. legalized gay marriage nationwide, and as we would expect, there was huge response from both ends of the political spectrum. Supporters of this decision posted comments on Twitter about their excitement towards this decision. Meanwhile, people who opposed this decision became just as vocal. It seems to be the topic on everyone’s mind, and that likely won’t change. Every day, more and more news articles pop up relating to homosexuality, and more recently, with the news story following Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner and the ABC reality show Becoming Us, transgenderism. Nonetheless, that’s a topic for different day and blog post.
I’ll be honest, I had no intention of addressing this topic again so soon, but under the circumstances, I feel convicted to share my thoughts on this nationwide debate. As stated in past blog posts, I have a lot of compassion for the LGBT community while maintaining a more traditional perspective on the topic. I can understand why people feel the way they do on both sides of the debate. Nonetheless, gay oriented people have been reduced to just that, a debate. Now I’m not going to belittle the complicated decisions that many politicians and churches have to make regarding this issue, but I feel that a little too much emphasis has been placed on gay marriage over the past couple of years. Many Christians, particularly churches, have become completely consumed by the topic of marriage. While I agree that marriage is an important institution, it shouldn’t be our main focus as Christians. Matthew 22:30 says “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” (NIV).
Marriage isn’t eternal, but people’s souls are. People won’t walk into eternity married, but they will, someday, walk into eternity. In the words of the popular evangelist Mark Cahill, ten out of ten people die. I feel that it would do a world of good to take the focus off gay marriage for a little while, and focus on the people involved. If we put the same energy into reaching out and witnessing to this community that we do into trying to prevent gay marriage, imagine the impact that we’d have. What if we pointed people to the love of God and the sacrifice that He made on the cross, rather than preaching about how marriage is “One man and one women”? If the image of God that we present as Christians is some guy in the sky with a big rule book, people aren’t going to want to follow Him, and they sure aren’t going to listen to anything that we have to say regarding morality. Nonetheless, if we make people realize God’s amazing love and how He came to earth for them, and would do it all over again, we might actually reach people with the gospel. Marriage is a good thing, but it can become an idol if we, as Christians, focus more on the gay marriage debate than on pointing people to God. C.S. Lewis wrote a book years ago called Screwtape Letters, and Lewis makes the point in this book that Satan will often try to distract us from things like eternity by focusing on the temporary. Perhaps, as well intentioned as we may be, this is what’s happening in society today. Thus, I urge you to take some time away from the gay marriage debate and focus on what’s really important in the big scheme of things: Helping a broken world find a loving God.
1 Timothy 4:12 Girl 