The Tongue

I have been sick this week with some sort of cold. This was a little different then the usual cold however, it attacked my throat more than any I can remember. I could hardly swallow without my throat being in great pain, before long, it would hurt for me even to talk. As I sat around not being able to speak, I was really overwhelmed with thoughts about how I speak. I was challenged by how my words need to reflect the greatness of Christ, not the greatness of things in this world. I was also hit by how much I speak in sarcasm, and I really realized how this is not glorifying to God. There are a couple verses that I want to share that I really liked, that talk about the tongue.

1. Luke 6:45-- "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." What we say shows what we want in this life. I pray that what I say will become more like what I hope for in Christ.

2. Proverbs 17:4--"A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue." This challenged me to not only guard my own tongue, but to not let my mind be perverted by the lying tongues of others. This made me think about how there are so many filthy comedians and songwriters out there, and as believers these are things we should not enjoy.

3. James 1:26-- "If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." These are strong but true words that we see in James. They tell us that what we truly love in this life, will come through in how we speak. It is by our own words that we condemn ourselves! This is a frightening thought, but one that should encourage us to guard what we fill ourselves up with. I hope that these verses were as challenging and changing to you as they were to me.

Lukewarm and Loving It

I've been reading the book crazy love recently. Pretty much everyone I know at church has read or has been reading it, so

I thought that I would give it a shot. It has been incredibly challenging to me, to truly test my faith and see if I am at where I

need to be. The chapter that has really stuck out to me was called, "Profile of the lukewarm." Francis Chan, lays out many ways that we as Christians, tend to be lukewarm in. A few that stuck out to me are: Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict, Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want to be saved from the penalty of their sin, and Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, and friends. I think that we should all check ourselves and see if we fall short in any of these areas. Another thing that stuck out to me is that God says he will spit lukewarm people out of his mouth. I think its safe to say that this means we will not see lukewarm people in heaven. Everything about God is calling us to surrender our lives fully to Him. If there is any area that we are being lukewarm both in our daily lives and in the church, let us pray that God will transform us away from it!

Doppelganger

Facebook is having a doppelganger week, meaning that everyone puts a picture of someone that they think they look like. We always love being compared to, or thinking that we look like someone famous. We examine their faces and look for similarities to ours. This has got me thinking a lot about what we should look like. Not in appearance, but in action. We are supposed to be the fragrance of Christ. We should look like Him in every way, as we have Him working through us. So, thank you doppelganger, for reminding me who I want to strive to become more like every day.