Antiques

When I was young, I felt like any time with my grandparents was time spent looking at antiques. We would spend what seemed like years worth of time (through my childish impatient perpective) going to different outlets to look at different antiques. I've always loved Grandma and Poppy, but we didn't see eye to eye on this whole antique thing. So, what was pure enjoyment to them was just wasted time cruising through endless amounts of old, rusted, decrepit junk to me.

My perspective was so narrow about these antiques. I took them as exactly what I saw, and that was that they were rusty, dirty, and fragile. Even though they might have been clean and beautiful at one point, the fact that they were dirty and rusted meant they were useless.

If I could choose a way to describe this world in its current states I would say this: it's an antique store. Since we disobeyed God in the garden and continue to live for ourselves (myself included), we are subject to our own decay and destruction. But here is the beautiful part. Much like my grandparents, God does not walk through the antique store and simply say, "what a bunch of junk". No, God looks at all of us in our sinful and decaying state and says, "I still love you so much, and it breaks my heart to see you this way. I created you to be beautiful and to have everlasting life".

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Since God sent his son, 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that if we are in Christ, everything that is old, dirty, and decaying about us has passed away, and we are made new by the power of what Jesus did for all of us on the cross.

Please see this. Even if you think you are dirty beyond recognition, even if you think you are nothing but a pile of dust, God loves you so much and is offering you restoration and renewal. He isn't asking you to take a rag and try to clean yourself up before approaching Him, He's telling you to only believe that Jesus' death on the cross is sufficient for your sin and that you will be made new.

God is good, all the time. How blessed are we to be made NEW by nothing we've done on our own but rather by what His son has already done.

Jake

Use Your Senses

Psalm 34:8 - Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Its undeniable that God allows us to experience Him in a very real way. In the same way we look at a delicious, medium rare steak and taste just how good it is, we can read God's word, see how good it is and be left with a "good taste in our mouths" so to speak. In the times when we are in greatest need, it is everything we need. It brings joy to our sadness. His word comforts us when we are alone. When we are thirsty, it quenches us. When we are hungry, the bread of life truly satisfies better then any normal loaf of bread.

Sometimes we mess up, but that's inevitable, because we aren't good enough. And that sin we so constantly commit leaves an unsavory foul taste in our mouths. We willingly allow things to enter our bodies that we know are not good for us. We watch T.V., we glue our faces to the computer, we make countless other decisions that may appear to be best for us, but destroy us on the inside. I'm as guilty as any other, especially with T.V. I spent a good portion of my Junior year in high school wasting my time playing video games. I chose to go after something more then I was going after God, and it's time I will never get back.  But the magnificent truth for you and I is that the taste of the word of God, the bread of life, the living water leaves us clean and satisfied no matter what other foul tasting things we have or will ever subject ourselves to.

In Matt. 4:4, Jesus tells us, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God".

We don't need the things we think we do. We don't need sin, we need only to "Taste and see that the Lord is good". While writing this, I almost found myself laughing at the food analogy for sin and God's word. But there is so much truth that can be taken from Psalm 34:8 for our walks with God. If we give his word a chance and investigate what the Bible says, we will be changed. Its as simple as that, just use your senses. God is good, and so is his word.

The News...

Well in all honesty I have many things I could write about. I had an awesome spring break in Bishop, CA that has copious amounts of small stories I could humor you all with, however, there is one amazing thing that rises above the rest: The News.

For a while now, I've been wondering what I will be doing this summer, but the news came in.

This summer, I will be on staff with Student Life as a Recreation Leader. I am overjoyed that I am being offered this opportunity to minister to middle/high school students and I am also so blessed that God is offering me this chance. So thats the news.

Thats all for now, until next time.

Jake

Title? What good is it?

Hello blog world, I have arrived.

Sorry for the blunt and cocky introduction, but really, here I am. I've been wanting to start blogging for a while now, so as a result of a boring night, I finally went for it.

What will be the intentions/purpose of this blog? I dont know. God, the Bible, Rock climbing, Worship, Guitar, friends, family, God and even suggestions from what ever measure of audience I might get. I'm new to this, so I am open to it. So we will see where it goes.

I thought I would try today to write about God, my personal favorite topic. My friend Malcolm and I organize a bible study called "The Jug of Life". I realize, very weird name for a Bible study, but if you want me to explain the spiritual implications and connections it makes to climbing I will gladly explain it to you. That being said, it is a Bible study meant for people who are climbers to come together and talk about the Bible. Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, purple, blue, or whatever else you are, we welcome you.

Tonight we were reading though Luke 19:1-9,

¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. ⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him,“Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. ⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” ⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Thats right everyone, "Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he". Many of us grew up hearing this song and it is indeed fun to sing and do the motions. But don't you think its really missing to bigger point of what Jesus is showing us here?

Zaccheaus was the crook! He cheated people out of their money and became very wealthy doing it, but it wasn't enough. Zaccheaus, the wee little man, climbed up into a tree just to see Jesus. His only intentions were to see Jesus, and he would never expect what would happen next. Jesus asks to share a meal with him.

I feel like the people of that time viewed Zaccheaus similar to how we would view a serial killer today. Would you have a serial killer over for dinner? Would you talk to a serial killer? Would you even touch a serial killer witha ten ft. pole? I don't think so, and thats why it is beautiful the way Jesus reacts to this "sinner". He tells Zaccheaus he is coming over to his house for dinner. No one loves Zaccheaus, no ones wants to talk to him, and no one wants to be associated with him any way. Except Jesus. Jesus reaches out to him and says, "I love you no matter how you are seen on this world by other people". This message and emotion Jesus has for Zacchaeus is the same for all of us today.

Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us"

We are all sinners, and Jesus didn't die on the cross because we were already righteous, but rather he died while we were still sinners so that we may have life.

I hope you enjoyed this, I know I did. Talk to me if you wanna know more about the message Jesus offered Zaccheaus and that he offers you too. And if you wanna talk about anything else, don't hesistate.

More to come,
Jake