What About Conversion?

Conversion, as we think of it, is merely saying a prayer and vowing to live a life new in Jesus, with Him as our Lord. E. Stanley Jones sees it as receptivity and then and action. It is something we accept, and then we live it out daily.

He argues that conversion is a daily activity that requires the disciplines, but discipline is not conversion. He says that Jesus was the perfect example of this (and who can argue), in that he had 3 major habits: daily Bible reading, daily prayer, and daily teaching and talking to others. He refers to these as simple habits, but that is easy when the God of our universe is doing them and we should follow suit!

When in reality, he is right. We are sinning on a daily basis, and on a daily basis we are in need of more saving than the day before. I really believe that his basis for conversion is very much a more fully, biblical understanding based solely on the fact that he uses Jesus as his model. Because conversion is not a one time only deal and we are done with it.

Next we are to pass on our conversion. "Supply seeds to sowers", Jones writes! What an insightful thought! share our good news, and in sharing, we are reminding ourselves of the good.

Lastly, I am reminded of the virtues; those I do not display often enough...

Virtue, Knowledge, Self-Control, Steadfastness, Godliness, Brotherly Affection, and Love. 

What About Spirituality?

Genuine internal spirituality.

How do we obtain that authentic, genuine, personal, inward relationship with the God who created the entire universe?

I love how Thomas Kelly writes about devotion. He uses these amazing words to really show the nature of obtaining this true, internal spirituality.

Inner.

Secret.

Subterranean.

Unceasing Habits.

Rooted.

All these words stand out to me in a very strong way. They are deep and meaningful. Very powerful when you apply them to your spiritual life.

It is IN us, HIDDEN, UNDER where no one can get to it, CONSTANTLY pulling at us, to the very DEPTHS of our souls.

I feel like after looking spirituality in this way, I am not even close. But it takes time and discipline. So the external disciplines we talk about are what help lead us to this internal, genuine, relationship with our God. 

What About Faith In Our Lives?

Our faith should be lived out in our actions.

In James it says, "Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."

I consider myself a person of very strong faith in my God. I seek things in my life very prayerfully, and I always feel sure of what I know God is calling me to do. A very dear mentor of mine once said, "do not pray for God to show you what you are supposed to do. You already know. You are just resisting and wasting God's time. Rather, pray for God to give you the strength, courage, and ability to do what He calls of you." I took this to heart very deeply. When I pray, I know God is telling me something. But it does not fit in my plan, so I choose to ignore it. But I always know what I am ignoring.

The hard part is living out the faith.

It is so easy to say, ok, I definitely have faith in God. I have a faith picture frame in my room. I have a ring that says faith. But like James says, faith with out works, it is dead. My life is influenced by my faith in school right now. I went out on a limb to be a religion major. At first my parents were livid with me. How can anyone with a religion degree make any money to support a lifestyle? But I knew with out a doubt that is where God wanted me to be. And now, here I am, standing on the brink of an incredibly wide variety of ways God can move in me, work in me, and lead me to where I can be best utilized for the kingdom of God.

Faith. It takes action.

What About Being Financially Responsible?

This blog is hitting home for me today, because as of right this very moment, I am free of all credit card debts I have been holding for the past 2 years. My debt totaled in over $4,000 all together, adding up all the payments, interest, and late fees I have accrued. I you want a prime example of worst steward of God's money ever, I am your girl.

I sold my car to pay off this debt and try to get back on my feet. That was a huge leap of faith for me because I am constantly having to rely on others to take me places, and I am unable to have a job off campus. But I am trusting that now that I am trying to be a better steward of God's money, He will be good to me as well.

In looking over my bank statement for this past month, there is really not much activity. I have tried to work off of only spending a cash budget and hiding my debit card from myself to prevent me from spending more than I have. I have paid my phone bill, and used $100.00 approximately for food/groceries.

I have not gone shopping in over 2 months. <<Can I please get an Amen!?

Most importantly, I have learned that giving to God's church is the most important thing I can do for myself. I have begun tithing at Central. I know that even just my $10-$12 every 2 weeks is helping our church help God's kingdom work. I have felt so convicted by this reading. Especially the quote here:

"We will not be able to advance in the Christian faith until we have dealt at another level with the material."

I want to be released of these monetary bonds, and sent into totally submission and faith in Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior who will raise me up out of any situation.

And I am waiting and saving in faith for a new car now! 

What About Going The Distance?

Too often we see missionaries videos or testimonies and think, "I will remember to pray for them..." 

The importance of working together is far more than we comprehend... It is not just about what denomination we are! It is about how we call ALL further the kingdom of God on this earth. 

I can put a penny in a jar every day for the next year; I would have 365 pennies. 

But if 10 people put a penny in a jar every day for the next year, we would have 3650 pennies. 

What if every Baptist, every church, every person did the same thing?! Working together is so imperative to our mission from Christ. To go out! That doesn't specify to be separate or together. 

Alone you can do some. Together we can do it all. 

What About Education And Discipleship?

After scouring the Texas Baptists website and reading all of the different resources they offered, I ended up being most interested in the Education and Discipleship, where I found many different links to ways Baptists educate and disciple of course.

There were links to Bible Drills, different universities and institutions of education, where women and have places in ministry, a variety of music and worship ministries, and how to grow your churches administration - just to name a few. I am amazed at how many different outlets the BGCT has to offer churches. It is encouraging to know that there is a whole organization out there that goes to many different lengths to help make disciples. The Discipleship portion of the website impressed me the most. I feel like this my holy discontent, to make disciples of all believers. It was what Jesus calls us to do in the Bible. It means so much to me to see my fellow Christians being trained in the footsteps of Jesus. All of the resources listed on the website that are available to purchase are so convenient. I love that they are able to help! 

What About Doing Away With Sunday School?

This article immediately caught my attention upon scanning the dozens of articles on the Baptist Standard website.

This is incredibly interesting to me to see how other churches are trying new approaches to connecting their children in the church beyond the point of high school graduation. I read a book this summer, "The Slow Fade", and it discussed how many of our churches focus so intently on a students childhood through high school years that they totally drop the ball in connecting them to a successful transition to college. Though I do believe that cutting out Sunday School is very extreme. It would be like saying that schools are not teaching students the valuable lessons they need to survive in life, so parents need to man up and homeschool so as to ensure proper upbringing and training. I think the elimination of a proper youth minister or children's minister would hurt a ministry's purpose.

The Baptist Standard is a very convenient means to see what is happening in the Baptist world and how to stay connected with what is happening and changing. With the paper posted on the web, it makes it relevant to our culture by making it available to many different audiences. 

What About Needing Each Other?

Individual, but also interdependent.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says that we need other Christians because "of Jesus Christ". It is when we realize that Jesus is the only way to salvation that we are all connected in this family of Christ. As Christians, we need to realize that our hope and salvation are in the Word of God. When we read the Word of God, we get excited! How can we not share the news that God has laid on our hearts? We need each other to "speak God's Word" to each other. We are all "bringers of the message of salvation". Our "fellowship is founded solely upon Jesus Christ". When we gather together in the name of Jesus, we are fulfilling our purpose as Christians to live in community with one another, bringing the Word of God to the world.

We talk in class a lot about the idea of individual, but also interdependent. I think it is so important to realize that we do have a close and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but we all depend on each other to hold us up and keep us accountable to the Word of God and walk in encouragement with each other.

We are a family. Brothers and Sisters in Christ. And as old fashioned as that is, it is a precious ideal that has been lost.

Would you do anything for your siblings?

Would you do anything for your church?

What About Religious Persecution?

This is a heart breaking story about an evangelist and his wife in Worabe, Ethiopia. He was killed by a group of Muslims, and his pregnant wife was beaten. Their threats were that "Christians were growing in number in the area, and they will destroy them."

What surprises me most is the blatant hatred from the Muslims. It is so heart breaking that other believers can not fully express their love and faith in Jesus as openly as we do here in the United States.

I think that here in Texas, we can be more focused on the persecution of overseas missionaries and stand in solidarity of the situation by "persecution simulations". I can always pray, but will never know what it feels like to not be free to practice the religion I want. We could meet in "underground homes" and have secret missions in the community to help share the Word of God and raise awareness on overseas Christian persecution. 

What About Pointing Fingers?

It is so easy to see blame in the church. When things are not as religious as we think they should be, people look to the church for cause and reason. But aren't we ALL the church? Don't we all make up the body of the church? So should we not all be held responsible for the the decline in piety?

Charles Spurgeon says, "look at the conduct and conversation of too many of us who profess to be children of God." We are the ones at fault for our lack of discipline to live a "piteous" life we demand from the church. And in reality, we are the church. We can not continue to point fingers at "the church" when we are the ones to blame.

Personally, I can not contribute to the church because of the bitterness I hold towards the church. I see so many injustices among this group of believers and wonder how we can breathe out the fowl words from our same mouths we sing praises to Jesus in. I look to my mentors who are supposed to be setting a good example for me and am constantly let down. I know that even I am a hypocrite, solely based on what I just said, but past experiences have wounded farther than I choose to be hurt again. I know that if I finally let go of the bitterness I am harboring in my heart, I can use my relationship with the Lord to actually make a positive contribution to the health of the church.

Easier said than done thought, right?