soooo its been about two months since I have written in this beast...and for my 3 dedicated readers I apologize. Second semester is up and running and so is baseball. My classes are awesome. Baseball is going pretty good except I already hurt my arm....but im just a wimp.
Last semester I read this book called Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind by Tremper Longman. It is an amazing book and I recommend it to anyone who wants a better idea of how to read the Bible the correct way.
Has I was reading I came to a section in the book where Longman breaks into how to read the Gospels. In this chapter, he breaks down each gospel and how they are presented. He calls Matthew the gospel of the Ox...Mark the Lion....Luke the man...and John the Eagle. When I was reading through this I kept thinking to myself....Which one am I? Will I be a preacher the best represents an Ox? being firm and strong for my faith....or would I be like a Lion? "Yeaaa a Lion would be tough and aggressive."I thought to myself. I decided that I wanted to be a minister that best represents a lion. People would look up to me and want to follow be because of how I was in my faith.
I kept on reading Longman's book until I got a slap in the face.
He wasn't referring to the Gospel writers as he was labeling them as these tough animals. He was referring to how they portrayed JESUS! This completely took me by surprise. I shrunk down in my seat embarrassed even thought I was in my room all by myself. The whole time I was reading, I thought that it was talking about what kind of minister I was going to be...but the whole time it was all pointing straight towards JESUS. How often do I do this? How often do we do this? I couldn't think of a better opportunity for God to humble me then this time. Everything points to Him. In our ministries, everything points to Him. In our lives, everything points to Him.
Last week at Carterville we talked about worship. How our whole lives are about worship. I thought back to the time when I read this book and thought that it was pointing to me, when in reality it was pointing to Jesus. Same goes for worship. Everything in our lives should be considered an act of worship not to ourselves but towards the only one worthy of it. I remember sitting down and praying during the singing and asking God to humble me. I asked that He would make me like a road sign that pointed others in the direction of the true destination. Imagine what would happen in the Church is everything we did pointed to Jesus. What if all we did was minimize ourselves so that others can see the true meaning of our worship and true meaning of our lives? It is not about YOU, it is about HIM.
JIM'S BURN
Facebook is the best and worst invention of all time. I say this because it is quite handy with keeping in touch with people and see what has been going on in others lives. But I also call it the worst because I have wasted so much time on it. I waist time looking at people's recently added pictures or thinking of a catchy status. This burn is specifically going out to "those girls" who make whole albums of themselves making different faces. It isn't cool. It isn't fun. It isn't entertaining. It is just you making new faces every 60 pictures and then tagging yourself in facebook for the whole world to see how "fun" you are. I mean at least get a different background! Take some pictures with your friends...or family....Heck take a picture of the carpet!
