Christianese

So this is the first of a "series" that I want to do on words and phrases we use as Christians.

So I have been thinking about things we say as Christians. We tend to have our own language and one that in reality we don't understand. We are like children, we say things because we heard someone else say it in a similar situation but it doesn't really hold any meaning to us.

One of these phrases is "Following God" or "Seeking after God". Many times it will be in a conversation and it will go something like this "Yeah I am just really trying to seek after God right now, you know all I want to do is follow Christ!" But what does that mean?!? If you were talking to a professional football player about their life and daily schedule and they said "Usually each day I just try and be the best at football and that usually takes up my day" You would be confused and completely unsure of what they do each day.

Same thing goes for following God. It is not ambiguous. It has concrete actions. You could even say it is being legalistic. When a athlete is trying to be the best at what they do they usually have a strict routine, they wake up at a certain time, eat certain foods, do specific workouts etc. They have structure and that structure is there to accomplish a goal. So why do we think that having a relationship with God is any different? The way we follow God is to set a plan and work on it! If I want to be a better husband to Amy I don't just think about it I have to work on it! I have to set reminders to pick up flowers, put notes on my phone to remind me of the gift that God has given me in her. I have to DO THINGS! 

For me to grow in my relationship with God I need to put reminders on my phone to pray, to memorize scripture, to be loved by God and to love others. I have to be purposeful about being purposeful to "seek after God". 

Why? Because he is doing this for us. He didn't just "happen" to send his son to die for MY SIN. He planned it, he knew I would sin against him and so he prepared from the beginning of time the way in which to repair what I had destroyed. If God plans things for us to better our relationships with him how much more do we need to do the same? -> answer: WAY MORE!

Food for action

One who is not even close to doing this very thing,

Keegan

I was wrong and I am sorry.

So story time,

A few years ago I lived in the Sullivan Hall while I was going to school at N.C. State. During this time I lived with some awesome guys. One night as we were standing around talking Josh Clemmons and I got to talking about what defines good literature. As you can understand from the seriousness of this topic and the depth at which we are both versed in it (<- Sarcasm) the conversation quickly got out of hand. After a few hours I was making up "facts" to get my point across and sure enough Josh called me out on it. I got defensive, lied some more and we continued the argument which concluded in both of us saying some things we regretted to each other. So we left it at that and went to sleep.

The next day Josh walks into my room somewhat early on in the morning and apologizes to me about what he said to me the night previous. This shocked me! Saying sorry? Saying your wrong? Admitting defeat (this is how I saw it)? This was a foreign concept to me.

What Josh did took him maybe 2 minutes and it not only quickly repaired any damage that had been done to our friendship but it was an amazing example. I learned that day how to say I am sorry/I was wrong and that it is one of the best things you can ever say. The crazy thing is when he told me that I realized what I had said and done and told him I was sorry and that I had lied.

Neither of us yelled at the other or got mad at each other. At this point your thinking "Well duh!" but isn't that how we think? We think that if we "Admit Defeat" by being wrong or saying sorry that we will be made fun of for it, or that by doing so we are giving someone power over us. The beautiful thing is thats not true. From that day on I have tried to say these words more, I haven't been perfect at it and I probably don't do it enough but it has helped my relationships with people so much and it is not as scary as I thought it would be.

My challenge to you today is to say sorry, even if it's a long time coming. Start admitting that you are wrong and you will see how it takes stress away and gives you some freedom. Don't let selfishness control your life today!

Someone who has done many wrongs,
Keegan