Better to Settle?

"Better to settle than risk waiting indefinitely for Mr. or Mrs. Perfect?"

That was the headline I read when I walked into the break room and glanced up at the morning news on TV. I chuckled for a minute assuming that this was just a small bit somebody through together to give people a little pump up message that Mr. Right is out there somewhere, but then I kept listening. What I heard being discussed by the hosts (on a major new channel being streamed across the country) shocked me. They all extolled the decision to just go ahead and "pick somebody decent" and get married as soon as you can. Why wait, they reasoned, when you have no assurance that your soul mate is really out there.

Why wait? Why would it be a bad idea to marry the first person you can find that will agree to marry you? I think what was really at the heart of this discussion was a fundamental misunderstanding of why marriage exists and how it was created to function. Contrary to the American Dream mentality, marriage does not exist so that you can have a souse, two and a half kids, a white picket fence in front of you million dollar house. Marriage isn't even about you. It's not about your spouse. It's about the God who created this union to show a picture of the sacrificial love of Christ and the beauty of the church, being encouraged and empowered to bring forth life to the world around her.

If you're single, marriage is a good thing. The Apostle Paul says it is good for men to be married (1 Cor. 7), and as a married man myself, I agree wholeheartedly! The good fruit that can come from marriage are limitless; spiritual growth, accountability, encouragement, and more. Dating and courting exists, in my eyes, to get to know the person you may consider to marry. Are they marriage material? This doesn't mean you're searching for perfection, rather do you see the fruits of the Spirit in them that will lend that person to loving and respecting you, to growing in Christ-likeness. The love of Christ promotes freedom, and freedom give energy and growth to a healthy marriage.

According to a study last year by the Pew Research Center, less than half of children in the United States live in a household with two parents in their first marriage. More than a third are being raised by a single parent. For those who settle and realize too late that the spouse they picked isn't "right for them" the trend seems to be to break that commitment and try again, no matter who else gets hurt in the process.

So for all who have made it this far, here are some reasons not to settle.

1) Your spouse will become the greatest helper (or hinderer) to your spiritual trajectory.

2) Your future children will be half of your genes... and half of your spouse's.

3) Your spouse will be your best friend for life, not just a few years.

4) Settling brings pain, waiting brings the expectation of joy.

5) God has a good future for you - married or not, He knows best.

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Jesus, I thank you for your never ending loving kindness to me. I thank you for your grace that you willingly extend to us and your faithful friendship that goes beyond all earthly relationships. You are better. You are so much better than any relationship we could desire, because your generosity and your fellowship are better than life. I pray that we would all want more of you today, and whether married or unmarried, we would trust you to guide our paths - knowing that you are a good father that delights in giving your children good things. Amen.

Miracles in the Modern Day

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. (Matthew 10:8 NKJV)

As I read through a devotional this morning that explicitly stated that this command to the disciples should be ignored by 21st century Christians my heart was confused and I couldn't come to grips with a theology that rebuffed the supernatural. It's early and I'm off to work, so more study will be done, but I believe Gill's commentary has some powerful words that challenge me not to write off sections of scripture because they scare me, worry me, or simply don't make sense.

An excerpt from: Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible on Matthew 10:8

"Heal the sick,.... For so he had given them power to do, and this both for the confirmation of their doctrine, and the recommendation of them to men; for nothing could more evidently prove their mission to be divine, and their doctrine from heaven, or be more acceptable to men, than to "heal" their "sick" friends and relations, who were given up by physicians, and incurable by the art of man; and to do this without the use of medicines, either by a word speaking, or by laying on of their hands, or by anointing with oil, joined with prayer; and particularly to cleanse the lepers, of which there were many in Israel, who otherwise could not get rid of that disorder, and by the law were deprived of many privileges, and advantages, which others enjoyed: and especially to raise the dead, which had never been done before the times of Christ, since the days of Elijah and Elisha; and which must be allowed by all men to be more than human, and to require the arm of almighty power: and lastly, to cast out devils, the sworn enemies of mankind, and who had taken possession of the bodies, as well as souls of multitudes in the Jewish nation; all which they are ordered to do, without taking any thing of the people..."

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Jesus, I have so much to learn and am not a theologian by any stretch. All I desire is to know you deeper and walk in step with your Spirit. You are a God of miracles and are not limited by what our minds can understand. You don't fit in a box and you never will. Today, strengthen my heart and challenge me to boldly declare your Gospel that moves mountains and stills raging seas just to give evidence to your supernatural love that will stop at nothing to capture our hearts. Amen. 

The Law

This morning Jesus peaked my curiosity while reading through his extensive teaching on the law in Matthew 5:17-48. Jesus describes himself as the fulfillment of the law (v17). In doing this He is the completion of what the Israelites have been awaiting for centuries. He doesn't stop there, but begins to correct the false interpretations of the Law that have been passed down by the Pharisees. I think this is valuable because this teaching establishes Jesus' authority. As the Son of God, who better than He to explain the heart behind the Law's instruction?

The Lord discusses anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and loving your enemies as he systematically takes the people's understanding of the Law and emphasizes the harshness of sin with phrases such as warning the angry that they will be "put in prison", the one who lusts that he or she should "cut off" any member that leads to sin.

You see, the Pharisee's had made the Law into a way of life, almost like a game to which they were able to tweak the rules in ways that best suited them. Christ's response was tantamount to declaring that they will never be able to fulfill they entirety of the Law - and in their attempts they would only achieve destruction, pain, and brokenness.

Paul writes in Galatians:

 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. 2:15-16 (italics added)

I know it is easy in our society to mock the Pharisee's as legalistic and to tout our freedom from the law. But there are two parts two this verse in Galatians that I find powerful. First, the law does not justify our relationship with God. Rigid obedience will not earn us passage into the Kingdom of Heaven, and God does not take pleasure in begrudging rule followers who focus their efforts on not-sinning rather than living in freedom for the sake of the Gospel. Secondly, our justification is towards faith, not in spite of faith. Faith gives fruit in its actions. Yes, the same Law that we have been set free from also gives us guidance to what a Godly life looks like. It instructs us to love, forgive, rejoice, mourn, plea, hope, and pray. We do this not out of a desire to follow a set of rules, but to draw nearer to our Father who loves us.

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Father, I repent of any ill-purposed motives in my heart that seek to give obedience to the law out of fear or obligations. I rejoice in a joyful obedience to your scriptures because you have set me free from a law that I could never appease and placed me under the law of liberty (James 1:25). Continue to pour your Spirit into me so that I would always grow closer and closer to you and that I would walk in step with your Spirit. Draw me to worship and strip me of insecurity and pride. I need your grace. I cannot and do not wish to strive after the wind and fall short of the Law. I choose to stand on the grace of God and use that sure-footing as a path forward into righteous obedience through your power. Amen.

Poor in Spirit or Rich in Self

Jesus in his initial introduction for the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3 tells us, "“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

John Calvin writes that “he only who is reduced to nothing in himself, and relies on the mercy of God, is poor in spirit.” Many of us are much closer to the wealthy side of worldly possessions that poverty. It is in light of this that Calvin's statement makes so much sense to me. How often have I taken pride in what I have, what I can do, or what I believe and used that as assurance that I had entrance into the Kingdom of God. To be poor in spirit is just the opposite of that. It is to place all power and ability in God's goodness and His grace and see ourselves in light of who we are - fallen men and Nd women desperate to be rescued. How often is believing that easy? Sometimes it's hard to accurately see ourselves through the lens of Jesus - fully loved, but woefully broken apart from Him. 

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Lord, I repent of believing the lie that I am sufficient in myself to gain entrance into your Kingdom. I ask for your grace - teach me to be humble. Train my mind to see myself as I am, rather than how the enemy and my flesh would like me to be. I willfully admit my brokenness and as that you would remedy my pride and fill me again with your Holy Spirit - poor in self, but rich in God. Amen

Circumventing the Will of God.

We know it's coming, but we think we can expedite the process. We believe God will keep his promise, but we might just help him out a bit.

This morning as I spent time in Matthew 4 reading through the temptation of Jesus I was struck by the last temptation that Satan gives the Lord in verse 9 saying "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." I've always laughed this off as ridiculous, but when I thought a little bit harder on what is really being offered I had to slow down and process it. Jesus ultimately will sit at the right hand of God and rule the nations (Ps. 2:8, et al.) - but that path comes through the cross.

You see without the cross Jesus does not accomplish the purposes of God that He has been set apart to do. Satan is promising Jesus a short cut. Jesus can gain the inheritance God promised Him through a different route than God. This is what Paul writes of Christ's authority over the nations in Philippians 2. This is what Christ would sacrifice to circumvent the will of God:

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It is through the cross that Christ receives the name that all men bow down to. The name that truly gives Christ authority over the nations.

So next time you think of a better way than God's way ask yourself: was that Christ's idea, or Satan's? If you're trying to find a better way than God's way you will forfeit the inheritance that God has promised to you. Jesus came as the Second Adam to redeem the brokenness of man. Where we fall short he succeeds. In temptation run to Jesus, he promises us this in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

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Jesus thank you that you reign supreme over us. As it says in Isaiah 55, your ways are better than our ways. As hard as it is for me to believe that when I'm in the moment of frustration and temptation I know that my striving produces death and my submission brings forth the fruits of obedience. And through obedience we find hope - hope that even in the worst of our suffering and pain you will remain faithful. And that hope does not put us to shame but brings the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5). Thank you for a way out, a perfect destiny, and the courage to believe you will fulfill all that you have promised us. Amen

Musings on Matthew 2 and the Magi

Lately I have been following an in depth study of the book of Matthew (via YouVersion) and this morning the study focused on the story of the Magi. Two different themes appeared to me:

1) God is faithful

Isaiah prophesies in Isaiah 11:10,

“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”

The Magi come from the East to visit the Lord Jesus in fulfillment of a prophesy spoken hundreds of years beforehand.

2) We are called to respond.

We don't know where the Magi came from or how long they journeyed to get to Jesus. What we do know is that when Herod gives the order later in Matthew 2:16 that all male children under the age of two are to be killed - Jesus was likely around that age.

The Magi traveled from a long way away, and although it was difficult and taxing for them to make their way into the presence of God - their desire to worship Jesus was so great that they made the journey.Herod was near to Jesus much longer than the Magi, yet he had no relationship with the God that came to save the world.

Today, the Holy Spirit promises to be near to us always - there is nowhere that we can go that is void of His presence. Yet, even in our nearness - do we behave like Herod or like the wise men? Do we content ourselves with being "close enough" to God while maintaining our own kingdom in spite of the Lord of Creation? Or do we press on at all costs, doing whatever we can and traveling any distance to be with Jesus? Convicting, but good.

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Lord Jesus,
I repent of my selfish ways. I have sought to exalt myself and have kept myself from your presence - believing that my self-sufficiency would be enough to keep myself well. I was wrong, I need you. Please break down the barriers in my heart that have kept me from you and restore in me a desire to travel 500 miles just to be with you.
Amen

Oceans

I've taken a brief hiatus from blogging at the end of this semester; life sure has gotten crazy! I don't know how regularly I'll be writing nowadays, but I have been going back through my journal and rejoicing in the good work that the Lord has been doing!

I don't know if ya'll have had the chance to pick up Hillsong United's most recent cd, Zion, but I would definitely recommend it! One song in particular that has been a constant prayer of mine has been Oceans (Where Feet May Fall). 



The lyrics are simple enough, but the prayer that they contain is frightfully honest. Frankly, I'm a bit intimidated by the words, but I pray them earnestly, begging God to help my unbelief. The refrain that appears more than a half dozen times in the nearly ten minute song goes like this:

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me.
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior.

Writing those words gives me goosebumps! Are you willing to pray that prayer? Honestly, are you? Are you willing to beg God to take you to a place that is so foreign and unknown to you, a place that you would never have gone yourself? Are you willing to brave the unknown with the only assurance being that God is with you. It's been quite the journey, but slowly I am choosing to believe God for the impossible, the crazy, and the seemingly insane. Jesus, let me walk upon the waters, let me get out of the boat like Peter. I will go, direct my feet to where you would lead me.
-Matt

What is love?

And now that I've succeeded in getting A Night at the Roxbury stuck in all of our heads (for which I do sincerely apologize) I aim to proceed to matters of much greater significance. Lately I have been caught pondering and imaging the depth and power of this crazy little thing called love (*cue the Elvis music).

For those of a certain level of maturation, love is little more than an emotion. It is a good feeling and promotes thoughts of attraction and affection. This love lacks power, finality, and worth. Love is an emotion, that is true to a certain degree. But love is so much more than an emotion. The butterflies in your tummy and that light-headedness are just feelings. These feelings can act as indicators of something more, but love itself does not flow from these things. No, love is the base from which all other indicators flow.

Many have heard Paul's definition of love from 1 Corinthians chapter 13;

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

I don't know what images that passage conjurers up in your mind, but grab a hold of your first thoughts and run them through the passage. Use it as a sort of sieve. It should offer a very polarizing tool with which love can be accurately distinguished.



Now, I willfully admit, that my conceptualization of what love is has been radically altered in the past year of my life. As my previous post alluded to, I have fairly recently become engaged to Carissa Curtis. Naturally, since we are to be married, it makes sense that we are indeed in love. And we are deeply in love. And how do I know that? How can I be absolutely certain that this love I feel for Carissa and the love that she reciprocates to me is in fact genuine, real love? Like all questions, I test it with what scripture says love is.

Love is patient. Is patience evident in our interactions with each other? Am I willing to listen, to wait, and to support her in any task for any duration? I am.

Love is kind. Is our love marked by kindness? It should be devoid of harshness and sarcastic jabs. Love must be sincere (as it says in Romans 12:9). Am I genuinely striving to be continually kind to her? I am.

... I could go on and on through all of these things, but I do not mean to exalt my relationship with Carissa over anyone, nor do I feel the need to prove some sort of perfection for some sort of "holiness test". Rather I give these examples to encourage you to think. If you are in a relationship with someone, test it by the spirit and the Word of truth. Does it stand? Now, there is grace abundant in Jesus. No one can love perfectly. For if God is love (1 John 4:8) and Romans 3:11 says that no one seeks God, how can we possible proclaim to love perfectly if we don't seek to know love?

I will be first to admit my tendencies to selfishness and resentment. I am not always willful to lay down my "right" to insist on my own way. I am far from perfect.

So if we cannot achieve perfect love, then what really is the difference between the love of attraction that I cited at the beginning of this post and the love which we broken people are left with, even as we strive to achieve the purity of love that Paul exults? The difference comes in that final verse I included from 1 Corinthians 13, verse 10, which reads "for when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away." The difference between genuine, sacrificial love and a fleeting emotion is time. Lust and emotion are chemical states created through the mind and the body which were never meant to last. They are temporary, designed to be reactions to certain stimuli. The love Paul describes is eternal.

Love does not pass away. It does not fade. You cannot "fall out of love". Sure, you can run as far as you'd like, but in the end everything else will fade and there will be nothing left to hold on to, save love.

My heart in writing this is reactionary after noticing a trend in our culture that idolizes this concept of love. But this is not a love that is eternal and self-sacrificing. Our culture promotes a love that is me-centered. Love that emanates solely from how I feel is not love. This "love" is adamant about having things the way we demand. "If this person doesn't continue to make me happy then I'll move on to somebody else" is a message that rings throughout our world today. From a boyfriend or girlfriend you've been dating for a few weeks to a spouse that you've been with for 20 years, nothing is off limits. "Love" in our world is self-serving, demanding, and inward focused on personal happiness at all costs.

Friends, we must not idolize the love that comes from our world, but rather we must let the love that comes from the Father dwell deeply inside of us. Worldly love does not last. It is partial, and it will pass away. In the Garden man took a place that was created by God for the purpose of unifying God and man in a perfect experience of harmony and worship and altered its purpose. When Adam and Eve sinned, they took the focus off of God, and put it onto themselves. They wanted to be equal with God and to not be bound by the limits that God set in place for their own good. This fracturing of purpose created the same dichotomy that exists in the world today. Adam and Even replaced the center of the universe, God, with themselves. Biblically, Godly love exists as a perfect union of self with an eternal purpose that produces worship and fruit. Self is set aside and this love exists to make much of the God who created is. Worldly love seeks to eliminate God and make love about one's self. Worldy love is selfish and centered on man.

I urge you brother and sisters, test what you to be love in your life. If Godly love is examined, you will follow its fruits all the way back to God and will end in worship. If worldly love is looked at even on a cursory level it quickly can be found to degrade to emotion, temporariness, and selfish desires. These selfish desires bring forth death. Godly love produces life.

So what is love? Love is a heaven focused state of being that seeks to unite the broken man with a holy God which can only be achieved through humbly accepting the sacrificial work of Christ who came to define what love really means through his selfless purchase of human life on the cross. I love Carissa, but only because I see that this love embodies the eternal purpose of a yearning to make Jesus' Name famous in all the world and believing and seeing her life strengthen and encourage me, and my life the same to her, to become more enamored with the love that God has for us. Godly love is attractive. It seems that I just happened to luck out that Carissa is not only in love with God, but also the most beautiful girl in the world.

I hope this challenges and encourages,
-Matt

Love

I'm engaged! to this lovely, beautiful, gracious servant of God, my bride-to-be Carissa Curtis.

Obviously a lot has happened since I have written last. The month of march was a bit of a whirl wind for me (us) and life hasn't really slowed down since! Many of you have already heard the full story, but succinctly I can summarize it in a brief paragraph:

We met through my roommate Chris and an organization called Impact at Texas A&M. Over the summer of 2012 we chatted back in forth (shout out to Twitter), and began dating in August. It didn't take long to realize that we had both found "the one" and marriage was on the horizon. We got engaged on the family spring break vacation in Granby, Colorado and the rest of the ride has been exhilarating.

Jesus has led us daily from our first date on August 20th, 2012 to this very day. It has been beyond incredible to see him work on both of our hearts as he prepares for marriage! We're both a bit rough around the edges, but the Lord has been at work in us so vigorously in these past few months. Through Carissa, God has revealed to me so much more of his compassion, his love, and his grace. I've been privileged to encourage her and spur her on in faith as well. She pushes me to Jesus, and that really is the glue that has galvanized our relationship. She's my best friend, my constant encourager, my beloved.

-matt

Undeserving

While reading through Deuteronomy this morning I came across a powerful juxtaposition in chapters 16 and 7. In verses 5-6 as God gives instruction for the Passover sacrifices He says:

"You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name"

Amidst this instruction I was cut to the core and the Spirit reminded me that I am the place He has chosen to dwell in. My body is the temple that the God of the universe has chosen to reside. It is inside of me that I sacrifice my life, my very soul, to give everything to the Lord who came for me.

It was this that made reading the first 7 verses of chapter 17 so heart-wrenching. I'm posting it here so because the power of scripture is much too valuable to skip over.

"Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him. If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant, and contrary to my command has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky, and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death. On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you."

Wow. That same God that dwells inside of me hates the violation of His covenant with me so much that the price of that trespass is death. I deserve death, yet the Holy One lives inside of me. This glorious paradox makes me feel so small, and so loved. I don't have the words to convey how humbling and wonderful this all-invasive love that conquered death is to me. But I hope this scripture speaks louder than my words.

His servant,
-matt

We Never Saw Anything Like This

I was reading from Mark 2 the other day and couldn't help but be mesmerized by the story of the paralytic healed by Jesus in verses 1 through 12. His friends carry him to Jesus, and when there seems to be no way to reach Him, they take him to the roof, tear the roof apart, and then lower him down to Jesus.

Was Dead and Now Alive

I don't have much to say, so I'll just let scripture speak for itself.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt… nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14  

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… But God… even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. Ephesians 2:1-2,5

I've been mulling over this scripture all morning. It's very simple, and beautiful. The only thing that changed between being dead and being alive was Christ's work for us. We don't try harder to be alive, we don't put our heads down and push forward, we accept the work of Christ and seek first His Kingdom.

-matt

A Lonely Candle

The Lord showed me a really encouraging picture this morning at church that I though I'd share. The picture was of a single candle burning in total darkness. Darkness's only objective is to snuff out the candle, but darkness itself has no direct control over the flame. You see, the only thing that can put the candle out is a lack of wick to burn. Without fuel, there can be no flame. If this is the case, the candle, us, has no reason to fear the darkness. There is no reason to let darkness incite fear in us, nor should we allot it to dominate our thoughts or our hearts. If indeed Christ reigns, our focus should be his victory. That enables us to burn bright. We fear no evil, for God is with us.

Practically, there is no reason to worry. Jesus is Lord and in the end will get all the glory he deserves. His truth will keep our candle lit, and as long as we fan the flame with scripture we can stand firm against the darkness. You see darkness can only distract us from feeding the flame. It only gains ground when we allow our flame to falter through ignoring and rejecting Christ.
So don't let fear and darkness have power over you, because Christ has equipped you with all you need to stand strong and thrive when darkness whispers lies, deceit, and wickedness. Check your heart with scripture and don't believe everything you hear, but rather believe what Scripture says. Darkness has no power over the Children of the Light. And that is precisely who we are.

Here's a link to Ben Stuart's sermon this morning, that conveniently enough (Thanks Holy Spirit) dealt with similar topics. Ben Stuart Fall 2012 Series | Sermons | Faithbridge

-matt

Hard Truths that Heal Hard Hearts

I've been traveling through Job this last week and the Scripture that God rocked me with today was way too powerful not to share! You can read the entirety of Job 9-14 here, and I'm going to highlight just a few key verses that really jumped out to me. Seriously, you should stop now and read it... Do it, the Word has so much more power than anything I have to say. Read it yet? I hope so. Here we go.

A Prayer from Paul

Pray this over your churches, small groups, ministries, and organizations:

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. -Ephesians 3:14-21 

This scripture was so crucial to answered prayers at Impact Retreat in August and has continued to appear in my life this semester. Definitely worth sharing with yall. -matt

Jump Start

I went to my first country music concert last Friday in College Station, and although I am not a fan of country music, the opening act Brian Burke played a song that I just cannot get out of my head for more than a few hours. The song was called Jump Start and it tells the story of someone "looking for a way to jump start [their] heart." The subject turns to lusts and a one night stand to "jump start [his] heart".

The Power of Testimony

This past season of my life has been exciting and challenging for me. I've learned much and continue to be amazed as the Lord reveals to me even the smallest of things. Something that I was reminded of yesterday and wanted to pass on was the power of the testimony of a believer.

I don't believe that I understand just exactly what  a testimony until this past spring.

On Psalm 27

I was looking for some encouragement from the Lord this afternoon and He led me to Psalm 27, and I just wanted to share a bit of that with yall.

The Lord is my light and my salvation —    whom shall I fear?The Lord is the stronghold of my life—    of whom shall I be afraid? (v1)

Take courage in the Lord. This world gives us plenty to worry about and if we're honest, we create a lot of the worries in our lives on our own. God is in control. I know that reminder was much needed for me this afternoon. When David is at his deepest moment of despair he commands his soul to "hope in God". I echo that prayer today. 

Thousands of Years

So far this summer season has brought plenty of adventures into my life. My family grew to 8 in May, my brother attended his new student conference in June, and come July I'll be in Scotland for the first time in almost 17 years. In addition to adventure, there has been a fair share of monotonous school work. I've been trudging through a business law course this summer and its been a doozy. Not only are we responsible for knowing what the law says now, but we have to know how it came to that point. 200 years of business law can get a bit tedious if you can imagine.

Summer Encouragement from Romans 12:12

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer." Such simple and challenging words like these are scattered all over scripture, but it is today I find myself meditating on these few. Simple is probably the furthest from the word I mean to use, perhaps compact would better suit this occasion. No matter how simple these three phrases are to read, I know my life will be spent learning slowly how to master them.