Tough

I was just thinking today about how surreal the battle of good and evil is. We go through life and just figure we are all doing either right or wrong and our choices lead us down the path we choose. I think of it as there are two people who claim to own a dog and they decided to let the dog choose who it wants to be with. On one hand there is God who has done so much for us and has promised us eternity with him and gave his son for us. The other side pits satan who offers us everything that is "good" which is the easy way out for most people. Satan is so enticing and the offers he has come into plain sight just about everyday for us. He knows that he is not the true leader of these people but he hates God so much that he is willing to deceive and break down any barriers that have been set up against him. We know what we get from both sides and we also understand the outcome of our decisions. The question is what are we going to decide? You can only pick one and you cannot sit and contemplate it forever nor can you jump back and forth between sides and expect that it will all be okay. It all comes down to where you want to end up and what is more important to you in this moment. Is it pleasure and everything that appears good? or is it satisfaction from Christ, peace, patience, love, and the promise of a lifetime? We get one shot to do things right and we only get first time experiences once and God has made every single experience in life a special one. If you throw any of those away, you know that it will never be the same again. Take value in everything that you do, every decision that is made leads to an experience or outcome so choose carefully what you will do and who you will follow. One side will tell you that it is okay and that it will not hurt but the other side is saying, "think about the future, think about what is waiting if you are just patient." God has a plan and he will not withhold anything from you, in fact he is excited to bless you and he will as long as you remain faithful.

Life is a struggle. Day in and day out we battle with emotions, actions, decisions, and people. Sometimes it is not as easy as just saying, "I am going to do this." You have to push yourself in EVERYTHING, not just the things that seem to interest you the most. If you forget about the little things, they will come back to bite you. I know that when I want something I go get it but I become passive or nonchalant about the things I do not think will be a big bother and this is where trouble finds me. 1st Peter 4:14-19 states, "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgement to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, 'If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?' So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good." One might view this as a passage regarding persecution but I also think that in regards to suffering, we might sometimes feel that we are suffering by "missing out on life" because of the lifestyle we have chosen to live. I hope that none of you feel this way but if you do, do not lose hope because God wants you to continue to commit to him and trust that his way will be the best in the end. I think the biggest issue for me is believing that I can overcome certain things. I have a problem with it out on the baseball field and I believe that it carries over from the way I live my life. If it is hard for the righteous to be saved (which is us), what will become of the others? This is a powerful passage because it shows that we need to be diligent and not fear death but fear God more than death. Death could not hold Christ down and when he returns for us, it will not be enough to hold us down, we get to share in that with him. He is ruler over all and he knows what can and will happen so trust him and make your decisions based on what you know. I cannot tell you how to live, I can only provide you with the options and make sure you are informed. Battle through and know that everyday, God is fighting for you.

I hope you are all doing well, still praying for those who have asked for it. If anyone else needs prayer or wants to talk, my number is 480-292-1754 or just send me a message or comment.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Representation

I have been thinking a lot lately about how I represent Christ and I have come up with a few ideas. Now I know I have addressed this several times about how we need to represent but I want to make it somewhat clear as to how I have done so or lack thereof in some cases. I spend some days wondering if the way I lived as a "Christian" in front of my friends will be what turns them off from God for the rest of their life. I have been in the situations where I had the chance to keep my mouth shut when I could say something demeaning about someone or make an unnecessary joke and I will tell you that more often than not I have been unable to walk away or stay silent. It is like I am desensitized to the whole thing and it is totally harmless but in reality it is every reflection of who I am and who I claim to be in Christ. My parents raised me right but I have failed them in many areas and been a bad representation of them and for that I can never repay them. When I struggled with pornography it was not an easy to just walk away and I will admit that there are times when I am at battle with satan trying to push me back into it and I have to stand strong. We make mistakes but we cannot continue to make the same ones if we want to earn the respect of people. Being a good person and saying the right things is not enough to get anyone anywhere. The people who are "good" are the people who can honestly say they practice what they preach. Giving in is so much easier because it is within your grasp, something tangible that results of making a poor decision and sinning. Instant gratification of your desires (whatever they may be) is not enough to make up for the eternity that you will miss out on in the end and nobody can dispute that. I take full responsibility for the choices I have made and I am fortunate in some areas that while there are scars, God will bring me joy when I start over and those scars do not surface easily. I know satan is waiting to use them but having talked to people about certain things, I feel like I have a good sense of what God wants for me and he wants me to utilize this grace (if you will) and use it to make things right. He wants to make me new again in certain areas but he cannot do that if I continue to make the same mistake over and over. I wish I could say that I have lived a "good" life and I can say that I try but more often than not, I make the mistake and I do not want to. I spend so much time thinking about how good things can be and what I am capable of and I do not know what is lacking. It might be prayer, it might be reading, it might be something inside me, or it might just be me missing someone who can really push me to be better. I know that God has something special for me over the next few years and I am searching hard to find it. I want what God desires, I just have to figure out what I am doing.

In Galatians we see that Paul is preaching and he talks about how he was accepted after his conversion. He talks about how her persecuted the Jews and he was zealous for the traditions of his fathers. This guy was having Jews put to death for believing in the Son of God but God had bigger plans for him. Just imagine the stage this guy had for representing Christ. First off, all of his old friends must have thought he was crazy because there is no way that this guy could fervently believe the very stuff he had said was a lie. Next, the Jews probably thought it was an inside job so he could figure out who the leaders were and take them down without any problems, and lastly, Paul probably had people thinking that he was going to revert back to his old ways because of how he had lived up to that point and it just was not feasible for him to accept something beyond what he had always known. Let me just say that if Paul had gone back to his previous way after having experienced the things he had, two outcomes may have resulted. One, it would have increased support against the Jewish movement because the whole blinding light and voice would have been considered a fluke and blasphemy about God. Secondly, some of the Jews would have just walked away because he could not be real if he was unable to complete such a simple task as changing a man of that status. Instead, Paul showed everyone the awesome power of God and even said that these people knew what he had done in the past and they still were willing to listen to him. This is key because Paul would never have been able to do any of the stuff he went on to do because people would not have respected him. He apologized and changed his actions because he knew that his past did not reflect Christ and he wanted to change the reflection in the mirror from Saul to Christ (think about it).

Overall, we are the only ones who can choose how we represent what we believe. The Church at Chapel Hill is going through a sermon series titled, "If not us, Who? If not now, When?" and I think this is great not only when it comes to reaching out to people but also for people to follow the way of Christ. Our generation of Christians is so messed up in our thinking of what is acceptable for Christians and I will tell you that our parents did not pass that along to us. If our parents did, then they forgot something in the handbook of raising your children to live lives of Christ. I understand that not all kids had that background of being raised in a Christian home and that is fine, but then they cannot be seeing partying , pre-marital pregnancy, cursing, gambling, etc... from the group that was raised in Christian homes. Otherwise they have a distorted view of the Christian church, they say "I thought it was supposed to be this way, but everyone else says it is fine so I guess it really is no big deal, I just have to follow Christ now." It is a big deal and we need our teens to make sure they are standing up and speaking out. Those of us who are in college and know what it is like, we need to speak up whether we added to the problem or not. Our voice AND action reflects what our true character and hopefully it is that of Christ.

I hope you are all doing well, I will continue to pray for those who have asked for prayer and I hope to hear from some of you soon.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson

Blending in

I have spent the last few weeks just taking a step back and trying to reorganize things in my life and evaluate where the summer was going to go. I was praying and spending time in the word occasionally but I found that I was just becoming part of the population that might not do anything wrong but still was not okay with what was going on. I was not neglecting God so to speak but I was just distracting myself from sin and in the process was avoiding some things that God was trying to speak into my life. Almost like Elijah on the mountain but I felt like this was something that I needed. I have not posted for a while because I wanted to be finding my way out of things I had dug myself into and then move forward from there. I do not like to be a hypocrite so I did not want to try and act like I was okay with God when in fact I was struggling a bit. I believe that we choose to more forward or backward each day with God and there is not really a stagnant stage. You either are doing what you are supposed to be doing and following him and growing in relationship with him, or you are falling away. When you take a break from something, you grow apart from it. Relationships that take breaks might solve some problems but when you come back there is usually something that happened during the break that leaves some remorse or question and when we break from God, we feel awkward trying to realign ourselves with him. This is Satan trying to win the battle and we need to make amends and move on. I am not saying breaks are okay because during breaks, Satan is right there trying to either prolong the break or just push you further away from him. It is not okay to just become a chameleon when things get rough, hiding only makes things fall apart faster and the support that one would normally have, is gone. A lot of times we find ourselves in trouble that we placed ourselves in and then people ask why God would allow such a terrible thing to happen. Well, Adam ate the apple after he decided it was okay but God had told him not to. He got thrown out because he let himself fall, God did not let him fall. In the same way, God is not going to make us fall because he gets more praise when we come back. He needs us for as long as possible to bring others up from the depths and we would do well to start making that happen as soon as possible. I know I get caught up in my own salvation more than is probably needed. We should be confident of our salvation because of the promise and the price paid by Christ on the cross and therefore should be focused on the salvation of others and how we can help tear people away from the clutches of hell.

Esther was caught in a similar predicament when her people were to be killed because the king was convinced that they should no longer be tolerated. Esther figured that because she worked for the king that she and her family would be fine but Mordecai said, what makes you think that you will not be harmed and do you not think that you may have been put in this position because you are the only one who can have access to the king and may be able to persuade him? As Esther thought about it, she realized the mistake she had made by wanting to stay quiet and she responded in Esther 4:16 saying, "Go, gather all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." She decided that she was not going to just try and go through the shadows and blend in with everyone else because she knew that she was clearly superior because of the authority that God had placed her in and those that were above her. God placed in her heart the desires of his and showed her what needed to be done and she answered the call. It is not enough to just want what is best for you in Christ, it is what is best for the body. Jesus could have easily backed out of paying the price for us but he knew it was not about him, it was/is about us even those who continually crucify him. He has paid the price for those who he knew would never accept it and that my friends is the greatest sacrifice of all. How many of you would sacrifice time or money for someone you knew would never appreciate it or grasp onto it? Is that not the opportunity we pass up everyday when we could give money to a homeless person? We say that they are going to go buy drugs or alcohol or it is just a scam. Well, Jesus paid the price for those people to live that way knowing that they would. He at least offered them the chance and we pass it up everyday. Is it not God's money that you have anyway so when did we become so selfish? I am not saying I am innocent of this but it is a problem however I am not saying you have to provide something for every homeless person on the street. When you have an opportunity and are ABLE to do so, do not pass it up for the sake of being selfish. We are supposed to try and live a life that reflects the thoughts and attitudes of Christ and I believe that Christ would be doing whatever he could just like he did when he was here. He gave up sleep, money, food, and ultimately his life for those who never deserved it. For those of you that do not know, none of us deserve it. Our economic status, the country we live in, who our parents are, who are ancestors are, none of it matters because every single person is undeserving of what is on the table from God and we have nothing to put on the table to make it an even trade.

I must say that I love writing and I miss doing what I did when I started this but I know that God has great things and my inspiration has been in the wrong place for quite some time and I am looking to find it in Christ again. I hope that all of you are doing well. As always, comments, suggestions, and prayer requests are always welcome. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to talk about and remember to try and eliminate the darkness that has taken over what is a very bright world.

God Bless,

Joseph Robinson