God has gifted me with wonderful parents. My mom and dad are still loving Jesus and each other after almost 30 years! As I look at the patterns in my life today, many good ones (and only a few bad) can be traced back to specific teaching opportunities they took with me when I was younger. I think, next to Jesus, the concept of intentional living has stuck with me the most, and is something I will not easily forsake.
High school was a bummer. I was wrapped up in legalism. If music had more than one beat, your hair touched your eyebrow (guys), had ink on your arm, or a hole in your body that wasn't supposed to be there, it was hell for you in my book. In high school stuff was simple: don't do it. There's no such thing as a yellow light or grey area in legalism. But what of all the Scriptures that spoke of freedom? Wasn't Jesus the one that sets free, breaks chains? Yeah. That's what my mom and dad started to realize.
As my parent's faith and Scriptural understanding grew, so did mine. We started learning about things like grace and freedom from religion. When they told me about living life intentionally, now that's when things started to change. They made me dive into movie reviews, video game reviews, and music reviews so I would learn why I would interact with what I was entertaining myself with.
God made humanity in His own image and likeness, and the entertainment we bring into our eyes, ears and hearts is not just some mindless nothingness. These forms of art were designed for a reason and placed in a context. If a musician produces music for a purpose, certainly Christians would understand this concept right? After all, if God does things with a purpose, so should we. This is not the case...
This morning I was reading in Acts, and I was astonished at the number of conversions in a matter of chapters!
These men lived with a purpose. Lived intentionally. They didn't have to talk about Jesus, like it was some kind of chore, or an awkward conversation piece. They lived their lives intentionally (and even died intentionally) by preaching and living out the gospel.
Living intentionally has changed the way I interact with the world. Consider the apostles, and lets change Glassboro for Jesus!
"In high school stuff was simple: don't do it." Click to Tweet
High school was a bummer. I was wrapped up in legalism. If music had more than one beat, your hair touched your eyebrow (guys), had ink on your arm, or a hole in your body that wasn't supposed to be there, it was hell for you in my book. In high school stuff was simple: don't do it. There's no such thing as a yellow light or grey area in legalism. But what of all the Scriptures that spoke of freedom? Wasn't Jesus the one that sets free, breaks chains? Yeah. That's what my mom and dad started to realize.
As my parent's faith and Scriptural understanding grew, so did mine. We started learning about things like grace and freedom from religion. When they told me about living life intentionally, now that's when things started to change. They made me dive into movie reviews, video game reviews, and music reviews so I would learn why I would interact with what I was entertaining myself with.
"If God does things with a purpose, so should we." Click to Tweet
God made humanity in His own image and likeness, and the entertainment we bring into our eyes, ears and hearts is not just some mindless nothingness. These forms of art were designed for a reason and placed in a context. If a musician produces music for a purpose, certainly Christians would understand this concept right? After all, if God does things with a purpose, so should we. This is not the case...
This morning I was reading in Acts, and I was astonished at the number of conversions in a matter of chapters!
- And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved -2:47
- But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand -4:4
- And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. -5:14-15
These men lived with a purpose. Lived intentionally. They didn't have to talk about Jesus, like it was some kind of chore, or an awkward conversation piece. They lived their lives intentionally (and even died intentionally) by preaching and living out the gospel.
Living intentionally has changed the way I interact with the world. Consider the apostles, and lets change Glassboro for Jesus!