It's hard to know what to do in response to the recent mass shootings in New Zealand. Our human nature wants revenge and to hate, but love is the only antidote to hate.
If you get bitten by a poisonous snake, the only thing that will save you is the antivenom. The only antivenom for this kind of hate is the love of God. We can't begin to understand what motivates people to carry out these evil acts. All we know is John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Romans 12:21 says, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good," and 1 Peter 4:8 says, "Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins."
0 Comments
The whole point of the Bible is that God loves us. 1 John 4:9 says, God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. It's easy to get distracted when sharing the good news but this verse sums it up perfectly. If that's the only message you get across, you have done a good job.
When Jesus was in the desert Satan tempted him with food too. I can barely go 40 hours without food but Jesus had not eaten for 40 days. He was hungry when Satan said to him, If you are God's Son, tell these stones to turn into bread (Matthew 4).
Many people have a complicated relationship with food - they either eat too much of it, or are afraid of eating too much of it. I suffered with an eating disorder for many years and kilos are not the only thing you lose - you lose your joy. God wants us to eat for health and enjoyment. He doesn't want us to be obsessed with it or to binge on it. Eve was also the first person to sin in the Bible (though Adam followed shortly afterwards. Genesis 3:16 God said to Eve,
I will cause you to have much trouble when you are pregnant. And when you give birth to children, you will have much pain. You will want your husband very much, but he will rule over you. One of the consequences of her sin was that childbirth would be more painful. The other consequence can be translated, "You will want to rule your husband, but he will rule over you.” You may have heard the phrase, battle of the sexes, which basically means a struggle for power between men and women. It is something that exists thousands of years after Eve's original sin. The Bible refers to the church as a body (we're talking about the people, not the building here). 1 Corinthians 12:27 says, All of you together are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of that body. Some people claim to be christians but don't go to church or only attend occasionally. Inevitably, what happens is that their faith weakens and dies. Back to the body analogy, if you cut your toe off (not that I'm suggesting you try this), it will die. And it's not just your toe that suffers, the rest of the body feels that loss and pain too. You might not think that your toes are important but they help you to balance and bear a lot of your weight when you're standing. You might not think that you're very important to your local church but God has something useful for you to do, wether that be teaching kid's church, encouraging other teenagers, greeting people at the door, joining the music team...
CHALLENGE: Rather than going to church with the attitude of what you can get out of it, see what you can offer. Find a way to serve. Talk to your pastor or youth leader. Obviously the best book to read here is the Bible but here are some other suggestions to help you to work out what you believe and why:
Why Jesus? - Nicky Gumbel (this little booklet is a good starting point and is great to give to your non-Christian friends) The Case for Christ (Student Edition) - Lee Strobel and Jane Vogel The Case for Christianity Answer Book - Lee Strobel 77 FAQs about God and the Bible - Josh McDowell and Sean McDowel Know Why You Believe - Paul E. Little. |
About UsShort and sweet inspirations for Christian teen girls. Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|