12/27/12
Colossians 4:5-6
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Today is the first day at Urbana, and its been an interesting first day. To narrow down the topic, I decided to go meet strangers after the first message, commuters who also do not have groups usually assigned by hotel. I actually believe that when this verse talks about outsiders, it means non-believers. But in this case outsiders would be people I’ve never met. I might be making a bible interpretation fuapau, but the situation is too ironic to let pass. I wonder if I can make the most of the opportunities to meet new people here at Urbana. I know with 18,000 people, and many pre-formed groups, it is hard to meet strangers and build a real relationship from them. I have come to believe that if I cannot really build a real friendship from meeting a person, it might be better to not meet them at all. But I might be very flawed in this thinking and this verse is revealing that fact. But all in all, this is a verse that I should keep in my heart, and hope that I can be full of grace (guessing the salt means knowledge and wisdom) and be able to answer everyone in a kind and relatable way. At least let me have ears to hear the stories that people bring to this conference.
Today is the first day at Urbana, and its been an interesting first day. To narrow down the topic, I decided to go meet strangers after the first message, commuters who also do not have groups usually assigned by hotel. I actually believe that when this verse talks about outsiders, it means non-believers. But in this case outsiders would be people I’ve never met. I might be making a bible interpretation fuapau, but the situation is too ironic to let pass. I wonder if I can make the most of the opportunities to meet new people here at Urbana. I know with 18,000 people, and many pre-formed groups, it is hard to meet strangers and build a real relationship from them. I have come to believe that if I cannot really build a real friendship from meeting a person, it might be better to not meet them at all. But I might be very flawed in this thinking and this verse is revealing that fact. But all in all, this is a verse that I should keep in my heart, and hope that I can be full of grace (guessing the salt means knowledge and wisdom) and be able to answer everyone in a kind and relatable way. At least let me have ears to hear the stories that people bring to this conference.
1/8/12
Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
This seems like a verse pulled out of an Urbana message. It isn’t but there are many verses in the Bible that say the exact same thing. Christ is life. And we are to die. Obviously by now this death isn’t a literal one, but a spiritual one. We are to die to ourselves and give up authority and control of our life to God, and that is how we will gain. So what do we gain? Some may start off want to gain eternal life, to continue living our comfortable and simple lives. Others more mature realize that living without a purpose brings discontentment and even despair. We then begin to seek things much greater things than what the world can give. Things like...love. We all, Christians and nonbelievers, glimpse this in our everyday lives. We see a mother care her child. We see lovers embrace and share tender moments together. We see friendships and family bonds bring happiness and joy of all degrees in people’s lives. Yet all of this is us trying to mimic the love that God pours down onto all of us from the heavens above. As we taste his abundant love, we really do realize that everything we have, every speck and splotch, in summation cannot even hold a candle to God’s love and provision. So what is the logical thing to do? Cast it all aside and take upon new titles of inheritance, and experience true joy. That is what being a Christian is. It almost sounds kind of selfish...we are always trying to find the best for ourselves.
This seems like a verse pulled out of an Urbana message. It isn’t but there are many verses in the Bible that say the exact same thing. Christ is life. And we are to die. Obviously by now this death isn’t a literal one, but a spiritual one. We are to die to ourselves and give up authority and control of our life to God, and that is how we will gain. So what do we gain? Some may start off want to gain eternal life, to continue living our comfortable and simple lives. Others more mature realize that living without a purpose brings discontentment and even despair. We then begin to seek things much greater things than what the world can give. Things like...love. We all, Christians and nonbelievers, glimpse this in our everyday lives. We see a mother care her child. We see lovers embrace and share tender moments together. We see friendships and family bonds bring happiness and joy of all degrees in people’s lives. Yet all of this is us trying to mimic the love that God pours down onto all of us from the heavens above. As we taste his abundant love, we really do realize that everything we have, every speck and splotch, in summation cannot even hold a candle to God’s love and provision. So what is the logical thing to do? Cast it all aside and take upon new titles of inheritance, and experience true joy. That is what being a Christian is. It almost sounds kind of selfish...we are always trying to find the best for ourselves.
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