The burst.

Alright, here is something quick to think about.

I was cycling today and after a car pushed me off the road, I swerved into a ditch and my tyre burst. Having to get off and push my bike all the way home was very inconvenient and I was really in a bad mood. When I got home an hour later, I was hot, sweaty and my trip had been a lot harder than expected.
This resembles life don't you think?
Here is my thought...

When life is smooth and going well, its comfortable. There is a cool breeze in your hair, no sweat, and everything feels great.  The world seems an amazing place and stuff with God is good. But then you hit a 'ditch' and your 'tyre' bursts. You have to recover and stop yourself from crashing. When you realize what has happened, you are forced out of your comfort zone and your whole world seems 'deflated'. The journey ahead is a tough one and smooth riding is no longer an option. The 'ditch' can be anything in life that stops you in your tracks and this is the start of a demanding time. It takes persistence and hard work to bring you to a resting place where God can repair and you can be inflated again with His love. There is always going to be a puncture that affects your journey but God is able to do the repairs and keep you going strong.
True?

The 'Rocky' Syndrome

Okay! I recently heard an analogy where The Gospel and Rocky Balboa were compared. You are probably wandering what the heck Rocky has to do with the Gospel, BUT the fact is- we are a lot more like Rocky than you would think. I think i should explain...

In all the Rocky movies, Rocky Balboa (the big-shot boxer) is constantly trying to prove himself, always trying to show others what a good boxer he is. Now THAT is where we are very similar to him. When we mess up, we automatically try and prove that we are better. We are always striving to show others that we are not that messed up and so we try make up for our actions. There is no freedom, we will always fail because the fact is: WE ARE ALL MESSED UP! If we are acting in hope to prove ourselves and prove our goodness, there is no end.

But the Gospel gives us a completely different reason to be good. Society and even Religion says that if we do good things, we will be accepted. But in Jesus, we are already accepted! He payed the price for us, and now who we are is not what we do BUT what HAS BEEN DONE FOR US! We are righteous because of what He has done and we act out of GRATITUDE!, not shame. No matter what we do or have done, God always loves us. There is nothing we can do to make Him love us less. He IS love. Everyone makes bad choices but its by the grace of Jesus that we are accepted and so the running is over.We don't have to prove anything because He has already done it. He who knew no sin came down so that we might know the righteous of God. It's so easy to catch 'The Rocky Syndrome' because society says it is normal. We cause ourselves pain and hurt just like Rocky did. The choices we make are not what make us who we, Jesus makes us who we are.

Great teaching from the band Tenth Avenue North  :
http://tenthavenuenorth.com/

Rich and Poor

Alright, so I went to a game reserve near Hluhluwe last night which was luxurious- A buffet every meal, game drives and even wifi.
 I had a great time and got to relax, HOWEVER, on the way home we stopped at those 'quickstop shop' things to get water and whatever. I was sitting in the car when a group of 'poor' children walked past  my car and their eyes lit up when they saw an average looking BMW pull up in the parking. I took note of the car and realised that it was very average (to me) and it was strange that someone would get so excited. It was at that moment I realized that my 'luxury' is very different to their 'luxury'.

I thought of those kids and how they have basically nothing and that even an 'average' car is a wow-factor. The natural response would be to feel sorry for them right? But Jesus and the gospel have a different idea.
You see, in Matthew 5, (the sermon on the mount) Jesus speaks about the people just like these kids. He goes on to say "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven" and "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled". There are many other examples, read Matthew 5. But from this i realised that they are the lucky ones, because it is SO MUCH harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than a poor man. Scripture actually says that. You see, a poor man knows that he is in need of salvation, he knows his situation and turns to God, the only everlasting hope, for comfort and finds God through this. A rich man is ignorant and finds his comfort 'without God' while a poor man rests in the arms of Jesus.
There is so much more relating to this topic so i suggest you take a look at 'The Jesus I never knew" by Philip Yancey where he talks a lot about the Beatitudes. Just a little bit to think about.

Check the following links(related and unrelated).

Matthew 5- The Beatitudes.
Lifehouse skit (recommended)