What's Missing?

    If someone asked you what's missing in your life, what would you say? Would you say, money, a girlfriend, time, friends, creativity, motivation, something else? There is something that you and I are missing that needs to regularly be filled. Any guesses? It's love, and God is love. 1 John 4:8 says "whoever does not know love does not know God, for God is love." So in order to know God, we need to know love.
    When something is missing, our goal is to find it (phone, keys, young siblings, etc). With love, it doesn't work like that, though we try. People have turned to social media, video games, pornography, damaging relationships, and more to get this love. But it's not love people are finding, it's lust, the exact opposite of love. Love and lust is like an apple tree. The good apples grow on the tree while the rotten ones fall to the ground. Love is the good apple you have to climb for, while lust is the rotten apple ready to snatch from the ground. Lust is easier, but it doesn't taste good and causes more damage than good. None of us want garbage fruit when we can eat better, so how can we receive this love rather than taking lust?
    Love is a complete giving of one's self. If you love your soccer team, you're going to practice at 100% every day. If you love your parents, you're going to do things to make them happy. If someone annoys you, you're going to pray for that person. Love isn't this complicated thing, it's simply putting others before yourself. The more you give love, the more you receive it. I mean, how often are you rude to someone who's so kind to you?

    I know we like to blame the people around us, but let's be honest, If God is the most important thing in our life, how could we yell at one of His creations? The bottom line is that when we're missing out on love, it's everyone around you who is also missing out on love, your love.

    Our hearts will never rest until they rest in God. 
       - St. Augustine

Life is Like a Baseball Game...

    I'm a baseball fan. One of my favorite plays to watch is the steal. As soon as the pitcher motions towards home, the runner takes off. It's a race between the runner and the ball to the bag. The catcher riffles it to second just before the runner does a head first slide toward the bag. As soon as the runner touches the bag he grabs it and won't let go until the ball is away from him. What a great example of God, huh?
    Life is just like running the bases. When you're standing on a base, getting tagged by the ball has no effect. However, even if you're a hair off the bag, when you're tagged, you're out. Now think of God as the base, when you're with God, the Devil can try all he wants, but as long as you're in God's presence, you're safe. But as soon as you're away from God, whether by an inch or a mile, the devil is after you. He may be in left field, but he's making a direct route to get to you before you get back to God. But unlike actual baseball, there's a lot of false bases.
    What I mean is that rather than running to God's safety, we stop at false gods. These false gods make us feel safe, but when we're tagged, it's over. Those false safe zones could be drugs, porn, video games, social media, phones, music, the internet, etc. Sometimes in the craziness of life we run and cling to these things to feel safe. "I don't know anyone here. If I go on my phone, I won't feel so lonely." "Another girl turned me down, but the internet won't say no." We turn to these things to get love and comfort, but it leaves us feeling like Wolverine fans after the U of M/MSU game. Don't do it!!!! It's not a good feeling. Because you will feel lost and left out to dry. But just like baseball, we'll get another shot at the plate...this time, keep it simple and run to God.

Why We Sin

 

  "You're only cheating yourself!" Have you ever heard that from a coach, teacher, or parent? Maybe even all three. Our coach would yell this when we would cut corners during our sprints, or when we tried to skip a lap. My team would act like we did all the laps from time to time because we wanted to end sooner, get to the end of the run. But the end of the run wasn't our destination...we wanted to be state champs. That is a great way to describe sin.

    Sin is when we see an end that we want, but we cut corners to get it. Example: I want to get an A...oh look, the answer key! Sin grabs the goal without doing the expected work. If this happens in math, you don't learn; if it happens during conditioning, it causes weariness during the games. So why do we keep cheating ourselves?
    It's easy! We want the satisfaction right away. Constantly sinning/cheating breaks down our potential. If Michael Phelps didn't train 8 hours a day, he wouldn't have broken records.

    If you cut the sins, life cheats, that are holding you back, what would you become? Studying hard, staying physically active, growing in your friendships, you could have the coolest life ever where every night in your prayer you say, "God...we kicked butt today!"

Good VS Evil

    Being victorious is an incredible feeling. Whether it's a team victory or a personal achievement, accomplishing something you've worked hard for is an amazing feeling. But it's short lived. Getting an "A" only lasts until the next semester, winning States only lasts until the next season. Is there a victory that ever lasts? What if you could join the team that has already been victorious?
    God has already defeated the Devil. Good has already prevailed over evil and will continue. But why does it seem that evil is so prevalent? With all the hatred in the world, disgust, and betrayal, how can good still be winning? Romans 6:23 reads "For the wages of sin is death." When Christ sacrificed his life on the cross for us, he conquered death. That means that when we ask God the Father for forgiveness, Christ is there on our behalf saying "I suffered so that this man/woman can have a clean slate." And boom, you're forgiven.
    Every time you go to Reconciliation, death is defeated. It's a guaranteed victory. Evil is regularly washed away, good isn't. So if you want to be on the winning side, turn toward Christ. If you regularly turn toward Christ, AWESOME! But do it more. This week, wash away the sin that is holding you back from being a better, happier you by going to Reconciliation. Reconciliation is held here at St. Andrew Saturdays at 3:00pm or by appointment.