The local Christian radio station, KVNE, has a day of the week where kids can call in their favorite songs from 7:00-8:00 a.m. It is called, "Loving Kids Thursday." One of the most requested songs is The Cartoon Song by Chris Rice (click here for lyrics). In this song Chris Rice sings about the hypothetical world in which Cartoons could by saved by Jesus and their different and unique ways of singing "Hallelujah!" in celebration. However fun this song is, I have grown disturbed by one of the lines of the song.
The lines talk about the MTV created cartoon characters Beavis and Butthead. According to the Cartoon Song, when it comes to these two very immoral characters, they do not get a chance to sing "Hallelujah" because they are not "saved." Now, I hate the B&B cartoon show as much as anyone, but to not allow the grace of Jesus to cover them is a travesty. These two fellows deserve the grace of God more than many of the other cartoon characters mentioned in the song. If God's grace is not big enough for Beavis and Butthead, then what makes us think it is big enough for us?
I would love to hear an updated version of the song, in which Beavis and "that other guy" realized they too have been granted grace by Jesus, and they get to sing "Hallelujah, He.He.He.He" (that's supposed to be a laugh). I may not be as destructive or bizarre as B&B, but I too plan to laugh my head off when I get to Heaven; not because it is funny, but because it will just be so unbelievable that God chose to love me. I hope I get to sing "Hallelujah" with many other B&B types in Heaven, not just "all those little blue guys."
About ME
- Mr. E
- Grand Prairie, Texas, United States
- Mr. E is a Christian, Husband, Father of 2, former Army Officer and Texas Rangers Baseball fan.
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grace. Show all posts
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Monday, December 31, 2007
Dying to One's Self Is Not Easy
It seems the past few weeks or so I have been reading or hearing things that point to the need for Christians to "Die to their former selves and be reborn into their new life with Christ!" At first I was dismissing these "cues" as if to say, "I was baptized and I have repented of my sins. God loves me now and that is that!" I think God wanted me to hear more.
In my Sunday morning class at my church...we have been talking about how you must undergo a severe humbling process in order to turn your life fully over the the will of God. You must give up your own will, not only in mind, but in body, to the will of the Father. Even if the desires to continue in our sinful ways pull hard on our hearts, it's what the body does that shows the true desires of our hearts. We may confess all day long that we want to give up our sins, addictions, and selfish behaviors, but when we continue to choose to wallow in our hopelessness and choose not to act on our faith in God, we are showing that we are still giving in to the desire of our hearts to do what We want to do not what God wants us to do.
I have also been reading a book called "When Heaven Weeps" by Ted Dekker. In it the main character keeps referring to how Christians as a whole refuse to join Christ in His cruel and terrible death in order to show His love to others. He states we are perfectly fine to confess the love of Jesus, but we refuse to get our hands dirty to work to show that love. We say we love others, but if it means pain and suffering for ourselves, we will choose Self over Others every time.
God calls us to die our old self and join Christ in death. It is absolutely necessary to do this in order to fully understand, accept and act upon His Grace. There is a quote from the book that stands out..."Is the death of the will any less painful than the death of the body? Call it figurative if it makes you comfortable, but in reality the death of the will is far more traumatic than the death of the body." " In the death of the body the nerve endings soon stop feeling. In the death of the will the heart doesn't stop its bleeding so quickly."
Giving up our selfish will is hard to do. It's something I myself need to come face to face with. I am scared to death to do it. I have been a Christian for some time, but It's hard to show any tangible evidence of my faith as far as actively loving others is concerned. Recent events in my life have caused me to be much less judgemental when it comes to looking at the sins and actions of others, but I still have a hard time actively loving them.
My New Year's Resolution is to pray that God allows me to die to old self and be reborn a person who is fully capable of loving others the same way that He loves me. I am terrified of how God may choose to do this, but I know it will be the best thing for me. I am ready, I think. Pray for Me!
In my Sunday morning class at my church...we have been talking about how you must undergo a severe humbling process in order to turn your life fully over the the will of God. You must give up your own will, not only in mind, but in body, to the will of the Father. Even if the desires to continue in our sinful ways pull hard on our hearts, it's what the body does that shows the true desires of our hearts. We may confess all day long that we want to give up our sins, addictions, and selfish behaviors, but when we continue to choose to wallow in our hopelessness and choose not to act on our faith in God, we are showing that we are still giving in to the desire of our hearts to do what We want to do not what God wants us to do.
I have also been reading a book called "When Heaven Weeps" by Ted Dekker. In it the main character keeps referring to how Christians as a whole refuse to join Christ in His cruel and terrible death in order to show His love to others. He states we are perfectly fine to confess the love of Jesus, but we refuse to get our hands dirty to work to show that love. We say we love others, but if it means pain and suffering for ourselves, we will choose Self over Others every time.
God calls us to die our old self and join Christ in death. It is absolutely necessary to do this in order to fully understand, accept and act upon His Grace. There is a quote from the book that stands out..."Is the death of the will any less painful than the death of the body? Call it figurative if it makes you comfortable, but in reality the death of the will is far more traumatic than the death of the body." " In the death of the body the nerve endings soon stop feeling. In the death of the will the heart doesn't stop its bleeding so quickly."
Giving up our selfish will is hard to do. It's something I myself need to come face to face with. I am scared to death to do it. I have been a Christian for some time, but It's hard to show any tangible evidence of my faith as far as actively loving others is concerned. Recent events in my life have caused me to be much less judgemental when it comes to looking at the sins and actions of others, but I still have a hard time actively loving them.
My New Year's Resolution is to pray that God allows me to die to old self and be reborn a person who is fully capable of loving others the same way that He loves me. I am terrified of how God may choose to do this, but I know it will be the best thing for me. I am ready, I think. Pray for Me!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Who is a God like You?
I have been a Christian for the majority of my natural life. In all the years I have been a Christian I have to honestly say that I have read the Bible from cover to cover only twice (maybe three) time ever. I am just about to finish it for the third (maybe fourth) time. The hardest part of reading the Bible, to me, is reading through the major and minor prophets at the end of the Old Testament. The prophetic language is sometimes hard to understand and it seems very repetitive.
In my most recent attempt at reading through these books, I have tried to look at them with open eyes and with an open mind. What I discovered made me very sad, then angry and then extremely happy. The sad part was reading about the punishment that God was going to inflict on his people if they did not repent from their sinful ways and return to a life of righteousness and relationship with God. The angry part was that despite God's many warnings of what this punishment was, the Israelites and Judeans kept on sinning. I mean God warned them over and over again, that if they would just repent, He would save them. He wanted to show them mercy, but they ignored Him right on up to the point where they were carried away into captivity by their enemies. The happy part was knowing that God loved them enough to delay their punishment until everyone had heard the warnings and had a chance to repent. He loved them enough, that even when the punishment was carried out, He took care of the few who were faithful and blessed them anyway. Wow!
What a God! I think the prophet Micah sums it up best in his book. Micah 7:18-20 says, "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our iniquities into the depth of the sea. You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago."
God does not want to punish us! He does not want to send any of His children to captivity in Hell! God wanted to show His love for us so much, that He died for us in the form of His Son, Jesus, the Christ. He wants to show us His mercy and grace. He wants us to listen to the warnings. He wants those who have received Him to share the warnings and the good news of Grace to others. I pray that those who deny Jesus and continue to ignore the warnings wake up and accept His offers of mercy before it's to late.
In my most recent attempt at reading through these books, I have tried to look at them with open eyes and with an open mind. What I discovered made me very sad, then angry and then extremely happy. The sad part was reading about the punishment that God was going to inflict on his people if they did not repent from their sinful ways and return to a life of righteousness and relationship with God. The angry part was that despite God's many warnings of what this punishment was, the Israelites and Judeans kept on sinning. I mean God warned them over and over again, that if they would just repent, He would save them. He wanted to show them mercy, but they ignored Him right on up to the point where they were carried away into captivity by their enemies. The happy part was knowing that God loved them enough to delay their punishment until everyone had heard the warnings and had a chance to repent. He loved them enough, that even when the punishment was carried out, He took care of the few who were faithful and blessed them anyway. Wow!
What a God! I think the prophet Micah sums it up best in his book. Micah 7:18-20 says, "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our iniquities into the depth of the sea. You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago."
God does not want to punish us! He does not want to send any of His children to captivity in Hell! God wanted to show His love for us so much, that He died for us in the form of His Son, Jesus, the Christ. He wants to show us His mercy and grace. He wants us to listen to the warnings. He wants those who have received Him to share the warnings and the good news of Grace to others. I pray that those who deny Jesus and continue to ignore the warnings wake up and accept His offers of mercy before it's to late.
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