Tag Archives: Grace

Beyond Measure.

Life, Thoughts,

I know that I’ve been,
Given more than beyond measure,
I come alive when,
I see beyond my fears
I know that I’ve been given more than earthly treasure,
I come alive when
I’ve broken down and given you control

This is the Chorus from Beyond Measure by Jeremy Camp.

This rings so true to me this past weekend, what a weekend! It started friday afternoon as I drove a 15 passenger van full of guys down to Belen, NM for a men’s conference. I felt a little odd heading up the trip as I was not only the youngest guy on the trip, but it was also my first men’s conference, I have always had to work or have been out-of-town in years past. I am so glad I didn’t miss this year. The crew ranged from me at 25 to a sweet Saint; Augie at 82 years old. The speakers were great, (Mike McIntosh, Pancho Juarez) the worship was stellar (Charlie Hall) but that doesn’t speak to the friendships that were cultivated and the lives that were blessed on this trip. God has placed a few men in my life recently that bless my life so much, one guy who has just really come to know the Lord. He was raised in a religious home walked away from the church when a pastor wouldn’t shake his hand because of the way he was dressed and the earring in his ear, his zeal for the Lord and passion for the Bible make me all giddy inside and remind me what I live for, and how good the God I serve truly is. Another guy recently came out of the Jehovah Witness church, his eyes have been truly opened for the for the first time, and he has been given freedom from all the chains and bondage that religion wraps people in. I am blessed beyond measure to have relationships with these guys, the fact that God would save me from my sin blows my mind, let alone let me by his grace; possibly even teach others, this is absolutely incredible.  Mike McIntosh put it like this; “We should be in awe of the Lord and the fact that He would even talk to us let alone give us an assignment!” Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I so quickly forget that my life is truly blessed and the Lord has given me more than beyond measure. So whether life finds you on a mountain top or in the deepest darkest valley, remember to look at your life from the perspective; that everything in our lives other than death and hell is a blessing from above, the Lord has truly dealt mercifully with us!

Religion vs. Christianity

Thoughts, , ,

If you’re anything like me, you tend to be a very Religious person, and this isn’t a good thing! Now some people will say, “wait I thought it was good to be religious and others will say I am not religious at all. The fact is whether you are an atheist, Christian or devout Muslim you are a very religious person, and Martin Luther was correct when he said that, “Religion is the default mode of the human heart.” Religion is simply making our own rules and then attempting to keep them which obviously makes us better than the people who don’t keep these rules; the funny thing is the rules that we choose to make “important” are things that we happen to be good at doing. For example the couple with 12 kids looks down on anyone that has less than 8 kids, or the family that home schools and knows that there is no other “holy” way to do it, or the mom that has her children naturally which makes her more like Jesus because she understands the pain of the cross, or how about the parents that read a book on parenting and now go about telling everyone else how to fix their children! These are just a few of the religious tendencies found in the church, but there are plenty of examples outside of the church as well, take for example the guy that bikes to work and never uses plastic products and looks at disgust at anyone that drives an SUV,  or the vegan girl who believes everyone that anyone that eats meat is a murderer, the examples are endless. The scariest thing about these tendencies is the fact that the Bible teaches the religious people in Jesus’ day not only constantly fought with Jesus they also got so fed up with the fact that Jesus wouldn’t keep their ridiculous rules that they falsely accused Him then proceeded to murder Him. Jesus said things like; “These people draw near to me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” Mt. 15:8; “Woe to you Pharisees, hypocrites… you make him twice the son of hell you yourselves are.” Mt. 23:15; these are jarring statements coming from God on earth. Try harder, do better, keep all the rules and maybe just maybe when you die your good will outweigh your bad, this is the foundation of all world religions. Buddhism , Judaism, Mormonism, Catholicism all have the same this philosophy at their core. Religion has only two outcomes; it either results in proud self-righteous hypocrites or in broken lives that have no hope because they can’t keep the rules. Christianity alone says you do nothing to deserve salvation God alone is the One who saves, Christianity says Jesus came to the earth to die for our sins and believing in Him by faith is the only way to be found righteous in the sight of God. So the next time you impose your rules, and not the Bible’s on other people remember the Pharisees, repent and go to Jesus for there is truly no hope without Him.

-Eden