Cop-out

“Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words”

St Francis of Assisi

I was thinking about this inspirational quote tonight. This quote has been a comfort and encouragement to many Christians over the years, myself included, and I still think highly of it BUT....

I realise that this quote holds me back sometimes, like it's okay not to tell people about Jesus and the amazing things He has done because I can just do it through my actions. I justify my silence by telling myself that it's okay because surely I am showing them through my actions.

Whilst we need to shine the light of God through our actions, it doesn't make up for or replace speaking the amazing truth of Jesus into the lives of those we run into, whether one-off's or regularly.

Of course we must remain wise and must never be forceful with this truth. If people don't want to know then we should pray for them and wait for God to bring them to a point where they are interested and be ready then.

But we should also remember that people we know and love are going to miss out on eternity, and that's a truth I cannot bear. I'd rather risk people's hatred now for trying to help them find God than risk them not being in Eternity.

Telling people takes courage, being a Christian takes courage. Pray for me and those who know he truth of Jesus that we may have courage and the right words to lead people to the best news in the world - Jesus Saves.

Who does he think he is?

"I was kind of in a bad mood and when he brings on [Nigel] de Jong and takes off [Edin] Dzeko, and we're losing 2-0, I thought it was a defensive substitution so I decided to sit back on the bench," he said.

"At the same time Dzeko comes off and is really angry and has a go at Mancini. He then sees the tunnel is closed so he has to sit down next to him and they start to have an argument.

"Dzeko was speaking Bosnian and Mancini would swear at him in Italian so it was a real mess. So I go and sit down and he doesn't see me because he's having this discussion. But then he turns around and sees me and you can imagine what happens.

"He's in the middle of an argument so then he tells me to keep on warming up and treats me like a dog.

"So when he spoke to me in that tone of voice, and I said 'No, I'm not going out'. So I was willing to play, but the coach was in such a foul mood because he had that argument with Dzeko.

These were the words of Carlo Tevez, Premier League leaders Manchester City's around £200,000 a week striker who is currently on strike having been disciplined for the refusal he outlined above. 

I couldn't believe the cheek of his words, refusing to warm up just because his boss spoke to him rudely. If my boss asked me to do something rudely, I might be irritated but I would do it because ultimately he is the one who signs my cheque, a cheque which is around 1/800th of Tevez's weekly wage. It would take me 20 years to earn what he does in a week. 

But this is the world we live in today. The common mindset is that it is all about us, we treat ourselves like God and anybody or anything that doesn't fit in with our desires is rejected.

G.K. Chesterton said, 'For when we cease to worship God, we do not worship nothing, we worship anything'. In today's selfish world that includes ourselves, woman, drink, drugs, careers, sports team and many other unworthy things.

When we seek proof for the existence of God, we put God on trial. And guess who is the judge? We make ourselves God and even if we find the proof we need it still isn't good enough because when we see something negative it brings us back down. There is plenty of great, reliable evidence for God and plenty of good answers to the difficult questions but when we depend on our own judgement alone we will never submit to God in our lives. Submitting to God means denying our own judgement and trusting Him alone regardless of what we hear and see, making Him God of our lives. 

We know He is real, let's truly put our trust in Him :-)


The greatest act of faith takes place when a man finally decides that he is not God.Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Tug of the Heart

Happy Valentines Day everyone, whether you are single, taken, married or whatever! Hope everyone had an excuse to smile at least once today (we have one everyday in Jesus!) :-)

My one gripe about Valentines Day is the negative comments on Facebook from people. This was my first Valentines with someone this year (none of my previous relationships occurred over Valentines before!) but even in previous years I was happy just to see others be happy with each other. I didn't see the need to be negative.

This year there were a tonne of derogatory comments on Facebook and I realised that many of the comments were just attempts to hide how people really felt, that they did care about Valentines and having someone to share it with but they didn't want to show it. The ones who didn't post anything negative at all were more convincing to be honest ;)

This reminded me of the spiritual struggle we all have but particularly of the ones Atheists have. The Bible makes it clear in Romans 1:18-20 that there is no excuse for those who claim not to know God. Everybody knows there is a God but because they don't want to know Him they fight it.

Every article about Christianity on BBC News is littered with comments from Atheists belittling the faith and the British Humanist Association always seem to get to comment on them (so much for the BBC being down the middle). Why do these guys care so much? If you really don't believe in a God (and they do, they just don't want to admit it) when why does it bother you so much that some do?  Seeing them fight it so much is great proof to me that they really do think there is a God. Those who don't seem to care are a lot more convincing!

Don't fight the truth in your heart any longer, you don't need to...

"The atheist can't find God for the same reason that a thief can't find a policeman." Author Unknown

Is this what we were meant to be?

Reading through the news took me to a really sad story and an indication of how messed up our world has become.

A 20 year old girl getting so drunk at a themed night (ironically called 'Misbehaviour') in a Cardiff nightclub that she stripped off completely during a 'Innocent' wet t-shirt contest whilst being egged on by the crowd.

One 'fan' wrote 'She just got drunk and naked for a bit of banter. No biggie'. I wonder if her family, future husband and future children share that sentiment. Imagine it was your daughter/girlfriend/wife. It is a 'biggie' really isn't it?

This just sums up how I feel about Britain right now. How many people actually truly care about each other?  Not by their words - How are you doing? (and I ask that way too often without truly caring - to me truly caring is not just accepting okay for an answer if you know something is wrong and trying to do something about it to help them!) - but by loving on people as ourselves, like Jesus commanded (Matthew 22:39 is one of a few occasions in the Bible). I would love to see a Britain where people truly thought about others and blessed others rather than just pay fake respect to each other, if even that for some.

Who was looking out for this girl? Everyone just wanted a bit of pleasure, as if life is all about enjoying yourself with no consideration for others and for the God that made you that many suppress. (yes, there is no such thing as an atheist, everyone knows God exists - Romans 1:18-20 - and are suppressing the truth because it doesn't quite fit in with their idea for life) I am all for enjoying life, but I have tried without and with God and I know where true enjoyment comes. Not in the perverted, selfish and sensual orientations of today's world but in the joyful, selfless and loving arms of Jesus Christ. It's actually scientifically proven as well! Yes, I said His Name..sue me! (I believe a Christian will go to prison in this country for standing for their faith in the next ten years, free speech and belief is getting this suppressed here)

This is a challenge for me also, when praying about this I felt God telling me to lead by example. If I want to see others care about people then I need to care about people so ridiculously that people take notice and are inspired that way themselves. Not everyone will take notice but some will and lives will be changed and God's Kingdom would come further on this earth. Incentive enough?
The Bible is all about examples, from the good but tainted such as Abraham, Moses & David to the tainted but changed Jacob & Paul to the perfect example of Jesus.

This society drives me crazy, from the way it denies and buries God when every argument against God assumes God through the assumption of the laws of logic, (Ask any Atheist how he knows anything and watch him squirm, you cannot claim to know anything without confessing the existence of God - I am happy for an atheist to come and debate this!), from the way it takes a pleasurable drink (for some) such as beer or wine, drink way too much of it..wrecking their bodies, their relationships, their minds and their lives pretending it's cool whilst doing so. If you need alcohol to have fun and be confident, you have serious issues.

To continue this rant, the word 'banter' is getting out of hand. I am not against fun between friends, but when this 'fun' involves serious repercussions that will affect them their whole life (as for the 20 year old Glamorgan student) you have to question whether you are treating that person as a friend or your worst enemy. True banter is fun for everyone, not just you!

God Loves us, God sent us Jesus, Jesus told us to love each other, we love each other. God Loves us...this is the true circle of life.

If you want to become a Christian, have questions, not sure, need prayer or want to talk about anything just Facebook me, tweet me @mjw6150, e-mail me: mjw6150@hotmail.com

God Bless you all, God wants us to change the world, to change our lives...He can do anything, therefore we can do it!

Love and Blessings :-)