This topic has just been on my mind and heart lately and i feel like i have learnt quite about it in the past week. I'd like to start this post though by commenting a bit about how i do this and why I am writing these posts. The reason I am blogging like this, is for my own personal growth, and in the process maybe I can share something that i have learnt in the process. Or maybe get told if my view is wrong or dodgey by a friend :P. Before i write each post, I pray that God will help me write only the truth, and that his message can be layed on my heart. I pray that as I read the bible, which I do before these posts, the truth of his word will become apparent to me. I just read something cool in 1 John 5, vs 14 and 15 in the NLT. "And we are confident that he hears us when we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for". This seemed cool to me, because by blogging like this I believe that I am pleasing God, if I share his message with people. Because I asked for him to help me understand his word and message and to help share it, I believe that he will help me type what he wants me to.
Now, about this really delicate and difficult subject... I am specifically speaking about the physical aspect of a pre-marital relationship. We all love being physical(maybe not all of us) with our boyfriend or girlfriend. And the desire to be physical in a relationship is built into us as human beings. However, this desire is a worldly desire to please our own flesh. Our aim in life should be to please God, and not our earthly desires. This being said, there is nothing wrong with being physical in your relationship. It can be a healthy part of your relationship that grows you closer to each other and helps you express love towards one another. We should try to be pure in our relationships. We should glorify and honour God with the way we treat each other(in a relationship). I will put this bluntly: pre-marital sex is a no go. This includes anything or anywhere that is below the belt(or hidden behind conventional underwear locations)... No touchy!
Is kissing and cuddling okay? Yes, to an extent. If you are pushing the boundaries as far as you can, in the way you are kissing or cuddling then no. If sex is on your mind, or a motive in the depths of your mind, then be very very careful. If kissing and cuddling makes you feel like you want to go further and do more stuff, then I'd recommend that you be very careful as well. This sounds difficult but it shouldn't be. Because we should be trying to please God and not our own flesh. We shouldn't be kissing and cuddling for our own personal gain, or to get that adrenaline rush feeling that we get when we kiss or touch each other. You have plenty of time for all these things, assuming you get married to the person you are dating, which is a good motive to be dating in my opinion :). The physical aspect of a relationship should never be the main part of your relationship. Even when you are married. You should make sure that you spend the majority of your time with your significant other doing other things. Like talking. Talking about everything and spending time together in Gods word.
That is a very important part of a relationship. Spending time together with God. That way you can grow each other and by making God the center of your relationship, your relationship will blossom and be fruitful to yourselves and to the people around you. Your relationship can show other people Gods love and be an example for how a relationship should be. Praying with your significant other is also amazing... Just praying for each other and for other people together. It's such an intimate thing to do, it's better than kissing or cuddling, and you are directly involving God in your relationship.
Just a quote that I think is relevant : 1 John 5 vs 21 "Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place away in your hearts". This applies to what I have been discussing :).
The Cross
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Do not love this world
I read 1 John 2 today. In my last post i spoke about how we shouldn't want to sin, and I just want to emphasize something: If we are trully sorry and are trying to not sin, and we ask for forgiveness then no matter how many times you sin, you will be forgiven. Because Jesus is our advocate who pleads our case before the father. Jesus is the sacrifice not only for us but for the whole world.
We shouldn't hate any of our brothers or sisters. If we hate then we aren't living according to Gods plan. We should just love our brothers and sisters. The new testament brings out a "new commandment" but it conveys the same message as the old testament, and that is to just love everybody as Christ loved us. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment by loving everyone even his prosecutors, and this is how we should live. This brings me to what stood out to me in the passage the most. Do not love this world. We must be very careful about the desires of this world. Our bodies crave all sorts of worldly pleasures. We are jealous and want everything that we see, and all we want to do is to achieve worldly things and get as many possessions as possible. But these worldy things are not from the father. If you just want to achieve as much stuff as possible with your life, like trying to become rich or to just please the flesh, then you aren't doing what God wants with your life. What he wants for us is what is best for our eternal existances.
What we should be trying to achieve in life is to spread Gods love and his message. We should only love... No matter what someone does to you you should just love them. Dont let people walk over you, but show them the deepest love. You know what i'm talking about. That guy that nobody likes and everyone talks about how annoying he is behind his back. Yes that guy, go and talk to him, try to help him see that he isn't being very polite(or whatever is wrong with him that nobody likes him.). Loving someone doesn't always mean pampering them... There is a thing called tough love. But I am going beyond my point. The point is this world is fading. You and I and everyone is going to die... And we are going to only have our non worldly possessions left. Use everything you do to glorify God!!! Rely on God's Strength and not your own, because we are all weak and we don't know what is good for us. But God will provide us with all the strength to overcome our problems.
Cool verse from this passage: 1 John 2 vs 14 : "God's word lives in your hearts, and you have won your battle with the evil one".
We shouldn't hate any of our brothers or sisters. If we hate then we aren't living according to Gods plan. We should just love our brothers and sisters. The new testament brings out a "new commandment" but it conveys the same message as the old testament, and that is to just love everybody as Christ loved us. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment by loving everyone even his prosecutors, and this is how we should live. This brings me to what stood out to me in the passage the most. Do not love this world. We must be very careful about the desires of this world. Our bodies crave all sorts of worldly pleasures. We are jealous and want everything that we see, and all we want to do is to achieve worldly things and get as many possessions as possible. But these worldy things are not from the father. If you just want to achieve as much stuff as possible with your life, like trying to become rich or to just please the flesh, then you aren't doing what God wants with your life. What he wants for us is what is best for our eternal existances.
What we should be trying to achieve in life is to spread Gods love and his message. We should only love... No matter what someone does to you you should just love them. Dont let people walk over you, but show them the deepest love. You know what i'm talking about. That guy that nobody likes and everyone talks about how annoying he is behind his back. Yes that guy, go and talk to him, try to help him see that he isn't being very polite(or whatever is wrong with him that nobody likes him.). Loving someone doesn't always mean pampering them... There is a thing called tough love. But I am going beyond my point. The point is this world is fading. You and I and everyone is going to die... And we are going to only have our non worldly possessions left. Use everything you do to glorify God!!! Rely on God's Strength and not your own, because we are all weak and we don't know what is good for us. But God will provide us with all the strength to overcome our problems.
Cool verse from this passage: 1 John 2 vs 14 : "God's word lives in your hearts, and you have won your battle with the evil one".
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Living in the light.
Okay so I wish i started this blog when i started reading the bible, but the way I am reading the bible is sequentially, starting from the new Testament. So I started reading 1 John tonight and the first thing that stood out to me was the title "Living in the light". This reminded me of a lot of things in my life that have happened that can testify to a life lived in the light, as i will share below.
1 John 1 states that "God is Light, and there is no darkness in him at all.". It also says that if we say we have fellowship with the Lord and we are living in spiritual darkness, we are living a lie. If we are of God we have to live in spiritual light... We have to confess all of our sins to Christ and ask him for forgiveness. Then we have to try and stop doing that sin, we can't just go on doing the sin over and over. If we truly want to please God and serve him by doing his will, we wont WANT to sin. We should know which things are sins and avoid them at all costs so that we can live pure lives and imitate Christ. Christ didn't die on the cross for us to keep on sinning and just say "hey I sinned and I'm sorry, but I kinda liked it so ill probably do it again". He died on the cross to have a personal relationship with him. He died so that if in life, you happen to mess up while trying your best not to, you will be forgiven and you can continue to grow in your relationship with God.
Now, about living in the light. We have to confess our sins to God and ask him to help us with those things, and we have to leave those things on his table and let him deal with them. But in my personal experience, living in the light isn't just confessing to Christ. It is also confessing your sins/confiding in someone you know. If nobody knows about the sin that you are doing, nobody can help you. Also if you share with somebody, then they can hold you accountable, and they can pray for you. So many times, when i manage to talk about a problem I have, if i speak to someone about it ( i know it's hard) I can deal with that sin much easier.
I'm not saying go around telling everybody about what you did wrong etc. You should find someone you can trust and who you know will be honest with you. Like a friend or a mentor who can hold you accountable.
We all sin. It is human nature. But don't keep your sin in the dark. Bring it to God and share it with someone you can trust. You will find it much easier to cope with.
Finally i want to share another passage from the bible also in 1 John. 1 John 2 vs 4: "If someone claims, "I know God" but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth" NLT.
If you disagree with what I have said, please tell me and give me your reason. I want to grow. :)
1 John 1 states that "God is Light, and there is no darkness in him at all.". It also says that if we say we have fellowship with the Lord and we are living in spiritual darkness, we are living a lie. If we are of God we have to live in spiritual light... We have to confess all of our sins to Christ and ask him for forgiveness. Then we have to try and stop doing that sin, we can't just go on doing the sin over and over. If we truly want to please God and serve him by doing his will, we wont WANT to sin. We should know which things are sins and avoid them at all costs so that we can live pure lives and imitate Christ. Christ didn't die on the cross for us to keep on sinning and just say "hey I sinned and I'm sorry, but I kinda liked it so ill probably do it again". He died on the cross to have a personal relationship with him. He died so that if in life, you happen to mess up while trying your best not to, you will be forgiven and you can continue to grow in your relationship with God.
Now, about living in the light. We have to confess our sins to God and ask him to help us with those things, and we have to leave those things on his table and let him deal with them. But in my personal experience, living in the light isn't just confessing to Christ. It is also confessing your sins/confiding in someone you know. If nobody knows about the sin that you are doing, nobody can help you. Also if you share with somebody, then they can hold you accountable, and they can pray for you. So many times, when i manage to talk about a problem I have, if i speak to someone about it ( i know it's hard) I can deal with that sin much easier.
I'm not saying go around telling everybody about what you did wrong etc. You should find someone you can trust and who you know will be honest with you. Like a friend or a mentor who can hold you accountable.
We all sin. It is human nature. But don't keep your sin in the dark. Bring it to God and share it with someone you can trust. You will find it much easier to cope with.
Finally i want to share another passage from the bible also in 1 John. 1 John 2 vs 4: "If someone claims, "I know God" but doesn't obey God's commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth" NLT.
If you disagree with what I have said, please tell me and give me your reason. I want to grow. :)
About this blog
This blog is intended for me to put my thoughts onto a centralised location. This is all my opinion but if you happen to read my blog I pray that God's message and the truth can be conveyed to you, the reader.
I am by no means any good at blogging and to me how this looks doesn't matter. This is all for God's glory (and for my personal growth in Christ).
:)
I am by no means any good at blogging and to me how this looks doesn't matter. This is all for God's glory (and for my personal growth in Christ).
:)
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