Little Things

mmk so i said i was gunna do these more often but i forgot one thing



i'm lazier than an orthodox Jewish sloth on the sabbath (i made that up i swear)

but this isn't about the past so lets move on...

mmk so lately i've noticed alot of little things getting in the way of our connection with God... and i guess the thing that really got me thinking about this topic was the new Hillsong United CD


it has no Booklet....
and i'll confess...i was a bit disappointed...i thought maybe it was some 'pre-order special' and they didn't have enough time to whip up a booklet and what not until the final release. But i was wrong...the whole thing doesn't have a booklet

but it has a deep meaning to it...so it's justified

but i heard that there were alot of complaints and those complaints got the hamster in my brain moving and i started to think...and what really put me in my place was this thought

'IT'S A PRAISE AND WORSHIP CD'

since when does praise and worship need a 'booklet'....God isn't going to plug His ears because my p&w cd doesn't have a booklet....no....and it's not about lyrics either....the words that come out of my mouth mean nothing if my heart isn't right...

Worship is more than songs or words, it's all about attitude

(Rom 12:1-2)

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him." (msg)


that's right...i quoted the message....that brings me to little thing #2 that i've noticed

alot of ppl complain about what translation of the Bible someone uses....a very wise pastor said "the best translation is the one you can understand"....and i couldn't agree with him anymore

i look at CONTEXT....that is VERY important when it comes to reading the Bible...

John 3:16 can be quoted several different ways...i could post many different translations but it would mean absolutly nothing if there is no meaning behind the verse...i find that i have to ask myself what does this mean...

to me John 3:16 means this....
God loves me soooooo much that He gave His only BEGOTTEN son....begotten as in "so-and-so begot so-and-so"...this means that God gave His only legitimate, real son, those of us who are saved are adopted children to God...but not Jesus...Jesus was the real deal...he was GOD'S ONLY REAL SON....that's like a Father giving up his actual son for some poor homeless kid in some slum somewhere...

it's amazing to think i mean that much to God!! but really it would mean nothing if those were just words....

and i truly believe that the power isn't in the literal words of the Bible but it's in the context...it's in the deep meaning of the Word...if the power was in the actual words then we would all be reading the original manuscripts that were written in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic.

and adding a "th" to the end of every word doesn't make it more powerfull...lol...

now i believe that you can get more out of the KJV just because it has a wider vocabulary....where as the MSG is very blunt and straight to the point....but my point is that there is no 'perfect translation' in fact i read 3

1. MSG-I get the main points, i get the context, easy to understand and none of the fundamentals are hidden...everything is right there (i use the MSG as more of a guide to help me understand)

2.NIV- I like the NIV because i'm comfortable reading and understanding it and i can still dig deep in the Word and do some pretty sweet Bible studies.

3. KJV- KJV and Websters dictionary go together like peanut butter and jelly....there are alot of very SPECIFIC words in the KJV which throws me off quite a bit...but with the KJV's vast vocabulary you can dig so much deeper than in most other translations (however this is useless if i don't know what i'm digging into)

that's just my personal opinion (as of most of this blog i must confess)

and i guess #3 is just a Hodge-podge of things that just lead us away...

and i don't mean the real 'sinful' things like drugs or sex or anything like that...

as the title suggests i'm talking about 'little things' little things

things like our image in the eyes of others...for example...today i got my haircut...and i was deciding whether to get it cut or just trim the back and the sides and i was all worked up because i was scared that it wouldn't look right and that everyone would burn my house to the ground because my hair didn't look a certain way....but i realize that my hair as absolutely nothing to do with the kingdom of God...the length/style (or lack there of) of my hair isn't going to harm/help anyone's walk with God...so really...it doesn't matter...

also things like what you spend your time/money on like video games and such... but i think you get the idea....



so basically there are many pointless things that kinda slow my spiritual growth...but i really shouldn't worry about those things because like pastor said today "God is able".... God used prostitutes and murderers to do great things in His name....so i'm pretty sure God can use me....


so yeah this was kinda a rant/whatever...sorry that this one isn't as good as the last one

-God bless, JD