Week 5
Today I will be going over the most powerful scriptures of the day for the week. I really feel like this is the best way to explain Christianity to apply to our struggles.
6/06/22
Proverbs 11:25 “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”
Okay, now this scripture seems pretty self-explanatory, right? When we are willing to give certain things away God will know that we are not too caught up in our material possessions that we lose sight of how important given is. Giving does not always have to be something physical. It could even be something little as giving someone the time so that they may talk to you about the struggle in their lives.
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At first, I was going to do another scripture, but I want to go deeper that pertains to the scripture. Why is it so hard for us to give, but easy to take? Think about it, if you are walking in the mall and someone offers you $100, most/all of us would not waste a second to get the money. However, if we see a homeless person we will probably turn our heads and act like we do not see them. That was just something that popped into my mind. Feel free to comment about it down below.
6/09/22
Mathew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
We HATE when we are trying to do something good and someone makes fun of it. When I stopped cussing my friends making it seem like my entire personality changed and now I was this little boy who refused to curse. Or, on a more serious level, when some of my friends who steal and I decided that I did not want to partake in stealing. Trust me, I was tempted to tag along and be “one of the guys” but then, I had to think about the emotions I felt after stealing. Do you know that feeling after you get away with something that you know was really bad? Yeah, that was me 24/7 until I got rid of what I took. It almost felt like someone was squeezing my torso and I never felt calm. But when I did not steal, I felt relief. That is what God wants us the get familiar with. At the moment, we may think that we need to do something bad to fit in, but if we wait out the initial shame and embarrassment when will feel better in the end.
Lastly, I want to say something on the more personal side. It is going to be okay. Um, I had to keep on telling myself this because just last week, I lost my aunt. This was very hard for me and I began to go down a path that I said that I would never go down. I started to not care about school, I missed last week’s Passion and Civic Blogs and felt horrible. But then I was reminded of Jeremiah 29:11“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God will allow certain things to happen in our lives. It is not like wants to start to believe and the bad things go away. God just gives a way to communicate and read about how to deal with the bad things in a healthy way.
GOD 1st GOD BLESS
I missed your blog last week! I was concerned because I know that you always post. I am glad you decided move forward and continue to do well in school. Giving is so hard because we don’t value what we receive in return. As for the homeless question – in my psychology class we learned that those who live in an urban environment experience a lot of sensory information, so they block out things like the homeless. Additionally, people is a good or bad mood are more likely to help than those in a neutral mood. I will be praying for your family. Wednesday someone I know committed suicide, so I understand how it can flood your brain with thoughts.
I like how you used the analogy you used for Matthew 5:10. While the bible verse claims “Blessed are those who are persecuted” you (in a sense) use “Blessed are the ones that defy the general public for the grace of God.” While you may get heat from your friends for using only proper language that doesn’t consist of cussing, you stand by God’s word and work for the good. This semester I am taking a bible study class and it has allowed me to read and review more scripture. Many bible verses can have multiple meanings and can be applied into everyone’s life.
I, as most people probably are, am pretty selfish. Giving more to others is something that I try to work on to better myself. As you said, even being more attentive to others and allowing them time to vent their problems to you is a form of giving. About the homeless thing though, I think the right way to give to the homeless is to donate to services meant to help them or volunteering at shelters. When I was a kid walking around in the city, if I had a bit of money on me I would always give some to homeless people, but as I’ve grown older I’ve realized that it’s not always great idea to help individual homeless people as you don’t know their story and if they’re going to be using that money to better themselves or not.
This was a very emotional and inspirational post Jaxon. Your vulnerability was commendable and I admire it immensely.
Your analysis of the scriptures in your post were very well done. You were able to effectively explain the deeper meaning of the words of The Bible in a way that I (A Non-Christian) was able to understand. I completely agree with your perspective on those scriptures as well. Most of us are not truly selfless people (Including myself) and this post did an excellent job on enlightening us to our sometimes implicit and unnoticeable biases.
This post was amazing. It was enlightening, vulnerable, and educational. I cannot wait to see what you talk about in your next post.