Bleed Between The Lines

Months ago I wrote in a blog the words “I hope” and some one commented that hope was the wrong word, but that’s the word the bible uses. I’m going to try my best to explain the blessed hope. In the bible there have been many prophesied “events” The growth of Israel, The coming of a messiah, the resurrection and the next event according to scripture is the coming of Christ in the air to reveal himself as king and bring his followers home. This is Described in a number of places

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.”

This “hope” is a hope because none of us know when it will happen so we just wait in anticipation as the generations before have. You shouldn’t debate words based on your own understanding of scripture, instead use scripture to make a point. You’ll find you’re far better off when your starting point is God’s word.

Society today seems to have an impossible standard for beauty; impossibly thin, impossibly perfect skin and they fill our lives with these impossible expectations on ourselves and others. God however doesn’t focus on the outward but want’s us to attract people with our actions.
1 Samuel 16:7 “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Proverbs 31:30 “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting: but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
Magazines and TV have glorified beauty above all else and made millions of women feel invalid. It’s important to know that even the perfect aren’t perfect. As a graphic designer I know what “perfection” really looks like. It takes a lot of work to fix the skin defects of a model. Watch this video and see what goes into creating perfection even after, makeup, lighting and camera angles have been applied.

Suicide is a bit of an anomaly in the human condition. We are built with a desire to survive, reproduce and create happy feelings inside of ourselves and yet we have a spiritual and chemical breaking point. When pain becomes too much we begin to feel the desire to stop the pain at all costs. This can cause us to become angry, abusive, violent and if we repress our anger we can even start to contemplate ending our lives.
I know the feeling of wanting to kill myself, and I’ve dealt with it more than my fair share of times but one thing that always helped me was to realize that my feeling of hopelessness came from a problem. I would have a feeling of being alone, or being hopeless that was derived from my situation and it became to stressful to cope with. When I couldn’t find an end to my situation, I looked to suicide. But I knew that suicide, much like pitying myself, wasn’t going to fix the problem. I knew that God had a way to fix my problem, my condition and just me in general. Looking to a way out gave me hope and hope lessened my pain. We all have a hope in Christ and that is something to live for.
If you are feeling thoughts of suicide just know that most people who consider suicide find the strength to go on. You are not alone and if you feel like you are you can call 1-800-SUICIDE in the US and if you’re reading this from another country you can always check your local listings for a crisis hotline. God is the great physician and he can heal you and you’re not alone.

When I was younger I developed a lot of pride in my walk with Christ and God has spent the last 8 years striping me down to be a humble person. Well I hope I’m getting close because I get work off and on, my wife is the bread winner and we’re now on food stamps, but in all of this I’m thankful. I’m thankful for my wonderful family, for the friends that lift me up and even for those that don’t. I’m thankful that me and my family have food even if we need the government to get it. I’m thankful that God is in control and he has plans to prosper me and not to harm me.

In Psalm 143, David shows many beautiful characteristics of a man of God. He starts by asking for help in his time of need. In verses 3-6 he explains to God what he’s upset about and then in Verses 7-10 He asks to be saved from his trials. All of this we understand as humans but in verse 11 David does something we as people are not accustomed to doing. David states that the reason he wants to be delivered is for the name of God to be glorified. It’s easy for me to look at my tiny apartment and think I wish I had more room for my children and it would be easy to say I wish I had money to pay the bills so that my wife could stop worrying. But that shows a heart that doesn’t understand that God is in control. My kids are taken care of and my wife and I will be fine, we’re in God’s hands and there’s no place I’d rather be. We’re not going to be poor forever and when God delivers us we’re going to tell everyone we know that God heard our prayers. What ever you’re going through know that God will save you when you can’t save yourself, bringing glory to his name. So remember Love God, love each other, DIVORCE THE WORLD!