J-Term Reading

As I have done some reading for my J-Term class, I have come across some very interesting thoughts and insights. I am taking a class on Human Sexuality, and lets just say the reading has been interesting. One of the things that I have come across in this class is far as the role of adictictions go. Some of my reading has covered sexual addictions, and I will leave out the details, but something that I have come across has left a profound impact on me. It is the idea that no matter the addiction, they all have the same root, which is an image and worship.

The idea is that we are all created in God's image and that we are all created to worship Him. I know this is nothing profound, but what caught my attention is that our image problem really comes in is that addiction ussually comes in when we either do not have a proper image of ourselves, or God. To keep it simple, it is the idea that we need something to fill our deepest longings and needs and the addictions come in when we either do not fill our needs with God, and or things that we are involved with take to hight of a priority and one goes overboard to where they can not come back.

The second idea is the idea of worship. We all worship something, it is either others, ourselves or God. Addictions is something we do to much and it has all of our focus, which is worship. The Old Testament has a word for this and it is called idolatry. If one takes a serious look at the Israelite history of the Old Testament, one can easily find that they often dealt with idol problems. So the question is, is what one is going towards helping or hindering their relationship with God. Or has it gotten to the point of being so out of control where it is what one all thinks about and truly worships. Eventually, every knee is going to bow before the throne, we can do it now willingly, or be forced to later.

Christmas Thoughts

As I was doing my devos today, I was reading Lukes account of the birth of Christ. Two things struck me. The first one is that all the names that the Angels could of called Christ when they announced His birth to the shepherds, they used Savior. This title has a major implication is that a Savior is saving someone from something or to something. Christ came so that we can be in right relationship with God the Father through Him. Christ came so we do not have to go down the road of self destruction and bring others into that right relationship.
Secondly, I noticed how the author uses the term peace in this passage. The passage is 2:14 which is "Glory to God on the highest, and on earth peace to men whom his favor rest." This is the first time it really hit me. It goes against all traditional Christmas cards of peace on earth to all men. The only way we can achieve true peace is being in that right relationship with Him. A part of being in that right relationship is His will. It is hard to describe, but when one is doing the will of the Father, there is a peace that is almost undescribeable. Are there going to be rough spots, yep, but it sure does make it easier to go through