Jesus Was Not...

 I think modern Christianity had a lot of misconceptions on who Jesus really was. Between media outbursts, the Middle Eastern Crisis, etc. sometimes it's rasy to loose focus on who Jesus really was. He was a lot of things, but there are a few things he was not...

 Jesus was not a hater...

 Jesus stood for everything that was love, for he was love. He knew when to angry and he knew when to be complacent. Jesus didn't unlove people because of their morality, religion, race, or anything else. He loves everyone just where they are. I think we get confused a lot as the church and try to mold people into what we think they should be or judge people because they don't fit those standards. For He did not condem the world, but came to save it.

 Jesus was not well groomed...

 One of my biggest pet peeves is every single picture of Jesus I have every seen gets Him all wrong. They portray him as this dainty guy who is holding a lamb withhair  looking as though he just exited the salon. That is not my Jesus. Jesus was a carpenter, he was a big dude! The bible even says that his hair was like that of an animal's. He was probably dirty and didn't smell well either! Also: he wasn't white, considering that he was Middle Eastern he was probably dark skinned, and there is nothing wrong with that.

 Jesus was not emotionless...

  Lots of people assume that since Jesus was fully God that he didn't experience human emotions like sadness, anger, or hurt. That is completely wrong, because yes Jesus was fully God, he was also fully man. We saw his display of anger when he overturned the tables at the temple, and we saw his sadness in the verse "Jesus wept." But what really hits this topic for me is in the garden right before his crucifixion where he prayed "Abba, if there is any way this cup could pass from me let it..." To me, this shows that it's okay to be scared sometimes, even Jesus was.

He is Still Good

 One of my favorite passages of the Bible is Daniel 3. To me it just has so many different illustrations of God and his mercy, love, and power. It's the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego. If you haven't read it, it's a good read and I do suggest doing so.

 If not, He is still Good

 Sometimes God allows situations in our lives to happen that we wish he didn't. True, we may not be thrown in a burning fire like these three guys were, but in every situation we are ever in God always shows up and shows out- as long as we let Him. I love verse 18 of this passage, saying that even if God doesn't deliver us in the flesh that He is still good, and it is all for His greater glory, and they will never cease to worship Him. That is an attitude I strive to have: no matter what happens, use everything to bring glory to His name and His purpose, not my own..

The Fourth Man

 In verse 25 one of the guards call out, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.” To me this verse is such a beautiful and so literal illustration that God is always with us. And that no matter where we are, it is never too far for Him to reach us. It always go to show that He would never put us through anything that He has not been through Himself. Of course we don't know it was Jesus they saw, but I mean it had to have been something!

The Conversion

The last illustration I want to talk about is the conversion of Nebuchanezzar's faith. Because of the faith in Godof those three men, not only did Nebuchanezzar cry out to Jehovah, he called the whole nation to do the same. God tells us that when we bring glory to His name he will bless that in the multitudes, and that is what He did here.

His Plan> Mine

 "Why did this happen to me?"

 That is quite a loaded question, but it is one we tend to ask a lot, especially when things are going exactly like we wanted them to. Wether this be a departure of a family member, a loss of a job, or your gerbil ran away. 

 Our human neurological system is not built to comprehend every single thing, such as God's plan for our lives. But that's okay, because we know, that whatever it may be, is so much greater than our own. For there may be pain in the night- but joy comes in the morning. I think a lot of times we forget that. Our mindset just sticks to the night, and we don't allow ourselves to see the morning for some dumb petty reason. 

 "What did I do to deserve this?" 

 This question is just plain dumb. But it is one that we are constantly asking. The Bible is clear, it says the wages of sin is death and that all fall short of the glory of God. But yet, we don't think we "deserve" to have our gerbil run away because we are too "good" for that. This question really should be turned around. With us asking "What did I do to deserve His love?" 

 

Prayer

 Isn't it just a cool thing that not only are we allowed to talk to the Creator of the Universe, but he wants us to? To me, that's such a cool concept to wrap my head around. I mean, the Savior, tue Messiah, wants to listen to ME, little Katie Beth down in south Alabama, talk. And it's so easy, we don't have to go through a priest or set up and appointment or anything, we can just talk. 

 A lot of us, because of the ease, take prayer for granted. We treat prayer as if God is a genie, or if we put coins in we will get blessings out. Prayer is so much more that just telling God all of your problems. Yes, He wants us to tell him our problems, but if that's all you pray about, I mean come on... 

 A prayer exercise that I was taught in Sunday school as a child was to always start a prayer with thanking God, so that out heart would be in a grateful mood for the upcoming prayer. Even now, I still try to use this because I realize so much of the time, that when I pray, I am only asking God for things that I want, when I should be asking for His will. Asking for His will is hard, for it may not be something that we think we want, but this is where we have to remind ourselves that His plan is always greater.

Standards

 As females, there is something that society has created this long list of standards in how to be "perfect." You have to wear this, you can't do this, you have to look like this, etc. But why do we fall for this everlasting trap? Why do we care so much about what human beings think of us based on external things? Why do these things matter to us?

 God says in the bible, multiple times, that he doesn't care what we look like, what we wear, where we live, or any of that. He cares about our heart. It seems as so that is the last thing on society's mind. 

 Believe me, there nothing wrong with dressing up, or dressing down, or whatever you prefer, as long as your heart is in His hand.

Attitude

 Those of you who know me personally might already be aware, but for those of you who are not I would like to share with you that I have a chronic, nasty disease called sass. I know right, it's such a shocker, Katie Beth has an attitude problem. Yes, yes it's true, sass, humility, and attitude are three things I constantly battle. 

 We all know that old saying "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all." As much as we take that as a grain of salt so often, there is a lot of truce to that. I mean seriously, what do we gain from putting someone else down? Why would we discourage others when we could encourage them? For everyone we converse with is a Child of God, we should treat them like one. 

 People have no idea what effect their words may have on people, myself at the front of the line. Yes, you may be "joking" but there's always a little truth and a little pain behind every "just kidding." On top of that, it literally costs $0 to be kind. So why don we do this more often? Do we most wish to be embarrassed or called weird? Hm, that's funny because when Jesus was taking a beating for you telling that girl her shoes were ugly, do you think he was worried about what other humans thought of him?

Just Something to be Thankful For

 God is so good. He took everything I had ever wanted and everything that I had built myself up to be not once but twice, and he let me look through his eyes through my resistance saying "Look at my plan. Look at all that I have for you, for it is far more superior than yours. All you have to do is trust me as your Sovereign Lord, your Almighty God, your Prince of Peace, and all these plans I have for you will be yours. You don't need to strive to be more attractive to the human eye, or more popular, or any of the worldly things, you just need to be like me, love like me, talk like me, walk like me, for I am all you need. In your time of sorrow, I am here, in your time of joy, I am here cry out to me saying 'Jehovah, Jehovah!'"