most of my life i haven't really fit in the demographic that i find myself in. i'm a card carrying democrat who happens to be madly in love with jesus. as an observer, you'd probably categorize me as a 18-34, white male, evangelical, democrat. being white is weird for me. its weird because its a demographic that should be natural yet its really not. i guess i say this because i don't really understand the ethos of white people generally. the things that tend to concern white people don't really concern me; and the things that they assume, i don't really assume (generalities, obviously, calm down). evangelical is weird for me too. for instance, what does evangelical even mean. i think its supposed to mean something like not just the common church goer but the real christians. i guess, but it really just seems like todays versions of the wasp's. when i hear evangelical i think the same people who handed the current president 2 elections in a row or anti gay or anti abortion or joel osteen and rick warren or using faith as a crutch or 'put god back in our schools', etc. with the people that i'm currently doin life with they are by and large, republican (almost as a birthright). for people who don't know me politically, its probably assumed on me that i'm a republican as well (which bothers me a little more than it should, i need to let go of it and get over it to some extent, so hold me to that if i lash out on someone that assumes me right, when i'm left). so again, i find myself out of place.
in these highly charged political times i find it appropriate to let you know where i stand. i'm a pro-choice democrat follower of christ. i know, james dobson must be somewhere spitting out his ovaltine all over the place. i don't care. i'm unashamedly pro-choice. i feel completely free from condemnation in stating it. my shoulders even feel a little lighter as i speak. it feels good to just, say it, ya know. i am absolutely, 100% percent, postively convinced that god is completely sovereign, just and loving in his choice of his children. it is not god gets one vote, satan gets one vote and we get the third vote, no! its completely up to the pleasure of god as to whom are his children. he rescues us from absolute torture and anguish and adopts us as his own completely apart from all of our evil and provoking him through the life, death and resurrection of jesus christ. see, the choice that i'm pro of is god's. we cannot have choice! if we had choice, we would choose evil at every opportunity. but as it is, god chooses; and i'm so thanful that he does. with god having the choice, it frees us from a legalistic view of salvation where we feel we have to hold on to it so tightly because we may lose it at the next bar, porn site, water cooler gossip session, etc. with god having the choice, we get to worship him freely and rest in all that he has done. its the best thing ever: god gets all the glory (because he did everything), adoration, exaltation, and honor and we get complete joy, fullfilment, purpose, passion, love, excitement, inheritance. we get to live with jesus! we get to be known by the all-magnificent/powerful/wonderful/creator of the universe! we get to share this wonderfulness with everybody, not because we have to but because we are so overwhelmed with the truth of the gospel that it just come out. see, under god's choice, duty flys right out the window. in the kingdom of god, you don't hear things like, "well, i gotta go out and share the gospel" or "i ought to get up early tomorrow so i can do my quiet time" or "i should go give that raggedy lookin fellow by the freeway ramp some food". those words go right out the window. instead we say things like "get to" or "want to" or "honored to". life in the kingdom is kinda like a fire hydrant, when the top is popped off, it has no other choice than to flow freely with water. in the same way, when the chains of slavery to sin pop off there is no other choice but to live freely for the one who has set us free, we are compelled to. praise god that he has made me to be a pro-choice follower of himself!!!
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2:37 PM
11:44 PM
its set in the backdrop of the "hall of faith" where the writer of hebrews mentions these great testimonies of faith. its so cool. in spite of all these great things, they (pre jesus) weren't complete (the nas and esv translate teleioo as perfect but in english the word is better understood as complete.) they didn't even get the ultimate reward in their time, namely the sent messiah that has come and made his bride, past and present, teleioo! and he does that through us! the expression that is given to prove their uncompleteness is that we were not there yet (not inherently because of us, the point is that jesus isn't done setting his dinner table yet, there are more sheep who aren't yet a part of his fold that will be a part of his fold. so it makes sense that in chapt. 12 he says hey, look at this great cloud of witnesses (aka god being faithful to his task and his name by using his people) and just run. don't be bothered with nudging your fellow runners for position, just keep your eyes on the finish line (jesus; note that the finish line isn't necessarily the task being accomplished, but it is jesus; its always jesus, remember that). and this jesus, faith par execellence, has ran this race and he kept his eye on his finish line (upcoming joy and glory), which if you think about it we get the utmost joy and glory (jesus). when reading this romans 8:18 pops in my head in tandem. so, in summary let us not focus on the struggle of the race but let us focus on the joy of the finish line. let us be encouraged by jesus' example of running, overcoming every obstacle, which in turn wins our race for us.
this whole exercise has been very enlightening. while setting out to minister to my own hurts via bloggin' it out, god sidetracked me with the burden of my bro and in the midst of battlin for my bro, god absolutely knocks my socks off and ministers to me. kinda sounds like the church being being the church, huh!
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