Discussion: Where do we draw the line? (Continuation of Mike's post from Sunday)

Today is the first day to do our devos on our own topics! So I thought, why not choose topics that are practical to our lives and try to make sense out of some important issues? I think often times, we know that issues exist but we choose to ignore them because we don't take them seriously. I'm just going to quote what Michael said and I'll expand from there. He said in the context of Jesus' crucifixion and the murderer that was there beside Jesus getting crucified:

It's funny how the other victim of the crucifixion was laughing at Jesus for not saving Himself, when the prisoner couldn't free himself either. I looked at this situation figuratively, out of the context of prisoner talking to Jesus, and replaced the ridiculing prisoner with a non-believer who murdered and I replaced Jesus with a Christian who was framed. In the end, both of the people were sentenced to death, but the non-believer who murdered ridicules the Christian saying, "Where's your God now?" and I think of the Christian saying, "He knows of my innocence and is waiting for me in heaven." This Chapter told me that a Christian in a tight spot is different from a non-believer in the same situation. The latter will seek to ridicule others, and according to Sam's sermon, committing murder even until they draw their very last breath. However, the Christian will be calm in their knowledge that God knows what's just vs. injust and that He will decide your fate. In the end, why does it matter what happens in this life when there's only eternal happiness waiting for you? By the line above I don't mean we should live our lives to die, but rather, when the time comes, we shouldn't be grudging against God but looking forward to meeting Him in heaven.

Often times we're stuck between the world vs. God and we have to make a choice. This struggle happens daily. From the most casual issue to the most serious one, we have to make a decision to compromise either our belief in God or our image from our friends and the rest of the world. It's easier to make the right choice when the issue is more serious. When you're hanging out with friends and one of your friends bring out a ziplock bag full of cocaine and wants you to take a hit, it's easy to say no. But when you're hanging out with your friends and your friends are making inappropriate jokes, hurting others with their words, lying, and swearing, it's definitely easier to just give in and make it seem like it's not a big deal. But remember, for God, it's not really the big things that count, but the little things. Why? Believe big issues only occur once in a while, but little issues arise daily. It's how we deal with these little issues that determine the level of wise thinking that we put into dealing with big issues in the future.

There's just one thing we need to remember when it comes to dealing with these issues. Just like how Michael put it nicely, God knows all and he is just. He will help you make the right decisions and he will be the one in the end that gives you all the credit. Try making little changes in your life. It'll affect you big time and you'll start to see that you're living a better life in other areas as well.

Let me share some of my struggles and how I try to overcome them:

One major reason why I joined the praise team is not because I wanted to lead songs for the youth ministry. It's not because I love music, and it's not because I love putting a band together. Don't get me wrong; I love those things as well. However, the main reason as to why I chose to lead the praise team is because I wanted to create a community of Christians that can exemplify among other Christians and lead other Christians and even non-Christians into seeing the being Christians is a lot more than just coming to church on Sundays and doing good things. I know lots of non-Christians that do more good things and show more kindness and compassion than most Christians. This is why I want us praise team (and leadership team) to shine among all Christians and be a lot more than just the title, "Christian".

So when I joined the praise team, I had many personal struggles. Through first year university, I had lost my consistency in doing devotions and even going out to church regularly. It was tough getting back. But one thing I missed as I didn't attend Milal in my first year was having a community. Personally, one of the most important things for me about church is having people around to keep you accountable and help you through your tough and good times. The sermons and praise are sort of secondary factors for me (not to treat those lightly, though). So as I started having more community and became more tight with many people at church and had people really close to me keep me accountable through all things, I started to have less struggles. I stopped wanting to go out on a Saturday night to do things that other people do my age. I stopped wanting to do some stupid things with friends. I stopped wanting to let bad language come out of my mouth -- not just at church, but elsewhere. I realized that being a Christian was a lot more than just going to church on Fridays and Sundays and that it's a 24/7 lifestyle. And the best part of this is that I really liked being that different person. At first my friends realized that I was coming out less and doing less things with them, but in the end, I ended up keeping friends that really value my beliefs and lifestyle. So I'm glad about that.


So? Where do we draw the line between our worldly lifestyle and Godly lifestyle? Is it okay to knowingly go with the world's ways sometimes just because we're not bad people and God knows that? Is it okay to excuse ourselves from our Christian lifestyle and do bad things "once in a while"? Where do we draw the line?

Share your thoughts and if you have any verses or any stories or any points to add, please speak up! I view this as a pretty serious problem for all of us and I hope that you guys can all make the right choices.


Roh

I totally know what you mean ROH! It's funny because I find that sometimes we justify the things we do by saying that they're not directly sinning. We know that they are not wise or holy decisions, but technically the bible never said "don't do ______ insert sin here______". So then we tell ourselves that it's all good.. Becuase a lot of the times, there's a rather large grey area of SIN and NOT SIN. life isn't that black and white.. so i think a lot of us dwell in the grey - i guess becuase it's safe. We don't want to sin TOO much or too obviously, becuase then we just feel guilty and know that we're living against the will of GOd. But we can also be hesitant about completly living on the good side, becuase of what people might sayif we're too 'goody good'. lol but in the eyes of God, i don't think there's such thing as a grey area.. God knows what he wants in our lives. he knows exactly what the right decision is, in even the smallest circumstances. So I think we need to listen to him more. Becuase God always wants to help us choose the right thing to do - its just that we block him out becuase we don't really want to HEAR or directly KNOW. We pretend that something isn't the wrong decision because we dont want it to be.

Sorry this wasnt really a devo it was more like rant. I tried finding a passage i really liked but my eyes kept getting lost in the black and white print..
Ill try again when i catch up on my sleep

SOrry ive been kinda slacks with devo for the past couple of days.
But hey, new semester, NEW THINGS, NEW GOALS!
to be honest with you 2009 did NOT seem like a beginning for me cuase i was finishing up my semester. TODAY IS WHEN MY 2009 STARTS!
WOOT WOOT IM DONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS, HERE WE GO!

41"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."

Nice write up Rohan! in luke 23? yea 23 ish when Jesus goes to the garden to pray and his disciples are sleeping it reminded me of the same story but in Mathew where he says "the spirit is willing, but the body is weak".
Thats how i feel about everyday struggles. My mind says its wrong, but my body doesnt care... and Rohan put it nicely on the "little" sins vs the "big" sins.
Sam says a lot that if you put your self with sinners, you ll start to sin the same way. Its very true. Like since i joined the praise team, i m more exposed to "Godly" things and "good" habits like not swearing. But before when i was with my school friends, i had bad habits.

Back to studying!....

E-Sek OUT!

good discussion get-go!
Rohan you make a good point about how we give in easily when it comes to what we think are the little things.
Even within our praise team, when we say stuff we all go "Thats so bad." but we take it so lightly because we make it like that. ahaha.

i can't think of a passage and i don't want to just choose a random one so i'll just talk As you all know, Isaac and I are leading this weeks practice and we've been talking for a while now about it. We were so excited that we just threw in crazy ideas and stuff. THerefore we wanted to make this practice good and Sunday even better. However i don't want to get ahead of ourselves and put the music before God. That was a side note btw. So for this practice i'm sure everyone has been practicing and since we have so many new ideas to do i wondered if we could actually pull it off. And i thought to myself for awhile, of course we can. As cheesy as it might get, as long as we have God what else do we need. So, i want us to think, even before practicing and being all ready for friday, i want us to pray. Prayer is much more important. With prayer our practice can really pay off. I want us to have that kind of mentality. THerefore i just want to say one thing: ALways smile
I'm not only talking about the physical smiling. Why do we smile? When we're joyful right. I want us to always smile even spiritually if that makes sense. To always have a uplifting positive attitude towards God and to say "We can do this with YOU." So for practice this friday, i want us to always smile ahaha not seeing how sick we sound ( well that too) but the oppurtunity we get to worship and praise Jesus. THe positive attitude we can show amongst ourselves and within the congregation. Inside and OUT. sounds good? ahaha hope you understand what i'm trying to say. Its God who works through us not the other way around.
Be Optimistic! Be encouraging through that.

Isaiah 50
v.23 "those who hope in me will not be disappointed."

Do you ever feel like you're expecting too much from God? I definitely do. I pray about the littlest thing, like sleeping safely at night without getting kidnapped- it's true. My dad used to tell me when I was little that it's not wise to pray about those petty things because God is a little too busy with bigger dilemmas to be worried about me "sleeping." No offense to my dad, but I disagree with him. In fact, this verse, I think, supports my argument that hoping in God for everything in our lives is not a bad thing at all.

Hope, in this case, also suggests that we trust, have faith, and expect awesome things from God. From all of the blessings He has given to us, I think it's pretty clear that God is there in every step of our lives. He is there to calm us when we're stressed, and lend us His ear when we need to vent. Hoping for God's presence in our lives is a way of yearning for His blessing in our lives.

-Denise

ahhhh, sorry for posting late, it is now 7:01. Im very used to posting late, its a habit I am going to have to change. I am so disapointed right now, I have to go play a concert on the 7th, was looking soooo forward to this but. Ugh..At least I am done exams:)

So yeah, same with me, I don't really want to pick a random verse, and like roh said, this forum was meant for discussing:) 8==D, when I was reading about what Roh wrote about, the big and the smalls sins, its easy, like Roh said to say no to big sins but its more swept under the rug with the small ones, I think a big reason is they seem like they are a big deal, if you smoke weed, their is a bigger chance of getting caught then lying or gossiping, with that, the consequences are much smaller, if we lie, whats the worst physical thing that could happen? Maybe get beat, but what if we got caught doing weed, that would involve police and records and all that stuff, thats why those sins are categorized as WORSE or BIGGER sins, when to GOD, they are the same. I realize I am kind of stating the obvious but just my thoughts ha ha ha:)

Have a good week guys:)

http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=175968
That's how I roll haha
1 hour before the exam = me during latin exam haha

I think how FAR we draw the line should also be noted...
God being on the left of the scale and Sin being on the right.. I think the line should be here:
G | S

I'm gonna read proverbs for this week yee
Just going to randomly and blindly pick a verse... =]

Chapter 27 Verse 21
"Fire tests the purity of silver and gold
but a person is tested by being praised/flattered"
I think the verse speaks for itself.. but still, being humble is something I always try to do and something I always find the most difficult to do as well. It's very easy to lose yourself under flattery you know?

I like Jacob's point about showing who we are on the inside. How do we show? The only way to SHOW something is to let it out OUTWARDS.

We all know the right things. We all KNOW that when you're stuck between being honest and lying, the RIGHT thing to do is to be honest. But why do we choose to lie so much?

I urge you all not to treat little things lightly. Like I said, God counts every big thing and little thing you do.