This is a book I have been writing in my free time. I ask you guys for comments on it so that we allow God to speek through you in order for me to improve it enough to hopefully get published. This is the introduction. Enjoy and please Comment:
I rarely come home from a Christian book store with a book that doesn’t talk about Calvinistic theological beliefs and defenses for such beliefs. My family is very strong in their beliefs towards the Calvinistic ideas of Christianity and the contrary to this belief is frowned upon in our household. However, I recently came home from a bookstore with a book called “Fearless” by Max Lucado which had appealed to me at that time because I was being troubled by some things in my life and I felt that it would be a good time to purchase such an item.
I got half way through it the first night I bought it and was enjoying it quite a lot. Once my brother caught a glimpse of it, he was somewhat taken back that I had bought a book that wasn’t referring to specific theological ideas that me and my family had so earnestly indulged in. He asked me why I had bought such a book and I simply told him that I thought it looked like a good read. He then walked off with a glimpse of disappointment. I find this to be a concise example of how Christians forget about the single most important thing God asks of us; love.
I, myself am an example of a person that is consistently distracted by things that cause you to turn away from the important things in life and pursue something because it seems more appealing. I turn away from things such as: The bible, God, my family, my friends, school, and prayer. I exchange these for: Video games, a movie, physical attraction towards the opposite sex, and just about everything that your mind can come up with that is unneeded for a happy life. I have been condemned for both lists, but I have only been convicted of the second. Condemnation is feelings that people have of doubt, or insecurity. They are feelings that are untrue and come from an unreliable source. Sometimes they come to us through feelings the devil gives us, sometimes through other people, and sometimes through ourselves. However, conviction is a true thing that could, in a sense, be considered somewhat of a conscience. Conviction brings about feelings of things you should not have done, guilt, and often times, if you listen to it, ends with an apology to God or a person who was wronged.
It is most important that we do our utter best to control our lives in such a way that we are not distracted by the things of the world such as: drugs, sex, pornography, lying, cheating, steeling, hating, murder, adultery, etc… but instead our faces make a one hundred and eighty degree turn towards: God, the bible, family, Christ, and prayer, or….you could simply refer to the latter list as love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Love really is an intriguing word, in today’s society it is used with nearly everything that appeals to someone. Many of us say things such as “I love that TV”, or “I love that video game”. But at the same time, it is used as a word of affection and sensitivity towards people. We use it towards our kids, our parents, our spouse, our girlfriend or boyfriend, and towards God. If we use the word love towards our possessions on earth, than why do we also use the same word in order to glorify God? I hope that God does not mean as much to some of you as your TV or your video game system does. Therefore we shouldn’t be using the same word for both. We must choose whether we wish to use, what the bible tells us, is the single deepest way to express compassion and kindness towards another being, for God or for items.
However, there are many types of love, the love one has for another Christian, for a spouse or loved one, for objects and idols, and most importantly, for God. Many people take these loves and twist them in such a way that they might love God in the way that they love an idol, or they might love an idol the way they should love God. Therefore their love has become perverse and twisted. And the only antidote to confused love is God. My goal is to allow God to speak to people who have mistakenly twisted their ideas of love so that God (not me) may help you and guide you on the path to correcting, what I like to call, biblical love.
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