Bible – Page 2 – Anna's Alcove

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There is no one who is youer than you!

“What kind of people are we?
What kind of culture have we created?
What do we want our children to be?”
– I Weep for Miley by Trevin Wax

These are the questions we should be asking ourselves on a daily basis. We may not realize how much of an impact we can have on those around us, but if you stop to think about it; every little Facebook post, every person you meet or text.. every little thing we do leaves a mark on someone’s life, no matter how big or small it may be.

I’m assuming everyone saw (or at least heard about) Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance. She pretty much came out of a robotic monkey’s belly, tongue hanging out and dressed in a sleazy teddy bear leotard, which she tore off half-way through her performance to reveal a nude bikini. Miley then proceeded to make inappropriate gestures and twerked against Robin Thicke during his song “Blurred Lines.”

It breaks my hear to think of all the young girls who had looked up to her during her career as Hannah Montana. What must they be thinking now? Is that performance considered to be cool or shocking to them? Is it the “latest fad” or something not to aspire to?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says:

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.”

Yes, I understand that we are all human and none of us will ever attain God’s standard of perfection, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to flaunt our sexuality and come across as crass and indecent.

A woman shouldn’t feel like she needs to reveal as much skin as possible in order to feel accepted or noticed. Women have been blinded by this false idea that we can appear “sexy” if we wear low-cut shirts, really short skirts or skin-tight jeans.

A bunch of my friends went to Musikfest in Bethlehem this past month and one of the major things they noticed was not the number of great bands that performed or the delicious food that was being served… the one thing that really stood out to them was the number of young girls (preteens and teenagers alike) who were wearing practically nothing!

Reality check… all these girls are doing is buying into the lie that they’ll be more attractive and socially accepted if they show off their bodies or act a certain way.

What girls need to hear more and more of these days is that they are beautiful just by being themselves. The Bible couldn’t make it clearer in 1 Peter 3:3-4:

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

Our Creator made each of us beautifully unique and special in our own way.. and guess what? No one in this whole wide world of ours is exactly the same! Yeah, there may be billions of people out there, but I’m not kidding you.. you’re the only one who looks like you, acts like you, dresses like you, thinks like you and lives like you.

“Today you are YOU,
that is TRUER than true.
There is NO ONE alive
who is YOUER than YOU!”
-Dr. Seuss

Please don’t fall for the lie that you’re not beautiful unless you slather on the makeup or show off more skin with the clothes that you wear. Remember that our heavenly Father made you the way that you are for a purpose and loves you unconditionally. You are not a mistake!

You are BEAUTIFUL! 🙂

True Friends

August 12, 2013 / Anna / 0 Comments

As I was trying to come up with a topic for this week, I kept drawing a blank… and then it hit me.

The awesome way God always provides the right friends the exact moment that we need them!

Thursday nights are always my favorite nights of the week. Why? That’s the night of my young adult Bible study at Calvary Baptist and the night that I get to hang out with some of my closest friends (a.k.a. brothers and sisters in Christ)!!

It’s been almost a year since I came into this group of amazing people and it still blows me away how God brings certain people into our lives right when we need them.

I’m a graduate of Edinboro University, Class 2012, and when I came home that summer, I felt as if I didn’t quite belong. Back in college, I had a huge church base with numerous fellow believers who were my age and it was such an encouragement to come back from a stressful day/week knowing that I had a fun night planned with them or that they would always be there if I needed someone to talk to.

I didn’t have that here at home. Most of my friends from youth group had gone away to college and either stayed out there or moved to another part of the U.S. While I love traveling and all, I’m definitely a “stick-around-home” kind of person… as in I really don’t want to move too far away from my immediate family… at least not on my own.

But I had heard of a young adult Bible study at one of the local churches that one of my friends had been attending. I went with her one week and enjoyed the inductive study and how everyone was willing to welcome me into their group.

It wasn’t until the next week that the group starting to truly make an impact on my life. When I walked into the room, the leaders remembered me by name and were asking about how my week had been (bringing up topics that I had talked about with them the week before) and the young adults I had met the first time greeted me by name and had a genuine love and care in their attitude toward me that I never felt like the outsider or the newbie.

After that week, the friendships just kept growing deeper and deeper the more time we spent in God’s Word and the more we hung out outside of the Bible study. This is a group of people who aren’t afraid to be real with each other and who, once they get to know everyone, let their guard down and act completely natural…

Why?

… because of God’s relational love.

I know that’s probably not an official term, but think about it, God’s love causes us to genuinely love others in His name. There’s no faking.

That’s exactly what John is saying in 1 John 4:19:

“We love because He first loved us”

This is what sets Christians apart from the rest of the world. We’re not loving others just because it’ll give us bonus points with our God or because it benefits us. We love because it’s in the “new us.”

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!”
2 Corinthians 5:17

Once we become children of God and accept his free gift of salvation (meaning there is absolutely no way that we can earn it.. it’s completely free!), we take on the image of God. Our old sinful self gets pushed out of the way so that Christ can shine and love others through us.

God created us to be relational beings for a reason. He desires us to get to know Him and, in His perfect timing, provides us with the community of believers we need to support and challenge us.

One of my favorite sections in the gospels is Jesus’ prayer for all believers in John 17:20-23

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and You in Me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.”

Isn’t that awesome? The God of the universe so desperately wanted us to get to know Him that He sent His only Son to come down to earth in human form in order to become that perfect sacrifice for our sins. He understand our need for relationships and community… because He created us that way!

So, in closing, all I’m gonna say is I’m so thankful for my Awaken family and am just blown away by how God brought me into this close Christian community when I was needing it the most.

Praise Him!

Let my girls be Hermiones…

July 16, 2013 / Anna / 0 Comments

“It’s about what girls want to be, what they’re told they should be and how they feel about who they are. I’ve got two daughters who will have to make their way in this skinny-obsessed world, and it worries me, because I don’t want them to be empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones; I’d rather they were independent, interesting, idealistic, kind, opinionated, original, funny – a thousand things, before ‘thin.’ And frankly, I’d rather they didn’t give a gust of stinking chihuahua flatulence whether the woman standing next to them has fleshier knees than they do. Let my girls be Hermiones, rather than Pansy Parkinsons.”

This is a quote that was taken from J.K. Rowling’s blog where she’s venting her frustration about how this world is so look-obsessed and how it tries to convince girls that the thinner they are, the prettier they’ll be.

Now, as girls and young women, it is very flattering to get compliments from others (especially guys that we’re interested in). It can be very easy to slip into thinking that if we lost that extra 5 pounds or worked on toning our “thunder thighs” we would be even more attractive than we already are.

That’s exactly where Satan and the world step in and twists our thinking to a point where our outward appearance is all we worry about and focus on. We can get so caught up in criticizing ourselves that we assume others are looking at us and judging us in the same way..

… and then world takes it a step further.

Take a look around. There are numerous examples of the world’s handiwork: billboards with the latest fashions on display, magazine ads with the sexiest perfumes, photos of models with the perfect bodies and movies with actresses who are made to look like the perfect woman with the perfect man and the perfect happy ending… and the sad thing is that girls these days are buying it.Over the past couple years of leading small group Bible studies and helping out in youth group, I’ve seen and heard young Christian girls talk about needing to go on a diet, how much weight they need to lose or how they don’t consider themselves to be pretty… and it’s heartbreaking. So many of them seem to forget or just haven’t realized yet that they are beautiful just the way God made them.

This reminds me of the song “More Beautiful You” by Jonny Diaz (check it out!). During the chorus, he says,

“There could never be a more beautiful you. Don’t buy the lies, disguises and hoops they make you jump through. You were made to fill a purpose, that only you could do, so there could never be a more beautiful you.”

The world around us is filled with girls who are falling for the lie that they’ll be beautiful if they hardly eat anything, wear as little clothes as possible, slather on the makeup and more… all striving for that unattainable perfection.

All these girls need is love. Seriously. They want to be noticed. That’s why they’re buying into these lies that the world and media is feeding them.. and the God of love is calling out, trying to remind them that they are unique…

… an original

… a masterpiece

… BEAUTIFUL!

I have to keep telling myself this daily. It’s natural for us to compare ourselves to others. The danger is when we start looking down on ourselves and criticizing God’s masterpiece (us).

Don’t buy into the lies.

Remember…

“The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for His is your Lord.” – Psalm 45:11

Follow Me

July 9, 2013 / Anna / 2 Comments

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it.

Luke 9:23-24

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately: what it really means to “take up your cross daily” or to “deny yourself.”

These are some powerful phrases that we, as Christians, don’t seem to take as seriously as we should. We bring them out for the big decisions that we face in our lives, but we don’t use them on a daily, moment-to-moment basis… you know what I mean?

The Sunday School class I’m in right now is doing a video series called “Not a Fan” by Kyle Idleman, (highly recommend for small groups!!) and this past week, he brought up this point:

“Carrying a cross isn’t comfortable”

Think about it. Back then, the cross was a symbol of absolute torture and humiliation. It was used as the ultimate punishment for crimes. Those that hung on the crosses weren’t exactly popular with the majority of the crowd.

Now, these days, people can be seen wearing crosses on a necklace, rings, earrings, tattoos, clothing and more.. but do they recognize the full meaning behind it and what it really represents? I kinda doubt it.

Becoming a Christian is so much more than obtaining a free pass to the golden gates of heaven and escaping eternal punishment in hell… it’s all about completely stripping you of your old identity and filling it with that of Christ…

… and being willing to follow Him wherever He may lead us.

I’ve struggled with this because I enjoy my comfort zone. I like where I live, the friends that I have and my routine that I follow week to week (with little bursts of spontaneity here and there).

We can get so comfortable with the idea of Christ being our Savior that we lose the mind-blowing realization of what He’s actually done for us on that cross… that He took all of our sin upon Himself and paid the price that was meant for us!

So, what does it mean to “deny yourself” and “take up your cross daily”?

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

That’s it. We are called to be different and separate from the rest of the world; to not care about what the world thinks of us and to live our daily lives for Christ, spilling His love for others into everything we do, say or even think.

We are called to die to ourselves (sinful nature), take up our crosses and follow His lead.

It could be as simple as lending a helping hand when no one else will. Or choosing to step out of the gossip circle even though that’s where all your friends are. Or maybe even as big as going on a missions trip to a different country to present the gospel to those who haven’t heard it yet.

Yes, carrying a cross will not be comfortable; Jesus never promised it would be. But, when the burden gets too much for us to handle… He does promise this:

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

“Be Present”

June 2, 2013 / Anna / 0 Comments

“I tend to think of life in terms of movie clips or tweetable moments… [my wife] referred to my phone as my ‘black wife.’ Now, I thought it was funny and I’m no expert, but I don’t think she was kidding… she talked about some other stuff that I don’t really remember because in my head I was too busy composing a tweet, where I would quote her with some sort of clever hashtag about marriage and about how much I love her, to be paying attention to her at that moment…”

These are the opening lyrics to “Be Present,” by one of my favorite spoken word artists, Propaganda. I chose this song to talk about because it deals with one of my pet peeves… technology!

Well, ok, I don’t hate technology (it does have a ton of perks, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog), but it seems as if the quality of communication has gone down the more technology progresses.

These days, people can access Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, FaceTime, Snapchat and other social options, any time, any place. We call it multi-tasking – thinking we’re accomplishing things and making the most of life – but in reality, we can get so lost in the cyber world that we forget to pay attention to the reality that’s going on right in front of us.

“Only when you lose her, you learn to appreciate her. Like when I’m with her, I’m itching to get rid of her and she only gives you one shot, blow it and she’s gone… You can’t rush her or slow her down…. she will slip through your fingers like sand. Her name is TIME. She said multi-tasking is a myth. You ain’t doing anything good, you’re just doing everythng awful. She begged me to stop stretching her thin and stuffing her full, stop being so concerned with the old her and future her but love her now. Her presence is God’s present and you should be that.. present.”

As it says in James 4:14, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” Think about that. It can feel as if life will never end and that we have all the time in the world, but in reality, life is short. If we’re not careful, we can waste so much time “socializing” on our phones, iPods and other technology instead of investing the time and effort it takes to make real-life relationships work.

I’m not saying that social networking is a bad thing. I love it just as much as the next guy and it is very helpful in connecting with people, sharing ideas and having a broader presence in the cyber world. But on the other hand, it can be a danger.

We can become so addicted to checking our Facebook accounts every 10 minutes or feeling the need to create a cute tweet or status about something we heard or did, that we neglect the moments we’re given to have face-to-face conversations, experience life and create new and lasting relationships.

So, before you go to check any of your social network accounts or post that awesome status, hashtag or tweet that you’ve been working on… take a moment to “smell the roses.” Sounds quirky, I know, but, seriously, take a minute and invest in the friends and family that are around you. Put aside your phone and focus your full attention on listening and conversing with someone, enjoy the outdoors and live life… be present!

“So, I guess you could say I’ve been through a divorce. My phone and I are no longer married.”

“I think I’m ready to be here… now.”

Don’t Smother Me!

October 11, 2011 / Anna / 0 Comments

Jessie Schwartz grew up in a non-Christian home, where she witnessed what drugs, and drinking did to people she loved. Unlike some of her friends, who grew up in the protective bubble of a Christian community, Schwartz wasn’t surprised by the influences and temptations she found on a secular college campus. But her friends had no way of knowing what they were up against.

Many young adults raised in the church are growing up isolated from the world around them. Their parents might think they are creating a safe space for their children’s faith to grow, but a new study reveals they might be setting them up for disillusionment and failure.

According to the findings of a research study recently released by the Barna Group, 59 percent of young adults disconnect from the church in their teen years. Many study participants told researchers they stopped attending church because it was not always open to discussing how to relate faith to real world issues.

Of those who listed the church’s isolation from the culture as a problem, almost one quarter complained that Christians were too quick to “demonize everything outside the church.” Twenty-two percent said the church ignored the problems of the real world, and 18 percent said “my church is too concerned that movies, music, and video games are harmful.”

David Sanford, a freshman at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania said churches too often refuse to step out of their comfort zone to test their faith against the modern world. “They seem to have their own safe bubble that they stay in,” he said.

Micah Reed, a sophomore at Edinboro, agreed that some churches don’t do enough for the younger generation. “People don’t seem to venture out,” he said. Churches aren’t always welcoming to outsiders, much less a place to discuss what’s going on in the world, he said.

Schwartz, who also is a sophomore at Edinboro, said churches and parents should do more to prepare their children for what they will encounter in the “real world,” instead of keeping them solely in a Christian community.

“The only way to rectify this is to get out of our holy huddle and start reaching out to the lost,” Schwartz said. Churches hold plenty of Bible studies and dinners for their members, but in reality, it’s just “a place where we can all get together and be friends,” Schwartz said.

Sanford also encouraged churches to spend more time reaching out to the communities around them.
“They should train the people that they are sending out in order to better equip them to take on the world,” he said.

The Barna Group’s study suggests that some church leaders ignore the concerns and issues of teens and those in their twenties because they think the church disconnect will end when young adults are older, said David Kinnaman, president of the research organization based in Ventura, Calif.

In his latest book, You Lost Me, Kinnaman says the concerns young Christians raise about church and culture could lead to revitalized ministry and deeper connections in families.

“In many churches, this means changing the metaphor from simply passing the baton to the next generation to a more functional, biblical picture of a body – that is, the entire community of faith, across the entire lifespan, working together to fulfill God’s purposes,” Kinnaman said.

This is the first in a series of six stories exploring the major themes of the Barna Group study about why young adults leave the church. Coming tomorrow: Just skimming the surface – Young Christians who want more of God say the church is too shallow.

Anna's Alcove

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Tag: Bible (page 2 of 2)

There is no one who is youer than you!

Let my girls be Hermiones…

Follow Me

“Be Present”

Don’t Smother Me!

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