"On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:37,38)

"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31,32)

I've been struggling lately with discontentment. Maybe I have PMS, which I probably do, but I've been inclined to binge, sit around, watch tv, and do absolutely nothing. I've even been irritated at those who get in the way of my laziness! It's been a struggle because I really don't like myself like this and I'm not honoring God by acting this way. So today I came across these two verses and realized that they contained perspective-altering truths.

The first verse takes place on the day of a great feast following an annual community fast. Jesus stands up, probably while everyone is satisfying their ravenous appetites, and asserts that if anyone's thirsty they should come to him to drink. Now, I'm pretty sure He wasn't announcing that he'd be in charge of pouring the punch. Jesus had something much better: living water. He wants us to come to him to when we are discontent; He wants us to believe in Him when we're confused, scared, sad, angry, etc.. And whoever drinks this living water--whoever believes in Jesus--will have hearts overflowing with living water. Jesus is referring here to the Spirit whom He had not yet given to His disciples. This passage really makes me think about whether I come to Jesus when I'm thirsty. When I feel empty, sad, lonely, bored, etc. I usually turn to food, tv, or people to make me feel better. I guess it's not that those things are bad, but the reality is that only Jesus can satisfy; only He will meet all my needs: "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). I have to believe that, even when I don't receive immediate satisfaction. All in all, I know by waiting upon the Lord when I'm lonely, sad, etc. and choosing not to "drug" myself with things that may quickly ease the discomfort will ultimately take away my thirst altogether (John 4:14). In Jesus, there is no dissatisfaction even if it means initially prolonging the pain for a little longer than I'm used to.

The second verse pretty much keeps me accountable for the first verse. I cannot truly be a disciple of Jesus if I don't choose to believe and obey His Word. Going further than that, I can't be set free from my sinful habits if I don't continually seek to know the truth by reading, believing, and obeying His Word. And going even a step further, I can't be set free if I don't come to Him when I'm thirsty or dissatisfied. If I don't come to Him, I'll just find someway to subdue to pain through sinful means. So in short, I want to come to Him like a daughter goes to her Father when she needs comfort. Our Heavenly Father is so full of grace and mercy that it's so much more overwhelming than we could ever realize. Even though He is holy and perfect, He mercifully looks past our failures and desires us come to Him for help in our times of need (Hebrews 4:16).

A convicting series on fasting by John Piper:
"A Fast for Waters That Do Not Fail", Part 1 and Part 2

"Lovingly Opposed to Sin and Evil: A Petition and Organization"

I've been thinking about this blog entry from Scriptorium Daily for quite some time but I've never been able to put my thoughts to the subject. I don't agree with everything that Dr. Reynolds says, (not right away at least) but as a Christian, I really don't see anything to disagree with here. Are Christians not called to oppose sin and evil? They most definitely are.

"For, 'Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." (1 Peter 3:10-12)

And the part about lovingly? Yes, check, got that one.

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." (Galatians 6:1)

But taking a step aside from the Biblical references for a moment, opposing evil is not a Christian thing. It's an everyone thing. Everyone who reads, watches, listens to the news has been informed of the heinous acts of violence ransacking the Middle East, Sudan, Kenya, etc. Putting an end to genocide, ethnic crimes, and government corruption is not a religious endeavor. It's not just part of the American agenda. It's not a Republican or Democrat issue. Opposing the human rights violations in Burma, Sierra Leone, Iran, etc. is a non-partisan issue. Can't we at least agree upon this? It seems as if there always has to be disagreement on some issue, especially those with moral implications. And even if we can't find commonground on an issue as serious as this, I'm sure we can find commonground on other less obvious evils.

Let me give an example. In the Hindu faith, Hindus abstain from eating beef because they believe the cow to be sacred. They believe that a cow could possibly be the reincarnate of their ancestors which is why they wouldn't dare consume it. It's their way of honoring their ancestors. In the same way, when my grandpa passed away, we gave him a funeral and mourned his death. We buried him in a grave and marked it with a tombstone. I love my grandpa and that's my way of honoring him. That's the way we honor our elders in the West. Although we both share very different metaphysical beliefs, there is still some commonground in our practices. We both find it evil to disrespect our ancestors. There is a common moral belief on which both practices are founded.

Expounding on the subject of evil, there's a great book coming out called Not On Our Watch on what the American people can do to end genocide. The book focuses in on Darfur but relates to all instances of genocide that have occured or may occur in the future. For those who think normal American laypeople can do little to prevent the violence in Sudan, read this book...please. No one should have to live in fear as the hundreds of thousands of men and women in Darfur are living to this day--many who watched as their own family members were murdered and somehow marginally escaped with their lives.

And for those who think that the U.N. is taking care of the issue, you might want to start doubting. According to Warren Hoge's NYT article "Intervention, Hailed as a Concept, Is Shunned in Practice" (Jan. 20, 2008), the resolution signed in 2005 that was suppose to allow the U.N. to actually go into Sudan to stop the violence, has done next to nothing since it was signed three years ago. Apparently, a good number of nations don't really want the responsibility to of entering a nation allowing its citizens to be slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands. With increasing violence occurring in Kenya as well, the U.N. needs to start utilizing its peacekeeping forces to subdue the violence in several African nations.

Hooray! I love the smell of a fresh new blog. Mmm, just take a big fat whiff of those virtual posts that I have yet to write. It makes me happy to say that I finally have my little corner to just tell it as it is. If any opinion is posted, I'll back it up as best as I can. Hopefully that will help me to improve in my use of rhethoric and friendly persuasion. My main reason for blogging: making sense of what I think about important issues, politics, life, and stuff like that. A teacher of mine once said something along the lines of...I don't know what I think until I write it down. I very much believe in that statement. I don't know how many times I have randomly asserted something not necessarily because I believed it but rather for some alterior motive -- sometimes just to have something to say, other times, in the heat of the moment, simply to argue for the sake of arguing. Well, I'm a bit short on time at the moment but here's a few articles that I found very fascinating today. Perhaps I'll opine on them later.

"Butt Naked Returns to Liberia, Confesses 20,000 Deaths"

"Antiabortion cause stirs new generation"

"Embryonic Stem Cells Created Without Harming Embryo, for Real This Time"