It's Shoe Box Time

This past Saturday, our church had our first ever Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Packing Party.  What is Operation Christmas Child, you ask?  Well, let me try to explain.  Operation Christmas Child is a mission of Samaritan’s Purse International Relief.  Samaritan’s Purse provides spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world.  Their mission is to follow the example of Christ by helping those in need and proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel. 

Operation Christmas Child provides shoeboxes full of goodies to children around the world.  “A small shoebox can teach a child about the love of God, lead him or her to faith in Christ, inspire pastors, and plant new churches.  What goes into the box is fun, but what comes out is eternal.” - http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

We’ve been collecting items to go into these shoeboxes for the last few months.  The idea is to get items that are fun, like toys, bracelets, and stuffed animals.  But, we also wanted to include in our boxes hygiene items such as soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant.  We included socks, mittens, hair bows, and hair brushes.  And, let’s not forget, candy!  We had a great turnout for our Packing Party. 

This year we had a record of 159 shoe boxes filled.  That’s amazing, especially if you consider the size of our church.  We’re pretty small.  We normally have around 80 people, which include children, in our Sunday School classes.  We may have around 100 during worship service. 

On a personal note, there were several times during the packing party that I felt the tears well up.  I kept thinking of the children that might get one of our boxes.  What kind of living conditions they face?  Are they loved at home?  Do they have parents?  There are so many questions that I thought of while witnessing the packing of the shoe boxes.  I packed a few boxes, but I mainly focused on taking photographs to share with our congregation, as well as trying to keep the boxes sorted (boys/girls by age group). 

A few years ago, I went with our church to the distribution center in Boone, NC to help pack the boxes into larger shipping boxes so that they could be taken to their destination.  It’s a humbling experience.  There were so many boxes, and in some cases you can tell that people spent a lot of time preparing for these gifts.  There were homemade toboggans and mittens.  This makes me think, what can I do next year to let the child that receives my box know that they are loved.  Not just by me, but by God Himself. 

I hope that you and your church participate in Operation Christmas Child.  It doesn’t just bring a child joy, but it also brings joy to the giver. 

Here are a few photos from our Packing Party...

Activity books, crayons, school supplies

We ordered the boxes from Samaritan's Purse

Bagged candy

Yo-yo's

Packing the boxes

Making sure lots of love is added

Homemade bracelets

More love with stuffed animals

Thank you to all that came out

HA!

God's Children

First of all, let me say thank you for joining me on this journey.  If you like this page, please share.  Also, if you get a moment and haven't already, go over to my Facebook page and give us a like.  Adventures in Bluegrass and Bible Studies Facebook Page

On to today's post:

What does it mean to be a child of God?  What makes a child of God different from the rest of the world?  I didn’t talk about it last time, but 1 John 2:29 tells us that Christians are those who are “born” of God.  This is just an emphasis that the Christian’s spiritual life is a result of God’s redemptive work in us.  Once we are “born again”, we are called God’s Children.  So, what is the significance of being called the “children of God” and what does it mean for our lives?

1 John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 

The KJV says “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us”.  Don’t you just love that verse!  It’s through God’s love that we can become His children.  It’s an honor.  Can you imagine the love that God must have for us to “allow” us to be His?  I imagine this as how adoptive parents feel toward their children.  Do you know any children who have been adopted?  We know several folks who have adopted.  Let me tell you, they love their children just as much as if they were born to them.  It’s unconditional.  That’s just like the love of God for us.  Do you know the song “How He Loves” by the David Crowder Band?  It goes like this:

"He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions
Eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are
And how great Your affections are for me

And oh, how He loves us, oh
Oh, how He loves us, how He loves us all"

That's the love that He has for you and I.  It's strong, like a hurricane.

Well, take a look at that second verse.  It tells us that the world doesn’t know us.  People who are lost know us, so what does that mean?  It means that they don’t recognize what we have become in Christ.  They may even look at us as religious freaks.  Why?  Because they just don’t know Jesus.  We should expect the world to treat us the same as the world treated Jesus.  Despised.  Rejected.  Think of it this way:  while Jesus was here on earth, he has a great following, they saw his miracles, they believed in who he said he was.  Yet, they were the ones that wanted to crucify him.  See how the world does? The world will turn it’s back on you.

But, look at verse 16!  It says “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”  Jesus laid down his life for you (and me).  Shouldn’t we be willing to do the same thing?  Shouldn’t we be willing to take the criticism of the world? 

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing me to be one of your children.  Help me, each day, I pray, to realize the love that you have for me.  I know you loved me so much that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins.  Help me, Lord, to remember that love and to share it with others.  Forgive me for ever not believing in that love. In Jesus name, Amen.

**Note:  I cannot take credit for the graphics.  I found these.  I apologize to whomever and will remove them if the owner doesn't approve.  

Living a Christian Life

Today we are looking at the second epistle of Peter.  It is called the “general” letter, because it was not written to one specific church, but they were probably directed to the same group that the first letter was written to.  The whole letter is a warning against danger from within, dealing with false teachers who took the message of grade too far.  These false teachers were twisting Paul’s words and turning it into a license to sin.  Peter knew he was probably going to die soon and he wanted these believers to survive spiritually without an apostle’s testimony.  So, in essence, this was Peter’s last will and testament.  The letter also serves to demonstrate the Christian life.

Here is something to think about as we jump right into the scripture.  Think about your imperfections.  Do they make you try harder, or do they make you want to quit trying?  Let’s look at what Peter has to say about our Christian life.

2 Peter 1:3-4 says this:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” 

See that, he has granted us all we need for life and godliness.  All. Nothing is left out. 

What does godliness mean?  Godliness is defined as “devotion to God which results in a life that is pleasing to him.” Pleasing God comes by the behavior that is a result of our relationship with him. 

And do you see the rest of the verse?  He grants us precious and great promises, to be partakers of divine nature and escaping corruption that is in the world.  So, what are some of these promises?  Well, he has promised us victory over sin, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, wisdom and strength to deal with trials, and peace. 

What does it mean to be a partaker of “divine nature”?  Well, once we are called to salvation, we are given eternal life, we become a child of God.  This gift that he has given to us is the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We share the life of God through the Holy Spirit.  That moment when we become a child of God, God dwells within us.  Does this mean we won’t sin?  Of course not, but our desires change.  We no longer want to live for the world, whether it is by living for sex, greed, pride, etc.  But, we do have the Holy Spirit to guide us to help us to make the right choices.

Peter then goes on to tell us the Christian attributes we should add to our faith.  2 Peter 1:5-7 says “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,^[e] and virtue with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” 

We need to add the following to our faith:

 1.   Goodness – the ability and desire to stand up for what is right in a morally defunct world.

2.  Knowledge – knowledge of God and His ways and how to live our everyday life.

3.  Self-control – discipline and diligence of controlling emotions, behaviors and desires.

4.  Perseverance – patience and steadfastness in spite of the difficulty.

            5.  Godliness – living a life pleasing to God.
            6.  Brotherly kindness – caring and kindness for others.
            7.  Love – unconditional, like the love that God shows to us.

If we aren’t continually trying to add these things to our faith, temptation will begin to creep in.  And, boy, is it strong.

Heirs, Trials and Loving One Another

Peter, he was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples.  He wrote the first book of Peter to the Jewish Christians that had been scattered throughout the five Roman provinces during the Diaspora. 

The areas that he wrote to were Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.  These were the areas that Christianity had spread to after the beginning of the church.  In the first chapter of Peter, he explained to them that they were “elected”, meaning that they were “chosen” by God and that it wasn’t random.  He went on to tell them what it meant to be saved and to live as saved and that we have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” (1 Peter 1:4)  Did you hear that?  We have an inheritance.  What does it mean to be an heir?  An heir is defined as “a person legally entitled to the property or rank of another on that person's death”.  We are an heir to heaven.  Heaven is for eternity.  Isn’t that wonderful news?!  Romans 8:17 says this: “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”  We are heirs with Christ.  When we accepted Christ into our lives, we became a joint heir, adopted into the family of God.  We cannot experience this inheritance unless we are born again.

Peter then goes on to discuss with them the purpose for trials in their lives.  I read this on a commentary (I cannot remember which one):  “Our faith isn’t tested because God doesn’t know how much or what kind of faith we have. It is tested because we often are ignorant of how much or what kind of faith we have.  God’s purpose in testing is to display the enduring quality of our faith.”  So, it isn’t a matter of God testing to see if we have faith or not.  It’s to point out to us that we do, indeed, have faith and how much we actually have of it.  What kind of faith do you have?  Are you struggling with trials?  He goes on to describe the process.  Like gold that is purified by fire, our faith is purified by trials.  Gold will one day perish, but our faith will not. 

Peter goes on to inform his readers about their conduct as one that is saved.  How do you act?  Do you act as if you are saved?  I admit, sometimes I am guilty of acting as if I’m not saved.  Don’t you?  We all sin.  Living the way God wants us to is sometimes hard.  He wants us to be sober, or rather, being able to look at life seriously.  He calls us to a life of holiness, giving up the lifestyle that we had before, the lifestyle of the world.  Life isn’t a party.  Do you realize that when we stand before Jesus upon His return, that the only way we’ll be able to stand in front of Him is because of His grace?   It isn’t because we’ve lived a sinless life after we became saved.  We must understand that God isn’t going to show partiality, He is going to judge our conduct.  Peter also tells us that we can call on God for help when we need it.  Verse 17 tells us, “and if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deed…”.    

Peter’s final thoughts in this chapter is this “love one another” (verse 22).  Reminds me of a bluegrass song.  Really?  Yes, really. 

“Cause we’re all bound together,

When you’re down,
I’ll help you brother,
Only love lasts forever,
So, let’s love one another”

Love One Another is by the Infamous Stringdusters.  It’s one of my favorites.  Make the choice to love one another. It’s a decision that we must actively make, a choice.  We are to love others daily with the same love that God loves us with.