- John 4:24: ". . . [24] God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
God does not care where, when, or how someone worships. He cares that they worship truthfully from their hearts. There are some activities that never can be done with purity; thus, those activities never could worship God. But that is not my point. My point is that worship is of the heart and not of the body. Worship occurs when you turn yourself over to God. (John 1:21-24^a)
Take heart when the produce of your labors is hidden! The sown shall be reaped. (John 1:34-38^b)
a = John 1:21-24: [21] Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. [22] You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. [23] But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. [24] God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
b = John 1:34-38: [34] Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. [35] Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! [36] And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. [37] For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.' [38] I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." - Mark 9:35: And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
It's interesting how this verse has both spiritual and physical implications. If we are humble and wholly trusting of Christ, we may look physically lowly, we may travel the ends of the earth with the gospel, and yet in heaven, our reward will be great. On the other hand, if we are humble, work hard, and persevere in the real world, people respect that, and in due time, the humility in work pays off: you get the job, the money, the high position, etc. (Yes, some seize these things selfishly, but God blesses godliness in many, many ways. One of those seems to be physical reward, though it should never be our focus.)
I lacked any other valuable thought, so you can view Mark 9 here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%209;&version=50;. - Here's a [likely] weak essay:
Colleges have changed much over the years. Where bastions of free thought and godly principle once resided, now fortresses of liberalism and atheism stand. Many professors, teachers, and scholars set themselves against Christianity and even the thought of God. Because Christian students hold ideals, principles, and beliefs defined in Christianity by God, scholastic professionals have taken up their cause against these students, and since Christian students are under attack, they can least afford to be ignorant of how their teachers and professors are aligning themselves against traditional beliefs. As light shows cracks and potholes in a road, so awareness reveals the intentions men. The ignorance of Christian youth regarding what the world desires for them likely causes many to fall away.
Keep in mind that though ignorance may be an aspect of fallen men, awareness alone does not prevent or save men from falling. Men cannot be saved by going through college without “falling,” or by getting good jobs, or by buying fancy cars. Men are saved by God's grace through the perfect, cleansing blood of Christ Jesus. The purpose of salvation is also not so that men can have a college education, jobs, or cars. Men are saved so that they may bring glory to God. Lack of ignorance is not the corner-stone of getting through college; Christ is the corner-stone of getting through college. But for men to be ignorant, or for men to know the ignorance others and not to relieve them of their ignorance, is not good. This essay does not exist to provide or to give an opinion that solves the issue of young Christians going astray but to make people aware of their ignorance, to free them from ignorance of their ignorance.
Some people suggest that a Christian's ignorance or unpreparedness is peripheral to where the young person should go to college, whether the person should attend a secular or a Christian school. The people who suggest this may be missing something: all people are sinners. The problem of falling away is not honestly solved by going to a Christian school rather than a secular school. Take, for instance, a piece of moldy bread. A single piece of moldy bread can cause a whole loaf to become moldy. Unless each piece of bread is protected, the whole loaf will go bad. Unless each student protects his mind, unless he is aware, a single bad student can cause him to go astray. Because of this, picking a Christian college over a secular college cannot really solve the problem of straying students.
But colleges and students are the least of our worries. Watching, guiding, directing professionals are most damaging to young Christians, more dangerous than peers, a college atmosphere, or society as a whole. The reason is simple: most students go to college so that they may learn, and unlike peers or a college campus, teachers teach. Professional appearance combined with seemingly unending knowledge can cause many to question whether or not what they believe is true, that is, cause many to doubt. In and of itself, doubting is not bad. Doubting should cause men to wonder, study, and think about the thing doubted until a decision of belief can be met. College promotes doubting. Professors and teachers stimulate doubt, the first step in the process of allowing students to think freely, but these elders of thought, and thus college as a whole, fail to take the next step: providing diversified, related subject information to allow students to logically and fairly weigh ideas so as to make up their own minds.
Professors could be failing to provide diversified information, such as the possibility of their own ideas being wrong or Christianity having worthy aspects, for multiple reasons. They could be ignorant. They may believe that time spent on such subjects is wasteful, or they could simply despise Christian or traditional ideas. But neither ignorance, perceived wastefulness, nor hate of something are legitimate excuses for not knowing, showing, or allowing information to be fairly represented before students. As teachers, not only are they responsible to provide and to teach about related information, they are supposed to separate their personal beliefs or views from what is presented by the information. As a calculus teacher would not withhold from his students the text book that helps them understand a principle, so a sociologist teacher should not disallow a student from using traditional philosophies, or even a Bible, to help his students decide, argue, or understand whether or not something as peculiar as unisex bathrooms should be allowed in professional work environments.
College is dangerous for Christians. Knowing this and being aware of it is a good thing, but even awareness cannot remedy or prevent failures of colleges and students. Nothing apart from God's grace can improve anyone's college experience. If any student ever wants to be safe and wise at college and throughout his life in this dangerous world, he must continually commit his life to God through the redemption found in Christ's blood. History proves how the wisdom of men so often fails. Christ has promised that He “will give . . . wisdom which none of [our] opponents will be able to resist or refute” to those who are His (Luke 21:15). Indeed, He has fulfilled this promise for Christ is “wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30). - Origin of Words - "dibs": The word derived from dibstones, a type of game involving assorted pieces that are thrown and collected. Since the game is related to gaining possession or taking possession, "dibs" is a method of slang (possibly developed in the later half of the 19th century by schoolchildren) meaning that the speaker has certain rights or ownership over something.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dibs; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knucklebones
Though Now We Weep
10 years ago
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