Love Is Marching

Some girls choose to live a quiet life in the shadows, blending into the background. Others spend their entire lives grappling for the limelight, desperate for both independence and acceptance simultaneously.

Very few choose the path that these three sisters are traveling on. The Barlow sisters have helped to blaze a trail in Christian music by not producing ‘inspirational’ lyrics that get lost in really cool guitar riffs and drum solos. But they have started a bonfire in this genre by drawing people in with their amazing talents; and instead of lulling their audiences to spiritual sleep with what our ‘itching ears’ want to hear, they sound the alarm with a call to war in love. Their lyrics speak truth and love to the heart of the wavering Christian, and resonate in the souls of the unregenerate. Their music flows beautifully through the media’s sound waves, giving them platforms for sharing the Gospel. Their lives touch so many through their testimonies of perseverance, purity, and confidence in their heavenly Father.

Rarely does one see such beautiful girls (inside and out) in the public eye stand faithfully at the foot of the Cross over the years. I’ve followed BarlowGirl for the past several years, and have been encouraged that their main ‘inspirational message’ is directed at young girls, challenging them to fall in love with the Saviour, instead of chasing after the lusts of this world.

So what are you doing with your life? Are you simply living day to day, chasing the momentary pleasures that this world offers as lifetime satisfaction? Or are you living to “Carpe diem”? Seize the day! Make every moment count…not for yourself, but for the One who created you. If you’re a Christian, take risks! Don’t just sit back and expect ‘opportunities’ to come to you. Go out and seize those opportunities!

If you sense the Holy Spirit prompting you to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you at school, on the bus, in line…go for it!

If you have a passion for sharing the gospel in your local community, be the one to stand up and form groups and prayer meetings!

If you have something on your heart that you want to take a stand for, such as being a voice for the unborn, do it!

If you have a desire to spread the gospel to the unreached parts of this earth, do what you can to get on a mission trip to a foreign country!

Any and all of these can bring glory to the Father. Do not reach the end of your life and only then realize that you’ve wasted it! Seek the Lord on what He would have you, His laborer in the field, do. Then go out and do it! J

Come As Little Children

A friend/pastor of mine recently used this illustration by Charles Spurgeon in a message he gave. Spurgeon helps us take a different look at the story of the prodigal son, and it so affected me that I wanted to share it with the rest of the world. ;)

This poor young man, in his hungry, faint, and wretched state, having come a very long way, had not much heart in him. His hunger had taken all energy out of him, and he was so conscious of his guilt that he had hardly the courage to face his father; so his father gives him a kiss, as much as to say, "Come, boy, do not be cast down; I love you."

"Oh, the past, the past, my father!" he might moan, as he thought of his wasted years; but he had no sooner said that than he received another kiss, as if his father said, "Never mind the past; I have forgotten all about that." This is the Lord's way with His saved ones. Their past lies hidden under the blood of atonement. The Lord saith by His servant Jeremiah, "the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve."

But then, perhaps, the young man looked down on his foul garments, and said, "The present, my father, the present, what a dreadful state I am in!" And with another kiss would come the answer, "Never mind the present, my boy. I am content to have thee as thou art. I love thee." This, too, is God's word to those who are "accepted in the Beloved". In spite of all their vileness, they are pure and spotless in Christ, and God says of each one of them, "Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee. Therefore, though in thyself thou art unworthy, through My dear Son thou art welcome to My home."

"Oh, but," the boy might have said, "the future, my father, the future! What would you think if I should ever go astray again?" Then would come another holy kiss, and his father would say, "I will see to the future, my boy; I will make home so bright for you that you will never want to go away again."

Whatever there was to trouble the son, the father gave him a kiss to set it all right; and, in like manner, our God has a love-token for every time of doubt and dismay which may come to His reconciled sons. Perhaps one whom I am addressing says, "Even though I confess my sin, and seek God's mercy, I shall still be in sore trouble, for through my sin, I have brought myself down to poverty."

"But I have even brought disease upon myself by sin," says another. "There is a kiss for you, for I am Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that healeth thee, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thine diseases."

"But I am dreadfully down at the heel," says another. The Lord gives you also a kiss, and says, "I will lift you up, and provide for all your needs. No good thing will I withhold from them that walk uprightly." All the promises in this Book belong to every repentant sinner, who returns to God believing in Jesus Christ, His Son.

The father of the prodigal kissed his son much, and thus made him feel happy there and then. Poor souls, when they come to Christ, are in a dreadful plight, and some of them hardly know where they are. I have heard them talk a lot of nonsense in their despair, and say hard and wicked things of God in their dreadful doubt. The Lord gives no answer to all that, except a kiss, and then another kiss. Nothing puts the penitent so much at rest as the Lord's repeated assurance of His unchanging love. Such a one the Lord has often received, "and kissed him much," that He might fetch him up even from the horrible pit, and set his feet upon a rock, and establish his goings."