~Sacrifice~
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forgeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man comming in his kingdom.”
— Matt 16:24-28 (NIV) —
Have you ever played an RPG? I remember playing a game and trying to represent the side of good. The character I picked was very similiar to a paladin. It was very, very easy to battle evil. But building up your character and your actions were limited by your God and actions deemed to be evil. Underhanded actions were disabled and some skills were useless to you. In some situations where a lie or quick backstabbing would have made things easier, your character would have to take the long way around or fight it out fairly with an enemy. Needless to say, I replayed this game with neutral and evil characters, it was easy to cut corners….
So all this is good, but what the heck does this have to do with the bible verse, you ask? A paladin is the image of a knight on shining white horse, representing God and all things good. This naturally makes me think of the lights that Christians are supposed to shine into the world. But for this to happen, we have to make sacrifices. Jesus puts it into simple words: “he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” A paladin has made a vow to stand and fight for what is right, even when it is not in his best interest to do so. To pledge his life in service to his god, no matter what happens… that he will not be budged by threats to his life, temptations of power and temptations of wealth. When death comes… and it will come… Glory awaits. “he will reward each person according to what he has done.“
Father, I pray that you will give us the strength each day to serve you well. That we will stand as shining examples of what is right and good, so that people may see and praise You, Lord. Jesus, you did what was right, even when God told him to die upon a cross, for sinners that didn’t deserve redemption. Thank you. So, that we will not be mislead by what the world thinks is right, help us to follow Your Word and Your Will. Thanks be to my Rock, God, onto whom I can depend. I pray and hope that you will touch people and shine through them… until every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, that yes, You are Lord. I pray these things in the name of the Master, Jesus. Amen.
Randomness:
bleuciel’s sister’s impressions of moi:
1) You smile alot.
2) You talk to yourself
bleuciel: “You strike me as an only child.”
ha256: “hahahhahah”
S.C. ‘s grandmother passed away. Pray for her and her family. May the peace of our Lord rest upon them and comfort them during their time of grief.
V-day gathering is comming up. Let your will be done, Lord.
S.R. is being shady. Straighten my friend out, Lord. Don’t let this sheep get lost. Help me in my dealings with my friend.
i think Christ is trying to empahsize “authenticity” in that passage… i think we know what authenticity is as you’ve tried to explain… Jesus knows that too. He’s kicking our butt to move that knowledge down from the head to the heart… then to our arms and legs…
this is one of those, “God convict me” passages I read just to get myself out of a spiritual rut at times. :-)the hardest part I think is denying myself, ‘cos I’m a sinnner and I’m selfish. 🙁 But God is good, He gives me strength to do the impossible. 😉
OUCH!!!…..Twas a truly painful bible verse that you’ve posted up – hit me in heart, yet again….denial of self…dying to self…losing life in order to gain Christ…Yes, I spent most of last night awake….with a similar verse running through my mind…(see John 12:24-26)…but thanks for ur verses….and i may be visiting more often (i hope u don’t get sick of me…hee hee)
I remember back when I played RPGs, I wanted to plunder everything I could..so I frequently played a hybrid elf-thief. Elf for the intellegence (manna) and accuracy (bow) and thief for the stealth and lockpicking. Man, those games stole my life away..many many hours on the computer..until one day, I had reallized that those games really depressed me. I’m so happy that I’ve kicked that habit of RPG playing! I’ve prayed about it a lot and felt God’s peace during the whole recovery process..even now. First think..1 Cor 10:13.. God takes care of His children when they look to Him.
oops..sorry..I didn’t mean to get onto a different tangent. talking about randomness..hehe! Wonderful prayer..amen!
Thanks for the eprops 🙂
Yeah i used to get real disturbed about those evil characters in RPGs……and believe it or not….i always get this feeling of guilt when using underhanded tactics….*_*. Such influence……
Vigilant about eProps? Actually no……i noticed this time coz of the 3 eprops underneath my post…..it’s rare for people to give one prop……they either go for 2 or nothing. I guess Gleefully is getting technical about xanga 😀
And….fyi…..and fya (for your amusement)….i had to look up the meaning of ‘vigilant’ in the online dictionary……..:-(. In desperate need to expand my vocabs!
helloss =)
🙂 Thank you. Hey, if you know any praise leaders who have xanga or whatever… can you send them over? 🙂 thanks
Live your live… the world will wonder why. Here I am…. following the call. Very cool. I laughed when I read that you smiled a lot and talked to yourself, and someone thought you were an only child. I guess there are some who might say the same of me… I like your disclaimer. I’m not sure what to make of you, though. 🙂 God bless.
Great devotion, H. Wanted to let you know we all really miss you at T3. Keeping you in prayer, brother.
Did i say that? I have trouble recalling that.
how do i know if i found what?