I turn thirty this week. It’s pretty exciting I guess. I thought it would be fun to have a post about being thirty, and so here are thirty thoughts. These are random thoughts divided into 5 categories. Each day this week I will post six things, so on Friday, my thirtieth thought will be posted. First up are some thoughts on faith. I was raised in a Christian family, and when I was twelve I became a follower of Jesus. My faith means a lot to me, and I have learned a lot since my college years. I don’t write about it a lot because I don’t have these deep theological thoughts. In all honesty, it is pretty intimidating putting these thoughts in writing. I am learning, however, that my faith is very real and very practical. With that said, here goes…
Faith
- God’s grace make less and less sense to me, but I am more and more grateful for it. The older I get the more I realize how God’s grace is applied in my life. It is not a license to do what I want, but something that makes me more like Jesus.
- The gospel can shape our lives not just our eternity. A lot of times, people think about salvation being for life after death, but it shapes our life everyday. I am very thankful for a current mentor I have in my life because he leads his family in this way. We talk about how it effects everything we do whether it is spending money or relating to other people. Sometimes it is a tough conversation, but things worth doing are sometimes hard. The gospel also reminds us that life is not about us. It is about Jesus.
- I usually underestimate how great God is. When I teach about characters in the Old Testament, one of the principles I always mention is the fact that they could look at their forefathers and see that God came through for them. Because he came through for the forefathers, he would come through for them. I like knowing that God will come through even if it looks differently than I think. Living in New Orleans has been really tough at times, but I can always look back and see his guidance.
- I’m thankful for the mentors in my life. Since the end of high school, I have had people in my life that have taken the time and poured into me. A lot of times it was through taking me to lunch or inviting me to visit someone in the hospital. I will always cherish those times. I want to be the person that gets to pour into people. Without the lessons I have learned from these men and women, I don’t know where I would be, so thank you, Kirk, Josh, Chris, Eddy, Sherry, Mark, Dusty, Adam, Leah, Josh, Ben, Chad, and JB. There are others, but you know who you are.
- I want to follow the rules. Despite all my talk about the gospel and having faith in Jesus, I still want to do things on my own. I want to be good enough on my own. That is why I need Jesus because I can never be good enough. Following rules is not bad, but it should not be our goal. I am learning this principle, but it is not easy.
- The role of church and state is a sticky situation. This last point is definitely different than the other points. I am taking a church history class, and the roles of the church and government have been a touchy subject for a long time. For a long time, the two were inseparable. I think we need to consider the connection between the two very carefully. As Christians, do we want to make our mark on the world by legislating moralism? As a country, do we want government that can control our moralism? Believe me, I may be missing the point on all of these things. I am the furthest thing from an expert on either subject. As a Christian, though, my mark should be made on the number of lives I impact with the gospel, and as a citizen, I want the government to be there to protect me but not involved in every part of my life.
Tomorrow we lighten the mood, and I talk about one of my oldest friends…running.
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