God has given us free will and intelligence as a human race. This means we can usually think and reason our way through any situation without seeking Truth and Its application to that situation. Although God knows what we are thinking, what we will do, and the outcome of it all, He wants access to our soul, freely given by us to Him. When life gets to a point “When God Doesn’t Make Sense”, our innermost being cries out…Then Sings Our Soul. 

Christianity can be a scary and shaky journey. When we want to control the outcome of our life, often, it seems things get worse and more out of control! God wants us to get to a point where our soul sings, cries out, and longs for Him. It is not our mind that chooses Him, it is our spirit. It is there His Spirit lives and we are connected.

So, When God Doesn’t Make Sense to us, we should check ourselves. Are we pouring our faith out from our soul, or our mind? Are we actually trusting Him, which means it may not make sense to us? If we trust Him, things just ARE. Sense or not, we move in obedience through all of the pain, heartache, fear, turmoil, and confusion to glorify Him. 

Our soul should sing and shout His praises! In fact, there is an entire book in the Bible that does this, Psalms. When reading Psalms, you can feel the depth of the cries of worship. It is deeper than just words written on a page, it is spirit-filled and sincere. This also occurs other places in the Bible, such as Isaiah and Revelation.

“Sing to the LORD a new song, sing His praise from the ends of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and those who dwell on them.” – Isaiah 42:10

“And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.” – Revelation 14:3

The verse in Revelation speaks to the exclusivity of songs from the soul. “No one could learn the song except the 144,000 purchased from the earth”. God purchased our souls through the death and blood of Jesus. Only because of this can we sing such songs from the deepest parts of us. The emotion and intensity involved in singing is much greater than talking. How does it feel when you just simply read the lyrics to a song in a monotone, drab way, compared to belting it to a rhythm, and with a passionate roar? When our soul sings, we are like children screaming our favorite nursery rhymes, open, unafraid, and vulnerable. 

When God Doesn’t Make Sense to us, we need to look beyond our comprehension, and instead to His, letting our souls sing songs of acknowledgement and acceptance of His power and plan. 

“Behold I have a friend
The Spirit breathing holy fire within
My ever-present help
Speaking truth when I can’t find it

Light up this broken heart and light my way
‘Til my time on earth is done
Oh, Holy Spirit
Breathe in me like Kingdom come

Oh, Holy Spirit
Let Your work in me be done”

-Hillsong Worship (Behold)

If you start any thought or phrase with “It must be nice….” You are probably offended. “It must be nice to not have to work”, “It must be nice to grow up with 2, married parents”, “It must be nice to have money and not worry about bills”, “It must be nice to have a job and time away from your kids every day”. All of these are signs of offense.

Where does offense come from though? We know it is certain, Jesus said so, but how does it happen? Well, one way is through the lies we hear leading to discontentment. Most of the time, offense stems from falsely assigned jealousy. We want something someone else has, and in return we either offend them, or get offended by them.

The Bible says “Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest” (Proverbs 16:8). If we apply words like “little” and “rich” to our situation, not just to a measure of money, or having more or less, we can see that we all are rich in some areas and have little in others. Some of us are rich in time, but feel like we are worth only a little. Some of us are rich in money, but feel like we have little time with our family. The point is, we all have “little” in something, but with godliness, we can and should be content.

Freedom comes in obedience. Addressing an offense, the way God says to, whether warranted or not, will free us from the possible discontent that created the feelings of offense in the first place. If we feel discontent with our full-time job, or lack of close friends in the church, or relationship with Jesus, we may often find ourselves offended by those who do not work full time, seem to have plenty of close friends at church, and an admirable relationship with Jesus.

When we get offended let’s start to first look inward. If we have done that, and are still offended, let us commit to handling offense Biblically, reaching out to our brother or sister immediately instead of harboring an unwanted spirit.

“A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people” (2 Timothy 2:24). In order for us to grow with each other as followers, so that we may affect and show truth to those who do not yet know, we must learn to act in kindness, and with patience toward our differences. In this, we can learn contentment, happiness, and peace with what we have or don’t, knowing and trusting we are in exactly the right place, with the appropriate amount of all things, because God has his hand on us. Let’s become more content, less offended and offensive, and work towards the ultimate command to “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need” (Luke 12:31).

2 John 1:16 says, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning. His command is that you walk in love.” To obey God is to love God. Obedience is a tricky one because to obey you must first listen. Hearing God in our lives, clearly, is very difficult in the day to day hustle and bustle. BUT if we want to truly love Him, we need to listen, and obey.

Notice we do not listen, then think about it, then talk about it, THEN finally obey; He says it, we do it. For most of us this is not easy. There are many reasons we may not immediately rush to fulfill the command of God.

Recently, I participated in our church-wide, 3-day fast. I heard God tell me to fast TV, so I hesitantly did. Here was the reason for the hesitation: “Everyone else isn’t eating, what is TV going to do, if I am going to do it I should have to do what everyone else is doing”, “Fasting TV just isn’t enough God”. Basically, I heard, and thought, and questioned, and finally obeyed because I knew I was supposed to, not because my heart was bought in. Guess what? God used my fasting TV to answer a prayer that I have been praying for literally years!!

When we think what God is asking us to do is not “enough” in comparison to others, or we decide not to trust what we heard, we are NOT loving Him. Revelation 14:12 says, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.” Patient endurance sounds like an almost impossible task. Endurance alone is tough, but now patience too? Yes, to obey God means we need to know things may not go the way WE think they should. We do not get to plan the conclusion or outcome of our obedience, only that we do what is commanded.

There is something about the night time that is unsettling. The darkness sets, the sun ceases to shine, and the world becomes quiet. Lights go out in houses, eyes close, and minds wander. Crime and chaos seem enhanced in the night, almost as if darkness increases bravery to act in ways that we know are fundamentally wrong.

And then, the morning comes. Light appears. The sun shines. Newness of the day sets in.

We are so lucky to have a father who decided to give us day and night. Can you imagine a life where we lived in constant darkness, or constant light? It is the contrast of the two that makes each day fulfilling and motivating. We know that with each night comes a new day. Whatever happened the day before seems to have a way of becoming less intense in the dawn of the morning. There is a hopefulness that arises in us each morning saying, “We can do this!”.

I think God created the two backgrounds, night and day, to give us insight to who he is. He is the light. He makes all things new. It is no wonder that with each sunrise we feel inspired, because it is a reminder He is with us. Without the night, we would not experience the amazingness of the day.

For many of us, either currently or in our past, our household stability is lacking or non-existent. For me, this meant dreading each evening in my home as a child. The day time was wonderful! I was surrounded by people, laughter, and learning. Then, the darkness would begin as the sun set, and fear of the unknown of what the night would bring would begin. That feeling of anxiety and loneliness is crippling.

We can rest assured in the night that there will always be a morning. God never fails to comfort us with the light of a new day, a new chance, an everlasting light that can carry us through the darkness in our life. Darkness is not scary with the Lord by our side. He shines in the gloomiest of situations.

Balloons are so weird… “Happy birthday, here’s a plastic sack of my breath.” –Bill Murray

Eyebrows– “Eyebrows are so weird when you think about it, they’re just lines of hair on your face.” -Anonymous

Clapping– “When you think about it clapping is so weird. ‘Oh, I like what is happening right now let me smash my hands together to express my delight’.” -Anonymous

Those are just a few examples of weird things, and I am sure we can come up with so many more!! Weird means to “induce a sense of disbelief or alienation in someone.”

The Holy Spirit. He’s NOT Weird.

In fact, based on the definition of making something weird, he is the opposite. He does not induce disbelief, instead he brings confidence. He does not alienate, he is close and eliminates feelings of isolation. He is not weird, he is God, and our gift to connect us to a creator that we cannot speak with or see.

Psalm 139:14). When I am afraid, he will hold up a mirror and say, “You do not have a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7)

He is our reflection of ourselves and of God simultaneously. He can show us what we look like in a moment by convicting us, and at the same time display the will of God to reassure us. He is our conscience, our confirmation, our teacher and most importantly our friend. He will never leave us alone, or ask us to try to decipher this life’s ups and downs without aid.

If we ask him to, he will be by our side through every single moment, forever.

“When pride in physical culture supersedes our love for all people…we have a problem” –Pastor Dan

Ephesians 2:19-22  – Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

“I am Italian”. This would be my response to the question “What ethnicity are you?”. I have been raised and taught to be proud of this, to exemplify my heritage through the food I cook, flag I show, people I identify with, etc. Honestly, I would answer Italian before American. I hold such pride and status to this identity that it defines me. I NEED people to know I am Italian because for some reason that makes me think they will get me. Just by knowing one little fact about me, people can infer so much. The Truth I know is what I was raised to know by my family.

Until Sunday.

I wonder what would happen if someone asked us “What is your ethnicity?” and we answered “Christian”. Before identifying with Italian, or American, or Asian, or Russian, could we change our mindset to be identified by our royal family instead? Think about it. So much of who we are aligns with something other than God. How would people distinguish you? For me, people know I am an Eagles Fan, a Mom, Italian, a Personal Trainer, etc. I do not know that every person I encounter knows I represent the living Savior.

We are a part of a family, THE family. Being Christian is an identity, not a religion. We are a chosen generation by God. We can choose to be Catholic, Baptist, or any religion, but we are CHOSEN to be Christian, no matter what other identifier we decide to link to. The only choice needed is to decide to be a part of the regeneration (Re-Geneing) by believing in and claiming Christ as our Savior. Will we continue to choose to reject our identity by just showing up to church and being “good people”, or will choose to be “God people” and have our life reflect him.

We were chosen to tell the world the solution, the peace that exists, the time is now.