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I Never Cared

I used to pass him everyday.

He’d be standing by the door every time I went in.

He never said much.
I never said much.

I didn’t know his story.
I never took the time to ask.

I’d just smile and nod as I passed.
He’d return the favor.

I’d go on about my day.
Never thinking about the man by the store.

Until,

I began to notice that he was no longer there.
No sign of his chair,
No sign of his hat.

All of a sudden,
I wish I had asked.

Why he stood there.
What his life was like.

If he had a home.
If he had a wife.

I guess I’ll never know.
What made Him who He was.

I never took the time,
to find out what he does.

We never know the stories of the people we pass everyday.
We never know what their dealing with or their place in eternity.

Today,

Take the time to find out.
Take the time to encourage.

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Why Don’t We Do Something?

Stories like this one from Time Magazine trouble me.

Not just because someone committed suicide over the actions of others,
but because no one seems to do anything about it.

Instead, we choose to picket abortion clinics and boycott Disney.

I wonder….

What would have happened had this child realized his value in Christ?
What would have happened had a Christian friend at his school stood up for Him?
What would have happened had someone loved the bullies enough to tackle their issue head on?

Situations like this make me wonder….

What difference are we really making in the world?
If the church is called to be the light, why do we often hide from the darkness?
Why do we so often do absolutely nothing relevant to these situations?
Are we really teaching people to live out their faith in their world?

Just some questions….

Your thoughts??

14
Oct 2010
POSTED BY Jonathan Pearson
DISCUSSION 15 Comments
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Spiritual Anorexia

For as long as I can remember, I’ve battled a weight problem.

As a 10 year old boy, I can remember knowing that I wasn’t happy with the way I looked and felt.
In fact, I can distinctly remember thinking time and time again as I looked in the mirror, “I don’t feel like a fat person, I just look like one.”

You see, I knew that I was a mostly happy, energetic, polite, and nice boy.
I knew that I was just like all my other friends on the inside, it was just my outside that was different.

I became pretty determined as I entered middle school that I was going to make my outside match the way I felt on the inside.
I eventually lost a lot of the weight and am now pretty average for my height.
But, it’s still a struggle…

Some people reading this are in the same boat I was as a child…
Just the other way around.

You’ve been playing the Christian game.
You look good on the outside.
You seem to have it all together.
You’re really good at putting on a ‘spiriutal facade’.
You give your time and money to the church.
You know the right spiritual words,

But Jesus has never captivated your heart.

Your inside doesn’t match your outside.

You’re still left empty at the end of the day.
You’re left with very little joy, fading enthusiasm, and obvious emptiness.

You need to let Jesus change your inside.

You see, I’ve learned a few things in my 24 (as of Friday) years of life
One of those things is,
God changes people from the inside out.

Let Jesus be your Savior,
Let Jesus rule your heart,
Then, let him change your actions.

_______________

This is one of the GREATEST problems in the church today and something that I’m passionate about seeing changed. Please pass this post along to the people you connect with.

14
Sep 2010
POSTED BY Jonathan Pearson
POSTED IN

Blog, Featured, Life

DISCUSSION 12 Comments
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3 Things I Know

I’m a pretty young dude.

In fact, I’ve been called a “young whipper-snapper” recently.

I have, however, lived life 23 years.

It’s hard to live even that long without learning a few things along the way.

So, here are 3 things that I know.

I hope you already know them as well!

1. God’s grace is enough!
Seriously, that’s all it takes. Nothing more, nothing less. Just His grace, amazing love for His people, and our trust in that grace. I’ve spent portions of my life trying to earn this great grace, but have come to find that it’s impossible. In fact, all I’ve ever done is cheapen His grace by thinking that I can some home measure up, some how do enough.

2. Love compels action!
When I realize that someone loves me, I’m compelled to love them back. I’m convinced, that if we really ever get a glimpse of how much Christ loves us, we can’t do anything but love Him back. Sure, we’re not going to be perfect, but love is going to be an overriding motivation for our lives.

3. The greatest way to love God and love others is to help others know God!
It may sound simple, but we often miss it. We take the grace of God like it’s a gift to us that we can never give to others. God’s love compels our love toward Him and to others (Matthew 22:36-40). With our daily life and our love toward Christ, we should be helping others see Him.

So, I don’t consider myself that smart.
In fact, there’s probably a typo or badly structured sentence in this post.

But, I do know a few things.

These just may be enough!

What is something that you “know?”

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Follow Me

We all like to be around people that are like us…
That look like us.
That dress like us.
That like what we like.

We are drawn to people of similar personality and preferences.
It’s the way we work.
It’s the way we’re comfortable.

At the same time, we were never meant to all act, talk, look, and be the same.

A lot of churches and a lot of Christians seem to operate like…

We don’t mind letting “guests” in our church doors as long as they meet our standards.
We don’t mind welcoming new Christians as long as they already look and act like us.
We don’t mind evangelizing to others, as long as they’ll quickly adapt to our standards.

That’s just wrong!

God never called us to evangelize and lead people to Christ for the sake of them becoming just like us,
God called us to evangelize and lead people to Christ so that they will follow Christ.

Don’t try to convert people to your standard,
help people meet Christ and then let Him be THE standard.

You may be surprised by the end result!

21
Jun 2010
POSTED BY Jonathan Pearson
DISCUSSION 12 Comments