just imagine

If songs written by mere men cause your heart to become humbly overwhelmed and awed by a great God....


if, with your humanly imperfect heart, something deep inside of you longs to worship the infinite, almighty God....


if worshiping in the midst of a mere five hundred other people causes your soul to resound with excitement and delight in the Savior of the universe....


if your heart, incapable of praising and loving God to the fullest extent, finds joy and satisfaction in His presence....


if our earthly melodies, limited by the notes, pitches, and tones of this world, inspire your soul to the highest worship of the Creator....


if our words, wholly inadequate to magnify and glorify the Great I AM and God of the universe, are what we use to give Him praise....


if our worship in this life defines some of the most wonderful and glorious moments of our lives....

then just imagine




                      what worship will be like

in heaven.

knowledge

The usual rule is that the more we really know the more conscious we are of the littleness of our knowledge.
—C.H. Spurgeon

Link Up! 5/10/12

10 Steps to Becoming a Hipster - Even if in fun, this post offers some practical tips for achieving the hipster look.

Visual Theology - I just like how clear and visually delightful this is.

Tim Tebow: 10 thoughts - "The “Tim Tebow phenomenon” has garnered so much media buzz that I think it warrants a closer look from a Christian point of view. Obviously, a lot has been written about Tebow, mostly focused on his unconventional style of play and the media splash his short career has generated. But as believers, what are we supposed to think about the cultural phenomenon that centers around this young quarterback?"

Journaling Tips - "The following tips are things I’ve learned from several years of journalling, and while they are aimed at Christians journalling for the benefit of their spiritual walk, many of the points will apply to journalling in general."

How to Boost Your Reading Comprehension - "With all of the things out there to read on the internet—all of the blogs we want to keep up with and all of the news funneled to us every day—how can you make sure you read each item in a way that really enriches your life? The short answer: You can't, not without help, anyway. Here's how you can stop, refocus, and change the way you read so you'll take more away from it."

The Joy of Quiet -  “Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for our miseries,” the French philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in the 17th century, “and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.”

What is the Unpardonable Sin? - "I cannot tell you how many times in my teaching career very distraught Christians have come to me to ask about the unpardonable sin and whether they might have committed it. I suspect most believers have asked themselves whether they have done something unforgivable...."

"Authority is like soap, the more you use it the less you will have of it." - Mark Dever

"Every genuine revelation of God has this mark upon it, that it makes him appear more glorious." —C.H. Spurgeon

Start Over - My current motivational music.

 

3 easy steps to getting free awesomeness on your iPod

My iTunes just became unfathomably this much more awesome because I followed these simple steps:

{1} Go to iTunes and find the "Radio Worldview" podcast (with Jeff Baldwin).

{2} Click "subscribe."

{3} Listen every week for engaging and hilarious conversations about the culture, current events and media, critical thinking skills and apologetics -- all from a Christian worldview!

I LOVE Worldview Academy and am fully convinced that every Christian young person should attend a camp. However, I realize that it is not reasonable to expect everyone to be able to go to Worldview. In that case, this Worldview Academy podcast is the next best thing! I am not even kidding when I say that this is my favorite thing on my iPod!!!

(You can also listen on the website at http://www.worldview.org/podcast/)

As believers who are called to live in the world and not of it, we need to be able evaluate everything that comes at us and articulate what we stand for. I know that I can always turn on Radio Worldview for challenging discussions and thought-provoking questions that will drive me deeper into my faith.

Go get it. Go listen. Go be challenged.

(And, goodness, it's free!)
.

one idea

There's so many things to be known for, so many things to be remembered by. With so many outlets to channel human passion into, life has become a game of achieving one more thing, accomplishing as much as possible. Somehow, the things a person aims his life toward has become equated with his success. The more directions his life takes, the more applause he receives. It is admirable to be a person of many ideas. Those whose passions and efforts are aimed in many directions are upheld by the world. With every well intended cause and every righteous goal, the world resounds with a cry to be a person of many ideas.
When life is full of endless possibilities, it would be foolish not to chase after every desire or attempt to satisfy every passion.

If that is the case, however, I suppose I'll have to be foolish.

Because I don't want to be known as a person of many ideas. I don't want to be remembered as a person of countless passions.

As foolish as it might seem to the world, I want to be someone of one idea. Uno. Single. One. There's so many things to aim my life towards; but I only want one. One singular idea, one singular passion - that is what I want to have... to be about... to be remembered for.

One.

How ridiculous it is to the world to only have one purpose and one idea that your life is centered around! Some would call it narrow-minded; others would label it as foolish. But regardless of how of how the life of "one idea" is perceived, it is the only life worth living. Only one thing gives life purpose. Only one thing brings true happiness. Only one thing is worthy of my entire life.

The glory of God.

In every deed, every thought, every achievement, God is central. I am not the end; He is. A wise man once said, "The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love" (Henry Scougal). I could then ask, what is the object of my love? What am I aiming my passion toward? The answer to that question defines the "idea" of my life. But even more importantly I should be asking, what is the object of God's love?

Why is God worthy and why is He excellent? Because above all else HE is the object of His love. He has one ultimate, supreme, all-encompassing purpose: Himself. And He is completely and justly right in doing so, for there could be nothing greater or higher to direct His love towards than to Himself.

God is not about me. He is about Himself. And if God is not about me, then neither should I. Constantly, the ideas of this world are trying to pull me into myself. But the one idea I was created for is God.

What will I be known for? Someone who accomplished a lot? Someone who had many dreams? Or someone whose life centered solely on one thing in every aspect of life? Though it may not sound impressive or exciting, I want to be known as a person of one idea. Instead of having multiple passions that my life pours into, I want every passion to feed into one supreme and ultimate passion: God.

So when distraction comes, and when the world starts pulling and telling me I need to be about many ideas, I'll say " no thank you." I only have room for One.