Unreservedly Yours.

"Speak God. I'm your servant, ready to listen."

-burton 261E

No-emo-tion.

Sometimes I tend to think that we would be better off if we didn't have emotion. If we didn't have to deal with the feelings that motivate us in positive and negative ways. If we didn't have to experience the pain of sorrow or the agony of depression, or go through trials and tribulations and feel what seems like inescapable sadness at times. And without emotion we would be able to think objectively, hopping over emotional attachment and using pure reason and logic to bring us to truth instead of wondering if we are truly being brought to truth by our feelings. Of course with the removal of these negative feelings come the taking away of the positive ones as well, but to me this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. We could truly base love off of being a choice rather than off of feelings which are the product of loving someone. Sure we would be emotionless beings, but then we wouldn't have this huge struggle of being whipped around on an emotional roller coaster on a daily basis. It's an interesting thought to say the least.


-burton 261E

Godly Godlessness.

"But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness" -2 Timothy 2:16

Gossiping about the present or boasting about your past does nothing good for the kingdom of God, nor for your own walk with Christ. It leads you down a dark and dangerous path, corrupting the godliness that has been brought upon you by His grace and covering you in a distasteful form of Godlessness. Instead, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, submitting every little thing to the One who cares for you; to the One who loves you. Abstain from wickedness.



-burton 261E

Adonai

My Lord.
My King.
My Rock.
My Fortress.
My Sanctuary.
My Redeemer.
My Savior.
My Friend.
My Father.
My Grace.
My Love.
My Life.
My God.

Amen.

-burton 261E

True Brotherhood.

Imagine in your mind what it would look like for you to be surrounded by a group of men who are absolutely devoted to loving one another and who encourage one another to go above and beyond culture's standard of living and instead pursue the standards that Christ has placed for the role of men as spiritual leaders. Imagine a collective group of men, dissatisfied with the general status quo and striving to be set apart in every aspect of life so as to bring the most glory to God and the least glory to themselves. Picture a group of brothers who genuinely care for each other and will without hesitation lay down their lives for one another. Think of men who lift up the weaker brother, don't meddle with mediocrity, leave behind a life of complacency, stand for integrity, fight for accountability, live for serving opportunity, give themselves to loyalty, stop at nothing until they reach Christ-centrality, trust genuinely, and above all else love honestly. True brotherhood I have found.

The Authentic Meaning of Faith

I have constructed 'faith' into the three following meanings:

1) Faith is certain that God is authentic, true, and correct in every situation or circumstance, no matter what the condition may be.
2) Faith obediently receives whatever God may command, prohibit, or warn against, because it knows that God’s way is authentic, true, and correct.
3) Faith starts with the promise of God, lives in the promise of God, and ends with the promise of God, and without God’s divine intervention no promise can be inherited by the one to whom the graciousness is promised.

For faith in the living God seeks a life that is far beyond the boundaries that are in place to protect those who trust in God and seeks instead after a life centered on personal relationship and a response of wholehearted brokenness as the result of the gracious promise that has been mercifully offered by God through the work of Christ. Mercy is to be defined as not getting what one does deserve and grace is to be defined as getting what one doesn’t deserve, so that through both the mercy and grace of Christ the promises of God might be received by the one who believes as an undeserved and unearned gift, resulting in real, genuine, indestructible, and unmerited faith in the living God.



-burton 261E

Too Few.

It’s amazing to me how few of leaders there are in both Christian and secular roles among the masses. Very few of the individuals in society are willing to step up to the challenges that face the leaders of this day in age. Why does this world have so few of the people that are required to lead it? In Matthew, Jesus states in a parable “Many are called, but few are chosen.” God appoints those who lead, and those who lead should be equipped with the predetermined desire to serve their Master with total reliance and trust in Him.


-burton 261E

Where am I?

I have been utterly broken and am at the point of seeing how self-obsessed I am, how selfish I am, and how little my life really has to do with the things of God. I have begun to realize how much my life and thoughts revolve around me, and how badly my walk with God is defined by my performance for Him. My relationship with God has been defined by my output for Him, and although doing things for God isn’t a bad thing, my heart behind the matter is. I have been trying to get closer to God by doing things for Him, but the fact of the matter is that nothing I do for God will ever bring me closer to Him. I have been caught in this trap of defining my relationship with God by who I am and what I do for Him, rather than by who God is and what He has done for me. My whole pattern of thinking has shifted off of what God has done and has shifted onto what I am doing. That’s self-obsession. I have been brought to a place of repentance, and am truly experiencing what it means to be in desperate need of the love and forgiveness of Christ.



-burton 261E

Religious Laundry.

We live in a world full of description. Everything has a label, everything has a price. If something is in our world we have to define it in order to understand it. In order for something to exist it must have substance, and this substance of matter comes from the words used to describe what is seen. Everything must be known, and if something can't be known then it's automatically thrown into the religion basket. Now let's look at science. Science is a method used to understand our world through experimentation; trial and error, correlation, prediction with evidence. In order for a scientific hypothesis to become a reality it must be proven through the scientific method. Therefore, science avoids getting thrown into the religion basket because it's entire process is composed of description, which is understood as a reality to us because description can be seen. So the only reason science cannot be written off into the category of religion is because it is built upon a process that makes it appear as though it has substance. Science is quickly hidden under the blindness of description. If its very structure is masked in visible substance yet the result of a scientific proof is still described as a theory and cannot be known for certain, why is science not tossed into the religion basket? I think it's time for some scientists to wash their dirty laundry.


-burton 261E

Future.

I think that those who don't know what they're going to do after college haven't found out what God has called them to do yet, and that's exactly why they have such a problem with planning out their career. These students ask the question "How much income will I earn with the least amount of effort put into the job and how can I be successful?" rather than "What can I do to change the world and how can I best use the time, talent, and resources that have been given to me?" God is trying to give them the opportunity to seek His will but they just haven't asked how to serve Him yet. They haven't asked Him what He created them for. Instead, they are looking at how they can best serve themselves. Whether that's by providing for their family or in buying a brand new sports car, they pursue the dream of being "financially secure", which is an unattainable and entrapping dream in itself. The love of money is the root of all evil. That love starts with a 'pursuit' and results in a life tainted with bitter emptiness.



-burton 261E