Romans 2

"Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one."
Romans 2: 1 (the Message)

Have you ever been casually reading the Bible, and then suddenly had the feeling that God has just hit you in the face with a frying pan? Well everyone, that just happened. Look at me, you might as well call me Critical Kandace today (alliteration, oh la la!) . I have days sometimes where I have the mentality of an American Idol judge, and it's audition week, and everyone sucks. However, this will obviously get me nowhere. I'm only making myself accessible to more judgment, and not by people, by God. I don't know about you, but I'd rather be judged by a high school senior any day than by the creator of the universe.

My solution is a new daily prayer. I'll be honest, I get nervous asking God for certain attributes that I know I need. For example, "Dear God, please give me patience." Suddenly, the next day turns into lolly-gag world, and you're the only person in a hurry. However, I'm willing to give this one a try. My new prayer today is, "God, please help me to see people the way you see them. When I see others, help me to see the love and compassion you feel for them, rather than worldly, unnecessary judgements."

This next verse in chapter 2 is one that I love. It's so simple, yet it really means a lot to me.

"For God does not show favoritism."
Romans 2:11 (NIV)

So simple! So easy! A six word verse that allows me to take a huge, deep breath and relax. The fact that God doesn't show favoritism has always been a hard concept for me to grasp. Maybe it's because I've been know to show favoritism (especially in coffee brands :)). I'm not sure why I can't get a hold of it, but the fact that it's there makes me smile. God loves the man sitting in prison just as much as he loves the world renown pastor. The Father in Heaven that created us all thinks we're all something special. He gave all of us talents and abilities to do his will, whether we've figured them out or not. So how can we even consider judging one another? We're all the same.

So my prayer today is that we see each other through the eyes of our beautiful Creator, because he sees our greatness.

Romans 1

Paul is such a cool guy.

I mean, this guy really gets it. Not only does he boast one of the most epic turn-your-life-around stories, but he can also write a letter like no other.
I think that's why I love the back end of the New Testament. These books are letters, and I'm a nosy girl. I love reading letters, letters to other people, letters I find in lockers. Seriously, write me a letter. I'll read it, and keep it until you're digging through my keepsake boxes when I'm 90.

Anyway, back to chapter 1.
For the sake of time, I've pulled out 2 verses I like a lot. Of course there's more, a lot more. 32 to be exact, but these are the chosen ones to receive a good highlighting from this handy dandy sharpie highlighter.

"God's way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: 'The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.'"
Romans 1:17 (the Message :))

I guess scriptures centered around faith have just really stuck out to me lately. I have a future to plan, and it's weird. However, instead of suffocating myself with what if's, I just stopped worrying about it. We're all born with that child-like faith, but somewhere along the road it gets tucked away in a box and placed in the dusty garage part of our hearts.

"They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen."
Romans 1:25 (NIV)

I love this scripture in chapter 1. It made me kind of giggle actually. Of course it's a sad truth that these people have fallen for worldly things. These people obviously need to get their act together. The funny thing about it though, is that Paul is so sassy about it. I'm a huge believer in sarcasm, which is the exact reason I'd love to hang out with Paul for a day. ".. Worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised." He knows their logic doesn't make sense, because they'd rather worship what they made instead of what made them.

I plan on diving into Romans chapter 2 later on today. Sundays are filled with Sunday busyness, so my apologies for not posting this earlier. Today I will praise the one who created me, and put my faith for today and my future in his hands.

Romans

In order to avoid blog counter productivity, or redundancy, I came up with a novel idea while falling asleep last night.

A Series!
Yes, a blog series, and yes it will be biblical. I make it a personal goal to read my Bible on a daily basis. However, like any other human being, it can sometimes be set aside, over slept, or become Plan Z on my list of things to do. So consider this blog my accountability. For the rest of you, I simply hope for this to become a penny for your thoughts. I don't want to get too intricate here. I'd love to say this blog will be profound, and dowsed with holy water, but all I'm looking for is to give a little insight, and to learn a little more on my own.

Here we go.

Romans!

The book of Romans consist of 16 chapters. Therefore, my goal is to study 16 chapters in 16 days. I already told you this wasn't going to be too intricate. When studying the Bible, most people take it scripture by scripture, chewing on every last piece of juicy meat off the buffalo wing of Biblical reading.
I can do that on my own time, and will probably encourage you to do that as well. For blogging purposes, however, chapter overviews will become my style.

Tomorrow will be day 1 of 16. I'd love to start today, but I've rambled enough already, and I'd prefer for you all to read it from the get go, rather than to begin with my reasoning.

So let's read the Bible together. Comments, and words of insight are encouraged, however, I don't mind if you keep quiet either. Let this be about our beautiful Creator, and not about blog popularity.

Big, Big, Big

Shown below is a photo of my current location:


Everyone, I'm so happy, and I don't think it's just because I quit drinking soda. I'm sure it's a number of things. I mean it is summer, some of my crucial daily decisions consist of whether I want honey bunches of oats or frosted mini wheat's for breakfast. However, it is in this stress free environment, and this peace that surpasses all understanding that I came to a conclusion this morning.

I'm getting big.
No, not taller, and not fat or fluffier (Lord knows I have the permanent body shape of a scrawny 8 year old boy on a Huffy bicycle), just older. The past few weeks have been the most mature weeks I've ever had. I think my brain caught on to something, and I'm just now examining what it caught on to. The crazy thing about it though, is that it didn't catch on to anything. My brain, literally quit thinking, because it finally understood that there's something bigger than myself that knows everything. Once I finally let God lead my decisions, I grew up.

Why is it so hard for us to grasp God's love? He's not going to hurt us, He has really really good ideas, crafty ideas. He knows our best interest. We learned this when we made our arms look like giant O's and sang "He's got the whole world in His hands." This elementary idea has turned into a class centered around AP Calculus (you guys, I've been there, there's no way to grasp Calculus, it is sin, so just don't even dip your feet into the water of said subject).

So here I am, sitting on my back porch with yogurt and granola, and an Eco-friendly water bottle, and I'm happy. My decisions are already decided. So I sit still, and bask in the knowledge that I am blessed because my Savior delights in me, and I love His good, and faithful ideas.