John 3: 16-21

Hello Everyone! 

I would like to direct your attention to John 3: 16-21. Please take a moment to read this passage before reading the rest of this post.

In this passage of scripture we are reminded of how greatly God loves us! He loves us so much that he sent Jesus to die so that we can inherit eternal life. Following this reminder is a brief explanation of the purpose of Christ coming, He did not come to condemn the world, but rather, that the world might be saved through him. Christ, the light, came into the world but mankind loved darkness rather than light. The evidence? Their deeds were evil. The bible is very clear when it says that those who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, because doing so would reveal their evil deeds. Loving the light (Christ) is about more than a statement. When we love Christ we must seek his face and study scripture in an effort to live in such a way that is pleasing in his sight. If you're having trouble with this, no problem. You may either comment here, send me an email at sabrina_hassell@yahoo.com, or simply stay tuned to this blog and follow along as we search scripture to better understand living a Christian life.

This passage of scripture is the starting point for all future study that we will be doing from this point forward.

Until next time,

~Brina

Keep it Real!

Hello Everyone!

As I stated from the beginning, I am on a journey and today I want to take some time to be transparent about some things that have been on my mind.
I have found myself at a place of frustration because I look at the world around me and I see a lot of people ( I was once one of them) who spend a great deal of time telling people what they are supposed to do. They'll tell: "Don't have sex. Stop Drinking. Leave that weed alone. Don't be bitter. Stop getting angry." All of these things are often presented to people and then they are left to wonder how they are supposed to move forward. They want to stop but they have no idea how. This is a cause of concern for me because it has been my experience that the best way to reach people is to real with them. I've had my greatest impacts for Christ on the world around me, not when I was up addressing a congregation or teaching a bible story. Why? From my personal experience, it gets hard to grow spiritually when you have someone who is behaving as if they have always had it all together standing in front of you giving you a lecture on how you are supposed to behave. You are then in a position where you feel like you have a very long way to go and because that person has not taken the time to explain that deliverance is a journey, you get depressed because you didn't arrive at a place of perfection overnight. As a result, instead of feeling conviction about doing to wrong thing, you put yourself in a position to walk in self-condemnation.
I work on a daily basis to be there for my brothers and sisters who are struggling with understanding how to live for Christ. I've learned that walking up and spitting scriptures to them isn't effective. I suppose this should have been obvious. I wouldn't give a baby a steak, so it makes no sense to try to feed the word to a new believer forcefully.
I often say, "Every generation has a revolution. A movement toward positive change. I look around and I don't see a revolution happening in our generation. I believe it's because many people are sitting back waiting for someone else to start it. That's error. The day is TODAY. The Revolution starts with YOU."
Let's spend less time making people feel like they're playing bible dodge ball, and more time showing the love of Christ to the lost.
Question: What things can we do to move toward showing the love of Christ and speaking truth while not forgetting to be real with people?

Until next time.....

~Brina

Duty

Hello Ladies and Gents,

A recent exercise in the Ethics class I am taking sparked a lot of debate and and raise many questions so I thought it would be a good idea to share this with all of you and get some feedback.
 Three questions were asked to get us started:
1. Do we have a duty to others?
2. Do we have a duty to all people?
3. How do you prioritize when faced with a conflict of duty?

These question led me to think about Mathew 7:12 which reads." Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. This verse led me to my answers of
1. yes
2. yes
3. My duty is to God first and foremost because I believe that my loyalty to God and the teachings of Christ will allow me to live the most moral and ethical life possible. This duty will lead to me having a duty to others over having a duty to myself. Why? In my view, as long as I have my basic needs there is no reason for me to be stingy and refuse to help others who are in need. Now on the question of conflict of duty, I believe in helping whoever is most in need first. Those whose situations are not critical have needs that are less urgent and should, therefore, not be placed above the needs of those whose needs are more severe.
What are your thoughts?

Until next time,

~Brina