So what else is there to say? I am not saying there needs to be more governmental money because that doesn’t help. But we should have a heart. A heart to serve and a heart to help!

(HT:American Jesus)

Ok, why should we celebrate Hanukah? We have Advent, Christmas and New Years coming up. Do we really need another holiday?

I won’t start with the whole Jesus is Jewish so we should keep Jewish holiday bit (I will save that for another time). And yes, I am clear that it isn’t even in the Bible.

But… there is always a but.

Why wouldn’t you, or any God believing person, not celebrate Hanukah? The primary purpose of Hanukah is to celebrate God’s faithfulness and goodness. And who among us doesn’t need to be a little more conscious and grateful?

Hanukah is celebrating the end of a rough period in Israel that falls between the Testaments of the Bible. The evil Antiochus Epiphanies had come to Jerusalem, ruled harshly and desecrated the temple (yes, this is the abridged version;). A band of Jews led by Judas Macabee ( the Hammer;) defeated the evil does and retook the temple! But there was a problem! Within the temple there was a lampstand that was to burn 24/7 and there was only enough oil to last 1 more day. It was going to take 7 days to get more. Alas, a miracle occurred and the oil burned for 8 days and nights. God performed a miracle!

So why wouldn’t one celebrate Hanukah? We celebrate God’s goodness and miracles for those who are faithful to Him! And who doesn’t love a holiday where where you eat fried foods such as latkes and donuts to celebrate the miracle of the oil?

Happy Hanukah!

That is my contribution to Theology Thursday. If you have written anything this week that has anything to do with your theology, please link up! It can be straight from scripture or just an inspired thought that has to do with your relationship with God and Jesus Christ! Make sure that you link to your specific piece and not your blog, or the link will be removed. Also, please only submit a piece that fits this subject or it will be removed. And please link back here so that everyone else knows where the fun is!

My women’s Bible study has been doing a time of corporate stillness (we don’t wanted to use the word  journaling;). This is just what I was mulling over on Tuesday….

Romans 8:28 (NIV)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Lord, how this verse has always called to me. At first it was just the first part of the verse, that all would work out for my good. I held to that to get me through life for years. I have always had a lot of frustration over having my family, my upbringing, and the family issues that I still have. But I knew it had to be good for me, right? So where was my good? Where was my happy? But Lord, You don’t just give us good things that we want and make us happy.

As my faith in the Lord grew, the second part of the verse began to make sense to me. Lord, I finally realized that is was not only good but the Lord’s plan. I have been called according to the Lord’s plan and the Lord’s purpose. That good wasn’t necessarily my happiness but the Lord’s glory. I was created to bring the Lord glory so as long as that happens through the plan of my life, it is for my good.

Now I see how the Lord has used the bad in my life for my good and and for His glory. Help me to always focus on that!

“And no good thing will You withhold from him who walks with You. Oh my Lord, blessed is the man who trusts in You” (It is from a song that I used to hear, I think it is from Psalms)

That is my contribution to Theology Thursday. If you have written anything this week that has anything to do with your theology, please link up! It can be straight from scripture or just an inspired thought that has to do with your relationship with God and Jesus Christ! Make sure that you link to your specific piece and not your blog, or the link will be removed. Also, please only submit a piece that fits this subject or it will be removed. And please link back here so that everyone else knows where the fun is!

Romans 6:13 (New American Standard Bible)

13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

As some of you may have deduced, I am working through a Bible Study in Romans;). Last week we were looking at Romans 6, which is a very familiar chapter to many of us who have been in church a while. So familiar that you just kind of go, “yeah, yeah. No longer slaves.”

We were asked what the use of the word “instruments” suggested to us. And something a little different popped out to me. The use of the word instrument talks about our bodies as a tool or something used to help accomplish something. So that implies that neither sin nor righteousness is actually a part of us but something we allow to use us.

That is both a refreshing and humbling. I am a person who is good at guilt. Even though I am forgiven of my sins, I tend to hold onto the guilt because that wrong must be part of me. That situation where you have been forgiven but you worry that that past sin defines your personality. So it is hard to move on sometimes. So it is refreshing to think that I was a tool that sin used instead of it being a defining character trait.

But it is also humbling because that also means that the righteousness I do is not intrinsic to me. That righteousness is working through me.

Of course, I know what I want to be a tool for but it isn’t by my strength but through Christ alone.

That is my contribution to Theology Thursday. If you have written anything this week that has anything to do with your theology, please link up! It can be straight from scripture or just an inspired thought that has to do with your relationship with God and Jesus Christ! Make sure that you link to your specific piece and not your blog, or the link will be removed. Also, please only submit a piece that fits this subject or it will be removed. And please link back here so that everyone else knows where the fun is!

Welcome to the premiere issue of Theology Thursday! If you have written anything this week that has anything to do with your theology, please link up! It can be straight from scripture or just an inspired thought that has to do with your relationship with God and Jesus Christ! Make sure that you link to your specific piece and not your blog, or the link will be removed. Also, please only submit a piece that fits this subject or it will be removed. And please link back here so that everyone else knows where the fun is!

On to my submission for this week;).

Romans 6:20 (NASB) “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.”

This is a verse that popped up in my Bible Study this week and we were asked to expound on what we thought it meant.

At first I was going down the road that is familiar to me. How can we as Christians get mad at people because they don’t keep Christ’s rules when they don’t even buy into His lordship or that He is the Son of God? Because apart from Christ what rules are there? What morality truly is there? Sins against man are very clear (killing) but not universally accepted as wrong. And sins of against God can’t truly be known without a clear knowing of who God is. Christians not understanding this is a pet peeve of mine. For example, why do you lecture that sex is meant for marriage only when the person you are talking to does not accept the sanctity of marriage.

But then I got another insight. What about those people who seem to be Christians for a time but then go in the complete opposite direction? Some, I daresay, actually seem to bring a non-Christian evil into the church (and I am not just talking a sin, but a sin followed by them walking away from God completely). Or say that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God but do some righteous things? How does that relate to this verse? This comparison hit me, not sure how solid it is so I am just throwing it out there.

When you work at a job you are not expected to obey and produce results for another employer. While if you did, the results would be real and have value (possibly even a check for you), but nothing further would be demanded of you. Likewise, you wouldn’t necessarily receive a benefits package beyond that one exchange or series of exchanges. Traditionally contractors don’t receive all the benefits and perks that employees have because you have your loyalties elsewhere.

Righteousness when you are ruled by sin is similar. It can produce good things but the long term benefit, the light yoke of Christ and eternal life, just isn’t there. That explains that “good” person who never chose to give Christ that lordship over their life and so they never became slaves of righteousness.

That is my thought for the week! Now jump in with your link!