Also, I didn't realize that I would be trapped in a world that is consistently against anything that Christianity is teaching. In this world, we're constantly trapped with thinking that love is so many different things and that if we believe something different about love that we're going to offend someone. Goodness, I didn't realize my faith should censor out all the parts that make someone offended or uncomfortable. I mean, lately have you listened to the actual words of the songs we listen to? Or the shows we watch? Some of them tell us that "love" is having sex with whoever you please and there's no consequence. For example, our girl Katy Perry sums my point up in her Teenage Dream lyrics "Let's go all the way tonight No regrets, just love/ We can dance, until we die/ You and I, will be young forever" This makes me uncomfortable because this week I had real love revealed to me...and it's none of these things. The theme this year at camp was Love Lives, and the matching verse was 1 John 3:16. It says "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters" Yeah y'all, love isn't what this world is screaming at us that it is. Love is Jesus. Also, have you ever actually listened to the lyrics of "Jesus Loves Me"? They go "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so/ little ones to Him belong, they are weak, He is strong" Right? Right. Like stop for a second there, and read them over and over again. Jesus loves us so much that he sent his ONLY son to die for us. Not one of his many sons, but his ONLY SON to die a PAINFUL death up on that cross. Man, I wouldn't want to do that whole dying on a cross thing. I probably wouldn't even wanna lay down my life for a person I claim to love a lot. But do you know how much Jesus loves us? It's so much. I sang this song as a child, but I don't think I've thought about how serious the lyrics are until now. They carry so much weight, but in a good way.
I learned this week that we have to fight as christians to fight for this love, and to fight to follow Jesus. It's not as easy as not murdering anyone, contrary to popular belief. It's so easy to fall into the pattern of blasting these secular songs in our cars as we drive and singing the lyrics with more passion than we do in our churches to Godly songs.
Do you know what else I feel like we have to fight or? Godly friendships. It's so easy to fall into this mindset as a human where you tell yourself that any decisions that your friends are making are okay because they're your friends- almost as if a friendship validates poor behavior from either side. In a Godly friendship, I feel as if both parties should be there for the other to hold each other accountable. Having friends that let your behavior slide is honestly such a dangerous thing because we get so caught up in this world that we forget to realize the dangers it holds inside the people on it.
I'm not saying that I'm not guilty of this validation, because I definitely am. I've let my behaviors be validated by the friends around me, because of my desperate longing for their approval. And man, desiring approval from others is so exhausting, but it's a relief to know that our God loves us so much, even when we mess up. It's also refreshing to know that we will always have Him there to love us unconditionally- even when our friends fail at giving us what we desire from them.
In conclusion, I'm fighting against the world every single day as a girl who loves Jesus and I'm also fighting for Godly friendships that help me pursue a relationship with my God. Also, I'm paying more attention to our media and the subliminal mind messages that we receive on the daily.
It was scattered, but it's getting more real on this blog.
-Emma Jane
P.S. Jesus loves you a lot !!!!!!
P.S. Jesus loves you a lot !!!!!!
