Adventures of a Sell-Out

So... about my blog. I am the world's worst blogger. It has been much too long since my last entry so I thought I would post an update of all the happs and discoveries of my more recent adventures. I am now a student at Ecola Bible School and this is accompanied by aquiring a ridiculous amount of biblical knowledge. I have been learning in mass quantities since Monday morning, but ironically I am learning more outside of class than I am in it.

In class we are going through Romans with a professor that has five masters and an almost doctorate. Oh. My. Goodness. His sentences are so packed with info that with each new statement I have to throw the previous sentence out in order to have enough room to store all the large words in my brain. However, what I want to blog about is what God has been revealing directly to my heart. It's one of those topics that everyone has a different idea about and almost everyone oversteps and offends their own opinion about it. Today's topic of discussion is...: Christian Dating.

As a young woman I have dappled in and out of the world of relationships and it took that process to learn what I now know. God has been speaking to my heart about what a Godly relationsip looks like and how it is supposed to function in order to genuinely be founded in the Lord. So here it is.

We all know that marraige was designed to be a covenant. But what exactly does that entail? Most christians these days will tell you that it means not to have sex before marraige. And yes, I agree that there is definitely a physical aspect to the covenant but I believe that there is also more to it than just that. The way God designed marriage has two parts to it. The physical aspect, as mentioned above, and then the spiritual/emotional aspect. Both are part of the covenant between a married couple.

I know a lot of girls (myself included) that offend the latter of the two. When we are interested in a guy we get him alone and then pour out our hearts and soul to him... I am now a firm believer that this is a form of promiscuousness. It is immodest to share your entire heart with a member of the opposite gender that is not your spouse. From the surface this seems like an odd belief but look at this way:

The first aspect of the marraige covenant is the physical part. It is considered highly immodest to physically reveal all of that part of you. So if the second aspect is spiritual shouldn't it also be considered immodest to reveal all of the spiritual part of you? I am not suggesting that we cannot share any of our hearts with anyone until we are married, just the same way that I am not suggesting that we must cover up our entire bodies. We are permitted to show our face, our arms, and our legs (hopefully the lower half). In the same way I would not think it immodest to reveal parts of your heart to someone, but to spill out everything you are is not only promiscuous, but dangerous. Scripture tells us that above ALL else, we must guard our heart for it the wellspring of life. Sharing it completely with another person is flat out putting our hearts, and the essence of who we are, on the line.

Along with this, I also fully believe that dating is a thing of the world. When God created marraige His people didn't 'date'. And if it is a thing of the world, how can you wholly honor God through it? With this I conclude that there must be another way to go about it. Unfortunately, the bible doesn't say anything about dating or courting so I am relying on what I believe that Holy Spirit is teaching me. I think that as humans we get waaaaaay to wrapped up in the culture of dating, even within the church. I think there is a way to go about relationships that is much more honoring to the Lord. I am still discovering what exactly that entails but it's more along the lines of courting. It involves more than just the two of interest, i.e. the family and friends. It is a relationship where each person has a system of accountability, and they don't go off alone.. ever. Dates are permissible but in a public location. I think that this system really tests the strength of the relationship and it really reveals the foundation that the couple is basing the relationship on. It should be completely and wholly grounded in the Lord.

Beyond this, I would also suggest that you should not begin a courtship unless you know, through prayer, conviction, and discernment, that that person is the person that you want, and are meant, to spend the rest of your life with. Dancing through relationships directly offends the covenant that God created those relationships to be like. Matters of the heart are a serious thing. God dwells within our hearts and he uses them to speak to us, stretch us, and draw us closer to him. Our hearts are full of life threatening importance and when we disrupt the balance of that, it can be spiritually fatal. When we wait to share that with the one person that we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is created by God for us and intended to be with us, we can insure that they were specifically created by our Loving Father to know how to handle and respect who we are at the core of who we were created to be. Sounds like a way better package than 'dating' to me.

I also believe that basically all thigns PDA are in offense to the covenant of marriage. Including kissing. I myself have recently made a commitment to myself and to God, not to kiss another man until my wedding day. I don't deny that this will be a torturously hard thing to accomplish but what a foundation, what a testimony, and what a way to strengthen the relationship in the Lord. If you can have a relationship that functions in that way and still know that you don't want one more moment without that person by your side, thn you've got a way better shot of making that relationship last. After learning this, I don't see why anyone would ever want to settle for anything less. I know that all of us have a greater hope about our future spouse than what we settle for in 'dating' relationships. God put those desires in you for a reason. Perhaps to show you what a relationship can really be like and the amazing things that he has waiting for you if you seek to honor him through your relationships. Not just honoring him in your relationships but through your relationships. In other words, it's not just doing the bare minimum of of making sure that the relationship doesn't break the rules, but using the relationship as a tool to be a team that has greater potential to bring honor to the name of the Lord. That's a powerful thing.

So that basically wraps up what God has been teaching me. I hope that reading it was as beneficial to you as it has been to me learning it. Signing out, Lauren.

Life. Quite literally the meaning of it is this: the general or universal condition of human existence. There are too many dictionary definitions to write them all here, which only goes to show that human kind cannot quite put their finger on what life really means.

Moving out on my own has got me thinking... Life. What does it all come down to? And of course, the first thing that comes to mind is the christianese answer, "It all comes down to Christ." And yes, this is very true, but what does that mean? What does it really mean? I have come to the conclusion that it means just that. Christ. That's all there is, and it's all that matters. Our lives on earth are futile. And I don't mean to say that nothing matters, and poo poo about how horrible life is. I just mean to point out that when everything is stripped away all we are left with is God. Everything earthly is temporary; only Christ is eternal. Even 'true love' is temporary.

This may sound like a very negative idea but it has opened my heart to a much deeper perspective of our existence. We are here to serve the Lord. That is all. We are here to worship him, be in relationship and do his will. Everything else that we experience on earth is just the frosting on the cake.

All my teenage years, I have aspired to finding 'the one'. Just the idea of loving another person so much is amazing to me and as a girl, I naturally have a hope for it to happen at any moment. This last week God has stripped all of those thoughts away from me. I still want to be married and have a family some day, but I realize the futility of it all now. It really doesn't matter who we marry, or what house we live in, or what clothes we wear, or what car we drive. It is all futile. All that matters is Christ.

The shift from finite to infinite thinking is incredible. All the drama that has you by the neck, all the stress that you are drowning in, and all the hopes and dreams that you fear you can never attain really don't matter. And it's... well, it's a strange feeling to realize this. I would think that it would make me freak out and feel like I am invisible. But instead it gives me an overwhelming peace that God is in control. It's just proof that he is true to his promise when he says that he will fill us with a peace that surpasses understanding.

So if everything finite is futile, then what's the point? Again, I say, "The point is Christ." Everything else that is in our lives (clothes, money, housing, nature, even love) they are all just a blessing that the Lord pours down on us because he loves us. But we can't let those blessings, or even the struggles for that matter, distract us from the reason we are here. Like Esther, we have been ordained for such a time as this, and God wants to do incredible things with us right where we are.

And just think how much easier it would be if we kept the focus on God. If all we do is look to God and follow his call, that purpose and all of those earthly blessings will just fall into place. Think about it, if we focus on finding our future spouse, our eyes are removed from God. But if we keep our focus on God, that person is still gonna be there in the right time, but we've wasted no time searching for something that wasn't there yet. We can apply this principle to anything in life, paying the bills, getting a car, going to college, starting a ministry, anything.

I'm going to be blunt for a moment. It's stupid. I am stupid, we are all stupid. Stupid to even consider looking to the world and filling ourselves with worry instead of looking to Christ and filling ourselves with peace, love, grace, mercy and so many other amazing things. But it just makes us human when we make this simple mistake. It seems like such an easy solution to switch our focus, but for some reason it is so hard. And the only one who can help us do it, is Christ. Again, it comes back to him. Do you all see the same pattern that I do? Christ.

"For to me to live is Christ, but to die is gain." Life = Christ. End of story.

The past two days have definitely been a time of firsts. And that falls directly in line with what I had expected; that everything would be different and new and that my life would be completely altered. And while that is all true, I am coming to realize that life and people are still the same. There are still the uncomfortable political conversations, the people who simply refuse to even look at you even before they meet you, the awkward first time at a new chruch, and the feeling of second thoughts. I have no regrets and I am prepared for the difficulties of adjustment that lie ahead, what makes me think twice me is that I see people who are on a different page. People who question why God has them in this place. And all I can say about that is this:

Life. Is. Hard.

As humans, we simply can't avoid that. It is hard, and it often just outright sucks. And when we reach the point of despair, all we are left with is God. I think that we tend to forget exactly what it means to be left with God. We talk about how amazing God is, and how powerful and wonderful and loving and compassionate he is... We describe God with all of these qualities and more. In fact, we describe him as so great that we often just leave it at at indescribable. We have no words to compare with his awesome ways. And yet, when we come to a point when all we have is him, we diminish him to something so small. When really, just to have God is an incredible thing and more than enough for us. Everything else is mere blessing. When we are pushed out of our comfort zone, God is simply preparing us for a mountain of blessings that he wants to pour on us. But first he has to stretch us so that we aren't overwhelmed. He needs us to grow so that he can use us in the mighty ways that he has planned and set aside for our lives.

When we are forced to adjust to that growth, it can stretch us out pretty thin... And as a result, we feel really tiny. But we just have to remember that God is big. Bigger then our pain, discomforts, and second thoughts. He has led to us to where we are for a reason, and he wants to use each of us right where we are. Even if it's not comfortable. I mean, Jesus most certainly wasn't comfortable when they were beating him, pulling out his beard, and nailing him to the cross. But God used him to save the world. God can use us most when we are willing to step out of our zone, walk in faith, and remember his sovereignty. And yes, it sucks. But God never said that it would be easy. However, he did say that he would carry us through it with a peace that surpasses understanding.

However, we can't just take these things from God. He wants something in return. He longs for a relationship with us, and relationships go both ways. He wants to give us peace, but he also wants us to give him our lives. He asks us to die to self every single day, and it's hard but if we can learn to do that he will replace our lives with the incredible adventure that is a life following his footsteps. He is a mighty and loving Father who has incredible things in store for his children. Walk in that in complete faith, and you will be a person who truely has no regrets and is a magnet to other people.

On a more random note... My first Cannon Beach Sunset!!!!!!!







For more pics just look on my facebook. :)

You may ask, "Why start a blog?" Well... A few friends have asked me to start one so that they can keep up on all my adventures in Cannon Beach. I thought it didn't seem like too bad of an idea and here we are.

You may also ask, "Why title it 'Adventures of a sell out'?" Well... That's what this post is about: selling out.

Last night I was contimplating exactly what is means to be sold out for something. When you are sold out of something, it means that you don't have any of that particular item left. So... I came to the conclusion that a sell-out, is sold out of themselves. That led me to a wonderful reminder that I am sold out because I have been bought with a price: the blood of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He bought all of me with his life, so now my life belongs to him.

I have also been thinking a lot about the Spirit and how crazy it is that it dwells inside us. This last weekend was the 3rd annual Prepare the Way Christian Youth Leadership Summit. I was amazingly blessed to be a part of coordinating it, and speaking at it. It was a phenomenal time of worship, study, and fellowship. At the Elliot concert on Friday night, God moved in absolutely incredible ways! Walls were coming down, chains were breaking loose, and captives were being set free. It was such a powerful night that in all my existence I will never be able to forget. So I was thinking while lying in bed, as I tend to do, and I asked myself, "What was it about that night that made God and his movement so prevelant?" Then I realized that the reason that night was so powerful is because we were all in the Spirit! And of course, that got me thinking even more. God sent us his spirit when he took Jesus back to heaven after being raised from the dead. Scripture continually tells that the Spirit of God will be with us, and guard our hearts and minds, and so so many other promises dealing with the Spirit. I 100% believe that we are designed to live within the Spirit on a continual basis. If we could learn how to do that, the power of Christ would be unleashed, like it was Friday night, on a daily basis. God longs for us to constantly thrive within his spirit and allow us to witness and be a part of the supernatural taking place in our lives EVERY SINGLE DAY! Wow!

This is what can happen when we completely sell out for Jesus Christ. His resurrection power, the power that brought life where death had previously reigned, will be unleashed in us on a daily basis. I think I'll take stock in that.

In accordance with the event of my moving to Cannon Beach, a lot of people have been asking me what I want to do after bible school and who I want to be. I have come to the conclusion that all I want to do is sell out, and all I want to be is sold out. "For to me, to live is Christ, but to die is gain." ~My Man Paul.