Category: Seeking the Lord

Think Eternal, Not Earthly

I feel like most of the time, we get so caught up in society. We get attached to social media, school, money, what people think, how we look, etc. We end up stressed so easily, and at the end of the day, we feel weak. We spend so much time focused on all the earthly things of this world, but we forget to pay attention to the Heavenly things that Jesus wants us to strive for. We spend all this time trying to strive for earthly desires, but it’s never enough for us, only Jesus is.

Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. – Colossians 3:1-2

Lately, I get the feeling when I am in a group of friends, that I am always the one who is not glued to their phone. Honestly, I hate looking at my phone. I only get on it now for a few minutes, and it’s normally to respond to a text message. I am a people person, which means I want to sit down with you and talk, not text. However, most people now are glued to how many people liked their post or who’s laughing at something that put in a group chat.

Here’s the thing: Earthly things are great. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching youtube videos that stupid yet funny. I love going on social media. I love seeing celebrity drama every now and then. I love a lot of things this Earth offers. But Jesus doesn’t want us to be soaked up into all the worldly things.

Let’s change our view to eternal, not earthly!

It doesn’t matter what you made on that one test, or if that guy/girl likes you back. Jesus didn’t tell us to get 2,000 followers on Instagram. He didn’t say you have to go to college. He didn’t say that being a Christian is easy. Life is rough. We get stressed, frustrated, hurt, and the list goes on and on. The world we live in is messed up, so let’s fix it. Let’s change the social norm of be on your phone 24/7. Let’s change our addiction to social media to an addiction of Jesus.

Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most out of every opportunity. Let your conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. – Colossians 4:5-6

In the end, all that matters is how you loved others, how you served God, and your relationship with Our Savior. God has your life planned for you. Your life is in His hands. He loves you and wants the best for you. He isn’t going to let it all fall apart. Trust Him and don’t stress yourself about the worldly things.

Love always,

Claire

You Jump, I Jump

There I was. All the kids around me singing songs and worshiping the Lord. It was like I wasn’t even in New York anymore, like I was in a place where time and place didn’t matter. I was right where I wanted to be.

If you had asked me five years ago to go to New York by myself and meet people who I didn’t even know once I got there, I would have told you “no way”. My little fearful self didn’t even think that she had the courage to do it, to go to a new place and meet new people all on her own. But now here I am, and I am not alone. God gave me the faith and courage to go and serve for His glory.

Faith is having trust in something or someone. Now I don’t have much faith in myself at times, but I have faith in something so much greater than myself, Jesus. He got me where I am today. He died for my sins and forgives me even when I don’t forgive myself. He allows me to take a leap of faith because He has such a great plan ahead. All I have to do is trust Him and jump.

“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on them and blessed them. – Mark 10:15-16

God is always going to catch us when we fall. We are His children and He wants to protect us and bless us. He wants the very best for us. We just need to be ready to jump when He calls.

Love always,

Claire

 

 

 

Seeking the Kingdom of God

There is a lot of brokenness in the world. If you are in a public place right now, look at all the different people around you. Not one of them is alike. You don’t know what any of them are dealing with, personally. The girl with the perfect body could be struggling with an eating disorder. The guy dating that pretty, popular girl could be falling apart inside about his terrible relationship with her. The older man in the room could have a dear friend in the hospital. You never know what is happening in someone’s life, and sometimes, it seems that no one wants to find out.

A thing that I have noticed lately in the young generation that I live in today is that we don’t know how to talk to strangers. Yes, we do know how to talk to someone and ask “hey, hows it going” but normally it all ends with “oh I’m fine”. But we don’t open up. Why? One word, FEAR.

We live in so much fear and don’t step out of our comfort zones. (And by we, I especially mean me as well) We care too much about what the people around us think about our outfit, our body, our personality, etc. We are so comfortable in our little bubble, which includes our friends and some acquaintances, but thats it. We don’t talk to the stranger in front of us at the Chick-fil-a line or the girl that gives us the notes in history class. Our generation just lives behind a phone or computer screen.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love technology ALOT. Google and social media are like two of my BFFs. However, we have to realize something:

There is connectivity with technology, but there is lost in our community.

When you look at older people such as your grandparents, do you notice how they talk to people? For instance, take my grandmother. When she goes to Kroger or the beauty salon, she has a 5-minute conversation with anyone she meets along the way. She asks people how their day is, and whats going on in their life, and people respond with more than “its good”. That’s how she was raised. As she was growing up, she didn’t have all of the technology blocking her way to meet people. She shows kindness and a joyful heart to anyone she comes in contact with, and that is how we are suppose to live.

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” – 1 Peter 4:10

God wants us to live wholeheartedly for Him. That’s not “oh, I will do my quiet time with Him whenever I want”. It’s also not “I did my quiet time this morning, let me check it off my list”. Sometimes, we go through life and are just checking things off our list. We all have super busy schedules, and we just check off our to do list off. I do this all the time, but I can’t do that with God. He isn’t just something that can be checked off the list.

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.” – Ephesians 6:7-8

A friend of mine once told me that “Seeking the kingdom of God shouldn’t just be another thing that we have to fit on our priority list. It shouldn’t even be on the top of our priority list. It should be wrapped into every priority on our list because we should seek Him first in everything that we do.”

As Christians, we are called to show His love to others. We need to be the light that He wants us to be. We are His disciples, and our mission is to tell others about Him. You can do that on a college campus, at a high school, in a work place, or anywhere on this Earth.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  – Matthew 5:14-16

So, I want to challenge you. Step out of your comfort zones. Break down the walls. Go and tell this broken world about the true One that can fix everything. If we don’t, who will? Forget about all the earthly things that are stopping you from achieving this because at the end of the day, living for wholeheartedly for Jesus is greater than anything else this world could ever give us.

Love always,

Claire