Growth & Parallels

On April 26th, my pastor shared with the Sunday evening group a challenge that a friend of his had given to his youth group: read the New Testament in 30 days. The challenge is called "30 Days of Light", and you read nine chapters a day out of the New Testament. By the end of the thirty days, you'll have read the whole NT and grown into a more mature Christian.

I took up this challenge, as did the rest of the group, and I'm happier than I've been in a long while. I have problems keeping up a daily reading schedule, and an even harder time praying regularly. Since I've been reading, I've learned lots and started praying tons.

The one thing that has hit me over and over again in my reading is personal sacrifice and the willingness to drop all and follow Jesus. Matthew 4:19-22 tells of Jesus calling to the disciples, "Follow me," and the dropped everything and followed Him. Everything. Could I be expected to drop everything and follow Jesus? These men didn't even go back and explain to their families they were leaving; they just left.

Also, Mark 12:41-44 tells of people giving money to the church. The rich cast in lots of money, and there was a poor woman who gave two mites (a very small amount of money). Jesus said the poor woman gave most because she gave all she had, while the others gave of their abundance. Would it really be a sacrifice for a millionaire to give $300 to a charity? Or would it be a sacrifice for a single mother of three working for minimum wage to give $300 to charity? This woman put her faith in God to provide for her and gave all she had. I need to give until it hurts. I need to put my faith in God.

This also made me think of today's government. Lots of people are up in arms about the spending the government's doing. Apparently the president was trying to make people proud of the government's efforts to cut back by announcing that they were going to cut $100k out of the national budget. If a U.S. family that made $120k/year cut $100k out of their spending, that would be something to applaud. But the U.S. spent $2979 BILLION last year. Where's the sacrifice?

It's awesome to see how God's Word applies to our world today. It's awesome to experience God working in my heart and shaping me to be more like Jesus. Thank you God, for loving me.