La parable de la brebis perdue

Because I am moving to France soon, I am deciding to write this post in French.  You can use Google Translate to put it in your language if you would like.

Jésus nous raconte une parable concernant notre vie spirituelle.  Il dit qu’un jour, un berger qui veille sur son troupeau découvre qu’une brebis s’est égaré.  Le berger, sachant que la brebis ne serait pas de retour, cherche auprès de la brebis qui est perdue.  Il laisse son troupeau de brebis qui est déjà sain et sauf et il part pour trouver ce qui était perdu.  Est-ce qu’il aime mieux la brebis qui s’est égaré ?  Non.  Est-ce qu’il aime mieux le troupeau qui ne s’égarait point ?  Non.  Qui aime mieux le berger, donc alors ?  Il les aime les deux le même et il ne veut pas que nulle brebis s’égare de son veille.

Jésus, le bon berger, veille sur son troupeau et découvre qu’une brebis s’est égarée de son troupeau et de son veille.  Est-ce qu’Il la laisse découvrir le malin ?  Non, Il veut que son troupeau serait sain et sauf, mais une de ses brebis s’est égaré, alors sa brebis est dans le péril, possiblement égaré facilement par le diable.  Est-ce qu’Il aime mieux la brebis ou le troupeau qu’Il a laissé pour chercher la seule brebis ?  Comme la parable que Jésus a raconté, Il aime mieux les deux le même.  Nous, nous étions la brebis égarée avant d’être sanctifié par le sang de Jésus.  Mais étant libéré du péché, nous sommes son troupeau sain et sauf.  Jésus cherche auprès la brebis perdue.  Mais, il nous utilise pour la chercher puisque nous sommes entourés par plusieurs brebis perdues chaque jour, et Il nous aime le même, nous étant sanctifiés et eux étant noyés dans le péché.  La seule différence entre le troupeau et la brebis perdue :  Jésus avait trouvé chaque brebis présentement dans le troupeau et nous étions tous une brebis perdue avant d’être à Jésus.  La seule différence alors ?  Jésus.

Seminary

I got to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary a week and three days ago. I will be studying missions with the intent to graduate in December 2012 with a Master's of Divinity in Missions.

When Life Doesn't Go Your Way

The past few months, I've grown more and more tired of sports. For the longest time, I couldn't figure out why. Then, today it hit me while I was at my university's football game. We were ranked #1 in Division 2 before today's game. We were all pumped up about this game, expecting to win. Then it happened...we lost. Everyone was frustrated, horns were blowing all over the "big" city of Florence, AL. Everyone was upset.

Two hours before, everyone was doing well. Both of Alabama's Division I teams had won, so everyone in Florence had no reason to be upset, right? Actually, that is correct. Even now, no one has a reason to be upset, especially those who did not play in the game and those who do not play football on the team. We were out nothing except possibly the title, but the players are now out the Championship Ring. Yet, we are letting our life be controlled by something we can't control, and our happiness is based on something we can't control. Happiness shouldn't be based on something like that. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for failure. I, too, was upset. Then I realized this, and everything fell back in place.

There are more important things to life than whether or not your teams win. They are not your teams anyways, so to let your life be controlled by their games' outcomes makes no sense at all. Instead, let your life be controlled by the one thing in life you can control: your eternal destination. Unfortunately, only you can make this decision for yourself, and if you don't know your eternal destination, then everything you do in life will be in vain. It doesn't matter how many hours you spend doing community service, how many awards you win, or how many people like you. It depends on if you own the key to Heaven, which is having a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you want to enter a house but don't have a key, would the owners let you in if you mowed their lawn? Probably not! Doing community service or living life the way you think is the best will not help you. You must play by the rules and humble yourself before God. That is the first step to success--humility is the way Jesus came into the Earth and left the Earth, and it is the only way we can possibly obtain true happiness, by doing the Will of God. The only way to know the Will of God is through a good relationship with Him, and the only way to a good relationship with God is by humbly submitting to Him and confessing that you have done wrong. If you haven't done that, then you can't have unwavering happiness. Anything and everything else will fade, but His happiness lasts forever. If you want to know more, contact me.

God's Supremacy In Missions

I have just started the book “Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions,” by John Piper, and I have been enjoying it so far. It’s not the kind of book most people would read for “fun,” but I actually have enjoyed it. I plan to be a missionary in a few years, so I have been trying to find mission-related books. I don’t plan to put many excerpts of the book on my blog, as that could infringe on copyright laws, but I said this as a preface to my blog since I named my blog a similar name: God’s Supremacy in Missions. I am a university student in the state of Alabama, and I know that I have no seminary background yet, but I wanted to give my two cents on what missions means to me, so this blog will be dedicated to missions and apologetics (the defense of the Christian faith). Be looking for more blogs in the next few months.