Creator v. Creation

Romans 1

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

This entire passage speak to me as I am a worshipper of Idols. I think that I know God but won’t give him thanks for all of my accomplishments. Getting into Georgia Tech, that was my doing – I played football and worked my hardest to have successful seasons. I earned my role as a captain and leader on the team both my Junior and Senior years. I never trusted in the Lord that I would get into school and be able to have the opportunity for a great education. Rather I trusted in my own ability to produce grades, accolades, sport awards, ect. I am now learning that I have never truly had to trust in the Lord with anything in my life. Thus I have never truly worshiped the Lord because I have not been giving him thanks for the blessings he has bestowed upon me. I had everything accounted for in my life, everything could be traced back to something of my production. Therefore my mind has been darkened and confused as to who this Lord is and how to even trust in his almighty power.

22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

Being a fool I run to false idols and worship them with everything I am. I idolize success and run head long at an opportunity that I can find satisfaction is my success. While in high school I could succeed in school and find “joy” in that accomplishment. I idolize social acceptance, I run to social networks, texts, emails, ect to find joy in the fact that I have friends who “care” about me. I am jealous of people who are very comfortable in social settings and envious of their “cool” factor. I make idols out of the Lords creation, the female figure is an amazing product of the hand of the Lord. Way to many time than I can count I run to that figure to find joy, satisfaction, happiness. And time after time I am left lacking joy, satisfaction, and happiness. As a human race we all to often worship the amazing creation of the Lord while neglecting to worship the creator.

I need to trust in the Lord to continue to transform the new heart that he has placed within me to worship him and not the products of power.

All is Great in the Lord

Paul Shackelford

"WORSHIP THE CREATOR NOT THE CREATION"

ps. I have bad grammar and lots of typos – its just a fact!

Rise Again - Needtobreathe

I have been reading a book about the arts and Christians role in creating culture. Steve Turner, the author, asserts a major critique that modern Christian art does not speak about real life. The art created does not sound genuine or have any ties to real life that people outside the faith can connect with. While reading the book I listened through this album and I think that this song does a great job of breaking the mold. The members of Needtobreathe are all outspoken followers of Jesus but very little of the art that they produce mentions Jesus or Christianity at all. Instead they craft creative music, written from places of pain and joy. "Rise Again" steps through pain that occurs in life as we see relationships stretched and torn. The bitterness of broken hearts and friendships is then contrasted with the truth that we will get up from this pain and rise again. "I can see us moving on, I can feel that coming on strong", the joy that comes after the

Twenty-Four - Jess Ray

Lately I have been listening to lots of music and podcasts while working and biking to work. I was feeling a need for some new music so I turned to NoiseTrade to check out some new artists. My favorite thus far is Jess Ray because of the honest lyrics, tastefully simple musicality and overall enjoyable listening environment. While on my flight back to Atlanta I was struck by this song at first because of the drums that propel this song behind the walking guitar. If I were to add drums to a track like this it would have been done in a very similar manner. Once I got past the drums I was awe struck by the simple power of these lyrics, take a read below and follow the link to her blog to listen. To me it was not written for an outward expression of hope or encouragement but rather as a inward proclamation to the soul. As the psalmist often choose to sing, this song speaks inward in a call to stand up and be reminded of truth all to often forgotten. As I gear up for the star

You Will Be My Ain True Love - Alison Kraus

This song has so much power, even if you remove the lyrics. I just decided to take in the full potential of the song by turning the stereo all the way up and playing the song a few times. Before even looking for a video of this song I knew it was related to the Civil War and the separation that occurred between loved ones. This song starts out explaining the battle field and how the soldier has survived the terrors of war. As the song continues to build you can tell that the soldier wants to be with his love. They have been separated by this war and now he wants to be back with her. The last few lines portray his death and how he has been reunited with his "True Love". I believe that this song describes his "True Love" as God, our eternal True Love. He has returned to his maker after being killed in Battle and this song paints that picture so well. This song has tons of power in the music behind the lyrics, it adds so much to the meaning of this song!

Letters from Lilongwe

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