Ben’s first blog!

Well, this is my first blog and as I read the article that Josh cited yesterday I was convicted that I needed to challenge myself in this area.  I am not sure to thank Josh or be upset that he posted it.

I was reading Hebrews 13 today, WOW!  There is so much to get out of this one chapter.  The first thing that was challenging was talking about having brotherly love and being hospitable.  I know that I have not been as hospitable or loving as I should be to others.  It talks about some have been so hospitable that they have hosted Angels.  That is what I want to strive to do, not out of selfishness but out of brotherly love.

Verse 5  says “Be free from the love of money.  Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.”   This is a great point in this time of the financial crisis this country is facing.  We have been living like we had nothing and wanted more but we have more than any other people group in the world.  I heard a statistic that even if you are making minimum wage here in the states you are make more than 80% of the world.  We have so much and yet we continue to long for the wrong things. I need to be satisfied because I have Christ and Christ alone.

I have so much more to say but I will just mention one more important point out of that chapter 13 and that comes from verse 9.  “Don’t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings”  we must continually seek His Word so that we can know the truth.  I love the analogy of the counterfeit money detectors.  They are trained with the real money so that when shown a counterfeit it is obviously not the real deal and the same way we need to study God’s Word not other teachings.  It is not just to know it for knowledge sake but also to be applying it in my life.

As I have done this and written out what I have thought it helps me to understand the scripture better and hopefully apply it more to my life.  I look forward to bloging more and hope that if you have read this you have enjoyed it also.  My prayer is that I will continue to grow closer to God while growing closer to others.