Tomorrow is my LAST DAY OF COLLEGE/STUDENT TEACHING! Wow! It flew by! We are having our Christmas party tomorrow which mean I had to do a little baking tonight.....it also means that the kids will be INSANE! I will survive! Anyways, I decided to bake two different things for our party. This first one I got here. They looked so good and I had to try them!
Brownie covered Oreo. Seriously? That just sounds ridiculous. I mean they are good. Like....G-double O-D...GOOD! But who could think of that?
The second is a family favorite. We weren't sure what to call them. We put peanut butter cookies in a muffin pan, bake them, pull them out, push a reeses in the middle and sprinkle it with M&M's. Muffin? Cookie? Behold the MOOKIE! My family is ridiculous!
Anyways, I am certain my students will enjoy them!
(P.S. Sorry about the iPhone quality pics lately..I have a nice camera and could probably make these treats look better...but hey, the iPhone is handy...)
So tonight I was reading a passage of Scripture that I have read so many times. In 1 John 2:15-17 it says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyones loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
Let me just confess, I love the world. I don't want to love the world but often, I do. For example, this week my parents downgraded our TV package. Basically, we really don't watch TV that much anyways but we definitely didn't need all the channels we had and we were paying too much for something we barely watched. BUT....let me say, I LOVE me some Gilmore Girls. I want to be Lorelai Gilmore. Well, apparently abc family did not make the cut of channels we now get. I'm gonna be straight up....I have seen every Gilmore Girl episode quite possibly 3 times each. I still enjoy reruns. Ridiculous? Yes. Waste of time? Probably. Would I still like to watch them? Mhm.. I cannot tell a lie. But, honestly, do I NEED it? No. I have been just fine this week.
There are so many things in my life that would show that I love the world. I have idols in my life. There are things that I put before the Lord every single day and at the end of the day I am always left thinking....these things are going to burn. Why am I not focused on eternal things? I am selfish. I am a sinner who is saved by some miraculous grace. I am thankful but I do not show it.
I also have another struggle....I dwell on my sin f.o.r.e.v.e.r. which just equals more sin. Awesome. After I do something I know is wrong, I should confess it and move on. But I really have a hard time with this. I know that God is not keeping score with me but in my human head I think, surely He is sick of me. On Sunday, Jack finished preaching through the book of Genesis. It only took us a little over 2 years to finish it! Well, at the end of Genesis we see the end of Joseph's life. In verses 15-21, Joseph's brothers are so scared that Joseph is going to retaliate and "give them what the deserve" because Jacob has died. Joseph weeps because he has already forgiven them. They dwelt on this and lived in fear for 17 years. His brothers were so focused on themselves that they couldn't see Joseph's forgiveness. I am so like those brothers sometimes. I am constantly dwelling on my sin and waiting for God to "punish" me, that I forget, I was forgiven a long time. All I have to do is confess and move on.
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." -Romans 8:1-2
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." -1 John 1:7
"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." -Psalm 103:11-12
Jack pointed out that at the beginning of Genesis everything was good. He created this world and it was good. Genesis ends with death and guilt. He explained that something went wrong and that was the fall of humanity. But thankfully, we have the hope that there will be no ability to sin in our new Garden!
I pray that I will stop living for the things of this world, live for the eternal things that last, and stop dwelling on those sins that have already been forgiven.