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During a political discussion on The View in November, Whoopi Goldberg interjected Candace Cameron Bure's call for the people of the United States of America to humble ourselves and pray for our country with the comment, "God says a lot of wonderful stuff. And I like God a lot, but..." The laughter from the audience was telling.

Can we "like" God?

Is likeableness even part of the equation when it comes to the existence and rule of an all-powerful Being?

I would argue that if there is indeed a god, we have no place to decide whether we like said god or not. Nor are we in a position to make comments about what such a god says or does.

God would demand our worship and respect whether God was good or kind. God is God. End of discussion.

Or is it?

Would God be God if he wasn't good?

I don't think so. And here's why.

Because God is God, you know, the Almighty Supreme Creator and Sustainer of everything, He has the right to define Himself. And we know from the book God has chosen to write for us to help us learn who He is that God describes Himself as,

“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin..."
Exodus 34:6-7a

And because God has chosen to define Himself in this way, He would cease to be God if He did not display this character. He would also cease to be God if He no longer lived up to the following statement:

"Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation."
Exodus 34:7b

This is when we start to think we can "dislike" God. We don't "like" judges. We don't "like" punishment. We think goodness means grace without judgment. But how could God show mercy if He did not first judge?

So we come to Christmas. The birth of a baby who is God Himself, humble. The humble God. Willing to become weak because He judged our sin and saw that we could not handle the weight of it, so He showed mercy by taking the punishment on Himself.

What kind of God is this?

If I could paraphrase John 3:16, I would tell you that,

God judged the world, and He saw we were incapable of taking the punishment we deserved for slapping Almighty God in the face and rejecting and disrespecting Him again and again. Then because He loved us in spite of our appalling condescension, He had mercy on us and decided to show the utmost humility by becoming human so He could bear the weight of the price of our rebellion. In doing so, He made a way for everyone who surrenders to His love to live forever and ever and enjoy His presence just like He wanted us to do in the first place.

That's what I would say to you. Because at Christmas, more than ever, we see God live up to His Name. That is who God is. He is Judge. He is Righteous. He does punish sin. And He is Merciful. He is Humble. He is Love. Both seemingly opposite qualities perfectly married in this one Beautiful Savior and King.

Surrender to His love today. Fall on your knees and praise His Name forever! O Night Divine when God became man so man could be with God forever!

Merciful Christmas to you.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5, emphasis mine

I've been sitting with this verse for several weeks. It hit me while I was down, and then proceeded to lift me up.

God works best when our egos get out of His way, when we acknowledge that we are weak.

Lord, I can't do anything without You.

That is the cry of someone who is about to be empowered and changed.

For a long time I've been doing everything I can in my power to live well, in a way that honors God and blesses people. Every time I would say or do something that was a little out of place, I would get worked up about it and worry for hours or days (or weeks or months) that people took it the wrong way or got offended or didn't understand what I meant, etc. etc. I went out of my way sometimes to make sure the person understood my meaning, but more often than not, it made the situation more awkward or just plain worse.

For two years now I've been trying to figure out how to be a good wife and maintain a home and a life and get all the things done that I think God wants me to do. And it's not happening. And I've been discouraged. Just when I feel like I've made a breakthrough in one area, for example, cooking healthy meals regularly, another aspect of one of my various roles in life collapses.

Or, I'll have so many wonderful, exciting things happening in my life, and one day I'll be rejoicing about them and reveling in the sunshine and the next day I don't want to get out of bed. And there's no reason to want to stay in bed; I have every reason to want to live through my day full of good and happy things, but I can't shake the cloud hanging over me.

The moral of the story is, Faith was trying to serve the Lord in her power.

Then the Holy Spirit knocked me upside the head during Bible study a couple months ago.

Apart from Me, you can do nothing.

In my natural human tendency toward pride, I had been saying to God, "Hold on a minute. Let me try to do this. Then I'll seek You." And so He let me. Because He allows us to choose.

I was trying to live apart from the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of the risen Christ and the authority of God the Father. I was placing God Almighty on a back burner while I and my ego floundered, trying to make it through a day without screwing up too much.

And all that time I could have been abiding in Him and living in His power!

Apart from Christ I can do nothing good, nothing worthwhile, nothing to honor my Lord. Apart from Him I cannot guard my tongue or say the right, beneficial, uplifting thing. Apart from Him I cannot balance my responsibilities and roles. Apart from Him I cannot live joyfully.

I know I want to abide in Him, but how?

1) I acknowledge my weakness. I confess to the Creator of heaven and earth that I can't do it all, and I certainly can't do it right.

2) I give Him my best. The best part of my day, my first fruits. I seek Him and His kingdom first, and then the rest will be added. For me, that means I must give Him the first minutes of my day. That is my best, no matter how tired or rushed I am. If I don't seek Him first, I'll squeeze Him in last, and that does not honor my Father.

3) I ask Him to empower me to do what He wants me to do, not what I think I need to do. There have been a couple times I've thought I should go to something that God told me not to and a couple times I've thought I should say no to something that He told me to do. He blesses me when I obey.

4) I keep my eyes open for how He is moving around and through me and my ears open to listen for His leading. This is a moment-by-moment practice. I can't just listen for the first five minutes of the day and then go throughout my day expecting to hear God. I have to be intentional in each moment and situation to prop open my sleepy eyelids and unplug my stuffy ears.

5) I trust Him to take care of it. All the stuff. Like last night when I said some stuff at a meeting and then worried all the way home that people misunderstood it and either thought I was a whole lot more messed up than I am or that I was a whole lot more prideful than I was trying to be. I ask the Holy Spirit to search my heart and when He reveals to me that my heart was indeed right before Him and others and I don't need to apologize, I have to let it go and entrust my reputation and relationships to the Lord.

Anything good I do apart from the leading and presence of God is nothing. It is filthy rags. But when I cling to Him, seek Him, and listen to Him throughout each element of my day, I see His hand really does lead me and His heart really is for me.

Apart from Him I can do nothing. In Him, I can do anything.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1

This summer I walked away from God-- not in the sense of reckless sinful behavior or denial of His existence; nonetheless, my walking was characterized by sin and by denial of the truth of who God is and who I am.

I have an addiction to being entertained, to having fun. Next to distortion of God-designed sexuality, I think one of the enemy's most powerful distractions is a warped perspective of rest. And for the past few years, I have become more desensitized to his lies.

Each day I was presented with a choice: I could abide with Christ, or I could be numbed by the seemingly mindless entertainment Facebook and sitcoms offered. But these media are not mindless; they are, by default, mind-altering because they make God small. And each day I chose to make God small in my mind and heart.

By making God small I made myself big and continued to seek after the things that made me happy. Sitcoms make me laugh. Laughter equals happiness, does it not? Facebook is a great tool for self-validation, and I became obsessed with posting the best pictures and writing the most clever statuses and checking my notifications every 10 minutes to see how many people liked, loved, laughed or commented on my posts.

I knew I needed to quit. I knew there was no way I would choose Christ over myself unless I removed these distractions. Yet I continued to pursue my idolatry week after week, not repenting of my sin. I had "come to Jesus" moments, especially when I was called on to pray or lead or represent Christ in a specific way, and I would confess my sin and ask the Holy Spirit to give me a desire for God's Word and presence. Still, I could not wait to get home from whatever activity so I could pull out the snacks and watch some more TV.

I was not planning on telling my group that I had grown apart from Jesus at the retreat in September. There we were, women who love God and are committed to grow in Him together as part of a three-year-long discipleship program. I'm a good little Jesus girl. I write about Jesus, sing about Jesus and talk about what Jesus is doing in my life readily. But that night, as we shared updates on our lives and happenings over the summer, I knew freedom would come through confession that I did not love Jesus as much as I once had.

The next morning, during a planned two and a half hours of solitude, which was the shortest two and a half hours I've ever experienced, I repented of my idol worship. As much as I hated to, I committed to not watching a single TV show or movie by myself for the indefinite future, and I deactivated my Facebook account.

Freedom comes at a cost. We may feel like we are paying the price for our freedom by swearing off addictions, whatever they be - social media, pornography, food, alcohol, etc. - but our sacrifice is so small compared to the one that purchased our ultimate freedom. Only when Christ and His cross are magnified in our hearts can we make small those earthly things that tempt us.

Praise God for several weeks of freedom from TV and Facebook. Removing these distractions, however, has only brought more manifestations of the idol of entertainment to the surface: books that are more interesting to me than the Word of God, YouTube tutorials for hair and makeup that focus my heart on my physical appearance rather than thankfulness, and many more. Christ has loosed the chains, but we must choose every moment to walk away from bondage.

I'm still learning to fall back in love with Jesus. I pray that you will have strength through the power of the Holy Spirit to forsake whatever idol you have been serving and bow at the feet of Jesus who gave His life to show you love. May we give our lives to show Him love.

I have a heavy heart because I know I'm part of the problem. And the problem is huge and daunting and seemingly impossible. And the problem is grievous and horrific. And you are part of the problem, too.

And the problem is sex trafficking.

This is ugly. It shouldn't exist, but it is like an oil spill in the ocean; it seems to permeate the world yet remain inextricable.

How can people be so evil to think they can sell other human beings to a life of torture, pain and hopelessness? Well, I think we all know the answer to that question.

But you know what? Justice is coming. God has heard the cries of the innocent, and He is coming, and He is here. He is already working, and He intends to use you and me.

The problem of sex trafficking has always broken my heart, but I never felt like I could do anything about it. I didn't feel strong enough to educate myself about what was really going on, and I didn't feel like I had any way to minister to rescued victims because I haven't experienced any pain remotely similar to theirs. Yet the Lord continues to burn their pain on my heart and give me visions of what I can do.

Short of signing up to work in the field to locate and raid brothels, here are five things that you and I can do to seek justice for victims of sex trafficking:

1) Quit viewing pornography. The pornography industry is a huge contributor to the demand for trafficked women and men... and children. And you may think, oh, I'm not watching that kind of stuff. But you are. It's all the same, and it all exploits people who need hope and abundant life. Just stop. Get help - counseling, accountability, Covenant Eyes, whatever you need. You're not the only person who has a problem, so don't let shame keep you from seeking freedom. And yes, women, you, too.

2) Purchase your clothes second-hand or from fair trade sources. Thousands of men and women are trafficked into near slave labor sewing the clothes we wear everyday. And I realize it's cheap and easy to buy clothes off the rack from a big brand store, but is cheap and easy most important? Take a little time to shop consignment or thrift stores. You'll save money and reduce the demand for cheap clothing. Trafficking is an intertwined system, so just because we're talking about who sews our clothes doesn't mean we're not addressing sexual slavery.

3) Get involved with an organization that fights human trafficking. Three great organizations to look into are Women at Risk (WAR), International Justice Mission (IJM) and A21. You can do everything from volunteer to donate to host a jewelry party that supports women who have been rescued from trafficking. Now that sounds like a home party I would want to attend!

4) Educate yourself. Know how this works. Be aware of the signs and who to call if you see suspicious activity. Sex trafficking isn't just out there. It's right next door. A couple of really good books are Open Your White Umbrella by Mary Frances Bowley and Sold by Patricia McCormick.

5) Pray. Why do I always put this last, when it is the most powerful thing? Yes, we should get involved hands on - God wants us to be His agents of justice - but prayer unleashes His power, and yeah, I don't think we can hold a matchstick to that. If you don't know where to start, try using one of these prayer resources.

Now you can't say you don't know what to do about it. So go do something!

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24

I didn’t have many friends in college.

Was it because I wasn’t a very nice person?

I pondered.

Was it because I wasn’t very “cool” or “trendy”?

I was well aware of this.

Was it because I wasn’t friendly?

That is why I regret 15% of my life.

People argue whether college should be considered as much of a social education as it is. Should we encourage our graduating high school students to “have fun” in college? Is that its purpose?

Back in the day, college was a very prestigious, limited opportunity. It was an honor to be able to pursue an occupation that required college, an honor to be accepted into a college, and an honor to come from a family able to afford a college education.

Therefore, it was an honor to attend college.

Over time, an interesting thing has happened, however.

As college education became more expensive, it also became more accessible and in higher demand. A degree of some sort is required for nearly any job above minimum wage, so young people are compelled to pursue higher education.

It seems that a desire to compensate for the obligatory studies has led organically to a need for “release” through increasingly student-focused social activities. There have always been college parties, but never has it been so widely assumed that every collegiate would participate in such festivities.

But, see, I was better than the average college student. I held to the old-fashioned notion that college was an honor, and academics held priority over every area of my life.

I left with a 3.9 GPA, a division award and the satisfaction that I had indeed been a teacher’s pet.

What more could I ask for the last four years of my life?

And the 15%? I'm 24. So it's more like 16.67% of my life.

Students: college, now more than ever, is no joke. It is an incredibly expensive investment, one on which your future success depends greatly.

Don’t slack off in your classes. Don’t go to lecture in your pajamas. Don’t skip an evening class to attend a social event.

Also…

Don’t stuff your need for friendships. Scripture places just as much emphasis (if not more) on cultivating godly relationships as it does diligence and hard work.

Don’t avoid the social gatherings. If you’re like me, you may struggle with wondering whether anyone would want to hang out with an uncool person such as yourself. Stop it. That’s insecurity - and insecurity is pride. Go to a party.

Don’t neglect your professors. Depending on the size of your university, your professors may or may not have time to develop a personal mentoring relationship with you. If you are privileged to attend a small school like I did, make sure you recognize the value of that relationship and continue to communicate that to your professor even after college. Not only will this make you a nicer, more other-centered person, it will help greatly with networking and finding internship, job and graduate school opportunities.

I can only hope that most people aren’t like me in pursuing academic success at the expense of relational successes. I write this not to make you feel bad for me, but as a warning to those who follow behind: if you do what I did, you will regret those four years. You will dwell on how you have no close friendships left from college because you ignored everyone as a defense mechanism against possible rejection.

By the grace of God, my friendship-building skills have improved dramatically since college, and I am grateful to say I have many friends who don’t just tolerate me, but (I’m fairly certain) enjoy me.

This message is not just for the collegiate, but for everyone who is in a season of life where valuable time must be divided and choices must be made. Do your work, whatever it is, and do it well, but never sacrifice friends for grades or people for pay.

Love God first, and love others as yourself. As you seek His kingdom, all this will be added.

"His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’"
Matthew 25:23

We spend our days searching for significance, looking for a way to leave our legacy. We want to know and be known, and we want to be known for something good.

Sometimes I plan my funeral. Yes, maybe a weird thing for a 24-year-old, but I want my funeral to be similar to one I attended a few years ago. One of my mom's best friends died of cancer. She had attended a mega-church, and at her funeral, the church was packed. People she had touched with her kindness, wisdom and passion for the Lord flooded the room to testify to the legacy she left.

Since then, I have often thought, I want to be the kind of person that packs a crowd at my funeral. I want to be that kind, generous, wise person that people want to remember and celebrate.

After reflecting more on this woman's funeral, though, I realized that, more than a celebration of her life, it was a celebration of Christ. She loved the Lord, and she poured His love into others in such a way that they turned their eyes upward.

How do I live that kind of life? How do I live to leave a legacy? How do I live so that the love of Christ I've invested lives on and takes root in the lives of people?

The best motto I've found to help me focus on this is JOY. Jesus. Others. You.

Jesus. Is Christ the most important One to me? Do I speak His name with love and joy? Do I devote my time and energy to knowing Him and making Him known?

Others. Do I put others before myself? Do I serve without grumbling? Give cheerfully? Love unconditionally? Forgive quickly?

You. Do I see my time as mine or as a gift from God to be invested? Do I care for my soul and invest my talents, financial and otherwise, so that I am able to serve the Lord with my all?

I fall so very far short, but I know He will help me live this kind of life if I continue to ask Him for guidance and strength. And no matter what people think of me at the end of my life, my greatest desire is that He say, "Well done."

What about you? Do you ever think about your funeral? Have you chosen a motto for your life?

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
Revelation 7:9

I'd like it to be said of me that I loved the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.

So I'm learning Tagalog.

You see, my exotic hubby hails from the tropical islands of the Philippines.

He's a package. "Love me, love my language."

I love language, people. I'm a sure crier when we sing Revelation Song in multiple languages.

Genesis tells us that language was a curse, and Revelation tells us that God has redeemed language to be a blessing.

I give up easily when things get hard, though. So I've done lesson one about ten times since this tri-lingual man and I tied the knot. (Yes, he speaks Chinese, too.)

Sometimes we narrow the definition of loving God with our minds to using Bible dictionaries and reading commentaries and studying theology.

Update on the case: Theology is the study of God, and God created... you guessed it - language!!

By learning a new language, I'm loving God with my heart because I'm serving and loving my husband, his family and our Filipino friends.

I'm loving God with my soul because understanding God through the lens of another language and culture deepens my knowing of Him.

I'm loving God with my mind because, well, brain power.

I'm loving God with my strength because He asks me to persevere, to run the race with endurance.

So I'm renewing my focus today. Every day is a fresh start. Praise God that both He and my husband are long-suffering with me.

Magandang umaga! Beautiful morning!

What exercise has God called you to as you love Him with your mind? Are you learning a new language? New skill? Reading a challenging book? Any encouragement/motivation you can give me if you're on the other side or at least past lesson one?

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