Bright Blush

Ok. It's time for the final item of makeup in the count down: Blush. You can have a little more fun with this item. When you generally think of blush, what do you picture? Do the words bright, radient, or happy come to mind? Well they do for me. When you put blush on your cheaks, it seems to add a bit of character to your apperance. The blush brightens up your face and gives you the look of overall cheer and gladness. Well, I have decided to related this one last product to our spiritual lives. I know the past ones have included the more major and probably more difficult tasks that we should do as Christians. But, I believe that blush should represent just being happy because we serve the Lord. The Bible says:

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." -Psalm 118:24

Is there any other better reason to be happy that you can come up with? I don't think so. This verse simply says to be happy just because God has created this day for us to live. It sounds like a simple thing. Then why don't we do it. We take so many things that God gives us for granted. We should instead be rejoicing for all that he has done for each of us. Hopefully we all have clothes on our back, shoes on our feet, a roof above our heads, food to eat, etc. And even if you still can't think of a reason to be happy, just think harder. Well here's the best one for you.... Jesus died on the cross to save the sins of the world! That includes you. And hopefully you have excepted his gift of salvation. To me, that is worth praising him and being happy as we live our day to day lives.

"But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are the partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." -I Peter 4:13

I know we as Christians, myself included, do not have a happy look about us most of the day. And we wonder why there doesn't seem to be as many of us around anymore. Well here's an idea...Nobody wants to be like anybody who looks like they hate life all the time and never seem to crack a smile. So instead, we should go around wearing a smile and showing the world that we are happy serving Jesus. Without us, how will they ever see the true joy of surrendering your life to God?

"A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." -Proverbs 15:13

So, don't worry. Be happy! You'll never know who's life you can touch with this one simple task.

Maximum Mascara

Now it's time for number three in our makeup line-up: Mascara. Amoung many other products, I seem to see alot of commercials, ads, etc. advertising mascara. Well, it's important in our daily makeup routine, so why shouldn't it be in our daily walk with God. To me, mascara is a big indicator that somebody is wearing makeup. I have related this product to something we should be doing every day: Standing. We all know mascara makes our eye lashes stand up bold and tall. Well, we should have some of it in our Christian walk to help us stand up and be bold. As the Bible says:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." -Galations 5:1

We all need to stand up proud and unashamed of the Gospel of Christ. We need to be bold and let everyone know where we stand and who we stand for.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it: to the Jew first and also to the Greek." - Romans 1:16

Mascara also serves the purpose of seperating your lashes and preventing them from clumping. This symbolizes that we as Christians need to be seperated from worldly matters and not clump up with the wrong crowd. Sometimes that part of it seems so hard to do. But, once you think about it, it pays off in the long run and gives you a closer walk with God. Here's some encouragement:

"Wherefore come out from amoung them, and be ye seperate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will recieve you, " - II Corintians: 6:17

So, if we wear our Spiritual mascara, we will be bold, tall, and seperated. By doing this, God will recieve us or be proud of us. What would be better than making God our Father happy? So, will you wear your mascara today?

Everlasting Eyeshadow

So on to the next item in the makeup group: eye shadow. This one was a little more difficult for me to associate with God. But God, amazing as always, gave me this thought. "Keep your eyes set upon God and the things of the Lord." When it came to my mind I was like, "Duh!" It was one of those 'shoula had a V8' moments for me. This statement seems so simple doesn't it. I mean we've heard it all our lives. "Live for God no matter what." And, "Do God's will." We say it like its something that just naturally happens. However, in reality, it's really not that simple. It should be easy for a Christian to live for God, but, somehow, we always seem to let our flesh get in the way and hender the task. Here are some verses I found about setting your eyes upon God:

"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of thy law." -Psalm 119:18

"Blessed are the pure at heart: for they shall see God." -Matthew 5:8

Sure, there is much more scripture to cover this subject. But I just chose a few. Basically, we should set our eyes upon God and the things concerning him. So many times, we will set our eyes on what is going on in the world around us, and we will completly miss little signs sent from God. How often does that happen. My answer: a bunch! Once you think about it though, look at all the little things God does for us. It can be as simply as allowing us to breath this very second, telling the birds to sing us a song in the calm of the morning, or even just keeping us safe from harm and danger when we are driving down the road. God does so much for us every second of every day, and we don't seem to give him the time of day. I know I fall into that category. When our eyes are fixated on the things of this world, they can't be set on God. It's either one or the other. We arn't Spritually cross-eyed! If our eyes are fixed on him, we will be more apt to see blessings and miricles that he's performing all around us. And the more we look to God, the more we notice his love toward us and begin to fall deeper in love with him. So, make sure you apply your eyeshadow today!

Flawless Foundation

I have decided to start a series of entries based on one topic. I entitled it "Spiritual Makeup." I will cover things like eyeliner, foundation, blush, etc. So, today, I will be focusing on foundation. As we start our Spiritual walk for Christ, we must first build upon a strong foundation. I have a couple of verse to help get the point across.

"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have layed the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay that that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." -I Corinthians 3: 10-11

"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." -II Timothy 2:19

"He is like a man which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon the rock." -Luke 6: 48

Generally, when we apply our makeup, the foundation is the first thing we put on. It sets the stage and wipes the slate clean, giving us a good starting point. Likewise, when we got saved, we trusted God, and our slate was wiped clean. We need to continue building our lives upon Jesus before we even think about doing his work, or else it will fall apart and create a huge mess. Without the foundation, the house can't stand. If we don't start with the right foundation, what good are the works we do? They will never stand up to the test. We wouldn't be doing it out of love but rather out of habit or even selfishness. And,when the storms of life come our way, we won't have a strong foundation to keep us safe and grounded. Foundation also covers up blemishess and gives our face a clean, even tone. When we build upon the foundation of God, we will develop a desire to do God's will. When we have a change in our life, our spiritual walk becomes greater, thus making some of our blemishes dissappear as we go. We could get so much of God that, when our spirit is full, our flesh will benifit, and we will serve God on the outside rather than just on the inside. This foundation will be just the begining of the greater features to come.

Hidden Away

Well I might as well go ahead and tell yall that my favorite movie of all time is Disney's Tangled. Yes, a 17 year old loves a Disney Princess movie. It may sound odd ,but it's true. So, I was thinking about it yesterday for some reason or another, and I couldn't seem to let go of the fact concerning Rapunzel's castle. And believe it or not, God actually gave me a thought from it.

In case you haven't seen it, I will give you a brief summary of the film. Tangled is Disney's modern day twist on the story of Rapunzel. She was born a princess with magic healing hair. Mother Gothel, the evil stepmother, is centuries old and needs Rapunzel's hair to keep her looking young. So, after she is born, Mother Gothel steals Rapunzel from the kingdom. She hides her away in a castle out in the middle of nowhere and raises her as her own. Mother Gothel refuses to let Rapunzel go. She comes to the castle everyday and climbs up Rapunzel's hair to visit and get her daily dose of magic. The movie picks up on her 18th birthday. She really wants to leave the castle, so, when Mother Gothel won't let her leave, she teams up with Flynn Rider, an outlaw and her prince-to-be, and travels to the kingdom to see the lanterns. These lanterns were released every year by the people of the kingdom on Rapunzel's birthday in hopes that one day the lost princess would return. In the end, she returns to the kingdom, Mother Gothel is defeated, and Rapunzel and Flynn live happily ever after. But, for now, I want to deal with Rapunzel's castle. But just so you can get a better mental picture, here's the featurette for Tangled.

So many times, we as Christians have problems with acting the same way out of church that we do in church. Most of us will praise God in church on Sunday and then go back to living our normal lives Monday through Friday. I would say we are keeping God locked up in a far away castle. We will visit him when we go to church and try to have a good time with him, and he loves it when we visit. However, like Rapunzel, God wants out. We just won't let him be known to the world. He wants to come out of the castle and visit with others in the world. Many times there are signs that the world wants to hear from God again, and we are possibly the only way many will ever hear from him. But, we are selfish and want to keep God all to ourselves. Just by reading this summary on the movie, I pretty sure we can tell that's not good. The Bible even tells us so:

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to those that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." - II Corinthians 4:3-4 

With that said, what good is keeping God hidden away for nobody to see? We should enjoy God by ourselves and desire for him to touch us, but we also need to be spreading his word and letting the world see him through our lives. Someone's spiritual life could be at stake. Do you want to be the one to help decide their fate based upon your selfishness? It is up to us as Christians to show this lost and dying world that Jesus still saves and he still changes lives. So, please, let him leave the castle today!