SelahV Today

I DON'T WANNA BE A COTTONBALL CHRISTIAN

Unused, a cottonball is so soft and clean looking.  If you press down on it with your finger, it springs right back into shape.  However, the more times it is compressed, the more it loses its shape.  It's still a cottonball, just no longer a puffy ball.  When placed on a bottle of polish remover, it absorbs the acetone in a nano-second--becomes saturated with it.  It's still a cottonball--just filled with something else.  Some Christians so absorb the things of the world and take in its culture, philosophy and ideology, they remind me of that cottonball.  It's still a cottonball...but it's so full of acetone that when it is used to remove the nail-lacquer, it flattens like a pancake.  And it gets so smeared by the mess it seeks to clear off, it must be tossed aside as worthless for any other purpose.  How does one wash a cottonball, anyway?   selahV

SOME CORN JUST DON'T POP

No matter what the other kernels do, some kernels just won't pop.  The heat is turned up and it never changes its form.  It refuses to conform to the rest of the group.  Others explode and become soft puffs of palatable snacks.  They overflow the pot and are passed around in bowls to be enjoyed by the crowds.  The other is rejected and left at the bottom of the bowl.  I wonder if it bothers that piece of corn to remain true to his form.

If Christians were popcorn kernels, would they be the ones to pop?  Or would they be the ones that refused to change no matter how much heat they face?

"Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to the external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renuewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].  Romans l2:2

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahVToday, hariette petersen]

PUSHED, PRESSURED, COERCED

Ever feel like this?  Ever feel pressured?  To do something you don't want to do?

When I was younger I had occasion to feel pressured by my peers.  But age has its benefits.  The older I get the easier it is to say, "Nope, not interested."  Just because the latest fashions are throw-backs to the 70's and everyone else is wearing those wacky prints and shirts that look like maternity smocks, I don't have to.  And I won't.  Just because the First Lady goes sleeveless, doesn't mean I must bare it all in the dead of winter.  And I won't.  Just because rack upon rack of shoes are nothing but pointed toed spiked heels, I don't have to buy them.  And I won't.

Today, culture demands we change our ways--reject our Spirit-nature, shed the morals of propriety, and follow them into the lake of tolerance, political correctness, and social acceptabilty.  Our government legislates and ignores what constituents clearly say is not acceptable for our society.  The liberal judges, the screaming media, the expensive lawyers keep pushing their agendas through the crowd of resistance and into the sea of indifference.  But the majority of people are not bowing down.  Or are they?

No, we are not jumping off the bridge because everyone else is doing it. But people are discouraged.  They are weary with the battery of laws being passed that legalize what God abhors.  As more and more of our society changes before our eyes, we will face greater challenges than we've ever known.  We will face the challenges against all we stand for biblically, morally, and mentally.  All the greater need to "Love the Lord with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength and all your soul, and your neighbor as yourself."  

Don't let the bullies strong-arm you into jumping into a pool you know is not worth swimming in.  Do not grow weary.  Keep running the race.  Set your eyes upon the prize before you.  The finish will be worth the run.    selahV

[copyrighted, 2009, SelahV Today, hariette petersen]