¹⁵Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For 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. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Essentially, this is saying don’t trust the things of this world for they will come to pass, but putting God above all else, and carrying out his will gives you eternal life.  Notice the term I used…Putting God above all else.  Sound familiar??  The First commandment reads “Do not have any other Gods before me.”  The term “Gods” could be anything.  It could be money, clothes, the opposite sex, anything that is of this world.  I know that I put these things in the forefront all the time.  It’s easy to do because I tend to see these things working in my life more often than I realize how God is working in my life.  But then I realize how many times I have been let down by people, cars, lack of money, and electronic devices; but the one thing that has remained the same throughout is God’s love, and promise to always provide for me.  Joshua 23:14 is the perfect example.  Joshua is talking to his leaders as he has become very old, and is near death.  Notice the first sentence and the correlation to 1John.

¹⁴“Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.”

I love how he starts off that verse.  Going the way of ALL the earth.  All, sometimes compared with everything, the earth is passing.  So what is the point of trusting/loving/investing your life in things that will pass.  Especially when there is a perfect and holy God who fulfills every promise.  I don’t know about you, but I like 100% fulfillment, as opposed to 100% failure.  I got to share this message with the great kids at Springfield K-Life, and like I did at the end of that talk, I wanna encourage you all to really look at the things of this world that we hold near and dear, and ask yourself is it worth putting above a God that is perfect.

-Aaron S.   Luke 15:11-32

Like Saul most of us have been called on by God to know him and make him known.  Unlike Saul, have we been so directly challenged.  If God calling us was this easy, a caveman could do it…see what I did there.  What makes us unique as Christians is that we have all been called in different ways.  Take C.S. Lewis for example.  He was a brilliant mind, and taught medieval literature at Oxford.  Lewis became an Atheist at the tender age of 15, and said “It was because I was mad at God for not existing.”  Kind of a paradox, but his reasoning none the less.  C.S. Lewis worked with another great author J.R. Tolkien.  Tolkien was a very strong christian, and he would get into discussions with Lewis about whether or not God existed.  Lewis would claim that everything in the Bible was “a myth.”  The breaking point was when Tolkien said to Lewis, “this is a myth that’s true.”  So one day Lewis is riding a motorcycle to the local zoo, and claims that when he left he was an atheist, but when arriving at the zoo, he was converted.

So there are two examples of God calling people to follow him.  He went directly to Saul (Paul), and physically came to him saying, “You work for me!.”  While he went through Lewis’ intellect, and challenged him that way.  I feel as though God calls everyone at somepoint, and it is up to us whether or not we a) even realize it is God, and b) if we answer.  I can look back to certain events in my life as God saying, “Aaron, pick it up…Let’s go.”  But he eventually got to me by showing me what my lifestyle had left me with, and that was nothing.  But he was there to pick me up and and show his mercy and love for me.  If you are reading this and you feel as though God has been trying to call you, but you are afraid to answer I’ll leave you with this verse.

This is from the book of Jeremiah when God appoints Jeremiah as a profit at a very young age.  “But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’  You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.”  Jeremiah 1:7-8

Aaron Staggs  Luke 15:11-32

The last couple of weeks I caught myself becoming the same old selfish Aaron I used to be.  One that didn’t care about other’s feelings, and would stop at nothing to find some sort instant gratification in the irrelevant things of this world.  So I did some soul searching to try and get to the root of my problem.  I discovered that it all goes back to this summer.  I worked at K-Kountry (The Happiest Place on Earth).  K-Kountry is part of Kanakuk Ministries and this Kamp is aimed at kids aged 7-11.  Literally the best summer of my life.  Made some of the best friends any guy could have and goofed off with kids and was paid to ride water slides.  But not only was this a great summer, it was a very frustrating and humbling summer.  2 weeks at a time I was responsible for 12 kids.  That’s twelve people who I had to make sure were having a great time before I could even think about what I was doing.  It’s hard when your thoughts, your emotions, your wants not only don’t matter, but don’t even get brought to the surface of conversation.  I poured everything I had into these kids for six weeks, and not once did my feelings matter.  That would be hard for any college aged kid.  But for me it was especially trying since I have always been concerned with myself more than others.  So when I got out of Kamp it was all about me.  My feelings, my thoughts, my emotions finally could matter again.  No one could get in my way of what I wanted.  So I started to dig my trench of selfishness again.  And when things wouldn’t go my way I would dig harder and harder to get out of this trench by trying to find that instant gratification.  But this trench turned into a crater with no hope of getting out.  So I did something I should have done when the thought of myself first creeped into my head when I walked out those gates at Kamp.  I prayed.  I felt this rush come over me saying, “I’m in control, just trust me.”  So I am.  I am trusting God with everything.  He is my provider and I will find refuge in Him.

Now I really didn’t come to this conclusion of praying and trusting God all by myself.  My boy Jonathan has a blog on this site also.  It’s amazing, check it out.  Here’s the link: http://jonathanwatson.wordpress.com/

Anyways, I was reading one of his posts, and it made me think about what I was doing.

So, for 13 days, you are giving all of yourself to the 12 kids in your barn. Constantly pouring yourself out. Working your fingers to the bone. And sometimes, kids just leave and don’t even say bye. What?! I just gave my everything for you for thirteen days and you walk out of here and don’t even say thank you. Don’t even say bye. Don’t even a wave. Nothing. And they’re gone.

Immediately my thoughts were, I am doing the same thing.  I went to Kamp, God worked through me and poured into me the entire summer, and I just left.  I didn’t say good-bye, I didn’t thank God for what he just provided me.  I packed my things said bye to the staff and went on my way.  So this first post isn’t just an introductory blog as much as it’s a statement, an apology.  And just like what all apologies do is they create…they create A New Beginning.

-Aaron S.     Luke 15:11-32