How He loves us

A long time ago, there was a certain kingdom that grew to be the most powerful empire at that time. It had stood against rival powers and prevailed and now was uncontested in all of the known world. The greatness and success of the empire was only possible because of the emperor himself, a very intelligent and valiant man. He also acted as the general of the imperial army, which is why nobody could defeat them in battle. The emperor was not a cruel man but a wise, kind, and integral person, there was no other ruler like him, and some would wonder if he was God in human flesh!

At the same time that everyone feared him and wouldn’t dare get on his bad side, he was madly in love with a simple peasant girl in the slums of the capital city. He would wonder and wonder of how he could win her heart. He knew that if he invited her to live in the palace as his wife, she would either love him for his power or falsely correspond to his love in fear of what would happen if she didn’t. And going to the door of her house with his armed bodyguards wouldn’t be a good idea either. What he wanted was true love, that was only possible without pressure of force.

And so, knowing that his power was too imposing to sustain a meaningful relationship with his love, he went to her village, dressed as a common beggar to conquer her heart as an equal. But this was no disguise or costume. So great was his love for her, that he permanently renounced his position upon the most powerful throne in the known world just so he could be with her.

The Big Problem

Aaah Sabbath morning, what a blessed day! Our holy day to worship our heavenly Father and to be in communion with Him. We all look forward to this day here in the Adventist church for it is a day of rest and spiritual refilling. The day we come to church to see our brothers in Christ and to listen to the Pastor’s latest reflection, the day to take our minds off of worldly things and set them on Godly things and maybe even gain some more biblical insight through our weekly Sabbath school lesson. Yes, this is the best and most fulfilling day of our week!

That is what any good seventh-day Adventist will tell you if you ask him about it at church, and in an odd and contradicting manner,  he may turn straight back to his game of Temple Run on his smart phone! You may be standing there in confusion thinking, “These Adventists aren’t very consistent!”, unless the said Adventist explained to you how his smart phone is somehow sanctified by the presence of the Bible app he’s got, slowly collecting cyber webs between it’s virtual pages. It’s funny, you may even notice that there is a lack of an actual Bible or a Sabbath school lesson on his person. And sadly you may leave the church and never come back, in search of a better spiritual experience.

This is a huge problem among our church youth, and the church as a whole when this youth becomes the leaders! We have this terrible notion that we can be Adventists AND be involved in worldly things at the same time! We keep on following our sinful passions and we fail to realize that we’re being watched, and that this very conduct is one of the biggest obstacles people have to face when deciding whether or not to join our church!