What the world thinks is manliness...

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote here!
Lots of stuff has happened since the last time, good stuff and bad, but God is good through it ALL.

I worked today with some people from my old McDonalds...and it got me thinking about how I hated it and why I hated it...basically, I was a girl. And now I'm doing my best to reclaim the essence of masculinity. I was working with my best friend (at work anyway) and we have this tendancy to make crude jokes (I don't enjoy them, but for whatever reason, I follow along) and I thought...'why do I make these jokes? Am I trying to prove I'm manlier than I was? That my sex drive and my sexual thoughts are operational?' and that's when it hit me:

The world's idea of manliness has a lot to do with the masculine sex drive. Seriously. Guys really think a man is a man (or THE man) if he sleeps with the hottest girl, or can hit on them or whatever. The world thinks manliness is about sex.

I'm not claiming to know exactly what manliness is because that is a journey I'm on right now...but I know it's a lot bigger than sex. Just my thoughts for the day.

The least of these.

Matthew 25:34-40

³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

This verse always seems to be on my mind anymore...the more I learn about worship and the more I learn about managing my money, this verse keeps coming to my mind.

I say worship because the way we treat people is the way we treat Jesus. That's NOT to say that people are Jesus. But the level of respect and honor with which we treat people reflects the way we esteem the Lord.

I am so reminded lately of religion...the Sunday morning suits and the people who abandon the cause of Christ for "The cause of Christ," anything out of the ordinary or anyone who doesn't wear a suit, or any lost person...any of that is keeping them from their focus. It's religion.

I seem to have a million doors opened every day for serving...and I try to run through the thought in my mind that whatever I do, I do to Jesus. Part of it is doing it, the other half is the attitude. You can do your job with a crappy attitude, and it's worthless to Jesus. You gave Him your bad attitude. You can sing and dance during worship music, but if your heart does not remain there when it's done, it's noise in God's ears. A clanging cymbal, Paul says.

But every time someone asks me to get them a case of nuggets, or go bring up gravy, take out the trash, etc, at work, I think, "This is just like Jesus asking me to do it for Him." and it makes it so much more worth it. And as far as the money goes, something cool came up today...(well, half-cool-half-bad) my mom and my two sisters were both sick, and I called on the way home to see if I could get them anything and ended up buying ginger ale, crackers, and chicken noodle soup. I have rarely felt so satisfied in my life. Verse 36: 'I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Wow. What a privelige. Serving is really a privelige.