Praiseworthy

Hey guys, guess what? I'm starting a "series." A lot of "popular" bloggers have certain days that they do certain things. One that I follow does "5 Fave Friday," another one that I actually participate in is "Mani Monday." Well, I will be doing my own, and it will be "Thoughtful Thursdays." I don't always post deep, meaningful things, but I want to do it more often. So every Thursday I'll be sharing some scripture and some thoughts that are just a little bit more important than my usual randomness. But really, it's the scripture that's the most important.

Made this simple little deal with PicMonkey, of course :)

So last night in youth Chad brought us another good lesson. This time it was on temptations. Dun, dun dunnn... always such a weighty and difficult topic, but hopefully the kids listened, heard the Holy Spirit within the message, and will be able to apply (or at the very least remember) some of the things we talked about. Temptations are impossible to avoid, just like those trials we face that I talked about last week. Both trials and temptations will always come our way. The tricky part is how we choose to handle those things.

For Christians the topic of "gray areas" is often one that is avoided, because it's just so...well gray. It's too confusing and the lines are usually so blurry. And it gets even more muddled throughout different denominations within Christianity. Here's the thing - it shouldn't be that difficult. A simple scripture will help you determine if a certain situation is appropriate or not...

"Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." --Philippians 4:8

If anything we do isn't PRAISEWORTHY, then it probably shouldn't be done. Wow. That's a serious claim, right? And let's not pretend that I live like this all the time. Wouldn't it be great if I could say that I only ever do things that bring praise to our Savior?! Well that would definitely be a lie - which wouldn't be praiseworthy.

There are so many times I mess up and sin, and give into temptation, but luckily for me (and ALL of us), we have a loving and merciful Father who will forgive us every single time, if all we do is simply repent and ask. What an amazing thing! So whenever we do give into temptations (because let's face it - we're ugly, sinful humans so it's bound to happen quite regularly), our gracious Lord forgives us.

But in the meantime, committing this scripture to memory, and recalling it in times of temptations and gray areas, may just help us make the right decision, rather than giving into that temptation and sinning.

Short cut to remember this long list -- If it aint praiseworthy, don't do it. Maybe I'll try to make that a motto for myself or something. Or maybe for our whole youth group? I will also be working on memorizing that list though, which will be the second one towards my goal of six before my birthday. Yay scripture verses!

So, what do yall think of my new series, Thoughtful Thursdays?! :)

Edited to add -- this will now be a link-up from now on! Hopefully I'll actually get a few other blogger ladies to join in with me, and make this a regular thing! I'm adding the linky tool to this one, just to see if the code works out...