“But [King David] replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.’” 2 Samuel 24:24

True sacrifice. What is it? The above verse, one that I only recently discovered, is one that most often sticks out to me in Scripture when I think of sacrifice. In the context of chapter 24, King David, the man after God’s own heart, goes to Araunah to buy his threshing floor to build an altar to God. However, Araunah offers King David whatever he wants for free. This is when David states the above quote.

How often do we really sacrifice something to God? Many times I think that I’m sacrificing something for Him, or for time with Him, when in reality, it costs me nothing to do it. I think it’s important for us to remember that true sacrifice costs us. When the Israelites sacrificed in the Old Testament, they did so of the best of their flocks. One of the greatest tests of sacrifice was when Abraham was told by God to sacrifice his only son. “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love…. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about’” (Gen. 22:2). Now that is a cost to think about! And, of course, God Himself made the greatest sacrifice so that we might be redeemed to Him. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

I challenge you to think about the cost of spending time with Him and serving and obeying Him. Although I hope we ultimately enjoy serving and obeying Him, He never told us it would be easy. On the contrary, He said that we would often be persecuted and hated for it “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matt. 24:9). Let us all pray that God will work in our hearts to desire to give Him the best we have to offer, whatever the cost.

By Lisa Grimenstein

Since this month’s theme is about caring for God’s creation, I thought I’d mention organic cleaning supplies. Whether you’re cleaning the kitchen for your mom, or scrubbing the bathroom in your dorm, you can help care for the earth, and your lungs, by using a few environmentally friendly cleaning products. Organic cleaners can be purchased at most stores, but since they tend to be expensive, I’ll include links to recipes for homemade products.

The Money Saving Mom has a great article about homemade cleaning supplies, including information, recipes, and links. Care 2 has recipes for glass cleaner, furniture polish, and more. Pioneer Thinking describes how to clean ovens, cobwebs, carpet, and hairbrushes with homemade supplies.

If you’re going to use homemade cleaning products, you may want to make your job more fun by putting your most used item in a pretty bottle! You can either make one yourself (along with a pretty cleaning rag), or purchase one.

Even if you just trade one normal cleaning product for homemade (such as using Club Soda instead of Windex), you’ll be doing something to help the environment. So roll up your sleeves, make a product, and get to work so you can enjoy an organically clean home!

By Davonne Parks

My mother was five weeks pregnant when she miscarried her child. Just a few weeks later, she became pregnant with me. Miscarriage is such a tragic loss, and full of shattered hopes and dreams. However, if she had carried that baby to term, I wouldn’t be here today; I simply wouldn’t exist. That idea always makes my head spin!

I’ve also always felt that God has a real purpose for me or He wouldn’t have placed me on His earth, under the circumstance that another baby had to die in order for me to be born. God created all of us under His circumstances and with amazing potential; in fact, the average human uses only a small percentage of their brain. So many people die without using their minds, and their lives, to the full potential God created them for. I don’t want to be one of those people! I want to live up to my full potential and, when I am on my deathbed, to reflect on my life and know with complete certainty that I did everything I could do for the sake of Christ.

As Christians, we should all have that same feeling because Jesus had to die so that we could live eternally. Do we realize that He is just as real as that precious baby? We owe such a debt of gratitude to God for the chance of eternal life, that we do indeed need to show Him how much we appreciate Him by living the life He wants us to live, and by sharing His love with as many souls as we can.

God created each one of us for a purpose – it’s up to us to live it.

– Anonymous

Happy first day of spring! We’ve all survived the cold winter, and can celebrate warmer days ahead.

Think about starting a butterfly garden– you can make one with your mom, little sister, neighbor, or by yourself. If you’d rather have a garden you can eat from, consider growing tomatoes. They’re cheap, easy, and taste much better than store-bought tomatoes. If you’d like to plant something different, or do anything else spring-like, search google for more information, and if you come up with something good, please leave a comment letting us know what it is.

Enjoy your spring!

By Davonne Parks

In a recent young adult Bible class, we discussed 1 Samuel 18:1-16, and the lesson really intrigued me. In this passage, we learn David was striving his best to do what God wanted him to do. We also learn that Jonathan loved David as himself, and helped David to excel. Saul, on the other hand, was so jealous of David that he tried to harm David, to the point of attempting murder.

Then the question was broached – “Who are you?” Really, who are you? Are you David, seeking God’s will above everything else? Are you Jonathan, selflessly serving others? Or, are you Saul, only caring about what you want, and becoming jealous of others when they surpass you in some area?

If you’re a David, you can make it through the Sauls, through prayer (Matthew 5:44), and with help from the Jonathans in your life. If you’re a Jonathan, then God bless you! Sometimes you may not know how much you’ve helped someone through a difficult situation, but keep on keeping on, because you will receive your reward one day (Matthew 6:3-4).

If you’re a Saul, learn to feel secure in your own successes so you don’t need to be jealous of others in theirs, pray for forgiveness (Acts 8:22), ask forgiveness of the people you’ve purposely hurt (1 John 1:9), and prayerfully strive to resist jealous impulses in the future. Recognize that everybody has their own God-given potentials and talents, and respect others for the talents they have (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). Only when you learn to focus on doing your own best, and stop worrying about everybody else, will you be able to live up to the full potential He has planned for you.

By Davonne Parks

“Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). In school, I hear quite often these statements from peers: “It’s not my problem,” or, “Well she said that about me first, so I’m gonna talk about her!” However, a young Christian should strive to have a different attitude. We read that God commands us to be kind and to help others, even if they are not kind and helpful to us (Luke 6:27-36; Matthew 5:43-44).

The problem today, which is absolutely apparent in high school, is that the world tells us that if someone does wrong to us, that we should do the same! The world also teaches kids that we don’t owe anyone anything–especially if they haven’t done anything for us. Teenagers will so willingly jump to retaliate because the world says that’s okay! But how wrong that is! For one, we should not follow the world (Romans 12:2).

But even more importantly, our perfect Example, Jesus, was kind to even those who crucified Him–He prayed for them! (Luke 23:33-34). I know that as a Christian young adult, I should set the correct example for my friends, and be willing to help anyone in need. We are here to serve God and to serve others by showing His love, whether we think they deserve it or not. Even God’s Son came to serve: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). May we work each day to have the attitude of a servant, and show all those around us how truly kind and loving God is.

By Hannah Smith

I’ve always liked the story of Noah. Ever since I was a little child, I have been taught about Noah’s Ark (Genesis 6, 7, 8).  (…which makes it all the more embarrassing and strange that I would have ended up saying Moses built the ark when I was in Bible class in 8th grade…) But Noah’s Ark appeals to me now, because it’s easy to relate to as a teen! I’m reading through Genesis right now, and a certain verse I read a few days ago is bold in my mind: “Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.’” WOW. Wow! Listen to that…”I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation” (Genesis 7:1, emphasis added). See, God had become sorry He had made man, because there was so much wickedness in the world. But “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” (Gen. 6:5-7) Although it seemed like there was no good in the world, Noah and his family were righteous! The Lord commanded Noah to build an ark so that he and his family would be safe from the great, destructive flood.

While Noah built the ark as the Lord had said, it’s likely that Noah was probably pretty ridiculed during that time. Those who were wicked probably thought Noah was absolutely crazy for obeying this God! But, Noah obeyed GOD. He didn’t say, “But, God, what will everyone think when I begin to build this ark?” or, “Can’t you just save me and my family without me building that?” No. I believe Noah knew what a blessing it was for God Himself to recognize his family and their continuous obedience to Him, and allow them to be saved from the flood! I also think it’s amazing that 1) there had never been rain, and 2) it took him decades to build the ark—that’s a lot of time for ridicule and doubt!

Today, how many times do Christians think, “What will all my friends think if I miss that basketball game to go to Bible study?” and, “There’s no fun at my church. I’m going to my friend’s church tonight for some real entertainment!” It’s an extremely important lesson to learn that, when it comes to obeying GOD, it doesn’t matter what people think! Won’t it make a greater impact if you say instead, “No, sorry, I’m going to our youth group’s Bible study! You should come with me!” and, “I’m looking forward to tonight’s sermon. I know worship is not for entertainment, and I’m glad I get to sing praises to Him, pray to Him, learn about Him, and be with my Christian family!”

Obeying GOD will come easily when we have a close relationship with Him. Others will see our total commitment to Him when we adamantly turn away the world’s ideas of “fun,” and find our true happiness in serving Him! One day, I want to see God look at me and say, “You were righteous in your generation…” Keep Genesis 7:1 in mind as you go through life.

Hannah Smith

Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

At the request of a good friend, I assisted in creating a poster with the above verse.

To fully grasp the meaning of the verse, I read the chapter surrounding it, and I especially appreciate the part about the meditation of my heart.  How often do we think we’re doing a great job as Christians, but still allow sinful thoughts to dwell in our hearts?

To truly be pleasing God, our hearts need to be meditating on, or thinking about, pure, godly things.

Let’s allow the message in those words to penetrate our minds, so that our hearts really will be acceptable to Him, because when our hearts are right, acceptable words will naturally follow (Luke 6:45).

– Davonne Parks

Sometimes the excitement about spring causes us to forget to enjoy the last days of winter.  In hopes of inspiring you to enjoy the rest of this quiet season God created, we have decided to post our own favorite things about winter. Psalm 74:16-17 “Yours is the day, Yours also is the night; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have established all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter.”

Rest – Without yard work or outside activities due to cold air, there are more hours of free time each day to rest.

Hot drinks – A good cup of hot tea or homemade hot cocoa and a book or magazine is so relaxing.

Coziness – Being inside, while the wind blows outside, with a fireplace, book, movie, or games.

Snow days

Snowboarding or skiing – especially on annual church trips.

Sledding – with family and friends.

Making snow angels – much easier than snowmen!

Snow cream – homemade by mom.

What are your favorite things about winter? Leave a comment below telling everyone what you love about this season.

– Pierce My Heart Staff