Tim Young | Heartstone Journey

Why God Uses Symbols To Communicate To Us

When we begin to explore God’s word, it doesn’t take too long to discover that God uses tangible symbols as a way of communicating to us. Often God’s people are instructed to make use of symbols to help them understand or remember what God is teaching them. Some examples of symbols include

the rainbow as the sign of God’s covenant to us that He will never again destroy the earth by a flood (Genesis 9:13),
the placement of the twelve stones in the River Jordan to remind the Israelites of the crossing God had provided for them “as a sign” and “memorial” (Joshua 4:3-7),
the star of Bethlehem to signify the birth of Christ (Matthew 2:2),
the dove to signify the Spirit’s presence at Jesus’ baptism (John 1:32),
water to signify one’s commitment to Christ at baptism (Romans 6:4),
bread and wine to signify Jesus’ body and blood (1 Corinthians 11:23-26),
the symbol of a lamb to represent Jesus Christ (John 1:29), and
my heartstone (Joshua 24:27 NLT).

Also, we still use symbols today to communicate important moments of significance such as wedding rings, birthday cakes, birth stones, and red roses. They are used today as a natural way of communicating significant meaning. There are also many references to the symbolism of stones in the bible, but here are some that I have collected that have significance for me.

3 Reasons “The Magnificent Seven” Is Magnificent

I love a good Western! Some of my favorites include, “The Good The Bad and the Ugly”, “The Outlaw Josie Wales”, “Silverado”, “Open Range” and the new “The Magnificent Seven” is a worthy successor to its 1960 namesake.

The original Magnificent Seven is more your dad’s favorite film than a cinematic blockbuster, which was also a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 Japanese film “Seven Samurai”. Denzel Washington does a great job in leading a cast of acting talent with a heroic and watchable performance. If you’re looking for classic Western action, the movie does not disappoint in giving the audience spectacular gunfight scenes faithful to this genre of movie. Also notable, were the inventive set pieces accompanied by astonishing scenery and backdrops. I have not seen a Western this good in awhile.

Spoiler Alert

How God Trains His Soldiers

O tested soul, perhaps the Lord is sending you through this trial to develop your gifts. You have some gifts that would ever have been discovered if not for trials. Do you not know that your faith never appears as great in the warm summer weather as it does during cold winter? Your love is all too often like a firefly, showing very little light except when surrounded by darkness. And hope is like the stars, unseen in the sunshine of prosperity and only discovered during a night of adversity. Afflictions are often the dark settings God uses to mount the jewels of His children’s gifts, causing them to shine even brighter.

Wasn’t it just a short time ago that on your knees you prayed, “Lord, I seem to have no faith. Please show me that I do”? Wasn’t your prayer, even though you may not have realized it at the time, actually asking for trials? For how can you know if you have faith, until your faith is exercised? You can depend on the fact that God often sends trials so our gifts may be discovered and so we may be certain of their existence. And there is more than just discovering our gifts, we experience real growth in grace as another result of our trials being sanctified by Him.

Why People Dislike “Christians” And How To Change That

If you’ve spent any time reading the stories shared in the Bible, you see that the early Christians had a major impact on the world around them and truly left a legacy. The question I want to explore is, what kind of impact are we having on the world?

Yes, there are many “called by His name” that are being used by God to change hearts and change lives, but too many are bashing those He came to redeem. Bashing people because of the color of their skin, their race, beliefs and yes…sexual orientation. Bashing people for their political views or affiliations; Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, etc. Basically, bashing a world that doesn’t line up with a distorted “Christian view”. It doesn’t take much courage to label people; to categorize them based on the way they look, talk, if they drink, use profanity or what kind of music they listen to. Somewhere along history’s timeline, since Jesus set the narrative, we’ve made Christianity more about mass producing a church-going-whitewashed-perfect-holier-than-thou-we-are-better-than-the-non-believer tribe instead of meeting the brokenness of humanity right where it’s at.

Is any of this awe inspiring?

Remember the woman caught in adultery? or the women at the well?

To be a follower of Jesus Christ is to love God and others. He said it Himself, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” I don’t know about you, but I do this very imperfectly!

It’s tough to live out this high calling, to love ALL people while holding contempt for so many of them…isn’t it. If we truly want to wave the banner of Jesus Christ to a lost and hurting world, we need to drop the attitude… and man up with some good old courage and boldness (of course speaking the truth in love). Actions bring life to words and we need to inspire a bit more! Instead of dictating to the world how they should live, why don’t we start by showing them how to live by living it out and demonstrating it in our own lives. The problem is that many of us don’t live out the lives we impose on others and we just don’t inspire — at all! Don’t believe me? …ask your kids how amped up they are about the whole Jesus thing.

Ok, where am I going with this?

The Most Epic Quotes From Braveheart

Mel Gibson’s Braveheart is the story of the Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace who led revolt against King Edward I of England during the 13th century. Although some of the historical fact might have been infused with a bit of Hollywood license, the movie was nonetheless…epic! There were awesome battle scenes fought without relying on CG, there was the film’s romantic emotional-tugging soundtrack and the epic theme of courage.

Yeah, this is one of those inspiring movies that will watch over-and-over again, but one of most inspiring elements of the movie are the timeless quotes about freedom, passing the mantle, and epic courage. Here are some of my favorites:

Why God Uses Symbols To Communicate To Us

3 Reasons “The Magnificent Seven” Is Magnificent

How God Trains His Soldiers

Why People Dislike “Christians” And How To Change That

The Most Epic Quotes From Braveheart

Favorite Quotes

Cool Scripture

Never Out Of The Fight!

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