In the Christian world, our aim should be to grow in the knowledge of the truth.  All of us, as Christians, strive to please God.  We want to make Him happy with us and we all want to know that He is pleased with what we are doing.  "This way of thinking might produce a tendency to perform for God opposed to receiving His grace" - Pastor Anthony. 

    Although trying to make God happy is a wonderful purpose, we do not need to be preoccupied with trying to do it by our good deeds. The point is that we CAN NOT make God happy by our good deeds. We can't do it. It's impossible! Everything that we have is nothing compared to what He has already done for us through Jesus Christ! 

    We need to stop torturing ourselves with this concept. We can't please God with our good deeds because we have already pleased Him by accepting Jesus Christ.  We have already pleased God when we chose to have faith in His Son Jesus Christ. By having faith in His Son, we have become His children and He is proud of us for realizing exactly who He is, Our Father.

"And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly serves Him." Hebrews 11:16

Stop Torturing Yourself and Live a Life with a sincere Heart towards Our Heavenly Father.

By Marteena Rodriguez

   By Marteena Rodriguez
    
     What comes to mind when a person says the word, Spite? "Well its wrong," some would say, "It's a natural humanistic feeling," some others would reply.  Both of these answers are indeed correct. While Spite is wrong, it IS a natural humanistic feeling.
                                                                         
                                                                    What is Spite exactly?
 
According to dictionary.com Spite is: "a malicious, usually petty, desire to harm, annoy, frustrate, or humiliate another person; bitter ill will; malice."

To put it in simpler terms, Spite = Hate. 

So what'sthe big deal? There are more serious sins I could be discussing like Lust, Greed, Anger, Self Righteousness etc. Why even make a speech on Spite? Its so little, meek, and minuscule.
                                                                       That is the reason I am discussing it. .

You see, thats the way that most people think. They think that Spite is nothing more than spite and will never be anything more than what it is. It's just a "Little Feeling". 

But, how many times does this " little feeling " blind us from making the right decisions? How many times does this "little feeling" get in the way of what's good and perfect and pleasing to God?

Why do I quote " little feeling?"  Because it is SOOOOO much more than that. 
Spite isn't just a " little feeling."   If it was then there would be nothing to worry about. 

So all in all, what is Spite?  Spite is a seed. A small, miniature, minuscule seed that, when given the right kind of soil, can grow into a gigantic tree of regrets, problems and pains. 

                                                    Some Examples

 1) Cain and Able (Gen. 4: 6 - 7) "Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." 

    You see here, it talks about Cain being angry because God accepted Able's offering but not his. That small occurrence, caused Cain to become spiteful against his brother and against God. That one speck of spite over a short period of time turned into anger which, in the end, turned into murder. 

    Cain regretted murdering his brother, he tried to hide the fact that he had done it, nothing is hidden from God.  Cain's problem afterwards was that he had to go away from his family and his pain, well, he had to live with his brother's blood on his hands.

2) Joseph and His Brothers (Gen. 37: 4) " When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him."

    This was just another occurrence of how Spite had grown into something more than just itself. Because of the bother's hatred towards Joseph, they sold him into slavery, Never to be seen by them again. (Well until a couple of years later, but you can keep reading the rest of that story to find out)

    Joseph's brother's had it a bit easier than Cain did. They regretted the selling of their youngest brother and hid it pretty well from their father and mother for a good amount of time. The problem was the fact that they had to live with themselves after they had done it. They may have not gotten the scolding of a lifetime, but every day that guilt just kept eating and eating away at them. 

    So, just a quick recap.  Spite is a little feeling that is equal to hate.  Hate is a seed that shouldn't be allowed  to be planted into the heart of people.  Why?  Because hate leads to anger  and anger clouds the minds of people so that they can't reason.  And when people can't reason then they tend to do things that they regret later on.

Picture By Patrick Oleson

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Not just any blood will do.  What is the cost of blood?  What value?  What is worth more than the value of blood?  What is the value of your life in blood? 

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the cost of blood.  The shed blood of Jesus Christ is the value of your life in blood.  Now do you see the value in Jesus' dying to shed His innocently and costly blood?

He shed His precious blood so your value on earth could remain and eventually produce worth that far exceeds earthly temporalities.  Life is in the blood.  Receive a total blood tranfusion from placing your trust in the Son of God, The Just One, "Jesus Christ."

Believe with me for a moment that God will give you a new heart and new blood in the lineage of faith.  Faith produces life in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  This blood offering satisfied God on our behalf.  God poured out his blood as a Love offering to purchase you and me from the slavery of this wicked and perverse generation.

We are in need of new blood, fresh blood, clean blood, a blood devoid of corruption and sickness and decay.  This blood is precious and can be applied to all who ask God for a new heart and the necessary pure and undefiled blood to flow through that heart guaranteing a life connected to the eternal blood line of Jesus Christ, our Faithful friend.