Allergies.

Last week was Memorial Day. We decided that we wanted to spend our day doing yard work outside of our house. So we ripped out old bushes, and raked and cleaned, and pulled weeds. We had a very productive day in the yard! Well almost immediately Emily got sick. She ran a fever, she was snotty, she was sneezing, and coughing. It was allergies... The stirred up dust and pollen had gotten her. Well it was just a day later that I came down with the same symptoms. And now here I am 4 days in with no end in sight. I AM SICK OF IT....literally!

When these things happen I am reminded of how amazing our bodies are. When something is in them that doesn't belong, they fight and kick and scream until it gets that sickness out of your body. The only bad thing is that we feel it every step of the way.

But these thoughts struck another thought in me... What if we felt this when we had sin sickness in our bodies? What if every time we sinned with our eyes, our eyes hurt and itched and watered. What if every time we sinned with our words we got a sore throat, or a canker sore in our mouths? What if every time we sinned with our hands we felt pain? Wouldn’t you kick and scream to get the sin out of your body? Can you imagine if our bodies served in such a way that they reminded us when things were in them that shouldn’t be in them - not just physically with sickness, but spiritually with sin. I think if this happened our sins would start to leave our bodies. I think if this happened we would be more inclined to address the hidden sins in our hearts. If we felt every impurity that was in us, I think we would do everything in our power to rid of them.

Like allergies that come in and infect your body, sin will do the same to you. Sin is like a brewing sickness that eats away at your soul. The question is are you fighting to get rid of it?

Christian Friendship

“Most of us don’t need a psychiatric therapist as much as a friend to be silly with.”

- Robert Brault

There is something special about friendship isn't there? This week I have had the privilege of spending time with some of my best friends. They were in town for graduation, and chose to stay with us. As we sat around this weekend catching up on each other's lives, reminiscing on times spent together, laughing at good jokes, and venting about frustrations - it’s in moments like these that I cherish a good christian friend the most.

As the quote above says, I believe Christian friendship is like a medicine to your soul. It is something that strengthens your faith. It is something that sharpens your senses. It is something that challenges your flaws. Or as Solomon once said, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man can sharpen another” (Proverbs 27:17). Paul has even made the statement “bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Well the opposite of that is also true - good company strengthens good morals.

The kind of people you surround yourself with - the friends that you have - will determine the kind of life you live. What kind of people do you find yourself surrounded by? Are they those who strengthen your faith in Jesus? Are they those who challenge you when you're in the wrong? Are they those who help you find God when you feel like He’s nowhere around? Every Christian needs good Christian friends. We need to surround ourselves with people who draw us closer to Jesus, not pull us further away. We need to surround ourselves with people who help us see the beauty of Jesus and not those who ridicule the life He called us to.

Find yourself a good Christian friend, and you will be a stronger, more grounded, and more faithful follower of Jesus because of it.

-Kolton Ballance