The Incarnation

"Christmas is more than just a baby being born in a manger. More than a poor fiancé engaged to a humble virgin teenager. More than a Magi, more than gold, frankincense and myrrh, it's more than the narrative of a nativity scene; it was so much more that occurred. It's the coming of the Messiah, the fulfillment of all Old Testament promises, the prophecy of the suffering Servant and all His accomplishments." –Odd Thomas

Just think: This is the day when the second person of the Trinity gave up His position and clothed himself with flesh to forgive the sins of men. This day was the day our Hero bridged the gap between God and man, grabbing our hand and God's to bring us together in perfect relationship. It’s crazy to think that today is the day Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (God is with us)." Isaiah 7:14

Last week I stood in a checkout line holding a present for someone and was overwhelmed at how much we idolize everything, except Jesus on the day of His birth. For example, having fun with Santa and his elves is fine, but for these characters to take the place of Jesus negates the true purpose of this holiday. My chest tightened and I began to grip the present with emotion asking for forgiveness for the way I don’t celebrate and worship God for His decision to come as a man. When you think of it this way, all of a sudden it’s not about wreaths, trees and presents…, but it’s ALL about Him, our God, our Savior, our Redeemer, and Friend. This is the day that e v e r y t h i n g changed; we learned from the Creator Himself about our value, that wretched sinners like us were worth His sacrifice.

So this is our tradition, that we celebrate the coming of our God and Hero, our Savior that came to pull us from the pit of death and clothe us with righteousness. So before presents are unwrapped, mistletoe hung, men tune to their football games, food eaten, and Christmas songs sung, sneak off to your quiet place, shut the door and worship.  Thank our King as today is the day the incarnate deity came to a broken world and gave us the greatest gifts of all… crazy love, amazing forgiveness and everlasting life.

Merry Christmas,
Russell Gaither

Is Suffering Optional?

Have you ever read a passage that makes you just shiver? That makes you question, “am I really trying to follow Jesus completely, or is this something that I say I am, and that I only partly do?” Jesus has recently grabbed hold of my hand, and walked me through a brutal revelation that I find hard to swallow, and to be honest, that I don’t like. These revelations have haunted me throughout my campus as I pass one after another, after another of athletes, women, males, coaches, and professors, which need to have an encounter with Jesus. My heartaches, but my soul tugs in the other direction as I walk by them afraid to share a bit of information that is more important than anything that we are taught. Yet I don’t do it consistently, being both selective and prejudice of whom I talk to. I feel the tension of Jesus saying, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” While walking in this tension I have realized why I do not act on my faith consistently. It’s because I shriek, and step back from the bitter cup of suffering.

I would like to believe that I am a Romans 1:16 (For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes) kind of man. And in many cases I can be. Unfortunately, I’m not always that guy, and what I have quickly come to find out and struggle to accept, is that following Jesus produces suffering. Paul says “I will suffer for the sake of understanding Jesus,” and I have to question do we? As a people who claim to follow Jesus do we drink from that cup? We pray and state we are completely sold out to bringing the kingdom to our schools, work place, family and friends. If that is so, then we have to be married to the principle of suffering.

What does it mean to Suffer?
I want to be clear for multiple reasons. I feel as though if I didn’t clarify, some would write to me saying that there are different types of suffering and I believe that to be true. For example, what the Chinese go through if caught, we cannot match or say we will ever go through that form of persecution. But on the other hand for one to say, “The reason why we are not being persecuted is because we live in America,” I believe to be a weak statement in which I would argue if you are not being persecuted then it’s because you are purposefully avoiding persecution (just like I have). When I say suffering, I mean things like verbal abuse, your family cutting you off because you chose Jesus above all, losing friends, professors, bosses, and others calling you out and challenging what you believe. This is where I too am challenged.

The dictionary states that suffering is to undergo or feel pain or distress. I've come to the realization that I want to embrace my sufferings as the apostles did in Acts 5:40-41 (They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.)

This scripture raises a deep question: Does the world love you? Are you cool with everybody to the point that no one knows that you’re a Christian? If you were arrested for being Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Can you answer these honestly? I personally had to say no even though I've lead people to Jesus. I am not consistent and need to continue to pick up my cross and follow Him. While I continue to learn this, I feel the weight of the cross on my back becoming heavier as I walk up the mountain of missed opportunities.

Paul goes on to say in John 15:18-20, (“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: A servant is not greater than his master, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.)

This scripture brings me to my last point. Jeremy Stephens always asks the question, “How many people have you pissed off lately?” I mean how many times have you brought Jesus up in a class, or with friends, teammates, co-workers, or family, where Jesus wasn’t the cool thing to talk about? After all Jesus was pretty good at pissing off the religious folks and others who weren't interested. So, whose feathers have you ruffled lately for His namesake? Or have you thought, “I would rather not deal with any form of persecution today.” We should consistently ask ourselves these questions understanding that Jesus was neither loved, nor liked by everyone. His main goal was to point to the Father and in doing so He was hated.

The disciples had plenty of chances to avoid persecution and suffering. Do you know Acts 4:19? When Peter and John were threatened to stop preaching in the name of Jesus? Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: To listen to you, or to Him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” What about Paul, he probably would have lived longer had he not gone to the dangerous places he did! Maybe he should have lived in a gated community in the suburbs, and done a little fellowship potluck every Sunday.

This has been a challenging piece to write. I feel like there is so much to say and yet I have so much to learn. I dislike suffering and persecution and I’m never going to be comfortable with it, but it comes with the territory and I’ve already seen what Jesus can do. I challenge you to take a step back and observe yourself. What was the last excuse you used when you passed that person you know you should have spoken to? How did you feel? Did you have a strong conviction? Hopefully Jesus will provide a fresh revelation to you as I recently received.

After all there are a lot of things that Jesus states that really makes me take a step back and shake my head no thank you. But is not suffering part of the message of Christianity? Are you willing to suffer, be excluded, and be looked at as the Jesus freak? I believe Jesus is walking me there. And what I’m seeing in the distance is a cross with my name on it, which is a place where i must learn to die to myself and my selfishness.

As Philippians 3:8 says, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ.”

Russell Gaither

God's Creation Exploded With A Bang

The blog is back... with deeper writings, strong topics, interviews, and more; Casey Foster starts by equipping us from where it all started off... BANG!

Do you think that the universe exists? Do you really KNOW for sure how it came into existence? Wouldn’t that be a good thing to know? Either if you are not sure what started the universe or to have evidence that backs up your viewpoint? Haven’t you ever wondered how everything we see today came into existence? Haven’t you ever been left with more questions after hearing your middle school science teacher’s explanation of the “Big Bang Theory”? – And no I’m not talking about the TV show.

As a college student, or just fellow human being, I have asked myself the same cosmological question, investigated the options, and have decided that God created the universe. Wouldn’t it be great to be done reading this blog and know 3 things: 1) What created the universe 2) Why that makes sense 3) What it means for your life? Let’s start where science left us hanging…

We have all heard of that “Big Bang Theory” right? Most scientists today accept this theory as the best explanation for how the universe began (according to Chris LaRocco of the University of Michigan). So there was a “Big Bang”. The universe did have a beginning. If it had a beginning, it had a beginner, or some cause that set everything else in motion. Like if I took your computer and threw it across the room into the trash…how did your computer get in the trash? It got there…cause I moved it. So yeah, I believe in the Big Bang; I just know who started it.

Just like that computer example, every effect has a cause. To believe that a God created the universe takes less faith than to believe that NOTHING created the universe. In the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, it says that there is an IRREVERSIBLE physical process where the universe is running down and the sun is going out. If the universe is eternal the sun would have gone out a long time ago. BUT the sun is still up there, we still get energy, so the universe MUST have had a beginning. Ordered things must go towards disorder. We have to put new paint on the walls, gas in our car, and our bodies wear down over time. The universe is not eternal.

The universe is also expanding. If we watched it in reverse, we would see it all collapse back to a starting point of nothing. If you can imagine a grenade exploding in the middle of outer space, you would see all the little pieces flying away from the starting point (much like a cone shape). But like that cone you can trace each piece back to that starting point where the universe began. It exploded out of nothing.

Einstein’s theory of general relativity according to NASA’s website describes “time, space and matter as co-relative. The universe came into existence WITH space and time together. Before time, before space, before matter – out of NOTHING, the universe exploded into existence. Nothing. Literally NO-THING. There was not positive and negative energy; there was no vacuum, no swirling, no gas, and no molecules! Steven Hawking said in his lecture on The Beginning of Time that “all the evidence seems to indicate, that the universe has not existed forever. Rather, the universe and time itself, had a beginning in the Big Bang.” Agnostic astronomer Dr. Robert Jastrow said in his book God and the Astronomers that astronomers have proven by their own methods that creation was caused by supernatural forces.

WHY in the world…would and AGNOSTIC astronomer say that super natural forces are at work?! Why couldn’t nature have created the universe? Because there was no nature! If it is not a natural cause, then by definition, it must be a supernatural cause. Something beyond the natural, This leaves us with one question….

Either no one created something out of nothing, or someone created something out of nothing…

So what can we learn from the cosmological argument? That this being must be space less, timeless, and immaterial. Why? Because it created space, time, and material. It must be powerful because it created out of nothing. It must be personal, because you cannot go from a state of existence to a state of non-existence without making a choice. And only personal beings make choices. It must be intelligent because it created such a highly designed universe. And it must be a creator because all of these characteristics are attributes of a God. A God creating the universe is the best explanation for how the universe began.

By showing you that what started the Big Bang was something space less, timeless, immaterial, powerful, personal, intelligent, and a creator, it points directly to a God. Revealing evidence to make the case that the universe is not eternal (it had a beginning), because the universe is expanding you can point it back to a starting point, and once there was no time, space, or matter, and then bang out of NOTHING the universe exploded into being.

So what – I just told you that a God created the universe. Does that in any way change how you see the world? Go figure it out for yourself! Is what I am saying the truth or a bunch of nonsense? Do your research! Don’t just make assumptions based on nothing. Does science really have all the answers you need or not? Read a book like The Case for a Creator and judge for yourself if it’s reliable. Go check out a small group discussion, and ask questions. Because whether you believe that a God created the universe of not, the BEST thing you can do for your faith (or unbelief) is to question it. As far as science has gotten us, it has never disproved the idea of a God creating the universe. So whether you like it or not, it’s a theory that needs to be tested. But are you brave enough to search for the truth of your very existence?

Casey Foster

Casey is both an Intervarsity leader and small group leader at the University Of Tampa where she leads freshman to knowing and falling in love with Jesus. Her knowledge, love for people, and friendly character helps people open up to the struggles that one may have while learning that as freshman they can strongly impact there campus through the power of Jesus.

The Fellowship Hall

Church, what does it consist of? Is it a building, band, or a pastor? In my mind, when I think of the church I picture a building or service; however, in reading the Bible, you realize this is NOT what Jesus was referring to. As Francis Chan states, “If Jesus was on the earth right now, and you asked him, “Hey, where is the church?” He is not going to give you an address or point to a building.” In pondering the question, I realized the church is deeper and more profound than we think. It is not a building or structure, but the collective followers or believers who fear God, follow Him, and are filled with his Spirit.

This collective group is called into fellowship by Jesus who calls us out of individualism and into community to form true relationships with one another. This is achieved by sharing basic human needs such as housing, money, food, transportation and material goods. It is also accomplished by sharing our time, heart, joys, fears, companionship, friendship, love and more. So many times I have treated fellowship as an after thought. It has never occurred to me how important it is to be a part of God’s family and body.

Did you ever have or remember the fellowship hall at your church? This was usually the gathering place for a potluck after the Sunday morning service or a place for sharing family fun, sporting activities and more. In Acts 4:32 it says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” This is what Jesus defined as fellowship. Isn’t this different from a potluck or a church softball game?

Francis Chan tells a story about a gang member who after repeated visits to his church and hearing the Word surrendered to Jesus. He was baptized, but after some time stopped attending. He later ran into a church member who asked where he had been. To this, he responded, “When I was baptized, I thought it was going to be like what happened when I got jumped into the gang. Suddenly when I was a part of the gang everyone had my back. We became family 24/7. So when I got baptized, I thought it was going to happen the same way with the Christians. But what I didn’t know was that it was just for Sunday mornings, and Wednesday nights. I thought we were going to be family. But I think I was wrong.”

The problem with this scenario and for the church is that he was right. It hurts to hear that a gang member who was lost and came to the knowledge of Christ was ultimately lost because he realized the church was far from true fellowship. This brother felt he was not brought into what was supposed to be his new family. It’s a scary realization that in this case the gang portrayed a better family unit than God’s church!

Yet, unity isn’t normal these days. We live in a time when people are so quick to ditch each other and walk out on relationships. God is calling us to be above our culture, to be in fellowship and in community. Though we are imperfect, at the end of the day it is about forgiving one another and showing the power of grace that keeps the body strong. This demonstration should show the power of fellowship to those who are not a part of God’s church body and community.

There is something about our unity that makes the message believable, yet many would rather do it on their own because they feel it is easier than having to put up with different personalities or arguments. It is easier to think, “let me just have my own relationship with God”, but that is not what Jesus created us for. Our mission to the world is to show Jesus by living as one, so the body may move together in unison. We weren’t created to do God’s mission on our own. I need you and you need me, so anyone saying, “I have a relationship with God; I don’t need the church, or these little gatherings.” is not only missing out on fellowship, but I dare to say may be lost. After all Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell won’t stand against it.” He calls us to congregate, so we don’t have to go at it alone. So the question is, do you want to be apart of this community, family, and unity or do you want to continue to live in insolation?

I challenge you to help strengthen your church, your community, and to pursue unity. We are the church and we need each other to function properly as the body of Christ moving as one in mission and in purpose. Potlucks and sporting events are great ways to become closer to forming a tight community, but it has nothing to do with the way Jesus intended fellowship to strengthen and mature His church in love, service and relationship to one another. Only this way will the church take its spiritual place and leadership, so that hell itself cannot stand against it.

Russell Gaither

Listening To God In The Desert

Alison Haupt challenges us to continue to pursue Jesus in the late stages of the summer even though we are away from our community.

I know that the summer is often one of the hardest times of the year for so many of us as we are away from our campus community and thrown back into our home environments which for some are great and amazing and for others are challenging and difficult. I know for me, whenever I am away from the community in which I experience God with the most, it feels hard to hear him, it feels hard to know he is there, to feel his presence and to believe that he can still speak to me.

I think that hearing God is something I have always had to work at in my life. I think when I first became a believer, I felt like I would begin to hear God with a megaphone and that everything would suddenly become extra clear to me, but unfortunately that has not been my experience. I have heard from God and do hear from him, but it is always something that I need to work at and it is not because God is not speaking, but that I am having a hard time listening.

I have come to realize that the reason it becomes hard for me to hear God when I am not around community, is not only because I hear God through them at times, but the truth is that the community helps me strip away all the unnecessary sound waves that get in the way of hearing God’s voice in the midst of all the noise in my life and helps me to focus on Jesus and allows me to hear him most clearly. This is one reason of many why a community of believers has become so important to me and why I have given my life to see that very thing created on college campuses because I want so badly for people to hear God the way I have been able to hear him and know that having a community around us spurring us on towards him is a crucial element of that. My life would be so different without this.

I am sure some of us have felt a little strained this summer to hear God, to know he is there because our community on campus that we are used to experiencing God together in has been fragmented and I hope that some of you have been able to find a community back home to connect with and to connect with God through, but I know that can be much easier said than done.

I remember being home at my parents house for the summer after having such strong encounters with God during the school year and feeling empty, feeling like I don’t know how to follow Jesus here, feeling like I was slipping back into old patterns and struggles, feeling like I couldn’t hear God and I had gone from being in a rich rainforest with so much life and was transported to a desert. I do remember though having some deep encounters with God even in those desert moments. I remember some mornings devoting time to spend with God before going to work and praying for my family and getting to see God use me in special ways, I remember God using me to have spiritual conversations with co-workers at my summer job. I remember visiting different churches in my hometown just to get a taste of how others worshiped and to try to find a community. Most of all, I just remember when I would take time to be silent and still before Jesus him speaking to me in subtle and simple, yet profound ways. I had poor discipline in my walk with Jesus and the times with him were so sporadic, but they were still rich and powerful and it was Jesus who sustained me through the time I had to live separate from my core spiritual community.

Although I believe with everything in me, that Jesus calls us to be in community with one another and worship him and do mission out of that community. There are times when we are away from community for a season and I still believe that God wants to speak to us in those times and show us more of himself and use us in the lives of others as well. I know that Jesus is everywhere because I have been in some dark places, but I know that even in that Jesus was there so I trust that regardless of how desert like our life feels, that he is still there wanting to speak to us if we are willing to listen.

I encourage you as the summer comes to a close to find places of silence to be before Jesus, to read his word and simply to listen to whatever he may want to say to you. I encourage you to look for ways to pursue Jesus in the environment you find yourself at home, at work, traveling, or wherever you may be. And I encourage you to stay connected to each other in our community in any way that you can. We need each other to push us towards Jesus and his ways so let’s be there for each other however we can in the last part of this season.

Alison Haupt

Alison's heart for the college campus has produced tons of students to follow Jesus and experience true christian community in an environment where its hard to find family away from family. she also is the Intervarsity area corrdinator for the tampa area.

Breaking Down the Wall of Perfectionism

Hannah Holmes Shows us how perfectionism can draw us to insanity if we don't let The Lord come and take our worries.

Somewhere, deep in my childhood, I formed this idea, this little false religion of perfection. Long before I can remember I decided I could, and would, get it all together and do it all by myself. I would have straight A’s. I would be the best behaved kid in my family. People would love me and respect me and I would have lots of friends. I would have a successful career. I slowly built, brick by brick, a standard, an image of the life that I would lead. Needless to say, my foundation was anywhere but where it should be.

And it didn’t take long for the flaws in my carefully constructed building to show up. Every grade that was a little less than I expected, every fight with my family or friends, every failure, big or small, was pure agony, like touching a hot stove. Every little detail in my life became something to worry about it. I learned that trying to control everything is a full time job. And it got harder and harder, going from middle school to high school, from high school to college. By the end of my freshmen year of college, my perfectionism was threatening to crush me.

That was the pinnacle of a realization that I think had been coming on slowly for years. The realization of what I was spending all my time and energy building. It was no grand palace where I could live, not even a sturdy dependable home- it was more like a wall. With every relationship I tried to control, every impressive group I got involved in, every test I killed myself over, I stacked up another brick between me and God. I even used ministry in building the wall. Just add that to the list of things I need to do, to be “good enough.” To be worth it. But at the end of the day I wasn’t sure what I was worth at all.

Perfectionism was the perfect lie, that I could do it on my own, that I could ever be “good enough.” I knew that was wrong, but it was somehow louder than all the truths I had ever heard about grace in my entire life. But in the end grace was all that could have broken down the wall. The craziest thing is to look back and to see that as I was carefully laying down bricks, God was chipping away at my self- made prison. And though the breaking down of the wall has been a long, continual process, I’m pretty sure it all started with me sobbing on my dorm room floor. In my spiritual journey away from a place of control to a place of being surrendered, the most powerful moments have been those where I am completely broken and aware of my desperation. Those are the moments when I can hear the loudest what I know Jesus has been whispering to me all along. “I love you.”

I am still struggling to understand this love. I firmly believe that the knowledge of it is the only antidote to our culture's disease of perfection. The truth of Jesus’ love is the only thing strong enough to drown out the lies we hear about needing the perfect grades, perfect body, perfect job, perfect family, perfect boy or girlfriend… because the truth of His love is that no matter how far you sink you’re not going to go below it. No matter how hard you run you’re not going to come outside of it. And no matter how high you go you’re never going to touch the top of it. It’s endless, incomparable, and it’s nothing we could ever pay back, nothing we could ever deserve. Knowing that, grasping that, even in the tiniest little bit, has been the key to breaking down my wall of perfection. It was the only thing that could convince me to surrender. And while in the struggle against perfectionism I’m not, well, perfect, it’s the only thing that convinces me to keep pursuing Jesus in all my weakness, because that’s the way He loves me.

When I started to understand Jesus’ love, it completely changed the way I looked at life and ministry. That’s the thing about His love; it doesn’t make you perfect but it changes your outlook. The very desires and motivations of your heart begin to look more like His when you let his love sweep over you. I could hear Him whispering in my ear, “I love you. Come with Me, I have something amazing I want to show you. I want to use you to bring My kingdom. Will you come with Me?” Suddenly ministry went from being a duty to being an adventure. Will you answer His call to adventure in your life today? Will you leave all your imperfections, your worries, your need for control behind and walk with Him, run with Him?

Hannah Holmes


Hannah is a leader at The University Of Tampa where she leads freshmen to christ and teaches them how to be leaders on the campus. Her natural instincts to love and listen brings Jesus's character to the campus in multiple ways.

From Barbies To Boys To Jesus: The Truth About Womanhood; Day 2

PART 3

Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Out of God’s unfailing love and for our own protection, God calls us to be pure spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. 1 Peter 1:16 reminds us, “Be holy, because I am holy.” God knows that if we compromise one of these areas than the rest of these areas will be contaminated and impure. By committing fully to purity in Jesus, we allow him to give us the fulfillment that he longs to give us. For women, an important step toward purity and integrity is the unwavering and genuine presence of modesty, not just physically, but spiritually, mentally, and emotionally as well. Modesty is “Freedom from vanity or boastfulness. It is the high regard for decency/ simplicity of behavior speech, and dress (Dictionary).” Modesty or lack thereof is communicated through non verbal and verbal cues. It’s been proven that 80-90% of human communication is non verbal. This includes body language and what is worn on the body.

Women of God are called to dress and live modestly. Showing body parts such as our midriff, butt, breasts, and excessive amounts of skin, draw attention inappropriately and away from the person we are beneath our skin. The same need for modesty applies for those of us who cover our private parts but never cease to wear the trendiest clothing and eye catching outfits. Modesty is not just about the exposure of bare skin. Dressing immodestly in one or both of these ways exposes our lack of security in ourselves and our selfish desire to be distinguished from other women. Modesty is not just about a rule to obey or break. Most of all, our practice of modesty correlates to the love and fear that we have for our Lord, which brings wisdom (Proverbs31:30). When we dress without modesty, we break the heart of our body’s owner, Jesus. We hurt him with our lack of faithfulness and respect for him. Genuine modesty corresponds to the genuine motive to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). Genuine modesty also reveals that you love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). We must operate on love at all times. This love for our neighbor includes protecting our men by what we say, do, and wear.

When we are immodest, we do not protect our men or ourselves from the enemy’s chance of gaining leeway. When we dress immodestly, we make ourselves an object to the eyes of men, at the expense of their struggle for purity. We rely on their animal calls and compliments. When they fail to love or respect us properly, we respond by calling them “dogs, heart breakers, jerks, and cheaters.” It cannot be denied that many men’s actions take part in the destruction and belittling of women’s identity. At the same time, as a woman, I feel that we ought to own up to the fact that we are more than capable of making the choice to demand deference by what we wear, say, and do. Instead, many of us, me included, have made the decision to teach men to disrespect us. Like many women, I have encouraged men to disregard my inward beauty and praise my outward beauty, as a means of gaining a counterfeit of the real love and admiration I desire. I am still in the stage of discovering that my identity and worth do not stem from what I do, but from belonging to a God who has perfect identity and priceless worth. We must look for love and rest in the Lord and no further. Casting such great expectations on men leads to a lonely and empty dead end. Using our words or bodies as a weapon to manipulate is a disgrace to the Lord and his men. When we act outside the will of God, we seek our own selfish purpose that is bound to fail. To be followers of Jesus, we should not “seek our own good, but the good of others (1 Corinthians 10:24). As a matter of fact, Jesus warns us to keep from causing others to stumble (Luke 7:1) Lets serve our men and keep our sacred bodies a secret, unless/until, they are made one with a godly husband, given to us in marriage by the Lord.

I often mourn over my brokenness in this area, but God’s grace has given me the capacity to think and act in standards of love for myself and those around me. In no way am I suggesting that women ought to cover every inch of their skin. And in no way am I advising women to wear baggy turtle necks, sweat pants, or sweaters every day. Asking myself these following questions have been helpful hints to expose the deep motives that dictate my actions. When we interact with the opposite sex, it can be helpful to ask ourselves what our true motives are while answering the following questions.
-“Does what I’m doing, wearing, or saying yield to my highest standard of dignity and self respect? Are my actions an expression of my love and concern for men and their struggles?
Could my outfit cause men to stumble? Could my consistent fashions pressure women into dressing immodestly and competitively?”


PART 4
Romans 12:1
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

The spiritual plagues of pride and competitiveness are not just suffered by men. Women suffer and subject themselves to its poison as well. In fact, we will be just as protective and guarded over what we feel is our territory. Our territory may include the image of ourselves, and something, or someone we consider to be ours. If that means being in fierce competition with one another than so be it. If anything or anyone appears to be a potential threat, our jealousy and tactics of defense will take over. I can recall an experience illustrating my point.

Only a few months ago, my boyfriend and I were walking to the parking lot. We had just ended a long day of school. As we approached the crosswalk, an attractive girl was crossing from the opposite direction. As she passed us, I felt a sense of paranoia and inadequacy rush over me. From the corner of my eye, I glanced at my boyfriend to study his reaction to her passing. I was anticipating that he would look away from me to stare at her from head to toe. This girl went to our university. She was one of the boys’ favorites. I had seen them drooling over her, as they called her a “10.” They admired her beauty and how much skin she revealed.

Without even knowing her, I had often been judgmental and irritated with her for the way she dressed and flirted with the men. But, as long as she didn’t approach my boy friend, I could ignore her antics. Needless to say, I didn’t want her coming anywhere near my boy friend. Since childhood, I have expected all men to gawk at women with unrestrained eyes. I have consistently caught my own male family members, ex boyfriends, and guy friends doing it. In the moment we passed this girl, she made no direct action to interact with my boyfriend. Regardless, I felt that she was a threat to my boy friend’s affection for me. It’s a great grievance of mine to admit that I did not feel the love of God for her. I was unconcerned about her own struggle to fully love and respect herself enough to keep her body a secret. Instead, I was worried that in comparison to her, my effort for purity and modesty wouldn’t be enough to maintain my boyfriend’s interest. I felt tempted to retreat back to the old days of giving my ex boyfriend something to look at to keep him. In reality, I did not see my boy friend turn his attention toward her. Regardless, after she passed, I was among the group of girls who have made jealous remarks against her, “She wears too much makeup.” After the words left my mouth, I could trace the motive of my remark and I felt convicted by the Holy Spirit.

When we got to the car, my boyfriend knew something was wrong. He asked me and I denied it until I broke down in tears. I confessed my feelings and my guilt. He listened intently, comforted me, and thanked me for trying to pursue purity and Jesus, rather than short term, impure attention. His walk with Jesus not only gave him an appreciation for modesty and purity, but also a desire for it to be permanent in his relationship with me. Not once did he say “Dress a little sexier for me.” I was incredibly relieved to have such a man of God.

Later that night, I brought my pain, insecurity, and competitiveness to Jesus. I cried out for his love and grace. I asked him to remind me how to have compassion and how to love all women and men around me. I thanked him for giving me a boy friend who loved Jesus. However, the center of my desperate cry was for Jesus to remind me of my worth and identity in Him. I asked God, “What makes a woman beautiful in your eyes?” As I sobbed, I begged him to silence the world and its opinion of me. I begged him to make his voice the loudest and the one that matters most to me. In this situation, I may have been physically modest, but my emotions were impure and in need of the grace of God. I was lacking compassion for the girl, as well as a certainty in my God given identity and worth. I was unaware until God used this pretty and immodest girl to show me the condition of my heart.

God’s Word tells us that our “beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hair styles and the wearing of gold jewelry, and fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:3, 4). It is common for women to lie about their age and expend every effort and resource to appear younger. We have a fear and hate of death, old age, and ugliness. Despite our culture’s obsession with physical youth, we cannot and should not solely rely on our bodies or clothes to establish, measure, or preserve our sense of beauty. Our flesh and clothing will fade away, tarnish, and wrinkle quickly over time. Since we can’t measure our identity and worth in outward adornment, than where should our beauty come from? What should we dress ourselves with to make ourselves attractive?

Colossians 3:1-3,12,14 gives us valuable insight on how to live and what to dress ourselves with…1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God… 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience… 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

These are the treasures we should pray for, put on, and practice. We have the freedom to decide what to wear and how to wear it. The gifts quoted in 1 Peter and Colossians never lose their value and they never go out of style. They are the timeless and precious treasures on the inside of our cup that make the outside of your cup clean as well (Matthew 23:26). Rather than expose our fleshly assets, we are called to dress ourselves with these godly assets instead. We can make the choice to put them on every single day. They are the epitome of beauty in its truest form, because they inspire a life of sacrifice. Just as Jesus did, we are to “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1).” When we do so, we will no longer fight the wonderful bodies and image that God has given us. We will see that all of our joy, worth and identity come from a heart that rejoices in the heart of the Lord. The holy women of the past had an unfading beauty because they had such a love for their Maker (1 Peter 3:4). They kept the Lord as the center piece of their hearts and brought all glory and attention to him. This blog post is not condemnation to women, but it is a call to the Holy Spirit’s conviction. It is a God given call to defy the silence, and honestly acknowledge our struggles and wrongs as women. It is a call to repent of our sins, bring them to the cross, receive God’s grace, and live in spirit and truth (John 4:23)

Camara Bensinger


Camara Bensinger is the founder of Multi Cultural Bible Study at the University Of Tampa and is one of the most powerful spiritual leaders on campus. Her capacity to love on many girls a week and giving her time to multiple women a day who need spiritual guidance, or a listening ear makes her a light on the college campus. The passion and conviction that Jesus gives her allows us as a community to better understand the world that we live in and the honest struggle that it takes to live righteously.