Why do you give us candy?

You asked a very important Apple Box questions, “Why do you give us candy?”

Well, we give you a huge Hershey’s candy bar once a year to celebrate your birthday.

And we give you a regular-sized candy bar if you bring a visitor just to treat you and your visitor.

And, as you leave TRACK each Sunday, each student receives a bite-sized “We love you” candy, only for that reason!

That’s why!

Where is God in heaven?

Since we learned that God is really everywhere (see our recent post "Where is God?"), we can say, “Yes, God is in heaven. 

The Bible teaches that heaven is the place where all the people who have accepted Jesus Christ, God’s Son, as their Lord and Savior will spend eternity. In your new Bible, please read John 3:16, John 1:12, John 14:6 and Romans 10:9! Though heaven is a place, it is a spiritual place, not a physical place. Just like God is spirit and we can’t see, smell, touch, taste or hear him, we also can’t use our senses to see, smell, touch, taste or hear heaven. Although our human minds cannot truly know exactly what heaven will be like, the Bible describes heaven as an unimaginably wonderful place, where we are always in the presence of God! You can read about this in Revelation 21:3-4!

I have a lot of stress. What can I do?

You asked a great Apple Box question: “I seem to be having a lot of stress. What can I do?” It is a big and important question and I hope this Apple Box answer begins to address it. Remember, you can ALWAYS ask follow-up questions!

A friend once told me, “If you don’t feel stress, you just fall down!” He was right, you know, because some stress is just plain necessary in life. No stress in my muscles and I fall to the floor in a puddle; no stress in my conscience and I make poor moral choices; no stress during a math test means I am not using my brain – you get the picture … we have to decide whether the stress we are experiencing is “good” stress – like the stuff above – or “bad” stress – like the stress caused when you are bullied or the stress that causes you to feel super mad, sad, scared or shamed.

Since I don’t know exactly what kind of stress you are dealing with, here is some general & biblical advice for dealing with “bad” stress. 

After you read this, I encourage you to speak to someone you trust about your stress. It is a good first step to ask the Apple Box. Next, actually SPEAK with someone. For example, perhaps choose your dad or your mom. You could ask to speak with them. 

Then you choose a comfortable place (maybe the dinner table after dinner, or in your room before bed, or under your favorite tree in your yard – someplace you like). My daughter and I always went to the same comfortable place to talk about difficulties, problems and stresses, and it made it easier to chat.

Then ask them to listen but without giving you advice. (This helps you explain everything you want to explain. And you have to ask them just to listen because people who love you naturally want to help you and give advice – and that’s ok, but they first have to completely listen so they know your whole story. Does that make sense?)

Finally, ask them to share an experience from their own life. This will help you to know that they understand a little bit better what you are experiencing (even though what you feel is still different) and also that you are not alone in feeling stressed (in fact, I’m pretty sure every human being feels super stressed at one point or another.

When I have been stressed I have gone to Scripture for help. There are certainly many verses which can offer you comfort, but truly my favorite is Psalm 23 (the whole thing!) I would also encourage you to read Jeremiah 29:11-13. I have found comfort from stress in both of these verses many times. They help me understand that I am loved, and valued, that I belong and am important, and that I am not alone.

I hope this answers your question. Let me know how it goes, ok? God bless you!

Where is God?

This is a super fantastic question, "Where is God?"

Since God is Spirit and not physical, we can’t use our physical senses to see, hear, smell, taste or touch him. So how do we know where he is?

Let’s go to the Bible and see what it says …

In the book of Jeremiah God said, “Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him? Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jeremiah 23:23, 24)

In Psalm 139 King David wrote, “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night – but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.” (Psalm 139:7-12a)

In Matthew 28:20 Jesus told us, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Bottom line, there is no place where God is not. I have to admit, this kind of thinking is waaaaayyyy beyond my brain capacity but we must try to understand that God is able to be present everywhere because he is Spirit. He is not confined to a physical existence. God is not limited by human categories, human experience, or human reason.

But – and this is the best part – knowing that God is present everywhere not only means that you don’t need to feel alone, it means you don’t need to feel afraid. No matter what you are facing, you face it with God at your side!

Why don't we see Jesus?

Wow! That’s an awesome question! If you remember the story of Jesus, He was crucified on a cross and died but then came back to life three days later. Then, after that, he hung out with His disciples for about another 40 days and then we read of an incredible thing that happens to Jesus. In the book of Acts, we read in Chapter 1 that Jesus gives instructions to his disciples but then, “After he said this, He was taken up before their very eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9)

Jesus is literally taken up into the sky towards heaven! The disciples are amazed and watched as he was lifted into the sky. And as they stared at Jesus disappearing into the clouds, the Bible tells us that two men dressed in white suddenly appeared and stood next to them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into Heaven will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into Heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11)

So, the reason we can’t see Jesus, right now, is because He is seated in Heaven at the right hand of God! Pretty cool, huh? The Bible tells us that, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)

But, don’t worry, someday Jesus will return and His return will be glorious! And the Bible tells us that everyone will see him; in fact, Jesus, Himself, tells us, “And all the peoples of the earth will ... see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of Heaven, with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30)

Why did Satan decide to betray God and rule in Hell?

Wow! That’s an awesome question! In order to understand who Satan is and how he came to be, we need to look at Old Testament scripture and, in particular, the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 28. Remember that Satan was an angel named Lucifer. In fact, he was more than just an angel, he was an archangel and was literally God’s second-in-command.

 

But, pride entered Lucifer’s heart and he wanted to be like God. Ezekiel 28:17 reads, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” So because he became wicked and corrupted and because he was filled with violence and sinned, Satan was kicked out of Heaven. God expelled him BUT God did not send Satan to rule in Hell … Satan was cast down to earth. Satan is not the ruler of Hell, he rules here on earth to those who do not have Christ in their hearts. Sadly, not only was Satan cast down, so were a third of the heavenly hosts (angels) who decided to follow Satan. They are no longer angels but are called demons. Between Satan and his demons, all sorts of bad things have happened here on earth and will continue to happen. It started for us in the Garden of Eden and continues on to this day and beyond.

 

Satan wants to stop God’s plan because he knows that, in the end, he will lose against God. But, God’s greatest victory over Satan is Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection on Easter Sunday, death has been defeated and we can be assured eternal life with God in Heaven.

 

Oh, by the way, Satan will eventually be condemned to Hell where he will “reign and rule” for all of eternity, but not for a while yet.

If Jesus took all sin into His heart and died, how did He go to Heaven?

Great question! The truth is Jesus never sinned. He (amazingly!) took the sins of the world upon himself as part of God’s plan to save us from being separated from Him forever.

 

Do you remember that in the Old Testament days, animals were sacrificed to pat the price for sin? The blood  of the sacrificed animals was traded to cover the sins of men. The animals never sinned, but were sacrificed in exchange for human sin.

 

Animal sacrifices, however, could never be enough to fully cover human sin. God’s plan required blood from a perfect, sinless person. This is because our perfect and holy God cannot be anywhere near sin. Of course, it was impossible to find a perfect and holy person since we all have sinned and fallen short of the perfection God requires. So, God sent His One and Only Son to be that perfect, sinless sacrifice in our place. 

 

Jesus took our place and endured the punishment that we all deserve, even though He had never sinned. Because of His sacrifice, God was able to us as if we were perfect and sinless like Jesus. And even though Jesus accepted all our sin onto Himself, He was still perfect and sinless! That is why Jesus was able to ascend into Heaven and is alive today at the right hand of God.

 

This is why we now can be sure of having eternal life with God in Heaven, because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Of course, we still have a part to do … though it’s actually pretty easy: You simply have to accept Jesus  as your Savior and accept His gift of grace!