What is it that keeps us moving forward? What is it that makes us think we are helpless? FEAR. Fear of what? The unknown. The what ifs. The possibility of failure. The fear that we won't live up to someone's expectations. The fear that by moving forward we may have to deal with what is in the past. FEAR.
I once heard it said that you can look at FEAR as an acronym.
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real
Courage is what overcomes fear, although we must understand that courage only exists where there is fear. Courage is moving forward despite the fear. My courage comes in the promises written down in the Bible, God's Word to us, His creation. Here's another acronym that gives me the courage to move forward - FROG. Yup, frog.
Fully
Rely
On
God
Why should I live in fear that I will let others down? The truth of the matter is I can never live up to everybody's expectations. So, I cannot let that stop me from moving forward to achieving the great purposes God has planned for my life. Failure is inevitable. But failure does not equal uselessness. Failure only devalues my life when I refuse to get up, dust myself off, evaluate what went wrong and get back moving again. Failure only keeps me down if I refuse to learn from it.
On my own strength, I will never be great. Sure, I could achieve worldly success, even the American dream. But if that is all that I achieve, I have left nothing better than before I came. I believe that my purpose in these years of my life is to so impact the world that it will never be the same again. At the end of my days, I want to see a trail of changed lives that are changing lives that are changing lives that are changing lives. Ultimately, that's what it will take to change the world.
No, I do not let fear drag me down. I was created by the Master of Perfection, the Owner of Strength and Power, the Molder and Perfecter of Life, the Living Water, the Source of Forgiveness. Today, I will no longer try to live by my own strength and power. I want my life to count for something more. My fear is that when this life is over and I stand before my Maker, that He would be disappointed in me. That is my fear. God has a purpose for me just as He does for you. But, that promise is not only valid if I live a perfect life, without mistakes, failures, misspoken words. No, that purpose envelopes all my mistakes, misfortunes, my failures and creates with those a story that reaches to the hearts of others giving them hope that they, too, can have a story of victory over their imperfections too.
So, today, I will not live as a slave of fear, unable to move forward to the destiny for which I was made. No, God in heaven became a man here on earth, but unlike any other man, He was fully God. That man became my replacement on Calvary and died taking on the punishment that was supposed to be for me. But, the God man would not let my shame and sin leave Him in the grave, but in the power that only God can have, that God man came back to life after three days and now sits in the seat of power at God's right hand in heaven waiting to return to earth to set things right. Now that, my friend, is power.
That power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same power that rests inside of me through the Spirit of God that God Himself placed inside of me the moment I fell to my knees asking "God would please save me from myself." Because of that power I am no longer weak, for the power over death empowers me. So I refuse to live with fear and timidity for I now lay hold of all that God has for me. Today I will stop letting fear guide my steps, but I will choose to follow God and obey His commands. My friends this is the sign of true love, to follow and obey with total abandon. My wants and desires mean nothing to me but only what matters for all eternity. No matter the cost or where God may lead, I will continue to move forward to impact a world in need.
What about you? Do your fears of the unknown hold you back? Are you afraid that if you try you might fail? God has a plan for you and it is not in weakness but in the power of the truth only found in Jesus. I challenge you, as I am challenging myself, do not let fear hold you down. I will FROG my way to victory, to a life overfilled with purpose and joy and hope and love. You can have this too if you'll simply believe that God loves you and wants you to be free of the chains that have weighed you down.
No, today I stop living as weak and afraid. I grab hold of the power God gives me this day!
2 Timothy 1:7
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Philippians 3:7-11
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, 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 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Colossians 1:9-14
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 1:18-21
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Loving the "Rents"
This is the third topic in our look at love with our youth group during our month of love. We take a look at the command God gives to honor our parents and how important this commandment is in all our relationships in life, including our relationship with God. If you'd like to follow along on paper, feel free to print off the listening guide and use it to follow along. Hopefully soon I'll learn a way you can fill in online and then print or save the final work, but for now I'd love for you to follow along this way. I haven't tried, but you may be able to copy and paste from this document into your on Word or something.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mR8CqpmfDu9s7GZwtZtgaSYhrH1ujT4IydrV9edX8zw/edit?hl=en#
Ok, I hope you enjoy taking a venture with us and our awesome teens as we look into loving our parents!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mR8CqpmfDu9s7GZwtZtgaSYhrH1ujT4IydrV9edX8zw/edit?hl=en#
Ok, I hope you enjoy taking a venture with us and our awesome teens as we look into loving our parents!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Love...is not proud.
My oldest kiddo has become quite the little artist. I honestly don’t think it will take long before he can draw better than me, which quite honestly isn’t saying much! But, back when his first drawings consisted of nothing more than crazy scribbles all over a page, maybe even in multiple colors, our Parents-As-Teacher gal encouraged us to teach Harrison, even at that age, to be proud in what he has accomplished on his own. So, we’d turn our little two-year-old loose with some white paper and a box of crayons, and within just moments, have several masterpieces of contemporary art! And, being the wonderful parents we are (cough, cough), we doted over every drawing and kept telling Harrison how proud he must be of the artwork he had created. For little children, it is so important for their parents, and all other important adults in their lives, to teach them to understand how to be proud of the things they accomplish on their own. It encourages independence. It encourages a healthy self-esteem. It encourages hard work. It teaches that it is not about what others have accomplished, but to always be proud of the work they are focused on. Personal pride is part of being healthy, but at some point, we can begin to develop an unhealthy pride. A pride that goes beyond simply acknowledging the quality of work, attitude or life we creating and becomes puffed up, giving the proud person a feeling of superiority over others. The Bible tells us in Proverbs that pride (an unhealthy, puffed up pride) leads to disgrace, arguments, destruction and humiliation. This is not the picture of young child holding up their scribbles of work with a giant smile on his face asking for his parents to acknowledge his work. This type of pride lacks a major, underlying characteristic that protects itself from the ends mentioned above—humility. Unlike an unhealthy, puffed up pride, humility, according to proverbs, brings a person wisdom, honor, riches and long life. Now, don’t be fooled and think that to be humble you must be a pushover. Humbleness does not equate to allowing others to walk all over you. In fact, true humbleness can only be achieved if one is confident enough to allow others to come first. I heard Toby Mac on the radio the other doing his Jesus Freaks segment and he was talking about humility. Humility is a strong, quiet, and solid quality that is not easily shaken by outside forces. Think about that. Pride makes people defensive because pride always worries it can be shaken. However, humility is not afraid it will go away, so it continues in its own quiet strength. Those who are the loudest and fiercest are usually full of pride and humbleness. That’s exactly why Jesus set the perfect example of humbleness. Even as He humbled Himself to allow His fellow people and Romans convict unfairly, beat Him within an inch of life, spit upon Him, mock Him, and ultimately sentence Him to an inhumane death penalty, Jesus never once cried out to defend His pride of being God in the flesh. It was the strong, quiet, solid confidence that allowed Christ to suffer, undeservedly, the unthinkable. Yet, ultimately, it was that quality that lead to the greatest victory ever on the face of the earth—victory over sin and death for all people for all time!!!! Now, that is something to be proud about!
The next description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 says that love “is not proud”. Love is not the puffed up, unhealthy version of itself that promises big things yet produces nothing. No, love is not proud because love is humbleness in motion. Love is the strong, quiet strength that does not waver whatever the circumstances may be. What it says it is, it is. It does not need to claim wisdom, honor, riches and long life because it proves those things on its own. What kind of love do you have? Do you have a puffed up love that leaves others broken and bleeding behind you? Or is your love the kind that draws others in, builds them up, and leaves them better off than they were before?
Proverbs 22:4
True humility and fear of the LORD lead to riches, honor, and long life.
NLT
Monday, May 31, 2010
Love Is Not Jealous or Boastful
One of the wonderful things about having kids is that they provide amazing insight into God's word. They possess all of the sinful nature and none of the self control to keep other people from seeing this nature at work. Here's an example. I have three sons, Harrison is six, Warren is three, and Aaron is one (he'll turn two in July). Well, Aaron gets in moods, very frequently, when he wants ANYTHING that Warren and Harrison put their hands on. He doesn't just stop at wanting it; he will charge them and try to take it by force. Most of the time he can't wrestle it from them because they are bigger. However, there have been times when he gets it from them. Of course, being parents who are teaching our children about fair play, we take it back from Aaron and give it to the child who he took it from. Well, in either instance, Aaron doesn't like this at all. Often, he sits down and wails...And I mean WAILS. There is nothing soft or quiet about his fits. He is totally and completely jealous that his brother has a toy that he wants but can't have.
On the flip side, I have seen Harrison cause great strife by telling his little brothers about something he gets to do because he is older. Harrison doesn't usually take naps any longer, however, when he points this out to his little brothers, they don't really like hearing that very much. They become upset with him, and with us, because they think they are being treated unfairly. Shockingly, they never thank Harrison for letting them know that he is able to do something they can't or that he is being treated differently. This is especially the case when we have told Harrison that he can watch a movie, or something else fun, while they are napping.
Being jealous and boasting don't lead to loving feelings. This is why God warns against both of these actions in the love chapter. 1 Corinthians 13:4 says "...Love is not jealous or boastful..." It is very hard to be loving towards someone when we are jealous. What are you thinking when you are jealous? What is your general attitude? For me, I'm thinking about how this person has something that I don't have. It's not fair. Why should they have it and not me? What makes them so much better than me? The snowball effect goes on from there. In these instances, we don't end up thinking about how they are a wonderful person made in God's image. Instead, we end up resentful, frustrated, hurt, feeling neglected. Many times, we start to blame the other person for our feelings of inadequecy or insecurity.
When we are boastful about ourselves, we can lead other people down these same paths. We can cause them to start resenting us. Suddenly, people start looking around at what they have and start becoming less satisfied. The phone that was perfectly fine 10 minutes ago now is not as good. The clothes picked out this morning no longer are as appealing nor stylish. Even who we are as a person can come into question.
Jealousy and boasting both lead to people wanting something they don't have. If our focus turns to what we don't have, then we stop appreciating the things we do have. God cares for all of us. God loves us completely. He provides our needs. When we are jealous, we are not allowing God to be enough for us. We have decided that the creator and sustainer of the universe just doesn't make us happy enough. Instead, we can only be happy if we have an i-phone. And of course, since our friend has an i-phone that makes them a terrible person because they have what we want.
This just isn't true. God IS enough. People are different. What we have is different. They way we interact with each other is...yup, different. The thing that is the same though for all of us, no matter how much money we have, how nice we dress, what kind of car we drive, whether we are single or not, is that God loves us. This is not just any love. It is not a partial or conditional love. God loves us completely.
In fact, God CAN NOT love you more. He loves you as much as is possible. There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.
You are the apple of God's eye. You hold the keys to God's heart.
The next time you find yourself wanting what someone else has. The next time you start bragging about what you have accomplished or what purchase you just recently made. Remember this, God doesn't care about that. He doesn't care what you don't have. To Him, you have it all, are worth all.
One of the teenagers who goes to our church has a shirt that sums this up perfectly. It says, "I may not be perfect, but Jesus thinks I'm to die for."
It's true, Jesus thinks you are to die for.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Love is kind.....
It is always interesting to me to look up some of the original words of the Bible.....meaning the original language.....and then discover what, exactly, that word means. So, I looked the word kind up. It was originally the Greek word chresteuomai (khraste-yoo'-om-ahee). My fancy computer Study Bible defines this word as meaning to show oneself useful or to act benevolently. Now, I don't know about you, but I've heard the word benevolent, but I didn't really know what it meant. So, I used the wonderful tool available these days called the internet and looked up "benevolently" on an online dictionary. Its meaning? A desire to help others without expecting or receiving any profit from the act.
I have a friend who did something that I think shows kindness at its best. Not too far from my house, right by the highway, you can often find people holding up signs asking for financial help. I talked to one guy who said he had recently lost his job and had a wife, two children, and one grandchild at home. He was having a hard time finding a job and was desperate to find ways to support his family. Well, my friend, one day, after work, drove to a gas station near the highway, bought a soda and a sandwich and took it to one of the guys that happened to be sitting out in the middle of the road. He said it was something he had always wanted to do, and decided to just go do it. Well, he sat and listened to the man's story of life and where he was headed too. After talking for over an hour, my friend wished the man luck. The man thanked him for listening to his story and giving him something to eat. Now to me, that's the perfect example of kindness. There was no way this man could repay my friend for what he did, but that wasn't the reason my friend went out there. It was simply to do something for someone because that's what love is--kindness that reaches out no matter what the return might be. The kindness that describes love here is not something that has been earned. It is not based on previous encounters of kindness. It is not changed because of the past experiences--whether they be good or negative. Love in action is kindness whether or not the recipient deserves it. Another perfect example of kindness is God's love played out as Christ died on the cross for our sins. The Bible says that Christ died for us while we sinners. To be a sinner means to be doing the opposite of what God has called us to do. So, while we were biting our thumb at God and not listening to Him, He continued on to provide a way for us to be able to spend all eternity with Him. That opportunity is available to all of us as a gift. All we must do is accept that gift! Amazing!
Putting It Into Practice: This week, do something kind for someone just because. Don't expect a thank you or anything in return. Remember, love is kindness lived out without the expectation of any gain in return. Love in kindness just as Christ loved us!
I have a friend who did something that I think shows kindness at its best. Not too far from my house, right by the highway, you can often find people holding up signs asking for financial help. I talked to one guy who said he had recently lost his job and had a wife, two children, and one grandchild at home. He was having a hard time finding a job and was desperate to find ways to support his family. Well, my friend, one day, after work, drove to a gas station near the highway, bought a soda and a sandwich and took it to one of the guys that happened to be sitting out in the middle of the road. He said it was something he had always wanted to do, and decided to just go do it. Well, he sat and listened to the man's story of life and where he was headed too. After talking for over an hour, my friend wished the man luck. The man thanked him for listening to his story and giving him something to eat. Now to me, that's the perfect example of kindness. There was no way this man could repay my friend for what he did, but that wasn't the reason my friend went out there. It was simply to do something for someone because that's what love is--kindness that reaches out no matter what the return might be. The kindness that describes love here is not something that has been earned. It is not based on previous encounters of kindness. It is not changed because of the past experiences--whether they be good or negative. Love in action is kindness whether or not the recipient deserves it. Another perfect example of kindness is God's love played out as Christ died on the cross for our sins. The Bible says that Christ died for us while we sinners. To be a sinner means to be doing the opposite of what God has called us to do. So, while we were biting our thumb at God and not listening to Him, He continued on to provide a way for us to be able to spend all eternity with Him. That opportunity is available to all of us as a gift. All we must do is accept that gift! Amazing!
Putting It Into Practice: This week, do something kind for someone just because. Don't expect a thank you or anything in return. Remember, love is kindness lived out without the expectation of any gain in return. Love in kindness just as Christ loved us!
Friday, April 16, 2010
The "Love" Chapter!!!
I was driving down the road the other day, looking at all the trees that are blooming beautiful colors all around each spring. Some trees, like the Dogwood, bloom tall and white. The Magnolia tree, which I just recently learned is its name, blooms with big, beautiful pink or purple flowers. Gorgeous. My favorite one. In middle school and high school, there was a neighbor two houses down that had a Magnolia tree in his front yard. It was huge and every spring bloomed with those light pink flowers that would eventually fall off and cover his yard in pink. It was something I looked forward to each year and, to this day, still talk about how I would LOVE to have a Magnolia tree in my yard. (I'm still holding out for a Weeping Willow but Ryan doesn't like those.) Flowers have started blooming--the daffodils and tulips and these little purple flowers that I love but have no idea what they are called! After such a cold, miserable winter, the moment the sun shined in all its glory and created just a little bit of warmth, the world seemed to spring back to life in a kaleidascope of beautiful colors! Isn't it amazing that when the earth experiences just a moment of the sun and the warmth it creates that the dead dreariness of winter so instantly melts away to be replaced by the beauty of spring and it's brilliance in color splashing the landscape?
You know, what a perfect picture of what Jesus does in our lives (and can do in your life if you have yet to experience Him) when we open ourselves up to Him. He can take the most desolate, lonely, barren life and create the most beautiful, clean, purposeful life so very quickly if we simply let Him. All of us, at one point or another, whether it's now or the past or even tomorrow, have times in our lives where we appear dead; we aren't producing good things and we feel as though our purpose here has simply been to drag life out of everyone around us. But, then Jesus, the SON, shines His life and warmth into our souls, and suddenly we look like the beautiful kaleidascope of spring, splashing hope and life where it was thought none existed before. I don't know if you have experienced what God's love, because of Jesus' life and death and life again, can bring to your bare life, but it is one of the most exhilarating moments we can ever experience! No, God is not some far off Being who looks from afar playing Puppeteer to the world, He is LOVE in its intended form, reaching down into His creation to remind it that it's purpose is to bring life to a dead and broken world. Love is THAT powerful! Whether it be in changing one life at a time or revolutionizing the world, God's love is the perfect example of the power of real love in action!
We have been talking about love and looking at what real love is. We looked at love being a "verb" and not an emotion because God gave it to us as a command to love Him, ourselves and each other. Love is an action word that seeks the best interest in others and often causes us, when used correctly, to deny ourselves to make sure others lives are better. Well, if one could define the most perfect form of love, what would it be? Did you know that God has done just that in the Bible? It is one of the most beautiful chapters, not only because it describes what love looks like, but because it is something that we realize we all desperately desire to see from others in our lives. This is what Ryan read to me when he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him as a promise to try to love me as God has defined love and not the world's definition. So, let's begin a journey of looking into what is known as "the love chapter", 1 Corinthians 13.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (NIV)
Have you ever seen or experienced a love that encompasses all of these things? In the broken world we live in, we do see glimpses of this kind of love; however, this is the love we experience THE MOMENT we allow God into our lives!!!!
Love is patient.
What is patience? An online dictionary (www.dictionary.com) says the word "patient" means bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain, etc., with fortitude and calm and without complaint, anger, or the like. Now while that sounds good, what does that mean? The word provocation means something that irritates or angers. Annoyance is something that causes irritation. Misfortune is a distressing moment. Fortitude is the last big word used here and is mental and emotional strength when facing difficulty or danger. So, putting that definition into Engilsh, so to say, the word "patient" means enduring when something irritates, angers, distresses, puts off, is hard, hurts, etc with a mental and emotional strength and calmness without complaining, becoming angry or the like. Wow! I can think of so many things each and everyday that irritate, angers, stresses me, is hard and hurts in my life. I bet you can too. So, if I understand correctly, life provides opportunities to use patience all over the place, at any given moment, at any given time! If I'm really tired, there's definitely more annoyances and irritations too. Patience cannot be shown, however, if we do not have the mental and emotional stength to restrain our complaining and anger at every given moment.
I heard Joyce Meyer, a traveling preacher, define patience as loooooooooooooooooong suffering; suffering through whatever for as long as necessary. I know that patience is often something people pray for, but patience is like a muscle; in order to develop it, it must be used. Be careful what you pray for. God will not give the ability to be patient, but He WILL provide opportunities for us to develop the mental and emotional strength to remain calm when irritating and hard times present themselves. The more we can remain calm in irritating circumstances, the more patient we become. It is using the mental strength in the small things that allows us to use it when it feels like the world is crumbling around us--whether that be in the form of family, sickness, friends, school, work, children, emotions, etc.
Put it into practice: Develop the muscle of your patience this week. When someone says something that irritates or angers you, stay calm. When someone hurts you in some way, stay calm. When your cat eats your sock, stay calm. When your parents won't let you go out with your friends, stay calm. Life provides plenty of opportunities for us to develop the mental muscle of patience. Develop patience and you are showing love! God bless and good luck being patient!
Nikki
You know, what a perfect picture of what Jesus does in our lives (and can do in your life if you have yet to experience Him) when we open ourselves up to Him. He can take the most desolate, lonely, barren life and create the most beautiful, clean, purposeful life so very quickly if we simply let Him. All of us, at one point or another, whether it's now or the past or even tomorrow, have times in our lives where we appear dead; we aren't producing good things and we feel as though our purpose here has simply been to drag life out of everyone around us. But, then Jesus, the SON, shines His life and warmth into our souls, and suddenly we look like the beautiful kaleidascope of spring, splashing hope and life where it was thought none existed before. I don't know if you have experienced what God's love, because of Jesus' life and death and life again, can bring to your bare life, but it is one of the most exhilarating moments we can ever experience! No, God is not some far off Being who looks from afar playing Puppeteer to the world, He is LOVE in its intended form, reaching down into His creation to remind it that it's purpose is to bring life to a dead and broken world. Love is THAT powerful! Whether it be in changing one life at a time or revolutionizing the world, God's love is the perfect example of the power of real love in action!
We have been talking about love and looking at what real love is. We looked at love being a "verb" and not an emotion because God gave it to us as a command to love Him, ourselves and each other. Love is an action word that seeks the best interest in others and often causes us, when used correctly, to deny ourselves to make sure others lives are better. Well, if one could define the most perfect form of love, what would it be? Did you know that God has done just that in the Bible? It is one of the most beautiful chapters, not only because it describes what love looks like, but because it is something that we realize we all desperately desire to see from others in our lives. This is what Ryan read to me when he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him as a promise to try to love me as God has defined love and not the world's definition. So, let's begin a journey of looking into what is known as "the love chapter", 1 Corinthians 13.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (NIV)
Have you ever seen or experienced a love that encompasses all of these things? In the broken world we live in, we do see glimpses of this kind of love; however, this is the love we experience THE MOMENT we allow God into our lives!!!!
Love is patient.
What is patience? An online dictionary (www.dictionary.com) says the word "patient" means bearing provocation, annoyance, misfortune, delay, hardship, pain, etc., with fortitude and calm and without complaint, anger, or the like. Now while that sounds good, what does that mean? The word provocation means something that irritates or angers. Annoyance is something that causes irritation. Misfortune is a distressing moment. Fortitude is the last big word used here and is mental and emotional strength when facing difficulty or danger. So, putting that definition into Engilsh, so to say, the word "patient" means enduring when something irritates, angers, distresses, puts off, is hard, hurts, etc with a mental and emotional strength and calmness without complaining, becoming angry or the like. Wow! I can think of so many things each and everyday that irritate, angers, stresses me, is hard and hurts in my life. I bet you can too. So, if I understand correctly, life provides opportunities to use patience all over the place, at any given moment, at any given time! If I'm really tired, there's definitely more annoyances and irritations too. Patience cannot be shown, however, if we do not have the mental and emotional stength to restrain our complaining and anger at every given moment.
I heard Joyce Meyer, a traveling preacher, define patience as loooooooooooooooooong suffering; suffering through whatever for as long as necessary. I know that patience is often something people pray for, but patience is like a muscle; in order to develop it, it must be used. Be careful what you pray for. God will not give the ability to be patient, but He WILL provide opportunities for us to develop the mental and emotional strength to remain calm when irritating and hard times present themselves. The more we can remain calm in irritating circumstances, the more patient we become. It is using the mental strength in the small things that allows us to use it when it feels like the world is crumbling around us--whether that be in the form of family, sickness, friends, school, work, children, emotions, etc.
Put it into practice: Develop the muscle of your patience this week. When someone says something that irritates or angers you, stay calm. When someone hurts you in some way, stay calm. When your cat eats your sock, stay calm. When your parents won't let you go out with your friends, stay calm. Life provides plenty of opportunities for us to develop the mental muscle of patience. Develop patience and you are showing love! God bless and good luck being patient!
Nikki
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Love Your Neighbor
When Jesus was alive, He was always being questioned. Sometimes, he was being questioned by people who were really interested in the answer. They needed His guidance, His personal touch on their lives, His compassion. At other times, He was questioned by the religious leaders of the time (Pharisees, Sadducees). Most of the time, they were not really interested in His answer. Instead, they wanted to trick Him. The common people absolutely loved Jesus, however, the religious leaders did not. They were threatened. They wanted to try to find a reason to make Jesus look like the fake they thought He was.
One particular instance of this questioning was set up by the Pharisees. They found an expert of the law to ask Jesus a question. He asked Jesus "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:36). This might sound like a simple question, however, there are 613 different commandments found in the books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The Pharisees were hoping that Jesus would anger part of the Jewish people by His choice.
The problem with their logic is that Jesus was the author of the Bible. Of course He knows the correct answer and the most important commandment. He calmly, and without hesitation, responded "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself." Nikki has already written about loving God with everything you have. I'm going to focus now on the command to love your neighbor as yourself.
The first question you may have is, who exactly is my neighbor? Jesus actually addresses this with a parable. He tells a story about a man who is robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road. There are three people who walk past this person. Keep in mind, he is laying on the ground bleeding and naked. The first two people to pass by were a priest and a Levite. These are both religious leaders. If they truly loved God with all of their heart, they would have had compassion on the man. Instead, they actually crossed the road so they wouldn't come in contact with the man and walked by. They left him there. They had absolutely no compassion. The third man was a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans really, REALLY did not like each other. They were constantly fighting with each other. Of the three, this is the man you would expect to have no compassion. Instead, he saw the injured man and had pity on him. The Samaritan went to the man and bandaged his wounds. He lifted the man off the ground and put him on his donkey because he didn't have the strength to walk. He took the injured man to an inn and paid for his stay. He asked that the inn keeper call the doctor and do whatever the man needed in order to care for him. He made a promise to the inn keeper that he would come back and pay any other expenses that his initial payment didn't cover. The Samaritan took his own time, resources, and money to care for this man that he didn't even know. Jesus points out that the "good Samaritan" is the neighbor to the injured man because he is the one who shows mercy. Jesus then says that we should do the same.
Thankfully, Jesus doesn't leave much to chance. Because now, you might be wondering, ok, I need to show mercy to people…what does that mean? Jesus told us that too when He gave us the golden rule. In Matthew 7:12, Jesus says "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Most people know the golden rule by heart even if we can't turn right to it in the Bible, however, it is something that is often taken for granted. This is not something that comes naturally to us.
Nikki and I have done our best to teach our kids to keep this in mind as they interact with people. When we were first teaching it to Harrison, he could not keep it straight though. When he was not behaving very well, we would ask him what the golden rule was. He would say, "Do to others what they do to you." He didn't hesitate. While this is cute from a young child, it is the natural reaction for most of us. Don't get mad, get even is a pretty common thought process held by many people. This, however, is not what Jesus taught. Jesus teaches that if we are struck, then we should turn the other cheek also, we should love our enemies and pray for people who treat us badly, and we should forgive someone repeatedly when they sin against us.
If we truly love our neighbor as ourselves, our lives will be different from other people. We will treat other people the way WE want to be treated whether or not they deserve it. It's the kind of love that Jesus gives to us. He gives freely. If we do the same, we will make a difference for those we encounter. They will see what God's love truly looks like. They can have a tangible experience with a God that they don't know or understand. God is spirit and can't be seen. We, however, are not. We are able to carry the love of God to those in need. Not because they have done anything special to, or for, us. But instead, because we are loving them in the way that God intended.
Put it into practice: As you interact with people, consider the golden rule. Are you treating them the way they are treating you? Or, are you treating them the way YOU want to be treated? Give an honest evaluation of your actions and motivations over the next week. Is there someone you need to forgive even though you feel they have treated you poorly? Have you treated someone poorly because that is how they treated you first? With every person you encounter, make an honest effort to treat them as you would want to be treated.
One particular instance of this questioning was set up by the Pharisees. They found an expert of the law to ask Jesus a question. He asked Jesus "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" (Matthew 22:36). This might sound like a simple question, however, there are 613 different commandments found in the books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). The Pharisees were hoping that Jesus would anger part of the Jewish people by His choice.
The problem with their logic is that Jesus was the author of the Bible. Of course He knows the correct answer and the most important commandment. He calmly, and without hesitation, responded "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself." Nikki has already written about loving God with everything you have. I'm going to focus now on the command to love your neighbor as yourself.
The first question you may have is, who exactly is my neighbor? Jesus actually addresses this with a parable. He tells a story about a man who is robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road. There are three people who walk past this person. Keep in mind, he is laying on the ground bleeding and naked. The first two people to pass by were a priest and a Levite. These are both religious leaders. If they truly loved God with all of their heart, they would have had compassion on the man. Instead, they actually crossed the road so they wouldn't come in contact with the man and walked by. They left him there. They had absolutely no compassion. The third man was a Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans really, REALLY did not like each other. They were constantly fighting with each other. Of the three, this is the man you would expect to have no compassion. Instead, he saw the injured man and had pity on him. The Samaritan went to the man and bandaged his wounds. He lifted the man off the ground and put him on his donkey because he didn't have the strength to walk. He took the injured man to an inn and paid for his stay. He asked that the inn keeper call the doctor and do whatever the man needed in order to care for him. He made a promise to the inn keeper that he would come back and pay any other expenses that his initial payment didn't cover. The Samaritan took his own time, resources, and money to care for this man that he didn't even know. Jesus points out that the "good Samaritan" is the neighbor to the injured man because he is the one who shows mercy. Jesus then says that we should do the same.
Thankfully, Jesus doesn't leave much to chance. Because now, you might be wondering, ok, I need to show mercy to people…what does that mean? Jesus told us that too when He gave us the golden rule. In Matthew 7:12, Jesus says "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Most people know the golden rule by heart even if we can't turn right to it in the Bible, however, it is something that is often taken for granted. This is not something that comes naturally to us.
Nikki and I have done our best to teach our kids to keep this in mind as they interact with people. When we were first teaching it to Harrison, he could not keep it straight though. When he was not behaving very well, we would ask him what the golden rule was. He would say, "Do to others what they do to you." He didn't hesitate. While this is cute from a young child, it is the natural reaction for most of us. Don't get mad, get even is a pretty common thought process held by many people. This, however, is not what Jesus taught. Jesus teaches that if we are struck, then we should turn the other cheek also, we should love our enemies and pray for people who treat us badly, and we should forgive someone repeatedly when they sin against us.
If we truly love our neighbor as ourselves, our lives will be different from other people. We will treat other people the way WE want to be treated whether or not they deserve it. It's the kind of love that Jesus gives to us. He gives freely. If we do the same, we will make a difference for those we encounter. They will see what God's love truly looks like. They can have a tangible experience with a God that they don't know or understand. God is spirit and can't be seen. We, however, are not. We are able to carry the love of God to those in need. Not because they have done anything special to, or for, us. But instead, because we are loving them in the way that God intended.
Put it into practice: As you interact with people, consider the golden rule. Are you treating them the way they are treating you? Or, are you treating them the way YOU want to be treated? Give an honest evaluation of your actions and motivations over the next week. Is there someone you need to forgive even though you feel they have treated you poorly? Have you treated someone poorly because that is how they treated you first? With every person you encounter, make an honest effort to treat them as you would want to be treated.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Love Inspiration from the Movie "2012"
So, we rented the movie 2012 to play a clip for a youth study on Wednesday, so Ryan and I decided to watch it that night when we got home. (Not a great movie to start at 11:30 pm when you can't sleep in the next day! Didn't finish it until 2:30 am!! Talk about tired at the zoo the next day!) I personally thought it was a great movie (which could've been that much better without all the useless language involved)! Of course, it was completely predictable and you know it all works out, but it was still exhilirating to watch. Anyway, I was so wound up from watching it that I couldn't fall asleep. So, what else to think about except what it would be like if tomorrow a giant tsunami were to wipe out my city (let alone the world).
As Christians, we talk about how tomorrow is not promised because we are not guaranteed to live beyond the present, and we also talk about how we can look at the signs mentioned in the Bible as signs of Christ's return and know that He will be returning soon. But, what if that were really tomorrow? What if we woke up tomorrow morning, started to eat breakfast, and instantly found ourselves standing face to face with Jesus Christ? Life on earth as I have been living would be over in an instant! While I know that being in the presence of God for all eternity in a perfect and beautiful place that cannot be described by any words has to be incredible, I got to thinking about what kind of things I might regret. So, I basically wanted to share with you some thoughts I had while laying in bed so early in the morning, contemplating the shortness of life in light of love. And, for the sake of fun, I have four thoughts to share using each letter of the word LOVE.
L--Love God with Complete Abandon--This world is the stomping ground for Satan, whom Jesus refers to as a liar from the beginning and always lies because it is who Satan is. So, our nature, which is defined from this world, will be to lean towards trying to find ways to prove that we have no need for, not just God, but any god. We try to use science to show how the world created itself from nothing, found some way to make a few gases and land, then created simple organisms and found its way to more complex organisms. Now, I won't go into the argument for why this doesn't work, but if you're curious, feel free to ask me and I will share with you. We try to prove that the human nature can be good by going out and doing good things. Well, while it is true that we have the ability to do good things, there are few times when those people don't have a selfish reason for doing those "good" things. Any time we hear something that says how we can write God out of the picture, we latch on to it and say "See, this proves God doesn't exist" while really it just shows how dumb we are! If we spent less time trying to disprove God and spent more time living as God designed us to live, life would be better. I just think life and time is too short not to embrace the fact that the Creator of the universe loves us, made the perfect way to restore and keep a personal relationship with us, works things out in our lives (though not always how we'd like them and definitely not in our timeline!) and wants to bless us greatly! To embrace the guidelines He has given us allows us to see that God hasn't tried to set out a rules of do's and don'ts simply to try to tell us what to do but that He actually knows what things destroy us physically, mentally and spiritually so He has told us what those things are. His Words are the secret to a life of contentment and joy (there is no promise of easiness and happiness). It's time to abandon our desires to want to be able to do everything on our own and embrace completely that God empowers us to go beyond anything we thought we could ever do! Now that's powerful!
O--One Moment at a Time--I don't know about you, but I find that the more I focus on the future, the less time I spend focusing on the now. In the movie, the scientist who discovers the crazy heating of the earth's core is shown with his wife and daughter as a tsunami comes hurdling towards them to engulf them in just a matter of seconds. At that moment, the scientist grabs his daughters face and helps her to focus soley on him so that she doesn't worry about those last few moments in fear. What if this moment, right now, is the last moments I have with my family and friends? Do I want them to find me living in a future that won't look anything like I'm trying to map it out to be or do I want them to see me looking at them, giving them all my love and energy? All we really have is each blessed moment. Instead of focusing on all the flaws and mistakes of those around us, what if we just spent time enjoying them? What if we spent less time playing video games and playing on the internet and spent more time creating memories that will last for all eternity? This moment, right now, is truly all that matters. And whether or not our last moments come as a result of death or the return of Jesus, let it be a moment others will never forget! Be ready at all times, the Bible says, because we never know what the future will be!
V--Value Each Other--One of the big, emotional parts of the movie is when the main geologist is convincing the world's leaders that humanity is our ability to take a chance and help each other. I think sometimes, people worry so much about why people don't spend enough time for them or approve of certain things in their life, that they forget that people deserve to be valued. That means valuing their identity, their thoughts, their desires, etc. Sometimes, love can work very similar to respect--the more of it you give, the more you receive. It is hard to have someone pour love on you and not desire to return it back to them. If you want others to show more love to you, show more love to them. Don't wait for them to do it first. God is the perfect example of this. In Romans it tells us that God didn't wait to give us a way back to Him until we wanted it or were doing the right things; He did it when we least deserved it! What an example for us to follow. Life is simply to short to spend time destroying or devaluing others because in the end, the greatest thing we can leave as our legacy is love!
E--Encouragement--There are so many ways to encourage others. The biggest thing we can do is align our mouths with our actions. We need to stop saying we believe certain things to be true yet act out completely opposite of those beliefs! If we claim to be "Christ-like" which is what the word Christian means, then we need to live it. People already have plenty examples of messed up people and hypocrites. What they need is people who claim to live a life of higher standards than the world holds and can actually live up to their claim. They need to see that there is a hope of better things. What better hope can we have than the hope we find in Christ? I once heard it said that you can go through difficult times in one of two ways--with or without Christ. In this world we WILL have trials and tribulations. That's straight from the Bible. But we can walk it alone or we can walk it knowing the God of the universe is helping us through it. I don't know about you, but I can't make it through the hard times alone. It is in those darkest times that I can rest assured that God IS at work on my behalf and you can know that too!
Weekly Challenge--How can we put this into practical application? Well, this was pretty straightforward this week. Start loving with real love. Love your parents first by honoring their wishes and desires for your life. Start doing things just because for them. Stop spreading gossip about your peers. Live what you claim. Love God and trust Him with all that you are instead of trying to figure out how you can eliminate Him! Just love. And if you need to see what love in action looks like, pick up a Bible and read the Book of John. Jesus is love in action. Look at Him and see what love will do!
As Christians, we talk about how tomorrow is not promised because we are not guaranteed to live beyond the present, and we also talk about how we can look at the signs mentioned in the Bible as signs of Christ's return and know that He will be returning soon. But, what if that were really tomorrow? What if we woke up tomorrow morning, started to eat breakfast, and instantly found ourselves standing face to face with Jesus Christ? Life on earth as I have been living would be over in an instant! While I know that being in the presence of God for all eternity in a perfect and beautiful place that cannot be described by any words has to be incredible, I got to thinking about what kind of things I might regret. So, I basically wanted to share with you some thoughts I had while laying in bed so early in the morning, contemplating the shortness of life in light of love. And, for the sake of fun, I have four thoughts to share using each letter of the word LOVE.
L--Love God with Complete Abandon--This world is the stomping ground for Satan, whom Jesus refers to as a liar from the beginning and always lies because it is who Satan is. So, our nature, which is defined from this world, will be to lean towards trying to find ways to prove that we have no need for, not just God, but any god. We try to use science to show how the world created itself from nothing, found some way to make a few gases and land, then created simple organisms and found its way to more complex organisms. Now, I won't go into the argument for why this doesn't work, but if you're curious, feel free to ask me and I will share with you. We try to prove that the human nature can be good by going out and doing good things. Well, while it is true that we have the ability to do good things, there are few times when those people don't have a selfish reason for doing those "good" things. Any time we hear something that says how we can write God out of the picture, we latch on to it and say "See, this proves God doesn't exist" while really it just shows how dumb we are! If we spent less time trying to disprove God and spent more time living as God designed us to live, life would be better. I just think life and time is too short not to embrace the fact that the Creator of the universe loves us, made the perfect way to restore and keep a personal relationship with us, works things out in our lives (though not always how we'd like them and definitely not in our timeline!) and wants to bless us greatly! To embrace the guidelines He has given us allows us to see that God hasn't tried to set out a rules of do's and don'ts simply to try to tell us what to do but that He actually knows what things destroy us physically, mentally and spiritually so He has told us what those things are. His Words are the secret to a life of contentment and joy (there is no promise of easiness and happiness). It's time to abandon our desires to want to be able to do everything on our own and embrace completely that God empowers us to go beyond anything we thought we could ever do! Now that's powerful!
O--One Moment at a Time--I don't know about you, but I find that the more I focus on the future, the less time I spend focusing on the now. In the movie, the scientist who discovers the crazy heating of the earth's core is shown with his wife and daughter as a tsunami comes hurdling towards them to engulf them in just a matter of seconds. At that moment, the scientist grabs his daughters face and helps her to focus soley on him so that she doesn't worry about those last few moments in fear. What if this moment, right now, is the last moments I have with my family and friends? Do I want them to find me living in a future that won't look anything like I'm trying to map it out to be or do I want them to see me looking at them, giving them all my love and energy? All we really have is each blessed moment. Instead of focusing on all the flaws and mistakes of those around us, what if we just spent time enjoying them? What if we spent less time playing video games and playing on the internet and spent more time creating memories that will last for all eternity? This moment, right now, is truly all that matters. And whether or not our last moments come as a result of death or the return of Jesus, let it be a moment others will never forget! Be ready at all times, the Bible says, because we never know what the future will be!
V--Value Each Other--One of the big, emotional parts of the movie is when the main geologist is convincing the world's leaders that humanity is our ability to take a chance and help each other. I think sometimes, people worry so much about why people don't spend enough time for them or approve of certain things in their life, that they forget that people deserve to be valued. That means valuing their identity, their thoughts, their desires, etc. Sometimes, love can work very similar to respect--the more of it you give, the more you receive. It is hard to have someone pour love on you and not desire to return it back to them. If you want others to show more love to you, show more love to them. Don't wait for them to do it first. God is the perfect example of this. In Romans it tells us that God didn't wait to give us a way back to Him until we wanted it or were doing the right things; He did it when we least deserved it! What an example for us to follow. Life is simply to short to spend time destroying or devaluing others because in the end, the greatest thing we can leave as our legacy is love!
E--Encouragement--There are so many ways to encourage others. The biggest thing we can do is align our mouths with our actions. We need to stop saying we believe certain things to be true yet act out completely opposite of those beliefs! If we claim to be "Christ-like" which is what the word Christian means, then we need to live it. People already have plenty examples of messed up people and hypocrites. What they need is people who claim to live a life of higher standards than the world holds and can actually live up to their claim. They need to see that there is a hope of better things. What better hope can we have than the hope we find in Christ? I once heard it said that you can go through difficult times in one of two ways--with or without Christ. In this world we WILL have trials and tribulations. That's straight from the Bible. But we can walk it alone or we can walk it knowing the God of the universe is helping us through it. I don't know about you, but I can't make it through the hard times alone. It is in those darkest times that I can rest assured that God IS at work on my behalf and you can know that too!
Weekly Challenge--How can we put this into practical application? Well, this was pretty straightforward this week. Start loving with real love. Love your parents first by honoring their wishes and desires for your life. Start doing things just because for them. Stop spreading gossip about your peers. Live what you claim. Love God and trust Him with all that you are instead of trying to figure out how you can eliminate Him! Just love. And if you need to see what love in action looks like, pick up a Bible and read the Book of John. Jesus is love in action. Look at Him and see what love will do!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Smitten With Love
At ATF, most of the weekend was spent talking about love. We talked about how to listen to love. This was about who and/or what our identity is based. We talked about loving sacrificially, and we talked about romantic love. To start the weekend though, we talked about our love for God and His love for us.
In my opinion, this was right on target because without this foundation, the other topics might be good but they are not going to be lasting. If we don't love God completely, then our faith is going to be shaky at best. Jesus understood this...which is why, when asked about the most important commandment, said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37)
It's at this point that I think a lot of people stumble. While this sounds simple, many people ask..."Why?". Why should I love God? What has God done for me? I've had really hard times. My life has been hard. What does God know about me? Why would God love me? It's really hard for us to love one way. Meaning, if you do not have love being returned, then it can be nearly impossible to really love with all your heart, soul, and mind. Many people, I think, feel like this is what Jesus is telling them to do.
Here is where many people miss the boat. The fact, that is often missed, is that God is completely crazy about you. He is absolutely smitten with love over you. Smitten is a fun word. It can mean very much in love, captivated, enamored, devoted, passionate, wild, charmed.
I think back to when Nikki and I were dating. She was in college and was living life based on a college schedule. If you aren't sure what I mean, most people in college will sleep in late, or take naps during the day if they have to get up early, and then stay up late. Many times when I was in college, I would start a movie, card game, Bible study, grocery store run, etc around midnight. That was common. Well, when we were dating, I was working full time and wasn't on the college schedule any longer. But, I would sit in my living room waiting for her to call at all hours of the night. I remember one time, Nikki was going to call around 11:30. I sat there and eventually fell asleep with the phone in my lap. She called around 12:30 or 12:45. Was I mad? No! I woke up and we talked for an hour or more. I was enamored.
Then, when I decided to ask Nikki to marry me, I wanted to impress her. I wanted the proposal to be thoughtful and sweet. I wanted it to be memorable. I wanted to show her how much I loved her. So, I planned. On Labor Day of 2000, I had the day off work. Nikki was a senior at Jewell and didn't have the day off. This allowed me to secretly make preparations. I told Nikki that our college group was meeting at the church for a prayer meeting. I had one of her friends drive her up to the church as part of the plan. Her friend, conveniently, forgot something in the car and Nikki came up to the sanctuary by herself. I stood at the front waiting for her. When she came in, she saw the rose petals that I had spread down the aisle. She walked down to me and we sat down together, and I read 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter) while fighting back tears. Then, we stood and I told her how much she meant to me. I explained that I wanted her to spend the rest of her life with me. I lowered to a knee and then asked if she would marry me. We prayed together and then danced to the song "Amazed" by Lonestar. After this, we went to a surprise party for her at the parsonage. Pretty much our entire college group was there. I even bought a cake to celebrate. I really wanted the night to be perfect. I was, and still am, smitten.
When it comes to God's love for each of us and my love for Nikki, it's not even close. God is much more smitten about us. There are two parables that Jesus used to describe how smitten He is about each of us.
The first is the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11). A man has two sons. The younger decides he doesn't want to wait until the father dies for his inheritance. He wants the money now. So, the dad divides the inheritance and gives the younger son his share. The son wastes ALL of the money with prostitutes and ends up in the pig sty. This has to be the worst possible situation for a Jew. He is feeding pigs! He is so hungry that the food they are eating looks good to him. The son decides to go home and beg his father for a lowly servants position. He knows that even his father's least of servants have a better situation than him. But, when the father sees him returning, he is elated. He loves his son so much that he completely overlooks the past mistakes and runs to meet him.
The other parable is the story of the shepherd with the lost sheep (Luke 15:1). A man has 100 sheep but loses one. He can't stop thinking about the one sheep. He is consumed with desire to find the sheep. He finally decides to leave the 99 sheep and find the one missing sheep. He searches and searches until he finds the lost sheep. He was devoted to his sheep and was willing to search until it was found. He is overjoyed. He not only brings the sheep back but picks it up and carries it triumphantly all the way home.
In Psalm 139:17-18, David says this about God's love for us:
"17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
They would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you."
I think there are some passages that we kind of glide over when reading the Bible. I don't know how many times I've read this chapter and I've never put any thought into this particular passage. To really consider this though is breath taking. How many grains of sand do you think you could hold in your hand? Now think about the amount of grains of sand that cover the Earth. The University of Hawaii did a study to estimate the number of grains of sand on the Earth. Well, it's more of a mathmatical equation and there are assumptions involved. However, they found that there are 7.5 X 10^18 grains of sand on the Earth. This number may not seem very real to you. So, here is a visual image of the entire number written out.
7,500,000,000,000,000,000
For those of you who don't know how to say this number (I didn't either). It is 7 quintillion 500 quadrillion. Those are a LOT of thoughts. According to the Center for Disease Control, 78 years is the average life expectancy in the United States. In 78 years, there are 2,459,808,000 seconds. When you divide these numbers, it means that God thinks about us approximately 3 billion times per second. Talk about passionate obsession.
In the New Testament, Jesus says that even the hairs of our head are all numbered (Matthew 10:30 and Luke 12:7). Think about this for a moment. God knows how many hairs we have. Can you imagine your significant other, parent, or friend even wanting to know this information? I got a bit of a chuckle out of this when I was thinking about it. Actually, the chuckle was mainly thinking of Nikki's reaction as she wakes up in the morning and looks over at me. I have a big, goofy grin on my face. "Guess what I did last night" I say. "I counted your hair. You have 102,425 hairs. I stayed up all night counting. I would have gotten a couple hours sleep but I lost track the first time when I hit 73,004."
God loves us to the detail. He knows absolutely everything about us. He knows what we like and dislike. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows our greatest dreams. He knows our heart. He can see every good thought and desire. But, He can also see every evil and terrible thoughts and desires we have. The things that we are ashamed of. Our past failures. The addiction, depression, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness, lies...anything we hide from others because we don't want them to think less of us. God knows everything about it. Everything. This could be terrible. God, who created the universe from nothing, could have decide we are not worth saving. He could have decided that we are past help, past forgiveness. But, it's not terrible. Because God loves us in spite of those things. God loves us enough to pay the ultimate price for us. He didn't wait until we became "good" people. He didn't wait for us to seek Him out or punish ourselves. He is smitten and He, Jesus, died for us while we were in our sin (Romans 5:8).
As Christians, when it comes to loving God and loving others, many of us talk the talk. We make grandiose promises about what we will do, who we will be for the person we love. However, few of us actually live up to all of those promises. God not only talks the talk, but He walks the walk. This video illustrates this well.
It is much easier to love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind when we remember how much He loves us. His love is complete, personal, and perfect. All of us have had human love fail us. But God's love will never fail. He is waiting, with open arms, for us to run to him. Please don't take His love for granted. He can, and will, change your life forever if you give your life to Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter that you have sinned. It doesn't matter if you have rejected God in the past. He loves you and is ready to take His place in your heart.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Loving One's Self
Okay, so last week we began looking at love--what it is, what it is not. Basically, love is not a feeling because it is something that God commands us to do, and we cannot completely control our feelings; therefore, love must be more than that. I read recently, and I've heard it said before, that love is a verb. I think that is very true because love flows from the heart into our actions, words and behaviors.
The second key part to Jesus' mention of the two greatest commandments (the first being to love God with all our heart, mind and strength) is to love ourselves. Now you might say where do you find this. It is simple. Jesus says we must love our neighbor as ourselves. There is a process here. First, we must learn how to love God. That means we focus our priorities around Him. We seek to know more about Him to get to know Him better (through prayer and reading the Bible). We place value of His opinions and desires for our life. We surrender our goals to become second place to His goals. Once we learn what it means to fully love God with all that we are, we can begin to put those same things into practice with others, beginning with who? Ourselves. We must love others as we love ourselves. Why must we understand loving ourselves first? Because we must understand what our love feels like. Let me give you an example. Most toddlers/babies go through a biting phase where they bite others. I know this because two of mine have done this as well as my nephew. When you have a child who is biting, you begin to get lots of advice on what to do to get him or her to stop. The one I've heard most often is to bite him or her back. Can you imagine an adult biting a 6-month-old or even a 2-year-old? It sounds mean, and I have to admit I've been very tempted to try it. The reasoning behind this theory is that little children don't really know what the biting feels like; they simply know the result works out in their favor. Big brother tries to take little brother's toy. Little brother bites big brother. Big brother drops the toy and runs away (usually crying to mom or dad). Little brother gets toy back. That's the desired outcome, and it usually works. Now, if someone were to bite the little one back, the idea is that they would see how painful biting is so they won't do it anymore.
Honestly, I have no idea of that works or not, but I think the same idea can be said of love. If we don't know how our attempts at loving feel, we may not fully understand whether we are showing love in the best ways. If I tell myself I hate me, I'm not going to be a happy person for long. So, it's easy to see that if I tell someone else that I hate them that they probably aren't going to feel love either. In order to show love most effectively, we need to experience both the giving of it and the receiving of it to understand the full effect of our actions. I once read a leadership book by John Maxwell that devoted a whole chapter to the idea that hurting people hurt people. The whole point of the chapter is that when we are hurting, we cannot encourage others because we all we can see is how much we are hurting. When we are hurting, we'd rather be around unhappy people because happy people make our stomachs' churn because we want to be happy but aren't. If love is seeking to encourage, get to know, honor, respect, and protect others, we must first practice those things to ounselves. When those things become habit, it is much easier to begin loving others, whom by the way, we cannot control. It truly is easier to love ourselves because if we don't like something about ourselves we can change it. But if we don't like something about someone else, we cannot change them. Plus, for love to be feel genuine to others it must be genuine. Love cannot be forced or fake so we must already know and understand genuine love.
Let me make it simple, we must know and understand how we want to communicate love and how that might received by others. What better person to practice on than yourself? That way, if you mess up, nobody has to know!!!!! Seriously, though, if you do not love yourself, you will not be able to really love others. Love requires the ability to put yourself aside and put another's well-being ahead. When we dislike ourselves, we become so focused on our own unhappiness that everything we do comes from that unhappiness. And remember, hurting people hurt others.
Put It Into Practice: How can you put this week's idea of love into practice? Figure out how you can genuinely love yourself. You may need to watch what things you say to yourself, what things you choose to believe that others are saying, how you let certain things affect your overall happiness, and what you are putting your hope and trust into. If you are struggling with finding the value in your life, then you need to seek out the One who defines value and created your very life. Of course, it all comes back to whether or not you have really accepted the first commandment anyway, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. If you have any questions about how to begin either of these two steps, please let Ryan or I know and we'll be glad to share with you.
Nikki
The second key part to Jesus' mention of the two greatest commandments (the first being to love God with all our heart, mind and strength) is to love ourselves. Now you might say where do you find this. It is simple. Jesus says we must love our neighbor as ourselves. There is a process here. First, we must learn how to love God. That means we focus our priorities around Him. We seek to know more about Him to get to know Him better (through prayer and reading the Bible). We place value of His opinions and desires for our life. We surrender our goals to become second place to His goals. Once we learn what it means to fully love God with all that we are, we can begin to put those same things into practice with others, beginning with who? Ourselves. We must love others as we love ourselves. Why must we understand loving ourselves first? Because we must understand what our love feels like. Let me give you an example. Most toddlers/babies go through a biting phase where they bite others. I know this because two of mine have done this as well as my nephew. When you have a child who is biting, you begin to get lots of advice on what to do to get him or her to stop. The one I've heard most often is to bite him or her back. Can you imagine an adult biting a 6-month-old or even a 2-year-old? It sounds mean, and I have to admit I've been very tempted to try it. The reasoning behind this theory is that little children don't really know what the biting feels like; they simply know the result works out in their favor. Big brother tries to take little brother's toy. Little brother bites big brother. Big brother drops the toy and runs away (usually crying to mom or dad). Little brother gets toy back. That's the desired outcome, and it usually works. Now, if someone were to bite the little one back, the idea is that they would see how painful biting is so they won't do it anymore.
Honestly, I have no idea of that works or not, but I think the same idea can be said of love. If we don't know how our attempts at loving feel, we may not fully understand whether we are showing love in the best ways. If I tell myself I hate me, I'm not going to be a happy person for long. So, it's easy to see that if I tell someone else that I hate them that they probably aren't going to feel love either. In order to show love most effectively, we need to experience both the giving of it and the receiving of it to understand the full effect of our actions. I once read a leadership book by John Maxwell that devoted a whole chapter to the idea that hurting people hurt people. The whole point of the chapter is that when we are hurting, we cannot encourage others because we all we can see is how much we are hurting. When we are hurting, we'd rather be around unhappy people because happy people make our stomachs' churn because we want to be happy but aren't. If love is seeking to encourage, get to know, honor, respect, and protect others, we must first practice those things to ounselves. When those things become habit, it is much easier to begin loving others, whom by the way, we cannot control. It truly is easier to love ourselves because if we don't like something about ourselves we can change it. But if we don't like something about someone else, we cannot change them. Plus, for love to be feel genuine to others it must be genuine. Love cannot be forced or fake so we must already know and understand genuine love.
Let me make it simple, we must know and understand how we want to communicate love and how that might received by others. What better person to practice on than yourself? That way, if you mess up, nobody has to know!!!!! Seriously, though, if you do not love yourself, you will not be able to really love others. Love requires the ability to put yourself aside and put another's well-being ahead. When we dislike ourselves, we become so focused on our own unhappiness that everything we do comes from that unhappiness. And remember, hurting people hurt others.
Put It Into Practice: How can you put this week's idea of love into practice? Figure out how you can genuinely love yourself. You may need to watch what things you say to yourself, what things you choose to believe that others are saying, how you let certain things affect your overall happiness, and what you are putting your hope and trust into. If you are struggling with finding the value in your life, then you need to seek out the One who defines value and created your very life. Of course, it all comes back to whether or not you have really accepted the first commandment anyway, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. If you have any questions about how to begin either of these two steps, please let Ryan or I know and we'll be glad to share with you.
Nikki
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
All About LOVE!
Love is all over the place. It is defined in the movies, on television, by our parents, by our peers, by our mentors, by our religious beliefs. In fact, there are so many definitions of love, how can we even begin to really know what "true" love really is? Well that is the purpose of starting this series on love. A chance to look realistically about what love is and then see how we can apply it to our lives.
Before we get started, it is important to know where these definitions of love are coming from and why I am choosing to pull them from this source. I am a follower of Christ (the definition of "Christian" is Christ-like or to follow in Christ's footsteps). The Bible is the source of wisdom and guidance for Christians. It is also called God's Word. The Bible is written down by men but the content is 100% inspired by or breathed by God. That means there is nothing in the Bible or excluded from the Bible that God didn't intend to be or not be written in it. (2 Timothy 3:16) Because the Bible is inspired by God, we can believe that what is spoken in it is an honest and true represtentation of God, His characteristics, His desires, His plans, His truth. The Bible tells us that God is the Creator of everything around us (Genesis 1). If God is the Creator of mankind, then He must have had an intention or plan in mind for man. That brings us to the first things we are going to look at about love.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, He responded it is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. (Matthew 22:37-38) What is love? Well here we see that love is commandable; because of this we can know what love is not--an emotion. Emotions are not commandable. You cannot tell yourself to be happy when you are sad and expect your body to respond to that. I like the definition of emotions from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. It defines emotions as "a mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling." What does that mean? It means that emotions are dictated by our circumstances and are spontaneous, not controlled. That paints a great picture that shows how emotions cannot be commanded. They are not based on a choice but on what is happening around us and how we respond to those things. But, Jesus said that loving God is a commandment. Well, if love is not an emotion, what it is?
Love is a choice. Love is caring so deeply for another person or entity that you intentionally choose to protect the well-being of that person. Because it is a choice, it is something we do regardless of the outcome. Choosing to love God with our heart, soul and mind is offering all of ourselves completely to God....giving Him complete control and authority over our lives! How can we do that and why would we want to? Well, because God showed His love for us first when we didn't even care who He was! God loves us so much that it was not acceptable to Him that we couldn't be in a great, personal relationship for all eternity. What keeps us from having a relationship like that? Sin. Sin is choosing to do the opposite of what God wants in our lives. All of us sin. The result of sin is separation from God for eternity. God created us to be in a relationship with Him and when we sin we turn our backs on that relationship. Whenever we make choices there are natural consequences that result. For instance, if I choose to eat ice cream, one consequence is that my mouth will get cold. Or if I train for months to learn a certain discipline, the consequence might be that when I need to use that discipline effectively I will. Like shooting free throws in a basketball game. Cause and effect is the natural cycle of life. So, the natural consequence of sin is that we must be punished. Because God did not want us to be punished (because that punishment meant eternity without Him), He decided to take the punishment in our place.
Ryan often talks about how sometimes his mom would get upset about something that had happened. She would ask two of her kids if they were responsible and if they both said no they would run to the third sibling and tell them they needed to say yes or they would all be in trouble. So, to keep them from all being miserable, the third sibling would agree to take the punishment. They would take turns doing this because sometimes the real perpetrator might have been a cousin or friend but there was no way for his mom to know that. So, in essence, one sibling would take the punishment for all three. That sibling sacrificed himself or herself for the others. That is what Christ has done for us except that we really do deserve the punishment for our sins. But He stepped in and said punish me. Jesus was sinless. He was perfect. He is God in the flesh. The only thing that is greater than sin is God. So, the only person who could take our sins upon himself instead of us having to to is God. Jesus said true love is when a person would lay down his own life for his friend. That is exactly what He did. And He did it for every person from the beginning of creation until the end!
All that to say that is how I can trust God with my entire life. That is how I can trust that if I choose to love God above all else in my life, I can know that He will be choosing to watch out for my best interests at all times. If He has already desired a relationship with me so much as to die in my place, how can I not trust that He won't desire good things for me.
Now loving God means that I choose Him to be the most important thing in my life. It means that I choose to spend time with Him and get to know Him and the desires of His heart. It means that I choose to do those things that bring Him joy. It means that I will defend Him when others dishonor Him. It means that I line my desires up with His desires. When we choose to love someone, it means that we must set aside our desires and seek to provide their needs. God doesn't really need anything from us because He created us, but He has shared His desires for His creation in His Word so I can know how to support the success of those desires.
Well, this is a lot for the first blog, but it is important that we understand that love is not the butterflies we feel when we see or think about a person. Love is not the desire to be sexually active with someone. Those things are all emotions and feelings. No, love is so much more than all that. It goes deeper and wider than those temporary feelings and pleasures can ever go! If you have yet to experience that kind of love (and God's love is the most perfect love we can ever experience!!!!!), then let me know and we can talk about how you CAN experience true love!
Before we get started, it is important to know where these definitions of love are coming from and why I am choosing to pull them from this source. I am a follower of Christ (the definition of "Christian" is Christ-like or to follow in Christ's footsteps). The Bible is the source of wisdom and guidance for Christians. It is also called God's Word. The Bible is written down by men but the content is 100% inspired by or breathed by God. That means there is nothing in the Bible or excluded from the Bible that God didn't intend to be or not be written in it. (2 Timothy 3:16) Because the Bible is inspired by God, we can believe that what is spoken in it is an honest and true represtentation of God, His characteristics, His desires, His plans, His truth. The Bible tells us that God is the Creator of everything around us (Genesis 1). If God is the Creator of mankind, then He must have had an intention or plan in mind for man. That brings us to the first things we are going to look at about love.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, He responded it is to love God with all our heart, soul and mind. (Matthew 22:37-38) What is love? Well here we see that love is commandable; because of this we can know what love is not--an emotion. Emotions are not commandable. You cannot tell yourself to be happy when you are sad and expect your body to respond to that. I like the definition of emotions from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. It defines emotions as "a mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling." What does that mean? It means that emotions are dictated by our circumstances and are spontaneous, not controlled. That paints a great picture that shows how emotions cannot be commanded. They are not based on a choice but on what is happening around us and how we respond to those things. But, Jesus said that loving God is a commandment. Well, if love is not an emotion, what it is?
Love is a choice. Love is caring so deeply for another person or entity that you intentionally choose to protect the well-being of that person. Because it is a choice, it is something we do regardless of the outcome. Choosing to love God with our heart, soul and mind is offering all of ourselves completely to God....giving Him complete control and authority over our lives! How can we do that and why would we want to? Well, because God showed His love for us first when we didn't even care who He was! God loves us so much that it was not acceptable to Him that we couldn't be in a great, personal relationship for all eternity. What keeps us from having a relationship like that? Sin. Sin is choosing to do the opposite of what God wants in our lives. All of us sin. The result of sin is separation from God for eternity. God created us to be in a relationship with Him and when we sin we turn our backs on that relationship. Whenever we make choices there are natural consequences that result. For instance, if I choose to eat ice cream, one consequence is that my mouth will get cold. Or if I train for months to learn a certain discipline, the consequence might be that when I need to use that discipline effectively I will. Like shooting free throws in a basketball game. Cause and effect is the natural cycle of life. So, the natural consequence of sin is that we must be punished. Because God did not want us to be punished (because that punishment meant eternity without Him), He decided to take the punishment in our place.
Ryan often talks about how sometimes his mom would get upset about something that had happened. She would ask two of her kids if they were responsible and if they both said no they would run to the third sibling and tell them they needed to say yes or they would all be in trouble. So, to keep them from all being miserable, the third sibling would agree to take the punishment. They would take turns doing this because sometimes the real perpetrator might have been a cousin or friend but there was no way for his mom to know that. So, in essence, one sibling would take the punishment for all three. That sibling sacrificed himself or herself for the others. That is what Christ has done for us except that we really do deserve the punishment for our sins. But He stepped in and said punish me. Jesus was sinless. He was perfect. He is God in the flesh. The only thing that is greater than sin is God. So, the only person who could take our sins upon himself instead of us having to to is God. Jesus said true love is when a person would lay down his own life for his friend. That is exactly what He did. And He did it for every person from the beginning of creation until the end!
All that to say that is how I can trust God with my entire life. That is how I can trust that if I choose to love God above all else in my life, I can know that He will be choosing to watch out for my best interests at all times. If He has already desired a relationship with me so much as to die in my place, how can I not trust that He won't desire good things for me.
Now loving God means that I choose Him to be the most important thing in my life. It means that I choose to spend time with Him and get to know Him and the desires of His heart. It means that I choose to do those things that bring Him joy. It means that I will defend Him when others dishonor Him. It means that I line my desires up with His desires. When we choose to love someone, it means that we must set aside our desires and seek to provide their needs. God doesn't really need anything from us because He created us, but He has shared His desires for His creation in His Word so I can know how to support the success of those desires.
Well, this is a lot for the first blog, but it is important that we understand that love is not the butterflies we feel when we see or think about a person. Love is not the desire to be sexually active with someone. Those things are all emotions and feelings. No, love is so much more than all that. It goes deeper and wider than those temporary feelings and pleasures can ever go! If you have yet to experience that kind of love (and God's love is the most perfect love we can ever experience!!!!!), then let me know and we can talk about how you CAN experience true love!
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