So I haven’t sat down to write anything in a long time. I know this is something I should make more time for, cause there is a lot I want to write about, but in a busy life it’s hard to find time. Lately though, there has been this topic on my heart and on my mind. We live in a culture that is always looking for something better. We go out and buy a new device and months later an updated, better one is coming out and we seem to feel as though we need it. What we have is not enough. Look at what has happened just in the last couple weeks with the release of the new iPhone 4s. Millions of devices have been sold already, and some of them were sold to people that had the iPhone 4 already. A few tweaks in something and all the sudden its better and we need it. We want everything we have to be better than the things we already have. Have you noticed that we seem to treat God the same way? We look for the next thing we can do that is going to be better than the last thing we did. We ask what we can do better to reach more people. We look for how we can top the church next door, or the one down the street, or the one hundreds of miles away that seem to be doing something cool. Sometimes I wonder if in our attempt to always do something better, we leave God out of the process. What if in our attempt to do the next thing, we miss out on what God is doing in the moment we are already in. Instead of trying to come up with an event or a way to reach more people, what if we asked God how we could reach the people that are already in our lives every day that we refuse to talk and share with. I don’t think there is anything wrong with trying to plan an event that will reach people, but I wonder if we use that as a way to get out of doing what we have been called to do in everyday lives. What would it look like if really asked God what He wanted us to do? Do you think He would tell us to do something bigger and better than another church? Do you think He would tell us that what we have been doing isn’t big enough for Him and we need to go back and make it better? I think we get that thought process when we don’t stop to give our plans to God and ask Him what He wants us to do. What if instead of saying “God I want to do something better than anyone else out there,” we do what Pastor Brad Reed does ask the question “God what are you already doing and how can we be a part of that?” What would it look like if we got ourselves out of the way and just trusted in Him? Instead of saying I have this great idea for how we can do things better, we stopped and prayed and said God I want my ideas to be your ideas. We set our plans and ask God to show up, instead of allowing God to set the plans and be thankful we can show up. What ever happened to “thy will be done?” When did it change and we start saying “my will be done.” When did it become about us? When did we say God please stand in the corner as I come up with a way to make you famous. He doesn’t need us to make Him famous; He has done fine doing that on His own. I don’t need bigger and better, I just need Jesus. I want whatever plans and thoughts I have to be God’s, not mine. I want to be a part of His plan to make Him famous, cause mine cannot even compare to His. I challenge everyone to start asking God how we can be a part of what he is already doing instead of asking what else we can do. Start letting Him be the one that sets the plans, and just get out of His way.
Tag Archives: Love
Psalms of the Heart
Lately my heart has been troubled with things that I don’t understand. Thoughts and feelings have been placed on my heart that hurt. The most troubling part of all of it is that when I seek God he is silent. I spend time in prayer, reading, worshipping yet He is silent. It reminds me of a Psalm of Asaph. In psalm 77:1-4 Asaph says
I cried out to God with my voice—
To God with my voice;
And He gave ear to me.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
My hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing;
My soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered God, and was troubled;
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
It has been a long time since I have felt that empty and alone inside. As I read the Psalms I am reminded over and over again for the silence that men like David went through. Here are just a few of the words of David
Why do You stand afar off, O LORD?
Why do You hide in times of trouble?
Psalm 10:1
How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
Psalm 13:1-2
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer.
Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief.
Psalm 22:1-2
David’s words in an odd way are comforting during this time. To think that here he is the King and described as a man seeking God’s heart, yet still had times when he just cried out for God to break the silence. To know that he felt like god was hiding from him, or abandoning him. If we are truly honest we can all say we feel that same way. But do we really do what David does in these times. After David cries out to God and asks him to break the silence, he admits that it is his own sin that has brought on the silence. Then he does something amazing. He praises God for who He is. How often do we praise God in the silent times in our lives? How often do we take responsibility for our distance from Him? God is always there wanting to have fellowship with us, but too often we don’t look at ourselves as the problem, as the reason for the distance with God. What would happen if we had a heart more like David’s and could say like he did
O God, You know my foolishness;
And my sins are not hidden from You.
Psalm 69:5
Yet when we do admit our sin what do we do with it. Often times we try to make excuses for it. We place the blame on others not on ourselves. What would life be like though if we not only accepted responsibility for our choices, but we praised God during these times?
And better yet, what if we modeled our lives after Jesus. What if we took the pain on ourselves, even if it was not ours to take on? If we stopped trying to be right, but instead laid down our lives. I want to be a man that is pleasing to God. A man that is seeking the heart of God in everything that I do. So as I man I stand here before anyone who is reading this and say, I am the reason for the pain that has been caused. And I take responsibility for the things that have happened. I want to be the one that feels the pain. If you have been hurt by me in anyway, please know that I have and will continue to ask God to take away all your pain and place in on me, to let me be the one that hurts not you. If anyone has to feel pain I want it to be me. I have been praying over the words of David when he says
Put me on trial, LORD, and cross-examine me.
Test my motives and my heart.
Psalm 26:2
So I pray that I be put on trial. I pray that my motives and heart be tested. And I pray that through the silent times, I can still praise God for who He is, and not what he Does. I pray that as a man, I take the example of Christ and take the pain on myself so that others can be free.
Keep me safe, O God,
for I have come to you for refuge.
I said to the LORD, “You are my Master!
Every good thing I have comes from you.”
What we can learn from Mary
Coming up on the Christmas season I thought I would share one of my favorite moments from the bible. It comes from the New Testament. It is the story of Mary and the angel Gabriel. It is the moment when he shows up and tells her that she is going to give birth to Jesus. As we know this is not an ordinary birth. This birth came with many trials. A virgin birth, who is going to believe that? What I love is her response when she is told what is going to happen. You can read it here in Luke 1:35-38
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”
I am fully convinced that Mary had no idea what was really ahead of her. I am sure at this time she had no idea the scorn she would face, the disbelief for her being a virgin, the manger she would give birth in, or that she would have to see her son hang on a cross and die. But in that moment, she was not thinking of herself. I love her response, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.” There are a few things to point out about this moment, she believed, she was available, and she was willing. The trust she displayed in God is simply amazing. How often in our lives do we have to see the plan, the end result, the path we will take, and the trials we will face, before we trust God. What would happen if we accepted God’s plan, no matter how much sense it made. If we took every circumstance in life and said “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.” I find so much inspiration in the faith of Mary here. She had enough faith in how big God is, that it didn’t matter how much sense this made, what she knew was that she was His servant and was willing to do anything He said. I want to live a life like that. I want to be able to say let it be to me as you have said, no matter what he asks of me. And not just to say it, but to rejoice in the thought of it as well. To have the same kind of joy Mary had when she rejoiced with Elizabeth and sang
Luke 1:46-55
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me–
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”
As Men we need to lead the way with this kind of heart, because as Men there is a lot we can learn from this moment in the life of Mary. We should be available and willing to submit to the will of God no matter what the circumstances may be. May we remember this every day, not just at Christmas. May the cry of our hearts be “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have said.”
True meaning of Christmas
This is an important time of year. A time for us to get together with friends and family. A time when we spend a lot of money buying things for people we like, and sometimes people we don’t like. We put up a tree and decorate it and put presents under it. We hear Christmas songs every where we go, and sometimes even sing a long. On Christmas Eve we even put out milk and cookies for Santa, and maybe some carrots for his reindeer. We are so excited about Santa coming with gifts for us, and we are so interested in what we are going to get.
DOES ANYONE ELSE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS??
We have made Christmas about us. When in reality it is not about us at all. Let me say that again, IT IS NOT ABOUT US AT ALL. We have forgotten what Christmas is really about. We sing a song that’s line goes “This is Santa’s big scene.” I have an idea, how about we sing “This is God’s big scene.” That is really what Christmas is about. It is about Christ. It is the day we celebrate the birth of the most important gift we could ever have gotten. The birth of the one that came into this world to save us from death. On this day God gave us all a gift, the greatest gift we could ever receive, his son.
Why is that every year things get worse. Why is it that America is trying to take Christ out of Christmas? We are so worried about someone being offended, did we ever think that maybe we are offending God. How do you think someone would feel if you took a gift that they gave you and you started to put it down, or not appreciate, or even accept it? Now think about how God feels when we take his only son, and his birth that we are supposedly celebrating this time of year, and remove him from his day. Christmas is about Christ. It is about his birth into this world, it is about the gift that was given to us freely and lovingly.
Let’s remember this year that with out Christ there would be no Christmas. Without Christ there would be no life. And with out Christ we would not have the promise that we will live eternally with God in heaven.
Let us go out into the world during this holiday season and remind everyone that it is the birth of Christ we celebrate, not Santa. Santa is a made up person, but Christ is real and he lives. He has a gift to give us that we can accept freely and that is eternal life. And he is happy to give it to us, and he wants to. He wants us to have it so bad that he went to a cross and died for us, then rose again and now lives. HE is the reason for Christmas, not Santa, not presents, not a tree.
This year let us always say Merry Christmas, not happy holidays. Let’s remember Christ in everything we do. As we sit there with our family and friends in our houses with all the food and presents lets also remember what Mary and Joseph didn’t have that night Christ was born and appreciate what we do have. That night Christ was born in a manger, with nothing, the savior of the world was born and couldn’t even get a room in an inn for the night.
Let us thank God for the precious gift that was given to us many years ago and praise him for his unfailing love.
Going after the 1
Have you ever wondered how to treat those that are not a part of the church? Or what about the ones that are a part of the church then leave?
Why is that we as Christians want to look down on those people? Why do we treat the ones that have left the church like that are horrible people. What if we stopped looking down at them, and started reaching out to them. I find it funny that we do this when we are at church, but we get outside into the world and we look down at people who are away from Christ. We refuse to talk to them, to reach out to them, to want to have anything to do with them. I sit at a coffee shop a couple nights a week and look around at the people there. Many times I want to just walk away and cry. My heart hurts for the lost. The conversations they are having hurt. I listen to them planning their nights at the bar and how trashed they are going to get, and my heart hurts. I want so badly for them to have the same hope that I have in Christ. What really bugs me though is how we treat those that leave the Church sometimes. Why is it that we treat them like we do the non believer? Have we forgotten what Jesus taught? Just in case you have, here it is.
Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:3-7
When did we stop doing this? When did we start saying, “we need to stop talking to them?” Why is that we look at them thinking they should know better and we need to distance ourselves from them? I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to get to heaven and stand before God and hear him say, “There were people you let walk away that I wanted you to chase after.”
Do we not know that each and every person is important to God? I have been thinking a lot about the people in our own ministry lately that have stopped showing up. I don’t know their story, their problems, their heart, their hurt. What I do know is that they are important to God and that should make them important to me. Jesus gave us this parable about a shepherd leaving his flock to chase after the one that walked away. That one sheep was so important to the Sheppard that he would leave 99 behind to get the 1 back. Shouldn’t we think the same way for the people in our churches?
I do a lot of work in a ministry that has a lot of people come and go. There are many that come in our doors for a season and then seem to just disappear. I started to take a closer look into this recently and found something that shocked me. I found a person that was coming all the time, and then all the sudden was gone. I thought maybe they had gone to another church or something. After talking to some people though I found out the opposite. This person is still coming every Sunday; even serving in the church, but is not a part of a community of people in the same stage of life. As I started to seek out some answers as to why this person is not joining us, I found out some of things in their life that is pulling them away. My heart broke as I listened to the story. I wanted to cry my heart hurt so badly. I feel it is just as much our fault that this person is not joining us. There is a lot of hurt going on right now, and aside from a few friends we never truly got to know this person, never really connected. And not only that, but when they walked away, we should have gone after them. I know that some friends did, but that was expected. Shouldn’t we as a ministry gone after? I know that we have a lot of people like this, every church does. What I want to know though is this, how many people see this happen and just say oh well, they just weren’t where I thought they were? Or maybe they think, well they just didn’t want to be here. Or worse, they just don’t care. What would our churches look like if we went after that 1 that is walking off? Actually its not even about what the church would look like, what will heaven look like when we do this. At the end of the day I don’t care what church you go to, what ministry you plug into, what community you are a part of. What I care about is that you are plugged into Jesus Christ. I care that you know as a person we love you, no matter what. I care that people know we are here to walk through life with them, good and bad times. I care that these people know they don’t have to go it alone. There should NEVER be a situation that we as the church are not willing to walk through with someone. There should NEVER be a time that we don’t show each and every person that they are truly and deeply loved. I want everyone who reads this to know this; you have my commitment to walk through anything with you. You have my commitment to love you no matter what. There is nothing you could do or say that will change this. I also make a commitment before the world to say, I WILL LEAVE THE 99 TO CHASE AFTER THE 1. If you are one of the 1’s out there, just know, God loves you, and that’s enough for me to chase you no matter how far away you go. I know I will not be able to catch everyone, but I want to know that heaven is rejoicing because of the ones that are caught. I want to stand before God and be able to say I sought with all my heart the ones that were walking away. If God loves a person then that is enough for me to love that person too. Which I know, that means I have to love everyone, and I am ok with that. I want to live like Jesus did; I want to love like Jesus did. If we truly want to be the hands and feet of Christ then we must live like he did. We must want the same things he wanted. Will you join me in leaving the 99 and going after all the 1’s out there?
Psalm 69
This psalm is a plea for God’s mercy and to save David from his enemies. It is believed that it come out at a time when David had been wounded by God for some sin in his life. What I love about this Psalm is all the emotions that David seems to go through, and the fact that he was able to be honest before God about what where he was at personally with these feelings.
1 Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire,
Where there is no standing;
I have come into deep waters,
Where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary with my crying;
My throat is dry;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause
Are more than the hairs of my head;
They are mighty who would destroy me,
Being my enemies wrongfully;
Though I have stolen nothing,
I still must restore it.
5 O God, You know my foolishness;
And my sins are not hidden from You.
6 Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me;
Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers,
And an alien to my mother’s children;
9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting,
That became my reproach.
11 I also made sackcloth my garment;
I became a byword to them.
12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me,
And I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to You,
O LORD, in the acceptable time;
O God, in the multitude of Your mercy,
Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire,
And let me not sink;
Let me be delivered from those who hate me,
And out of the deep waters.
15 Let not the floodwater overflow me,
Nor let the deep swallow me up;
And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.
16 Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good;
Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
17 And do not hide Your face from Your servant,
For I am in trouble;
Hear me speedily.
18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it;
Deliver me because of my enemies.
19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor;
My adversaries are all before You.
20 Reproach has broken my heart,
And I am full of heaviness;
I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none;
And for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for my food,
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table become a snare before them,
And their well-being a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see;
And make their loins shake continually.
24 Pour out Your indignation upon them,
And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.
25 Let their dwelling place be desolate;
Let no one live in their tents.
26 For they persecute the ones You have struck,
And talk of the grief of those You have wounded.
27 Add iniquity to their iniquity,
And let them not come into Your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
And not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and sorrowful;
Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song,
And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bull,
Which has horns and hooves.
32 The humble shall see this and be glad;
And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.
33 For the LORD hears the poor,
And does not despise His prisoners.
34 Let heaven and earth praise Him,
The seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion
And build the cities of Judah,
That they may dwell there and possess it.
36 Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it,
And those who love His name shall dwell in it.
The emotion that David starts with here, is one that I have been feeling so much lately. The waters seem to keep rising around me and I feel like I am drowning. It seems like no matter what I do I can not stop sinking. Sometimes we go through these seasons in life where all we can do is cry out to God to save us. And yes sometimes we can get weary in calling out for God. Its not that he is not there when we call, but too often we are not really calling for Him. We call for his help, yet we go our own way and do our own thing, which just causes us to sink even more.
In life often we have people that cause us a lot of pain. They don’t always have to be enemies of ours, to feel like they hate us. And when they hate us for things that we can not control, and things we did not even do, it hurts. How we act though through these times really show where our hearts are with God. What if we offered them love instead of revenge, grace instead hate. What if we restored them, even though we did nothing to them, that would truly be living like Christ did.
I have found it hard in my life to remember at times that God knows my foolishness. Isn’t it funny that we think we can hide that from him? I have found myself trying to lie to God, like that’s even possible. All because I am trying to hide my sin from him. But he knows everything, and there in no way we can hide our sin from him. He knows everything, and there is no way we can hide from home, so why not just be honest before him. I know that I am a wicked and sinful person that can do nothing outside of His grace.
I sometimes get down on myself in fear that the people who surround me are going to be disappointed in me. Like I have to be perfect so that I don’t let anyone down, when I know there is no way I can be perfect. I love how David puts it here in verse 6. I love how he turns around though in verses 13 through 18, and praises God and his love. He is so confident that God is going to rescue him. I like though that he is honest enough to say to God, “And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in trouble; Hear me speedily.” There are times that we feel God is not with us, and not listening. David was able to be honest before God and just say, I need to hear from you and I need to soon. I have prayed that way many times lately. There are times we just need to cry out and say God I need to hear from you now, not that it’s always going to be answered right away, but I believe God wants us to share everything with him, even our frustrations with Him.
I love how he turns here and starts to show deep hurt. I have had moments in my life when I have felt like I was all alone. David seems to feel alone here when he says “Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” The moments that we feel this alone are the worst moments. I know there are always people around me that love and care for me, and are always there for me. Sometimes though no matter who is around, I just feel alone. Cause those people can not truly understand my heart and what it is going through. If only we could look at a persons heart and understand exactly what is going on inside it at the moment. But we can’t; only God can. And lets be honest, sometimes that’s just not enough for us at the moment. We feel alone even though God is right there with us.
David then turns to anger and wrath. I love this too. The truth is that there are times in our lives that we will feel this way. We are going to be mad and hurt and want revenge. We are going to want people to suffer for what they have done to us. That’s the human side of us, but when we die to self and let Christ rule our lives we are able to overcome that side. David is convicted of this though as you can see in verse 29. its human nature for us to feel this way at times, but when we do perhaps we can remember what David did and humble ourselves and ask God to protect us even from ourselves.
David ends this Psalm with praise to God. It’s not easy to always praise God when things are cashing around us. But we must remember that he is always in control no matter what. What if we took the time to praise Him even when things were bad? What if we stopped seeking His hand to just save us, and sought His face, and that would be enough for us. Because when we are seeking him for who He is and not what He can do for us we find His love in everything. When we dwell in his Love we find rest.
I love all the emotions David displays here, and I love his heart as he lays it all before God. I want to stop hiding all my emotions from Him and just be honest with Him, honest in my fears, my hurts, my anger, my brokenness, my emptiness, and my love. He is in control even when we think he’s not. And he loves us, unconditionally. If we know this to be true then we must also know that he is working in every situation we go through in life, and no matter what it will always be good, even when it is not what we want, for He is good.
Love in the midst of chaos
There are going to be times in our lives that we face trials. Times when we have a choice to make, either to honor God or live like the world. These things are going to happen all the time. We live in a fallen world that is so far from perfect. Knowing how to act in the midst of these trials will tell a lot about where your heart is. The bible is very clear on how we are to act when things are coming at us. Many times though we throw that out the window when we feel like we have been wronged, like all the sudden it is OK to not act like Christ. Well lets take a look at what the bible has to say about that.
Romans 12:9-21
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need, Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on this head.” Do not be over come by evil, but over come evil with good.
The love that Paul is speaking about here in this passage is not just emotion, its how we show it with our actions. Our actions should be those that Paul goes on to describe, hopeful, patient, faithful in prayer, peaceful, and sacrificial. We should be thinking of other before we think of ourselves, yes even when that person or those people are the reason for what is going on. When Christ died on the cross, he took on the sin of all men, even the ones that were crucifying Him. We should never believe that it is not OK to seek peace. Just be faithful in prayer and let God handle the rest. It is His to avenge not ours.
Romans 13:8
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.
Our love for one another should cancel out all debts. Nothing should ever stand in the way of our love for each other.
Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:15
If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other,
Galatians 6:10
There fore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
The more we fight with each other, attack each other, hurt each other, the less God shows in our lives. We really don’t accomplish anything, but rather just destroy each each other. That is not what God wants from us at all, he wants us to love each other. We are called to love everyone, especially those in the family of believers. Why do we feel as if we can treat a fellow believer different? Or that its right to fight with another believer. We are called to do good to everyone. We are called to love, not separation.
Ephesians 4:2-3
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:31-32
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ god forgave you.
Colossians 3:12-14
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bearing with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
There are many other verses I could quote here. I believe with all my heart, that the first step we should always take no matter what the situation is, is to love. What if we started every action with love, how different would our relationships, our friendships, our families, and our world look. What if before we reacted to anything that happens to us we stop and ask, is my reaction out of love, cause if not then we need to stop right away. I wish I could say this is going to be easy, but its not. It will never be easy cause its not the natural thing. But it is the god honoring thing, and that should be first, When someone does something against you, don’t respond, don’t retaliate, don’t seek revenge, love the person. Do everything in your power to seek peace. Be patient, peace may not happen over night, in might not happen for years, but trust that God is making things right, your only job is to love that person or those people. Your going to get hurt, and sometimes it will be intentional, and you will want to seek revenge, you will want to stand up for yourself, but if your reaction is not rooted in love, and does not come out in the spirit of peace and love, then its wrong. God should be glorified in everything that you say and do, and there is no way he is being glorified when His people are in conflict with each other instead of loving each other. I have been learning how to do this and will have to keep learning everyday for the rest of my life, but I know that it honors God, and I want my life to honor him. I want my life to one that is holy and acceptable, even when it is not easy. I will always put others first, and consider them better than myself, even when they have done something that I feel is wrong to me. Not because its what I want to do, but because its what I am called to do. No matter what ever happens, no matter how wrong, no matter how bad, no matter how hurtful, always always always, choose love.
Forgive
How many times must you forgive? Well according to Jesus in Matthew 18:22 not seven but seventy times seven. So what does that mean? Well Jesus was not giving an exact number; he was giving a number so large for us to understand that forgiveness should never end. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as ‘to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offense or debt’. So Jesus told us to give up all claim on account of an offense or debt indefinitely. How do we do this though? Well I believe it starts by loving the person that we must forgive. As Christians we are called to love others, that means everyone, not just the ones we want to love. According to 1 Corinthians 13:5 love keeps no record of wrongs.
This does not mean it is always going to be easy to forgive a person who as done something against us. But as Christians we are called to do it. What right do we have to with hold forgiveness from someone when God has offered it so freely to us? I know this is easier to say than it is to actually do it, but we still have an obligation to do it. I know I have found it hard to do in the past. There have even been times when you want to take back that forgiveness because they keep doing things to you. But the moment you forgive, you wipe clean, you keep no record of it. If you do not plan on wiping it clean, then don’t say you forgive, because true forgiveness means you will never hold it against that person. I am learning this the hard way right now. I have had to forgive, and wipe clean, then have something else happen that starts the process all over again. Makes it harder to forgive the next time. I want to look more like Christ everyday though. I want my life to reflect what I believe. I will continue to forgive, and wipe clean, even when it’s hard, even when I don’t want to, and even when I don’t think I can. Because the reality is that I can’t, but God can. When Jesus hung on the cross he took on the sins of the entire world. That thing that hurts me, killed Him. And he paid the price for that sin. So how can I ask another person to pay for something that Christ already died for? The blood of Christ took care of everything, so I will rest in that truth.
I will always choose to love, and to forgive. I will always choose grace. 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Came to my rescue
Falling on my knees in worship
Giving all I am to seek your face
Lord all I am is yours
My whole life I place in your hands
God of mercy humbled I bow down
In your presence at your throne
I called
You answered
And you came to my rescue
And I want to be where you are
My whole life I place in your hands
God of mercy humbled I bow down
In your presence at your throne
I called
You answered
And you came to my rescue
And I want to be where you are
I called
You answered
And you came to my recues
And I want to be where you are
In my life be lifted high
In our world be lifted high
In our love be lifted high
In my life be lifted high
In our world be lifted high
In our love be lifted high
I have not been able to turn this song off this past week. I am so amazed that we have god that answers our call. That reaches down from the heavens with His redeeming grace and saves us. That he would even care for someone like me is amazing. I know I don’t deserve is grace. I don’t deserve his love. But I am thankful that I have a God that loves me, regardless of my sin. I am thankful that I have a God that answered my call, a God that was waiting for my call. He rescued me from myself. From the poor choices I was making in life. I don’t know where I would be right now if He hadn’t reached down from heaven and extended His saving grace to me, after I had rejected Him so many times before. The fact that He would even care to reach down to me after everything I had done simply blows my mind. I fell to ground tonight to just worship Him and sing this song. I was on the ground in my living room, humbly before Him. I didn’t even want to get up. I wanted to stay there forever just worshipping my God. I want my whole life to be placed into His hands. This last year has been an amazing year of growth and trust. I have had to place all my trust in Him, and I don’t want anything to change. I want my God to be in complete control of life. I want to seek His face in everything I do. I want to know that when the day comes that I meet my God face to face, He looks at me and says well done good and faithful servant. I want to know that I lived my life in a way that has made an impact on His kingdom. I want to be in his presence. And I want everything I say and do to reflect that in my life. I know I am going to make some mistakes along the way, and I know that I am going to have to humbly bow down and ask for forgiveness. I have had to do this in the past and I know I will have to do this again in the future, I am not perfect, but I rest in His saving grace. I want my heart to sing out, in my life be lifted high. When I sing that out, I don’t want it to come from my head, I want it to be the anthem of my heart. I want my life to reflect the fact that He is lifted high. I want Him to be the center of everything; that nothing I would do would come from anywhere else. I want to be able to say that in my love, He is lifted high. I want to be able to love like He loves me. I want to show people that king of love. I want my heart to reflect that at all times. I give all that I am to seek His face, His love, His grace. So would you join me from the heart and sing,
In my life be lifted high
In our world be lifted high
In our love be lifted high
Building Community
Do you remember the first time you went to church? Or maybe it was the first time you went back to church after falling away for awhile? Or maybe it was a new church in a new place? Do you remember how you felt when you walked in the doors and down the aisle to find a seat? Do you remember the first person you met that made you feel welcomed?
I remember going to church with a friend almost 8 years ago. I was not a believer at the time, in fact I considered myself an atheist. I went though because I felt like my life was falling apart, and she invited me to church with her. I remember walking in and instantly feeling like hundreds of people were looking at me wondering what I was doing there. I knew I didn’t belong, I was different. I didn’t believe in this God they were all worshipping. I looked around for lightning that I knew was going to strike me. I listened to the message and walked away thinking all these people were nuts for believing in some God. It was about a week later though that I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I went to another church, a bigger one, because I knew I could get lost in the crowd. I felt the same way though, like I just didn’t belong. I felt like everyone was looking at me and wondering what I was doing at church. It took almost a year for me to feel like I belonged there. It wasn’t the people or the church, it was me. I was still trying to figure out what my life as a Christian really looked like. I wasn’t making any friends, and I wasn’t trying to. I went to church and walked out without ever talking to anyone. After a couple years of that though, I decided to serve God. It was then that I really started to meet people and make friends. It was an amazing feeling to know that I belonged. When I moved to Arizona I had to start over again, new church, new friends. I remember walking into the church and feeling like everyone was looking at me again. But this time it wasn’t because I didn’t belong, this time it was because I was the new guy. Instantly though a few people reached out and I knew I was home. It still took some time to get to know people, and to make friends, but from the moment I walked in I knew I was home. But I have never forgotten the way I felt the first time I went to church.
As we have talked about building community at church recently, it has brought up a lot of these memories. Sometimes we as the church forget what its like to be new. We forget what its like to not know anyone, to feel like no one is reaching out to us. What if we took the time every week to reach out to one person that we didn’t know? How would that person feel? And not just reach out to them that once, but took the time during the week to call them, or have coffee with them. What would church look like if we took the time to make sure that every person who walked through the doors felt like there was someone that cared about them more than to just say hello. What if reaching out to person with more than just a hello was the thing that changed that person’s life. What if we as the Church made a point to let everyone who walked in the door feel like they were home? How many more hearts would be won for Jesus Christ? And what if each one of those people went out and did the same thing? Community starts when we open up our lives, and share it with another. I believe that if we did this we would see more people staying at the church, rather than just checking it out. We would be a group of people that don’t just talk about community, but define community.
An Ordinary Man 