The Ways of Love

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.1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (New International Version)

I have spent the past number of days nursing a hurt. Something was said to me that cut me to the core and continues to cut as I continue to rehearse it. Today’s passage reveals several things that transpired in that moment of words that wounded me. It reveals my own heart condition and what it will look like to change that condition.

I was easily angered, I have kept a record of the wrong done to me because I have continually thought about it, I have not been kind or patient toward the person who spoke the words, I have been rude in my noticeable distancing and avoiding. How far from the description of love I have been….how far from the example of love Christ shows to me!

I look at the last part of this passage and I see love in action. It acts rather than reacts to the people and circumstances of my life. There are several scenarios that play across my mind this morning whereby I need to ask God to help me initiate love toward others. Rather than curl up with my anger, perceptions, hurt feelings, or injured ego, I need to find shelter in His wings and His ways.

So how do I go about implementing the truths He is showing me this morning? I start with confession for where I have been wrong. I admit to God the sin of my heart, mind, and actions. I receive the forgiveness that He so unreservedly offers to me. I ask Him to show me practical ways to walk in love toward any I have been avoiding. I resist (through His grace) the temptation to give in to my flesh and just continue doing what I have been doing. This is not about the other person deserving it or a guarantee another’s attitude or actions will change. This is about walking in love so as to free me and reach out to others for their sake.

God has demonstrated every aspect of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 to me innumerable times. He has placed individuals in front of me as well to show me through their examples how to walk in this kind of love. Now He invites me to join Him and follow His example.

Father, while You see my resistance, You also see my desire to live differently. Change in me is what I seek. Amen.

Power of Your Love - Hillsong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA4narr2wyE

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

When the Two Clash

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 (Amplified Bible)

Often I am challenged to ask myself if I really believe what I am reading from God’s Word or if they are just lofty thoughts that have yet to be fully embraced by me. The moment of truth comes when I face difficulties, disappointments, and the hardships of life. Not when the sun is shining and everything is going my way, but when the storms of life descend upon my peaceful world. Those are the times when what I really believe comes to the surface. Those are the times I must acknowledge the truth of my own heart.

Not only are God’s ways and thoughts higher than my own but often they are quite different from my own. I would like to say that when there is conflict between the two, I very easily lay down my will for His. I gladly release my grip to take His hand. I venture forth with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. I would like to say that is the norm for me, but the truth of the matter is that I more often find myself resisting the changes He brings about.

I can so easily resist the change of relationships when His plans and purposes for those relationships have been fully accomplished. How easy it is to wrap myself in a mantle of grief over loss and resist the invitation to move forward into new relationships. I can look back over my life as if it were a canyon scene with many mountain ranges. At various places I see the past “nests” of relationships that God allowed me to remain in for a while. What I failed to see was that it was always His hand that rustled the nests in order to move me on to higher places with Himself. Instead, I could only see my hurt and ask myself a host of unanswerable questions. Far too many times I would have chosen to stay indefinitely and resist the call to His ways and thoughts. What I have learned is God will remove me whether I go willingly or not. It simply means with unwillingness I will experience more pain than is necessary.

It is that way no matter what area of life is out of my control. Be it health, finances, relationships, employment, dreams, expectations, or daily happenings, it always comes down to His ways and thoughts being higher than my own. I once again acknowledge that as truth and embrace it afresh.

Father, resistance to Your ways and thoughts carries a price tag I no longer want to pay. I surrender. Amen.

Knees to the Earth - Watermark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01eAZ85kXSA

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Imitate Not Duplicate

I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 1 Corinthians 4:14-16 (New International Version)

As a young Christian, I watched others closely. What they did, I did. What they did not do, I did not do. Why? Because the Christian life was so new to me that I wanted to learn how to live it correctly. Other believers were my example and I was blessed to be part of a church that had plenty for me to watch and follow.

As a young adult, that watching and following became different. A lack of love and appreciation for the person God created me to be led to a desire to be someone other than myself. I found it easy to take on another person’s mannerisms, personality, posture, even their voice. To be like them gave me a sense of worth and value that being myself did not afford. I had gone from following to copying and there is a difference.

When Paul told others to imitate him he did not desire for them to become clones of himself. He knew that each person is unique and one of a kind. He knew that God’s plan did not entail the disappearance of that uniqueness. How boring the world would be if only one type of flower existed. How dull meals would be if only one taste existed. Variety and individuality is a gift God has given us in the whole of creation including each and every person.

Paul took his role seriously as an example setter. The life he lived in Christ was one that could be watched and followed so that others could learn to grow in their own walk with Christ. He joyed over their growth and the results that came from that growth. He beamed with the delight of a parent as he watched his “children” in Christ become all that God intended them to become.

I short change myself, rob others, and actually resist God’s work in me when I choose to be someone other than who God chose for me to be. May I live in such a way that my uniqueness is not sacrificed out of a desire to be someone else. May I live in such a way that others can follow without duplication.

Father, who is it You have made me to be? Help me to see it and delight in it! Amen.

Who Am I - Casting Crowns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU_rTX23V7Q

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Asking Why

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. Psalm 42:11 (New King James Version)

When we start asking the “why” questions, we open ourselves up to the answers that seem to have eluded us. David knew His hope and help was in God and yet he still asked why. He wanted to know why turmoil brewed inside him like stew in a caldron.

I am asking some why questions. Why do I keep finding myself in co-dependent relationships? Why do I fear abandonment, rejection, and being invisible? Why do I look to food and people to sooth, comfort, and fix me? Why do I crave attention so much? Why did the stepping away of a former mentor hurt so badly? Why does it still hurt? Why does disappointment have such a profound affect on me? Why do I shut down, withdraw, and self condemn when my emotions spiral? Why doesn’t taking in biblical truth equal change for me?

I am at a point where I no longer know who to ask the questions to. I know that people have been used of God greatly in my life. I would not be who I am today without their involvement and help. Yet, the very ones God has used the most have been addictions to me as I have leaned on them emotionally in ways that have not been healthy or balanced. I see that and yet to release them from being responsible for my emotional well being fills me such fear. Fear of being forgotten. Fear of being invisible. Fear of being alone.

I want to say with David to hope in God and praise Him for being my help. I want that to take away the ache. Something blocks that from happening. I don’t know what a life secure in God looks like. I know the security is promised but I don’t know why I have yet to fully embrace it. I don’t know why people still play such vital roles in my life. For now, I will ask God. In time, He may just lead an individual across my path who knows how to lead me to the answers.

Father, may the fact that my hope is in You and my help is in You be more than lofty thoughts. May they become my reality. Amen.

You Raise Me Up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkkw8RhH9ck

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Personal Preparations

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah….And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah….But God prepared a worm….and it smote the gourd….God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah. Jonah 1:17; 4:6-8

I can imagine that Jonah had no trouble realizing life was not always under his control. Ever feel like him? God was constantly preparing the events, circumstances, and situations of his life in order to get his attention and redirect his steps. But Jonah kept missing the point. While there seemed to be a revival of sorts for Jonah in the belly of the fish, the end of the story finds him disgruntled, angry, and distant.

It is easy to come to the place where the happenings of our life can leave us feeling more like victims than victors. While Jonah was simply facing the consequences for wrong choices in his life, other Bible characters faced difficulties in spite of right choices. Joseph, from the Old Testament, always comes to mind when I think of someone who suffered at the hands of others. Hated, betrayed, and sold by his own brothers, he spent years in enslavement and prison. Were they wasted? Not at all. They were a time of preparation for God’s promotion in his life as he would one day be second only to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. Much of his life was painful and did not make sense until the end was revealed. He could finally say with confidence to his brothers, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good!”

I learned a couple of years ago that Scripture is meant to be more than nice stories about people who lived long ago. God wants us to see that He is just as involved, just as loving, and just as present in our lives as He was in Bible times. At any given moment, He is preparing us for what is ahead. He has His hands on us, on our situations, and on our journey. If we keep this in mind it will help counter the wrong thinking of being a victim to others, being stuck in life, and living with no purpose. May we hear Him whisper the same words to us that He said to Jeremiah, “I know the plans that I have for you…plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

Father, I may only be in the middle of the story right now. By faith I look forward to what You had planned for me all along. Amen.

My Life Is In Your Hands - Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (This was filmed in Louisiana State Penitentiary, better known as "Angola").
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIc_cEH_EPU&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

In Their Absence

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will, and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 (New American Standard Bible)

If given a choice I would always opt to live under the watchful eye of a nurturing, strong Christian. To receive their constant encouragement, wisdom, and companionship. I have known such bliss and long for it on a regular basis, as I am sure people in Paul’s day did as well. Can you imagine having the Apostle Paul as your personal mentor? I am sure he saw the possibility and danger of individuals wanting to find their safety net in him. How they must have flourished when he was with them. But often that was not the case. For most of the time, he was absent from them. Their faith would either deteriorate or abound depending on where they would turn their eyes. If they followed Paul’s advice they would flourish!

He had three points to share with them. First, continue your journey of obedience even without my being with you. Second, realize the necessity of taking responsibility for your individual growth. Third, and most importantly, know that God is the One actually doing the work in you. While human sources are a blessing, they are not meant to be the foundation, filler, or main stay of your life in Christ. For if that is the case, growth is stunted, intimacy with God is limited or non-existent, and you embrace a handicapped life style.

I actually admire the early Christians. They did not have all the instant access so available to us today….books, conferences, modern technology, etc… Theirs truly had to be a solitary walk with God. Heaven will abound with their stories. While I certainly have an abundance of aids, God is reminding me that depth in Him comes by way of the solitary walk. It really begins as I bring my longings to Him, seek one on one time with Him, listen for His voice, learn to discern His promptings, and allow Him to nurture me.

He knows my tendency to want to surround myself with significant people that put me on an emotional high. He knows how easily I can be satisfied within friendships. He knows the persistent ache I live with. And with this knowledge He continues to invite me to go deeper with Him. To satisfy myself with Him. To take Him at His word and thrive!

Father, may I see You as the One I need above and beyond all others. Amen.

Power of Your Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA4narr2wyE&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

They're Just like Me

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. James 5:17

We are also men of the same nature as you. Acts 14:15 (Barnabas and Paul)

But Peter raised him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am just a man." Acts 10:26 (New American Standard Bible)

Oh, the dangers and pitfalls of becoming enamored with people! Elijah, Barnabas, Paul, and Peter are just a handful among many who would remind me that people are people. I need the reminder because so often I can take a person’s sterling moments and believe THAT is the way they are 24/7. In my mind, they no long struggle, make wrong choices, live out of their flesh, fall to temptation, think wrong thoughts, feel negative emotions, disappoint God, themselves or others, or sin in any number of other ways. Not only is that kind of thinking far from the truth, but it sets me up with false hope. The false hope of, “If they can do it, so can I.” Then when I fail to live that way, confusion and discouragement sets in.

A few years ago I joined a study entitled “Woman of Significance” based on the book The Search for Significance by Robert McGee. As I listened to some of the women I began to think they were assuming if they went through this book they would eventually be free of fear, approval seeking, guilt, performance-based living, and any other malady in their life. It took me back to the time when I learned that God’s love was not dependent on what I was doing. As I listened to speakers and read books, I began to think the mature Christian life means “no struggles, no failures, just victory!” I actually thought I could reach that point this side of Heaven. What followed was a few years of continual reality checks!

What I learned and what I shared with the women in the study group was that living the victorious Christian life did not mean I would no longer struggle with my mind, will, and emotions. It meant I knew Who to go to each time I struggled. It meant I felt safe to confide in and cry with God. It meant I could walk and talk with authenticity and transparency instead of continual masking and hiding. Simply put, it meant I was human but helped and held by an incredible God!

There are still times I find myself being enamored with individuals, but God is faithful to remind me that they too have feet of clay and must continue to practice daily the truths He is showing them. Balance has come with the removal of my rose-colored glasses.

Father, seeing others as people like myself encourages me. Help me to not look down on or up to individuals but to simple look across at them. Help me to keep my eyes on You. Amen.

Only You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgmezEn-zvE

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.