Recently Kyrie got some music that we used to listen to as a family when we were kids. The singers, Harvest, made up a contemporary Christian group from the late seventies to early nineties. It has been so wonderful to hear those dear songs again and, more importantly, to actually understand the words! Before, I listened to them as a kid and sang along with some of the words, but now they actually mean something to me in my relationship with Christ Jesus.
This morning as I was working alone in the kitchen Kyrie had put on the music and I was struck by the words to their song "It's Alright Now".
"I remember the times I felt Your hand upon me, Lord
I thought that I would never rise again
For Your Spirit had broken the pride in my heart
I knew that I needed to make a new start
I wanted to feel Your love and know You cared
So I fell upon my knees and prayed, "Forgive me, Lord.
For livin' my life without You everyday."
Then I felt like somethin' within me had died.
When I raised my head I saw a new light.
I heard what sounded like a voice from heaven say.
Chorus.
It's alright now. It's alright now.
There's nothin' to fear from Me, my friend.
I'm saying it's alright now."
There is more to the song, but hearing those words again, touched my heart and I started to cry. How tenderly the Lord has led me. No human relationship can compare to that between the Lord and His people.
Perhaps you are one who has felt you "needed to make a new start", too. Through Jesus Christ we can. It's not "turning over a new leaf" or trying to do better. It's realizing our helplessness and admitting to the Lord that, without Him, we are guilty and worthy of punishment. Jesus Christ, God's Perfect, Sinless Son, came to this earth and took the punishment for the sins of mankind. Although it seems hard to fathom that one would do this for us who are so undeserving, He did. He died on a horrible Roman cross, was forsaken by God, and felt His wrath, all because of love for us! The exciting news is that, unlike any other, He raised Himself back to life again! Then He went back to Heaven to His Father. And there He is now, alive and willing to forgive and receive anyone who will come to Him for forgiveness and adoption. When He forgives a person, He gives a radically new, wonderful hope unlike any other. Life may not be perfect following Him; in fact, it may be downright difficult, but knowing He is always near makes life worth living. And then, like the songwriters, you can say personally that in your heart you hear His voice saying to you, "It's alright now."
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Friday, June 24, 2016
Five Minute Friday: Rest
After many weeks of inactivity, I rejoin my FMF fellow-writers for some words on Rest....
Start:
My body is weary, my eyes are heavy. I've gotten in bed too late two nights in a row and it's my own fault.
But I was just having too much fun with my dear friends and cousins during our back-to-back sleepover parties as we try to get in as much visiting as possible before they have to return to their home.
Yes, my physical self is weary and it makes my heart problems worse, too.
No, I don't have a medical condition you should be concerned about. I just have some of the woes and problems brought on from living in a sin-tainted world.
I'm weary with a nine-month long inner struggle over a particular matter, an emotional roller coaster that has had me laughing and crying repeatedly. I've been pained over it and blessed by it and have no idea what my part is to do with it now!
I keep turning to friends or family members talking about it, foolishly hoping that, by voicing my thoughts and frustrations, something will budge, click, pop into place! etc.
Ridiculousness!
All this time, maybe all my Heavenly Father has been trying to teach me is to rest in Him and wait patiently for Him to work something more amazing than I can imagine!
You see, I was reading in Isaiah the other day and it didn't dawn on me until today how that I have been exactly like the people who were given the message, but not listening to the words. It struck me: Have I been biting the hand that has been feeding me? or have I, as I ought, been kissing the hand that is beating me?
Friends, the Lord corrects and instructs in the best and most loving way.
It is not always fun. Sometimes it's painful; but, when He "spanks" His children, it is so we will turn to Him and love and trust Him more.
LORD, help me to learn more fully to rest in Thee about the matters my heart struggles over tonight.
End.
"For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts" (Isaiah 9.13).
Start:
My body is weary, my eyes are heavy. I've gotten in bed too late two nights in a row and it's my own fault.
But I was just having too much fun with my dear friends and cousins during our back-to-back sleepover parties as we try to get in as much visiting as possible before they have to return to their home.
Yes, my physical self is weary and it makes my heart problems worse, too.
No, I don't have a medical condition you should be concerned about. I just have some of the woes and problems brought on from living in a sin-tainted world.
I'm weary with a nine-month long inner struggle over a particular matter, an emotional roller coaster that has had me laughing and crying repeatedly. I've been pained over it and blessed by it and have no idea what my part is to do with it now!
I keep turning to friends or family members talking about it, foolishly hoping that, by voicing my thoughts and frustrations, something will budge, click, pop into place! etc.
Ridiculousness!
All this time, maybe all my Heavenly Father has been trying to teach me is to rest in Him and wait patiently for Him to work something more amazing than I can imagine!
You see, I was reading in Isaiah the other day and it didn't dawn on me until today how that I have been exactly like the people who were given the message, but not listening to the words. It struck me: Have I been biting the hand that has been feeding me? or have I, as I ought, been kissing the hand that is beating me?
Friends, the Lord corrects and instructs in the best and most loving way.
It is not always fun. Sometimes it's painful; but, when He "spanks" His children, it is so we will turn to Him and love and trust Him more.
LORD, help me to learn more fully to rest in Thee about the matters my heart struggles over tonight.
End.
"For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts" (Isaiah 9.13).
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Do You Want to be a Cat?
"Do you want to be a cat?"
"Do I want to be a cat?" I repeated, making sure I had heard correctly.
"Mmhmm." The seriousness in the olive green eyes of my five year old friend told me that I had. It wasn't the first time during babysitting that day that I had encountered the delightfulness of the child's "adult ideas"-free mind. At other points, I had just had to laugh, wishing I could be recording the words and thoughts to share with someone later, (how many times I wished Kyrie was there for me to share a look and a laugh with!) but this was different. Olive was serious and I needed to give this answer more than a chuckle.
"Well...." I thought for a moment. Olive's three year old sister now looked up from the coloring book she was working on. "No," I said slowly. "I don't think so. 'Cause if I was a cat, I would miss out on knowing alot of the wonderful people I know."
The answer was good enough for Perky who went back to coloring. Olive was fine with it, too, it seemed, for she continued candidly, "My brother says I act like a cat..." We talked for a few more minutes on that subject before moving on, but the idea got me to thinking.
I am so thankful that I am not a cat, that I am a human being, that I know that my Creator God planned for me to be a female person and nothing else. How many dear friends He has given me to enjoy! How many opportunities I have gotten to have because I can work, and think, and go, and interact! A cat, or any other animal, has a seriously limited life. They, of course, are made for man's enjoyment and benefit, but they don’t get to know some of the most enjoyable parts of my life. I appreciate the fact that our cats have (to some degree) been good at catching rodents. I enjoyed our dog that ran around, lay on the grass, barked at squirrels, or laughed his great, big, tongue-lolling grin at us. He didn't provide any huge contribution to our family, but he was fun to have around. I even liked our Beta fish which did nothing more than swim back and forth in their glass domains and eat and dazzle me with their gorgeous colors and designs. But to be a person—specifically a person who has purpose based on a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world!—is to know joy and peace, work and rest, pleasure and even the benefits of sorrow (since sorrow is to drive a person back to reliance on Christ). It is to have gain and loss, to meet strangers and become friends, to take advantage of family relationships in order to grow in love for each other despite quirks and personalities and talents. It is to know the highest privilege of the human life: peace with God through realizing one’s sinfulness and Christ’s righteousness, one’s right to punishment and God’s gift of forgiveness through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus.
Olive sparked more than she can imagine by her innocent, child-like question and I am grateful. To my Savior and Lord: I thank You for causing Olive to ask this. It is wonderful to know You, my Father! To all my friends and loved ones who mean so much to me because I am a feeling, thinking human, I have to say: I am so thankful for you--and I am so thankful that I am not a cat!
"Do I want to be a cat?" I repeated, making sure I had heard correctly.
"Mmhmm." The seriousness in the olive green eyes of my five year old friend told me that I had. It wasn't the first time during babysitting that day that I had encountered the delightfulness of the child's "adult ideas"-free mind. At other points, I had just had to laugh, wishing I could be recording the words and thoughts to share with someone later, (how many times I wished Kyrie was there for me to share a look and a laugh with!) but this was different. Olive was serious and I needed to give this answer more than a chuckle.
"Well...." I thought for a moment. Olive's three year old sister now looked up from the coloring book she was working on. "No," I said slowly. "I don't think so. 'Cause if I was a cat, I would miss out on knowing alot of the wonderful people I know."
The answer was good enough for Perky who went back to coloring. Olive was fine with it, too, it seemed, for she continued candidly, "My brother says I act like a cat..." We talked for a few more minutes on that subject before moving on, but the idea got me to thinking.
I am so thankful that I am not a cat, that I am a human being, that I know that my Creator God planned for me to be a female person and nothing else. How many dear friends He has given me to enjoy! How many opportunities I have gotten to have because I can work, and think, and go, and interact! A cat, or any other animal, has a seriously limited life. They, of course, are made for man's enjoyment and benefit, but they don’t get to know some of the most enjoyable parts of my life. I appreciate the fact that our cats have (to some degree) been good at catching rodents. I enjoyed our dog that ran around, lay on the grass, barked at squirrels, or laughed his great, big, tongue-lolling grin at us. He didn't provide any huge contribution to our family, but he was fun to have around. I even liked our Beta fish which did nothing more than swim back and forth in their glass domains and eat and dazzle me with their gorgeous colors and designs. But to be a person—specifically a person who has purpose based on a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world!—is to know joy and peace, work and rest, pleasure and even the benefits of sorrow (since sorrow is to drive a person back to reliance on Christ). It is to have gain and loss, to meet strangers and become friends, to take advantage of family relationships in order to grow in love for each other despite quirks and personalities and talents. It is to know the highest privilege of the human life: peace with God through realizing one’s sinfulness and Christ’s righteousness, one’s right to punishment and God’s gift of forgiveness through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus.
Olive sparked more than she can imagine by her innocent, child-like question and I am grateful. To my Savior and Lord: I thank You for causing Olive to ask this. It is wonderful to know You, my Father! To all my friends and loved ones who mean so much to me because I am a feeling, thinking human, I have to say: I am so thankful for you--and I am so thankful that I am not a cat!
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Open Letters to Lydia and Wynneth
Dear Lydia,
I woke up this morning with your "honey sticks" and hot tea on my mind. How hospitable you were to the lot of us on Sunday mornings who would file into your home, drink your hot beverages, and discuss the Word of God! I thought of those tall, Styrofoam cups of hot water steeping one of your gourmet tea bags and your generosity in letting us make ourselves at home in your kitchen, picking out a slender, plastic envelope of tantalizingly-diverse-colored honeys to empty into the hot liquid.
How well your kettle worked! Often I would sit holding my cup, glancing at it between comments around the circle, and watch the steam rise for almost half the class time, only to down the sufficiently-cooled drink as quickly as possible at class's end so as not to be late to church.
You mean so much to me. All those mornings spent pouring over the Scriptures as a class, all those weekdays learning from your skilled hands & knowledgeable words as you imparted to me the ability to play guitar, all those moments holding your babies or playing with them.
How I love you! How I miss you!
Today especially. As we moved in the next dear family it finally felt... final. They are here to fill the spot you and Bro. Nick left. They are the ones the Lord has brought us as He wisely and lovingly unfolded the next phase of His plan for you, moving you back to your familiar state, your familiar friends, your familiar family.
But, (may I say it?) I take a tearful joy in the fact that we had seemed to become your familiar place. We were your friends in place of those you had moved from. We became family when flesh and blood were so many miles away from you.
How I love you, my sister! My eyes are moist with the missing.
Yes, a new, wonderful family has arrived, but not to replace you. No, instead they come to be used by the Lord to lead us into a deeper relationship with Him, to teach us things we couldn't have learned from you, to grow and stretch us in ways in which you were not meant coach us. And His plan, (as hard as it is sometimes in living your absence), is delightful to me! For He devises with wisdom and I rest in Him with peace knowing that His plan for you is good, His plan for this church, this new family, and even me is good. He is our dear, loving Father and oh! how wonderful to know He keeps you (there where you are) & me (here where I am).
How I love you, my precious sister! Missing will one day be consumed (delightfully so!) in Heaven when we all get to be together with our Savior forever!
Dear Wynneth,
Hello, my new, dear friend! Your move today was filled with answers to prayers! Just having you in the neighborhood means our Gracious Lord did not overlook our plea for a youth pastor and his wife! How sweet our Savior is!
Added to that, His protection on the road as you were stalled at a wreck (I am so grateful that you were not part of it!), and His holding back the rain as your belongings were trekked inside your new residence. More blessings come to mind as I think, with humble thankfulness, that you and Bro. Herald were willing to accept the position that included such a small house.
How it blesses my heart to see your relationship with each other! Even though you were dog-tired, you both exhibited such a cheerfulness and respect & love for each other that blessed my heart!
Your five children delight me, even though I have only met three of them. I look forward, the Lord willing, to becoming very fine friends with them!
How sweet to hold little Ike, to look down into
his handsome, olive-skinned face, to relish his deep-brown eyes. He is a gift from our Father and I my heart bursts to see the love that our He has in placing outcasts into love-inspired families.
You've moved away from things dear and familiar, from places, from family, from friends. I hope that we can be to you new friends (not replacements), and additional family members to add to your "clan".
Your heart blesses mine. I appreciated hearing about your quiet time with the Lord, your sweet, childlike prayers as your petitioned our Father about keeping Ike should you & Bro. Herald come to fill our youth pastor & family position. I loved hearing that your oldest three have come to put their trust in Jesus Christ Who died on the cross and rose again so that sinners like me could be made right with Himself!
You are dear and I already love you! You come to fill a gap. I do not want to place expectations on you that you function, speak, act, etc., like our dear former youth pastor's wife. You are unique and precious and, with the Lord's help, I will grow to learn you and work with you and build you up and learn from you.
I am so thankful that the Lord saw fit to bring you to us and I have been praying that we would be mutual blessings the one to the other.
I bless His Name that He takes such great care of us as He sees right to take our other family for special service elsewhere and to bring you here for the special service He has for you in this place. I know that all things work together for His great purpose and I am super-excited to see what He will do in the days ahead!
Love to you both,
~"Trissy"
I woke up this morning with your "honey sticks" and hot tea on my mind. How hospitable you were to the lot of us on Sunday mornings who would file into your home, drink your hot beverages, and discuss the Word of God! I thought of those tall, Styrofoam cups of hot water steeping one of your gourmet tea bags and your generosity in letting us make ourselves at home in your kitchen, picking out a slender, plastic envelope of tantalizingly-diverse-colored honeys to empty into the hot liquid.
How well your kettle worked! Often I would sit holding my cup, glancing at it between comments around the circle, and watch the steam rise for almost half the class time, only to down the sufficiently-cooled drink as quickly as possible at class's end so as not to be late to church.
You mean so much to me. All those mornings spent pouring over the Scriptures as a class, all those weekdays learning from your skilled hands & knowledgeable words as you imparted to me the ability to play guitar, all those moments holding your babies or playing with them.
How I love you! How I miss you!
Today especially. As we moved in the next dear family it finally felt... final. They are here to fill the spot you and Bro. Nick left. They are the ones the Lord has brought us as He wisely and lovingly unfolded the next phase of His plan for you, moving you back to your familiar state, your familiar friends, your familiar family.
But, (may I say it?) I take a tearful joy in the fact that we had seemed to become your familiar place. We were your friends in place of those you had moved from. We became family when flesh and blood were so many miles away from you.
How I love you, my sister! My eyes are moist with the missing.
Yes, a new, wonderful family has arrived, but not to replace you. No, instead they come to be used by the Lord to lead us into a deeper relationship with Him, to teach us things we couldn't have learned from you, to grow and stretch us in ways in which you were not meant coach us. And His plan, (as hard as it is sometimes in living your absence), is delightful to me! For He devises with wisdom and I rest in Him with peace knowing that His plan for you is good, His plan for this church, this new family, and even me is good. He is our dear, loving Father and oh! how wonderful to know He keeps you (there where you are) & me (here where I am).
How I love you, my precious sister! Missing will one day be consumed (delightfully so!) in Heaven when we all get to be together with our Savior forever!
Dear Wynneth,
Hello, my new, dear friend! Your move today was filled with answers to prayers! Just having you in the neighborhood means our Gracious Lord did not overlook our plea for a youth pastor and his wife! How sweet our Savior is!
Added to that, His protection on the road as you were stalled at a wreck (I am so grateful that you were not part of it!), and His holding back the rain as your belongings were trekked inside your new residence. More blessings come to mind as I think, with humble thankfulness, that you and Bro. Herald were willing to accept the position that included such a small house.
How it blesses my heart to see your relationship with each other! Even though you were dog-tired, you both exhibited such a cheerfulness and respect & love for each other that blessed my heart!
Your five children delight me, even though I have only met three of them. I look forward, the Lord willing, to becoming very fine friends with them!
How sweet to hold little Ike, to look down into
his handsome, olive-skinned face, to relish his deep-brown eyes. He is a gift from our Father and I my heart bursts to see the love that our He has in placing outcasts into love-inspired families.
You've moved away from things dear and familiar, from places, from family, from friends. I hope that we can be to you new friends (not replacements), and additional family members to add to your "clan".
Your heart blesses mine. I appreciated hearing about your quiet time with the Lord, your sweet, childlike prayers as your petitioned our Father about keeping Ike should you & Bro. Herald come to fill our youth pastor & family position. I loved hearing that your oldest three have come to put their trust in Jesus Christ Who died on the cross and rose again so that sinners like me could be made right with Himself!
You are dear and I already love you! You come to fill a gap. I do not want to place expectations on you that you function, speak, act, etc., like our dear former youth pastor's wife. You are unique and precious and, with the Lord's help, I will grow to learn you and work with you and build you up and learn from you.
I am so thankful that the Lord saw fit to bring you to us and I have been praying that we would be mutual blessings the one to the other.
I bless His Name that He takes such great care of us as He sees right to take our other family for special service elsewhere and to bring you here for the special service He has for you in this place. I know that all things work together for His great purpose and I am super-excited to see what He will do in the days ahead!
Love to you both,
~"Trissy"
Friday, April 29, 2016
Five Minute Friday: Pass
Teaming up with Kate Motaung and the bunch at http://katemotaung.com/2016/04/28/five-minute-friday-pass/. It's been far too long and I just couldn't pass up today's word: Pass.
Go:
Recently my family has encountered many different media with emphasis on witnessing, Scripture memory, and the persecuted church. As a result, I've had many thoughts and prayers swirling inside my heart.
One of the biggest players in the emphasis on the persecuted church has been a set of DVDs my Mother purchased for our family to watch together called Dispatches from the Front by Dr. Tim Keesee.
Dr. Keesee is a Christian journalist who travels to the world's difficult places meeting with missionaries in those areas and getting to see what the Lord is doing in those nations. It has been truly encouraging to see just a small part of what the Lord has been doing behind the scenes. (I say behind the scenes, because most of these people are ones I have never heard about and it is absolutely exciting to see the way the Lord's Kingdom is quietly, steadily being built!)
It has sparked so much emotion and longing in me and I find myself praying often during a viewing: "LORD, use me. Send me. Don't pass me by."
The words to that dear old hymn have come to mind frequently as a result: "Pass me not, O Gentle Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by!"
One of the dearest stories in the Bible to me is that of Samuel being taught as just a child to respond to the Lord's calling with, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth" and similarly Isaiah's response to the glory and plea of God, "Here am I, send me."
So with these ancient saints and these modern-day ones, I plead, "Lord, pass me not. Use me, too, to further Thy Kingdom."
Go:
Recently my family has encountered many different media with emphasis on witnessing, Scripture memory, and the persecuted church. As a result, I've had many thoughts and prayers swirling inside my heart.
One of the biggest players in the emphasis on the persecuted church has been a set of DVDs my Mother purchased for our family to watch together called Dispatches from the Front by Dr. Tim Keesee.
Dr. Keesee is a Christian journalist who travels to the world's difficult places meeting with missionaries in those areas and getting to see what the Lord is doing in those nations. It has been truly encouraging to see just a small part of what the Lord has been doing behind the scenes. (I say behind the scenes, because most of these people are ones I have never heard about and it is absolutely exciting to see the way the Lord's Kingdom is quietly, steadily being built!)
It has sparked so much emotion and longing in me and I find myself praying often during a viewing: "LORD, use me. Send me. Don't pass me by."
The words to that dear old hymn have come to mind frequently as a result: "Pass me not, O Gentle Savior, hear my humble cry. While on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by!"
One of the dearest stories in the Bible to me is that of Samuel being taught as just a child to respond to the Lord's calling with, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth" and similarly Isaiah's response to the glory and plea of God, "Here am I, send me."
So with these ancient saints and these modern-day ones, I plead, "Lord, pass me not. Use me, too, to further Thy Kingdom."
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Hold Me
“I wan’ you ta hol’ me!”
My little student’s nasally words were hard to refuse.
“We’re fixing to say the pledges, so I need to you stand up here by me, okay?” I whispered into his ear, my cheek brushing his smooth brown hair.
Not even a minute passed before it came again: “I wan’ you ta hol’ me!” His big, brown eyes below distressed eyebrows made my heart melt.
“I want to, too, but we can’t right now. We’re fixing to sing.”
Briefly, in the bedlam that constitutes my church’s Awana song time, little Claude forgot his desire. But seconds later as I stood there facing the big screen, singing and clapping, he came to stand in front of me with the plea again. His desire was one I would have gladly granted had it not hindered his need to learn discipline, patience, and maturity--and mine to employ it.
There’s a time and place for everything, but after I’d gotten home from church, I wondered if I had ever gotten around to holding him on my lap throughout our evening together.
I love “my children” as I call them. They are each precious, special, and unique individuals made by our detail-oriented Creator.
One of the sweetest parts about teaching the Cubbies class (3-5 year olds) is the cuddly-ness so many of them exhibit. I sit on the floor for only seconds before one (or three!) of them decide to plop down in my lap. I love it! I love that they feel comfortable with me. I love getting to tousle their hair as I pass them, look into their specific-to-them pairs of eyes, comment on the toys they bring or their color sheets & crafts, pray with them, and give and get big bear hugs from them.
Over the past few weeks, little Claude has really changed. At first, I didn’t expect as much of him as I probably should have, (I guess partly because of his personality, partly because of his home life, and partly because I’m not the firm disciplinarian that I should be all the time), but I have noticed when I have “stuck to my guns” with him, eventually he has been persuaded to obey and now exhibits a love for me that I did not feel previously.
After I thought the evening over, I concluded that I did hold Claude at some point, but not as long as I would have liked. What was on his mind? Was he feeling threatened or did his day go badly for him? Was I the security he felt he lacked and, in his own way, he was asking for? And, did I miss giving him the love and attention that Christ would have given?
Sometimes, like Claude, I look up to my Heavenly Father and say, “I wan’ you ta hol’ me! Life is too hard right now. These challenges are too tall to jump over and my legs are too tired to go around. Please just hold me in Your arms.” The Lord is never constrained by “principles of decorum” or time restraints or busyness to refuse me.
I love the words from Deuteronomy 33:27a that say, "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:"
He is available and eager to hold His children and never refuses to gather me up and show me how strong He is.
Friday, February 19, 2016
A Love like Jesus'
It wasn't very long ago that I first "met" Roger Flournoy Jr. via a short documentary of sorts produced by the Austin Stone Community Church.
Mr. Flournoy has cerebral palsy, but despite the challenges that this presents, he is a passionate and convicting example of choosing to have faith and be joyful in the Lord.
Today as I was reading some of his tweets, I found this excellent quote:
"My goal for this year is only to love people the way that Jesus loves them."
Mr. Flournoy's goal challenges me.
In a world that knows "love" primarily as "showing affection (or doing whatever it takes) to gain whatever I want", the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ is completely baffling.
If I were to passionately, honestly pursue this goal, what a drastic change would take place! Of course, it is necessary to find out what the love of Jesus Christ really looks like; therefore, a continual taking in and meditating on Scripture is key.
Recently, I've been reading through Matthew and Mark and have seen many of the things that Jesus did during His time on earth in a physical body. From the Gospel books, I gain so much understanding of Jesus' type of love. From reaching out to diseased and despised women to socially-terrifying lepers, Jesus showed His unconcern for social stereotypes or physical contaminants. One of the most striking examples to me of Jesus' lack of self-awareness and love and concern for others is illustrated in Matthew 14:3, 10, 12-14,
"For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick."
Despite the sorrow He must have felt at the death of His cousin (as a Man) and the death of His holy servant (as the Son of God), despite the sadness over the depravity of mankind that would lead to such a murder, Jesus instead focused on the needs and hurts of those around Him. That is a love like no other. That is a love that the world doesn't understand, can't offer, and, too often, doesn't experience from believers.
This is the year for that to change. With the Lord's help, I will pursue this goal.
Mr. Flournoy has cerebral palsy, but despite the challenges that this presents, he is a passionate and convicting example of choosing to have faith and be joyful in the Lord.
Today as I was reading some of his tweets, I found this excellent quote:
"My goal for this year is only to love people the way that Jesus loves them."
Mr. Flournoy's goal challenges me.
In a world that knows "love" primarily as "showing affection (or doing whatever it takes) to gain whatever I want", the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ is completely baffling.
If I were to passionately, honestly pursue this goal, what a drastic change would take place! Of course, it is necessary to find out what the love of Jesus Christ really looks like; therefore, a continual taking in and meditating on Scripture is key.
Recently, I've been reading through Matthew and Mark and have seen many of the things that Jesus did during His time on earth in a physical body. From the Gospel books, I gain so much understanding of Jesus' type of love. From reaching out to diseased and despised women to socially-terrifying lepers, Jesus showed His unconcern for social stereotypes or physical contaminants. One of the most striking examples to me of Jesus' lack of self-awareness and love and concern for others is illustrated in Matthew 14:3, 10, 12-14,
"For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.
And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick."
Despite the sorrow He must have felt at the death of His cousin (as a Man) and the death of His holy servant (as the Son of God), despite the sadness over the depravity of mankind that would lead to such a murder, Jesus instead focused on the needs and hurts of those around Him. That is a love like no other. That is a love that the world doesn't understand, can't offer, and, too often, doesn't experience from believers.
This is the year for that to change. With the Lord's help, I will pursue this goal.
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