I finally slept last night. Five whole hours. That's twice as much as I've been getting lately. But as I read my last post, that I wrote at 3:30 this morning (five hours is five hours, no matter what time it is), I noticed how tired I really was. So I thought I'd try to clarify the cross-eyed babble from earlier.
The point I was trying to make, and I'm always trying to make, is that God's love is the only thing that's going to save this world. And I don't mean the "Jesus loves me this I know" kind of love. I'm talking about living love. The kind that people can see and feel just by being around us Christians.
I think of Jonah, again. Jonah is probably wishing I would leave Him alone for once. But God wanted Jonah to proclaim His love and mercy to the Ninevites. But He first had to show that love and mercy to Jonah. Jonah had to learn it for himself.
That's us, y'all. That is where the surrender comes in. We try to teach lost people to surrender their heart to God. We tell them that He can solve all their problems and make them a new creation. But do our actions show it? Do they see us living out the Word like we are trying to get them to do? What I mean is, can they believe what we are telling them by looking at us? Let me put it this way: Would you buy a Pepsi from a Coke salesman?
We can't lead others to Christ buy selling them a false Gospel. The Bible talks about false witnesses and hypocrites. How often does that describe us?
I hope that clears up the mud a little.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Lookin' Ahead
I'm really hearing alot from God right now about surrendering to Him. I know this gets discussed all the time by all of us but how seriously do we take it? It's called surrender for a reason. It's a battle between Him and us. There are victors and vanquished in every battle and this is no different. One way or the other, we will be defeated.
So why not just give up? Why don't we just resign ourselves to the fact that He knows best and we can save ourselves a whole bunch of heartache by letting Him have His way?
I posted on JGen about the cost of getting all of God. It's giving Him all of us. That means living out His Word. That means living apart from the world so the world can see we are not like them, that we are looking ahead to something greater. Why do we think that's such a big deal? You know how frustrating it can be when you're trying to convince someone that you're right? Well how do you think God feels? All these wonderful things He wants to do through us and all these blessings He wants to give us and we won't even stop to consider that He might be right. Of course He's right!!!
Life's too short and the world is too messed up for us to be doing our own thing. Too many people are dying without Him, too many people aren't living like He wants them to, and too many people get too little love. He is the source of all love. Those people out there can't feel love without Him and we are content to sit back and horde His love for ourselves. No, no, no, no ,no! We are to take His love to them so they can experience it. We don't love them for Him, we are supposed to love them to Him.
I don't mean to be so emphatic about this but the longer we think we can love without His direction, the longer those people are without that love. That's really the great opposition to giving ourselves to Him, I think. We want to love our way, for our benefit. We think that loving and living His way will somehow short-change us. That's not how He works. Doing it His way is the way to that "abundant life" Jesus spoke about.
So that price? That cost? Yeah, it's high. It will hurt. But not as much as hanging on a cross.
So why not just give up? Why don't we just resign ourselves to the fact that He knows best and we can save ourselves a whole bunch of heartache by letting Him have His way?
I posted on JGen about the cost of getting all of God. It's giving Him all of us. That means living out His Word. That means living apart from the world so the world can see we are not like them, that we are looking ahead to something greater. Why do we think that's such a big deal? You know how frustrating it can be when you're trying to convince someone that you're right? Well how do you think God feels? All these wonderful things He wants to do through us and all these blessings He wants to give us and we won't even stop to consider that He might be right. Of course He's right!!!
Life's too short and the world is too messed up for us to be doing our own thing. Too many people are dying without Him, too many people aren't living like He wants them to, and too many people get too little love. He is the source of all love. Those people out there can't feel love without Him and we are content to sit back and horde His love for ourselves. No, no, no, no ,no! We are to take His love to them so they can experience it. We don't love them for Him, we are supposed to love them to Him.
I don't mean to be so emphatic about this but the longer we think we can love without His direction, the longer those people are without that love. That's really the great opposition to giving ourselves to Him, I think. We want to love our way, for our benefit. We think that loving and living His way will somehow short-change us. That's not how He works. Doing it His way is the way to that "abundant life" Jesus spoke about.
So that price? That cost? Yeah, it's high. It will hurt. But not as much as hanging on a cross.
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