And they'll Know We are Christians by Our Love

     It has been a very long time since I have written a blog, and the majority of that is do to finishing school.  It has been a long road, but I am just about finished with the journey I set out for almost 6.5 years ago.  I am now only days away from taken the test that is the key to it all, and for that I am incredibly thankful.  I have so many ideas for posts, and many of them are but a fleeting memory, but the most pressing one at this moment is Love.  

     I think we have been set upon a course falling away from Love since we fell from the grace of Eden.  It is now incredibly difficult to Love people, and yet God is pure love.  We are called to 2 things: Love God, and Love people.  I think quite often we fail epically at both.  We find it easy to love some, but not everyone.  The issue at hand is that we are all in the same boat, and we are all sinking.  The only thing that saved us is the life raft Jesus provided by dying on the cross for us.  I looked through my posts, and could not find any mention of my personal mission statement that I made even before I started this blog last year, but here it is: “I desire to Love God, and Love People by a complete surrender of my heart, mind, soul, and body so that I too may be a light in the darkness, and a ray of hope in times of despair.“ I can’t say that I am even close to what I want out of this, but I do try to point myself at it.  I think an issue arrises when we choose who we want to Love, even if Christ Loves everybody.  We must accept people as they are, and pour love into them.  This is the only way their hearts will soften enough to allow Jesus to change whatever needs changing.  This means not pushing people away if they are different then yourself, or have a life style you do not believe in.  I am not saying that if you yourself struggle with something, that you should dive right into surrounding yourself with others that struggle as well because you will be tempted, but if that isn’t the issue then why can’t we be “A friend of sinners,” a title Jesus was called, and which is all of us.  As a solitary person, and a church we are called to Love people, but we like to pick which people.  A song that I sang as a child has become the anthem of my heart, and the greatest inspiration to this blog.  

     I continually try to ask myself if people know I am Christian by my Love, not by what I say.  Actions speak louder then words, and unfortunately it is very difficult to completely practice what we preach.  Jesus was a servant, and we are called to serve everybody.   

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ - Matthew 25:40

     That is a powerful statement, and should be a challenge for how we treat others.  Another song that is more recent, and has been on the radio as of late is called “The Proof of Your Love.” It stems from 1 Corinthians 13:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

It doesn’t matter how great you do anything for the Kingdom, it is Love that is the key.  Do you not only put effort into it, but do you point your life at it?  Do you Love and serve people no matter what?  This is different for everybody, but it is imperative that you figure out what this means for you and your family.  Love Jesus, by loving people.  I find that my life feels most complete, and most fulfilled the closer I am to this, and the only explanation I see is that this is when I feel the closest to Jesus.  

The Bridge of Faith

      It has been far to long in between posts, but here is the next one.  I have had this idea for a while, and have told many people about it.  It is based on the bridge we have formed across life.  Have you ever seen a bridge like this:

     After a lot of thought and processing I have come to believe that we are on a bridge of similar construction in our walk with Christ.  The center rope you walk on is faith.  This is the pinnacle of what Christ called us to. Faith that Jesus was the son of God, that he came and died for our sins, and that he was raised to life is what it is all about.  I did a search to find that faith is mentioned around 458 times in the bible.  It is crammed full of stories related to faith in God.  The ultimate element being that God is who he says he is, and will do all he says he will do.  The faith is what we walk on.  It is what supports our weight, and gives us a place for our feet.  The greater the faith, the thicker the rope.  The best part about this bridge we create with is that once we have faith, we are harnessed into the line.  We cannot fall off, and no matter how much the rope shakes, we can be sure that we will not fall to our death.  The only problem is that walking on a tight rope is very difficult, and therefore two more ropes make it better.


     The extra two ropes are derived from reading the bible and prayer I believe.  I think that if we walk onto faith, we are steadied by the bible, and by prayer.   It is when these 3 are twined together that the bridge gains stability, and the crosser is steadied no matter how much the bridge is rocking.  I think often we just try to have faith, and we are dismayed when it feels like we are crossing a tight rope.  Even then we try to just get away with only prayer, and not the entire set of ropes.

     Crossing the bridge is where things become interesting.  I have been one of these bridges, and no matter how safe they are, they still feel very unsafe.  They shake and bounce.  They require you to focus, and point yourself at the other side.  It is easy to look down, and become paralyzed with fear.  These things all equate to life.  Life is not easy, and it bounces all around.  It scares us to the core, and only faith in the rope (Christ) allows us to cross.  I have heard that community should be one of the ropes instead, but community in this example is the ability to look around at other bridges just like the one you are on.  It allows you to encourage those that are further behind you in their crossing, and also an example of people that are already further in their crossing.  After some thought my idea for sharing the gospel is catching the people that are not connected through faith, and sharing our faith so that they can be clipped in as well.  The key is that all crossings have heaven on the other side, and we are all crossing the pit of death and darkness.  I do not have much scripture to post for this one, because most of it is feeling.  Feel free to post scriptures which you think apply, and continue to encourage others crossing their bridges!
 

Prayer

One of the most important elements of any relationship is communication, and prayer is the primary method for telling God. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that we do not need to pray that much, because God already knows it all. It still must come from us. I have spent all my life knowing I should pray, but I really feel that lately my desire to pray has grown greatly. Another big change is what I pray for, and why I pray for it. This whole pursuit is likely due out of prayer, and prayer is what God laid on my heart over the past few days.
Prayer is a very common them in the bible, and it is for that reason that it become vital. One of the first things that comes to mind is the middle of these verses:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
I find it so incredibly difficult to pray continually, but I have also found that when I feel in a near constant connecting with God is when I do the best pursuing him. I don't know how this might work for someone else, but I know that when I am in tune with it I feel that everything I think and say is what I am choosing to share with God.
The next piece of this pursuit is what I pray for. I have been to ask myself why I pray for things. Do I pray out of selfishness or selflessness. I have been reflecting on what I pray for over the last few days, and it has been very enlightening. I think that the selfless prayers are the ones most commonly answered, and the selfish ones are often not. I think my biggest new prayer has become: God help me follow the path you have laid out for me. I also pray something to the tune of: Help me pursue righteousness at all costs. The thing about the "at all costs" statement is that it has the potential to cost a lot. It is easy to say I will follow Jesus when it only costs a little, but when very difficult when you begin to see the true cost of such a prayer. When you truely surrender to God in this way you begin to see the costs start to add up, but you don't worry about how much it will cost. In the end you know it is worth it. Does it hurt? Yeah, and sometimes badly. I also spend a fair amount of time thanking God for all of the blessings, because when you look around there are always blessings to find. I pray for God's will, not mine. Jesus prayed this, and I think it is a great model for how to pray. Now the last element I find that is important is praying for his people. I am terrible at this, and I am working on it. I want to pray for people that need it, and don't know it. I know I need to put more of my prayer time towards this; Praying that people find God, and that the people of God are able to continue to follow God as well.
So what do you pray for and why? By all means pray for everything, but pray for things that follow the heart of God. Do you find yourself in true communion with God, or just on occasion? Why must we only pray at certain times? Why does prayer have to be hard? Are you will to ask God to pull out all the stops when it comes to your righteousness? Some of these prayers take great emotional effort to truly pray, but the value is beyond our comprehension. I want God to make me into the man he wants me to be, and lead me down the path that he has prepared for me at all costs, whether I like it or not. Will you?

Obedience

"Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" - Romans 6:16

Obedience is a word that I have pondered heavily over the several months, and it is the basis for my first tattoo. It is also what seems most important to God, and it is more then outward obedience. It is obedience to the very core of a person, which I will say is extremely difficult to pursue. People seem to think that just outward obedience is all that is required, but why not let obedience permeate all the way to your heart so that righteousness is what you display. I use to think that faith was enough, and I would say that a fair majority churches teach that faith is all that is necessary. I ask the question: why do you simply want to believe in something life changing rather then have y0ur life changed. Why remain as a slave to sin, especially a sin cycle? It almost feels as if caught in a deep dark hole, and satan likes it that way. The only person that can pull you out of the whole is Jesus, and that is only because he has already been to the bottom of the whole himself. Jesus provided a great way to live, and it requires tremendous effort. God has given us a great gift through the bible as well so that we stand a chance at pursuing him, and having a better life. The call is to obedience! God gives numerous examples of what pure obedience looks like, as well as what the consequences of a lack of obedience. What obedience looks like for you is different then what it looks like for me.
God is whispering (in reality yelling) in the corner. I once heard that Jesus is like a man at a party. He is yelling in the corner, but there are so many people around that you stand no chance of hearing anything more then faint whispers to clear the room. The first step is to hear the voice, and believe that it is the most important noise in the room. Then it becomes a matter of clearing the room of all of the extraneous noise. This is the hard part, because in some ways you like some of the noises. This is the obedience part, and clearing the room becomes more and more important. In this world it is probably impossible to get the room completely clear of the noises, but with a mostly clear room you will be able to hear what Jesus has to say. Jesus can say what voices should stay, and which should be given the boot. So if you already have faith, why not be obedient? It might be hard, but it is better.
So after having a seemingly deep understanding of what obedience means to me, I thought it appropriate to a constant reminder of obedience. The better piece of the tattoo is that is mirrored, so that it is only read in a mirror, and that is why it was first. Obedience now describes what I want out of life. I deeply desire to be obedient to the calling of Christ, and I know that obedience to Christ will make every aspect of my life better. I think tattoos are a great reminder of our desires, and my next one will have as much value as my obedience reminder.