From the Inside Out

Consume me from the inside out Lord....

May you all have a blessed week, and find yourself consumed by a life in Christ.

Lewis on Love

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” -C.S. Lewis

Loving as Christ Loved

We Christians like our feel good 'fixes'. We tithe, sing in the church choir, go on  mission trips, even serve in homeless shelters, but we often neglect one very vital ingredient - LOVE. 

God has been working in my heart a lot over this summer, in teaching me what real love is. And what it means to love. I posted a few weeks ago on what I was learning about love through studying I Corn. 13. And it has been an area God has continued to teach and challenge me in.

God has shown me the selfishness of my own heart - it's ugly. I realized how selfish I have been in "loving" people. I put out an effort to show people I cared, and to be honest I think I really did - because I wanted them to reciprocate. When that did not happen, the questions came. What was I doing wrong? Am I too quiet? Too slow in opening up to people?  I found myself frustrated and upset.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,but have not love, I gain nothing. I Corinthians 13:1-3

Then God began showing me that I was loving for the wrong reason. I wanted to show myself as someone who genuinely cared, and could be trusted, but only under the condition that I received something back from them. If nothing came my way, I became upset. That is the opposite of how Christ taught His followers to love. He taught us to even love our enemies.

I began questioning my motives. Why do I love? Do I love expecting to receive something in return or do I love unconditionally, as Christ has loved me? These are questions I need to ask myself often.

I'm going to be honest here. It is hard work, draining, and exhausting to love without it being reciprocated. It's natural for us to desire love and acceptance. But real love comes into play when we love without being loved in return.

Our every effort is vain, unless it is done in LOVE. We are only able to show true love through the strength of God.

Breaking the Ruts

I know that it has been quite dead around here recently, but I have a few posts in the workings of my mind, so be watching for more posts soon. I plan to share some of what God has been teaching me over this summer.

I was privileged to spend two weeks of my summer at a Worldview training camp, called Summit . In many ways those were the hardest, yet the best two weeks of my life. Through God's working, I feel like I grew so much because of my time there.

I was challenged beyond what I've ever been before! An appetite in me was awakened to study more, dig deeper in search of truth, and share the truth in love. I came to realize how passive I've become; not putting my whole energy into God's service.  God has not redeemed me to sit idly, "waiting for His leading," I have been called to FIGHT!

"Passivity is a plague among Christians. It's not that we don't do anything; it's that we feel spiritual for doing nothing." - Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something

Two of the lovely ladies, Katie and Katherine, who I went to Summit with, at Garden of the God's.

The Attributes of Love

Credit

What is love? 


Is it a feeling? Is it an action? 
Our society equates love with romance/sex, but is the depth of love reached through sex?  Or is true love something deeper than the physical?

In studying the attributes of love described in the "love chapter" (I Corinthians 13),  a love that is deep, lasting, and strong is found. I found myself being challenged and convicted as I studied this.

Love is

More than just words

More than just actions

Patient and kind

Humble

Thoughtful of others

A bearer of burdens

Everlasting

Mature

Polite 

Rejoices in the truth

Trusting

Out lasts knowledge 

Love is not

Boastful

Envious

Arrogant

Rude 

Irritable

Resentful

Insistent on its own way

Joyful in wrongdoing 

Love is hard. Love is tiring. Love hurts. Love makes you vulnerable.  But love is also rewarding!

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that a person must be lovable before we show them love. It doesn't even say that they must act like they want to be shown love. So many people are hurting to be given true love. True love, loves the unlovely. 

We sinned against God. We spat in his face. We nailed him to a cross. We did not, nor do we ever deserve anything from him. Yet, he gave the ultimate gift of love - his own life. 

What about that person who has hurt you, or the person you find annoying, are you loving them as Christ loved us?

 

The Heart of Beauty

I have been challenge and blessed by the ministry of Eric and Leslie Ludy. And once again was blessed by this short video, so thought I would share it with you all! 

True beauty is not found in color of our hair, eyes or skin;

neither is it found in makeup or curls and bows.

Beauty is not found in the cloths we wear,

or in the weight shown when we step on the scale.

We search for beauty in so many things;

but true beauty is found in CHRIST ALONE. 

"The only true beauty comes from a life fully surrendered to Jesus Christ." -Leslie Ludy

Musings of a Counselor: Part 1

As I've now been volunteering as a peer counselor at a Crisis Pregnancy Center for several months, I've begun pondering on the approach many "pro-lifer's" have taken.

Most of us have seen or have at least heard about the "pro-lifer's" who picket around the abortion clinics with graph pictures of aborted babies, and bluntly telling the women that they are murdering there babies. Yes, biblically abortion is considered murder, and I am completely apposed to it. But is this that the most effective approach to take?

Many of the women who walk into those abortion clinics are already hurting, angry, and confused. Is using "guilt-tactics" the best way for Christians to reach out to them? Is there a better way to show them the Love of Christ? I believe that there is a better way.

A large portion of the women who choose to have an abortion realize that it is a life they are ending. The lie of it just being a "blob of tissue" has been exposed. Most abortions are chosen being aware that it truly is a living baby in their womb; yet they choose to have the abortion anyway. Why is that? "Pro-lifer's" have thought if they could just get people to realize that it is a living baby, less people would support abortion. I am sure that has been a factor in some choosing not to support abortion, but there are still a HUGE number of abortions being preformed every year.

Abortion rates are on the decline, but around 1 million abortions are still being preformed every year. So, a large number of women are still choosing abortion, in spite of the efforts to stop abortion.

What happens if we take our focus off trying to "save" the baby (which we really can't do anyway), and instead focus on the needs of mother's of these babies?
I will share more of my thoughts on this subject in an upcoming post!

Please feel free to comment, I would love to hear your thoughts!
God Bless!