Let me Be Real

Christ loved you and gave himself up for you. “Walk in love just as Christ loved you.” The command comes with life-changing truth. “Christ loved you.” At the moment when there is a chance to love and some voice says, “You are not a loving person,” you can say, “Christ’s love for me makes me a new kind of person. His command to love is just as surely possible for me as his promise of love is true for me. -The Chase by Jerry Bridges

C.S. Lewis says in The Weight of Glory, "we meet no ordinary people in our lives". There is an incredible truth in that statement. The lives of those walking across campus, ordering tacos in front of us, and repairing our car brakes....are not "mere mortals". These are souls all the more approaching the day when they too will meet Him face to face. Their stories are writing for them an eternal script. Perhaps they know God, but what if they don't? Perhaps we know ourselves that our lives here do matter, but what if we have lost sight of it too? 

In the day to day regimen it is easy to wake up, study, work, eat, and maybe try to read and pray. 

Our reading and talks with God are essential. It has been amazing to witness how He has been working and revealing Himself. This morning I was confronted with a thought that "ruffled me feathers" a bit. In my relationship with God I have been blessed immensely. When I went to work this morning, my breath caught in the chilly air as I walked to my car. Looking up, I saw the the brightest stars I've seen in a long time peering through moon-lit clouds.

 It just took me by surprise and was almost like I could see God saying, "isn't it beautiful? I've set this out with My Hands and it has been in motion long before you and will last long after. I want for you to embrace and acknowledge My creation before your day begins....remember this". 

When we ask for a glimpse of God He will reveal a piece. 

The 2-minutes just standing outside in the cold was nothing short of marvelous. If I had not needed to be  anywhere I might have just bundled up and sat outside for a while. But I did need to be going and going I went. 

It might be important to note that I have an irritable side. It's something I'm working on, but when I don't get enough sleep for an extended time I continue to struggle with this area (this is not an excuse). Okay, moving on, I showed up at the pool and my swimmers were FULL of energy, running around, pushing each other and talking loudly in the foyer where we wait before practice. It was enough to frustrate me. And I felt what God was telling me only a few minutes before come to mind. But I disregarded it. One thing led to another and I was just not a very happy camper...ended up getting soaked and my kids weren't listening. They are ready for Thanksgiving break just as much as I am apparently :) The thought just kept coming to mind. To acknowledge God and know His love in order to reciprocate it.

Too often I try to mask my frustrations, which is what I've always thought was the appropriate thing to do. The reality is, God has poured Himself out for me. He has for you too. And through His love we are enabled to love in a real way- a way that would have characterized the response to my kids this morning. These little 11-17 year olds are not just "my kids" but they are God's creation that have been planned from the beginning (Jeremiah 1:5). They are eternal beings and every interaction I have with them is going on their "account" as well as mine. They are chosen and loved by God, whether they have received Him or not. We live in a world of eternal beings in need of love. When it seems they don't deserve it, when it seems it doesn't matter...that's not an excuse for the believer. A life in step with The Creator is one where every breath and drop of sweat or tears is for The Lord. I really can't fathom this.

But it hit me. The last few weeks I've wanted other people to share their stories because I haven't been sure what to write about. It's important we share how God is working in order to testify in a small way to His greatness; so this seemed an appropriate time. Well from the stories I've heard (and not yet posted...getting to it!) it's been very encouraging to see the way God works through love. God has been showing me His love through lots of people. The last few months He has been challenging me to consider this in a new way. It is so hard and hurts at times.... I still haven't been able to "get it right"... And unfortunately feel I'm a long way from getting even close. But I want to share what He's shown me and really put on my heart recently:

Love is a choice. And with God, that choice is possible. 

This verse applies in more than the romantic ideal we often consider it. It applies in how we think, feel, move, and breathe. It is to be extended to our families, friends, "kids", car technicians and those people that you cannot seem to stand. 

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,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it his not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Maybe sometime soon I need to bundle up, head outside, and look up some more. 

His command to love is just as surely possible for me as his promise of love is true for me. -The Chase by Jerry Bridges