In line with my talk about love recently I have to share the message series we're doing at my church called "Love Revolution." As I've said, it's about living authentic love God's way in all of our relationships.
The first message was preached yesterday, and we're also having a "church-wide" Love Revolution campaign through small group study and other activities. I'll likely be sharing more about it here.
For now, I just wanted to pass on the compelling first message on the true meaning of love, which you can access here. It is The Most Excellent Way of all...
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
This I Know*
Today (technically yesterday, since I'm writing this after midnight, although it's still Sunday to me) God has really been reminding me of His love so deeply and tangibly. At church we started a series called “Love Revolution,” about how to live authentic love in all of our relationships. I also attended another service just this evening where we discussed grasping the contours of His Love – the essence, the measure, the freedom and the security of It, expressed in Romans 8:31-39. We also sang one of my favorite hymns, “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross.” Additionally, I had a few discussions about showing love.
Throughout these experiences today I found myself pondering the meaning of God’s love, silently. I had no real emotional reaction to it - I just reflected on it.
But when I got home and started preparing for a long day tomorrow, verses and songs about God’s love just started filling my mind. It’s like suddenly I felt God whisper, in a breath, “ Seyi, I love you.” And I became overwhelmed with the feeling of His love, and the result was tears.
Probably the most humbling, hitting biblical truth for me is that the God of the Universe really wants a relationship with me. He demonstrated the meaning of love in a single Act: giving His Son to die for me, just so I would have a way to reach Him. And if that were not enough, every day He deeply desires to spend time with me – show me how much He loves me. His love is so constant, so steady.
Father, who are we that you are mindful of us, that you care for us?
This band sings this wonderful song of worship about how much He loves us. It says He loves like a hurricane, and we’re the object of His affection – He sweeps us into it. The song continues: “Oh how He loves us, Oh how He loves.”
The only thing I can give a God who pursues me so passionately is me.
Yes, He loves me - and so love Him, too.
*Post #100.
Throughout these experiences today I found myself pondering the meaning of God’s love, silently. I had no real emotional reaction to it - I just reflected on it.
But when I got home and started preparing for a long day tomorrow, verses and songs about God’s love just started filling my mind. It’s like suddenly I felt God whisper, in a breath, “ Seyi, I love you.” And I became overwhelmed with the feeling of His love, and the result was tears.
Probably the most humbling, hitting biblical truth for me is that the God of the Universe really wants a relationship with me. He demonstrated the meaning of love in a single Act: giving His Son to die for me, just so I would have a way to reach Him. And if that were not enough, every day He deeply desires to spend time with me – show me how much He loves me. His love is so constant, so steady.
Father, who are we that you are mindful of us, that you care for us?
This band sings this wonderful song of worship about how much He loves us. It says He loves like a hurricane, and we’re the object of His affection – He sweeps us into it. The song continues: “Oh how He loves us, Oh how He loves.”
The only thing I can give a God who pursues me so passionately is me.
Yes, He loves me - and so love Him, too.
*Post #100.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
LOVE REVOLUTION
Every so often I read a book I feel compelled to share about here. The latest one is “Love, Sex & Lasting Relationships: God’s Prescription for Enhancing Your Love Life” by Chip Ingram. The book is designed for anyone – single, dating, courting or married, and I highly recommend it to all.
Before I discuss the book I’ll reiterate that God’s Word constantly addresses that pursuing an understanding of love – of all kinds – is so important. Particularly, throughout the New Testament believers are admonished to "put on” a series of virtues that end with love as the highest calling. One of my favorites is 2 Peter 1: 5-8:
“5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How do we make “every effort,” particularly in the context of love? I believe that, at the most fundamental level, it begins with pursuing a mental understanding of it based on God’s Word.
Romans 12: 2 highlights how critical our mind is for walking in righteousness in every area of our lives:
“Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed, by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to approve his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
The Bible teaches that God is Love. To say that He is Love is to be reminded that He is completely self sufficient, and that He defines what we desire. If love is defined as Him – and by Him – any understanding that we get independent from His principles is inferior.
Yet we often fail to renew our thinking about love, instead investing heavily in the world’s definition of it – to our own demise.
God’s People – and the rest of our world – are in need of a Better Way, God’s Way. To borrow from the book, “Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships,” a current campaign at my church, a CD I recently purchased, another book (all of which spurred the title!), we need a “Love Revolution.”
OVERVIEW
In “Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships,” the failed view of romantic love that even Christians heavily follow, dubbed “The Hollywood Formula,” is described:
Hollywood Formula
1. Find the Right Person.
2. Fall in Love.
3. Fix your hopes and dreams on this person for your future
fulfillment.
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1, 2 and 3.
(p. 24-28).
Results
Some of the results of this model were described by looking at a national study on today’s young adults reflecting on romantic love after witnessing failed relationships in their families:
Based on the book, a test for whether you follow the Hollywood Model is if your belief of God’s plan for love in your life – or others’ – rises and falls based on your (or others’) dating circumstances. Are you despondent about a “failed search” with dating? Is your perspective changed only when a “great person” comes into your life? These are signs of following the Hollywood Formula.
THE Alternative: “God’s Prescription for Relationships”
Thanks be to God for another way! I love the book’s description of The Alternative, beginning with a verse summing it up:
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant offering.” ~ Ephesians, 5:1-2 NASB
God’s Prescription
Pondering the Prescription
I think there’s a danger of not really appreciating how significant – and different – God’s prescription for love is compared to the world’s.
In looking at step one, we may be tempted to interpret that in some societal “self-realization” mantra such as “in order to love someone else you have to love yourself first.” But becoming the right person God’s way requires much more than just initial self love. I would summarize step 1 as following Christ’s example in Philippians 2. I also see Galatians 5:22-23, the passage on the “fruit of the spirit,” as the result of being the “right person” who is an “imitator of God”:
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
[i.e., these traits are always positive!]
Before fruit can “become” fruit, it has to be cultivated, grown. As we strive, through His power, to be the people God calls us to be, He is able to refine us, which gives us the ability to execute love (step 2). Further, we can only remain the right person and walk in love as we seek Christ daily (Step 3). And when we fall short of the ideal, we can freely repeat it – and watch ourselves grow in love!
The Two Formulas, Juxtaposed
Hollywood's Formula
1. Find the Right Person.
2. Fall in Love.
3. Fix your hopes and dreams on this person for your future fulfillment.
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1, 2 and 3.
God's Prescription
1. Become the right person.
2. Walk in love.
3. Fix your hope on God and seek to please him through this relationship.
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1, 2 and 3.
By contrast, when we repeat Hollywood’s model, we set ourselves up for a despondency to which no Christian is called. I do not think that we as Christians grasp the fact that being down or despondent about romantic love is an attitude that cannot exist under God’s model of love because it focuses on circumstances. By contrast, God’s way of love is unconditional – trusting, hopeful, and strong – quite radical in our world!
Both formulas end with “repeat,” but only one brings success. God’s prescription says that “finding” love is about being a constant imitator of God, not finding the right person. Experiencing romantic love God’s way is about how you choose to live, not who you meet.
There’s that famous quote defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over but expecting to get different results. But in this context it is comforting to know that despite the fact that we mess up trying to implement God’s model, repeating it is not insanity, it helps us get better, God-honoring results!
Further, throughout the book strategies for understanding God’s prescription for relationships are described. Special notes are presented for people who are married, single or dating. Each chapter also ends with questions for self evaluation.
The Final Chapter
The last chapter of the book could not cover a more important topic: sexual purity, an integral part of romantic love God’s way. The author refers to walking in purity, so contrary to the world’s perspective, as “The Second Sexual Revolution.” As a card-carrying member of The Movement, I truly appreciated this theme. I will present the steps provided, verses quoted, and leave it you to read about each!
The Author’s Description on How to Launch A Revolution
We must develop:
I. A New Way to Think About Sexuality
II. A New Way to Attract the Opposite Sex
III. A New Way to Relate to the Opposite Sex
I. A New Way to Think About Sexuality: Three Radical Claims
-Radical Claim #1: Sex is Sacred: “Until you…recognize that sex is sacred to God, [you] haven’t joined the revolution” - Hebrews 13:4 (p. 186-187)
“4Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. (NIV)
4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (NKJV)”
Radical Claim #2: Sex is Serious - 1 Corinthians 6: 15-20 (p. 188-189)
“15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."[a] 17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
Radical Claim #3: Sex is Grave Responsibility- 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 (p. 189-192)
“It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control his own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”
II. A New Way to Attract the Opposite Sex: Three Radical Ways of Attraction – I Peter 3:3-4 (p. 192-199)
"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
Principle defined with the acronym “I.O.U,” for the first letter of each element below:
Radical Way #1: Develop Inward Character
Radical Way #2: Develop Outward Modesty
Radical Way #3: Develop Upward Devotion [to God]
III. Learn A New Way to Relate to the Opposite Sex: Three Points (p. 200-206)
1. Start Out as Friends
2. Treat Others [including our love interests] as Brothers and Sisters in Christ: “What would happen in every relationship with the opposite sex among Christians if we treated people as brothers and sisters in Christ?” (p. 204) - 1 Timothy 5:1-2
"1Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.“
[My note: This really helps when considering physical temptations!]
3. Make the Spiritual Growth and Well-being of Others Your Number One Priority: “Here’s the primary question you can ask of every relationship: ‘In this relationship with my brother or sister in Christ, am I helping him or her become more like Christ?” (p. 205)
[Note how every step is about what you do – not the other person!]
CONCLUSION
We have this mistaken belief that seeing love God’s way is an option: if we choose to follow His commands, it’s cool – maybe we’ll get an “extra blessing” or two, but it’s no big deal if we don’t. But when we look at the dismal state of love in our world, the reality is that our relationships can afford nothing less than God’s way. God forgives, but we still miss out on experiencing love as He intends for us when we choose another, inferior way.
Powerful Medicine
Imagine if every Christian joined The Revolution? We would have fully fulfilling, God-honoring relationships that win souls in the process!
Picture having the antidote for hundreds of millions dying from some disease, but choosing to toss it out. That’s what we do when we ignore God’s prescription for love. But when we adopt it, no matter what our pasts, we experience healing, albeit painful at first. As the book notes, God’s antidote is “powerful medicine”:
“Like today’s cancer-fighting drugs, God’s prescription may feel as if it’s killing you on the way to giving you life. It will create immediate and painful confrontations in your life [against] the status quo. Effective medicine is like that. But we’ve been convinced by the world that God’s prescription won’t taste good or do any good. Instead, we’ve become used to taking the sickening sweet potion offered by the world and have refused to recognize the deadly side affects it brings. (p. 183)”
Epilogue
My Prayer for You (p. 212)
…[Father,] help us think differently about our sexuality, help us attract others with integrity and honesty, and help us relate in truthful and helpful ways with each other. Give us your strength to become the right kind of people, to grow and walk in love, to fix our hope on you and walk in your light. Give us the quiet courage to participate in the second sexual revolution in our culture. In Christ’s name. Amen.”
Here’s a link to order the book, which also includes an excerpt from the first chapter and the back cover.
Take Him at His Word when He says there is A Better Way – The Best Way. If you haven’t already, join The Revolution- and experience the radical transformation that comes with it.
Before I discuss the book I’ll reiterate that God’s Word constantly addresses that pursuing an understanding of love – of all kinds – is so important. Particularly, throughout the New Testament believers are admonished to "put on” a series of virtues that end with love as the highest calling. One of my favorites is 2 Peter 1: 5-8:
“5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How do we make “every effort,” particularly in the context of love? I believe that, at the most fundamental level, it begins with pursuing a mental understanding of it based on God’s Word.
Romans 12: 2 highlights how critical our mind is for walking in righteousness in every area of our lives:
“Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed, by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to approve his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
The Bible teaches that God is Love. To say that He is Love is to be reminded that He is completely self sufficient, and that He defines what we desire. If love is defined as Him – and by Him – any understanding that we get independent from His principles is inferior.
Yet we often fail to renew our thinking about love, instead investing heavily in the world’s definition of it – to our own demise.
God’s People – and the rest of our world – are in need of a Better Way, God’s Way. To borrow from the book, “Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships,” a current campaign at my church, a CD I recently purchased, another book (all of which spurred the title!), we need a “Love Revolution.”
OVERVIEW
In “Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships,” the failed view of romantic love that even Christians heavily follow, dubbed “The Hollywood Formula,” is described:
Hollywood Formula
1. Find the Right Person.
2. Fall in Love.
3. Fix your hopes and dreams on this person for your future
fulfillment.
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1, 2 and 3.
(p. 24-28).
Results
Some of the results of this model were described by looking at a national study on today’s young adults reflecting on romantic love after witnessing failed relationships in their families:
“I don’t know if I believe in marriage.”(p. 49-50)
“I get close to someone, then the same thing always happens. I’m
scared to death to make a commitment. “
“I don’t know how marriage is supposed to work, but I know I grew up
in a family where it didn’t.”
“I’ve got unresolved issues and unresolved pain and a lot of fear about relationships."
“I want intimacy and I long to be connected with someone else, but my heart got ripped out and no one helped me cope with the pain. They said I’d get over it. Well, I’m not over it. I’m afraid to go into new relationships.”
Based on the book, a test for whether you follow the Hollywood Model is if your belief of God’s plan for love in your life – or others’ – rises and falls based on your (or others’) dating circumstances. Are you despondent about a “failed search” with dating? Is your perspective changed only when a “great person” comes into your life? These are signs of following the Hollywood Formula.
THE Alternative: “God’s Prescription for Relationships”
Thanks be to God for another way! I love the book’s description of The Alternative, beginning with a verse summing it up:
“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant offering.” ~ Ephesians, 5:1-2 NASB
God’s Prescription
1. Become the right person.I do not want to get into the book’s descriptions of the steps because I think they are better read directly. However, I will share some thoughts I have on the formula.
2. Walk in love.
3. Fix your hope on God and seek to please him through this relationship.
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1, 2 and 3.
Pondering the Prescription
I think there’s a danger of not really appreciating how significant – and different – God’s prescription for love is compared to the world’s.
In looking at step one, we may be tempted to interpret that in some societal “self-realization” mantra such as “in order to love someone else you have to love yourself first.” But becoming the right person God’s way requires much more than just initial self love. I would summarize step 1 as following Christ’s example in Philippians 2. I also see Galatians 5:22-23, the passage on the “fruit of the spirit,” as the result of being the “right person” who is an “imitator of God”:
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
[i.e., these traits are always positive!]
Before fruit can “become” fruit, it has to be cultivated, grown. As we strive, through His power, to be the people God calls us to be, He is able to refine us, which gives us the ability to execute love (step 2). Further, we can only remain the right person and walk in love as we seek Christ daily (Step 3). And when we fall short of the ideal, we can freely repeat it – and watch ourselves grow in love!
The Two Formulas, Juxtaposed
Hollywood's Formula
1. Find the Right Person.
2. Fall in Love.
3. Fix your hopes and dreams on this person for your future fulfillment.
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1, 2 and 3.
God's Prescription
1. Become the right person.
2. Walk in love.
3. Fix your hope on God and seek to please him through this relationship.
4. If failure occurs, repeat steps 1, 2 and 3.
By contrast, when we repeat Hollywood’s model, we set ourselves up for a despondency to which no Christian is called. I do not think that we as Christians grasp the fact that being down or despondent about romantic love is an attitude that cannot exist under God’s model of love because it focuses on circumstances. By contrast, God’s way of love is unconditional – trusting, hopeful, and strong – quite radical in our world!
Both formulas end with “repeat,” but only one brings success. God’s prescription says that “finding” love is about being a constant imitator of God, not finding the right person. Experiencing romantic love God’s way is about how you choose to live, not who you meet.
There’s that famous quote defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over but expecting to get different results. But in this context it is comforting to know that despite the fact that we mess up trying to implement God’s model, repeating it is not insanity, it helps us get better, God-honoring results!
Further, throughout the book strategies for understanding God’s prescription for relationships are described. Special notes are presented for people who are married, single or dating. Each chapter also ends with questions for self evaluation.
The Final Chapter
The last chapter of the book could not cover a more important topic: sexual purity, an integral part of romantic love God’s way. The author refers to walking in purity, so contrary to the world’s perspective, as “The Second Sexual Revolution.” As a card-carrying member of The Movement, I truly appreciated this theme. I will present the steps provided, verses quoted, and leave it you to read about each!
The Author’s Description on How to Launch A Revolution
We must develop:
I. A New Way to Think About Sexuality
II. A New Way to Attract the Opposite Sex
III. A New Way to Relate to the Opposite Sex
I. A New Way to Think About Sexuality: Three Radical Claims
-Radical Claim #1: Sex is Sacred: “Until you…recognize that sex is sacred to God, [you] haven’t joined the revolution” - Hebrews 13:4 (p. 186-187)
“4Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. (NIV)
4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (NKJV)”
Radical Claim #2: Sex is Serious - 1 Corinthians 6: 15-20 (p. 188-189)
“15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."[a] 17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
Radical Claim #3: Sex is Grave Responsibility- 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 (p. 189-192)
“It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control his own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”
II. A New Way to Attract the Opposite Sex: Three Radical Ways of Attraction – I Peter 3:3-4 (p. 192-199)
"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."
Principle defined with the acronym “I.O.U,” for the first letter of each element below:
Radical Way #1: Develop Inward Character
Radical Way #2: Develop Outward Modesty
Radical Way #3: Develop Upward Devotion [to God]
III. Learn A New Way to Relate to the Opposite Sex: Three Points (p. 200-206)
1. Start Out as Friends
2. Treat Others [including our love interests] as Brothers and Sisters in Christ: “What would happen in every relationship with the opposite sex among Christians if we treated people as brothers and sisters in Christ?” (p. 204) - 1 Timothy 5:1-2
"1Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.“
[My note: This really helps when considering physical temptations!]
3. Make the Spiritual Growth and Well-being of Others Your Number One Priority: “Here’s the primary question you can ask of every relationship: ‘In this relationship with my brother or sister in Christ, am I helping him or her become more like Christ?” (p. 205)
[Note how every step is about what you do – not the other person!]
CONCLUSION
We have this mistaken belief that seeing love God’s way is an option: if we choose to follow His commands, it’s cool – maybe we’ll get an “extra blessing” or two, but it’s no big deal if we don’t. But when we look at the dismal state of love in our world, the reality is that our relationships can afford nothing less than God’s way. God forgives, but we still miss out on experiencing love as He intends for us when we choose another, inferior way.
Powerful Medicine
Imagine if every Christian joined The Revolution? We would have fully fulfilling, God-honoring relationships that win souls in the process!
Picture having the antidote for hundreds of millions dying from some disease, but choosing to toss it out. That’s what we do when we ignore God’s prescription for love. But when we adopt it, no matter what our pasts, we experience healing, albeit painful at first. As the book notes, God’s antidote is “powerful medicine”:
“Like today’s cancer-fighting drugs, God’s prescription may feel as if it’s killing you on the way to giving you life. It will create immediate and painful confrontations in your life [against] the status quo. Effective medicine is like that. But we’ve been convinced by the world that God’s prescription won’t taste good or do any good. Instead, we’ve become used to taking the sickening sweet potion offered by the world and have refused to recognize the deadly side affects it brings. (p. 183)”
Epilogue
My Prayer for You (p. 212)
…[Father,] help us think differently about our sexuality, help us attract others with integrity and honesty, and help us relate in truthful and helpful ways with each other. Give us your strength to become the right kind of people, to grow and walk in love, to fix our hope on you and walk in your light. Give us the quiet courage to participate in the second sexual revolution in our culture. In Christ’s name. Amen.”
Here’s a link to order the book, which also includes an excerpt from the first chapter and the back cover.
Take Him at His Word when He says there is A Better Way – The Best Way. If you haven’t already, join The Revolution- and experience the radical transformation that comes with it.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
His Heartbeat
God is funny.
I was on the Metro and started thinking about how I hadn’t blogged in a while. Several topics had crossed my mind in the last few weeks (e.g., horoscopes, giving, the heart - all of which I plan to write about later) - but right at that moment a young woman around my age plopped down next to me. At the time, the Bible I keep in my purse was in my hand.
“Do you read the Bible a lot?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “Do you read it?”
“Yep,” she said.
I continued dialoging with her candidly, noting this was an opportunity from God – perhaps to meet another Christian or to share the Gospel.
We talked about some of our favorite verses. I brought up a passage, Psalm 139. She mentioned Proverbs 3: 5-6 and announced that she was a Jehovah’s Witness.
“I know those verses as, trust in Jehovah with all your heart…and Jehovah will make your path straight,” she said.
I listened, to learn more about her and have an opportunity to share The Gospel. At a point in the conversation I was able to ask her what she believed about Jesus – just one of the many distinctions between Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christians. She provided an answer focused on His earthly ministry, then asked me what I thought. I shared about Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. And then it was her stop. I gave her my card – she had mentioned relocating to D.C. for an internship just a week ago. She said she’d contact me.
This entry easily could be about sharing The Gospel, but that’s not the angle God brought to my attention that day (although after the encounter I went online for a refresher on Jehovah’s Witness’ beliefs and tips about sharing The Gospel with them, this article being just one of the useful resources I found).
What I really felt convicted about – after lamenting that I had not blogged in a while and then having a “blog worthy” encounter a moment later – was just the need to give God all of me.
The Word of God says that we were made for His glory, and even creation declares it – up to the heavens. I believe that when God uniquely made each of us, He gave us passions that we can use to communicate with Him wholeheartedly.
Personally, I may read my Bible and pray daily, but I feel closest to God when I take the time to reflect on what He is teaching me with strokes of the pen – or clicks of a keyboard – and through memorizing Scripture. Whether it is a journal entry for His eyes only, or a note for this blog, mediating on the promises of God through writing helps them stay with me that much longer; I am more challenged to set my mind on things above. And when I memorize His Word, I am most challenged to live it. Yet this summer I have spent too little time communing with God in those ways. In that Metro “moment,” I was reminded to recommit to making those means of communicating with Him a priority.
God wants to hear from all of us. Psalm 51:17 says that the sacrifice He honors most is our hearts, broken and contrite. We can all consider the ways He has given each of us to help open our hearts to Him – to feel His heartbeat – and sustain ours with His. Let’s not allow anything to keep us from using those avenues to experience that closeness with Him.
There is nothing better than feeling His heartbeat.
I was on the Metro and started thinking about how I hadn’t blogged in a while. Several topics had crossed my mind in the last few weeks (e.g., horoscopes, giving, the heart - all of which I plan to write about later) - but right at that moment a young woman around my age plopped down next to me. At the time, the Bible I keep in my purse was in my hand.
“Do you read the Bible a lot?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “Do you read it?”
“Yep,” she said.
I continued dialoging with her candidly, noting this was an opportunity from God – perhaps to meet another Christian or to share the Gospel.
We talked about some of our favorite verses. I brought up a passage, Psalm 139. She mentioned Proverbs 3: 5-6 and announced that she was a Jehovah’s Witness.
“I know those verses as, trust in Jehovah with all your heart…and Jehovah will make your path straight,” she said.
I listened, to learn more about her and have an opportunity to share The Gospel. At a point in the conversation I was able to ask her what she believed about Jesus – just one of the many distinctions between Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christians. She provided an answer focused on His earthly ministry, then asked me what I thought. I shared about Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. And then it was her stop. I gave her my card – she had mentioned relocating to D.C. for an internship just a week ago. She said she’d contact me.
This entry easily could be about sharing The Gospel, but that’s not the angle God brought to my attention that day (although after the encounter I went online for a refresher on Jehovah’s Witness’ beliefs and tips about sharing The Gospel with them, this article being just one of the useful resources I found).
What I really felt convicted about – after lamenting that I had not blogged in a while and then having a “blog worthy” encounter a moment later – was just the need to give God all of me.
The Word of God says that we were made for His glory, and even creation declares it – up to the heavens. I believe that when God uniquely made each of us, He gave us passions that we can use to communicate with Him wholeheartedly.
Personally, I may read my Bible and pray daily, but I feel closest to God when I take the time to reflect on what He is teaching me with strokes of the pen – or clicks of a keyboard – and through memorizing Scripture. Whether it is a journal entry for His eyes only, or a note for this blog, mediating on the promises of God through writing helps them stay with me that much longer; I am more challenged to set my mind on things above. And when I memorize His Word, I am most challenged to live it. Yet this summer I have spent too little time communing with God in those ways. In that Metro “moment,” I was reminded to recommit to making those means of communicating with Him a priority.
God wants to hear from all of us. Psalm 51:17 says that the sacrifice He honors most is our hearts, broken and contrite. We can all consider the ways He has given each of us to help open our hearts to Him – to feel His heartbeat – and sustain ours with His. Let’s not allow anything to keep us from using those avenues to experience that closeness with Him.
There is nothing better than feeling His heartbeat.
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