This Is How we Know What Love Is

dust.

created in the image of God.

chosen.

accepted.

forgiven.

worthy in Christ.

precious.

righteous.

blessed.

equiped.

co-heir with Christ.

Is this how we see the ones we love?  This is how God sees His children.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 1 John 3:16

Is this how we treat the ones we love? Is this how we treat the unlovable?

Love is expressed through much more than candles and hearts and sweets.  Love is expressed through much more than smiles and open doors and nice words.

Love is expressed through nails peirced through hands and feet streched out on a tree.

Do we express this kind of love?

The Age of Distractions

Gmail, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Yahoo News, Hulu.  Ahhhh!

I'd get on the internet just to check my email and all of the sudden I was watching The Bachelor (I'm not proud.  I realize it's meaningless filth...but the previews are so dramatic.  And I am so weak.)

So I asked my husband to block Hulu. This is how one overcomes I thought.  And that is part of it.  Running from temptation is wise. But I still get drawn into what fashion crime so-and-so committed, or what new diet shake will make me look 18 again, or the new good thing Martha is up to. And  I look up and somebody has messed with my clock because 20 minutes have gone by and I haven't had my quiet time and Miss Scruffy is starring up at me with her little back legs crossed. 

I can't block the whole internet! 

Miss Scruffy is as bad as I am.

So what's the plan? 

Well, I'm not sure.

But I do know that preaching the gospel to myself puts this life back in perspective. 

I don't even deserve life, but Jesus gave me eternal life.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

That loving God is my Master, and I am willingly His slave. So what am I doing? What grounds do I have to waste my Master's time?

In my ladies Bible study at Church, we have been studying 1 John.  We've talked a lot about how this is the age of distractions.  We as Christian women desire to walk down God's path, but Satan wants to devour us with distractions that draw us to dead ends and away from our Bibles and from giving our time to others. I've been looking through my Bible study notes, because it is in this study that God really convicted me of my laziness and idolatry of entertainment and the mind numbing computer screen. (I said it. Oh, it sounds so terrible out loud!)

I thought I'd share some of my notes:

1 John 4:13  By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

If my body is a tent for the Holy Spirit, who am I to live for myself or to be lazy?

I have to set my will aside.

1 John 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world ; and this is the victory that has overcome the world -our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God ?

You have overcome the world in Christ Jesus.  Do you live like it?

When we get caught up in worldliness, we forget our purpose (to bring glory to God).

Don't get bogged down on useless matters.

Hate distractions; focus on the eternal.  Focus on Christ.

Be intentional!

And our teacher asked us What do you live for?

Honestly, I really don't care about some celebrity's new pinkie toe ring, and the Real Simple website won't bring me contentment. The media brings me neither joy nor fulfilment.  The media is not my God, and especially not my Lord.

So that's how you overcome the distractions! You "walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1).

"Dear children, keep yourselves from idols."  These are the last words of John's first epistle. 

Resting and Growing

I've been on a sabbatical of sorts I guess.  At first I stopped writing here because I became very busy with work and the holidays.  I've still been busy with work lately, but I have a new writing job for a family ministry, and it has required me to do much Bible study on the definition, importance, and purpose of family.  I am so enjoying this time of soaking up God's truths.  God's Word brings me joy because it draws me nearer to my Lord who is my joy. I'm looking forward to sharing with you what I have been learning.

God has also been giving me greater courage in Him in these last few months.  That is what being continually in the Word does to a person--it grows us in sanctification and makes us more like Christ.  We are filled with the Spirit, steered by the Spirit, when we are in God's Word.  It is true!

I found myself in a kind of funk, a depression, in the middle of last year, as you may have observed from  some of my posts.  The worst part was that God was not using me as He had before.  I guess know I was ignoring His leadings or just saying no to Him out of fear. But by immersing myself in God's promises and truths, God has brought me out of that pit. Since December, I have been offered a job writing for an emerging family ministry and I have had multiple opportunities to share Christ with my coworkers. I had been letting fear control me instead of the Lord, and because of that I gave up many opportunities to share my faith. I also had this strange idea that I couldn't share my faith with my coworkers because I waited too long and it wouldn't make sense to all of the sudden start talking about God more.  I can tell you now that is a huge lie.  Also, I find that most people are open to talking about spiritual matters.  Most people don't agree with the Gospel though, so talking about Christianity is confrontational. 

I am not a confrontational person.

I used to shake when I would talk about controversial topics with people I knew disagreed with me, but as I plow forward more and more with my love for Christ urging me on, my shakes are starting to disappear.

I still deal with my mind going blank, though.  Do you  deal with this?  Today a coworker asked me what I was reading.  I was reading "The 'Family' Quarrel" by Joe Dallas, which I found from Christian Research Institute. I knew she was a feminist who loves confrontation, a nice lady, but with an opposite worldview from mine. My mind froze and I had to struggle to explain the Biblical concept of the family, which I have been intently studying.  I knew she wouldn't understand since she didn't understand the gospel, but I didn't share the gospel with her.  Why didn't I share the gospel with her?! I felt so frustrated and guilty. 

Does this happen to you? Can you relate? How have you matured in this area?

In conclusion, I find I am growing in Christ, but I am not perfect yet.  This is a major theme of my life on earth.