First Entry

Okay so here goes for my very first Blogger entry. Woo-hoo aren’t you excited? Okay don’t answer that, but in all honesty I don’t have a lot of deep and insightful theology to share with you guys. I wish that I did but all I have is what the Lord has taught me and what He continues to teach me. I hope to be open and vulnerable with you, so that we might keep each other accountable and to spur one another on towards Christ in love.

In our house for about the past week and a half to two weeks the Lord has been pressing on many of our hearts the necessity to love people…ALWAYS. No matter what the situation, no matter how much the other person has wronged you or made you mad- it is imperative that we love them with the love of Christ. Okay now what we have also learned is that this is HARD. Not like learning how to ride a bike when you are young hard, but the kind of hard that many times doesn’t seem to get easier. The kind of hard that we cannot change on our own. Christ must change our attitudes and our selfish nature. It is good for me to remember that in this process known as life that we are constantly being formed into the image of Christ- we are being sanctified. I struggle so much with loving people that I wonder if the Lord is going to give up on me and just turn and walk away. But His Word promises that He will not do that. “I will never leave you nor forsake you” is His promise to us.

I think/know that we each deal with anger in our own way. For me I rarely will blow up at someone when they have offended me or pissed me off (though I definitely have and it usually surprises people when I do.) Rather I say nothing, acting as though everything is perfectly fine, while in reality there is anger that is just creeping up inside of me. I sit on that anger and let it control my relationship with that person, allowing it to grow and fester. Ephesians 4:26 says “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” I have the tendency to do the exact opposite of what Paul tells us to do. So while on the surface and to the blind eye it may seem like I have my anger under control, I don’t. I just don’t like confrontation so I don’t confront the person but rather allow the anger and frustration to build up inside of me. Neither way is Biblical.

Lord You are gracious
You are slow to anger
Abounding in love
You are good to all
~Shane & Shane “Psalm 145”

The Lord is slow to anger. He is patient. Abounding in steadfast love. Love that does not fail. Love that cannot be defeated. “Love always wins.” Go and read 1 Corinthians 13. Now. I know that many of us have heard/read these verses many times but really meditate on what Paul is saying. Without love, we are nothing. How can we claim Christ, if we are acting towards one another just as the world acts? “What are you man if you don’t learn love?” Spirit change me! Conform me to image of Christ that I would love people with His love. A supernatural love that I cannot understand or match. A love that carries the burdens of one another, and so fulfills the love of Christ.

Verses in this entry:
Galatians 6:2
1 Corinthians 13
Psalm 145
Ephesians 4:25-27