He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters,
He refreshes my soul.
Psalm 23:2-3
I'm just imagining right now what it would be like to be lying down in a wide open green pasture. Not a cloud in the sky, the sun beating down on my face so that I can barely open my eyes. I can hear the sound of the nearby stream tranquilly carving its way through the grassland. It is just God and I. I feel so close, so intimate, so refreshed. Nothing else is on my mind, nothing else is taking my attention. How peaceful. How calming. How restoring. How beautiful.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
"I would like to suggest that the best parts of our human nature can be seen in sacrifice or surrender. A mother sacrificing her time for her child, a teacher devoting her afternoons to help students off-the-clock. These are truly our most incredible moments as a species: moments of unmerited kindness. Goodness. Virtue. Nobility. Grace. Morality. These are the truly remarkable moments."
-Jon Foreman
In Matthew, Jesus teaches us that the most important commandment is to love God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul. The second most is loving our neighbor as ourselves. I believe that when Jesus calls us to love others, he calls us to be radical in the way that we sacrifice our own wants and needs for others, the way that we surrender our own wants and needs to God. It is in these moments, these moments of self-sacrifice, that we are conveying the love that God showed us when he sent His son to die on the cross for us. It is in these moments that we show the grace that God showers on us. It is in these moments that we truly love.
I want to live my life where I am truly loving others and where I am truly loving God. Of course, I am nowhere near where I want to be, but imagine the environment that a truly loving community would foster. We live in a world, in a country, that can be extremely focused on the self and moving the self to the top. For many, their worlds revolve around success, fame, accomplishments. But what is a more powerful story: a man who becomes rich, or a man who sacrifices his time to volunteer in Haiti for people that have next to nothing. A man who works hard to reach the top of the social totem pole, or a man who works hard to put others before him and show God's grace, God's redemption, God's love.
Now I'm not really one to talk because most times I fail at this. I can be one of the most self-centered people I know. But I want transformation. I want God to transform me into someone that loves. Someone that truly loves.
-Jon Foreman
In Matthew, Jesus teaches us that the most important commandment is to love God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul. The second most is loving our neighbor as ourselves. I believe that when Jesus calls us to love others, he calls us to be radical in the way that we sacrifice our own wants and needs for others, the way that we surrender our own wants and needs to God. It is in these moments, these moments of self-sacrifice, that we are conveying the love that God showed us when he sent His son to die on the cross for us. It is in these moments that we show the grace that God showers on us. It is in these moments that we truly love.
I want to live my life where I am truly loving others and where I am truly loving God. Of course, I am nowhere near where I want to be, but imagine the environment that a truly loving community would foster. We live in a world, in a country, that can be extremely focused on the self and moving the self to the top. For many, their worlds revolve around success, fame, accomplishments. But what is a more powerful story: a man who becomes rich, or a man who sacrifices his time to volunteer in Haiti for people that have next to nothing. A man who works hard to reach the top of the social totem pole, or a man who works hard to put others before him and show God's grace, God's redemption, God's love.
Now I'm not really one to talk because most times I fail at this. I can be one of the most self-centered people I know. But I want transformation. I want God to transform me into someone that loves. Someone that truly loves.
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