The best friends are the ones willing to hold a mirror to your life and challenge you to reach higher. In this manner, I came to a mindset-changing realization this morning (thank you, J).
My heart is for the Lord. I long to see His Kingdom lived out-- fellowship, love, justice, redemption, peace, and joy. This is the very beat of my heart. But somewhere along the line, I have become more focused on the antithesis of this. My mind has become consumed by my hatred for what is not of the Lord. At first glance, this doesn't seem like such a problem. Are hatred for the wrong and love for the right such different things? Don't they lead to basically the same actions? Perhaps, but the quality of life and character of the living are so very different.
Jesus, with a passion, hated what was wrong. But Jesus was never driven by hate. Hate was never the motivating factor of His actions. On the contrary, He knew the intimate details of right, He knew what good looked like, and He loved it. Knowledge and love of God's perfect Kingdom motivated His every word and action. If He grew angry at corruption and brokenness, it wasn't for their sake alone. It was because He KNEW perfection, and nothing else would satisfy!
I want to be driven by a love of God, not a hatred of Satan. I want to trade my cynicism about the way things are for idealism about how they can be. I want to trade my abhorrence of brokenness for the knowledge and pursuit of wholeness. I want to be running toward the light, not just away from the darkness. I want to know Christ in His perfection and let that relationship be the motivation for everything else I do.
Jesus, keep my eyes fixed on you and not on the raging seas around me.
Showing posts with label Kingdom of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kingdom of God. Show all posts
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Born again
Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'"
John 3:3-7
Several friends or acquaintances of mine have had babies in the past couple weeks. For the families, it's a time of excitement and joy, the fulfillment of long months of waiting. The babies themselves are beautiful, intact and perfect, perhaps with their mother's nose or their father's eyes. But so much of the joy of this occasion lies in anticipation: the baby is a clean slate, humble and full of possibility. It is a life just begun, with no long list of sins and no pride keeping it from dependence on God and family. There is no claim to wisdom or greatness in a baby, nothing but potential.
So, too, must we be. We must come to a place spiritually of humility and dependence, letting the blood of Christ wipe away the sins of the past and declare us new. And, in that place, we are full of beautiful potential in the eyes of our own Father.
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'"
John 3:3-7
Several friends or acquaintances of mine have had babies in the past couple weeks. For the families, it's a time of excitement and joy, the fulfillment of long months of waiting. The babies themselves are beautiful, intact and perfect, perhaps with their mother's nose or their father's eyes. But so much of the joy of this occasion lies in anticipation: the baby is a clean slate, humble and full of possibility. It is a life just begun, with no long list of sins and no pride keeping it from dependence on God and family. There is no claim to wisdom or greatness in a baby, nothing but potential.
So, too, must we be. We must come to a place spiritually of humility and dependence, letting the blood of Christ wipe away the sins of the past and declare us new. And, in that place, we are full of beautiful potential in the eyes of our own Father.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Hiatus
One of the beautiful things about the Kingdom of God is the closeness felt by fellow believers regardless of distance, time spent apart, or even never having met one another. I experienced some of this a few weeks ago when I went to North Carolina to visit friends of a friend and spent four days enjoying deep fellowship and great conversation. I'll be spending the next few weeks enjoying much more of this, as I spend time with a dear sister in the Lord that I haven't seen since we served together in Costa Rica three years ago and then travel to Europe to see one of my very dearest friends (after a year and a half of separation) and spend time in fellowship with him and other members of the body in Belgium and Germany.
I'm incredibly excited for both of these opportunities, and I cannot wait to see the sweet times the Lord will bring in these coming weeks. That said, I'm also a firm believer in being where you are and not tied to where you are not, and I will be leaving my computer behind. I aim to continue these reflections when I return, and I hope that some of you will continue to be blessed by them then.
I'm incredibly excited for both of these opportunities, and I cannot wait to see the sweet times the Lord will bring in these coming weeks. That said, I'm also a firm believer in being where you are and not tied to where you are not, and I will be leaving my computer behind. I aim to continue these reflections when I return, and I hope that some of you will continue to be blessed by them then.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)