Serve One Another in Love no. 9

“For you fashioned my inmost being, 

you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I thank you because I am awesomely made, wonderfully; 

your works are wonders — I know this very well” (Tehillim (Psa) 139:13-14).

You are awesomely made. You are wonderfully made. Too often we like to take on the negativity of the world around us. We like to think we are a failure. We like to think we are unloveable. We like to think that we are beyond hope. And that simply is just not true. Too often a Christian mindset can take on the idea that we are unworthy of God’s love. BUT He made us awesomely and wonderfully to be with Him. That was the way things started in the beginning, “So God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. God blessed them: God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth.’ Then God said, ‘Here! Throughout the whole earth I am giving you as food every seed-bearing plant and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. And to every wild animal, bird in the air and creature crawling on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I am giving as food every kind of green plant.’ And that is how it was. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. So there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day” (B'resheet (Gen) 1:27-31). You are good because that was how He made you.

Seeing ourselves as something else is the deception of sin. God created us in His image to do His work. He made us to be stewards of His creation. And when we fall out of alignment with His love, that is when the seeds of doubt and unworthiness start to bloom. Sin is a poison that separates us from Him. Sin takes so many different forms BUT sin is not loving God. And the best way we can love God is to fulfill the purpose He has created us to fulfill, “‘You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ This is the greatest and most important mitzvah . And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot” (Mattityahu (Mat) 22:37-40). Loving God and loving your neighbor begin with loving yourself. When we love our neighbor as much as ourself, we are showing God love. We are aligning ourselves with the purpose for which we were created. The world is a beautiful place created by God. The world is a good place that is out of alignment. Getting ourselves aligned with our purpose helps us better see the beauty and goodness in both ourselves and in the world. God does not make mistakes. God has a purpose. God is greater than sin.

Serve His Kingdom by serving one another in love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #ServeOneAnotherIn Love #NotMyWayYHWH

Serve One Another in Love no. 8

“The ends are the means.” Too often folks focus on the ends and neglect the means by which we achieve those ends. Very often philosophy gets mixed into Christianity and forms a whole new system. We see it often in denominations we do not particularly like. We see it often in folks that have a different political ideology than us. We see it often in folks that have a different understanding of The Bible than us. BUT we rarely see how our own lived experience influences our own relationship with God.

I grew up extremely Pentecostal. After a decade of frustration with the church of my youth, I set out looking at other churches. I gave up on churches after a while and eventually gave up on having a personal relationship with God. I got back into church because my girlfriend in college was Catholic. So, I started going to mass with her. At that point, church was a harmless diversion. And for many decades after, I still attended with her a lot more than most Catholics. I went all the time, however, my relationship with God was still adversarial. I was not ready to give church people a chance. And rightfully so. Church people can be quite the hindrance. When I did get back into having a relationship with God, I asked that I not be a hypocrite. All I want out of this walk is to not be a hindrance to others like some others were a hindrance in my walk. I just wanted to serve others by being an example of what I saw in Him. And in order to do that, the way I live my life is more important than getting to Heaven.

I think I can honestly say that I don’t care about getting to Heaven. It is not one of the main things that consumes my thoughts about God and life. What does concern me is how I live my life as an Ambassador of His Kingdom. How I carry myself as His representative is ultimately more important to me than Heaven and hell. I worry less about the destination than I do the journey that is eventually going to lead to my reunion with Him. And I think that shapes my philosophy, my ideology, my politics, and my life a lot more than worry. Jesus tells us so often to not be afraid, however, many folks preach fear. I started this journey to not be afraid. There was plenty of fear in the world. There is much more hope in Jesus than fear. And I wanted to live a life that showed that understanding. 

How we live our life is an image of God. We just have to figure out what that life is telling us about the God we image. The way we live our lives shows God to the world. What kind of God am I showing others?

Serve His Kingdom by serving one another in love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #ServeOneAnotherIn Love #NotMyWayYHWH