No King BUT Christ no. 20

“I may speak in the tongues of men, even angels; but if I lack love, I have become merely blaring brass or a cymbal clanging. I may have the gift of prophecy, I may fathom all mysteries, know all things, have all faith — enough to move mountains; but if I lack love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians (1 Co) 13:1-2). Yesterday I ran into a situation where I tried to act in love BUT I was still blaring brass and a clanging cymbal. I was being misrepresented in what I wrote. And I tried to first stop him from moving forward with his accusations and allegations. I failed. I then tried to explain what he was doing and then I was the problem. It ended with him being the victim and me feeling stupid. I say all that not to spurn him or call him out but to prove how difficult relationships are even among Christians. He thought he was acting in love and so did I BUT we still ended up as blaring brass and clanging cymbals. We still ended up not talking. Dude even blocked me. And that is an embarrassing situation for any Christian. It makes me feel like I failed to show God’s love.

“'Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not gloat over other people’s sins but takes its delight in the truth. Love always bears up, always trusts, always hopes, always endures. Love never ends; but prophecies will pass, tongues will cease, knowledge will pass. For our knowledge is partial, and our prophecy partial; but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass” (1 Corinthians (1 Co) 13:4-10). I don’t know if I failed God or not in that moment BUT I do know that working on His two commandments is a lifelong process because of people. I am a people having relationships with people. And underneath all that peopleness is brokenness. I am broken and you are broken. BUT we all need to learn to love like Jesus. And let me tell you, Jesus wasn’t out to do anything BUT love the hell out of everyone. So, maybe I failed to do that yesterday because I didn’t love the hell out of that dude even though I tried. Folks can be frustrating. Folks can be mean. Folks can be stubborn. Folks can be rude. Folks can be anything they want. BUT I am still to be loving. And that is something I always need help in doing. And thankfully God is there to help.

BUT I didn’t fail God yesterday. “'But for now, three things last — trust, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians (1 Co) 13:13). I still have trust in Him and hope for my brothers and sisters and me. I may still need to work on how I show love. I may still be a broken person among other broken people. BUT as long as He is enthroned, I can’t fail. He has already won. He has already planned it all. And He will always be King. You and I can beat ourselves up over failing Him or we can forgive and move forward. And forgiving ourselves for failing is often most important. God didn’t call me to be perfect. He has the perfect part covered. God called me to be a flawed person working for His Kingdom. And every day that is enough.

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 #NotMyWayYHWH

Gaining Freedom

In February 2020, I was a drunk libertarian sitting in my own basement looking down on the folks that weren’t free. I spent my days laughing at folks for their philosophies that kept them shackled to ideas like religion and government while I was shackled to my own love of ideas. I made a lot of enemies and hurt a lot of folks emotionally and probably spiritually. And I thought that somehow, in all of this confusion and mess that I was living within that I was somehow more free than them.

Then came the plague and fear hit. I was afraid because I realized that I was not living as free as I thought. BUT God had a plan to get me free. And that led to me continuing a story decades in the making. A story that led me back to Him and into a relationship as on fire and committed as it was nearly four decades ago.

I was raised in a Pentecostal church. And when I say raised I mean I knew every corner and space in that church. I was also a smart kid. Reading The Bible and knowing the stories was easy for me. I could soak that stuff up like a sponge. When I finally made the decision to become a Christian, I was really on fire for doing what God commanded. And that fire hit a lot of walls. I hit walls when the folks around me were not on the same page with my commitment. I saw a lot of grown ups make ungodly decisions in the church. And then I started to see some cracks in the church and in religion. I saw a lot of the problems BUT no one had provided an explanation that made any sense to me. I was just seeing folks I thought were Christians acting in so many unChristian ways. And that contributed to my spiral out of those church doors, into other churches, into other religions, and then totally out of faith. Probably a typical story all around this world. Folks failed me so I looked at that as God’s failure. So, I decided to fail Him too. And I was really good at failing Him.

When the plague hit and food got scarce and reality became real, I was afraid. Mostly I was afraid because I was living a lie. I was all about freedom and I was nowhere near free. And then my journey began. Or maybe my journey never really stopped. Maybe the setbacks and sidesteps and detours and distractions were there for a reason. Maybe all that diversion into idolatry and destruction were part of His plan. Or maybe it was just me fighting against His plan. One day I will know, however, today I can live with that uncertainty. Because no matter how uncertain my notices were in the past, my motives today are simply to be faithful to Him. I get to daily live in the freedom He has brought into my life.

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 #NotMyWayYHWH