Serve One Another in Love no. 13

“Dear friends, don’t regard as strange the fiery ordeal occurring among you to test you, as if something extraordinary were happening to you. Rather, to the extent that you share the fellowship of the Messiah’s sufferings, rejoice; so that you will rejoice even more when his Sh’khinah is revealed. If you are being insulted because you bear the name of the Messiah, how blessed you are! For the Spirit of the Sh’khinah , that is, the Spirit of God, is resting on you! Let none of you suffer for being a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a meddler in other people’s affairs. But if anyone suffers for being Messianic, let him not be ashamed; but let him bring glory to God by the way he bears this name. For the time has come for the judgment to begin. It begins with the household of God; and if it starts with us, what will the outcome be for those who are disobeying God’s Good News” (1 Kefa (1 Pe) 4:12-17)? I sometimes get accused of not understanding The Bible by folks that want their understanding to be superior to mine. I sometimes get accused of being a squishy Christian for advocating God’s love over vengeance and judgment. I sometimes get accused of being a sleepy Christian that lives out of touch with the world around me. And that is just the pushback I get from other Christians. That kind of pushback has characterized a lot of my walk with Jesus, past and present. And it is often difficult to rejoice when brothers and sisters pushback against the journey you take to learn about Him. And it can be even worse when those people are not just pushing back BUT they are telling you all sorts of horrible things, calling you all sorts of horrible things, believing all sorts of horrible things. Yet none of that is persecution. None of that compares to leaving Heaven and becoming human to die for a lot of folks that don’t care. None of that compares to real persecution and suffering. 

I have been reading over the past few months The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs and have found that the idea of contentment in Him is something a lot of us still find a struggle. We are afraid when we should be content. We are sad when we should be content. We are angry when we should be content. Folks often sing on Sunday about how Jesus is enough and live the rest of the week wanting other things to take His palace in being enough. That is the kind of hypocrisy the world sees within us and can easily diagnose. We are not content. We complain. We fight. We argue. We hate. We judge. While we know we should love Him and love our neighbor. We should be content in Him. 

Rejoice in Him despite our situations. Rejoice in His Will despite what we will. Rejoice in Him and fear not. God is love and His love will change you, it will change me, and it will change the world. We only need let Him. 

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. 12

“Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified” (Romans (Rom) 8:28-30)! Sometimes it is difficult to see how everything is going to work for His glory and honor. Sometimes it is difficult to see how things are going to align with His purpose. But that is where we need to trust God. 

If there is one thing that has moved me further along my walk with Him is that, “But for now, three things last — trust, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians (1 Co) 13:13). I have to trust Him even when the plan does not make sense. I have to trust Him when I don’t see the plan. He has a purpose for me that I do not understand all the time. When I first started walking this journey almost four years ago, I had no idea I was going to be a Christian. I had no plans on reading The Bible and experiencing a relationship with Him. Absolutely no plan. Yet, here I am anyway. 

He has led me into places where I am uncomfortable and placed me there. And I have had to learn to be hopeful about situations. I have to be hopeful because I trust Him. I trust that He has put me in these places because it is His purpose. And I am hopeful that Him placing me into these places is going to turn out for His purpose. And that I think is the place I am weakest. I want to be hopeful about people and situations BUT I am weighed down by experience with people and situations. I have seen how these sorts of people and these types of situations turn out in the past and it is so difficult to be hopeful that the outcome is going to be different this time. BUT it can be because He can make it that way. He can move that way. I just have to get over my preconceptions and judgments about what He can and can’t do. No matter how unlikely I think the outcome is positive, I have to trust and hope that He has a purpose. 

And finally, I need a lot of love. And I am working on that more than anything else. I have to work on disagreeing with people that I love in a way that shows I love them. And that is tough for me. I have way too much experience in doing things my way and not His Way. I have love for people BUT a lot of baggage that makes that love difficult for others to see. I need that love to be more like His love, His service, His sacrifice. 

And I think that type of love helps build hope. Jesus saw what sorts of people we were and He still came to restore our way back to Him. He came to make the way when there is so little hope in us. BUT He had hope in us and He loved us enough to trust that we would make the right choices. Either that’s really stupid or really naive or really comforting. He trusts me and hopes that I will find His love and show it to others. Love helps build our trust and hope in Him and our neighbors. So that we can be that, “. . . light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:14-16). 

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