Saturday, September 10, 2011

People

Our relationships with people must be second so that our Love for people can come first.

When we gave our lives to live them for Jesus something was suppose to change. We are no longer our own to govern, rule, and determine. It is not about just us any longer. We have victory living as His; our life's standard is set in our very being. So in reaching our victorious destination as His, we begin our new life lived for Him by loving people. All People! His People, lost people, smelly people, puffed up proud people, people in charge, people who want to be in charge, happy people , and sad people. I could go on for ages but you get the point.

Our relationship with the Lord can give us the unique ability to see others through His eyes and not rely on our own. We can get past the "What's in this relationship for me?" Our petty human standards. Instead we can ask, " How does God desire me to bless this person through using me?" or "What does God want me to learn from blessing this person?"  Using God's eye view the impossible becomes possible. Past hurts and wrongs done unto us in relationships can be forgiven. By His grace filling in our gaps it is possible when we remember that He who forgave us much, has asked us to do the same for others.

Matthew 6:14-15 says pretty clearly how important forgivness is.
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Read Matthew 18:21-35 The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, For more study on this.

When we put loving people first and relationship with people second it frees us to love them how God would have us love them.  It keeps us in the right perspective in reality. We live to please God, not ourselves or others people. Speaking truth in love can happen more proficiently when we are not self indulged in keeping our own reputations in relationships intact. When we know where our allegiance is in the Lord we can freely forgive, speak up, stand up, direct, correct, and love the people he has called us to love.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Why? Why not?

Why do we do the things we do? Why do we enjoy memorizing lyrics to songs and lines to quote from movies but make a chore out of memorizing life giving scripture?

Why do we say the things we say? When life gets tough we let hopeless complaints pour out like rain on a sunny day. Instead we could practice speaking truth and know that God works all things for the good of those who love him. We could speak hope and know that the love of our Lord abidith in all things and is stead fast, unshakable and with us at every moment.

Why do we act the way we act? We are shy, lazy, and sometimes a bit crazy. We speak up when it is not important to be heard to be known as funny or special, puffing up our pride. We get choked up when the Lord's words come into our throat and His name is to be glorified. We feel it is a heavy load instead of an honor to carry God's message to be told.

Are we honest when it matters? Do we shine forth our faith when people are looking or only when we are safe from ridicule, safely tucked inside our church shaped box?

In public  He was ridiculed,  stripped bare, and spit upon.

Isaiah 53:4-6

4 Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.

Surely if the Lord our God can stick up for us, live his life on earth for us in such a profound way... We can boldly step up our walk with Him. We can claim victory in His name that he has paid for by His blood. Surely we can remember to place God's will above our own and Gods ways before our comfy cozy ways. I pray each of us would learn  to step up our walk with the Lord. That we would learn what it means to Glorify His name with our life we live. May we seek his face and desire his presence. May we know that in Him and our life lived for his Glory is where true freedom, joy and peace begins. May we remember that to love him is to obey him. He has called us to love the lost, share the good news,  and make disciples of all nations. May we live life on purpose, His purpose for the applause of one, the One that matters, God!