Love is...

I first shared this at house church last week (the one which Jason McCracken leads), and I've received several "thank you's" from some of the people that were there...soooo I thought since so many people appreciated me sharing, that the rest of the interweb might appreciate it as well, or I may be wrong.

So here's the context - Jason asked me to share what has been going on recently in my life and what the Lord has been working on in my heart. Below is a generalized view of what I said:

Last week I was reading in 1 Timothy 6:11 -Paul writing to Timothy about things that can keep him from God: “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.”

Of those things Paul listed, love is the one word that almost literally knocked me over. For days my thoughts were continually coming back to that word, trying fully wrap my head around it.

I looked it up and the original Greek used there for love is agapen – unconditional self-sacrificial love - This is a godly love for which Christ loves us no matter what we do...

Sometimes I take the ability of loving others for granted -- then there are times in my life where it is like there is a poster board saying “We love only because He first loved us.”

Things have been taken away from me: my job, really good friends, other changes… and its my first thought to ask how could this be God showing me His unconditional love???

And its been so ridiculously clear recently that I realized that this is God working through my life to remove things from my life that keep me from Him.

So I have a little saying which I’ve shared before:
Don’t base Christ’s love for us on our circumstances, but base Christ’s love for us on the Cross.
I remind myself of this now whenever I am feeling distance from God… It’s always a self inflicted distance; He never wants us be to distant from him.

Steven Curtis Chapman - No Greater Love
(lyric excerpts)

There is not greater love than this,
No greater gift that can be given,
To be willing to die, so another might live

This is the love that God showed the world,
When He gave us His only son,
So we could know His love forever.

I listened to this song for over a half hour trying to wrap my head around what it was trying to say. I still haven't completely figured it out.

So let me ask you this, What does Christ’s love for you look like in your life?

Blogging...3, 2, 1, GO!

So this starts my first blog post ever! I registered for this blog a couple months ago, thinking I would get motivated to actually start using it if I was signed up for one, but that didn't happen.

I typically have a very hard time putting my thoughts onto paper (or onto the keyboard in this instance). I've never had a consistent journal for that very reason. It just seems so much easier to think about things and not have to write them down.

But as I get older, (yes, 24 is old) I tend to forget more and more if I don't write it down. I've decided I want to be able to look back at where I once was and be able to see how I've grown. I don't generally grow if I don't put effort into it. I want to put effort into writing my thoughts, fears, actions, blessings given and received, etc. so I can continually grow in them, and ultimately learn from them.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Isaiah 55:8-9

As of right now my blog title is "Sarcastic by Nature". I think this fits me like a glove...for now. Specifically over the last couple of years the Lord has been changing me, growing me, and loving me in ways I never would have imagined. Sarcasm used to be one of my biggest traits, it was second first nature to me. I've been able to see myself change from being sarcastic-all-of-the-time to most-of-the-time, and now I feel like I'm starting to get into the some-of-the-time realm of sarcasm. This is has been huge with regards to my walk with the Lord.

With that said, I think this has been a successful first post. I've already got ideas about what I'm going to write about for my 2nd and 3rd post...but I think it would be best to wait until tomorrow to post again.