July 7, 2012, early in the morning
Wide awake, and my mind is going a mile a minute… the coffee shake at 8:30 p.m. didn’t help. Can’t stop thinking, though…. been thinking a lot, lately. A bit random, but somehow all tied together. I think a lot of us just don’t get it. I hope I am starting to… part of growing up – really growing up – is realizing that life is messy, and there isn’t anything you can do about it. People are people, and God loves each and every one exactly the way He has made them – in His image. No one person will ever be – or behave – in exactly the way others think they should. What is my job? My job is to love. Does God have other callings for me? Sure He does – but they all boil down to one thing – love.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” I Corinthians 13:1-3
This Scripture has been going through my mind over and over as my husband and I make some tough transitional decisions that deeply effect our family as a whole. As God seems to lead in one direction, my heart is tugged the opposite way. As God tries to lead me into a new season, ties stretch and snap, and my heart breaks. There is freedom mixed with a fear of the barely-known as I leave what I know well. I am forced to face truths I refused to see before, and as I follow in blind faith, my eyes are opened. And although truth cuts deeply, I am very aware that healing can only begin once we are willing to accept truth as truth.
“Love is patient, love is kind… Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away…” Sometimes, what God asks us to do doesn’t make much sense. Sometimes He just lets us hang out in limbo for awhile. Why? Who knows.
Perhaps so that we will learn to plant our feet firmly on His Word instead of on the “ground” beneath us that could move at any given moment. Sometimes, though, I think He lets us hang out in limbo until we decide we are going to obey. Sometimes I think it is simply a matter of finally letting go of – forgetting – what is behind, and moving forward in the direction He has been leading all along.
“Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who loves not, does NOT know God, for GOD IS LOVE.” I John 4:7-8
“Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:2-4
And again, God said through the prophet Isaiah,
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” 58:6-9
These Scriptures have been burning in my heart and mind… over and over they come to me when I begin to talk to the Lord. I believe it is His answer for drawing near to Him. It is to do what He said to begin with – to LOVE. It is ALL wrapped up in love – Christ’s love through us, His hands and feet – His church. Unless we are loving like Christ loved, we are not obeying Him and cannot say we love Him, because Jesus clearly said that if we loved Him, we would keep His commandments. And what did He say was the second greatest commandment? To love your neighbor as yourself.
As I wrap up my ramblings, this is what I think He is saying in a nutshell: “I know you love Me. That is the first and greatest commandment. Now, go and love others as I have loved you. Do not point your finger. Do not pass judgement. That is My job. All you can see is the outward appearance, but I look at the heart. I simply want you to LOVE. And this is how you do it….” ❤
Journey to Beautiful 