Obedience Borne of Love

Preaching the Gospel to myself is a great way to keep God's amazing love before my eyes, so that I might experience its power to produce in me a passionate love for Him in return. Captured by His love in this way, my smitten heart increasingly burns to do His will and feasts itself on doing so.

~Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians,

"Obedience Borne of Love"

Discounted Love

Imagine that a friend of yours is dying—but you can help her. So you have surgery and donate a kidney or liver. Imagine she is grateful; after all, she does owe you her life.

Now imagine that the very next week, she looks at you and asks, “What have you ever done for me? You don’t care about me or love me at all.”

Can you imagine how painful that would be?

We think such a scenario could never happen—but it happens all the time.

"I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?" (Malachi 1:2)

One of our pastors is preaching through the book of Malachi. While ultimately the book of Malachi is about spiritual complacency, God knew there were root issues that needed to be dealt with. The Israelites, recently returned from the Babylonian captivity, were okay (complacent) with the way things were—but God knew they were far from okay, and He sent Malachi to wake them up, as it were. One thing that led them to spiritual complacency was discounted love.

Discounted love is when we throw God’s incredible sacrifice out the window, along with the daily blessings He gives to all of us, and we turn around and look at our lives—whether it be an unwanted situation, person, or whatever—and focus on that instead. Discounted love is looking at God’s love through our situation, rather than looking at our situation through God’s love.

I’m not exactly excited about how things have been turning out these past 6 months or so. The week before Pastor Bryan preached this message on Discounted Love, I had a huge reality check. Plans went awry. People issues came up. Work stuff happened. I didn’t want any of it and it seemed like God suddenly dropped the ball. Before, I could see Him working, and then all of a sudden everything was falling apart.

I was telling myself that God loves me (that’s the “Sunday school answer”)…but back on that Sunday morning in April, I realized I was discounting God’s love.  My (deceitful) heart was telling me that my circumstances weren’t proving God’s love. I deserved more. I didn’t deserve what I was getting.

We discount something when we don’t realize its value. If we truly recognize the value of God’s love…we will be eternally grateful for His sacrifice. That will be enough. Forever. The daily blessings—physical, emotional, spiritual—will be added grace. But the mercy that put God in my place on that cross will be enough.

God’s love is written through every moment of my day. I may not feel like it when some guy is screaming at me over the phone at work. I may not feel like it when I have to die to dreams and plans.

But you know what? Those things I despise are proofs of God’s love. In a recent Sunday school discussion, we talked about the fact that every detail of my life was known by God before the foundation of the world—and every experience is meant to draw us to God.

So when that guy is screaming at me, God allowed it because He wants me to know Him more, to experience Him more, to know His love more. When God changes my plans and says no to dreams, He did it because He wants the best for me. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Romans 8:28-29)

To discount God’s love is to not care that I, a hell-bound sinner, was saved from God’s wrath because of His loving grace. I can either discount God’s love and feel sorry for myself, or I can appreciate God’s love and be grateful for His sacrifice—I can bask in God’s love.

And let me tell you, basking in God’s love is a beautiful thing.

Red Represents Love

My friend Morgan, an artist and lover of color :), is doing a little fun summer blogging over at auntmorgan.wordpress.com.

I had thought about joining in with a “Fun Stuff Wednesday” here and there…but then another idea began forming.

I am part of a young lady’s prayer group, and we had a “get-together” a few months ago. Some of my favoritist people made it a fascinating theme of color: did you know that colors and character qualities have a connection? I do because I have a pretty amazing sister who was part of the planning committee. :) As a side note, the said favoritist people hand-picked for me the color purple for the night (not that it’s my favorite or anything)--purple happens to represent wisdom…something that God has been pointing out to me for the last few months.


But since it looks like purple is on the far end of Morgan’s color spectrum, that was just to whet your appetite. Because, Lord willing, I plan to blog following Morgan’s color scheme, using the character qualities from my prayer group party.


Right now, the color to see is red. And guess what red is connected to?


Love.


Of course. :) First Corinthians 13. I John. John 3:16. The Greatest Commandment. To love God is to obey God. Love means sacrifice.


What comes to your mind when you think of love?

I plan to write about love later this week, but for now here are snippets to meditate on…

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan! Oh, the grace that brought it down to man! Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!

 

We are a moment, You are forever, Lord of the ages, God before time. We are a vapor, You are eternal, Love everlasting, reigning on high.

 

Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.

 

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me, And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree. I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow; If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forever more endure—the saints’ and angels’ song!

O Jesus, I will hide in You, My place of peace and solace; No trial is deeper than Your love That comforts all my sorrows.

 

“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

Perfect submission, all is at rest I in my Savior am happy and blest, Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

 

May the love of Jesus fill me As the waters fill the sea
Him exalting, self abasing This is victory.

 

“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Here is love, vast as the ocean,

Lovingkindness as the flood,
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,

Shed for us His precious blood…
Let me all Thy love accepting,

Love Thee, ever all my days;
Let me seek Thy kingdom only

And my life be to Thy praise.

 

O Lord, I trust Your love; I feel its warm and changeless glow; My life or death shall only prove Its everlasting flow.

 

I will glory in my Redeemer My life He bought,

my love He owns
I have no longings for another

I’m satisfied in Him alone.

 

“We love because

He first loved us.”

FSW is Back for a Visit...

So exciting :) ~

and especially excited to

try growing herbs (bottom right).

It's gardening time!

Rejoicing in God

By awesome deeds You answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas...

Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of His name; give to Him glorious praise!

Say to God, "How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies come cringing to You.

All the earth worships You and sings praises to You; they sing praises to Your name."

Come and see what God has done: He is awesome in His deeds toward the children of man...

Blessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me!

~from Psalms 65 & 66~

 

Book Review: Girls Gone Wise



Are you a Girl-Gone-Wise or a Girl-Gone-Wild? Mary Kassian asks this question over and over again in her book Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild. This book is no easy read; it is thought-provoking and life-changing!

Single or married, in a relationship or not even close, we all need to seek after wisdom. “Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight,” Solomon exhorts in Proverbs 4:7. The KJV calls wisdom “the principle thing.” We need to pursue it! And as women, we have a particular opportunity in which we should pursue wisdom: relationships with men. God has a particular design for relationships between men and women, and it’s all too easy for us to ruin that design with our own “wisdom” and desires. We are inundated with worldly philosophy and the feminist movement, even in Christian circles.

Mrs. Kassian, as a conference speaker and counselor, is all too familiar with the problems and consequences of this sin. Out of her burden, she wrote this book to help women see what God’s wisdom looks like specifically for us and even more specifically as we interact with men. She structures her book as a comparison of the Wild Thing of Proverbs 7 to Lady Wisdom from various wisdom passages, mostly in Proverbs. Mrs. Kassian chose the way of comparison because “comparison [magnifies] the difference.” We can look at the fools of Proverbs and say “that’s not me,” and we can look at Lady Wisdom and think “yes, I’m there,” but when we see them up close and side-by-side…we see a different picture. Or at least I did.

There are twenty “Points of Contrast” in the book. She challenges us to examine our hearts: is Christ peripheral (as in the heart of the Girl-Gone-Wild), or is Christ the center of our hearts (as it is in the Girl-Gone-Wise)?  She calls attention to our attitudes (clamorous and defiant, or gentle, calm and amenable?), our habits (self-indulgent or self-disciplined?), our focus (are we Girls-Gone-Wild that focus on getting, or  Girls-Gone-Wise that focus on giving?), and even our body language (suggestive or demure?), our philosophy on roles (are we inclined to dominate or inclined to follow?), what boundaries we have set up (do we leave ourselves susceptible, or do we safeguard ourselves?), and many more topics.

Because I know that none of us have reached perfection or completed sanctification J, every one of us can benefit from this book—younger or older, single or married.

Mary Kassian wrote Girls Gone Wise with a two-fold purpose. She writes, “First, I hope that you’ll grow in spiritual discernment, so you can spot the difference between wild and wise when it comes to the right biblical attitudes, thought patterns, and behavior for women. Second, I pray that this awareness will help you say yes to God’s ideas about womanhood and no to the tremendous pressure to conform to the world’s pattern and to the sinful tendencies in your own heart.”

If you took a “wild or wise” quiz, where would you score—on the wild side that leads to death, or on the wise side that leads to life? I challenge you to get a hold of this book and read it—and ponder it and let it use God’s Word to change you.

~On a side note, girlsgonewise.com is a whole website of resources, including 5-minute videos in which Mrs. Kassian introduces each chapter (which might sound redundant but it does clarify and broaden the subject). My mom, sister and I benefitted a lot from going through this book and using the website.

Seeking His Kingdom as We Camped :)

This past weekend was our annual church's Young Adult class camping retreat.

Lots of food, many s'mores (although I prefer the chocolate and graham crackers without the marshmallows...I don't know if that changes its name?), baby smiles from the one baby that joined us :), good coffee, team activities, and wonderful prayer, preaching, and testimonies.

Our leaders have always been blessed by God to come up with great themes and related activities! This year's theme was "My King--His Kingdom." We talked about what it meant to be a part of God's kingdom, and we discussed how we so often try to make our own kingdoms work.

Our theme verse was Matthew 6:33 ~

       "But seek first the kingdom of God

        and his righteousness,

        and all these things will be added to you." (ESV)

It was a good reminder for me in light of what I've been dealing with lately. My focus needs to be on seeking God. And as I am seeking God, He is working on my situation. He will reveal what I need to know when I need to know it!

Praise God for retreats, for gentle rebuke and encouragement, for good fellowship and friends, and for not too much rain. :)