Twenty-Two
Wow. I'm old. Well, mentally, anyway.
I'm still all right in the physical sense, although my parents still insist I could put on more weight. Spiritually, I'm as alive and fresh in Jesus as ever, and I continue to be amazed anew at what He's doing in my life every single day.
As you can no doubt guess, I had a great birthday. Being able to spend it with my family and Anna Kate at home was a blessing. The day was sprinkled with plenty of fun, reflective conversations. Memories are so much more fulfilling than presents. They remain with you longer. I've come to appreciate birthdays for that. They represent a time to look back at the big and little things that have brought you to this age, and made you the person you are.
I've had lots of defining moments over the years. Some are immensely pleasant to think about. Some bring tears of sadness to my eyes. But that's okay. Life is an adventure in which we are shaped and molded by the bad and the good. God uses both to build our faith and teach us to look to Him in every situation. That's definitely helped me learn to rejoice and praise Him regardless of my mood. I'm not near perfect in doing that, and I still have my doubts and pangs of sorrow at times, but in all honesty, I'd rather have a faith tested by doubt than to live glassy-eyed in the Lord. Of course God wants us to take in His Kingdom with the eyes and mind of a child but He also wants us to engage it. We have to make that faith a lifestyle, not just something we get dressed up for one day of the week, sings hymns, and listen to a sermon. It has to be something we exemplify every waking moment of our lives. Is that easy? Good grief, no! I'm the biggest flop in my relationship with Jesus. I screw up, neglect Him and fail to study His Word the way I should. But He is always there to pick me up and forgive me even though I am the last person on Earth who deserves it. I thank Jesus for loving me first. As well as for teaching me how to love like He does. The list of blessings is endless, but I am grateful to Him for that example of love most of all.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
How empty and sad life is without love. Not physical love. Not emotional, heat-of-the-moment and passionate love. Those are good forms of it, but not the kind that I'm talking about. I mean original love. The love of Christ. Unconditional, unchanging, sacrificial devotion. We never would have known what that was if Jesus hadn't come and done it first. If He hadn't given Himself unto death on a cross for our sins, we would still be lost with no way out. Many of us wouldn't even realize it (and many still don't realize it today). Christ's love is what fuels our soul. It's what gives our ministry power. It's what enables us to love our enemies. It's why we rejoice in persecution. Good deeds and model intensions aren't enough. Not if they have another motive. Not if love isn't the source.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
I don't mind admitting that I feel small when I read this passage. My track record on love falls woefully short of God's standard as Paul outlines here. Too much of the time, my motives aren't pure. I'm more focused on what I'll get out of an act of kindness than on glorifying the kingdom of God. But when I have God's mindset, then I'm blown away by what the Holy Spirit does. I need to do better at pushing myself out of the way in showing love.
"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."
What a blessing love is. I couldn't dream of a better gift.
I'm still all right in the physical sense, although my parents still insist I could put on more weight. Spiritually, I'm as alive and fresh in Jesus as ever, and I continue to be amazed anew at what He's doing in my life every single day.
As you can no doubt guess, I had a great birthday. Being able to spend it with my family and Anna Kate at home was a blessing. The day was sprinkled with plenty of fun, reflective conversations. Memories are so much more fulfilling than presents. They remain with you longer. I've come to appreciate birthdays for that. They represent a time to look back at the big and little things that have brought you to this age, and made you the person you are.
I've had lots of defining moments over the years. Some are immensely pleasant to think about. Some bring tears of sadness to my eyes. But that's okay. Life is an adventure in which we are shaped and molded by the bad and the good. God uses both to build our faith and teach us to look to Him in every situation. That's definitely helped me learn to rejoice and praise Him regardless of my mood. I'm not near perfect in doing that, and I still have my doubts and pangs of sorrow at times, but in all honesty, I'd rather have a faith tested by doubt than to live glassy-eyed in the Lord. Of course God wants us to take in His Kingdom with the eyes and mind of a child but He also wants us to engage it. We have to make that faith a lifestyle, not just something we get dressed up for one day of the week, sings hymns, and listen to a sermon. It has to be something we exemplify every waking moment of our lives. Is that easy? Good grief, no! I'm the biggest flop in my relationship with Jesus. I screw up, neglect Him and fail to study His Word the way I should. But He is always there to pick me up and forgive me even though I am the last person on Earth who deserves it. I thank Jesus for loving me first. As well as for teaching me how to love like He does. The list of blessings is endless, but I am grateful to Him for that example of love most of all.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
How empty and sad life is without love. Not physical love. Not emotional, heat-of-the-moment and passionate love. Those are good forms of it, but not the kind that I'm talking about. I mean original love. The love of Christ. Unconditional, unchanging, sacrificial devotion. We never would have known what that was if Jesus hadn't come and done it first. If He hadn't given Himself unto death on a cross for our sins, we would still be lost with no way out. Many of us wouldn't even realize it (and many still don't realize it today). Christ's love is what fuels our soul. It's what gives our ministry power. It's what enables us to love our enemies. It's why we rejoice in persecution. Good deeds and model intensions aren't enough. Not if they have another motive. Not if love isn't the source.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
I don't mind admitting that I feel small when I read this passage. My track record on love falls woefully short of God's standard as Paul outlines here. Too much of the time, my motives aren't pure. I'm more focused on what I'll get out of an act of kindness than on glorifying the kingdom of God. But when I have God's mindset, then I'm blown away by what the Holy Spirit does. I need to do better at pushing myself out of the way in showing love.
"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."
What a blessing love is. I couldn't dream of a better gift.
posted by david @ 2:02 PM
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