Sharing rescue-love

I am excited that the sermon series at church is returning to 1 Corinthians for the next few months.  In preparation, I've started reading through the whole epistle during my quiet times.  It has been a precious time for me as I'm reading from a Bible that I originally gifted to a sweet sister who went to be with the Lord ahead of me. It is a New Living Translation Study Bible, and I am really appreciating how reading in a different translation than normal can open my eyes to a familiar passage in new ways.  I've only made it through the first few chapters so far, but I look forward to continuing and "catching up" with the sermon series.

Yesterday, Carl Baum taught on the first 4 verses of 1 Corinthians 13, a passage that is, for many of us, extremely familiar.  You know--the "love" chapter--the one you've heard so many times that you might not be able to quote it from memory, but you do recognize it immediately when someone starts to read or recite it.  I really enjoyed looking at this passage through fresh eyes, and one point that Carl made really hit home to me.  In the first three verses of the chapter, Paul describes how, without love, our striving is, in effect, useless.  Seems pretty simple, right?  Love is sacrifice.  We get it.

However, Carl made an interesting point that true love, agape love, is rescue love.  Yes, it requires a sacrifice, but it also requires us to seek rescue for those around us, whether that is spiritual rescue for an unbeliever, emotional rescue for someone who is hurting, or physical rescue for someone who is in need.  Tolerance isn't love, because tolerance merely leaves people with the same need of rescue.

After discussing rescue love, when he moved on to verse 4, Carl talked about how love is active.  All the words which are translated as adjectives--patient, kind, not envious, not boasting, not proud--are actually verbs in the original Greek, he told us.  In other words, love is doing, not feeling.  (I have severely condensed the point of the sermon in these few paragraphs, but I encourage anyone who is interested to read the entire sermon here.)

Now, of course these are all ideas that I've heard/learned/read before, but I really appreciated how the Lord drew them all together and spoke to my heart during the sermon.  As a result, I considered what I could be doing more of to show His love to others, and I believe He has already shown me a small way to begin.

When I returned from church, I noticed a lot of posts on Facebook discussing "Blue Monday" and how winter can be a depressing time for some people.  Of course, in the usual social media way, the posts all encouraged people to copy and re-post to pass the message along.  I know that people who post such things generally have good intentions, but I really didn't want to copy and paste the feel-good social media buzz-word-filled "I'm here for you" announcement.  However, after prayer, I decided to write my own post this morning:

"I have several friends who have been posting in the last 24 hours about always being available and willing to talk if someone is needing a listening ear. These posts reference the idea of a "Blue Monday" and ask for others to copy and post the same to prove that someone is always listening. Unfortunately, in our world, I think that such a proof would be an impossible task, and I don't particularly like following social media trends myself.

"However, I do hope that anyone who knows me realizes that if you are in a place where you feel unheard, discouraged, or depressed, I truly am willing to listen. I may not be able to fix anything for you, but I know the One who is always present and able to move mountains. Together we can carry your burdens before His throne and remind one another of the truth of His unfailing love for us. My prayer is that all who need such encouragement will know that they can find a Friend in Him."

If anyone is reading this blog, please know that the same holds true for you--I am always willing to listen and pray with you.  I'm not sure whether this post will help anyone, but I am glad that I took a small step toward offering love to people who need it.  I know that I can't rescue others on my own, but I do hope that others will be reminded that I'm willing to go with them to the Great Rescuer.

If you are a child of the King, I challenge you to look for areas in your own life where you can share His rescue-love with the ones around you.  Don't be afraid to start small, or to look silly; you can be confident that the Lord will open your eyes to ways to minister that will make an impact for eternity.

The "why" of service

Today I (finally!) finished my study of Hebrews with an in-depth look of Hebrews 13.  One of the exercises in the New Inductive Series is to come up with a summary/title for the chapter, and for me the focus of Hebrews 13 boils down to this truth: "Christ; the same today, yesterday, and forever; the Reason I live, serve, and do good."

Hebrews 13 lists many good things we should strive to do as Christians, but none of these should take precedence for our love of Christ.  It is because of Him that we choose to live in obedience.  John puts it this way:

And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. --I John 2:3-6

I have written about this before, but as a person whose identity is closely aligned with the idea of serving, I often have to remember to check my motivations.  Why am I choosing to do something good?  If I am choosing it because I'm seeking attention or acknowledgement from others, then my good deed is not truly good.  This same idea is echoed in one of Chambers' challenges this week:

If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men. (February 23)

At times it is easy for me to feel hurt when my service goes unnoticed, especially when this is in an area where I have poured myself out completely.  While I am not suggesting we go around with ingratitude toward one another, I also realize that my emotions can be deceived when my focus is on myself or even the people whom I am serving.  I am so thankful that the Lord reminds me to focus all of my love and attention where it belongs: on Him, the one true object of my devotion.

 

A reason to serve

"Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him." (January 18) 

Some days, the readings from My Utmost for His Highest are more challenging than others.  There are some days when I truly don't agree with some or all of Chamber's ideas, and this is one of them.  However, the quote is challenging and convicting to me nonetheless.  As someone whose "default setting" is serving others, I need to examine my motivations.  Do I serve because Jesus' love and life are flowing out of me, or because it is something I am "supposed to do"?  Serving is good, but if I don't serve out of love for Jesus, then my service is mere filthy rags.

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.--Isaiah 64:6

My heart's desire is that I will serve because Jesus love is overflowing in my life.  May He ever fill me with His Spirit and the living water that truly quenches every thirst!

Learning sacramental living

Today was one of "those" Mondays...the ones where I wake up feeling totally spent and exhausted, with a headache to boot.  Typically this pattern seems to be due to a combination of allergies, busy weekends, and weather pressure systems moving through.  I've had more of "those" Mondays recently than I would like to admit, even to myself.  It is discouraging to wake up and realize that my plans for being productive and getting things done might just have to be put on hold.

Thankfully, after some extra rest this morning, I was able to get up--not that I was super motivated, mind you--but I knew from experience that if I at least got a few things done my mood would inevitably improve.  There's something so healing about a clean living space.  Once I've completed my chores I can fully relax rather than feeling the weight of the clutter oppressively clouding my thoughts.

So, I got up, as that seems to always be the first step to any productivity.  And I started, one task at a time, and the more progress I made, the more motivated I became to take on additional tasks.  I turned on a favorite personalized music station to keep me company in the relative silence of the house and hummed along to the worship tunes that filled the air.  Several hours later, I found myself sitting on the couch and surveying the fruit of my labor: a clean kitchen and living space, clean clothing folded and put away (albeit with a few straggling pieces spread out over chairs or a drying rack to air dry), a hot peach pie on the table and the "guts" of another chilling in the freezer for a later date.

After those productive hours, I was encouraged by how much better I felt and how much I had accomplished.  I decided to read the final chapter from The Pursuit of God before Jonathan got home this evening.  It didn't take long to realize I was in for an even bigger treat than I had anticipated.  The final chapter, whose title inspired mine for this blog, was perhaps the most practical and impactful of the entire book.  I could try to summarize Tozer's thoughts, but he does a much more eloquent job than I could in this quote from that chapter: 

"We must practice living to the glory of God, actually and determinedly. By meditation upon this truth, by talking it over with God often in our prayers, by recalling it to our minds frequently as we move about among men, a sense of its wondrous meaning will begin to take hold of us. The old painful duality will go down before a restful unity of life. The knowledge that we are all God's, that He has received all and rejected nothing, will unify our inner lives and make everything sacred to us...Let us practice the fine art of making every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there."--A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

As I sat and considered what I had read, it occurred to me that, in addition to my personal quirky nature that causes me to actually enjoy cleaning, part of the reason why it was so enjoyable today was that I get to meditate on the Lord and serve my husband through my efforts.  Now, I am not claiming to have mastered sacramental living--far from it--but I noticed a correlation today. I am convinced that my choice to listen to praise and worship music rather than half-watching a TV show (a common background noise choice, and not one that in and of itself is wrong) had a huge influence on my attitude and the outcome of my afternoon, because it caused my mind to be centered on Jesus, His sacrificial love for me, and my response of love and gratitude to Him.  

I know the Lord brought this realization to my attention, because this morning I had practically given up on today being productive or uplifting.  I am thankful for the His willingness to reach down and prove me wrong by touching my day with His presence. I realize that I cannot expect the Lord to always speak into my day so obviously, but I have learned to appreciate the times when He does.  Furthermore, I look forward to practicing sacramental living more and more in the coming days.  What an opportunity, and even more, what a blessing!