What's Love got to do with it?

I've been thinking a lot about love lately.  Not the mushy romantic kind though.  I've been thinking about the selfless, sacrificial kind.  The kind that Jesus gives and asks us to give to others. Agape Love.  Sure it sounds easy enough until you come across someone who seems unworthy of such love.  Suddenly we're very willing to walk away and forget love altogether.  I've recently been watching my children interact with one another and I've come to notice how little of that kind of love is present in my home.  Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of love here, just not the selfless, sacrificial love that Jesus demonstrates.  I find that to be a real problem.  Not only because we are a family who carries the name Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, but also because God Himself has asked us (you too) to show that kind of love to the world.  If it's not in our homes, how is it going to be in our world?  Turn on any news channel and you'll see that the exact opposite is happening today, all around our world and our country.  We are all so consumed with our rights and with "justice", with someone "getting what's coming to them".  All of that is the exact opposite of how God asks us to live.

Let's bring it in a little closer shall we, let's get back into our homes and our families, because that is where it has to begin.  We all know families who are hurting and broken. (maybe that's you) Parents and children who are holding onto past wrongs with both hands proclaiming that they get their way or else.  Families who want one thing but do the very thing that drives loved ones away.  Days, months even years of separation and no contact.  You see, if we keep holding on to the worlds ideas on love we will end up empty and alone.  BUT, if we ever could be so bold and so brave to throw that false love out the window and grab on to God's love with both hands, I believe that a radical change would take place inside of our homes, our churches, our communities and even the world!!!

I've had the chance to practice this kind of love with one of my own (note that I said practice - it's hard and I don't always get it right, but I'm trying) and I truly believe that when the time is right and the field has been properly tended to, a new crop will burst forth!  God promises it and I'm holding onto it with both hands.  I can't continue to hold every wrong thing done against me out in front of me like a banner or like its some right I have so that others know I've been wronged.  I don't want to hold things over someone elses head!  There's no reward in that, anywhere!  I have tasted God's grace and forgiveness and I want to give it to others!!  It is way more satisfying.....even when it isn't given in return.

This kind of love requires a complete trust and faith in Jesus.  Without that, this kind of love cannot be attained.  So, you may need to start there! How?  Well, first you admit that you are a sinner, that you need a Savior!  You acknowledge that Jesus Christ came to earth, died a gruesome death for you and for I.  He rose from the grave three days later and now sits at the right hand of His Father; God. His death on the cross represents the payment for our sins, payment that we could never pay!  Now because of the cross we have a chance at eternal life with Jesus Christ!!! At that point, search out other Christians, a church that teaches the TRUTH!  Dive in and get to know Him.  He's worth it!!

 If you've got that or are working toward that - great!  Let's continue!  I want to look at two verses that come to mind when thinking about Jesus' love.  The first is:

1 Peter 4:8

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

I've grown up hearing that verse.  I don't know that I knew it was scripture for a long time but it still made sense to me.  I always thought of it in that mushy, romantic love that I mentioned earlier.  But now that I'm older I realize that that's not the kind of love that it's referring to at all!!  The love that I am capable of clearly demonstrates it's lack of sin covering all of the time!  I'm prone to hold accounts of wrongs, to stand my ground and demand my rights, remain unmovable until I get my way.  But this love, this Agape love, Jesus' love.....is an entirely different story!  Let's look at another verse that breaks it down a bit more!

1 Corinthians 13 * Otherwise known as the Love Chapter starting at verse number four:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ 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. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ 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 the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a 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.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (bold added)

I think that about covers it!  Patient......willing to wait.  No room for pride.  No dishonoring others, no self-seeking, not easily angered (yikes), it keeps no records of wrongs!  None?  How about a few, the most recent ones?  No?  Okay.  I think we have some work to do friends.

If we want to see a revolution here on earth, in our hearts and in our homes, we must be sooooooo crazy that we are willing to lay everything that we think we know aside and jump on board with this kind of Love!

I want to leave you with a portion of my devotional this morning.  It comes from the book My Utmost for His Highest from Oswald Chambers.  September 2 the last paragraph says this, "He who believes in Me....out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" -and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed.  Now is the time for us to break "the flask" of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him.  Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?"

Another book that highly recommend on the subject of crazy love is by Francis Chan and its called "Crazy Love".

Who will be so bold, so brave and so crazy with me?  Who is willing to lay themselves down and pour all that God has given them out to those around them?  I do hope and pray that you will join me!  I promise the journey, the struggle, and even the pain will be worth it!!

God bless!  Lorraine

Simple Grace - Week Four

Alright, so instead of a wordy post about my thoughts on extending Grace to others....I'm going to give you the chance to practice it!!!  I don't have a post today on extending Grace, I don't.  It's killing me, trust me when I say, I'm fighting feeling like a failure.  But I have to put this into perspective, while I'm assuming that there are people out there who enjoy reading my posts, I know that your world is not going to end because I didn't come through with a post on Grace today!  At least I hope that's true, please don't tell me if your world falls apart after this!!! lol

So anyway, I decided to advertise locally for the sale of sugar cookies for Valentine's Day!  I have several orders between this week and next, I'm still a newbie at this so I'm scrambling just a bit to fit these cookies in with everything else that I'm doing.  It takes a bit of finesse so bear with me!!!  I'd like to quickly say that I think extending Grace to others is being willing to let go of the expectations that we put on others when we see they aren't going to match up with what's actually happening.  It's a tough one, especially if we don't extend Grace to ourselves in those same moments.

I'm still working on that!  I guess, that since it is a process, it'll be a while, if ever, that I nail that down.  I hope not though, I think we all need to get to the position of extending Grace to ourselves and others, simply because Jesus so easily and readily offers it to us and if we are following His example, we have no reason not to get to that place!!

Valentine's Day is next Thursday, which is also my son; Joe's 13th Birthday!!!!!  I can't even believe that!!!  But anyway, I think February is a great month to really contemplate what Jesus' love looks like, feels like and how it can transform us!!!  Take some time to know Whose you are <3  Send a few Valentine's His way in your prayers this month and let Him tell you and show you how crazy He is for you <3

It'll change your life!!!! 

God Bless <3 Lorraine

Simple Grace - Week Three

How has your week been?  I hope and pray that you were able to take some of things that I shared here last week and begin to apply them to your life in the way that you treat yourself.  As I talked to a friend yesterday about how hard we tend to be on ourselves, I shared with her that when we treat ourselves poorly,  it devalues the Cross and that it's an extension of unbelief.  Which can be hard to come to terms with.  I don't think that any believer would say that they don't believe.  I think that we take our belief for granted and when the rubber meets the road, we need to evaluate the depth of our belief.

To break that bold statement down a little let's look at the Cross.  When Jesus died on the cross for us, He did so for the purpose of forgiving our sin and inviting us into an eternal life with Him.  In that action, Jesus said "You Matter", He offers us forgiveness, mercy, grace and love.  So, when we don't give ourselves those things, we are really refusing to take the gifts that Jesus died to give us.  AND we're are saying that even though He did those things, they really aren't meant for us, OR that we somehow would rather be our own judge and don't need what He provided in His death!!

I don't know about you, but when I see it put that way, it changes my perspective on how I need to treat myself!  I struggled eight years ago with post partum depression and it really made me look at how I treated myself.  I had set these ridiculous standards on myself for how I lived, what I accomplished and what people would think of me.  It was a devastating way to look at my life.  Through many tears, a lot of pain and God's Grace, I have been able to lower those ridiculous standards without compromising my beliefs, ideals, ideas or desires.

I still have to give myself permission to accept God's grace....when I make a mistake, or I don't accomplish what I "think" I should accomplish.  I've learned and really am still learning to trust God and open myself up to His grace....realizing that that is exactly what is waiting for me.....Grace.  Not some heavy hammer that is going to pound my failures into me, not some disapproving judge waving a ruler above my head to gauge the level that I've accomplished or failed at.  I, with the enemy's help, was the only one who ever did that.  Jesus has only ever offered His grace and mercy.

Last year, my phrase for those troubled times, became "Just Breathe".  In those moments of pausing and taking a breath, I was able to diffuse the situation that seemed to be reeling out of control. By breathing in God's grace, I was able to breathe out the chaos and the lies.  This week, I want to challenge you to do something.  Are you game??  Well I'd like you to take notice of the moments that you don't accept God's grace, and maybe write them down in a journal.  Noticing is the first step to moving forward in a healthy relationship.....with yourself and with God.  If you are really game, the next step would be to trace the lies that attach to the moments.  Why, in that moment, are you not accepting Grace and being so hard on yourself?  After that you would want to seek God's word to find a truth that combats each and every lie that you feed yourself!

This practice will transform the way you treat yourself, the way you look at Jesus and ultimately, it will transform the way you treat others.  Which we should be talking about next week, unless I need more work on giving myself Grace!!!  Which could happen, I pray that it doesn't....but you never know what  a day holds and we always have a choice!!  Here's to choosing Christ in all situations!!

Go forth in His Grace <3 Lorraine

Simple Grace Part 2

As I think more about Grace, I'm seeing that I need to accept the Grace given to me and then extend that Grace to others!  But why is that soooooo hard????  Well I think that it's hard to accept God's Grace because we hold on so tightly to our failures, sins, excuses, etc.  We refuse God's forgiveness and in doing so we tell ourselves that we don't deserve that forgiveness or Grace.  I picture this like a heavy cloak that represents sin, regret, fear or whatever we claim over ourselves.  That cloak hangs on a hook in our room and every single day we choose to put that cloak of shame on, we cover up all that Jesus died on the cross for with that heavy, dark cloak of lies.  We don't even see His grace or forgiveness.

I, for one, am tired of wearing that ugly thing....it's not attractive, it's heavy and wears me out and let's be honest....it doesn't match anything!!!!!  Seriously though, wouldn't you agree that the weight of the sin that you carry wears you out, that it gets difficult to carry day after day and you get tired of seeing it??  It doesn't match the amazing, life changing work of the Cross!! Let's take a look at the differences between the two:

The Cross say that I am:              The Cloak says that I am:

forgiven                                           unforgiven

redeemed                                         condemned

cherished                                         despised

worthy                                             unworthy

And that's just a few....You get the picture, yes??  If we cannot take off the cloak, we cannot receive His grace!  If we cannot receive His grace, we cannot extend His grace to others!!  So we must allow God to start the transforming work in our hearts, minds and lives, so that we can do what we were made to do!!  Imitate God!!

In Sunday School this week, we looked at 1 Corinthians 13 and really broke down this love chapter.  Everything, every.single.thing, comes down to love!!  If I don't love myself, I cannot accept His grace for me, If I don't love myself, I cannot love others and therefore cannot extend grace outward either! 

Let's quickly look at verses 4-8

"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 dlight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails."

 

I am often impatient with myself, I am often unkind.  I have a problem with envy, boasting and pride.  I am rude to myself, in those moments I am self-seeking, angry and count my wrongs.  There are even times when I delight in evil.....I think that looks like the times when I make a mistake or fail something and then that part of me laughs and says "yep, of course you did".  I don't keep myself protected from the enemy as I should, I don't always trust in God, I lose hope and I want to quit.

 

I don't know about you, but all of those are in complete disagreement with 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  If we replace the word "love" in those verses with the name of Jesus, or even our own name, it takes on a clearer image!  (for sake of time and space, I combined the two)

 

"Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind.  He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.  Lorraine is not rude, she is not self-seeking, she is not easily angered, and she keeps no record of wrongs.  Lorraine does not delight in evil but rejoices with the Truth.  Lorraine always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Jesus never fails."

 

Try it for yourself, that is, if you struggle with this like I do.  It's time that we get down to the nitty gritty of our lives and really work out our salvation!!  We must demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5   There's another version that says "vain imaginations"......are you a story maker??  Ohhh I am, for sure!!!  I love to create an entire scene of what I think will happen......most times, all times, I am completely off base.  I need to take those vain imaginations captive and force obedience to Christ!!

 

We are on a battlefield.....Jesus died to give us His grace and forgiveness....who are we to refuse that?  I leave you with Big Daddy Weave and "I am redeemed"!  Let the words soak in and let's see if we can't start receiving His Grace today friends!!!!  We'll do this again next Wednesday!!  Be sure to come back!!



 

 

God Bless <3 Lorraine

Simple Grace

We just started a series in Sunday School on Grace!!  I missed the first week but have caugh the past two.  Week two was called Amazing Grace and week three was Simple Grace.  Of course my ears totally perked up when I heard the word SIMPLE, as it's my word for 2013!!  I'm interested in making every aspect of my life and relationship with Jesus as SIMPLE as it's meant to be and this would be my first "simple sunday school" lesson.

However, as I began to prepare for this post, I suddenly got overwhelmed with insecurities.  God and Grace are pretty big topics to tackle....I could punch out any experience from my own life and feel fairly confident about my words.  But going straight for the big stuff, that just seemed a bit daunting.  I mean, who am I to talk to you about Grace?  I'm finding it ironic that I'm wanting to talk to you about Grace and yet, I'm not allowing any grace to fall upon my head for this task!  Crazy how that happens!!  I suppose that its all a part of God's plan and lesson for you and for me!!

How often do we refuse God's grace?  Maybe one reason that we deny ourselves God's Grace is because we don't have a proper understanding of what it actually is?  From my reading and understanding there is more than one facet to God's Grace.  I want to take you back to the Old Testament and the Law for just a moment.  We can read about the law and the requirements of sacrifice that had to be made in order to fulfill the law in the books of Exodus and Leviticus.  We can see how time consuming it was, to find the perfect offering, the atonement for the sins of one.

I'm not really sure how the people had time for anything else, because so much time was spent on preparing sacrifices and trying to "clean up" before approaching the Lord.  I feel heavy and restricted just typing this. The law was put in place to show the people, to show us, that we are sinful and that there was nothing that we could do about it.  The Israelites were a fallen people, like everyone else, and they couldn't just come before God as they were and so sacrifices and offerings had to be made.

Let's fast forward to the New Testament and where Grace enters the scene.  I like it put this way:  Grace has a name and it's Jesus!  What a beautiful, simple way to put it.  If you know Jesus, you know Grace.....He is the epitome of the word.  Let's take a minute and look at why Jesus came....He came to be that sacrifice....to enhance the Law....to point us toward God.  Knowing that we could never measure up on our own and that no sacrifice we could ever offer would truly pay the price of sin, God sent His one and only son, to be The Sacrifice for our sins, for all of mankind.

No more are the days of finding an appropriate offering or sacrifice, only to have to do again and again and again.  Jesus coming, being born of a virgin, walking with us and ultimately dying on the cross is Grace.  We deserve the punishment for our sins, but Jesus took our place!!  That is the ultimate picture of Grace. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us all."  Romans 5:8

I don't know about you, but when I slow down long enough to let that thought sink in, it blows me away!!!!!  I should be punished for my sin, I was on my way to take the punishment, but Jesus stepped in and said "NO, I'LL TAKE THE PUNISHMENT FOR HER, AND FOR EVERYONE ELSE!!!"

Most of us can say that we understand Jesus dying on the cross for our sin,s though we may not always grasp the fullness of it. We can wrap our minds around the sacrifice, His death on the cross, providing us the opportunity for forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.  But where I think that we come into trouble is how that act translates into our every day life and our relationship with our Father.  To put "grace" another way, it's God's unmerited favor on a people who don't deserve it.  There is nothing that we have done, could do or will do that will justify us having His favor or grace, we can't earn it....He just gives it, because He can and because He loves us unconditionally.

In a world full of conditions, sometimes this is hard to swallow.  We are so used to a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" mentality, that when someone just gives us something with nothing attached, we question it.  Well certainly you can't just forgive me, I must have to "do" something to justify that.  I've messed up, there must be a way that I can fix it!  And here's one that I'm wrestling through right now....Unconditional giving and helping!  Surely you can't be serious, you want to help me like that, and there's no string attached?  We've been in the position of needing help for two years now and I' still learning that when God causes someone to move and give and help, there are no boundaries.  There is no end time, returning the favor or somehow paying it back.  It's just a gift, plain and simple.

He continues to humble me and I continue to learn something new about this Amazing God that I love and serve.  I want to simply accept His Grace and remove all of the complications that I have put in place that prevent me from doing that!  So if this is something that you'd like to walk through with me, please come back here, well every day, but specifically next Wednesday, as I believe this is going to take more than one post to uncover!!!

Let me leave you with this song by Jeremy Riddle, "This is Amazing Grace"  Let it soak in friends
God Bless <3 Lorraine