And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, NRSV)
For Good
Requirement of New Life
This is a post that was originally written by myself and shared on Youthworker Movement.
When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ 27 you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed down and worshiped. (Exodus 12:25, NRSV)
We like order, control, but essentially we like having things OUR way. We really like things our way, and we resist like the dickens anything else. When the operative word, “change,” is uttered any sense of the word we tend to clam up and resist, and yet we have this quandary of the lesson that we get in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To have new life, something must die.
Ouch.
New life in Christ is amazing, but bad things had to happen for that new life to happen. Jesus had to die for us to live. Really think about what this means for our lives now. For us to live into that new life we have to consider that some parts of our lives do not belong. You can’t give your heart to Christ and the world, you can only serve one master.
So what does that mean for our lives?
It means that there is nothing in our lives that doesn’t connect to our deep faith in Christ. That is what it means to be a disciple to constantly point to our savior, if we are not doing that then why are we following Him. I mean seriously, this is what discipleship is and what it looks like. Things have to go aside and Christ has to reign in our lives. Christ’s love and grace gives understanding of what we truly need and everything Christ passing over us because we don’t need it.
We just need Christ, and Him alone.
Sitting Outside
I really like working in the community in which I serve. Let me be clear in what I mean. I love to once a week work remotely at a location in the community of Fort Worth. It always brings a feeling of blessing. Today I am sitting outside Central Market in Fort Worth. Each Thursday I come to a remote location from at 4:00 pm to work for awhile outside the church, but also invite students to come by if they want to hang out.
It’s a win win for me because I get to experience the beauty of God’s creation, connect with the community and connect with youth at Arlington Heights UMC.
Today as I sit outside Central Market I am reminded of the fact that Jesus did this a lot.
Rarely did Jesus stay in one place for an extended period of time, but kept connecting with people in all communities of the region he lived in at the time of his ministry. Jesus and the Disciples were constantly moving from place to place with the sole purpose of connecting people to God’s Kingdom. Not only that but Jesus would be teaching to His disciples or hundreds sometimes thousands of people of this important connection.
I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time in the office, maybe I’m spending too much time there.
Maybe I need to be going from place to place connecting people like Christ did.
It’s worthy of reflection at least. We will see where it leads me and where it leads us.
Didn’t Pivot
Jesus calls us to abide in His love. To abide means to accept, but it’s more than that because in that acceptance we live in that love, we extend that love because being in it and of it. The love becomes a part of us.
So if we are not doing this more often then are we abiding in Christ’s love?
Additionally in the video they saw that Sara deserved to have this homerun. Effectively we are Sara and we in life didn’t pivot just right and because of that we are broken. Jesus responds to that brokenness in all of us and gives us a home run of our own. He gives us His love.
The coolest part though is that if you don’t abide in that love and share it Jesus doesn’t take it away. It’s still yours, and there is nothing you can do or cannot do that will cause Jesus not to love you.
Much More
Today is Thanksgiving. A day of feasting, football, and loads of fun….which leads to some epic napping. Anytime we greet a day we should do so with scripture and today I feel that we need to hear from the Apostle Paul.
Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
I have so many great memories of thanksgiving days growing up. Playing football in my grandparents front yard with my family, there is nothing like trash talking with your family on the day we give thanks. The food that we shared together: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, broccoli cheese casserole, and many more. Of course we can’t forget football, that would be very unlike us.
The most treasured memories that I have of this day are of family, friends, and the love that we share in our Lord Jesus Christ. Today is not about food, its not about football, its about gratitude. In this passage we find the Apostle Paul encouraging us to do three things all the time. To rejoice, to pray, and yes to give thanks. What is especially obvious to us is the way he instructs us to give thanks. Give thanks in every situation, that is where it gets interesting and hard.
We have innumerable situations that we find ourselves in, and these situations may cause us to be joyful, frustrated, and even others that bring us pain. Today may be a tender day for you because there are empty seats where someone we loved once sat, and that is sad because they are not with us physically. I won’t get to give my grandmother a hug on thanksgiving again until I meet her in eternal rest and that wears on me, but thanksgiving is about recognizing that we have more than we did yesterday and that those people made us better. Put simply: Our lives our better for simply knowing them.
As I write this I am listening to Kari Jobe’s song, “I know you are for me” and may be that is the best way for us to express what thanksgiving and thanksliving is all about. It’s about recognizing that no matter the situation we find ourselves in God is for us. He is working for good in your life and in my life, always. So, in response to the goodness and love that God is literally breathing into your life.
Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
May you experience the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ today and may you not just hold that in, but share it, because this love and this grace is meant and created to be shared with all.
Happy Thanksgiving!