Love Follow Up

Love is a choice, it must be freely pursued. Love is also selfless; it does not seek its own. Therefore, how and why are much more relevant to our conversation on love and obligation than what or when. I guess it doesn’t matter what we call it: duty, obligation or even expectation as long as the motivation is love. I freely choose to love and am willing to take whatever may come with it. Lastly we can’t forget the sacrificial aspect of true love, choosing to surrender.

Through the Pain

We needn’t carry all the shame
Or find a place to put the blame
Poor choices and mistakes
Are what He came from us to take
If we won’t learn to grow through pain
His gift to us remains in vain

Unfortunately

As we said yesterday, everything good comes from the Lord even the great things that come from those that are unaware of Him. Unfortunately the opposite is also true. We that know Him are just as capable of making poor choices as anyone and while it’s true that we are unable to live perfect lives now, it’s also true that there is no bad decision that we have to make. He’ll always help us find His way.

Fear or Trust

What’s it going to be?

Every decision, every action even every thought has its roots in either fear or trust. We can choose right now, in the days ahead and in this wonderful New Year to operate out of trust. We can learn to recognize when fear is having its way in our lives and increase our ability to break free.

A Little Voice Inside My Head

“Said don’t look back you can never look back. I thought I knew what love was, what did I know? Those days are gone forever, I should just let them go but-” We don’t have to fall into the same old traps, habits and patterns that we fell into yesterday. This is a brand new day filled with the opportunity to receive and then give away the perfect love of our God. The choice is ours, let’s not keep making the wrong one(s).

Sacrifice is Never Easy

Sometimes we get giving and sacrifice confused. Sacrifice always costs a lot, giving can but they aren’t necessarily the same thing.

Surprises

Today is going to have its unexpected turns. You’ll be faced with fear, doubt and the desire to take matters into your own hands. There will be evidence that says you’re unloved, disrespected and unwanted. Fear not, at each of these turns you have the opportunity to give them to The Lord and the chance to trust that they’re better dealt with by Him. You see, nothing takes God by surprise so what could be better than to walk through this day completely with and in Him?

Choosing

Today most of us have the opportunity to choose our attitude. Will today be crappy or will we find the good amidst the rubbish? There’s never a shortage of things to complain about and sometimes we have to look really hard to find the beauty. But it’s there and well worth finding.

Reign

Here’s another word from Romans 6:12, it means to be in power or in control. Who has the power in your life? Who’s in control? If the answer is another person, you’re in trouble. If the answer is “I do” then you’re only in slightly less of a mess than if it’s someone else. God is the one with all the power, we are not. We prove it daily yet have trouble recognizing it frequently. I wonder if we are reluctant to admit and turn our weaknesses over to Him because we are afraid we’ll have to become someone completely different? That’s not what He has in mind. He wants to share His power with us. His goal is not to control us; He loves who we are right now. He just wants to come along side and help with our struggles just as much as He wants to celebrate the success.

Let

Romans 6:12 has five words in the middle of it (four if you use a contraction) that read “do not let sin reign”. The little word “let” indicates that we have a say in the matter, which is really great news unless we believe it means we have the power over sin and all we need to do to conquer it is try harder. What we have the ability to “let” is to let God have our sin. It’s only in coming to Him and placing the things we struggle with in His hands that we are able to overcome for real. Sure we may be able to will power a temporary behavior change but true healing comes when we place our weaknesses with Him and trust enough to leave them there.