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I sat staring into the eyes of one of my IBS guys earlier tonight, listening intently, thinking deeply, asking the Spirit for something wise to say, wishing my guy knew God, and one big thought that came to my mind was...I wish I knew more scripture. Haha. This is literally the 6th time God has chided me of this in the past two weeks. I am realizing time and time again that at the end of the day, it is God's Word that sticks. I could give the most eloquent gospel presentation, expound beautifully on the truth that God's glory and our joy go hand in hand, or speak a timely, deep truth into someone's life at just the right moment, but many times the one thing that will be remembered is something from God's word. I've seen this happen through talks I've had with others, and I've experienced this firsthand as well. God has used Erick Loh to speak into my life, many times eloquently and timely, with deep conviction, passion, and the love of a spiritual parent, yet the only thing I remember a week later is the verse Erick gave me to get through the hard time. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
So buckle down, boys and girls. Luke 9:23 says that we must pick up cross daily if we want to be a follower of Jesus. But don't forget the promise of verse 24. In fact, verse 23 taken without verse 24 only leads to legalism and shorting out and falling short. Never forget Jesus' promise, that those who pick up their crosses and lose their lives will instead find their lives. =). It's a promise I forgot, which is why I slowed down my scripture memory, evangelism, prayer, and appreciation of my family. But now, remembering this truth, I remember why I train. We bring God glory by finding delight in Him. Oh BABY what a truth.
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By the way, sorry for the overabundance of bold and italic words in this entry. My writing is not yet strong enough to convey what i'm trying to say without the use of such lame literary crutches. =P
=). God is good, yes? Holla.
no serious posts?
ReplyDeletecompared to other stuff that's been on my mind, this is about mid-level serious =P
ReplyDeletethanks - I was encouraged by this(y'know, every once in a while, you're actually more eloquent in print than in person. I know. I'm shocked too).
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to point you to this - about a week ago, I wrote a post about what we've been talking about lately. http://beautifulcollision.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/love/
It basically articulates what I kept wanting to say in our conversations but couldn't find the words for:) And it's what I keep telling myself.