Love
With Valentines Day approaching this topic only seems fitting. However, it is not the reason I have been thinking about love. Although I am not currently leading a small group I still receive the small group study on a weekly basis. I'd like to say that I even open the email every week let alone read the study, but I don't. However, I have been looking at them sense the start of the year. In the first study it challenged the reader to write a six word mission statement for their life. Easy right? It was a really cool thing to think about though. I sat for a while and just thought, "What do I want my life to be about?" I thought a lot about my desire to serve the poor, my heart for social justice, my longing to see people come to know Christ, and it all boiled down to one thing: love. So this is what my mission statement said: Risk everything in faith to show true love.
I don't know if this seems obvious, simple, or insane to you, but I think if you really weigh what each component means it gains a lot more meaning than what shows on the surface. "Risk everything," is no small feat. This year at New Life the theme is the paradox of true life. John 12: 24-25 says, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." This brings a whole new meaning to risking EVERYTHING even to the point of death.
"In faith," seems simple enough, but faith, at least for me, is hard. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see," (Hebrews 11:1). Yet another paradox. "Certain of what we do not see." How can you be absolutely certain of what you cannot see? I don't know if I have an answer to that, but I do know that it is what God requires of us. The former part of the verse implies the same concept that we are to be "sure of what we hope for," and yet how can we be? This requires a reckless abandonment and willingness to trust in the face of fear and doubt that God is bigger, God is better, and God is more faithful than any temporary fleeting thing of this world.
"True love." A lot of people have a lot of ideas of what this means. The movies show us it is some fairy tail where you fine the one man/woman out there that is perfect for you, others see it as a companion, society tells us it is someone to have fun with but not get too close with because then it gets messy. Let me point you to a few verses that tell us what true love is. There is of course 1 Corinthians 13, which I'm sure you have all heard at a wedding that tells us the characteristics of love, 1 John 3:16 says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." This is so different from the popular idea of cupid and hearts and chocolate. It is gruesome and sacrificial. It involves death! I think it would be really easy to stop after the first half of the verse, but the second half calls us to the same standard as Christ, that we are also to lay down our lives for each other. I know this sounds extreme, but I want to love like this. I want to love others so well that they see Christ in me. It would be the highest honor. I know that I will not and cannot ever do it perfectly, but I want to die trying.
A few weeks ago Steve Hayes, our head pastor, gave a sermon on this very topic and it is so simple, but so beautiful. I would really encourage you to take an hour to listen to it and then ask God to speak to you and listen to what he telling you.
So in short to risk everything in faith to show true love is to completely abandon my life trusting in God as my safety net knowing that it could end in death in order to love others.
This is really all I felt like God was calling me to talk about right now, but I am updating the side bar (to the right) with prayers and praises, so that will give you an idea of what's going on in my life!
Standing in awe of God's radical love,
Sigourney
I don't know if this seems obvious, simple, or insane to you, but I think if you really weigh what each component means it gains a lot more meaning than what shows on the surface. "Risk everything," is no small feat. This year at New Life the theme is the paradox of true life. John 12: 24-25 says, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." This brings a whole new meaning to risking EVERYTHING even to the point of death.
"In faith," seems simple enough, but faith, at least for me, is hard. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see," (Hebrews 11:1). Yet another paradox. "Certain of what we do not see." How can you be absolutely certain of what you cannot see? I don't know if I have an answer to that, but I do know that it is what God requires of us. The former part of the verse implies the same concept that we are to be "sure of what we hope for," and yet how can we be? This requires a reckless abandonment and willingness to trust in the face of fear and doubt that God is bigger, God is better, and God is more faithful than any temporary fleeting thing of this world.
"True love." A lot of people have a lot of ideas of what this means. The movies show us it is some fairy tail where you fine the one man/woman out there that is perfect for you, others see it as a companion, society tells us it is someone to have fun with but not get too close with because then it gets messy. Let me point you to a few verses that tell us what true love is. There is of course 1 Corinthians 13, which I'm sure you have all heard at a wedding that tells us the characteristics of love, 1 John 3:16 says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." This is so different from the popular idea of cupid and hearts and chocolate. It is gruesome and sacrificial. It involves death! I think it would be really easy to stop after the first half of the verse, but the second half calls us to the same standard as Christ, that we are also to lay down our lives for each other. I know this sounds extreme, but I want to love like this. I want to love others so well that they see Christ in me. It would be the highest honor. I know that I will not and cannot ever do it perfectly, but I want to die trying.
A few weeks ago Steve Hayes, our head pastor, gave a sermon on this very topic and it is so simple, but so beautiful. I would really encourage you to take an hour to listen to it and then ask God to speak to you and listen to what he telling you.
So in short to risk everything in faith to show true love is to completely abandon my life trusting in God as my safety net knowing that it could end in death in order to love others.
This is really all I felt like God was calling me to talk about right now, but I am updating the side bar (to the right) with prayers and praises, so that will give you an idea of what's going on in my life!
Standing in awe of God's radical love,
Sigourney
Faith is hard, thank the Lord that He ultimately provides the strength, and that faith is a gift not of ourselves. I am not sure how I would make it through this world with the weight of responsibility of faith upon myself, I know that I would fail over and over. I am thankful that you are living a life dedicated to others coming to know Jesus. Which is the higher and highest calling to any of our lives--Knowing Jesus. The two commands of Christ; the first and most important, love God with all your heart soul mind and might, and then others after.
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