I Am, that I Love.

"By the grace of God, I am what Iam." 1 Corinthians 15:10

It is but by the grace of God that I am what I am.

It is but by the grace of God that I have what I have.

It is but by the grace of God that I live how I live, that I think as I think, that I see as I see, that I love as I love.

I live each moment in remembrance of that simple truth, not only for me, but for the people around me. I live in realization that it is only by His grace that I can be connected with the people that are in my life. And it is only by His grace that they live another day for me to be able to love them and them to share their love with me.

I rejoice in knowing that God, the giver of life, holds all of life. And I praise Him for the time He gives, no matter how long or short. I am thankful for the time given to love once more and be loved once more, if only just for a moment.

For the grace of giving love and receiving love is the greatest gift of all. And with that gift we are filled and made complete. Never to be empty. Never to be wanting. Never to be needing. But to be perfectly full by the love that abounds in us through and by Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Because it is by love that we live and breathe, walk and talk. It is only by love that we are sustained. And I'm more thankful for just a single moment to love and be loved than for anything else in this world. And if I shall pass from this world, I will pass with a grateful Spirit and having lived a completely full life because I have, by grace, been loved and shared love through Christ Jesus, who is love.

For the only reason for me to be graced to live a single moment more is because there is more love for me to share and receive. The day I stop loving is the day I stop living. And that would be a sad day indeed.

So live by His grace. Live to love another day. For it is by His grace that I am, that I love.

God is Love. 

Forgiveness...

Without a doubt, one of the hardest things in the world to do is forgive. We spend a lot of time in church talking about Christ’s work of sanctification in us. The Holy Spirit highlights sin and areas of correction and we crucify it. God digs deep into our heart and exposes selfish motives and personal sin, but where is all the talk about how to handle life when the sin wasn’t yours?

You may know how to repent of sin and turn towards God when there is wretchedness in your own heart, but what if your struggle is something that was done to you instead of by you. What do you do if the wretchedness was in someone else’s heart? What if that person who has wronged you doesn’t even know it, or worse, even care. How do we walk in forgiveness when it feels like life just keeps happening to you?

Bottom line…it isn’t easy. However, we do have an example to follow. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” That last part is our hope in Christ. Whether we realize it or not we are guilty of offending God. Sometimes we offend Him with willful sin and sometimes we sin without even realizing it, but we still offend Him. So how does God handle forgiveness? God chose to walk out forgiveness to us by Christ dying on a cross and being the stand in for us. He can forgive us because He doesn’t see the sin, He sees Christ’s payment for it.

We have a God who chose to forgive us for not just what we have done, but what we will do to offend Him. That should be our example as well. We should “forgive one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Was the offense against you great? I’m positive that it was, but take the example of our God and choose to walk in forgiveness anyway. Don’t look at the offense to you, look at Jesus and His perfect payment for that offense.

Disciples make Disciples

If you are following Jesus, you are a disciple. However, being a disciple doesn’t mean it’s just “you and Jesus.” Being a disciple means that you are following Jesus along side other people who are following Jesus. A disciple submits himself to the Lord as well as the community of others who are submitting to the Lord. It is within the context of community that we grow personally and corporately with Jesus.

You won’t find many Christians who will argue against following Jesus or being a part of a community. Deep down, we all see ourselves as a disciple. The problem comes when we leave out the most important part of being a disciple. Following Jesus and being in community is crucial, but Jesus taught that ALL of His disciples would also be (Luke 5:10)”…fishers of men.” What’s the bottom line of what Jesus is saying? He is saying that disciples follow Jesus, they grow in the context of community, and they make more disciples.

Disciples make disciples. If you are a Christian and you are reading this blog, it’s because over 2000 years ago, one of the original 12 disciples made more disciples, who then made more disciples, and eventually the pattern continued until you. A disciple is one who grows closer to Jesus and wants that for others. A disciple finds those younger and newer in their faith and lives life with them. They show the younger in faith how to properly reflect the grace that was so freely given on the cross. The disciple teaches younger disciples how they can disciple. The process is an ongoing growth where we all follow Jesus in the context of community and “fish for men” to become new disciples.

So the question is, are you a disciple who is making disciples?