Saturday, December 09, 2006

Stuff I'm Learning...


I'm learning that I shouldn't be trying to please everyone around me, just God.

I'm learning that if I don't like someone, in God's view, I'm murdering them.

I'm learning that I can't do everything, unless God is involved.

I'm learning that I don't like being lonely.

I'm learning that God is trying to teach me something right now and it hurts.

I'm learning to ask for help instead of trying to do everything myself.

I'm learning that my body needs a rest (maybe I should take a hit from Gilmore!).

I'm learning that I need a different job, yet a job that includes customer service.

I'm learning that I need to come back to God and rely on Him ALL THE TIME.

I'm learning that I can stand up to my landlord and that he and no one else has the right to intimidate me.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

1 John 3:11-24 (a note)

The passage from my last post was taken from The Message.

1 John 3:11-24


For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.
We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don't be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
The way we know we've been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn't love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don't go together.
This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practice real love. This is the only way we'll know we're living truly, living in God's reality. It's also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
And friends, once that's taken care of and we're no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we're bold and free before God! We're able to stretch our hands our and receive what we asked for because we're doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God's command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.