Late to the prom

To say that I have an obsession with Galatians 5 may be an understatement.  I have found myself coming back to this chapter time and time again.  The area in my life where I can say I have been more than hesitant to relinquish control to God is in the area of loving others.  I know I know.  It is what all of Jesus’ teaching can be boiled down to.  That is why I am late to the prom. 

source

I have read it. 
I have believed it. 
Now God has led me to implement it. 

I have found ways to love other people that have a tendency to be difficult to love.  There is one person in particular that I should be able to love for at least one giant reason.  I cloaked my concern for this person’s faith walk in love but it wasn’t love at all.  I was annihilating this person.  I was living not in freedom but in complete bondage of conditional love.  I was harboring years of resentment and worse using God’s word to release venomous words not for this person’s good but to hurt them as I felt hurt. 

For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion not disregard of religion amounts to anything.  What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.    Galatians 5:6 MSG

You would think my faith was alive and thriving but if my faith is expressed in love then my faith is dead.  If my faith pulse was measured by how well I love this one particular person it would be staggeringly slow.        

It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life.  Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom.  Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.  For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence:  Love others as you love yourself.  That’s an act of true freedom.  If you bite and ravage each other, watch out-in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?  Galatians 5:13-15 MSG

I know everyone has ATLEAST one person in their life they have found themselves withholding love.  Withholding this love is ultimately growing your bondage and keeping you from the true freedom the verses above speak of.  How do we do love?  How do we actively love those not easily loved?

The first thing I have done is to stop focusing on all the reasons I have come up with not to love this person.  I made a list of 100 reasons why I should love this person and every time my thoughts start to think negatively I look at the list or remember one of them and start saying it over and over again.  Then when the person does something you view as questionable give them the benefit of the doubt.  I am not talking about a sin here.  I am talking about the things this person says and does that makes you sin by not loving.  Then begin praying about the things God would have you do to show your love to this person.  This means actually doing things for them.  Try to do at least one thing a week.  Make a phone call, send cookies, anything to deliberately show your love.  Watch your heart, freedom, and love grow. 

We can give Him our time without handing Him our heart.  Withholding love is just that.         

Me-Itis

I was sick yesterday. I had and awful day. I was grumpy, grouchy, and had an infection called me-itis. I am so tired. I have a headache. I have so much to do. I don't have enough time to do it all. It was infectious and spreading fast. Thank God for His good word and the ability for me to look intently on the law and get some spiritual medicine. All I had to do was be so taken up with Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory to realize it is not about me. My day, my tasks, my children have nothing to do with me. They are all about Him and His gifts He has given me. It is about His glory, the glory, the Lord of glory. How is He my glory in every situation even the ones I think are negatively affecting me in some way.


When I am taking out the trash, how is He my glory?


When I am tested with children tempers, how is He my glory?


When I haven't slept through the night in over a half of a year, how is He my glory?

The one thing I forgot to realize is the Bible is not a self-help book. It is not merely for my benefit. It is ultimately for His glory. It has nothing to do with me. It is about His glory, His perfection, His word, and His perfect plan. Right about now you might be thinking isn't this month and this week about submission and our husbands. Yes, yes it is. I wasn't sure what He wanted me to do. I had been praying about it and feeling very empty. The Spirit wasn't prompting me to do anything and I was feeling concerned. Maybe I had misread what He wanted me to do. Maybe I had gotten it all wrong. I was still waiting with the expectation that He would let me know when I was sure to not miss it. I have read 1 Peter 3:1-6 and Ephesians 5:21-25 over and over. I have read the commentary on them everywhere I could find. I found nothing I could use as a practical application as to what I could do to apply this to my everyday life.


Then I was taken up with Him, His glory, the glory, the Lord of glory. Just amazed at His word and His perfect plan and realized it completely relates to Ephesians 5:21-25. Wives be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. v. 22 The experience of being in awe of Jesus and what He did for me is one that is indescribable to me. I am to have that same experience and reverence for my husband. Wow. The Holy Spirit is welling up inside of me right now. When I said my vows I had no idea what that meant from a biblical perspective so maybe this is different for you. Understanding God's will for a marriage I realized I needed to tell my husband that I was honored and humbled to be his wife. In the Spirit I told him that. It may not seem like a lot but that was my action for the week. I dedicated my heart to my husband. I felt the experience of understanding the biblical perspective of submission, and how it ultimately is not about me submitting. It is ultimately about glorifying God. I have read the verses over and over again and then I felt the word of God alive and active in me.


I know I said I didn't want this blog to be devotional driven or a lot of reading, but that I wanted it to be convicting to go out and do the thing. It hasn't proven to be that way so far but it will. I am praying all of you have been doing what The Spirit has led you to do. If you haven't felt it yet wait in faith, His promises are always fulfilled.