{Alive in Christ}

Exactly one year ago, I attended a Christian conference in Atlanta called Passion. It was an extremely eye-opening experience for me and God showed me a lot in four days that I will never forget. So here I am once again, January, the beginning of the new year of 2012, and I just got home yesterday from this same conference. It was once again life-changing, and I want to tell you all a little bit {but knowing me it will probably turn into a lot} about my experience this year, and what God showed me these past four days in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome with 45,000 other college students.


First, before I start telling you what happened the past four days, let me tell you what occured the days preceeding Passion. Lately, I have been asking God a lot to show me what love truly is. Last year at Passion I really felt the complete love of Christ in my heart, but there's a difference between feeling something and knowing it. I wanted to know it. I had also been asking God to do some major work within my heart, I didn't really know what specifically that would intell, but I knew something needed to be done. I feel as though this summer and first semester at school I had lost some of the passion that I had previously in my life. I felt just a little dry, and in need of some major refreshment from Christ in my heart and soul and life.


1. I realized how weak my worship has been. God is powerful, sovereign, almighty, and His strength, compassion, forgiveness and love NEVER run out, and yet I barely give Him the time of day when it comes to worshiping Him for all His goodness and faithfulness and love. Most importantly, He brought me back to life when I was dead in my sin. The most reasonable response to that would be to give Him my life that He raised, and yet I've been doing a lazy job of trying to do what's expected of me as a Christian, not always with the heart that should be its motivation. As I stood there during worship the first night of Passion, I truly began to worship Him with all of my heart, letting go of everything else that existed but Him. It was then that He showed me, "This is what you're missing as My follower, as My daughter. You don't give me your all everyday." That began a grueling, necessary, conviction process for the week.


2. There's a line in the song "How He Loves" that says, "Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss, and my heart beats violently inside of my chest." I've always wanted to be so in love with Jesus that my heartbeat speeds up and I get butterflies when I spend time with Him. It happened. I finally felt what it feels like to be really in love with Jesus. I can't remember what song I was singing, who was speaking, or what day it was, but I fell in love with Jesus this week, and it's never going to fade away. God showed me that love isn't found in a marriage or in a feeling inside of you. Those are simply ways that God expresses His love for us and gives us a picture through those things of what His love looks like. Love is innocence and perfection dying on a cross for my filth. Love is forgetting that the world thinks He's insane in order that He may raise me back to life while I was completely dead in my sin. Love is that even when I fail, and do things that break His heart, He chooses to love me anyway. Love isn't a picture of a heart drawn by a little kid, or a piece on candy someone gives you on February 14th. Love is Christ crucified for the sins of the world and for the glory of God.


3. Actions speak louder than words. I've been using that phrase as an excuse to keep quiet about God my entire life. Using that as an excuse to simply listen to others when the topic of God came up in conversation, even though I had a ton floating around in my mind I could have said. I've used it as an excuse that my "living out the gospel" instead of speaking it would work just as fine to fulfill the Great Commission. God gave me a holy slap in the face this week. The Great Commission is not about going and hoping that your good deeds will shine brightly enough that people will know exactly why you act that way without any words being involved. The Great Commission is about going and making disciples. Romans 10:14 says,

 "...how are the to believe in whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?"

 The answer is that they can't. God calls us as Christians to PREACH the gospel, not only to live it. The preaching and the living have to go together, and it won't be effective with only one or the other. 


4. As Lecrae was rapping in worship on Wednesday night, he mentioned Romans 1:16,

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel..."

 With a broken heart I realized that every time

     "God doesn't call us as Christians to live comfortably, but to step out in faith everyday to do things for HIS KINGDOM and for HIS GOSPEL that are OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONE. Our lives should be used for HIS GLORY, not our comfort."

I made a list of New Year's resolutions, they're all good and I plan on working on them. But now I have a life resolution: that I will fearlessly proclaim the gospel through my life in EVERYTHING I SAY and DO. That the only life people see when they look at me is Jesus, and that my life will bring glory to the name of Jesus. Elisabeth Elliot summed it up best in this quote: "I have one desire now- to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it."

"Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for You; Your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts."

{Isaiah 26:8}

268generation.com

{Love Came Down At Christmastime}

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that your day has been filled with blessings, fellowship, good food, fun, and most of all, Christ! These are some things I've been thinking about a lot this week...hope you enjoy thinking about it as well!

What is love? Love is not the fickleness that the world is constantly telling us. It’s not a word that should be meagerly thrown around like it has no meaning. Love is not sex, making out, hooking up, or holding hands. Love is not simply being married to someone. Love is not that warm, fuzzy, butterfly feeling you get when you’re with a certain person. Love is not living with someone. Love is not something that happens when your eyes meet. Love is not a struggle; it’s what holds you together when struggles arise. Love is not selfish, conceited, or hurtful.  Love is not insistent upon winning. Love does not focus merely on the present. Love is not something that makes you sad. If love is not any of these things, then what is it?

Love, I’m learning, is not about the temporary, but the eternal. It doesn’t focus solely on the present, but thinks often on the future. Love is realizing that another person’s life is more significant than your own—that you would willingly give your own life in order for that other person to live, if need be. Love is when you desire to forfeit your own personal happiness if, in doing so you could bring an ounce of joy to another person. Love is, when during a fight with someone, you already start thinking of your apology. Love is when you see yourself with one person when you imagine every night for the rest of your life.  Love is selfless. Love is encouraging. Love makes you smile so big that nothing could wipe that smile off your face. Love is perfectly content to walk hand-in-hand with one person for the rest of your life. Love is boundless. Love is freeing. Love gives you a sense of security and vulnerability all at once. Love is faithful, and love is hopeful. Love is pointing another person’s focus in the right direction at all times, even if that direction isn’t what will make you happy. Love can handle anything with some work, and love endures all things.

There are millions of examples of “love” stories all over the world. I know this from experience of “loving” (no pun intended) them throughout my childhood, and even now. There are Disney Princesses who always end of getting swept out of a sticky situation at the last minute by Prince Charming.  There are tons of romantic comedies that come out in movie theaters every month where an unsuspecting couple falls in “love” only to allow some minor misunderstanding to separate them for a time, only to fall back in “love”. There are fairytales galore where a young maiden finds herself in some sort of distress and a knight in shining armor (why is his armor always so shiny anyway?) rides in on a white horse to save her. Then there are numerous copies of sketchy romance novels with Fabio on the covers thrown about on bookstore shelves.  

But the truest, most pure and perfect example of love is told in the true story of one man, born as a miracle one starry night many years ago. Though the tale is so familiar to me, and so many others I know, it never gets old because it’s the reason I am alive today, and the reason I have freedom and forgiveness. Jesus (which means “God with us”) was born of a young (probably around 12 or 13 years-old) girl named Mary. Now Mary, being so young, was still a virgin. How did she have a child then, you ask? The power of the Holy Spirit came upon her and conceived the baby within her (I wonder if Mary felt that?). Nine months later, Mary and her fiancé Joseph start a journey to a small town called Bethlehem to register with the Census that was taking place all over the land. While they were there, it came time for Mary to give birth to her son, except there was one problem: there was no room left for them to stay anywhere. Finally, the found shelter in the stable (kind of like a screened-in porch without the screen used for holding animals) off of someone’s house. The miracle baby was born, but this wasn’t just an ordinary baby. Apart from his being conceived by the Holy Spirit, this baby had a huge future planned for Him. He was to be a King and a Redeemer for all the people of the world. Shepherds and Wise Men from far away came to see this baby to bring Him gifts and worship Him, for they knew what He was to become.

Thirty years later, this miracle child became a man and began His ministry. He had the power to heal people and to perform miracles. He turned water into wine, and fed thousands with only a little food. He made the blind see, the mute speak, the deaf hear, and the sick healthy. But the religious group, called the Pharisees, didn’t like Him attracted so much attention away from them, so they began a plot to kill the man. The even got one of Jesus’ followers to get in with the plot and help them get to Him. So the Pharisees meet Him in a garden one night during a festival called the Passover, and they arrest Him. Then the people judge to have Him crucified a typical punishment for major criminals. So He was whipped and beaten, then hung on a cross to die. He was placed next to two thieves, who joined the crowds in mocking Him. After His death, many more miracles occur, but the biggest miracle of all came exactly three days after He died. You remember Mary, His mother, from the beginning of this story? Well her and her friend Mary (yes, there are two Mary’s, try not to be confused) go to the tomb where He was laid, only to find that the giant stone which had been closing the grave, had been rolled back. Confused, the other Mary leaves, while Jesus’ mother Mary begins to cry in the garden outside the tomb. A “gardener” approaches her only to be Jesus Himself. Jesus had been raised to life!

How is true love exemplified in this story? Well, although Jesus was a completely innocent man (for he had done nothing but simply irritate the Pharisees, which is not a crime), he died a horrific death upon a cross, but He didn’t die in vain. Jesus died that death upon the cross for two reasons—one: to glorify God through His resurrection three days later, which He couldn’t do without having first died. And two: to bring life to every sinner (which is every human being) who will believe in His death and resurrection as well as commit their life to proclaiming the story and following the Father God. He did this out of self-sacrificial love for the entire world. There was nothing in it for Him; in fact, He had to endure many horrible things in order that we could have life and joy eternally. Jesus love was selfless, eternally focused, bringing happiness not to Him, but to the people whom He loved. His love endures all things, because He died once for all, and never has to die again. He loved us—you and me that much, but the question is, do we love Him back?

I turned to the Lord in prayer and fasting...

Okay, so it's pretty much been ages since I last wrote on here. A ton has happened in my life and God has been teaching me mass amounts. I barely even know where to begin.

The church I attend here at school, North Ridge, has been doing a twenty day fast. I chose to fast from Facebook and coffee. Those of you who know me are probably in shock from the second one. I pretty much live on coffee, or at least I did. I realized that I had a major dependency on that caffeine and that God commands me to be totally dependent on Him alone. I'm not saying that drinking a cup or two of coffee everyday is a sin, starting tomorrow I'm going to drink it again. However I am saying that for me, this twenty day break from it has truly taught me to depend on God alone for my sole source of joy and energy. The break from Facebook has just helped to minimize distractions. Fasting, I've learned, is not giving up things that are bad, it is simply taking a break from good things that can sometimes take your focus off of Christ, and to use the time that you have to spend with God and to ask Him to teach you things during the time of your fast.

The fast was just what I needed right when I needed it. Some things I learned?
These are some things I wrote in my journal during the fast.

I learned a lot about God's love...

• Jesus defines love
• God says to me, "You can't push Me away" that's something I've been doing all my life, pushing God's love away, and running away from it.
• His steadfast love endures forever (Psalm 132)

I also began going to a Bible study with some friends every Thursday morning at 7am before my 8am class...some things I've looked in there?

• What does a God-centered relationship look like? The fruits of the Spirit...Purity...
• What does it mean to ABIDE in Christ? Resting completely in Him...Nothing else distracting...
• Gods ways are so much higher than mine (Isaiah 55:8)...I need to stop telling God what I want and listen to Him telling me what He wants for me
• Am I being faithful in what God has set before me? (Matthew 25:14-30)

Some amazing events I went to during the fast:

• 4 RUF large group meetings
• A Worship Night on campus
• Secret Church simulcast
• 2 church services
• Take it to the Streets service project, the Methodist Children's Home

This was my first real experience with fasting, and it's been a really good thing for me. God has taught me a lot and I know that He will continue to do so now that my fast is over for now.

Love, Love, Love

Originally, I was going to retype my notes from church this morning and post them. The message today was on loving one another, and it was very good, don't get me wrong, but then tonight, my best friend and I went and saw the movie "Crazy, Stupid Love" and it really got me thinking. So often as Christians, the Bible, and parents, and pastors are constantly telling us that we are supposed to "love one another", but in order to know how to love, one must know love, and something that helps us know love is knowing what love is not.

The way I see it, there are two views on love: there is the world's view and then there is God's view. God's view came first, after all, He came first. He loved Adam when He created him, and there, in the very beginning was the most perfect, true kind of love, the love of God. Now, over time, as the world progressed and culture progressed, love slowly became twisted into this warped, corrupted view of love which society has today.

The world's view on love is everywhere. Turn on the TV and you'll see The Bachelor, where love is just waiting in a long line of women, who are just there as prizes to be won, played with for a short period of time and discarded. A show where the questions asked are shallow, but good enough to keep audiences interested. Go to a bookstore and pick up the Twilight series, where love is immortal, mysterious, and a little bit on the dangerous side. Go see the latest romantic comedy (Crazy, Stupid Love perhaps?) where love is simply complimenting strings of women only in order to get them into bed; where sex is a common activity between strangers, rather than something cherished between husband and wife.

In C.S. Lewis' book "The Four Loves" (which I still haven't read all of, but plan on finishing at some point in my life), Lewis discusses in each section one of four loves: Affection, Agape, Eros, and Friendship. True love in the marital sense includes all four of these loves, and yet the world has watered down love into Eros (or sexual) love only. To the world, the only purpose of relationships is sex, even some Christians who believe sex is only for marriage, have given into the world's view of love and try to see how far they can go without going "too far".

But love is not about sex at all. Yes, I said it; love if far more than the physical. What is love, then? Well I surely do not claim to know all there is to know about that, but I do know what God says in His Word to be true.

"...God is love." {1 John 4:8}

"And this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." {1 John 5:3} 

"Let us love one another, for love is from God..." {1 John 4:7}

"...love covers a multitude of sins." {1 Peter 4:8}

"For God gave us a spirit...of love." {2 Timothy 1 :7}

God is love, and God's love is full of goodness and purity. God's kind of love is unending, undeserving, and unconditional. God loves like no man or woman could ever love, and yet, He calls us to love like Him, because His love is perfect. God calls women to love their husbands, and husbands to love their wives. He calls parents to love their children, and children to love and respect their parents. He calls the rich to love the poor, and the poor to love the rich. He calls us not only to love each and every person, but to look on and love each and every person as He sees them and as He loves them.

"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." {1 John 3:18}

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." {John 13:34}

Earlier, I mentioned learning what love is by learning what love is not. The best place I have found to see this is in the chapter of love: 1 Corinthians 13.

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
{1 Corinthians 13:4-7}

Now re-read those few verses. Instead of saying "love" say your own name. Do you feel like a liar? Convicting, isn't it?

We love...

This week has been kind of hard so far. I haven't gotten much sleep due to staying up late and getting up early to babysit, babysitting has really tried my patience the past two days, and I have found myself snapping at my family and feeling so dissatisfied. Here are some recent things I've been thinking about this week.
-taye

. . .Because He first loved us

Loving God is something I really, really struggle with, though that seems like an absurdity when I think about how much He loves me. Many of my favorite passages of scripture talk about God's love:

"See what kind of love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. . ."
{1 John 3:1}

". . . God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort  and good hope through grace."
{2 Thessalonians 2:16}

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
{Romans 8:38-39}

Those verses (as well as many more) along with songs such as "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" and "How He Loves" remind me SO intensely of God's immeasurable, unchangeable love for me, and yet, day after day after day after day I find that one of the most difficult things for me in my Christian walk is loving the Lord. I do love Him always, just not completely. It sometimes seems nearly impossible to give over my WHOLE heart to HIM, although He already holds it, along with the entire world and the entire universe in His hands. It's like I cannot let go. . .there's a verse in the gospel of Mark that I love so much:

". . .I believe; help my unbelief!"
{Mark 9:24}

Sometimes I feel the need to alter the wording in a prayer to the Lord, crying out, "I do love You; help me to love You!"

And yet in spite of my commitment issues to God, I find eternal comfort in the knowledge that no matter how much I struggle to love Him fully, He will always love me completely and perfectly, and that nothing in the whole wide world could ever change that love.

Love People, Love God

So I just got home from my 6 1/2 hour road trip to Jackson, Mississippi for my college orientation. There is a large pile of clothes on my bedroom floor waiting to be put away and it's nearly 10pm...and yet I'm sitting here, about to write a blog post. But I figure that I need to get my procrastinating out of my system before I go to college, because I really need to stop procrastinating once I get there, because I'll be SUPER busy.
-taye

Love One Another

"Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people he has made?"
{Francis Chan, Crazy Love}

As I said previously, I have just been to my college orientation. The school I am going to this fall is a small, private, Christian University, and there are people from all over the country who go there; the incoming freshman class is no exception. My roommate is from Pennsylvania, and over the weekend I met people from Arizona, Arkansas, Texas, and many other states. It is very interesting to see how different all of these people are from me- the small-town, homeschooled, southern girl from Georgia.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
{John 13:34}

Love people. At first, this sounds like it would be a pretty simple task to accomplish. But then Jesus threw in a twist: to love others like HE loves them. Now I was with you when you first thought Hey, this will be fine. I'll just love the people who love me: easy enough. But people don't always love you; they may love you for a short time, but human love is subject to alteration. God doesn't just love the people who love Him, if He did, John 3:16 would be way off track. If God only loved those who consistently love Him, those who receive God's love would be very, very few. But thankfully, that isn't the way He works. God loves everyone. Everyone? Yes, I said everyone. That means the homeless man you pass on the highway. It means the Starbucks worker you see every week. It means your biology teacher who gets on your nerves. It means your parents, even when you can't understand them. It means your best friend, your aunts and uncles, your brothers and sisters, the lady who messed up your lunch order, the guy picking up trash on the side of the road, the mailman, the strange quiet girl in your math class, the clingy girl with the obnoxious laugh, the annoying guy who constantly texts you, the old woman driving 20 miles under the speed limit in front of you . . . Every single person that is living and breathing on the planet earth. God loves them and Jesus died on the cross to become sin for them, and now He comes along in John 13:34 and tells us that just as He loves every single one of them we are to love every single one of them as well.

That is a hard thing for me to grasp, and it's one of God's commands that part of me just wants to walk away from and forget about. But the more diverse the people I meet, the more this command pops up in my head, and it's something I know I cannot refuse. So I challenge you to strive with me to love every person you come into contact with: the guy whose cussing keeps offending me, the girl who acts a little differently than me, the cashier at the grocery store, the biker sitting near me at Starbucks, and especially my friends and family.



Word Wednesday

Well, I am officially done with the dance year. It feels so strange, but I will still be at my studio until I leave for college in August, so it's not going to change too much until then. Church was awakening tonight, for me at least. Our previous youth minister spoke tonight instead of our current one, I love to listen to him speak, God really uses him. It's interesting to see how God speaks differently through different people. Anyway, I was just really reminded of the intensity of the cross and the depth of my sin and also salvation. Another thing I was reminded of that I am constantly in need of a reminder is how much and how incredible God's love is for us. How after we beat, scourged, whipped, slapped, spit on, and mocked Jesus Christ, what he asked in return was, "Father forgive them". . . how ridiculous is that? That is how intense God's love for us really is. Here's some of Luke to finish off your Wednesday.
-taye

Luke 23:18-47 (ESV)

"But they all cried out together, 'Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas'— a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, 'Crucify, crucify Him!' A third time he said to them, 'Why, what evil has He done? I have found in Him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release Him.' But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that He should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

And as they led Him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on Him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed Him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for Him. But turning to them Jesus said, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, "Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!" Then they will begin to say to the mountains, "Fall on us," and to the hills, "Cover us." For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?'

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on His right and one on His left. And Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' And they cast lots to divide His garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at Him, saying, 'He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, His Chosen One!' The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up and offering Him sour wine and saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!'  There was also an inscription over him, 'This is the King of the Jews.'

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at Him, saying, 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!' But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.' And he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' And He said to him, 'Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.'

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!' And having said this He breathed His last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, 'Certainly this man was innocent!'



Be My Valentine?

Okay…well this has been such an awesome Valentine’s Day so far…not. My Valentine is sick (yeah, so it’s my best friend but she’s still my Valentine), I didn’t really know some of the answers to my British Lit test this morning, and while babysitting, a little girl busted her chin and had to go the emergency room. You’re jealous, aren’t you? But anyway, this is my Valentine’s Day post. For the past week or so, a million ideas have all been buzzing around in my head for what to write about for Valentine’s Day, and the past two weeks, the messages at church have really hit me. Both messages have been out of Hosea, not your typical love book—it’s no 1 Corinthians 13 or 1 John 4, but it’s so powerful, and convicting that it is the perfect thing to write about. Enjoy…and Happy Valentine’s Day!
-taye


The Bride of Christ


So many times it is mentioned in God’s Word that we, His people, His children are His bride. It is also mentioned that He, God is the bridegroom.

“Let us celebrate, let us rejoice, let us give Him the glory! The marriage of the Lamb has come; His wife has made herself ready.”
Revelation 19:7 (The Message)

“And I will betroth you to Me forever. I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.”
Hosea 2:19-20 (ESV)

“For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name…”
Isaiah 54:5 (KJV)

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him.”
2 Corinthians 11:2 (NIV)

Like most girls, I adore weddings. The elegance of the bride as she steps into view and walks down the aisle in a beautiful, spotless, white dress; the joy on the groom’s face as he beholds his so-soon-to-be-wife; the flowers, the music, the feeling inside at the sound of the bride and groom exchanging the familiar vows. I long so badly to be married; there is just something about that kind of love that is so beautiful and desirable to me. However, the most incredible thing is that I am betrothed to be married to Christ. In fact, all of us are—Christians, I mean. Though, the sad part is that we all commit spiritual adultery—becoming harlots to the world.

Christ’s love for us is so incredible that it is unfathomable to the human mind.

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 4:9-10 (ESV)

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are...”
1 John 3:1 (NIV)

“The wildest part is that Jesus doesn’t have to love us. His being is utterly complete and perfect, apart from humanity. He doesn’t need me or you. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance.”
Francis Chan, Crazy Love


Since Christ’s love for us is so wonderful, why then, do we run from Him so often? It is like we leave Him standing at the alter over and over; His bride has abandoned and forsaken Him and left Him humiliated. But no matter what we do or where we run, God is continually loyal to us, His betrothed. That is unconditional love.
I watched the movie Fireproof the other night, and one of my favorite parts is where Caleb, the main guy, is talking to his father about everything he has done for his wife, and yet she still has rejected him.

“I did everything I could to demonstrate that I care about her, to show value for her, and she spat in my face! She does not deserve this… How am I supposed to show love to somebody over and over and over who constantly rejects me?”

Directly following this quote, Caleb realizes all that Christ has done for Him and becomes a Christian. That quote in the movie hits straight through my heart every time because it is so completely parallel to God’s love for us. God shows His love for us in everything, and yet we spit in His face. We do not deserve God’s love whatsoever, and yet despite our constant rejection of Him, He continues to show us love even though we never deserve it. It is easy to show love to someone when they love you back and when their attitude and how they receive your love is agreeable. But it takes the unconditional love of Christ to show love when someone hates you, despises you, rejects you, resists you and pushes you away. That is the love God has for us.

“The irony is that while God doesn't need us but still wants us, we desperately need God but don't really want Him most of the time.”
Francis Chan, Crazy Love

“And the Lord said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.’ So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley.”
Hosea 3:1-2 (ESV)

God told Hosea to go and marry a prostitute. Hosea obeyed God—knowing that his wife would not be faithful to him; knowing his wife would not love him, but knowing all of this, Hosea still obeyed God and loved Gomer with the unconditional love of Christ—as Christ loves His children. The price that Hosea paid for Gomer was less than half of what a typical servant was usually worth. She was worth nothing. Yet God treasured her and loved her and showed His love to her through Hosea. If you read the entire book of Hosea, you may be putting yourself Hosea's position, thinking "Oh hey! I need to love like Christ loves: unconditionally!" which is true, however, we need to put ourselves in the position of Gomer. "Me, a prostitute-a harlot?!" Yes. We are harlots to the world, giving ourselves over to the desires of our flesh and constantly rejecting Christ and His undeserved love for us.

So I will leave you with this: whatever has your heart is what you will be running after…who has your heart?

Review

A fellow blogger and friend, Daniel, gave me the opportunity to use my love of writing to write a book review for his blog. I wrote my review on Crazy Love by Francis Chan...go check it out!
-taye



Have a blessed Sunday! Also, I have been thinking up some ideas for a killer Valentine's Day post for tomorrow...keep your eyes opened for it!