Sharing Your Life

I think the apostles seemed to demonstrate Jesus' love in their efforts not to inconvenience anyone. They "worked night and day" so that they would not become burdens. I think what their toil shows is genuine concern for people. By sharing their lives literally, they become tangible models of Christ's love and compassion. It's not like we as Christians live lives of privilege because of our faith; it is our responsibility to love the lost like Jesus loved us and to care for them. This has a lot to do with my theory that in today's world we can't evangelize with a fire and brimstone gospel. No one cares about the consequences unless they hear about the rewards of Christianity. "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." Matthew 25:35-36

The Committed

The early Christians are rockstar evangelists. They take the resources they have, grab hold of their own corner of the world, and flip it upside down. Their enthusiasm is almost unbelievable. Jesus was master over them and His power convicted their hearts. However, Jesus doesn't mince words; He tells the disciples-and us-that we'll be persecuted and hated for the things we belive and share. I think that warning combined with our own personalities can be a critical point for would-be evangelists in this world.

Talking Babies

I'm going to be very honest and say that, for the first time, I got very little application from today's study. To some extent, I think that we often act like "newborns" unfamiliar with the Word and the family, but the truth is that none of us are brand new Christians. I'd like to talk more about this lesson and hear from you all what you took from it.

Crucial Last Words

Today I still have the "Everything" video in my mind, and the first question took me back to that frame of thought. Jesus has all authority over me because when I couldn't escape sin and I was so weighted by it that I couldn't stand, Jesus stepped in and took all the brutality and punishment that I deserved. He paid my debts. And I love the next question: "How do you feel about that?" How do I feel? I feel free. I feel so indebted and grateful. I feel joyful. I feel terrified of the responsibility that I now have to live up to and respect His sacrifice. He is sending me back to a world that is so weighted by sin that they cannot even stand, and He wants me to bring His message. Like I said in my post about Week 5, you ladies have been Jesus to me. You heard Him say "go" and my life has been so richly blessed for it. I am so thankful to each of you and so grateful for the God that put His spirit in each of your hearts.

Week Five: Heart

I'm not going to blog about the week since we've already discussed it, but I am so blessed by the discussion we had last night. I just want to thank each of you for being Jesus to me in the most literal sense. Sometimes, I swear I hear His words from your mouth ministering to my heart. I wanted to share my plan for my own fast. I decided last night to give up the computer with the exception of schoolwork and this blog. However, throughout the day, I've been thinking about all of you, and I have been so challenged by the things you're giving up. So, I've decided that for the next week, I am going to "live minimally". I'm going to turn off what doesn't need to be on and I'm going to eat basically bread, salad, and soup. I just feel really convicted to "purge" my life this week, and I'm very excited to be sharing this experience with you!

Encouragement

Summary of my thoughts: Encouragement helps us stay free of sin and keeps our hearts tender. I think encouragement may refer to gentle correction and guidance, according to this passage. Just being together and fellowshipping is encouraging. It's a reminder that we all as a body are striving for the day when God calls us home. I think that sometimes missing meetings can be perceived as giving up or not caring enough to join the family. I don't think that it's inherently wrong to miss a devo, but it can be discouraging to watch numbers dwindle.

Purity

Summary of my thoughts: God's holy people must not sin in their anger, speak unwholesome things, be bitter, quarrelsome, slanderous, or malicious, commit sexual sins, be impure or greedy, etc. The basic difference is in love. If we are one body, then we have to love and respect each part just as much as we love and respect ourselves. If someone else is sinning, we have to help them, correcting them in love, gently. However, we can't allow ourselves to be tempted. We have to do as much as we can for our fellow believers without falling into the very same trap.

Unity

Summary of my thoughts: Everything about God is unified. He is one God, with one church, with one doctrine, who died one death on one cross....I think the passage from Romans makes it pretty clear that we have to go out of our way to keep the Body of Christ unified. "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification." Romans 14:19. I think that we are commanded to give up everything in our lives unless it caused us to stumble and sin.

Belonging

Summary of my thoughts: In giving our lives to God, we join His church. God presents His church as a body, and we are all members, working in unity to fulfill His purpose. Our society in particular stresses the idea of individualism, but Christianity is not a religion for the individual. God did not plan for us to walk through life alone. Things I can do for the body...I can pray for members, I can offer my advice and spiritual words of comfort to members who are hurting, and I can be present (physically, mentally, and spiritually) at worship and fellowship times. I need the body to offer me sound spiritual guidance, to correct me when I am out of line, and to sing like there souls are already in Heaven.

New Relationships

Summary of my thoughts: Love, love, love. All you need is love. To love another person is to respect, honor, value, and consider their needs and desires before your own. It is a voluntary action and a commitment. "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." I John 3:16. We might never be called to literally give our own lives for another's, but our attitude should be one of service and sacrifice.

Jesus' Church

Summary of my thoughts: First of all, I want to point out that Jesus uses the phrase "the gates of Hades" in verse 18. I think so many times we envision that verse to mean that our defenses will stand. But the fact is that gates are a defensive mechanism. Jesus tells us that the gates of Hades will not stand, that Satan's last defense will fall in the wake of His people. I think what is so amazing about the New Testament church is how unified and solid they were. They lived, breathed, ate, slept, and worked side by side. Like we talked about last week, sometimes I just want to be on my own, but these people were so in love with the Body of Christ that they were perfectly content to live constantly in their midst.

Life from death

glory: "something that is a source of honor, fame, or admiration; a distinguished ornament or an object of pride."
glorify: "to cause to be or treat as being more splendid, excellent, etc. than would normally be considered. to honor with praise, admiration, or worship; extol."
Summary of my thoughts: Maybe it's just the fact that I've seen Gladiator three times in the last week, but to me "glory" is reminiscent of the splendor of Rome. I think about warriors returning from great battles, having earned their honor and admiration through hard-fought wars. In a way, Jesus' glory is achieved through a victorious battle, but not conventionally. Through His death, Jesus made a way for many new "seeds" to have life. In the same way, the death of our old selves gives way to new life for ourselves and others.

A new attitude

Summary of my thoughts: Though it seems obvious, I think the thing the four listed passages have in common is a change in attitude. We as new creations in Christ must not be argumentative or foul-tempered. Our priorities, the things we valued most in life, should change. We should praise God and find joy in Him no matter our situation, and have faith in His strength. It is true that we should maintain great attitudes. God has blessed us so richly in His love and grace that if tomorrow, He left us destitute and alone, then we should still give Him praise for what He has done. Our joy in God should and will bless others. That inner peace and triumph radiates to everyone around us. We can live Jesus and teach Him through the joy in our lives.
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Taking correction

"The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice." Proverbs 12:15
Summary of my thoughts: In order to grow in wisdom in our "new lives" we have to listen to and accept the advice of others. We have to be willing to be challenged, and then either defend our positions or modify our thoughts and behaviors. I have a difficult time with this because I don't really like to be criticized. I think a lot of times religion is a topic that people get overly defensive about, myself included. We feel that our spiritual life is so much a part of ourselves that any challenge could bring the whole system crashing down. However, we need to be able to take correction in stride. We can still debate and defend ourselves if we truly believe our position, but it is our responsibility to listen to others' advice.

Life in the spirit

Summary of my thoughts: My first reaction to the first question was nearly laughter, because I often struggle with not building relationships outside of the church. However, when I read the entire question and thought about it more, it reminded me of my first year here and how easy it is to be physically present while mentally and spiritually absent. "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24. "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness." Romans 8:9-10.

From old to new

"What shall [I] say, then? Shall [I] go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! I died to sin; how can [I] live in it any longer? Or don't you know that [I] who [was] baptized into Christ Jesus [was] baptized into His death? [I was] therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, [I] too may live a new life." Romans 6:1-4
Summary of my thoughts: This lesson brought back memories from the ACSC Hodos Retreat last fall. It brought up a lot of personal reflection. All in all, because my "old self" is dead, there should be no remnant of it in my life. People should see my "new self" in everything, whether it be the way I speak, my attitude, my habits, etc. (I know this is a short reflection, but the message seemed very straightforward to me.)

Co-crucified with Christ

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20
Summary of my thoughts: To be co-crucified with Christ is to share His experience. This is a difficult concept for me because on the one hand, Christ gave Himself that we might be spared, but on the other we are called to take up our cross daily and follow Him. The question about giving up your rights reminds me of a lesson Jim taught once. Does anyone else remember it? It was so humbling because he talked about rights that we take for granted and expect in our society, but don't truly fit a meek and humble Christian lifestyle. Just as Jesus put His rights on hold in order to save us, we may be called on to sacrifice our own needs for others' welfare. Even at personal cost, we should make sacrifices to help others in need. The Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) describes the crucified life because, like Jesus gave Himself for us, we must pour out ourselves for others.