Encouraging Quote

"I pray for you, that all your misgivings will be melted to thanksgivings. Remember that the shadow a thing casts often far exceeds the size of the thing itself (especially if the light be low on the horizon) and though some future fear may strut brave darkness as you approach, the thing itself will be but a speck when seen from beyond. Oh that He would restore us often with that 'aspect from beyond,' to see a thing as He sees it, to remember that He dealeth with us as with sons."
-Jim Elliot

Love this quote. Sometimes trials seem huge when actually they aren't, we just have the wrong perspective. If only we saw things as we ought, as God does, we would be able to truly "Consider it all joy...when [we] encounter various trials." I don't want to downplay hard times - because sometimes we do encounter intense pain and suffering. I just want to remember to keep it in perspective, and not see things as larger than they really are. Oh to be so mature, to see things as God sees them!

Sweet Truths

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation - having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory."

Ephesians 1:3-14

Beautiful words, amazing truths. We were reminded of all of these blessings in church this morning, and I thought that this was such a rich reminder that I would share it with you all.

Isn't it amazing - He chose us and adopted us?!

It's incredible. But true.

Thank You, Father.

Loving God

Hello! I am back once again. It's been forever since I've posted on this blog but I am finally back with something to say. It's something that's been on my mind a lot lately, and something that I've talked about with my discipler and a few other friends.

I have really been thinking about what it means and looks like to love God. One of my friends said something about her boyfriend that we hear a lot in Christian circles, but this time it really got me thinking. She said that he made her love God more. I wondered, "What does that really mean? What does it look like when a person makes me love God more?" I began to think of the people in my life who really have helped me love Him more, and that was a good starting point. I realized it was people like my parents, certain teachers or college professors, small group leaders, past and present disciplers, all of my college group leaders, certain friends, etc... I am blessed in that this list could keep going.

So then I thought, why do these people help me love God? What do they do that causes my love for God (and also, for others) to grow? Here are a few things that I came up with:

• They talk to me about loving God and their passion is so obvious that it spills over to me.
• They talk about God's love for us, which causes us to love Him more.
• They teach me more about God, or explain things I've never understood, and this increase in knowledge yields an increase in love.
• Their lives are consistently centered on and governed by Christ, and He is always at work in their lives.
• They teach me how my own life can be centered on Christ and governed by Him. 
• They encourage me to lean on Him when times are good and when times are bad.
• They challenge me to do hard things and trust Him with the results.

One verse that has come to mind repeatedly is when Jesus was talking to His disciples in John 14:15. It says "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." I think this statement, though simple, is hard. This verse is what really helped me understand that if we love Him, we obey Him. We cannot truly claim to love Him if we are unwilling to obey to Him. We must submit to Him, letting His ways govern our life.

I know this may sound burdensome, wearying, or just plain hard. I don't want to share the gospel with my unsaved friends - what if they don't talk to me anymore? I don't want to be honest with my friend when she asks if what she did was okay (looking for affirmation), when the answer is "no" - how awkward! I don't want to die to myself and prefer others' needs above my own needs - I have homework that is due by midnight! I don't want to work to correct my thinking according to Philippians 4:8 - that's too hard! All of these things, or things similar to them, have crossed my mind before. It does feel like a lot of work. But that's when we remember that the focus is not on our works but on our hearts.

Again John helped me to understand more about this. I John 5:3 says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome" (emphasis mine). When we truly love God, we will want to obey Him. When we love Him as we should, as He is worthy, we will want to do whatever it takes to obey, serve, and glorify Him. Personal cost won't matter, because love isn't thinking about ourselves, but of the object of our affection. To love God is to put Him first and decide that we are going to follow Him wherever He leads us and submit to Him along the way. We will desire to be obedient, so obeying won't feel like a burden. When are hearts are enamored by Him, we will strive to please Him, and will rejoice when we do so.

I do not want to sound legalistic in any way - we don't have to obey Him to earn salvation. We don't have to obey Him to make Him like us better. Jesus has already done all of the work necessary - to add to that is to say that His work was not enough, and it definitely was enough. I am just saying that we need to remember that our love and our faith are shown by our obedience to Him. Remember this song from Sunday school - "Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe..."? Or this old hymn "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey"? Belief/trust is coupled with obedience, because obeying shows our love.

So who is it that makes me love God more? I think that while everything I stated in the above list is true, I believe that the people who really encourage me to love Him are the ones who encourage me to obey Him, even when it's hard or seems pointless. It's the people who help me think rightly about a situation, based on what is true instead of what is assumed or imagined, knowing that God has called us to think true thoughts. It's the people who encourage me to pray heartily about a decision before making it. It's even the ones who may not realize they're helping me when they make comments that show me how prideful I am and how I need to change. These people are the ones who encourage me to love Him more. These are the people I want to stick around in my life. These are the friendships I want to grow in and continue to look for. This is the kind of person I eventually want to marry. And maybe most importantly, this is the kind of person I want to be.