A follow up thought...

There are those who require of us a deep love for Jesus just to be around, and those who cause us to love Jesus more by just being around.  Strive to be the latter of the two types of people.

A Confession

I have a deep desire to be around people who love Jesus passionately and genuinely.  In fact, I find myself longing to develop significant friendships with those who exude Christ with their lives.  You know, the type of people that just by being around them God uses to well up desires to pursue Him more intimately.  They are, as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 2:14, ones whom the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ spreads everywhere.  It is hard to describe people like this.  All I know is that there are those whose love for Jesus is so pure that it makes me want to love Christ more; and selfishly, for my own spiritual growth, I want to be surrounded by people like this.

I was praying about this very desire today, and it hit me.  Am I being what I so desire in others?  Am I helping others fall more in love with Jesus?

I realized that my expectations of other Christ-followers was an expectation I was not making of myself.  And so I make a confession - I have such a long ways to go in this adventure of loving Christ with all that is in me!  My renewed commitment is to be what I so desire in others - and consequently, what Christ desires of me.  I want to be a pure fragrance of the knowledge of Christ that spreads everywhere.

This is my confession.

Convenient Christianity

So why do we look for it?  Why do we try to shape our lives around it?   Like a fascinating fictional character it doesn't exist.  Like an oasis that promises relief for our thirsty souls it doesn't exist.  We hope for it, strive for it, and extend massive amounts of energies toward discovering it, but after all our efforts we are left empty, unsatisfied, and wondering why our faith seems so meaningless.  

I'm talking about a faith that's convenient.  You see, it doesn't exist.  There's no such thing.  No matter how hard we look for it we will never find it.  When you boil it all down a convenient faith is an oxymoron - it can't co-exist.  God never invited us into His great story of redemption solely to make our lives easier.  In fact, much of Scripture speaks of trials, persecution, and hardships as a direct result of our faith.  Christian faith is a wonderful, almost hard to explain, invitation to see past the hardships, and to willingly endure all things for the sake of Christ.  It is becoming so captivated by His love that all things seem to fail in comparison to His great love.

I'm tired and weary.  Not from serving Christ.  Rather, I am exhausted from trying to reduce my faith to a self-serving ideology.  It has been leaving me empty, and I no longer want to chase it.  I'm sure I'll stumble and from time to time by trying to embrace a faith that is completely at odds with what it means to follow Christ.  However, I will do what I can, in my limited understanding, to follow Christ as He intended.  May Jesus uphold this inner desire and give me the strength to follow in His shoes.

Living Intentionally

My friend created this hand-written list that reflected his priorities and values before he suddenly died from a massive heart attack on November 10th.  He was only 56.  Neil was a man who lived intentionally, and he taught me so much about loving God and loving others.  This list certainly reflected Neil's character and passion for God.  

Thanks Neil for living your life in a way that reflected your love for God.  You will be dearly missed.

Neglected..

So I've neglected this little blog.  Maybe I wasn't all that committed to it in the first place.  Sure, that may be part of it, but for some time now there's been little I've had to offer this blog (not that I have tons to offer now).  I was in an intense season of ministry, and my soul had little to offer beyond staying afloat.  I look forward to being able to think more, dream more, and tend to my soul by spending more time with Him.

I stand at the end of the tunnel, in full light, looking forward to what God is going to reveal to me now.  I can't wait to explore.