Pursuing the Presence: Love

In the last 2 years since becoming a father, one of the most important things I've learned is this:

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.

Many of the most damaged parent-child relationships are a result of the parent's absence or neglect. God didn't show us his love by simply not punishing us for sin. He displayed his love by sacrificing himself to give us life. Love is never indifferent.

I desperately want to grow in this truth. Sure, I can't sacrifice myself or my time for every person in the world, my city, or even my neighborhood. I just don't have that capacity. But what about those I'm called to love? Am I living the sacrificial love that is never indifferent?

Think through the people in your life. Family...friends...acquaintances...maybe even somebody you pass on the street but have never met. Who is in need of a love that is not indifferent?

Take that image, take those people, and think of them as you pray these words....

Transformed

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
-Romans 12:2

High theology.
High Christology.

That is the make-up of the first 11 chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans. And then, here in chapter 12, comes a shift. Paul moves to the practical.

The “So, what!?” of his letter.

Formation Friday: Amy Carmichael

"You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving." 

Some know her as a writer, the author of over 40 books. Others know her as a missionary to India, one of the most famous people influenced by the great Hudson Taylor. In her day, hundreds of orphans in India knew her as "Amma," their word for "Mother."

Amy Carmichael was born on December 16, 1867 in County Down, Ireland. She was the oldest of seven children born to a miller named David and his wife Catherine, both devout Presbyterians. David moved the family to Belfast when Amy was sixteen, but it was not two years later that David fell sick and died. At 17 years old, young Amy Carmichael quickly learned the responsibility of providing for many.

Even from a young age, Amy had a desire to spend her life investing in the kingdom. Elisabeth Elliot tells a story of an event that changed Amy as a child. She writes,

"Once back in Ireland, as Amy and her family were returning from church they chanced upon an old woman carrying a heavy bundle of rags. Amy and her brothers took the bundle and helped the old woman to her destination. To Amy, this act of sacrifice and kindness was "hated." As they turned and walked along, they passed by the other Churchgoers and worried what these "respectable people" would think. Before bringing the woman to her destination Amy and her brothers passed by an elaborate Victorian fountain. A voice impressed upon Amy's heart the words from 1 Corinthians 3:12-14: "Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. If any man's work abide...." That afternoon Amy sought God privately in her room anguishing over the idea of what would last in eternity from her own life. The lessons of obedience and sacrifice from that day would echo through the rest of her life."

Wednesday Word: Philippians 2:12-13

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

These two verses have always made me pause and think.

Work out your salvation?
With Fear and Trembling?
Paul, what are you talking about!?

I never quite could understand why he put this in here, and honestly I may never know what was going through Paul's mind when he wrote these words. The key to understanding these verses however, lies threefold:

Pursuing the Presence: Rest

Let me give you a reminder to start this post:

Slow down.

Take your time with this. Play the video at the bottom of the page and let it focus your thoughts on the words of this Scripture and this prayer. 

Pray these words over your day, your week, your life. 

Have some more time? Pray it over your best friend, your family, even your "enemy." 

And then be still. Let the truth sink in. Let God speak back to you.

Scripture

"Preserve me, O God, for in You I take refuge.

I say to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; 

I have no good apart from You.'"

Psalm 16:2

Prayer

Jesus.

You alone sustain. You alone satisfy.
Only You are worthy of Glory and Honor and Praise.

I rest in You this day.
I rest in Your steadfast love.
I rest in Your completed work.
I rest in Your lavish grace.
I rest....trusting that You are in control right now.
I rest....trusting that right now I am exactly where you want me to be.
I rest, for I belong to You. You are the one that really matters.

Be supreme in my heart, my mind, my life today.

Pry open the fingers of my heart,
help me release to You whatever is most precious to me.

May seeking You, O Jesus, and seeking Your kingdom,
be the one and only obsession of my life.

Remove any obstacles, overcome any weaknesses that hinder your work in my life.

I am Yours and Yours alone.

Amen.

-----

Evan Smith

is a Pastor currently living in Phoenix, AZ. He majored in New Testament Studies at Ozark Christian College. Born and raised in Texas, he grew up the third-born of 7 kids and loved (almost) every minute of it! He is happily married to his high school sweetheart, Breanna, and has two wonderful kids, Hannah Joy and Peter. More than anything, Evan wants to be a man who is marked by a hunger for God.

“The God who came, still comes. The God who spoke, still speaks.”

Evan's Website

Matthew 20:28

Formation Friday: Jackie Robinson

What can a baseball player teach us about spiritual formation?

In this case...A whole lot.

Many know Jackie Robinson as a baseball player, the first African-American baseball player to play in Major League Baseball. And Robinson didn't just have a good baseball career... he had an exceptional career. In his first year, he hit 12 home runs and helped the Dodgers win the National League pennant. That year, Robinson led the National League in stolen bases and was selected as the Rookie of the Year, the first time the award was offered to anyone. He continued to wow fans and critics alike with impressive feats, such as an outstanding .342 batting average during the 1949 season. He led in stolen bases that year and earned the National League's Most Valuable Player Award. Over 10 seasons, Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Series championship. He was selected for six consecutive All-Star Games, from 1949 to 1954. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

"Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life."

The Common Thread in Every Christian Denomination...

The presence of God is at the heart of the Christian Life.

     No matter what stream of the Christian Church from which you hail, going deeper in your faith invariably leads you to encountering the presence of God. Each stream has a different perspective on how this happens, but encountering God's presence is always at the heart of it all.

It began in the garden, when God walked daily with Adam and Eve.

Sin invaded, and separated us from His presence. Sure, God is –– and always has been –– omnipresent, all-present, everywhere at all times. But from the beginning, there also has been a difference between God's omnipresence and His manifest presence.

God came in different forms: through the form of angels, of a burning bush, of fire and cloud, of a tabernacle and an ark, even the form of a gentle whisper.

Things changed when a baby was born in Bethlehem. 

Wednesday Word: Ephesians 6

The Bible likes to use many metaphors to describe what life is like for Christians who are living in this fallen world. Ever since Eden it has been a struggle.

We have images of a road or path, a house built on sand and rock, a journey through the desert, and my personal favorite... war.

Because in my experience, when the Bible uses the metaphor of a battle it is the closest idea of a virtual reality.

We are fighting. Daily. Hourly. Every minute.

"An Intelligent Carpenter"

A friend and former classmate of mine posted this quote yesterday and it got me really thinking.

"The Church's approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.” - Dorothy Sayers

God has given each of us extraordinary gifts, skills, talents, abilities, etc. and most of the time we as Christians don't see the beauty of each one.