Tough.

So it has been a long while since I have posted last.... lots has happened...

My brother came

went to Oregon

knee pain

work

Coterie

Speaking

bills

Grim reaper

Being the grim reaper was so hard to do.  So fun, but....so real.  When a screaming girls mom ran on to the scene of the accident where her daughter was lying in her own blood and looked at me glaring back....my heart sank.  It was just a role I was playing and instilling fear into the kids...but that's not me.  It was hard.

Recently I have been really involved in reading a new book called Lifestories by Mark Hall.  A youth pastor and lead singer of Casting Crowns.  It is an incredible book with amazing perspective and stories.  I will blog more about it once I have gathered my thoughts.  There are many points on love in the book tho.  Lately everyone I have talked to/listened to/ seen/ read have been "in-your-face" intense with what they say.  In the book Mark writes about how he saw a girl who was running by a crowd of people to get to the abortion clinic... the people were "Christians".  They were clutching signs that were hateful and proclaimed that the girl was a murderer.  Mark followed with a series of questions.  First he said that the screaming people were the last image of Christians the girl had before entering the clinic.  People filled with hatred.  Not showing love. So he asks to the angry mob of "christians".  Where were you when she was looking for a church?  Where were you when she found a boyfriend?  where were you when she sat next to you at school at lunch?  where were you when she was getting tangled up in bad things?   

Why is it that we wait til someone has fallen into our "bad list" before we confront them?

Why as Christians do we judge?  We ought to help and talk to people before they "need" it as we see it.  Where are we when things are going fine?  Where are we when people want friends before they need friends?

Just think about that type of stuff....  it has really messed with me.

I am also workin on a talk for Coterie about love.  The following are my ideas for my talk.  still workin on them and finalizing them...thought I would share for some feedback and so you can see my thoughts:

            As we have been going through the other 3:16’s we have talked about:  

            Jealousy, Reputation and the Bible.

 We are going to be talking out of 1 John 3:16.  Not to be confused with John 3:16, the verse that we first memorize in Sunday school.  1 John 3:16 says this:

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.

Ok, so the start of this verse says, “this is how we know what love is….”

LOVE

What is love?  

The word “Love” is one of the most used words in the Bible.  It is used over 500 times and is preached by Jesus.  But what is it? 

Jesus laid down his life for us.  That’s what 1 John 3:16 starts with, but the second half can be kind of….hard to understand.  Do we have to die for someone to show love?  The Message does a great job explaining what this verse means.  We are going to read 1 John 3:16 and 17 out of the message.

So it says:

 16-17This is how we've come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

Ok, so in the message it says Christ sacrificed his life.  This is the same as laying down his life.  His dying for our sins was a sacrifice to wipe our slates clean.  So if we follow the theme of sacrifice what are we to do? 

            Live sacrificially

So it doesn’t mean we must die for our brothers to show love.  If we read verse 17 we can see how we are to live sacrificially.

            “If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it….”

So if you are able to help your brothers and sisters in Christ when they need the help...

“…but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.”

What it is saying is that if you CAN help but DON’T, where’s God’s love?  The love He showed us that we don’t deserve.  If we can’t even help…we aren’t showing love.

In Romans chapter 12 Paul writes that offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God is an act of worship.  So living sacrificially also shows our love for not only our brothers and sisters, but to God also.

This isn’t the only point at which love is talked about.  Later in Romans 12 love is brought up.

9Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honor one another above yourselves….

We see brotherly love here and putting people before ourselves.  This is just one of many other passages that proclaim love and what it is.

1 Corinthians 13 is all about love.  It tells what love is and how we are to embrace it.

If you think loving people is hard, you’re correct… some people we are called to love just seem like an impossible task.  But sometimes love can be as easy as a smile to a stranger. 

A quick story I heard the other day…

            Who has been to the Golden Gate Bridge?

It’s huge and so sweet to see, but it’s also infamous for a horrible thing.  Suicides.  There is a story of one man who jumped over the edge…. But before he did, he left a note on his dresser back at his apartment.  The note read: I’m going to walk to the bridge.  If one person smiles at me on the way, I won’t jump.”  Tragically, he didn’t find what he was looking for.

It’s a sad story but it just shows how easy it is to show love.  Sharing kindness can be all someone needs.

So Christ showed us what love is.

The Bible tells us many times how to love.

Some of the sadducees and pharisees wanted to test God and asked him what the greatest commandment was.

In Matthew 22 verse 37 we find Jesus response:

37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'^[ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.

Who knows an example of loving your neighbor as yourself?

The Good Samaritan.

In your groups, talk about ways you can apply love.  How can you show love to others this week?

1 John 3:16

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.

 Go out and have a wonderful week and think about to show God’s love to others as you make your way through life. 

Those are the thoughts I have right now.... still workin on and praying into it.  Be praying for me as I get ready to speak to the kids on monday. Have a wonderful day and smile at someone.  Love you all.  Thanks for reading.

-Tyler