The problem with being considerate

This morning God really sent me a wake up call.  My father had a health procedure done today.  I am not going to lie, I was and am still afraid. He is more then just my father, he is my daddy. He has always been my "problem fixer."  I love him more then I show him, which is sad.  But the real tragedy is that I claim to be a follower of Christ, and I have had no more then a few conversations with my father about Jesus.  This fact has hit me hard, I can tell you my heart is in my stomach right now.  I am nauseous over my narcissism.  You see I have used excuses like, they will see the difference in me or that its not worth risking being uncomfortable or worse what if I isolate myself because I'm seen as to weird. I have been to self-adsorbed, to worried about what the world thinks, to consumed with my own issues to truly respond to the mission at hand.

Today my merciful Heavenly Father gave me a glimpse of what real love means.  He reminded me of what is at stake for all of the people I love who do not know Christ. He showed me how I have wasted my time and energy and the immense cost of it. Hell is real, eternal damnation is a reality yet I live like its just a far off place that will never affect me. You see I claim to be a Christian, I claim to love Christ.  Unfortnatly claiming is not enough.  God is showing me how cheap my love is for Him and my earthly father.  If I truly loved Christ He would fill my conversations, His aroma would be evident in each step I take.  On the flip side if I truly loved my earthly father I would relentlessly show him how much Christ loves him. How much he cost to buy back from death. Now I know I cannot save my father but saying nothing speaks volumes as well.

My challenge to myself as well as anyone who reads this blog, is this: Evaluate your life see if it measures up to the Godly version of love, is it filled with urgency and purpose or is it a matter of days strung together filled with considerate conversations?

What is your ailment? The Bent over women part 2

you can read the first blog post about the bent over women here:

http://walkingtowardsthecross.blogspot.com/2011/12/bent-over-women.html

Just as the women who couldn't stand up straight, we all have our own ailments that keep us from straightening up and battles that steal our hope from us.  What is yours? Is it a physical wound that keeps you in so much physical pain that some days its just to much to bare? Is it an emotional battle with depression or some other mental illness that robes you of the true joy each day brings? Is it a spiritual doubt that battles deep within your soul that wages between good and evil?

All of these ailments can "bend" us over. Just like the women in Luke, we too can be plagued by Satan and not be able to stand up straight.  We too can be with out hope and all of these ailments are true battles.  All of these wars are a product of a fallen world, they are not the life that our Father wanted for us.

I have struggled with a soul wrenching emotional battle for all long as I can remember.  Its exhausting to fight and impossible to win within my own strength.  Although at times depression takes over me, I have become convicted by the Holy Spirit that wanting people to notice my ailment and touch me or rather bring me hope is nothing but foolish pride on my part.  It is not wrong for me to want others to help me fight the good fight but it is wrong for me to want others to notice me.  Because at the end of the day my life is not my own.  I have been bought by a price and am yoked to a different Master. His load is light and He is kind and loving. He wishes nothing but freedom for me.  This freedom however is not to be used so that I may gain attention but rather He, Jesus Christ, gain all the Glory and Honor due to Him.  I am reminded of an that song lyric Jesus gave it all, all to Him I owe...

In parting I would like to share a verse given to me by a dear friend and it is one I am going to cling to as a battle being bent over
"For the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world, on the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds (things that bend us over).  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ."  2 Corinthians 2: 4 & 5

The bent over women...

‘Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said “Woman, you are set free from your ailment”. When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.  

(Read Luke 13:10-17)         

This is a passage that I have been reading and meditating on for quite sometime.  The physical aliment of this women was life debilitating. She could not look up. Could you imagine not being able to see people's smiling faces or the beautiful sky? Could you imagine living a life where you only saw peoples feet and the dirt of the ground?  What a tragic life, for 18 years Satan had robed  joy from her and replaced it with pain and anguish. I can also assume that the people shunned her, that she was unwanted wherever she went.  She was a castaway, seen as cursed and one not to be associated with.   She was with out hope until one day she saw Jesus! What a glorious day that was!

An important part of the ministry of Jesus was that of healing.  He gave people who where disabled physically, mentally and emotionally a way.  This story of the crippled woman deals with physical healing, but it has a larger dimension.  Her twisted body, permanently bent downwards, was a symbol of those who lost hope. This story is illustrating that with Jesus's help we can raise ourselves so that our vision is upwards to God.  

I have been meditating on this passage for over a month now and I have finally realized that this passage has great meaning for the followers of Christ as well.  We the Body of Christ are privileged enough to be His hands and feet! We are blessed enough to be a part of His mission.   As Christ followers we have an awesome responsibility to bring hope to the hopeless, to bring relationships to the lonely, to touch the untouchable. To be encourages to others even when its uncomfortable or worse inconvenient.  Jesus's ministry was relational, it was close and personal.  He got in peoples faces, and He reached down to their level. I can't remember who said this but I once heard that the difference between pity and compassion was a person feeling pity would feel sorry for the person in the mud pit and a person who felt compassion would climb down in the mud with them.  Do you think Jesus got muddy during His time on earth? I sure do. And my prayer is that when I leave this earth I am beaten, bruised and as muddied up as possible.  We are called to be close and personal.  And that my friends is hard.