“But love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; the state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.” – C.S. Lewis
The quote above is from C.S. Lewis’s book, Mere Christianity. (affiliate link) The command from Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31) is clear, leaving no room for argument. It’s a basic tenant of Christianity. Even people outside the faith know about this rule…and yes, they’re watching, to see how we do (or do not) follow through on it. It sounds simple, but what does it really mean to love your neighbor as yourself?
Read more“No matter how popular we might be, none of us has ever experienced deep unity or authentic union with another. Since the day that our forefather and mother were exiled in the garden of Eden, we’ve been lost, trying to get back in, trying to find oneness with each other and the Lord." Elyse Fitzpatrick, Found In Him
All of us know what it's like to feel alone, sometimes, even, when we're in a crowd of people we can feel that way. We long for true unity and union. This is why Jesus’s presence with us matters. We were made in the image of God. We were made to live in unity with God and others, but without the love and work of Jesus Christ, his grace, we are lost.
Read moreIt’s much easier to see the speck in someone else’s eye, than it is to see the log in my own. (Matt.7: 3) I want people to act justly towards me. I feel the sting of greed taking a painful hit on my family, and I react in anger towards the selfishness I see so clearly. I’m a mama bear, dangerous, and ready to attack.
Read moreSure, we can get outward compliance by shaming our kids, but that is all that it will be. Shame is not the same as repentance. It’s grace that brings about a heart change. I love the practical example, above, from Elyse, which shows what applying grace to our parenting can look ike in daily life. Here’s another example,
Read moreThere once was a man named John. He was born in London, in 1725. His father was the commander of a merchant ship that sailed in the Mediterranean. Little is known about his mother, except that she taught John what he knew about God. She died when John was young. At the age of eleven, John began sailing on long voyages with his father
Read moreThis morning, after days of heavy rain, the sun appeared. I went for a run through the forest. Sunlight filtered through a thick vapor that was billowing off the mossy tree trunks. The water droplets on the tips of the pine needles and leaves appeared as thousands of tiny glittering diamonds. It was so beautiful, tears came to my eyes
Read moreI’ve been a church girl my whole life. There was a time when I thought of the message of the gospel as something that I didn’t need to hear anymore, something that maybe other people needed to hear, particularly if they weren’t Christian yet- but if it came up in church, in boredom, I’d let my mind wander. What good did hearing it again do for me? I was already saved.
“We have spoken freely to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in our own affections. In return I speak as to children, widen your heart also!” 2 Corinthians 6:11-13
True, I was a Christian, saved by grace, but a very immature one, and I was wrong about the message of the gospel. The message of the gospel is not just a message of one time salvation or a ticket to heaven.
Read moreI walked with a group of about fifty children, ages 2-16, through the cobbled village streets of Săvârșin on a summer evening in 1992. We were on our way to the soccer field/cow pasture, to play with the summer camp orphans. It was just after dinner. Tea, dry bread, and an oily “beef” soup (where was the beef?), had not satisfied my hunger, and I hungrily eyed the chickens placidly pecking about in the tidy garden off the side of the path. There must be eggs somewhere in this village, I thought. There sure weren’t any in the camp dining room, nor on the empty shelves of the market. I accepted and ate a sour crabapple, picked off a nearby tree, from six-year-old Nadia.
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