Dreams

Driving and listening to a favorite band and a line is sung that I can't let out of my mouth without first making sure it is true.

"I love everything about You."

And ask myself if I can truly say this. Yes, I love Him, but do I love everything about Him?

And then this was tucked in my reader this morning and I heard Him ask me whose dreams am I following... His, or mine?

And then that song.... and I hear Him whisper... "Do you love that I have dreams for you? Do you love that those dreams are different then yours?"

I realize that I often ask for Him to fulfill my dreams, and rarely do I ask what His dreams are for me. I fail to realize that not seeking out His dreams hurts only me. It limits what I can do for Him.

I think back on one of the Passion messages, the one that hit the closest to home. It came from the lovely Beth Moore, a woman who seeks after His heart, her messages are full of His love, His voice.

She says that the enemy tries to convince us that we are more free without God, that the dreams... the plans... He has for us will somehow limit us.

It comes down to this... either I am following His dreams, or the enemies. Because my dreams come from my flesh... and my flesh is desperately wicked seeking only its own desires. I think about yesterday's post about appetites and I think on the story I have yet to post about. Am I ruling my appetites or do they rule me? Am I thinking about the eternal or the immediate?

More like falling in love

So this morning on the way to work I was out of character and had the radio on (usually I am a cd listener more then a radio listener). I caught part of an interview with the artist Jason Gray who was talking about one of his songs titled More Like Falling in Love. I, not being a frequent radio listener, had not yet heard his song. Finding his interview very interesting I had to look up the song. LOVE IT!!! Fantastic writing skills and beautifully written. In his interview he discussed the topic of legalism, which if you have read any of my previous posts you know that this subject is one of my favorites. The song very masterfully tears down legalism and builds up a faith that must be based on the love of a Father, not on any rules. Jason was discussing some of the controversy that has come about because of the words in this song.

When I hear a song like this I can see why some people have a problem with it. This song is tells us that following Christ is less about rules and more about love. Too often Christians try to make this "religion" about the rules. That is not at all what Christ desires. After all didn't He come and give His life so that we would no longer be bound by the chains of the law?? Christ came to give us freedom (Romans 3). It's not just about believing or pledging allegiance to someone. Jason talked about how God desires more then just a bunch of believers who follow some rules. He wants our love, our devotion, and a relationship with us. In a blog he writes,
    

   "Love redefines the terms of the relationship, infusing our devotion to the law with passion and purpose something we do for love rather than obligation.  When done out of love, the law which once brought death and condemnation has a chance to make us alive again, because we do it out of delight.  But it all starts with love."

On the air today he mentioned that many people who get caught up in legalism are seeking to find a way to serve God while also serving themselves. There are certain things that they are willing to sacrifice but they aren't willing to give up everything. That would be too risky. The love he is talking about in this song is not the warm, fuzzy, emotionally based love that our culture defines the word as. Jason is talking about the type of love that takes a hold of us and requires us to give up our whole life. After all is this not how Christ defined love?

Of course when you talk about love in this way it terrifies people... and it should!! This type of love peels back the layers of our heart and reveals the selfish human underneath. This type of love requires ultimate trust, a willingness to lay down our guard and another very scary word... vulnerability.

Jason points out that when we insist on legalistic terms its our way of trying to maintain control. We try to make salvation something that we can do. It takes the emphasis off of God and puts it on us and that is a dangerous thing to do. It is never about us, and it is always about Him. Calvin puts it this way...

"Until men recognize they they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, 

that he is the Author of their every good, 

that they should seek nothing beyond him, 

they will never yield him willing service. 

Nay, unless they establish their complete 

happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him."

When we make following Christ all about following rules we lose sight of what it means to truly follow Him. In a parable Christ said that the kingdom of heaven was like a treasure hidden in a field... when a man it, he hid it, and then in joy, sold everything he had and bought the field (Mt 13). I don't think that Christ told this story as a mere suggestion to give up everything. Christ requires that we give up everything. The single greatest commandment is to love the Lord with ALL our heart, soul and might. I love this quote by R.A. Torrey...

"If loving God with all our heart and soul and might

is the greatest commandment,

then it follows that not loving him that way

is the greatest sin." 

Convicting isn't it. 

When we insist on legalistic terms we forget about grace. Not a single one of us can uphold any law, without God's grace we would be condemned to hell. Thankfully God doesn't require us to "follow rules" in order to be saved. It is simply about receiving His love, which is given to us; His grace, which is offered freely; and His mercy, which not a one of us deserves. I am so glad that my "religion" is more like falling in love:)




*check out Jason Gray's blog on this song
           http://jesusfreakhideout.com/jfhblog/template_archives_cat.asp?cat=35

A lesson on love from a very wise church father

So it has been awhile since I lasted posted. This is not for lack of material to write on. It is because I currently have a research paper due tomorrow night by midnight. I am for the most part done. I still need some advice from a friend before I submit it. You see in seminary they look at every aspect of your paper. It is not like undergrad where some profs didn't even bother to read it. No, I have to be extremely tedious in my writing for this degree. It's a good thing I like to write, and I am thankful that this paper is actually on an interesting subject. Saint Augustine was an outstanding man and a prolific writer. I can't wait to be done with this class so that I can actually read his works without looking for paper material. I have thoroughly enjoyed the parts of Confessions that I have read while writing this paper. Today as I was finishing up some research I came across this section in the latter part of Confessions. The majority of this book is about Augustine's life before his conversion, now as I am nearing the end of the book he writes about his relationship with his now Savior.
This short segment on the love he has now for his Savior is raw, intimate, and extremely honest. He says,

"But what do I love, when I love You?

Not beauty of bodies, nor the faint harmony of time.

Not the brightness of the light, so welcome to our eyes,

Nor sweet melodies of varied songs,

Nor the fragrant smell of flowers, and ointments and spices.

Nor manna and honey, nor the embrace of arms in fleshly pleasure.

None of these I love when I love my God.

Yet this love is a kind of light and melody and

fragrance and meat and embrace.

When I love my God, the light, melody, fragrance, meat,

and embrace is experienced by my inner man.

Love shines into my soul, where space cannot contain it.

Love speaks with sound that does not fade into silence with time.

Its smells are not disperses in breath, and its tastes do not grow stale.

Love clings, and its satisfaction does not break my connection to the experience.

This is it which I love,

When I love my God."

Beautiful isn't it!!!

I love that His love cannot be contained. I love that His love never satisfies me, it always leaves me wanting more. I love how it never grows old, it never fades, it never grows stale. Oh to love the way He loves me. If only I could grasp just how much He really does love me. I'm pretty sure that were I to fully see His love that it would kill me, but I wouldn't mind that, really. I can't wait to be in His presence. To see Him face to face, to be held in His arms, to hear Him say my name. How I long to be rid of my flesh that so often draws me from Him. How He can go on loving me is a mystery that I will never understand. I do not deserve any of it. I deserve to be abandoned by Him, I deserve His full wrath, I deserve to die and live without Him. Ah, but there is grace, grace the sweetest word I know, and one that I will never fully understand. I wish I gave it more freely. I am glad that He does not give it the way I give it. I am so thankful for His love, for His grace that enables Him to love me. There is no one, nothing that I love as much as I love my God, my Father, my Abba, my All.