Sunday, June 19, 2011

Love Labels.

Ten years ago, keeping up a weekly duty, my ministering dad wrote a bulletin article. I wanted to share some tidbits from this article on Father's day to celebrate not only a faithful servant of God, but to share that I come from a long line of love and compassion for the hurting. May I ever strive to maintain and honor this legacy.

There is a noticeable change in our world today in the realm of compassion. It seems that even in the church compassion has lost its touch for fellow Christians. Compassion is seeing and understanding the hurting and distress of others, along with doing what one can to help and alleviate it, thus helping the emotional, grieving, and trying situations of others within the body of Christ. It is a spiritual consciousness of the personal tragedy of another. 
In our society there are many organizations that truly do tremendous work, and certainly we honor them for their great efforts to serve humanity. But, what we must realize is that does not take the place of our personal responsibility in the family of God. Just because we give to a charitable organization, including the collection plate at worship, does not mean that we have accomplished our duty with showing compassion. We all need to be aware of the body of Christ and not neglect to show compassion. 
This week think upon the sanctity of human life and the preciousness of life itself. Try to think beyond self and realize how precious each life is, just as Jesus did with a complete stranger, one that was caught in adultery, John 8:3-11. Many have walked out of the presence of the church because of never being made to feel a part or even feeling a heartbeat of compassion. These may be just the ones that needed so desperately to be a part of the body of Christ for their mere existence. 

I've been labeled a lot things in my life. Some labels I own. Others I do not. Certainly, the only label that matters is Christ. But here are a couple more that I wear with pride:

I am the daughter of a lover of THE LORD. I am the daughter of a man who gave years of his life to serve the hurting, the seeking, the lonely. He gave up riches and earthly status. He served with humility when doors slammed in his face. He left the land of his youth, his family, and his home to serve the King of Kings. He was faithful and loyal to his wife and raised his daughters to know the Lord. He served one Master, and one alone. He lifted his head high through mocking from even the closest of relations as he looked up to his Savior and focused on the mission. I am proud to be his daughter. If you must label me a PK (preacher's kid), do it. I love it. I own it.

I am the wife of a lover of THE LORD. I am the wife of a man who devotes his life to sharing God's love and His Word with the young. I am the wife of a man who loves an age group who takes a lot of hits just for being young, and yet he loves them. I am the wife a man who passionately wants to see the church serve the hurting, the seeking, the lonely. I am the wife of a man who left the land of his youth, his family and his home to serve the King of Kings. He is faithful and loyal to me and raises his children to know the Lord. He serves one master, and one alone. He lifts his head high through mocking from even the closest of relations as he looks up to his Savior and focuses on the mission. I am proud to be his wife. If you must label me a minister's wife, do it. I love it. I own it.

Finally, if you must label me, label me with Christ. Label me as one who will seek out the hurting and reach out to the community. Label me as the noisemaker that tries to remind the church to remember it's place as 'servant' and not 'the served'. Label me as a lover of the LORD and of the mission to serve and to share HIS love.

Thank you, Father, for my daddy. Thank you for his example of what a servant of Christ is. Thank you for his heart of compassion.

Thank you, Father, for my husband. Thank you for his example of what a servant of Christ is. Thank for for his heart of compassion.

Thank you, Father, for loving us even when we neglect to love others.

Father, help me to raise my children to remember and honor this legacy of Love. Help me to raise servants of Your cause of Love.

Friday, June 10, 2011

The Main Thing.

A few weeks ago I heard a story about a man somewhere in India this year that was murdered because he called on Christ as his Savior. He was attacked after watching his mother-in-law doused in gasoline burn alive. She also was Christian. His young wife and children fled to the forest where they heard daddy scream as each of his fingers were broken one after the other while the attackers demanded him to renounce his faith. He refused to deny Christ and was buried alive after his fingers, arms and legs were broken.

His widow was quoted saying,"But God is alive, and I am surviving only through him... I just want my story to be a testimony to the love of Christ."

Dear sweet widow, you are a testimony to the love of Christ.

Here I sit. Typing on a computer in my comfortable jeans after eating left-over pizza. I ran for fun this morning. I mulled over what to make for dinner and scheduled my weekend plans. I casually mentioned to a friend today that I'd pray for her. Later today I'll drive across the street to a beautiful air conditioned church building to decorate my bible class for the next quarter with the materials provided by the church education department. I'll laminate the summer bible home-schooling material for my kids. I'll finish the laundry where I will most definitely fold countless Christian t-shirts for my youth minister husband.

I don't know why God put me here. I don't know why I have the luxury to get fat on an abundance of food. I don't know why I have the freedom to have bible studies with my friends and my family. I don't know why I'm here, and that widow is not. I do know, that I wouldn't have the graceful words that she had after experiencing the loss of her mother and her beloved husband.

I changed after hearing this story.

All of our wants and petty grievances fade when we truly recognize how great we have it. How absolutely spoiled rotten we are!

We are weak. We can't even commit our schedules to Christ. We are so busy justifying our escape from commitment. We are, however, very committed to ourselves. We struggle to appreciate our own community of believers. We prioritize all of our life and forget about the most important things...the main thing.

I admire this widow. She still believes despite all. She gets it. She knows the main thing is Christ and nothing else. How much we would confuse her as we struggle for more things, more self, and ignore masses who need the Lord.

This verse echoed in my mind when I look around to see my abundance and my freedom:
"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48
May I ever strive to serve the Lord of whom I profess to love. May I ever strive to be Christ to the world.

There are many more stories like this one believe it or not. You can find them on the Voice of the Martyrs website.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

When all is said and done.

It won't matter what bag I carried,
what team I cheered for,
what mascara never smudged,
what car I drove,
what my occupation was,
whether my children loved me,
whether my marriage failed or succeeded,
whether I was popular,
whether I owned a home,
whether I made any money at all,
what I wore to prom,
what state I lived in,
whether you like me or not,
what my furniture looked like,
what brand of clothing/jewelry/makeup I used,
whether my hair was short/long/or completely gone,
whether I lost the extra baby weight or not.

When all is said and done, all that matters is if I loved others the way Christ loved me.

You see, I can work my hardest to try to fit in.
I can work my hardest to lose a ton of weight or none at all.
I can work my hardest to make more money than anyone else.
I could even work my hardest to try to please everyone just so they'll love me back.

When all is said and done, my work is meaningless unless I love others the way Christ loved me.

We could build the biggest safest church building.
We could offer the best Sunday School in town.
We could create the flashiest worship service.
We could hire the most gifted preacher this side of the Mississippi,
We could sing the most beautiful songs and congratulate each other on a job well-edified.

But, when all is said and done our church is pointless and futile, unless we love others the way Christ loved us.

Christ loved the dirty, the broken, the hurting, the loud, the unwanted, the forgotten, the needy. He loved the dangerous, the threatening, the sinful, the scorned. Do we?

When all is said and done I never want to look back and question what I loved.