Honest Aim

Well hello there friends slash family that is obligated to read this...

For the second act of this year, I'll be showing you how a career in blogging disappears by sharing with you my thoughts on honesty...

I was listening to one of my favorite Tenth Avenue North songs "Times" the other day, and the lyrics are as follows:

"I know I need You
I need to love You
I love to see You, but it's been so long
I long to feel You
I feel this need for You
And I need to hear You, is that so wrong?

Now You pull me near You
When we're close, I fear You
Still I'm afraid to tell You, all that I've done
Are You done forgiving?
Oh can You look past my pretending?
Lord, I'm so tired of defending, what I've become
What have I become?"

 

Now that's real, genuine honesty. That's the truth we don't want to share with anyone. "When we're close, I fear You." Oh Lord, how true those words are...I fear Your judgement, Your wrath.

 

Yet, all He wants to give us is His eternal love and devotion.

 

"For God has not appointed us to suffer wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11

I love the "therefore" in this verse.

Why be genuine, honest, loving, bold, encouraging? Why not wallow in self-defeat and in the reality that we are and never will be good? Why draw close to the Lord if you fear him so much?

BECAUSE..."HE DIED FOR US SO THAT, WHETHER WE ARE AWAKE OR ASLEEP, WE MAY LIVE TOGETHER WITH HIM."

We deserved death and He gave us life. And on top of it all, He wants to commune with us...on the reg...like daily...How cool is that??

My point? Great Q. Let's give you an A.

A: We are called to live free from the chains of judgement and doubt, for Christ has set us free with His blood shed for our sin, allowing us to pursue a life of genuine and honest love...

"...I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received: with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." - Ephesians 4:1-3

Jesus tells us in John 13:34 to love..."A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another."

He tells us in Luke 8:15 to seek an honest heart..."As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience."

And Paul tells us in his famous verses about love that we are to "rejoice with the truth."

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

So, Lord, help us to be loving, honest, genuine people that yearn for You. Help me to know how to love the people You put in my life. Help me to speak words of Truth.

Why does my tongue deceive me? Well, rumor has it that what comes from the mouth is an overflow of the heart. So, it must be assumed that I let darkness reign in my heart when my tongue becomes viperous.

I go back to those lyrics..."I know I need You..."

I know I need Him.

"Still I'm afraid to tell You, all that I've done..."

Yet, often times I fear being truthful to Him.

THIS. IS. NOT. THE. LORD.

It is a lie from the Satan that the Lord doesn't want to hear our true hearts. Fear is not of the Lord.

"...for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

God wants to hear my failures. He wants my heart. Why? So he can transform it. Only by the grace of God do our hearts move from life-sucking, dull black holes to life-giving, radiant stars.

God has been teaching me that honesty with Him is the only way healing happens. It's sucking the venom out of a wound. It's resetting a broken bone. It's painful, but in the end, it gives life.

This life gets messy. I'm talking 18 month old on spaghetti night kind of mess. Yet, there's a Mr. Clean 2.0 and His name is Jesus. When we live our life in honor of Him, even the darkest, dirtiest messes radiate.

Speak truth. Speak life.

Oh, and don't forget to listen to some jams...

Speak Life by TobyMac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rK6O0YtBRY

Times by Tenth Avenue North: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQWDz6slq_k

As always...In Christ,

2017: The Year of the Heart

Dearest readers slash mom and dad,

This is a love letter to you. This is my way of saying thank you to all those that have been there for me over this past year. It has been a true test. Yet, God prevails.

I'm not ready to give the full details of my absence from the blogging world, but I will give you a synopsis by saying it's been the hardest thing I have ever gone through...

More difficult than any schooling, training or diaper changing.
More frustrating than any test - academic or fitness.
More heartbreaking than watching children starved for both food and attention.

It was brutal.

But our God is bigger than any struggle, and if I have learned anything from this past year it's that He wants every part of us.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind..." - Luke 10:27

He wants our hearts.
He wants our souls.
He wants our strength.
He wants our minds.

HE WANTS EVERY PART OF US.

What was I giving Him before this epic breakdown of mine?

My mind -- I studied His word daily.
My strength -- I trained for His glory.
My body -- I traveled to a foreign country at His will.
My heart -- insert epic fail here....no, but really, like the most devastating skateboarding crash you've ever seen. Or maybe slipping on a banana peel in Mario Kart. Or pretty much anything off of America's Funniest Home Videos...


So, hopefully, you get the point.
I was holding out only what I wanted to God.
Meanwhile, my heart remained firmly in my grasp.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

This, my favorite verse, tells us first and foremost to give our hearts to God.
So, this is what I'm going to strive for this year.

To all those who read this silly little thing I call a blog, please hold me accountable to this.
Hold me to my word that I truly desire to give my whole heart to the Lord.
And may He bless the words I write -- an overflow of His love.


In Christ,