Learning to Love Like Christ!

As Christians, we are called to be like Christ. I know it sounds pretty crazy, especially since Christ was the only perfect human that has ever existed on earth! So if we are suppose to be like Christ, what does that mean and how? What characteristic do we need to have to be like him? There is one trait that truly reveals what Christ-likeness is…it is love. Love is Christ. All commandments and obedience to God is founded on love. We must learn to love God first, and then we must love the people around us.

The next question that I ask is “how do I love?” First, let me say that I do not fully know how to do this and I am far from loving God and others to my best ability, but God has revealed something to me this morning that I had not noticed before. For the past year, I have been praying that God would help me learn to love. I have prayed that He would teach me what being like Christ truly means and to give me that characteristic he possesses so perfectly. I encourage you to begin doing the same today, but I warn you do not say it unless you are ready to learn what love is!

When I first began saying this prayer I thought God would simply insert more love into my heart, so that I would be able to love Him and others more fully. It is not like that! Do teachers in a classroom simply insert knowledge into your brain? No, you have to learn it, practice it, and work hard to fully understand it! That is what God does too! As I have been saying this prayer over the last year, I can now look back and see how God has been answering it. He is teaching me how to truly love by challenging me to love people and look less at my selfish motives.

These last few months God has brought new challenging relationships into my life. He has taught me how to love by having a boyfriend. I am not saying I am fully “in love” with this boy, but I believe God is teaching me to look at someone else’s needs and wants through this relationship. I am realizing it is not all about me when you date. It has not been easy! In January, I went to Las Vegas because I am going to be doing an internship there this summer. I will be working in a church and at a Christ-centered counseling facility for drug and alcoholic addicts. While I was there I met people that are not like me and have big problems in life. First, I wanted to run the other way and I thought this place was not for me at all. Then I heard the Spirit’s voice speak to me, “who are you willing to love? Will you truly love the least and the lost, or will you only love within the limits of your comfort zone?” Well, I am going to Las Vegas in a few months! Lastly, God has placed the people involved in human trafficking on my heart. My heart breaks and bleeds for these people. I know God is calling me to do something about it. It is a heavy burden, and I pray that He continues to reveal to me how I am suppose to love these people and what I am suppose to do with this burden.

I guess my point is God does answer prayers, so be careful what you pray for! Do you want to love like Christ? Then I tell you to start praying that God will give you this characteristic, but I warn you again it will not be easy. It has been the most challenging process of my life. It is not easy to love others, and it is not easy to have God reveal to you your lack of love. But will it not be truly beneficial in the end? God will look at you someday and say, “Well done my servant, you learned to love like Christ.”

Today, I have been hit with realization of the brokenness in our world. I attend Indiana Wesleyan University, and in several chapels we have been talking a lot about child trafficking and prostitution. This evil system exists around the world in massive ways. There has also been a lot of discussion on the hungry and poor in the world; especially because of the economic problems even the United States is facing now.
This morning I became so overwhelmed by all of this discussion and the hurt that I hear about all around me. My heart breaks for the children who are forced to have sex with adults, and for those who truly know what it feels like to be hungry. I want to help them! I did not know what to do, so I went running to sort through me thoughts. I felt truly sick in my stomach with frustration and anger I had to run to release these feelings.
While I was running, I began to think about how I want God to use me in my future ministry career. This has been my deep question throughout this semester, because graduation is quickly approaching next December. I just do not feel like I know. Who am I suppose to be? What am I suppose to do? What is God’s will? In my head I am screaming, “GOD!!! There is so much hurt and pain in this world. How do I know where to go?!” Have you ever had these same thoughts?
Then I went to my first class of the day. The speaker from chapel was there to talk to our class. He had more profound and challenging things to say, but one stuck out to me the most. He asked our class, “What makes you angry in life? What truly makes you involuntary sick with passion? That is what you need to pursue in life and to pursue it with all your strength for God!” Wow! Maybe we seek God’s will too much without realizing that we already know what we are supposed to do.
Mark 6:34 says, “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” Jesus had great compassion for these lost people. The word compassion here means “to be moved as to one's bowels, hence to be moved with compassion.” Jesus had such compassion on these people that he felt a sickening feeling in his bowels. That is how much he loved them, which reveals his compassion for his ministry on earth.
I feel sick with compassion when I think about the hungry, the lost, and the children across the world suffering. This makes me angry! This is what my passion is. No, I do not know what this means for my future, but I stop today to ask you one simple question. What makes you so angry and sick that moves you to love and compassion to further the Kingdom of God?

I Like Wearing Masks

I used to want to be a mascot.  Actually, I will admit I still do a little.  I thought it would be the best thing ever to wear the mascot costume and act as silly as you wanted to, but not one person would know it was you.  I could be and do anything I wanted to in front of a large crowd of people, but my true identity would be hidden.  What a perfect world...right?  Is this not what we all do already each and every day?  We wear masks to cover who we truly are.  We pretend that everything is perfect when we are really screaming inside.  We are terrified to reveal our feelings and emotions, so we only allow others to see the "perfect" us.  Then this gives them the message that we have it altogether, and that they better not show their imperfections.   What a twisted world we leave in!  It reminds me of Casting Crown's song "Stained Glass Masquerade".  Are we happy plastic people?

I know that I am an expert when it comes to wearing a mask.  I am a perfectionist, and I do not want to allow others to see my faults.  I am a Christian ministry major.  I am not suppose to struggle with anything!  My life is perfect!  My relationship with God is strong!  I will not and can not fall.  What happens though when I begin to take my mask off?  Recently, I have realized I need to do this in many areas of my life.  If we do not allow others to ever see who we truly are, it begins to affect us and our relationships with the people around us.  In relationships, there needs to be a sense of closeness.  When masks are worn God and people can only get so close, but when our masks are taken of I truly believe it furthers God's kingdom.  God works through our true identity, not the fake hidden one.

I experienced taking off my mask this semester at school.  For one of my classes we had to do group counseling.  Each group member would question each other and share certain things.  One night everyone began to question me.  They questioned me about the death of my father.  I was seven years old when he died (I am now 21), but I was strong in this area.  I knew how to tell others the basics of his disease and death, how it was difficult, and then move on.  I knew how to wear this mask perfectly, but their questions began to dig deeper.  They saw through my silly mask, and I began to tell them things I remembered about my father's death that I had never shared before.

One thing specifically that I shared was a powerful memory I had during the funeral process.  I remembered many people at my house, but I escaped to my room.  I took a picture of my father, crawled deep into my closet, and cried.  I do not remember what was running through my head at the time, but I remember a woman coming into my room.  She saw me in the closet, asked if I was alright, apologized, and left.  I learned there to deal with my feelings about my father's death alone.  The group comforted me, but I did not realize the impact this story would have.

A few weeks later, our group counseling sessions were ending.  One member thanked me for sharing about my father's death.  He said that it impacted him spiritually and emotionally.  He then shared with me and the group that he recently experienced a death in his church.  There were several children morning this loss, and because I had shared with him about my experience as a child he specifically cared for the children.  He told me he wished he could have been there when I was a child and held me as I was crying.  At this point, I could not help but allow a few tears to form.  Why do I hide so much of myself sometimes?  If by sharing this could help other children grieving a loss, I would never want to wear a mask again.  I realized that my biggest ministry can come from my true identity.  God wants to unite His people with amazing fellowship.  He wants us to care and help one another.  We can not do this by wearing our masks.  So I ask you, what mask do you need to take off?   

The Beginning

I do not claim to be an amazing writer.  I do not claim to have great wisdom.  I do claim that God reveals himself through many people in different ways.  This past semester at Indiana Wesleyan University I took a course that focuses on the theories and the development of writing.  God can reach and speak to people by using writers to proclaim His word.  Through the discovery and knowledge I gained through this class, God has placed a challenge upon my life and walk with Him.

God has challenged me to write!  He reveals insightful life lessons and ways to be a true Christ follower to me through my devotions, people around me, education, or simple everyday activities.  Once again, I am not claiming to have knowledge, wisdom, or great revelations from God that are not available to all people.  I am claiming that God has given me a passion to seek after His ways, to minister to the world around me, and to write my numerous thoughts out for others to read.  This desire to write has been a weight placed on me from God for several weeks now, and I have decided I need to submit to what God wants me to do.

I believe we often miss the point of Christian fellowship.  God has created humanity for relationships.  Through these relationships, we need to share and testify to each other what God reveals to us.  This is what I want to accomplish.  I need to become more open about my faith and how God is working in my life to people around me.  God has given us technology, and there is not better way to reach a great amount of people all at once.

So...this is what this BlogSpot is about.  I do not know who will read it, if anyone will at all.  I do know that I am being obedient to what God wants me to do.  He gives all of us desires and gifts to use to make true Disciples of Christ and build His Kingdom.  I hope that at least one person will find encouragement through my writings.  I do ask each one of you to pray for me as I accept this challenge from God.  Pray that it is continuously God's words and not my own, and that I will find the time to write even when life becomes busy.

Always remember, His faithful love endures forever!