This month has been a month of GROWTH. It is crazy the change God makes when you are living each day intentionally seeking after him! One of the things I have learned is that when you are being poured into it should create an overflow into the rest of your life. This month has been a time of learning what it means to be a Man of God and how though that you Love others, so let’s talk about it!
We are going to start at the beginning. It all comes down to your daily personal relationship with Christ! Easy enough right? Yes! But here is the thing, a relationship takes intentionality. You have to talk often, about deep things, about hard things, about intimate things. And this isn’t a Sunday Church thing, Jesus isn’t a trophy you take out to show off, he isn’t a party story you tell on occasion, your relationship with him should infect and effect everything, every conversation, every decision, every thought, EVERYTHING!
I thought that I believed this but the problem was I only knew it. It was a fun fact I could talk about, tell others about, even teach about. But it was not infecting and effecting my life.
So that was the first change! I was in the Word every morning, at first it felt like a chore or homework (if you know me you know how much I despise that word) but it started to change. After a week it was natural, another week and I was actually looking forward to it and enjoying the time, yet another week had me hungry for more. And I found it through Podcasting sermons, reading books, and finding a deeper prayer life.
The first Podcasts I listened to was called “Act Like Men” by the Church of Eleven22. It is a 5 part series that I downloaded before heading to the countryside and the last part is on Love. I got to it and thought “O, I got this! I know all about Love. It’s my strong suit!”
O the irony!
He referenced the Love scripture, yeah you know it, 1 Corinthians 13: 4-13.
Wow, the conviction!
I don’t know anyone who would describe me a “ Patient and Kind”
And Love does not boast, is not arrogant, does not insist on its own way…
Ok maybe this isn’t my strong suit, in fact I barely had the suit at all.
He continues through to verse 11 where it says, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up on childish ways.”
And I realized, I was still living like a child. A child is Impatient, unkind, they boast, are arrogant, and insist on their own way. It was time to put those things behind me and become a Man.
However, I can’t just “do better”. No, Love of each other comes from the overflow of God’s Love poured into us. See! This is why it starts with that deep, personally, daily relationship! Because if you aren’t being poured into, how can you overflow into other’s lives?
Let me leave you with these questions!
How are you seeking a deeper and intimate relationship with Christ?
Would you say 1 Cor. 13: 4-7 describe you?
Have you put childish ways behind you or are you still living in them?
Do the last 2 answers change when the people are hard to love?
P.S. I am headed to China so my Blog will soon be password protected! The password will be Eswiger21
