Category: Serving Others

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My Invitations

This is an expansion of My Invitation from my lectio blog posting on 1/24/14

My invitation is to simple emulate Jesus and serve one another in love. Easy to say but tough to do.

My invitation is to open my eyes and seek after God seriously. To often I go through life seeking God but my eyes are closed so I don’t see him, my ears are closed so I don’t hear him, my life is to busy so I can’t experience the things God has for me. I need to step out with my eyes open, my ears attuned to that still small voice, and taking the time to experience the life God has for me.

We are told in Matthew to love God with all we are – heart, mind & soul and to love others as well. My invitation is to make sure that my loving God and loving others is a continuous process. Like the stream of flowing water, my love must be allowed to run free; to continually be loving God and loving others. I must make sure that there are no dams that have been built to block my love from flowing freely. What are the dams that I build to block this flow?

I am being reminded that as a Christ-follower I have a standing invitation to “continually” partake in an intimate and rich relationship with God. My question to myself is why don’t I always take advantage of this?

My invitation is to drop God’s love on another so that they can then start their own ripples of love.

By extending the gift of hospitality we are in fact extending God’s love to those who are seeking rest. Let me look for opportunities to show hospitality.

Think about ways that I can love other’s in practical ways on a more regular basis.

Love, that is God’s love flowing through me allows me the the opportunity to live out all my beliefs and values and minister to those around me. I simply need to listen and follow God’s promptings. I also need to remember that I don’t need to do it all, I am but a single strand in the cable that is God’s love, holding us all together.

What is God inviting you to do this year? Month? Week? Even today?

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God Provides

Our God gives you everything you need, makes you everything you’re to be. (2 Thessalonians 1:2 MSG)

I came across this verse the other day and I though “That’s a relief.” You see it is God who provides what we need, note it doesn’t say what we want, but what we need. Just as He provided manna for the Israelites in the desert, He will provide for us. Does this mean we can just sit back and wait for the blessing? No!

What does the second part of the verse say? In short is says that He makes you what and who you are suppose to be. You see God has given you a mind to think, passions to pursue, skills to leverage and if you are a believer He has given you a spiritual gift. Your God given abilities, life experiences and learned skills all make you who you are and provide a way for you to get what you need. Not only that, but it gives you the ability to provide for the needs of others. Your spiritual gift is not for you to use for yourself, rather it is given to you for the benefit of others.

God can and does bring unexpected blessing: an unexpected check, a stranger offering to help, a job offer or simply a new relationship. These are all ways God provides for our needs.

What or how has God gifted you to earn a living or benefit others? Have you ever been the recipient of an unexpected blessing? Have you ever responded to a prompting from the Spirit to be the giver of a blessing to someone? If not, you might have to listen a litter closer to that still small voice prompting you to be generous.

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The Praxis of Love (pt 4)

This is from a sermon give at East Balsam Baptist Church 9/25/2011 (pt 4)

I want to shift our attention now from loving God with our whole being to loving our neighbor as ourself. There are a couple of questions we needs to ask at this point. First, who is our neighbor? Jesus answered this in a parable about the good Samaritan. To summarize Jesus’ teaching our neighbor are those people in need who we can or do interact with. They might be the person living next door or across the street. It might be your co-worker in the next cubicle. It might be a homeless person you pass by with out even really noticing. It could a be a group of people you could minister to on a missions trip. In short, your neighbor is the person God has placed in your path so that you can love them.

Second, how do you show them love? To be honest I don’t know, you need to listen to their story to see how you can love them. Don’t be worried that you won’t be able to help them because if God placed them in your path you will be equipped to serve their needs. It’s important to remember that the love we have to share is a love that comes from God. Take a look at what 1 John 4:7 says, “My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God.” We are being God’s hands and feet as we love our neighbors.

As we thing about how to love our neighbor we might want to think a about the qualities of love that we can apply. Take a look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
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. Love never ends. (ESV)
These different qualities of love are the same qualities we need to display to our neighbor for they are the same ones that God displays to us. 1 John 4:7 says God is love, and so if these are qualities of love they are also qualities of God.

For me loving my neighbor is lived out in the passions that God has place on my heart. One way my daughter wants to serve others was by helping to change their flat tires. She wanted to do this driving around the Twin Cities, but I didn’t think that was all that safe. However, God knew her desire and has delivered two people (strangers) into our driveway who needed help changing a flat tire and my daughter was there. If you are willing and listening to God, He will bring across your path people who need to be loved in practical ways and he will equip you with the resources you need to show God’s love to them.
So what are the take aways today? First, the praxis of love needs to be carried out in relationship. Love is not something that can be carried out in a vacuum. We know that one relationship is with God, but who are the neighbors you can develop relationships with?

Second, when we love God we are to do it with our whole being. How are you showing God you love Him with your passions or heart? What spiritual disciplines are you practicing to draw your soul closer to God? Prayer, meditation, solitude, silence? How are you studying (reading is a discipline, studying is the exercising for your intellect) God’s word and other Christian writers? How are you allowing God to transform you?

Finally, how can you show God’s love to your neighbor? Have you listened to anyones story lately? Has God been nudging you to interact with someone? What are your gifts and talents that God can use to minister to others? Brandon Heath sings a song “Give Me Your Eyes” and the chorus reads:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so i can see
Everything that i keep missing
Give me your love for humanity

Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach?
Give me your heart for the one’s forgotten
Give me your eyes so i can see

You see loving our neighbors is nothing more than looking around with God’s eyes and God’s love looking for those in need of a touch from God through you.

Take some time this week to think about these things and then respond the way God leads you.