Today at church the pastor read this quote. I thought it was some good food for thought so I will share it with you.
(On one hand) I'd like to be brave, but I'd also like to be safe. My heavenly Father, on the other hand, loves me deeply enough to tell me the truth. He tells me I can't be both brave and safe. He wants me to be clear there's a choice, he wants me to choose to be brave. And choosing to be brave means choosing not to be safe.
In a fallen world, following the will of God will generate suffering in our lives. In fact, there are two things that are always the will of God and always dangerous in a fallen world: telling the truth and loving needy people. In fact, if my life of following Jesus doesn't feel dangerous , I should probably pause and check to see if its Jesus I am following. If I'm playing football and nobody is hitting me, I might check to see that I'm actually out on the field.. Football is about contact and following Jesus is about loving needy people, it turns out, its not safe. In fact, I generally try to keep neediness away from me. Think about those in your family who are the most needy and hurting, those in uor church fellowship who are hurting the most, those in our community who are in the most need, those on the other side of the city who are most vunerable. Them. Serving them and loving them is uncomfortable. It''s mesy, it's untidy, it's unsafe and can even be dangerous. And yet paradoxically, Jesus tells us this is where the deepest joy is. - Gary Haugen, President of International Justice Mission
(On one hand) I'd like to be brave, but I'd also like to be safe. My heavenly Father, on the other hand, loves me deeply enough to tell me the truth. He tells me I can't be both brave and safe. He wants me to be clear there's a choice, he wants me to choose to be brave. And choosing to be brave means choosing not to be safe.
In a fallen world, following the will of God will generate suffering in our lives. In fact, there are two things that are always the will of God and always dangerous in a fallen world: telling the truth and loving needy people. In fact, if my life of following Jesus doesn't feel dangerous , I should probably pause and check to see if its Jesus I am following. If I'm playing football and nobody is hitting me, I might check to see that I'm actually out on the field.. Football is about contact and following Jesus is about loving needy people, it turns out, its not safe. In fact, I generally try to keep neediness away from me. Think about those in your family who are the most needy and hurting, those in uor church fellowship who are hurting the most, those in our community who are in the most need, those on the other side of the city who are most vunerable. Them. Serving them and loving them is uncomfortable. It''s mesy, it's untidy, it's unsafe and can even be dangerous. And yet paradoxically, Jesus tells us this is where the deepest joy is. - Gary Haugen, President of International Justice Mission
2 comments:
I meant to call today, sorry for the gnarly game of phone tag. Life has been crazy.
good words
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