GREENE STREET LETTERS: All You Need Is Love

Monday, August 24, 2009

All You Need Is Love

There was a lot on the news over the past few weeks in regard to the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival.

Little known fact:
Jim Bentley / Wayne Wimpee / yours truly was in that area a month before it took place.
WoW! You guys were near the area. You almost were there. You might have breathed some of the air that would latter be breathed by the WHO or Jimi Hendrix. WoW!

Actually we were with a church youth group on a tour that took us through upstate New York. None of us knew of the festival that was going to take place. History was happening around us and we were totally oblivious to it.

I say all of that to say this. After watching many documentaries concerning the festival and the time, there was a lot of warped thinking back in 1969 and now. The prevailing idea was that "We changed the world!" No. You didn't. "We brought in peace and love for 3 days". O.k. I'll give you that one. But look at the truth. Even if mankind was able to bring in peace and love, it only lasted three days and was fueled by drugs and free sex.

1967 has been defined as the summer of love.

1969 has been labeled the defining moment for the counter culture revolution. The majority of people who took part in that movement are as mainstream now as their parents were.

Love? All you need is love.

The Beatles proclaimed that and then they broke up.

I John 4:8 reads............."GOD IS LOVE."

Not that God loves.

Or God could be love.

Or God has a lot of love.

NO! God is love.

His very nature and heart manifested through His actions all speak to this love.

Romans 2:4 reads:

Or do you despise the riches of HIs goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

Do you see that? God's goodness and kindness leads you to repentance.
WoW! Not lightning bolts or earthquakes, but goodness and kindness.

There is the love of the world and the kind of love the world offers, and then there is God's love.

I confess to you today that I am still learning what it means to be loved by God and to love God in return. I don't know all the answers to that one but I'm willing to learn.
How about you?
Are you willing?

God on you............

2 comments:

Bobby said...: Well said. I'm fascinated by the counter-cultural revolution of that time. They made some good music....but released a great deal of destruction into our society....not love.; August 24, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Greene Street Letters said...: They used the music to validate the destruction. They or "We" tore down everything that was important but rebuilt nothing. in other words, we screwed up royally.
mb; August 24, 2009 at 11:51 AM

Looking At The World Through Cracked Lens

As ol' Paul wrote in his Corinthian letters.."We see in part and we know in part." Now what piece of this bit of wisdom do we not get? I wish to not run around acting and trying to be some sort of Biblical G00-Ru (I meant to spell it wrong). Or a sage of sages.

I simply want to be able to communicate some of what God has given to me. Why? Do I think what I get is better than what you may have received from Him? Nope. But I do think encouragement comes when we share our daily story of struggle and victory in an effort to encourage each other.

Thanks for letting me share.

Time to soldier on..

mbb

Our Statement of Faith

We believe that God is the eternal king. He is an infinite, unchangeable Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of one substance, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit equal in power and glory. we believe that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan, our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness and God's judgment of death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born into sin, subject to God's judgment of death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness. We believe that Jesus, God's Son, was sent to this world, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary, fully God and fully man in one person. He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was anointed as God's Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit, ushering in God's kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation, preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead. Jesus' atoning death on the cross took God's judgment for sin which we deserved as law-breakers. Jesus' resurrection and ascent back to heaven opened the door for those who received salvation to begin a relationship with God.

Little Nets Into Deep Waters

Fishing nets were designed for one purpose only. To catch fish. Nets are no good if they stay on the boat. Nets serve no purpose if they are never used. I think maybe God sees us this way. We are all created for a purpose (by the way, the creator gets to define what our purpose is). Any other use besides the one we were created for does us no good. But when the creator places His hands upon us, casting us out into those scary, dark places with deep waters, it is then we can see the reality of our purpose. He knew there would be a catch waiting for us. I think I will be the net God has called me to be.

The Twelve Steps

As a community of people in recovery, we affirm that our higher power is Jesus Christ. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Just as God told the children of Israel He was going to give them a promised land, He has revealed to us that He desires to give us a "Promised Life." When Israel got to the promised land, God instructed them to go and in a possess it, fight for it and claim it. In recovery, the 12 Steps are the directions given to us on how to fight, possess and claim this promised life.

Monday, August 24, 2009

All You Need Is Love

2 comments:

THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD