GREENE STREET LETTERS: LOVE ONLY AS GOD DOES

Saturday, June 6, 2020

LOVE ONLY AS GOD DOES

If I have been asked once, I have been asked a million times....
Well, maybe not a million, but to put in Southern terms, a bunch.
"How are you dealing with all the sin/crazy stuff that is going on in our nation?"
Don't know that I have an answer for that.
Part of me wants to go all postal on Facebook telling everyone to shut up.
The "religious" part of me really likes the image of Christ going into the Temple with a homemade whip, taking names and clearing it out.
But I can't do that. I'd be acting in my flesh with no love at all in my heart.

I want to get on social media (side bar here- is it me, or is social media the most unsocial thing humanity has ever created?) and just go on a rant of Biblical proportions. The veins popping out in my head and neck.....face red as a beet as I unload one line upon another something akin to an M-60 being fired. As the smoke cleared, I would be standing there with a "Showed them" attitude. None of which is anywhere near where God has called to live. Like I said, these thoughts are more flesh than Spirit, so I keep them at bay so I can hear God when He speaks.

So what now?
The only thing I know to do.
Love....
"Oh not that touchy-feely mess where we sit in a circle and get in touch with our cosmic self."
Nope...
I'm talking about I Corinthians 13 kind of love.
The kind that is God...
The kind that God expects us to live and operate from.
The kind of Love that has no equal found on this earth, because it did not come from this earth. It came down in the form of a man we all could relate to. We call Him Jesus.
He is THE Christ.
He is THE Messiah
He is THE Deliverer
He is THE Savior
He is THE Bread of life
He is THE Lamb slain for sinners
He is THE Lord of all who claim to be Lord and the King over all who claim to be King.
He is THE Great equalizer to humanity.
Seeing us not defined by our race, but the state of heart, Jesus is the giver of life to all who would receive.

SO for this reason, I think I will just love today, as best I can under the influence of God's Holy Spirit.
Oh, I may get it right at times...
And I may mess it up at times....
But I'm never going to move in the direction God desires me to unless I try to love.
Laying down prejudice..
Laying down a judgmental and critical spirit...
I want to empty myself of everything "ME" so I can be filled with everything "HIM".

Thanks for letting me have a moment...
God on you this day...
mbb

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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.

Saturday, June 6, 2020

LOVE ONLY AS GOD DOES

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THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD