My children,
These times in which you are living are not easy. They are in fact hard and inflicted with hurt. What you read and observe may confuse you. Ask questions. I do.
In the past weeks, the faith in which we hope and trust has been both praised and picked apart.
An act of evil stole and destroyed, and a church forgave. Because the God of our Bible forgives and asks us to do so, too.
Not two weeks later, many in the nation rejoiced, as a law challenged the same God through a redefinition of the marriage the same Bible teaches.
And so your parents are praying and asking for guidance and ways to love that will last.
Because we know love wins.
Not the kind of love like you love birthday cake and Popsicles and every cookie you’ve ever tasted. You know how we tell you when to stop each time you are having too much; it’s because we know how bad a belly ache can be.
Not the fleeting kind you’ll think you have with that first crush or in that job that buys you the bigger house or charity that makes you feel good about giving.
I’m talking about the power of a love that is perfect and priceless and paid for by the God who gives us any good in the first place. It is His grace.
This is the God of your parents’ Christianity.
This is the God who punished and paid for and pardoned our wrongs so we can live in what’s right if we want it. And we want it.
And how do we know wrong? We study the same Bible that we read in your bedroom and seek the same Spirit that shows us when it’s more about us than about our God.
Lord, help us, so often we fail.
But He picks us back up and reminds us we must love like He does. It isn’t an easy love.
It requires sacrifice and surrender. It’s being reminded daily my sin caused each stripe across His back; it collides with His cross, and it took Him to the grave. He overcame it.
Jesus showed us true love is hard, and it hurts, but it is always worth it.
So I will love…
“Love is patient; love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
And how will we know the truth, unless we seek it? And how will we know love without it?
And so we will seek. And will not waste a day apart from it. Because our days are fast, but His love is forever.
His love is available. It is offered to all.
This is our Christianity. This is our Christ.
Love,
Mommy
Friends, if you identify as Christian, you are prayed for. If you do not, you are prayed for. As a follower of Christ, we ache with our brothers and sisters throughout the world who are being tortured and killed for their commitment to our God. They are surrendering all. Yet, their suffering feels so far, as our communities become less consumed with the Scriptures and the Spirit and the fellowship that people are giving their lives for. What is this passion that people risk it all for and have since the person of Jesus walked this Earth and was raised to eternal life? Over the last week, I have been immersed in the Gospel message, which begins in the Old Testament and continues throughout Revelation. As we study Jesus, we learn his first command is “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). Jesus begins his ministry after facing temptation from satan himself and overcoming. This promise of victory is ours, as well. In daily submission to the love of God, we can also overcome. If the world labels us as haters or liars or lunatics, we can still pray; we can still give thanks; we can still love. Our God does. “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:16-17
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