Perhaps like no other disciple, John understood that relationship is the point. Every command of Christ and call to obedience is to enhance relationship and place the recipient in a posture the Giver can bless. All else is law.
This study is about finding our way to the heart of Jesus and reclining so closely that our pulse begins to throb in tandem, loving what He loves and hating what He hates.
If John were here, I believe he would tell us, above all, to sell out to love. Legalists tend to get a little nervous when we talk about surrendering to love over service, but Scripture proves that those who loved most lavishly served most sacrificially.
Affection will forever be the most efficient energy a believer can burn in her labors.”
Beth Moore
Beloved Disciple (Nashville, TN: LifeWay Press, 2002), Introduction
I’ve been fighting for something for many, many years. I’ve gone back and forth between fighting for this Thing I felt was worth fighting for—and letting go. Fight. Let go. Fight. Let go. Aww, Jeepers. Let’s be honest. I never really did let go. I think I just felt smacked down, and I couldn’t figure […]
“The Just Shall Live by Faith”
“God says, ‘Habakkuk, you want to know how I, as a holy God, can use evil to accomplish good. Even if I chose to explain to you how I do that, you could not comprehend it.
Habakkuk, you must realize that you are one person living in one place and one point in time, and even if I chose to reveal to you my all-inclusive, overarching plan for the entire universe, you could not understand it. You are finite. But Habakkuk, you can believe that I understand how it all fits together.
Habakkuk, you don’t know what I am doing, but Habakkuk, you can believe that I know what I am doing. Even though you don’t understand how good can come of this, you can believe that I understand how I am using all of this for your good. The just shall live by faith.‘”
Excerpt taken from Be Still My Soul: Embracing God’s Purpose and Provision in Suffering – 25 Classic and Contemporary Readings on the Problem of Pain. Edited by Nancy Guthrie
“I cannot make good choices unless I develop a mature and prudent conscience that gives me an accurate account of my motives, my intentions, and my moral acts. The word to be stressed here is mature. An infant, not having a conscience, is guided in its ‘decisions’ by the attitude of somebody else. The immature […]
Have you ever experienced a time in your life that felt like a tsunami? You’re going along like normal. Living life. You hear something in the distance. You sort of feel it. You look up and you think you see something coming, but you don’t know what it is. As the rumble gets deeper and […]
You’ve got chronic problems. I know you do. You’re a Wemmick, and we’re living in Wemmickville. It comes with the territory. I’m not talking about catastrophic pain like the kind we experience when we lose a loved one or our home burns down or our husband loses his job or a child dives into a […]
I think women often struggle with figuring out who they are. WHY they are. When we think of ourselves, we tend to see ourselves through the eyes of whomever happens to be surrounding us at the time. We’ve got all these roles to play. We wonder if we’re playing them well. If others believe we […]
In the past two posts I’ve given you a few helpful steps in anyone’s quest to raise dysfunctional Wemmicks. It’s fairly easy. You’ve got several things working in your favor: your own sin, their sin, and the sin of everyone else around you. If you missed all the details, not to worry. I’ll make sure […]
Last week we introduced the idea of being stewards of our time and resources. The question is, how does that play out, practically speaking, in our day to day lives? When someone invites us to participate in yet another activity, how do we determine whether or not that activity is a good fit for us? […]
There’s been a lot of chaos in my home lately. A lot of interruptions. A lot of loud voices. A lot of questions. A lot of (different) answers with a lot of subsequent arguing. There’s been a lot of dirty clothes on dirty floors. A lot of laundry. A lot of unmade beds and unclean […]
