Something to really think about...

I am rereading the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.  To be honest, I don't think I ever made it all the way through the first time!  It's a hard book to read and really makes you think about the way you are living.

Anyways for me it has been great, because lately I have been struggling with being lukewarm…do I really want to fight the upstream battle of living for God…"I am doing fine, things are good" obviously I am doing just fine living the way I am.  Unfortunately, I have had these exact thoughts and I really want to change them.  I don't want to be "just fine."

The book is definitely challenging me in many ways….

Today while I was reading chapter 5, I was really struck by:

Chan is talking about God assessing our lives on how we love. He quotes 1 Corinthians 13:4 -8, 13:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

He then tells how he was challenged to replace the word love with his first name for every phrase in the passage…do it….WOW, it was incredibly convicting for me.  It made me realize that I am not loving people the way God wants me to. 

I love this passage of scripture and I have at many times considered myself someone who truly loves others but man, slowing down and reading this with my name in place of love, I realized I really need to try harder.  I really need to rely on God and look to him for his standard of loving.  It is so easy to fall into the ways of the world.

"Love is patient, love is kind"……I fail at this one everyday, with my kids, in traffic when I am running late, with my mom or anyone who just needs a little of my time and I am too busy to give it.

"It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud"…I fail at this one mostly with my kids and husband, I am so proud of who they are, I tend to probably boast to often.  I mean my kids are "awesome", but in reality so are everyone else's.  We all love our kids and we are all doing the best we can to raise them and who's to say one is better then the other.

"It does not dishonor others"…..I fail at this every time I open my mouth and speak negatively about another person….it is so easy to get caught up in gossip and to convince myself it's not really gossip.

Anyways, you get the idea.  I fail in many more ways but I don't need to point out all my failures to you.  I know I succeed in many ways also, but I am hoping to start succeeding more than failing.