People Together

There’s a reason Christ’s first greatest commandment (Love God with your all) is quickly followed by his second (Love people with your all). Can we really love God without loving people?

You’ve heard it before – we were made for community, life is better together…

And it is so true! God was a relational God within His three-person self for eternity past and He stamped that on us as we bear His image. We need others. The God who said that it’s not good for man to be alone, two are better than one and a cord of three is not easily broken…is the God who brought Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, and female together to be His one unified people.

He’s in the business of bringing people together and He works through our contact with others. That’s why I think He’s been so good at providing quality relationships in every season. It may take time when you find yourself bereft of what you knew – and it will never be the same, but He can be trusted that He knows best.

I’ve been so thankful for my developing connections with a diverse range of people. It has been especially good to be connecting a couple times a week with La Ruta, a place downtown that provides a hangout spot for college students. Here are some pictures.

Getting cookies in our mouths only using face muscles

(We won!)

Open Mic Night at Cosmopolitan Coffee Shop, a partnering ministry

I also had a blast spending time with Grace College people in Buenos Aires, Argentina! It was a great encouragement, lots of exercise walking all over the city and a cool opportunity to live a dream of successfully translating for people! I’m praying for continued growth so that I can continue to be a blessing to people in this way!

Wanting Need and Needing Want

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“I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord.”

We often don’t want God, but we do need Him.

God doesn’t need us, but He does want us.

We need God at all times – every hour, minute, second. We know that, but do we live that? We wouldn’t say it, but we often live like we don’t really want Him. We can relate to Paul in that we know the good we ought to do, but still choose to do the opposite (Rom 7:15). We may even tell God that His will or desire can wait until we’re done with our fun. We’re saying we don’t really want Him – we just want ourselves. 

Sooner or later, though, we remember that we desperately need Him – a lot of times when we are reaping the pain that we planted for ourselves. I don’t know how many times you’ve crawled back, but I often wonder why He still forgives, accepts, loves and blesses. Then I remember how His grace works – it increases when our evil does (Rom 5:20) and it is sufficient for us in pain that doesn’t go away (2 Cor 12:7-9).

When He created us, it wasn't because He needed us, because He doesn’t need anything (Acts 17:25). He was doing perfectly before we came along – having community to perfection within His three-person self from eternity past. He has always wanted us bad - bad enough that His sacrifice was worth it to Him. His love-gift is unearned, but He wants our lives, wills and desires sacrificed to Him (Rom 12:1). This is how He is worshipped and adored – and that’s the whole point of all of this.

So our little (in comparison) sacrifices are WELL worth it, but I’m praying that we truly feel that and live that. I pray that I want Him daily. I pray that I live in the reality that I need Him and He wants me.