Ch. 270 - The 'Aha!'

"There's nothing that you could ever do to make me love you less."

This is a quote from a Rob Bell NOOMA video [Lump]. Now, I'm not going to lie: I am not a fan of Rob Bell. However, this single line had quite the impact on me. It is the only line I remember from all the NOOMA videos we watched in our Christian Discipleship class.

"There's nothing that you could ever do to make me love you less."

Rob Bell is telling a story of how his son had taken a little, white ball. Soon his actions and somewhat peculiar behavior catches up to him. His mom asks a simple question and he runs upstairs, hiding under the covers of his parent's bed for two hours. Bell comes home from work and finds him there.
But he doesn't yell at his son.
He doesn't punish him.
He doesn't condemn him.
He simply pulls back the covers and then says, "There's nothing that you could ever do to make me love you less."

This is completely relatable to how God loves us, even with our sin and guilt and shame.

Today my devotional spoke of the same thing. It focused on God's love for us. Midway through I read, 'There is nothing you can do that will make God stop loving you.' I just stopped and read that sentence over and over and over. Aha! I mean, here is something that probably seems so simple to understand, but it had never truly clicked with me until then.

Goodness.

God will never love us less.
God will never stop loving us.

Astounding.


'I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.'
[Galatians 2:20]

Ch. 213 - A Mighty Power

Sometimes you need a breakdown before you can get anywhere.
I've been there.
"It's always darkest before dawn."

I don't mind being broken.
I think it's necessary to grow, at times.
I want to be humbled.
I want to cry out to God.
I want to serve.
I want to be taught.

I can't do everything on my own. Anything, really. God makes all things possible. I am breathing because of Him. I am thinking because of Him. I am singing praises to Him because of Him.

I am because of Him.

I forget that too often.


'The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.'
[Job 33:4]

......

Ch. 213, Part Two:

This week's memory verse:

'For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.'
[Galatians 5:13]

Ch. 208 - With the Spirit

I read Galatians during breakfast this morning. I really like the book of Galatians, especially chapters three, five and six. In fact, for my exegesis in Foundations of Christianity I went with the Galatians 6:7-10 option. Anyway, something I read really stuck out to me.

'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.'
[Galatians 5:22-26]

'Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.'
[v. 25]

This was what stuck out to me the most.

I am saved. The Holy Spirit lives in my heart. But I seem to forget that a lot. Am I truly living a Spirit-filled life? A life that is pleasing to God? Paul goes on to list the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Are these fruits the main portions of my diet? I'd like to think they are... but I know that they are not.

If I want to go out and teach others others in this world to live by and with the Spirit, I have to be doing so first. And if I want others to completely be partaking in the fruits of the Spirit, again - I have to be doing so first. I can't expect to be and see a positive change for God's kingdom in this world if I'm not even fully living for and with Him. Trust me when I say that was really difficult to realize and say, but it's certainly the truth and it's about time that I do something about it. I have to learn to lean on Him and trust in the Spirit before I can truly walk with Him.


'You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.'
[Galatians 3:26-27]

Ch. 124 - Building Up, Reaching Out

'Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.'
[Galatians 6:10]


My mom shed some light on this verse for me when I questioned her about it. At first, one may think that it's saying to give special treatment, if you will, to 'those who belong to the family of believers'. However, that's not necessarily the case. When this was written, there was a lot of corruption within the communities that Paul had been to and there wasn't a lot of unity within 'the church'. And in order to love, do good and be a light unto those who were not yet believers, you have to love, do good and be a light within your own group first. You have to be strong throughout and have a firm foundation before you can add on and start building.