No planning
No plotting
No scurrying
It is not this way among you...
No lording over
It is not this way among you...
My heart is strong and my thoughts cohesive. My passion direct and my longing fervent. There are no eloquent words accompanying this charge. A plea, a heart felt plea... Love one another. There is no catch phrase or current popular saying that can be spoken in some profound manner as to move you. Love one another.
It is not this way among you....
When love is patient and kind and not seeking its own it is a force... a most powerful force to be reckoned with...
Fads within the church come and go... whether it is the 20somethings, or women, or the prophetic, or prophetic worship, intercession, seeker sensitive church planting.... Fads in the church come and go... But beyond all fads.. beyond all 5 step plans for this, or 20 ways to become better at that; there is something more real and more tangible that people are so very hungry for...
Fads in the church come and go... Words like authentic and transparent will be replaced in the next wave by the words that will fill out the coming fads that will prevail upon the church and its people.. its consumers...
Fads in the church come and go...
It is not this way among you................
I have said it before here...
The 2002 movie, The Four Feathers, is a movie that holds my heart in so very many ways..
From the lines that speak of not walking so proudly upon the earth, to the words that declare that paths cross and friendships are forged in the strangest of places within the deserts and battlefields of life, to the declarations of what is actually fought for in the moments when it matters....
You may be lost, but you are not forgotten. For those who have traveled far, to fight in foreign lands, know that the soldier's greatest comfort is to have his friends close at hand. In the heat of battle it ceases to be an idea for which we fight. Or a flag. Rather we fight for the man on our left, and we fight for the man on our right. And when armies are scattered and the empires fall away, all that remains is the memory of those precious moments that we spent side by side. (Jack Durrance Four Feathers)
Grand gestures fall away and what remains are the small and consistent, day by day realities of friendship, affection, love... What fills out the human heart is not the momentary exhilaration accompanying some snap shot of life... It is the daily recognition of love and friendship. It is the quiet moments, the moments of laughter, the moments of small private joys beheld by the few....
In previous days it was not ever the gatherings of the hundreds but the intimate settings afterwards or before, the "moments that we spent side by side."
One of my favorite scenes that I have never written about is from early on in the movie. When before the drama begins to truly unfold, the friends are at a formal event and they escape the pomp and circumstance to be together upon the balcony. The three friends.....
For them it was not about ceremony... For them it was about each other.. The journey from beginning to end is that of friendship and discovery.
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"It is not this way among you..."
Those words, Jesus expresses in addressing his disciples as they try to find their place in the group.
25But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26"It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,
In my home church in Virginia there is a lot of talk about the reality of ministry and relationship. That is the scripture that I keep meditating on, Matthew 20:25-26.
I've been in ministry for over two decades and in many different churches and organizations. Where I am landing these days as I sit and sip coffee with friends and share conversation over meals is how essential and important it is to find the path where it would be true that, "It is not this way among you."
IT IS NOT THIS WAY AMONG YOU...
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I am awakening ... My eyes are being open and my heart is becoming stout. I am ceasing to say that I am tired of things and speaking in longing and negativity. I have set my heart and my eyes upon the prize for which I am called forth and I will be captivated.. and I will, with His grace, play the part of the fool and know nothing else but Christ and His love.. no .. not just His love.. His passion for me... I will play the part of the fool and stand upon His truth and within His gaze I will be lost forever more....
For in His words... It is not this way among you... It is not our ways.. For we have looked to a better land and a place where The Servant is King of Kings and Lord of lords.
"It is not this way among you..."
Those words, Jesus expresses in addressing his disciples as they try to find their place in the group.
25But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26"It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,
In my home church in Virginia there is a lot of talk about the reality of ministry and relationship. That is the scripture that I keep meditating on, Matthew 20:25-26.
I've been in ministry for over two decades and in many different churches and organizations. Where I am landing these days as I sit and sip coffee with friends and share conversation over meals is how essential and important it is to find the path where it would be true that, "It is not this way among you."
IT IS NOT THIS WAY AMONG YOU...
....................................................................................................
I am awakening ... My eyes are being open and my heart is becoming stout. I am ceasing to say that I am tired of things and speaking in longing and negativity. I have set my heart and my eyes upon the prize for which I am called forth and I will be captivated.. and I will, with His grace, play the part of the fool and know nothing else but Christ and His love.. no .. not just His love.. His passion for me... I will play the part of the fool and stand upon His truth and within His gaze I will be lost forever more....
For in His words... It is not this way among you... It is not our ways.. For we have looked to a better land and a place where The Servant is King of Kings and Lord of lords.
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