So
this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love
much but well. Learn to love
appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your
love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life,
circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits
from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved
in the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-10 MSG
As I read through #TheBestYes this week as well as the
testimonies in my FB Group, watched and read the P31 OBS Blog; one lesson was
clear: God provides wisdom and expects us to choose to live our lives not only
loving and obeying Him but applying wisdom, His wisdom to our everyday
decisions. It was the first time I saw wisdom from the Bible in this way. I
study the Bible and consider myself a student of God’s word so I am always
learning but I know that is a gift and not how most people approach their spiritual
life. I knew the book of Proverbs might as well be called the book of wisdom
but I thought of it more as guidelines or advice. What Lysa Terkeurst (and Beth
Moore) do for me, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is make God’s truth applicable
to my everyday life, they show me how to take what I am learning and live it
out. I always relied on them making His word come to life in such a way that my
life would be improved but never really considered taking what I was reading in
the Bible and using it as a road map for making every decision. God’s words are
comfort when I am down, light when darkness is rising up, encouragement when I
am hard on myself, a love letter from my Abba Father when the pain of not
having an earthly father, a father of origin stings, motivation when life seems
too hard to live, a lesson in how sin can destroy us and the most beautiful
love story ever told when I am feeling unlovable but now it advices me for my
day ahead. Take Philippians 1:9-10, which I have copied above. A week ago I
would have looked at that verse and seen Jesus saying to me, “this is why you
are celibate; I need you to be equipped with the way the Father and I love
before you will ever be ready to have a romantic relationship again. This my
precious daughter is why we don’t shoot off an email response or text when
someone has pushed the wrong button and you take a minute to talk with us
because those feelings you have are fickle and fleeting and when you see things
from my perspective you can love that person instead of hate.” Now, I hear
those things but I also hear how I am supposed to read a legal document someone
who hurt me deeply needs me to read and sign, “Don’t hold back precious because
you were hurt, look at this piece of paper as an assignment I have given you.
Use the love I have for you and this other daughter of mine, love I have set
apart as a tool to read the document. It is an act of love for me not an act of
service for her. Don’t see the hurt Melissa; see the assignment which will be
over and done as soon as we do it together instead of acting like it didn’t exist
and keeping it hidden at church.” Some assignments God has for us are small:
doing the dishes so you can have a stress free and focused time with Him and
others like serving every week at church require a physical, emotional,
spiritual and maybe even financial commitment. God may not actually have had
Paul write you name in the Bible, the Holy Spirit may not have led those men to
write about your exact issue that is troubling your heart but if you take a
moment and read the Bible asking God for what wisdom He has for you there is a
promise from me to you that it’s there. Ask and you shall receive. I wasn’t even
asking tonight for wisdom about that document,
I was asking Him what He wanted me to blog about this week, He led me to open “The
Best Yes” and review what He had for me this week and Lysa had this verse for
us on the third page of our first chapter this week and because I had taken the
time to look up the verse in another translation I had a note in the margin, “MSG
translation is great: learn to love appropriately.”
And
it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so
be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, Philippians 1:9-10 ESV
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