Throwback Thursday is a series of posts, wherein I will on (some) Thursdays post a piece of writing from back in the day. Generally not from this blog. I will edit lightly for readability, but my intention is to allow each piece to stand basically as written. Over the years my mind has shifted on many things, as my knowledge of life, the Scriptures, and myself has grown. I'm not in the business of hiding this fact, so these will probably (at least on occasion) contain some things which even I think are crazy.
The title has nothing to do with the note, but I thought it might grab some attention. So last night I went and saw Glenn Beck's "The Christmas Sweater: A Road to Redemption". It was quite good. I didn't agree with everything he had to say, but God most certainly used it to speak into my life, in a variety of ways.
First and foremost, I have to stop being so analytical all the time. I have all these great theories about this and that, and I try to be as informed as I can, mostly because it's important to me, so I study my Bible, I keep up on the events of the day, I try to be as knowledgeable as possible. But I miss something, and that something is very important. In fact, it is of the utmost importance. In all of my thought on current events and politics, I forget about people. In all of my thought on the way God wants me to act, and how He wants me to think, I forget that He wants me to love. Because HE loves.(1)
I, and I doubt I'm alone in this, have a tendency to think so much that I forget to feel. Not to say that I'm emotionless, God created us with emotion. But I am so constantly thinking that I suppress and ignore those feelings because they don't seem reasonable, or they won't aid me in my thought. So they are ignored. Not to say that I really want to be that emotional to the point of sappy guy, God didn't make me that way, I believe there's a purpose behind all of this thought. But This lack of feeling makes it really hard to deal with people. Because people, by and large, don't think. They act according to their emotions and feelings, and when I sit back in my analysts chair, it is really easy to be judgmental. But that's not what God has called us to do, He tells us-COMMANDS us, to love our brother. In fact, to not love one's brother is to hate God(2).
So basically, I've just been really convicted that I need to be a more loving person. Not that I need to stop thinking or analyzing, or anything like that. Because that's who God created me to be. But He also created me, He created us, to love and to show compassion. To care for the sick, and the widow, and the needy, and the dying. And that last one-the dying-covers everyone. Because this entire world is dying without Christ. And we have to share that. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35
I said I learned some other stuff, and I did, but I think I will post it in a separate note.
(1)1 John 4:19- "We love because he first loved us."
(2)1 John 4:20,21-"If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."(All Scripture references NIV)
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