Living in order to do that loving
My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. (I John 3:18-20)
To practice indicates there is a habitual or customary performance of something in your life. It is this repeated performance, or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring a skill or proficiency that we are looking at today. The difference between talk and practice is action - practice requires the action which actually backs up the talk. In other words, there is substance to it. Love is really an action, not just a "message" or a thing we "say". It requires action to back it up! As a matter of fact, the "means" by which we can evaluate if we are really living in the reality of being kids of the King is us putting love into action! So, it is more than just "action" - it is a "measuring stick" by which we can determine if the "Christian" life change has occurred within us. Self-centered individuals put love into action, but the action is directed toward themselves! Christ-centered individuals put love into action in such a way which reveals Christ to the world.
Maybe one of the most important things to understand is the ability for the practice of love "shutting down" our own self-criticism. The debilitating effect of our self-criticism is probably very well-known to many of us. I don't think there is probably a person reading this who has overcome all aspects of self-criticism. In fact, if we were painfully honest, we'd admit we often struggle with being a little hard on ourselves on some of the same issues over and over again, right? We can shut this type of "impractical" self-talk down - with the practice of love in our lives. God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. God is greater. We don't even need the rest of the passage - God is greater is more than sufficient to shut down ALL of our self-criticism. When I worry about how I must appear when I say something foolish and self-centered, I recall that indeed "God is greater" than any of my foolishness and self-centered actions! God is greater - not just bigger, but greater. He is our "more than enough" - more than enough in our failures, more than enough in our deficiencies, and more than enough even when success might build up our egos a bit.
Our worried hearts are best handled by the one who settles the storms. God is greater than our worried hearts - this speaks more than most of us realize. We torment ourselves with all kinds of disturbing thoughts, don't we? God is greater than any mountain of disturbing thoughts we could muster up! All the things which "harass" us with their continual "nipping at our heels" - those little and big things which we tend to muddle over time and time again - are not outside of his care. We just need to place them squarely into his care! God is greater - but he wants us to realize those worries are best placed into his hands in the first place. God knows more about us than we do ourselves. This should give us some sense of hope - the Creator knows exactly how we were created and he is able to put in order anything which may have become a little "disordered" in our lives through the influence of sin, the self-destruction of various behaviors, or the misguidance of another.
God is greater - greater than _______. You fill in the blank. Nothing could fit into that "blank" for which God is not sufficient (more than enough) to overcome, fix, or put out of the way in our lives. Love in action is to realize the most important relationship we can maintain is that which centers us squarely on the one who is "more than enough" to overcome all our worries, problems, and 'internal issues'. We often think we are the ones doing the "loving" in our lives, but until God does the "living" in our lives, all the "loving" which comes out of our lives falls short of what the Creator really designed. Just sayin!
To practice indicates there is a habitual or customary performance of something in your life. It is this repeated performance, or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring a skill or proficiency that we are looking at today. The difference between talk and practice is action - practice requires the action which actually backs up the talk. In other words, there is substance to it. Love is really an action, not just a "message" or a thing we "say". It requires action to back it up! As a matter of fact, the "means" by which we can evaluate if we are really living in the reality of being kids of the King is us putting love into action! So, it is more than just "action" - it is a "measuring stick" by which we can determine if the "Christian" life change has occurred within us. Self-centered individuals put love into action, but the action is directed toward themselves! Christ-centered individuals put love into action in such a way which reveals Christ to the world.
Maybe one of the most important things to understand is the ability for the practice of love "shutting down" our own self-criticism. The debilitating effect of our self-criticism is probably very well-known to many of us. I don't think there is probably a person reading this who has overcome all aspects of self-criticism. In fact, if we were painfully honest, we'd admit we often struggle with being a little hard on ourselves on some of the same issues over and over again, right? We can shut this type of "impractical" self-talk down - with the practice of love in our lives. God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves. God is greater. We don't even need the rest of the passage - God is greater is more than sufficient to shut down ALL of our self-criticism. When I worry about how I must appear when I say something foolish and self-centered, I recall that indeed "God is greater" than any of my foolishness and self-centered actions! God is greater - not just bigger, but greater. He is our "more than enough" - more than enough in our failures, more than enough in our deficiencies, and more than enough even when success might build up our egos a bit.
Our worried hearts are best handled by the one who settles the storms. God is greater than our worried hearts - this speaks more than most of us realize. We torment ourselves with all kinds of disturbing thoughts, don't we? God is greater than any mountain of disturbing thoughts we could muster up! All the things which "harass" us with their continual "nipping at our heels" - those little and big things which we tend to muddle over time and time again - are not outside of his care. We just need to place them squarely into his care! God is greater - but he wants us to realize those worries are best placed into his hands in the first place. God knows more about us than we do ourselves. This should give us some sense of hope - the Creator knows exactly how we were created and he is able to put in order anything which may have become a little "disordered" in our lives through the influence of sin, the self-destruction of various behaviors, or the misguidance of another.
God is greater - greater than _______. You fill in the blank. Nothing could fit into that "blank" for which God is not sufficient (more than enough) to overcome, fix, or put out of the way in our lives. Love in action is to realize the most important relationship we can maintain is that which centers us squarely on the one who is "more than enough" to overcome all our worries, problems, and 'internal issues'. We often think we are the ones doing the "loving" in our lives, but until God does the "living" in our lives, all the "loving" which comes out of our lives falls short of what the Creator really designed. Just sayin!
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