"What do you want?" - Jesus

I was thinking today about what I read in Acts 3-4. It centered around a crippled man who was healed in the name of Jesus. In our Bible study discussion, we focused on Peter and John's witness to the people and to their leaders. We identified with them in our need to be in fellowship with Jesus and have the Spirit's power at work in our lives.

But I think we missed another very important point. What about the lame dude? He had been lame since birth. And all he was asking for, all he ever expected, was a little bit of money to get him through to the next day, where he could ask for more money and continue to subsist.

Do we do the same thing? Do we settle for life as it is? Do we underestimate the power of God to do powerful and amazing things in and through us? What are we asking God for? Are we asking him for what any passerby could provide? Or are we asking for God-sized miracles?

The deep wounds in our lives can be healed. We can overcome our fears. We can be set free of the sins that so easily entangle us. We could make the next great discovery of our time. We could be the people God uses to bring a revival. But all we ask God for is a little money to get by. There's nothing wrong with asking God to meet our needs. But what we really need is to experience the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit and to be used greatly for His kingdom!

We could be the ones offering healing to people in Jesus name. But we haven't even asked for it in our own lives.

Prelude to a Promise

What is the difference between a wedding and a marriage?

In a wedding a promise is being made. In a marriage a promise is being kept. As the wedding goes, so goes the marriage. But a wedding does not happen in isolation. A successful wedding begins with a cooperative engagement, which depends on a healthy courtship and dating relationship, which is only possible when both parties came into it as independently whole singles. In other words, a successful single life will lead to healthy dating relationships which are vital to building a better marriage. The foundation of a lasting love begins with a successful single life. Everything you do and every relationship you have from singlehood to dating is a prelude to the promise.

The Wonder of Love

Okay, so Valentine’s Day has come and gone. And to be fair, I’m sure not everyone had a particularly “happy” day on Monday, maybe because they are unwillingly single, because they see it as just another day, or they bear wounds of romance that may still be sore. For others, Valentine’s Day was a reminder of the people in their life for whom they hold deep love and care. Whatever side of the fence we found ourselves on this week, love is hard. It is our highest ideal, our deepest desire and our most difficult lesson.

Love can be wonderful. For both those of us who have love and those of us who seek it, it is our motivation to go on, And the living out of love makes in us the memories that confirm our lives have meaning. It can make the most dreadful routine worthwhile. It can even help us grow up and mature in godliness.

But with love comes the possibility of pain. We love people and we lose them. They leave indelible marks of thankfulness and emptiness.

And in love we make mistakes. We give ourselves away too soon, or to the wrong people. We are left less than whole and in need of healing.

Ironically enough, love shows us who we are. In trying to be selfless we realize just how self-centered and selfish we are. But that is the wonder of it all, that every day we live we learn to be better lovers—of God and of humanity.