You Can Fail at Many Things in Life, but Don’t Fail at Love

“You can fail at many things in life, but don’t fail at love.”

👆🏽That’s a quote I heard yesterday during a transformational teaching about God’s love. As I digested the statement, I thought how it’s important not to fail at giving love, but also the reverse - receiving it!

The teaching surfaced in my thoughts as I read Jesus’s most important commandment of ALL time in Mark 12. He refers to the Shema, a prayer prayed by the Jewish people twice a day since the command was given by Moses in Deuteronomy 6.

It begins with an imperative to listen. The word carries depth, imploring the listener to allow Truth to penetrate the depths of the heart, permitting understanding to surface & a compelling response to follow.

He reminds us that there is one Lord God worthy of our love. He alone is deserving of a wholly devoted love that encompasses our heart, soul, mind & strength!

Unlike the Law that requires external obedience, the very fulfillment OF the law stands before the teachers of the law!

God loves us with peculiar love because it is often unrequited, but is always unfailing!

He loves us with a strong, superlative kind of love that surpasses ALL others!

He loves us just as we are.

👉🏽No need to clean up

👉🏽No need to pare down

👉🏽Not as we WERE

👉🏽Not as we WILL BE, but JUST AS WE ARE, He loves us!

His love is first & last! No other god is worthy of our affection. This God doesn’t require works for salvation. He loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for the sins of all!

Y’all, can you imagine how lives might change if we remembered the Shema like the Jewish people?

When we keep Gods love & loyalty at the forefront, we don’t follow out of obedience or obligation, but simply out of grateful love for HIS love!

The greater we can receive His love, entirely & sincerely, the greater we can give it! The more we know God loves us, the more we are willing to take risks to follow His lead in love!

If there is any fear in our lives or hesitation to follow His lead, it’s probably an indicator that we’re resisting the fullness of God’s love. His perfect love casts out ALL fear! Oh, that we would feel the freedom to fail at anything, but His love! #OneYearBible

March 5th One Year Bible Readings

NUMBERS 4:1-5:31

MARK 12:18-37

PSALM 48:1-14

PROVERBS 10:26

We all have superpowers that allow us to bear fruit. It’s what we do with the harvest that matters.

If what you were doing was considered wicked, but you were completely clueless, wouldn’t you want to know? If not, don’t continue to read because I’m about to pop the same ignorance bubble in many that exploded for me this morning😳

Mark 12 tells the story of a landowner who leases his vineyard to tenant farmers. They are to till the soil & tend the crops so when harvest time comes, the owner could collect a portion of the crops.

The problem surfaces, however, at harvest time. He sends a servant to collect the crops, but the farmers beat him horribly & send him back empty handed. The owner sends servant after servant & each is either beaten or killed. He finally sends his son, thinking, “Surely they will respect him.” The wicked farmers, however, kill the son with the sole intent of keeping his inheritance.

This parable was told as a reflection of the Jewish leaders. Because they rejected Jesus, God would reject His bride, the Jewish church, & open the plan of salvation to all.

Ok, so you’re probably thinking, “What in the world does this have to do with me?”

I’m with you-I thought the same thing.

When you look up the definition of “tenant farmer”, you learn that it comes from two roots:

Ergo=work

gé=soil

Soil figuratively means,”the arena we live in preparation for eternity”

Here’s the thing:

We are ALL tenant farmers this side of heaven! Your soil might be different than my soil, but the point of soil is to bear fruit, & ANY fruit is meant for eternal impact. The landowner is our Father God. HE created us with gifts, talents & passions that allow fruit to grow in our lives! The question that surfaces is this:

Will we steward our vineyards well & give God the fruit He deserves or will we be like the wicked farmers who treat the blessings of life as, “Mine! Mine! Mine!”

Over the centuries there’ve been many who’ve experienced the privilege of the church, but have not brought forth fruit answerable. This, my friend, is wicked in the eyes of the One Who gave us the very ability TO bear fruit!

We all have Divine superpowers that allow us to bear fruit. Will we keep the inheritance for ourselves or wield our gifts to harvest an eternal crop for our King?

#OneYearBible

March 4th One Year Bible Readings

NUMBERS 2:1-3:51

MARK 11:27-12:17

PSALM 47:1-9

PROVERBS 10:24-25

Living the Still Life

I feel a little snarky inside this morning. Do you ever awaken like that? The rumblings inside have to do with rumblings in our nation & world. I’ve begun writing several sentences & then promptly deleted them because every time I’m about to type the period, I hear the Holy Spirit’s whisper, “Peace, be still, Kimberly.”

David penned that foundational phrase of what it looks like to follow Jesus in Psalm 46. He begins with a reminder of our Source of strength when troubles come, but I get the sense that he’s got a, “Come on! Bring it!” perspective. “Let the earthquakes rumble, let the mountains quake & let the seas surge because MY God dwells with me!”

It’s not that David ignores the shaking around him. He acknowledges & even gives voice to it, but greater STILL is that He acknowledges The One who  commands us to, “BE STILL & know that I am God!”

The word “be” is a state of being verb. When my heart wanted to complain about the many things this morning, He whispered, “Be still…”  The state of my heart had nothing to do with being still. My thoughts raced, my breath was short & my heart pitter-pattered in a cadence not fit for my King.

The word “still” means to sink, relax or cease. My body may have been still, but my insides weren’t. For just a brief moment, I’d forgotten Who I followed. Like I KNOW Him, but I fixed my gaze on the mountains before me instead of my Almighty Fortress Who wins EVERY battle! He alone makes wars cease to the very ends of the earth!

There is a whole lotta shaking happening in our world right now. Sometimes things feel so beyond repair that our insides feel shaky, but what if:

👉🏽We let the shakable things become a reminder of The Unshakable One?

👉🏽We let the “earthquakes & surging seas” become a tool to remember the words of David & the similar echoes of Jesus when He said, “Peace, be still…”?

Jesus, You are Peace. It is only with our gaze fixed on You & feet following Your steps that that we can live the still life! When our eyes begin to wander & our thoughts begin to wonder in fear, whisper Your rock-steady reminder that You are Emmanuel, God with us, so that the surgings insides can cease & we CAN indeed be still!

#OneYearBible

March 3rd One Year Bible Readings LEVITICUS 27:14-NUMBERS 1:1-54 MARK 11:1-26 PSALM 46:1-11 PROVERBS 10:23