thoughts on pointing to God, God's love

Great message I stumbled upon today that was on a blog by Chris Peterson, a songwriter - a wild coincidence since I had sent a messgage to one of my friends this morning and had mentioned how I wanted & needed the man I was with to be an arrow pointing to Heaven. After sending the message I thought, is that asking too much, dreaming too big, to which this article confirmed to me NO, it’s not, because that’s what we should be doing as followers of Christ – pointing to God.

What does it mean to be a Christ follower in today’s world? In a world ini-dated with churches and philosophies and politics, where do we fit in? How does God want us to live? What should we do? Here are some things that I feel God has given me as an answer:
James 1:27
1 John4: 10-12

In a world driven by success and fame I also think that there are specific things we should be focused upon. Twitters, Facebooks, Myspaces and whatever else promotes someone “following” you remember that there is one thing that we as Christ followers should do with EVERY word, EVERY breath and EVER action…GLORIFY HIM. Point to Him, and I’m not just talking about with our lips but with our lives. IT SHOULDN’T BE about how many people follow us on Twitter or Facebook but all about HIS name and HIS renown (Isaiah 26:8)! Our attitudes should be the same as Paul who said “Follow me as I follow the example of Christ”. So I say this in love…POINT TO HIM… =0)

Jesus tells us to GO and LOVE the people in the world. He has never said, “go and point the finger of condemnation”. His love saved you and is MORE than enough to save “that other guy”. This is the love that we have access to and that lives in us. We can offer what Jesus spoke over 2000 years ago, check this out:
12- When Jesus spoke again to the people he said, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

So my question is…who and what are you living for today????? Who do you need to care for? Who do you need to show love to? What changes do we need to make?
Father, let everything we do whether in word or in deed all be about You and Your Name…


God is SO good! Today I turned something unpleasant (driving) into something wonderful (worshipped God!) and it was hard to leave the car! What I was listening to was Bethany Dillon’s “You are one our side”:

You sit at the table with the wounded & the poor, you laugh & share stories with the thief & the whore, when you could just be silent & leave us here to die. Still, you sent your son for us, you are on our side.

I love this song because it makes me think of God’s humanity. And, I had sat at the breakfast table talking with my dad before work & thought about how Jesus does that with us in spirit and did that with society’s outcasts in the flesh years ago.

Jesus engaged people & was fully present to them & enjoyed their company because he loved them SO MUCH. As the song says, he laughed. I bet he was fun and easy to be around. I mean, think about the people who love you most – your best friends, your parents, your significant other – who just know you so well and love you so much. They’re easy to be around because you don’t have to pretend to be something you’re not and you can sense they celebrate you and love you. I have a feeling that’s how Jesus was too, to the thieves, whores, poor, and wounded, who had never experienced such love, had never felt like a treasure until Jesus treasured them.

And the best part, the part that made tears well in my eyes, was “you could just be silent and leave us here to die.” The image came to mind of someone struggling, bleeding to death, lonely, afriad, and God just looking on them and doing nothing and turning away from their open wounds, disgusting sin and depravity. But that’s not what he does. He runs to us. He scoops us up in his arms. He saves us from our sin, ourselves, our death, he sends his son for us to bear the shame so we don’t have to. He is on our side. And nothing can separate us from his love.

Yayyyy! Happy Friday!!!