Monday, August 29, 2005

Daddy the Sphinx

"What people want is people who have solutions to problems, not problems to solutions."

posted by Aletheia @ 10:09 pm 7 comments

Monday, August 01, 2005

What I've Been Learning Recently

Since I don't have any quotes and we need a new post, I'll tell you about what God has been teaching me recently.
I've always thought that love was pretty much outward. You know, everybody always says that love isn't only that euphoric feeling of being "in love" and all, and Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." So I've always thought the outward acts like the ones listed in 1 Corinthians 13 were all one needed truly to love God and others. Wrong! I've been reading Desiring God, by John Piper, and he says that love isn't only dutifully serving God with outward actions, you've also got to have a desire to be with Him. That changed my perspective. I started thinking, I really don't have an inner love for God--or for my family. I can fake it pretty well, but is love for God consuming all my thoughts? Do I have feelings of love for my family? I think I've gone too far to the actions side, forgetting Mr. Bond's Golden Mean--you've got to have inner feelings and outward actions. So I've been wondering how I'm supposed to get inner love for God and my family, and from talking with my friends and reading my Bible, I've come up with three ways to get true love:
1. Pray that God will give it to you. (Yeah, sometimes things are so simple we forget about them.)
2. Tell God and others that you love them. You know how if you say, "I'm depressed," or "I'm happy," it tends to come true? Well, I've been thinking about how the Psalmists always are saying over and over how much they love God. Shouldn't we do that, too? If we tell people we love them, we are going to develop love for them.
3. Don't forget about the outward actions, either. I was talking to Sarah, and she challenged me, "How do you outwardly love your family?" Well, I came up with very few examples. So maybe I just need to work harder on outwardly loving my family, and the inside will come along, like I always thought it would. Have you ever heard of the five love languages? They are acts of service, gifts, words of affirmation, touch, and quality time. Sarah challenged me to find out the love language of each member of my family, and use their language to show them that I love them.
I challenge you to pray for love, tell others that you love them, and outwardly show love, and with God's help, your relationships will improve!

posted by Aletheia @ 9:18 pm 96 comments