The radical good news is that the second love is only a broken reflection of the first love and that the first love is offered to us by a God in whom there are no shadows." pg 40
Radically good news, indeed. So many people, including Christians, don't know that God's love is not like ours. We love, in our often inconsistent, conditional, half-hearted way, only because He loved us first. His love is pure and complete. Ours can't even compare. This year I want to grow in real love and display it so that it looks different than what people have seen before. I want the girls I disciple to more fully understand God's love for them so that they are overwhelmed and spurred on to righteousness. And, I want that for our whole staff too. I know I forget this all the time. When I have been distant from the Lord, I think He must be so disappointed, and I return to Him with my tail between my legs. I forget that when He says He loves us unconditionally and that His love never fails and it never changes, well, it's true. That is radically good news.
What I liked most about your post is how you highlighted how much less our love is compared to Christ's. Our society is so wrapped up in the love that we can have, that we don't even see how deficient it is compared to Christ's.
ReplyDeletekristen - great quote and post. I am excited that you want to love differently, but the big question is: HOW DO WE DO THIS? You want this for the whole staff, so where are we lacking?
ReplyDeleteAy. It's about His love and not ours. I love this quote too because it's something we must remember. We must love from His heart, not our own. Or our well will run dry.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my favorite parts of the book too. I love how Nouwen writes that our love is only a broken fraction of God's first love, what love is and what it was intended to be, for all of us. I think the answer of how we get this love is what Nouwen challenges us to consider, and that is to ask ourselves, "Do we love Him?" Are we willing to continually seek Him and his heart in contemplative prayer so that we can be sure that we are following His will? I love how Nouwen so openly discusses his misconceptions of leadership and highlights the importance of vulnerability. One thing I have recently started praying is, "Soften my heart, Lord." I think with me, I constantly struggle with seeking His will because the flesh in me wants to be so independent. My flesh is fighting submission so my prayer for us and the body of Christ is to make us aware and okay with the fact that we need Him. Every day, every second, we need Him to soften our hearts to Him. We need Him to humble us to Himself and each other, just like Jonathan was saying in his post. I love you, Kristen! Good Thoughts! :)
ReplyDelete"how do we love the whole staff that reflects the abundant love of Christ?" what a question. i suppose much of the answer comes down to the idea that we must be teachable. i'll be the first to admit that i am not as teachable as i'd like. we must practice submitting ourselves to the One who does love perfectly and ask Him, "Father, show me how to express your perfect love through my imperfect one."
ReplyDelete(i don't really have any practical steps- sorry.)
I have always been fascinated with 1 John 4:12 "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." Shwaat? So we come to know and are confident in Christ, who is love. We are commanded to love, and because of Jesus we are enabled to love. And as we love, God promises that his love will be perfected, because He is love. This idea goes round and round in my head la di da di da. My hope is that I commit to keeping God's word and the second love feels more and more counterfeit. As God's love is perfected in me there is no wanting of the second love. And I think that God loves that we as a body go through the process of being perfected in love because of what Natasha said, "Father, show me how to..."; in the process we are keenly aware of our need and dependence on Him, the perfect one. looooove.
ReplyDeletep.s. I wrote 'love' 14 times.