February 11 IF LOVE ISN'T THE DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC OF OUR FAITH, …

Affirmation: My feelings deserve to be expressed.

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Wholehearted Guidepost from Brené Brown

Guidepost 8: Cultivating Calm and Stillness and Letting Go of Anxiety as a Lifestyle

DIG Deep

GET DELIBERATE

I want us to get deliberate around stillness. How do you create an emotional clearing in your life? In your journal, pick any page and write three things you could do on a daily basis to create tiny pockets of stillness, little pieces of clearing in your life. For me, this is listening to a special song each morning or not checking my phone when I have a quiet moment.

GET INSPIRED

The definition of courage in this course is sharing your story with your whole heart. Feel free to share your calm and stillness photo, your calm map and/or whatever has meant the most to you about this lesson by posting them on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #OLCBreneCourse! You can also share with a supportive friend or family member anything else that inspired you this week: a valuable phrase from the lesson, creative work from your journal, or an inspiration from your everyday life. (Or right here on this blog.)

My calm photo is a watercolor of swinging peacefully.

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Mastering the 7 Decisions from Andy Andrews 

The Compassionate Decision 

6. I WILL GREET THIS DAY WITH A FORGIVING SPIRIT.

By the act of forgiving, I am no longer consumed by unproductive thoughts. I will forgive those who have criticized me unjustly.

I now understand that forgiveness has value only when it is given away. I forgive their lack of vision, and I forge ahead.

I now know that criticism is part of the price paid for leaping past mediocrity. I will forgive those who do not ask for forgiveness. From this day forward, my history will cease to control my destiny. I have forgiven myself. My life has just begun.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

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Reading for Today

Walk in Grace. Live in Love. by Bob Goff

Feb. 11

IF LOVE ISN'T THE DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC OF OUR FAITH, WE NEED TO FIND OUR WAY BACK TO WHERE WE STARTED. 

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.

JOHN 15:18 

 

One time Jesus and His disciples wanted to go to a village in Samaria. Here was the problem: the people in the village weren't having it. Apparently, they had an issue with people from Jerusalem. The disciples heard the outcry from the village, and do you know what they said? "Jesus, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?" Yikes. It seems a little harsh, yet at the same time not unfamiliar. We're a lot like the disciples sometimes, wanting to tap into nuclear weapons when people say something we don't agree with or rub us the wrong way. At some point, we started to believe that our doctrine is the defining characteristic of our faith. We got it in our heads that knowing the truth and telling others about it was our greater purpose here on earth than simply loving the people God made.

 

The gospel isn't a set of doctrines we agree with, though. It's actually Jesus. He said He was the way, the truth, and the life. Don't add to it. It's possible to have great doctrine and lousy theology. Loving people the way Jesus did is great theology. The Bible helps us understand how God wants us to live, but never let anything block your view of the fact that He's the one who holds all things together. He's the one who rescued us and who still rescues us when we slip up and need some grace.

 

There will be times you're not welcomed. There will be times you're mis­understood. There are times you'll be angry about it. We don't need to ask God to rain down fire on the people who have been difficult. Just keep moving forward, eyes fixed on Jesus and off of everyone else.

 

Is there someone you've written off because of the way they once responded to you?