Tag: following Jesus

Losing so we can find

Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?
Peterson, Eugene H.. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language . The Navigators. Kindle Edition.

May my plans defer to his plans,
  my ways to his ways,
  my words to his words,
  my life to his life,
  who is Life itself,
  who is the Word itself,
  who is the Way,
  who has plans for me,
  for you,
  for the world.

Amen.

Tags discipleship, embracing suffering, Eugene Peterson, finding ourselves, following Jesus, Gospel of Matthew, losing ourselves, The Message

love Poetry

Our greatest danger

OUR GREATEST DANGER is not our sins but our indifference. We must be in love with God. It is not so much to change what we are doing, but our intention, our motive.
Day, Dorothy. The Reckless Way of Love: Notes on Following Jesus (Plough Spiritual Guides: Backpack Classics) (p. 29). Plough Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

What I do,
What I intend to do,
And how I feel about it
(I keep thinking)

Are distinct,
Separate, in fact,
And controllable,
(I keep telling myself)

Their interactions civil
And honorable
To any casual observer
(I keep believing)

Until the slightest whisper of a feeling
Changes my mind and my actions
Forever

Tags danger, decisions, Dorothy Day, emotions, following Jesus, intention, loving God, motive, sin, The Reckless Way of Love

love Poetry

What he said…

Jesus didn’t say: Figure me out;
He said – Follow me.

He didn’t say: Get your doctrine right;
He said – Judge not.

He didn’t say: Puzzle out the End Times;
He said – Stay awake.

He didn’t say: Perfect yourselves;
He said – Love me with all your heart.

He didn’t say: Develop your vision for ministry;
He said – Love your neighbor.

He said:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
the meek,
those who mourn,
who seek peace,
who hunger and thirst for the world to be right with God,
who are judged and ridiculed for doing so.

He said those things – that’s what He said.

Tags following Jesus, love your neighbor, loving God, ministry, peacemakers, poor in spirit

love Poetry

Love and Fear

Post author By dw
Post date March 17, 2019
1 Comment on Love and Fear

THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF FEAR, and I certainly pray to be delivered from the fear of my brother; I pray to grow in the love that casts out fear. To grow in love of God and man, and to live by this charity, that is the problem. We must love our enemy, not because we fear war but because God loves him.

Day, Dorothy. The Reckless Way of Love: Notes on Following Jesus (Plough Spiritual Guides: Backpack Classics) (p. 34). Plough Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

There is Love and there is Fear.

Fear is kin to Envy, Prejudice, Hate, and Violence.

Love is kin to Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

Love and Fear are not kin.
Love and Fear are enemies.

Fear hates Love; Love loves Fear.

Fear would kill Love.
Love would die to save Fear from itself.

dw

Copyright © 2019, becomingflame.com

Tags Dorothy Day, following Jesus, love and fear, love your enemy, prayer, The Reckless Way of Love

Other Writings

Neon-lit pain

Post author By dw
Post date July 22, 2018
1 Comment on Neon-lit pain

We draw near to him by following him even on clumsy and reluctant feet and without knowing more than two cents’ worth at first about what is involved in following him — into the seventy-five-mile-an-hour, neon-lit pain of our world.

Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons, “The Sign by the Highway”