You ever have one of those nights where you can’t sleep because you feel like God is on the prowl?
I’m having one of those nights, so I decided to log some of my thoughts. Maybe it’ll tire me out so that I can sleep afterwards. ;)
Uncovering a core value
Every now and then I wonder what my “Jesus core values are.” The things I would try and consistently impart to others. As an intern, I know Pastor Stovall consistently stressed the importance of not being offended and submitting to authority.
So those seem to be core values of Pastor Stovall.
For the sake of God’s purposes, advancing the Kingdom, reaching out to the lost, etc., you can never die to self or sacrifice enough.
I think that is one of my core values.
The natural is just not good enough
You can only get so far in the natural. You can only get so far with a well articulated and organized email with a specific call to action. You can only get so far.
The rest of the way requires some supernatural intervention. It requires God to come in and work his mojo. Maybe that’s why God asks us to pray. We can only do so much with our own hands.
To all my fellow co-laborers
Please don’t ever forget this chapter …
1 Corinthians 13 (NIV)
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
*4 Love is patient, love is kind.* It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. *7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.*
*8 Love never fails.* But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
2 replies on “A hodge-podge of late night ponderings”
‘you can never die to self or sacrifice enough’….yeah dawg! i love that you give a voice to these vibes that ring in our church so often. i heard that the wed. night service on 4-30 was killer and on this subject to some extent.
What a profound example of what we need to focus on to be true Christians…to really be Christ-like. Thank you for putting up this post – and reminding me that love, above all, is the most important core value I want to possess. YOU ROCK ALEX!!!