"This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love; not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we ought to love one another." 1 John 4:9-11
This is powerful stuff ... learning to love with cross-centered love. Here are ten more definitions on cross-centered love from Dr. Paul David Tripp's book, BROKEN DOWN HOUSE (Shepherd Press):
11. I means being lovingly and humbly honest in moments of misunderstanding; more committed to reconciliation than to being right.
12. It means admitting that you are still learning to love as you have been loved
13. It means being willing to own up to your sin and admit your faults
14. It means not judging the success of your life by the size of your house or bank account, or by the quality of your car, but by the quality of your love for God and others
15. It means regularly examining the motivations, desires, and thoughts of your heart in the mirror of God's Word
16. It means moving beyond simply surrounding yourself with people whom you find comfortable and likable
17. It means being a student of God's WORD, a joyful participant in the means of grace, and a committed participant in the fellowship of the body of Christ, so that the love you offer others may be increasingly pure and mature
18. It means being willing to be misunderstood, mistreated, and misrepresented for the sake of incarnating Christ's love
19. It means overcoming evil with good
20. It means not letting race, social class, gender, age, or ethnicity get in the way of a biblical call to Christ-like love
Brothers, has the Holy Spirit touched your heart today with one of these principles? If so, don't just move on, stop and allow Him to work it into your heart and mind. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK
DIGGING DEEPER: Proverbs 28; Exodus 19-20; Matthew 18:21-35DIG THIS QUOTE: When our lives are focused on God, awe and wonder lead us to worship God, filling our inner being with a fullness we would never have thought possible. Awe prepares the way in us for the power of God to transform us and this transformation of our inner attitudes can only take place when awe leads us in turn to wonder, admiration, reverence, surrender, and obedience toward God. James Houston
DETERMINED DIGGING: Level 1 -- 2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 19
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