Cross-Centered Love (Part 4)

Cross-Centered Love (Part 4)

"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

Some of you teach and know that one of the downsides of teaching is that God often works the stuff you are teaching into your own heart before you teach it or as you are teaching it. When I say "downside" -- it really is the "upside." Know that when I am sharing with you each day, this is the stuff that God is hammering out in my life -- you just get to be part of the journey.

Here are more insights on "cross-centered" love that Dr. Paul David Tripp shares in his book,
BROKEN DOWN HOUSE -- Living Productively in a World Gone Bad (Shepherd's Press):

Cross-centered love ....

21. It means being willing to have [my] schedule and plans interrupted and altered

22. It means being willing to grant and ask forgiveness

23. It means paying attention to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the people God puts in [my] path, and looking for ways to help them bear these burdens

24. It means believing that God will not call [me] to a task without giving [me] what [I] need to accomplish it

25. It means being willing to get up earlier and staying awake longer

26. It means learning the details about someone's struggle so that [I] can love wisely, while at the same time guarding the reputation of the person you are loving

27. It means weeping with the one who weeps and rejoicing with the one who rejoices

28. It means being willing to endure tense and uncomfortable situations lovingly

29. It means allowing [myself] plausible excuses that seeming free [me] from love's call

30. It means making a commitment to being a faithful friend

31. It means being willing to take on big things, even as [I] humbly admit [my] limits

32. It means keeping [my] promises and being faithful to [my] word

The bottom line is that apart from Christ loving THROUGH me, I will fail miserably in what I just shared. That is the beauty of the message of victorious Christian living -- HE LOVES THROUGH ME! Wow! Let Him work these insights into your heart and life today. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

DIGGING DEEPER: Proverbs 29; Exodus 21-22; Matthew 19

DIG THIS QUOTE: Have we as a people been so dumbed down we can't see it? Well, this is what happens, I'm afraid, in a postmodern culture where all values are equivalent and all truth is relative. One moment the President browbeats Congress to pass a trade bill with China. Forget Christians being persecuted. The same day the same President moments later angrily demands sanctions against Japan for hunting whales. There are no principles, just momentary preferences, and everything depends on what's to be gained by those in positions of power....What's good enough for whales ought to be good enough for persecuted Christians. Charles (Chuck) Colson

DETERMINED DIGGING: Level 1 -- 2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 19