This blog came out of a great time of being challenged and open to introspection and need for spiritual renewal, during (you can guess why) Spiritual Renewal Week Chapel.
I always enjoy being challenged and pushed to a place I know i need to be, because far to often i know i should be pushed in that way but don't push myself. So here is me thinking through things in need to do/realize/expect/challenge myself in everyday. I really like these and they just came to me and I started writing, maybe ill get even more in depth at a later point.
This is the basis of what I am thinking, I long to love God.
Love is a daily choice.
Love is true, freestanding, steadfast, and anchored in its truth.
In order to daily choose to love, i need to know 3 things.
1) I Need My Daily Bread
For man does not live on bread alone but by the very WORD of God.
2) Every Day Is a Battle
There is a WAR going on and there needs to be defensive and offensive moves taken to combat it.
3) Myself and others are involved
I am not alone in this but I am also called to DO WORK. God, HIS word, and His people are there for me, believing in me and rooting for me but I cannot rest on them alone because ultimately I am responsible for my actions.
Love it, need it gotta live by it and focus on these things. I believe these are biblically backed and spoken in the Word by Jesus and those who sought after him and teach us to as well. (I will take time to look up examples for these guys for sure, this is just the conversation in my brain.)
Expanded Thoughts-me thinking along the blurred lines of reality and spirituality.
1) What is sustenance and what is filling. You can be sustained even without food but will be beaten down to a shell. The world will beat you down if you are without the Word. You see hungry people or people who eat and throw it up or are content with little pieces of food and you can see outwardly that they are not healthy, but it is the inward damage that makes it even more intense.
You must ingest, devour, complete the meal and cycle of grafting, absorbing your daily food in order to bring life and nutrients. The whole system boils down to resupplying your energy in order to live and grow. The Word of God is your daily bread, your honey that breaks down into sugar and ends up being the building block through which life comes from. It has to be daily to keep up with the body and with the life around you and the things that you do, if it is neglected or shut off, then the results end up stunted and maimed.
2) Everyday is a battle of forces coming together or two sides that war. It is what a choice is. One side for one and another side for the opposite. For us it is to Live by Christ or to live by self. Walk in the light or walk/stumble/meander through darkness. Yet when you look at war it is not something that just happens or is a stagnant state that you call something. It is active and imposing, it requires action on both sides. War is a tactical situation where offensive and defensive maneuvers must take place. They must be planned and also put into action, what good is a plan if it stays on the drawing board and is not initialized. Both sides must also be used in terms of X's and O's. If you just engage in a defensive battle plan you play on the offensive terms. The other side just does not sit there and let you be, they may lay siege to you and wear you down and starves you out until surrender happens. Countermeasures and an offensive strategy of your own must be employed. Taking hold of what is rightfully yours and bringing it back to peace requires work to be done to defeat the enemy, for it will always try to take back what it wants no matter how far you push it back. If you leave it living and stop the offensive it will come back to get you. Take ground and then reposition your defenses for the next attack for surely the next attack is coming.
3) "You'll Never walk alone" but you do have to walk as well. You are never alone in what you do for there is always at least someone either rooting for you or wanting to come alongside to join you. If you have two choices then you are on one side and so will someone else. You and your group will go after it together for the common goal, but this does not just happen (see point 2). The group will not succeed unless every member pulls their weight. A team, group or unit is not defined by the whole but what each individual effort is given and added up into a whole. Each is accountable for their own job and if one falters it affects the whole. You must not only recognize that you are not alone but hold up your end of the group if you are to succeed. I think of a Phalanx in the Greek fighting days, notably of the 300 Spartans. A terrifying group and a unit that is not easily broken. When each man carries his own end of the bargain, his own weight they are nearly unstoppable as the whole works "as one." But it still relies on your work and the person next to you's work. you hold up your shield not just to protect yourself but also the one next to you. You must have put in work yourself to be able to carry this shield and others are counting on you to put in your work. They will encourage and uplift you for the good of all but it still comes down to the one person taking charge of themselves. In the end the group will give you strength but it must you that decides to hold the shield up when push comes to shove.
I love all of this imagery to me, it makes sense and hopefully it can translate to you. I am pushing forward and driving after a life i have always known i am capable of, but it takes disciple, time, effort and help to make this a reality. I am loved by God, my friends and family who support me and by the belief in me that tells me i am made in imago dei for something special and wonderful, but i must take hold of it knowing that its through HIS Word, and battling the schemes of the evil one, and decided to take action myself that i will be set free and live in the light of love.
