I can't think straight...
Apr. 27th, 2005 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acresofhopeI'm sure eventually I'll think of what I actually wanted to write, but right now I'm just...gah. The bros are driving me crazy, and the phone is ringing off the hook. Maybe it would be so bad if someone called for me...but oh well.
I've been thinking a lot about...well...it's hard to explain without saying something about a conversation I had with a friend. She has some tough issues, and blames them on her "psycho-Christian" family and friends. Usually I just listen and offer all the comfort I can, without saying anything about Jesus. But this time...I don't know, it was just eating me alive. I knew she'd be angry, but I told her what she needed was love, real, unconditional, limitless love and that only Jesus could give her that.
Understandably so, she told me how she was done with Christianity, and "psycho-Christians" who force their beliefs on her. She says I look down on her because of her beliefs, even if I don't believe I do. She doesn't believe me when I say I love her. I've been struggling inwardly, trying to figure out if she's right about me.
Yeah, I told her I could care less about her beliefs. She can believe what she wants. What I want for her is love, the love of Christ. But even in that, did I try to force it on her? Or does she just misinterpret any "Jesus loves you" talk to be a direct attack on her?
I don't want to be forceful, because love is not rude or self-seeking (1 Cor 13:5), but where is the line between forceful and bold? When do I cease to be an instrument of God's love and mercy and become a "psycho-Christian"? I'm not sure I know.
In light of all this...and I may be way off in thinking this.
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
Love...is greater than faith...
I don't have time to finish that thought, nor do I know how to put it into words. For now...I'm off.
I've been thinking a lot about...well...it's hard to explain without saying something about a conversation I had with a friend. She has some tough issues, and blames them on her "psycho-Christian" family and friends. Usually I just listen and offer all the comfort I can, without saying anything about Jesus. But this time...I don't know, it was just eating me alive. I knew she'd be angry, but I told her what she needed was love, real, unconditional, limitless love and that only Jesus could give her that.
Understandably so, she told me how she was done with Christianity, and "psycho-Christians" who force their beliefs on her. She says I look down on her because of her beliefs, even if I don't believe I do. She doesn't believe me when I say I love her. I've been struggling inwardly, trying to figure out if she's right about me.
Yeah, I told her I could care less about her beliefs. She can believe what she wants. What I want for her is love, the love of Christ. But even in that, did I try to force it on her? Or does she just misinterpret any "Jesus loves you" talk to be a direct attack on her?
I don't want to be forceful, because love is not rude or self-seeking (1 Cor 13:5), but where is the line between forceful and bold? When do I cease to be an instrument of God's love and mercy and become a "psycho-Christian"? I'm not sure I know.
In light of all this...and I may be way off in thinking this.
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
Love...is greater than faith...
I don't have time to finish that thought, nor do I know how to put it into words. For now...I'm off.
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no subject
Date: 2005-04-28 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-28 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-28 03:16 pm (UTC)1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If 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. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love 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. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When 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. 12Now 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.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Sometimes, it is not so much what we have or what we are capable of, but the spirit that we do it in. If your spirit(attitude) is right, then your intent will be true, whether others believe you or not, HE will.