Who has captivated you?
Ian and I were reading a book this past month by Francis Chan and he challenged us with a few intimate questions..."What makes Jesus so compelling, beautiful? What characteristics are you drawn to? What actions did He perform that grab your attention?"
I immediately had Ian stop reading and repeat the questions to me as I journaled them..."What makes Jesus so compelling, beautiful?" My heart leaped...suddenly I was captivated all over again thinking about the intimacy of Jesus, His life, His death and His love for us. His love for all of us.
Upon our return to our home in Africa, there has been a rhythm of family devotions together...we feel it is important to practice what we preach so we sit together, worship, open the Bible to scripture and discover Abba, Jesus through the Word as Holy Spirit guides and speaks. We have started to visit our neighbors, sit with them, speak their language, listen to them as we enjoy their presence, meet practical needs, we pray for some as we walk down the paths all while listening for our Father's voice. We keep it simple as we feel Jesus asks us to. It is really what life should always look like. It can be a vulnerable life as you sit with those you barely know, wrestling with a new language and enter in...it can bring rejection, manipulation, pain. But it can also bring joy beyond our grasp!
We enjoy reading (hence why Francis Chan triggered my thoughts), enjoy others thoughts on scripture and revelation they receive from the Lord. There are some that make a living off of sharing their encounters, their ideas, their ongoing stories of God in their lives or their ongoing battle against religion. Some how for us here on earth, His word, the Word is never enough for us so there are times we lean into these writers, pastors, religious/spiritual experts. We cannot explain it all...the flood, the death, the loss, the great exchange, the glory, the love, the magnitude of who He is...so we look to others to explain it for us, to be His voice. Do not get me wrong, we are called to fellowship, to learn and submit at times to one another, to be vessels God uses, to co-labor not be co-dependent on one another. However, when we begin to rely on others for our faith at the cost of truth, sooner or later it draws us away from our one true Love. All the ideas, opinions and the men themselves captivate us...doubt creeps in, then rebellion and then one day you find yourself on a platform above your fellow believers and your non-believing neighbors instead of at the feet of Jesus, in His presence, listening...
Thankfully, in the past few days I have been convicted as I see the enormity of the distractions around us all, sometimes my own voice is the distraction.
Today as a family we read and discussed Luke 10:38-42, a passage I have read many times but today Holy Spirit guided me to a different posture and I found myself captivated in a fullness that I have missed...at the feet of Jesus.
"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparation that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed-or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
It will not be taken away from me, from you...His presence, His voice. Both will remain as we choose to sit at His feet, to listen and to choose not to be caught up in our agenda, man's agenda, and the noise of this world. He is enough, the Word is enough. God has plans, but He is also sovereign. And in that sovereignty, we have choice. And in those choices, He has promises we can choose to lean into. He never commanded Mary to sit and listen...she was captivated, she chose. There is such a freedom beyond comprehension when you recognize the difference.
As you read this please accept my apologies for the times my voice has been a distraction or my actions have not aligned with His promises. My hope, my prayer is that we will be a people that not only sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to His voice but that we will live that out with each other. That our voices do not need to be the loudest but our actions, our love because of His love should be the loudest. That our homes will be open for those to enter, those that are broken, those that have a voice needing to be heard...that we will choose to sit at their feet and listen, be present in their brokenness without solutions or quick words, that we will not be a distraction. That we will then choose to sit beside them as Jesus is invited into the conversation and we will sit at His feet together...be captivated by His presence, His love and the intimacy that comes with that choice.
I want to invite you into my home, my life. To be present and to listen as I ask again...
Who has captivated you?
Ian and I were reading a book this past month by Francis Chan and he challenged us with a few intimate questions..."What makes Jesus so compelling, beautiful? What characteristics are you drawn to? What actions did He perform that grab your attention?"
I immediately had Ian stop reading and repeat the questions to me as I journaled them..."What makes Jesus so compelling, beautiful?" My heart leaped...suddenly I was captivated all over again thinking about the intimacy of Jesus, His life, His death and His love for us. His love for all of us.
Upon our return to our home in Africa, there has been a rhythm of family devotions together...we feel it is important to practice what we preach so we sit together, worship, open the Bible to scripture and discover Abba, Jesus through the Word as Holy Spirit guides and speaks. We have started to visit our neighbors, sit with them, speak their language, listen to them as we enjoy their presence, meet practical needs, we pray for some as we walk down the paths all while listening for our Father's voice. We keep it simple as we feel Jesus asks us to. It is really what life should always look like. It can be a vulnerable life as you sit with those you barely know, wrestling with a new language and enter in...it can bring rejection, manipulation, pain. But it can also bring joy beyond our grasp!
We enjoy reading (hence why Francis Chan triggered my thoughts), enjoy others thoughts on scripture and revelation they receive from the Lord. There are some that make a living off of sharing their encounters, their ideas, their ongoing stories of God in their lives or their ongoing battle against religion. Some how for us here on earth, His word, the Word is never enough for us so there are times we lean into these writers, pastors, religious/spiritual experts. We cannot explain it all...the flood, the death, the loss, the great exchange, the glory, the love, the magnitude of who He is...so we look to others to explain it for us, to be His voice. Do not get me wrong, we are called to fellowship, to learn and submit at times to one another, to be vessels God uses, to co-labor not be co-dependent on one another. However, when we begin to rely on others for our faith at the cost of truth, sooner or later it draws us away from our one true Love. All the ideas, opinions and the men themselves captivate us...doubt creeps in, then rebellion and then one day you find yourself on a platform above your fellow believers and your non-believing neighbors instead of at the feet of Jesus, in His presence, listening...
Thankfully, in the past few days I have been convicted as I see the enormity of the distractions around us all, sometimes my own voice is the distraction.
Today as a family we read and discussed Luke 10:38-42, a passage I have read many times but today Holy Spirit guided me to a different posture and I found myself captivated in a fullness that I have missed...at the feet of Jesus.
"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparation that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed-or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
It will not be taken away from me, from you...His presence, His voice. Both will remain as we choose to sit at His feet, to listen and to choose not to be caught up in our agenda, man's agenda, and the noise of this world. He is enough, the Word is enough. God has plans, but He is also sovereign. And in that sovereignty, we have choice. And in those choices, He has promises we can choose to lean into. He never commanded Mary to sit and listen...she was captivated, she chose. There is such a freedom beyond comprehension when you recognize the difference.
As you read this please accept my apologies for the times my voice has been a distraction or my actions have not aligned with His promises. My hope, my prayer is that we will be a people that not only sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to His voice but that we will live that out with each other. That our voices do not need to be the loudest but our actions, our love because of His love should be the loudest. That our homes will be open for those to enter, those that are broken, those that have a voice needing to be heard...that we will choose to sit at their feet and listen, be present in their brokenness without solutions or quick words, that we will not be a distraction. That we will then choose to sit beside them as Jesus is invited into the conversation and we will sit at His feet together...be captivated by His presence, His love and the intimacy that comes with that choice.
I want to invite you into my home, my life. To be present and to listen as I ask again...
Who has captivated you?
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