PC--This was lovely! I wish all people were like this man, whatever thsir religion is, including me. May I add you to the friends list for my joyful_singer journal? It's where I mainly post my religious thoughts. Thank you so much for sharing it!

Please do read the Bio section for that journal before deciding. I think my religious views might be a little strange for some people. but I figure, someone who posts an essay like that is someone I agree with on many levels.

Chantal

Hi, Chantal! (Beautiful user name, btw! It's the name I chose to use for my French class back in high school [quite a while ago! :p]. I chose it both for the meaning (music!) as well as for the way it rolls off the toungue...hehe, especially when you pronounce it with the French accent!)

Absolutely, you may friend me to your joyful singer journal! I did read the bio section as you suggested and while I must say that I've never met someone with quite the particular religious view you hold, and admittedly, many points of it do not parallel my beliefs/understanding of scripture, there was nothing there that would make me run away screaming ;-). Despite the differences in our beliefs, I think you are right in saying that there is much that we could agree on. So, hello friend! :-)

I loved this particular devotional, too! The subject matter is so often spelled out in scripture, I don't know how we manage to miss it. I suppose it's like the author said...WE get in the way. Our pride, our arrogance, and our desire for recognition and confirmation as a Christian get in the way. We try to do a right thing for the wrong reasons.

It's funny, but it seems like God has just had me in this one place for nearly two years now. It seems that everyday, He is teaching me something new about His love - for me and all of mankind. He spent a lot of time especially teaching me about his love for ME personally...me! Not just as one more of the masses of His created ones that he does love...but me personally and especially. Hehe! He taught it to me so well that most days, well...lol...how do I say this with out sounding arrogant...most days, I feel like I'm not just his beloved daughter - but his FAVORITE! Hehe! Seriously! He has made me understand (I think!!) how very much and how very extravagantly he loves me that it is hard for me to imagine that he has enough love like that to go around to every single person he ever created - but the amazing part is...HE DOES!! His love is what drew me to him and his love is what keeps me near.

Now, knowing that (how very much God loves me personally and especially), and knowing that my goal (as a Christian) is to mirror (be a reflection of) Christ...how can I do less to my fellow man? How can I not love them (REALLY love them) as Christ does me? I'm afraid that sometimes I understand why evangelical Christians have gotten the sort of bad rep that they have. We get so focused on 'winning the world for Jesus'...that we forget that that world is made up of individual people - each one special and precious in his sight...and we forget to love those people FIRST. We tend to want to just rush them through the salvation line like so many cattle...without stopping to care about them as people.

Anyway...sorry to ramble on...but this is a subject that is near and dear to my heart and I guess I get a bit passionate when I talk about it. I try to post a devotional every day. The ones I'm using come to me from the Purpose Driven Life website. They are e-mailed to me each day (although lately they have been rather sporatic in coming), then I just copy/paste them here. So look out...there'll be more! ;-)

BTW, I noticed you were in Houston. I was actually born in Houston and my dad lives there now. Little bitty place this planet is, huh? :-)

Blessings!
cp

YES!

That is EXACTLY the point of it all--to feel as if you are God's favorite. Can you imagine how wonderful life on this planet would be if everyone could feel themselves to be God's favorite child?

Maybe the fact that I regard God as a 'force' of love, rather than as a being who loves is what holds me back. It is hard to believe that an impersonal force loves you, specifically. But what you described is exactly what's necessary--for each of us to feel that love directed toward ourselves and believe in that love.

When a person knows he is loved, does he commit crimes? Does he turn to drugs instead for solace? Does he behave meanly to others, to bolster his own insecurities? I don't think so. Or at least, I don't think it would happen nearly as much as it does.

I think what you've just said is the key to what I've been missing in my readings. It's not just understanding that God is love and can be known only through love. It's also understanding that God loves me. And not in the sappy manner of "Yes, Jesus loves me." but in the true, deep meaning of it, as you've described.

Thank you for helping me finally realize that God is not a crutch, but a necessity.

Chantal

Wow! One more thing! We have something else in common, I just discovered! I just looked at your aerden user info page and discovered we have the same birthday! Mine's August 29th also! We've got one coming up! :)

CP--Oh wow! That is amazing! :D I was born here, moved down to Clear Lake when I was six, then moved back up here after college. Where are you living now?

Chantal

Right now I live right where I've lived since leaving Texas (at the ripe old age of less than one year!)...the northwestern corner of the great state of Georgia. I am DYING to move somewhere, though...just ready to be somewhere different! :-)

Blessings!
cp

Thank you SO much for posting this! It's putting to words something I've been trying to live ever since I became a Christian. It's like you say - we are called to love people to Christ. But we forget it so often...

It's strange how things work out; my relationship with God has been a bit rocky the past couple of years, and it's only recently that I've started to find my way back to Him. And then I see something like this, that reminds me that He's been there all along, loving me, even though I've been throwing tantrums and kicking and screaming at him like the worst teenage daughter there ever was. And He'll always be there. And He'll keep loving me.

Thank you for making me remember that!

You are very welcome. I'm glad you found it inspiring and thought provoking.

Blessings!
cp

I am a friend, and my friendship is not measured by whether or not someone becomes a Christian, but on how loved and accepted they are by me.

I like that sentence...

I like that one too! :-)

I love religious discussions, so long as they are respectful. And you always are, so I feel safe here. :)

I consider myself a Christian. I was raised Catholic, but do not attend the Church anymore (too many disagreements with the dogma). My form of Christianity is very simple and works for me. I have friends who are fundamentalists (which, to me, means they take the Bible as literal truth), and they are constantly on me to be "saved." When I tell them that I do consider myself saved, I just don't use their terminology for it, they get all huffy about how I have to be saved *their* way, or I'm going to hell. Yes, they've told me I'm going to hell! Needless to say, I don't hang out with those people much anymore.

Whatever happened to "judge not, lest ye be judged"? Some of the most fundamentalist Christians are also the most intolerant people I've ever met.

Not you! Just saying, I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of people determined to "save" you, no matter what. ;)

Oxer,

I'm glad you feel safe here and always find the discussions here respectful. I hope others feel the same. That's why I always give "The JESUS WARNING" with these things...lest someone think I'm forcing my beliefs on them.

As far as being saved "their way"...I think the only real question here is whether or not you have a personal relationship with Jesus...not what words you might have said to start that relationship. You (and God!) are the only two people who would be able to answer that question. I think that every person should examine their own heart and ask themselves that question (do I have a relationship with Jesus?) and perhaps help solidify the answer by asking where and when did this relationship start. But I would never presume to tell someone that they are going to hell. As I mentioned in a post somewhere else, conviction of sin is GOD'S job...not mine. If someone asks, I can tell them what I understand to be the truth and point them to scriptures to back that up...but I leave the saving and sanctification up to God. It's too big a job for me and I simply am not qualified.

Goodness we humans love tradition and mantras, don't we? We seem to anyway. "If you didn't do it THIS way, it didn't mean anything. If you didn't say, 'X' it didn't take." As a wise Bible scholar once said, "Hogwash!"

Blessings!
cp