| I seriously considered watching this silly movie again for the second time this evening. I love feeling romanticized. The reality of being pursued in love... the prospect of me having something to offer, something to give... worth another's affection. This pursuit of love is altogether different from lusting after vain imaginations. I've been slowly coming to realize that I have a hard time believing I have something, anything to offer. Jesus has shown me the truth before. A couple days ago, his words soundly resonated within me--body, soul, and spirit. I am good enough! I am worth loving. I am worth his affection! My heart is worth his piercing gaze. Because he says I am worth it... and because my will is to be equally yoked in love. Father, I desire... His patience, his tender mercy, his compassion, his gracious hope, his commitment... has drawn me away. I will find you and I will hold you and I will keep you and never let you go. The only thing that keeps me from the Promised Land is the way I see God and myself. The best thing I can do for others is to love myself. As one thinks in the heart, so is a person. Your imagination will win over your words every time if your words and imagination don't match up. To the pure, all things are pure. The way I see myself will determine the way I see others. We take the Promised Land by keeping the new name, the identity, the dreams... by seeing ourselves as God sees us. GREAT VICTORY WILL BE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO ARE WILLING TO LEAVE THE BATTLE AND FIND THE PRESENCE. Holy Romance of the Gospel:
what happens when a person's heart is exhilarated by receiving holy love from Jesus and feeling holy love toward Him. This is a love that causes human beings to sacrifice greatly in any number of areas in their lives, even in the face of death... We become powerful and fearless in the grace of God when our primary purpose of loving God is fulfilled... From this perspective, life looks totally different, because no matter what happens, a song fills our hearts, stirs us, and our inner man is tender toward God. When Jesus is our primary reward, we can lose everything for the Gospel--go to prison, suffer physically, be tortured--and still be successful... Holy romance speaks of finding our glory in the ability to walk in holy love and hundred-fold obedience to Jesus. There will be no sacrifice too great when our hearts are set on fire... we love stories of people who give everything, because they are stories that resonate with how we were made to live! There is nothing more compelling or attractive than desire combined with commitment that goes above and beyond the norm... something in us longs for love that knows no boundaries, a love that embraces any sacrifice in pursuing the one it loves... life itself is only worthwhile if the heart burns with love... We rejoice to see passion in others and we celebrate those who love with their whole hearts, because we love to love in this way. The reason we love to love in this way is that God designed us to love in this way. This is the glory of the Gospel. No pleasure is more intense than the pleasure that comes when God communicates His love, His passion, His heart to the human spirit... Such tender moments with God cause life, love and spiritual vitality to resonate deep within us. |
