Water reflections…. 1 John 4:7-8

Posted on by Just broken

1 John 4:7-8 (NLT)
7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Proverbs 21:5 (NLT)
5 Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

Proverbs 27:19 (NLT)
19 As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.

Another night at the jail. Said goodbye for now to a man who was sentenced for 127 years @ 85%. Might see him back on appeal. His peace was amazing. How do you love someone like that? Seriously, how do you love someone like that who’s been convicted of crimes that are horrific, who’s crimes are the kind where most people will say “throw away the key”? He’s not much different from us though. Mistakes, praying for forgiveness, full of sorrow and convinced of his innocence. Yet, the jury believed otherwise. We’ll see how his commitment to Christ grows or fades when he goes down state and the appeals process takes its course. I believe that he’ll continue his walk based on the changes I’ve seen over the last six months, and the changes I’ve heard of that took place the 8 months before that. In God’s eyes, are we much different?

I once heard from someone that “at least I’m not as bad as the chicks on Jersey Shore”. Aren’t we all like that? At least I’m not as bad as…… Face it, in our hearts we are. We stake our moral purity where we feel comfortable. Some do it better than others, but we all fall short of the stake set for us by God. Do we love ourselves less? No, we rail against God for his unfairness. To what end?

We are to love as God loves us – forgiving, resentment free, graciously, humbly. We have been blessed by His love, but we take shortcuts to avoid the responsibility that love entails.

The quiet water reflects your face back. Your heart beats, your eyes see the world, your mind plans and acts. What does your heart reflect back?

Lord, I pray that my heart reflects your love in all I think, say and do. I know I have a long way to go.

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I Love The Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the blessings He has poured into my life. I pray that I live a life that glorifies Him in all I do, but I fail every day, many, many, many times. I have come here through brokenness, a trail of pain and broken promises that I've created through my self centeredness, self will and arrogance. For those I've hurt, please forgive me for what I did. Those things that I remember I am truly sorry I did them. I wish I could undo them. I can't. I use these lessons as motivation to be a builder, to take those experiences and hopefully keep someone else out of their own similar experiences. I love my wife, my children, my family, my friends, my strangers, and those the world would like to dismiss as an unfortunate error messing up worldly perfection. I get frustrated with all of the above too, for I am broken, not like God. Lord, give me your wisdom, your patience, and knowledge of your will for me and the strength to carry that out in all I do. I believe we have work to do while we are here and need to be actively engaged in allowing God to work through us. A Christian is someone who does what The Father, Son and Holy Spirit calls them to do, a builder not a taker, a conduit not a pinnacle, humble and serving. Micah 6:8 Matthew 25:31-46