What's So Great About Christianity? & IHOP
Sometimes I imagine what I'd be like if I hadn't accepted Christ a few years back. Probably lost, incredibly lonely, downright confused about everything, and wondering time and time again what the point is of it all. I came across this book called What's So Great About Christianity in the bookstore, and it's definitely on my list of books to read this summer. What's so great about Christianity is just..life with Christ. And the hope of eternity with Him, written in stone and written on our hearts. Since I've found Him, I've found out more about who I am, where I'm going, what true love and friendship looks like, and what the purpose of life is. Who can give us that kind of knowledge except He who knows all?
Sometimes I wonder what Christianity looks like to those who haven't been swept up by grace just yet. I used to be a skeptic myself. But that's because I misunderstood Christians and what seemed to me like pushiness. But what if these people who become frustrated when people try to 'convert' them, could suddenly understand why we try so hard? The reason is simple love. The God-given love that motivates us to shyly extend an invitation to the next church event; the love that was Christ crucified.
It's not an ideology, a political view, or even a religious view. It's God who came and bled for you and me. It's love. Out of His love, I muster up courage to speak; out of love, he memorizes bible verses about fishermen and harvesting; out of love, she scrambles to draw a stickman on a bridge to pitifully demonstrate the vastness of Christ's love which compelled Him to die, to bridge the gap between you and God.
But it's not just love that WE ourselves somehow have to give. God knows it's difficult for us base humans to love a brother. That's why He must be our source and driving force, He must be the love that compels us to approach strangers in the heat of day or when our "reputation" is on the line, or to face rejection time and time again. Christians aren't just born people willing to do these things; we all loved the world in all its glamour, pleasure, and sexual appeal at one point or another. But there is a reason why many of us, including myself, are so willing to give up the pleasures of this world in pursuit of one thing..Love compels everything, and it is love for a gracious God that compels us. He's the author and perfector of love, and as we spend more time communing with Him, He shapes our hearts so that we're more capable of giving it, and so we care about the things He cares about, things we would never give a care about. It's also the love He's shown and continually shows us that is so real. It's hard to explain, but as a brother once said, people can argue and debate away your faith, but they can never take away the real encounters you've had with the Holy Spirit, as well as the blessings that are so coincidentally perfect in timing and equally so immense that they can't come from anywhere but an all-knowing, gracious, loving Being.
Hm..so I guess that's my little 'What's So Great About Christianity'..abridged to the max, haha. One could write volumes..voluummess.
Ah..Luke18 Conference was this weekend. :) Those who know me know I fell in love with IHOP (or more accurately..GOD) this year, but it's just that everything they're about, for me just seems to set Christianity straight. I think if all Christians could go to an IHOP conference, it would totally transform Christianity as we understand and preach it, and what outsiders perceive of it. What they teach is wholeheartedly loving God first and foremost, before we can have the sincerity of heart to pray anything of worth to Him. And God knows without prayer - without HIM essentially - we are worthless!
It also touches me how strongly they're founded in love. It's not an empire or a corporation in the name of a church, it's just a bunch of people striving for Christ's love to invade history, and toiling with and supporting each other in love. If a nonbeliever could witness what goes on in these conferences, I think they would surely be saved. If not by witnessing the prophesies and all that good stuff, then just being around the people.
This weekend I learned that one of my angels holds his huge heart in an encasement. No wonder..
:)
And my longing becomes greater...
Psalm 27:4
Sometimes I wonder what Christianity looks like to those who haven't been swept up by grace just yet. I used to be a skeptic myself. But that's because I misunderstood Christians and what seemed to me like pushiness. But what if these people who become frustrated when people try to 'convert' them, could suddenly understand why we try so hard? The reason is simple love. The God-given love that motivates us to shyly extend an invitation to the next church event; the love that was Christ crucified.
It's not an ideology, a political view, or even a religious view. It's God who came and bled for you and me. It's love. Out of His love, I muster up courage to speak; out of love, he memorizes bible verses about fishermen and harvesting; out of love, she scrambles to draw a stickman on a bridge to pitifully demonstrate the vastness of Christ's love which compelled Him to die, to bridge the gap between you and God.
But it's not just love that WE ourselves somehow have to give. God knows it's difficult for us base humans to love a brother. That's why He must be our source and driving force, He must be the love that compels us to approach strangers in the heat of day or when our "reputation" is on the line, or to face rejection time and time again. Christians aren't just born people willing to do these things; we all loved the world in all its glamour, pleasure, and sexual appeal at one point or another. But there is a reason why many of us, including myself, are so willing to give up the pleasures of this world in pursuit of one thing..Love compels everything, and it is love for a gracious God that compels us. He's the author and perfector of love, and as we spend more time communing with Him, He shapes our hearts so that we're more capable of giving it, and so we care about the things He cares about, things we would never give a care about. It's also the love He's shown and continually shows us that is so real. It's hard to explain, but as a brother once said, people can argue and debate away your faith, but they can never take away the real encounters you've had with the Holy Spirit, as well as the blessings that are so coincidentally perfect in timing and equally so immense that they can't come from anywhere but an all-knowing, gracious, loving Being.
Hm..so I guess that's my little 'What's So Great About Christianity'..abridged to the max, haha. One could write volumes..voluummess.
Ah..Luke18 Conference was this weekend. :) Those who know me know I fell in love with IHOP (or more accurately..GOD) this year, but it's just that everything they're about, for me just seems to set Christianity straight. I think if all Christians could go to an IHOP conference, it would totally transform Christianity as we understand and preach it, and what outsiders perceive of it. What they teach is wholeheartedly loving God first and foremost, before we can have the sincerity of heart to pray anything of worth to Him. And God knows without prayer - without HIM essentially - we are worthless!
It also touches me how strongly they're founded in love. It's not an empire or a corporation in the name of a church, it's just a bunch of people striving for Christ's love to invade history, and toiling with and supporting each other in love. If a nonbeliever could witness what goes on in these conferences, I think they would surely be saved. If not by witnessing the prophesies and all that good stuff, then just being around the people.
This weekend I learned that one of my angels holds his huge heart in an encasement. No wonder..
:)
And my longing becomes greater...
Psalm 27:4
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