I saw the gospel with new eyes. One of the texts that had always given me trouble was John 14:12: "Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." You shall do even greater things? Here's the Son of the Almighty, God incarnate, telling us ragtag disciples that we will do the same things he has been doing. I don't know about you, but I haven't raised anyone from the dead lately. I haven't seen anyone turn water into wine. And I hadn't healed any lepers. Even though I touched them, they still went home lepers at the end of the day.
It wasn't that Jesus healed a leper but that he touched a leper, because no one touched lepers. And the incredible thing about that love is that it now lives inside of us. In the verses just after the one about the greater things, Jesus assured us that the Spirit now lives in us. Jesus says that he is going to the Father but will also remain inside of us, and we in him. We are the body of Christ, the hands and feet of Jesus to the world. Christ is living inside of you and me, walking the earth. We shall do even greater things because the love that lived in the radical Christ now lives within millions of ordinary radicals all over the planet.
~ Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution, pages 84-85.
To be an ordinary radical is to love radically... like Christ did when He walked the earth... like He still does now with His unfathomable love for each one of us!
My thoughts, on this beautiful, sunny Wednesday... {as I link up with the community over at A Holy Experience on The Practice of New Habits... as a whole community of bloggers Walk with Him and write about a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to God's heart each Wednesday....} are centered on learning how to love radically... a habit that we can certainly all practice anew each and every day!
One way our family is practicing this very habit right now is by obeying when God called us to spear-head this... Eucharisteo: A Celebration of Joy, with Ann Voskamp... happening exactly one month from today --- Saturday, September 29, right here in Toronto!
Will YOU come celebrate with us?
Friends, it has not been easy... sometimes, it has felt a tad bit overwhelming... yet, it has thoroughly been an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything!
Yesterday, I had another one of those freak-out moments... I tell ya, I am thankful for a daughter who is mature beyond her age. She truly helped me through my freak-out-session yesterday, reminding me that God is in control... and that all we need to do is follow His leading!
Ah, His grace truly is sufficient... and sometimes, like yesterday, it comes in the form of a beautiful, 15-year-old daughter whom He's given just the right words to say! I am truly blessed. ♥
Happy Wednesday, friends...
Will YOU come celebrate with us?
Friends, it has not been easy... sometimes, it has felt a tad bit overwhelming... yet, it has thoroughly been an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything!
Yesterday, I had another one of those freak-out moments... I tell ya, I am thankful for a daughter who is mature beyond her age. She truly helped me through my freak-out-session yesterday, reminding me that God is in control... and that all we need to do is follow His leading!
Ah, His grace truly is sufficient... and sometimes, like yesterday, it comes in the form of a beautiful, 15-year-old daughter whom He's given just the right words to say! I am truly blessed. ♥
Happy Wednesday, friends...
Our happiness comes, too, not in the having, but in the handing over. Give your life away in exchange for many lives, give away your blessings to multiply blessings, give away so that many might increase, and do it all for the love of God.Click on the banner below to read more Walk With Him posts every Wednesday...
I promise you will be blessed!
Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.
Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!
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