Unconditional Lessons
PostPosted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:24 pm
Last week, I attended (with my youth group) a High School Leadership Training confrence, which is hosted every summer by the association of churches that my church belongs to, down in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina...As I am a senior, this was my last year....
...Every year I've come here, God has taken me to the next level in our journey together, and this year is no exception as he showed me what it means not only to believe in unconditional love, but to also live it.....
U see, this year one of the newcomers was a senior who's been coming to our church for a year now.....He's got a good heart, but it's very easy for him to get obnoxious and annoying, as his views on chivalry, while they are of good intentions, push buttons that often don't need the pushing....
While most of our group has had difficulty trying to love him as a christian (especially the girls), I've probably reached out to him the most; partially because I think that who he is now is what I could've become if I hadn't made certain choices awhile back....So, I guess it was because of pity....
So, this week it turned out that he would be in our condo, which didn't worry me too much (though it did make a lot of the other guys cringe inside). But again, it was definitely God who showed me how to show him love, even when he didn't always understand us and vice versa. And because of that, all of us myself included, were able to get closer to him rather then push him away.....And because of this he has come back a different person...or at least with a different out look on life......
I guess I'm sharing this to encourage u guys to keep asking God to give u His unconditional love so that u can share that love with others, even those who others don't think....In Phillipians 2 it talks alot about this type of love, and I guess that's what has lead me on through that week....As believers, we're all different and we all see things in different ways...But we also belong to and worship the same God.....
If I were to have tried loving my friend on my own strength and effort I would've failed epically. So, baisically it comes down to this; the only way any of us can truly love (by thinking of others better then ourselves) is if we ask God to fill our hearts with that love, that unconditional love that He has for us, so that it will overflow in our actions and thoughts towards others.....So that they may see His light and be encouraged.....
...Every year I've come here, God has taken me to the next level in our journey together, and this year is no exception as he showed me what it means not only to believe in unconditional love, but to also live it.....
U see, this year one of the newcomers was a senior who's been coming to our church for a year now.....He's got a good heart, but it's very easy for him to get obnoxious and annoying, as his views on chivalry, while they are of good intentions, push buttons that often don't need the pushing....
While most of our group has had difficulty trying to love him as a christian (especially the girls), I've probably reached out to him the most; partially because I think that who he is now is what I could've become if I hadn't made certain choices awhile back....So, I guess it was because of pity....
So, this week it turned out that he would be in our condo, which didn't worry me too much (though it did make a lot of the other guys cringe inside). But again, it was definitely God who showed me how to show him love, even when he didn't always understand us and vice versa. And because of that, all of us myself included, were able to get closer to him rather then push him away.....And because of this he has come back a different person...or at least with a different out look on life......
I guess I'm sharing this to encourage u guys to keep asking God to give u His unconditional love so that u can share that love with others, even those who others don't think....In Phillipians 2 it talks alot about this type of love, and I guess that's what has lead me on through that week....As believers, we're all different and we all see things in different ways...But we also belong to and worship the same God.....
If I were to have tried loving my friend on my own strength and effort I would've failed epically. So, baisically it comes down to this; the only way any of us can truly love (by thinking of others better then ourselves) is if we ask God to fill our hearts with that love, that unconditional love that He has for us, so that it will overflow in our actions and thoughts towards others.....So that they may see His light and be encouraged.....