Humility, Truth, and Grace

One of the things I love most in people is a humble spirit.  There is nothing that can replace someone who is not proud or boastful.  This is actually one of the main reasons I feel in love with my husband.  He is the most humble person I know.  He is the type of person that has a lot of things to boast about and many accomplishments, but he is not the one who will tell you about them.  He works so hard.  Not to show off but for his personal drive.  He has worked so hard and after 3 years of working full time and taking MBA evening classes, he is about to graduate!  I am the one who has to brag on him! 

I feel it is the type of thing that it is better for people to bring up your accomplishments and be humble. Rather than trying to show off!  I admire this quality in people a lot.  It is so cool to know someone and like them and then have no idea what they do.  To like them for who they are and not what they do.  I always would prefer for someone to like me for the real me.  I never pretend to be someone I'm not.  I have a personal motto that, "I would rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not."

Obviously I would prefer to be liked.   "Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible." 1 Corinthians 9:19  I try to love like Jesus loves, to be his disciple.  I want to love one another as Jesus loves us.  "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another!" John 13:35 NIV

Andy Stanley brought up a great point the other day during part of his series "Christian," there is a tension when we want to love like Jesus.  We are often tempted to resolve the tension.  Don't walk away from the truth that we are sinners and accepting the grace to be loved by Jesus.  He brings up the story in the Bible where Jesus tells a crowd that whom ever has never sinned they can throw the first stone.  We have to live a life full of truth and grace. Jesus came to seek and save, he came for sinners.

The truth is we are sinners, and the grace is Jesus couldn't love us less!!  We must love others this way!

You can hear more messages from Andy Stanley by clicking here.

Turning Rows into Circles- Small Groups

I am really excited about my first married small group tonight.  Kyle and I have been looking forward to this day since we got married.  We both have been going to small groups since we have known each other over the last three years.  I even led a group.  So we know all about groups.  Now we are taking the next big step in our marriage and sharing community with other married people. 

Some people may ask what is small group? Small group is where our church turns the hundreds of rows into circles.  The Buckhead church is a group of people in the 10s of thousands.  What we like to do is turn that huge number into smaller groups of  10-12.  Since we are married we could join individual women or men small group or do what we did and join a married small group.  We actually joined a new type of group called a just married small group with a mentor couple that has been married 10 years and then the rest of the group is just married from 0-2 years. 

So tonight is our first meeting and we are having a potluck dinner to get to know everyone, maybe play a couple games.  I made some delicious mash potatoes and can't wait to eat them.  After boiling the potatoes I added shredded cheese, half and half, buttery spread, salt and pepper, and garlic and herb seasoning.  I tasted it to make sure it was just right and oh yeah it was.

It has started to sleet and we are hoping the small group won't get canceled.  After tonight the small group will start a series on being married and we will incorporate bible verses and answer questions.  We will discuss things together and learn about one another.  Hopefully we will grow closer to Jesus Christ and in community we will be there for the other people through prayer and support.  It takes time but we should develop meaningful relationships.