Hello blog world I'm off to Tanzania in 4 days & I'm beyond excited and can't wait to share some of my thoughts, experiences, and feelings in a couple weeks on my blog. (I won't have access to internet, just a good 'ol pen and journal =]). Please continue to keep me and my team in your prayers!
So I read this quote on Twitter yesterday (Yes, Twitter is actually useful for one thing, a main reason I go on is to follow blogs/quotes, haha I say this to justify myself ) Anywhoo...
"The most dangerous thing is to take any 1 impulse of our nature & set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs" -C.S. Lewis
I LOVE this! When I first read it I was like Oh yea sooo true. Thinking about the many things we follow in this world that lead us to nothing, such as greed and lust! That is because the very backbone of these matters is that our nature is ultimately sinful! And in Romans Paul says the ultimate wage of sin is death, there is no going around that. Which is why Jesus died on the cross for us and took that penalty to offer us life! But after processing the quote for a little bit I began to see deeper into it. What about the things of our nature that we have that aren't always bad? Such as feelings of dependency, vulnerability, or anger. It's so easy to take our emotions to either extreme. Either were consumed by them allowing them to silence the truth. Or we ignore them pushing them to the back corner, and I'm guilty of both. Its when we take things that were made to be glorified in the nature of God, and distort them in our own nature that they become bad. God has made me to be love, to want to be sought after, and depend completely on Him. But somewhere between a culture that values independence and lies of my own human nature, I hated my feelings of being dependent. I chose to ignore my longing for community till it sucked me dry and God intervened with His truth. And now I'm learning why my feelings really did matter. It is God's nature to live in community, to be loved, to love, to give words of affirmation, and encourage one another. From as much as I'm still trying to comprehend from the doctrine of the trinity and how Jesus spoke about Father (John 17), I know community matters! I was made in the image of God, and me trying to push away my feelings was like I was ripping out a plant inside of my soul, that God had sown into me far before I was formed (Jeremiah 1:4-5).
So I guess I'm just saying think about some of your impulses (whether you may view them as good or bad) that you are devoted to in your own nature, but can be redeemed by the very nature of God? It might surprise you =].
Love Steph
