Asleep in the Light

"Actions speak louder than words."—Popular saying. Quoted by many. Lived out by few? It seems to be a struggle of the human heart to actually let what our words say line-up with what our actions say. Atleast that's what I've been experiencing.

Lately, I've been really turned off by Christians. And I am one. Of all the religions, all belief systems out there, ours is supposed to be based in LOVE—but few seem to be "feelin' the love."

You find person after person, family after family—hurt, wounded and turned off from God, church, the whole shebang—all because of "Christians". Before I go on, I want to say that by no means do I expect Christians to be perfect—especially in this area—but we are called to a higher standard.

The older I've gotten, the more confident I've become, especially in the things I know God has gifted me in. And one thing I am confident in, that I boast in the Lord in, is knowing how to love people. I love to reach out, I love to pursue, I love to connect, I love to make people feel accepted, valued, etc. I love to LOVE. I'm good at it, and God created me with this desire to give it out!

But it's not always easy- by any means. And it's especially not easy when I'm not "feelin' the love" from others in return.

I've heard a number of sermons about so many suffering from an "orphan spirit": where Christians profess to know God as Father, but experience an internal contradiction to that belief—Deep down they struggle to comprehend that God loves them. They may harbour feelings of abandonment, fear, unworthiness or rejection. This may be due to unhealed hurts from painful past experiences."

We offer all these teachings on letting God HEAL these areas of our hearts—but that seems to be where it stops sometimes—teaching. We're HEARING about God's love and worth over us, but then not taking that info and APPLYING it—on others.

• There's that shy, awkward person sitting by themselves at church- go talk to them! 
• There's that guy/girl you know never gets invited to anything and doesn't have many friends- invite them to hang out with you and your friends!
• There's that guy/girl who's left the church, maybe isn't "following the Lord", but they need to still know you love them and care, not just wanna talk about him/her behind their backs! Reach out. Call them. Text them. Facebook them! Dont stop caring about people because they stop coming to church.

These are real examples that I see often, and you can probably think of a person you know that fits into one of those scenarios. When did the Church become so self-centered with this "orphan-mentality" that we forgot how to love? What are we gonna do to stop it?

The phrase "the least of these" kept popping into my head as I was thinking about those people, and then I found the verse:

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’....“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"  -Matt. 25:35-40

The "least of these" encompasses so many people—and we are called to LOVE them. You are not an orphan, and neither am I! That's a lie from the enemy. He doesnt want us to love—he wants you to be self-centered, only focus on yourself, your problems, your life—but God wants so much more.

I've read alot lately by people I look up to, that really made me think about my actions and what I hope I am "speaking out" with my life. Some quotes:

"Jesus came to love, and if you're doing anything other than that in the name of God, then He's going to have a bone to pick with you."  -Darren Wilson

"Yes, God wants you to do signs and wonders. But the love of God manifested through you is what people really need. So you first must see His face. You must become so close to His very heartbeat that you can feel what others feel."  -Heidi Baker

"The way to a full and happy life is to get our eyes off ourselves and live for others." -Andy Horner

"But people can be drawn closer to the Lord simply by meeting someone who is truly representing the love of Jesus. Sometimes we don't even need to say things and honestly shouldn't say certain things; we simply need to love others and show them we love them." -Danielle Buncick :)

The central message I'm getting from these quotes, and the message of what I wanna live out in my life? Not change. Not convict. Not pressure. Not judge. Not punish. Not ignore. But:

In Unfinished: Believing Is Only the Beginning by Richard Stearns, he puts it perfectly:

"In other words, love always requires tangible expression. It needs hands and feet. As followers of Christ we can too easily become overwhelmed by the complexity and depth of our Christian faith, and we can become confused by doctrine and theology. The beautiful simplicity of our faith is that it distills down to the exact same bottom line for both the brilliant theologian and the five-year-old child: love God and love each other—period. Everything else derives from that."

If this seems too far-fetched, then I want you to read where I'm getting this from [more references: 1 Corinthians 13, Matthew 22:37-40, John 13:34]:

“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” -1 John 3:17–18

"...with actions and in truth". So what's stopping us? I know everyone reading this has someone, if not many, they love—but Christians are often looked at by the world [and even by their own] as disingenuous, self-righteous hypocrites—who are not full of love.

Let's break this stereotype, y'all. Seriously. My heart aches for the brokenhearted, the hurt, the depressed, the lonely, the "least of these"—and the world is full of them. Many of you could put yourselves under one of those words too I'm sure—I know I feel like those at times too. But sometimes the best way to push past our own problems is by loving those around us and taking the focus off ourselves.

I hope everyone feels challenged like me. I'm not perfect in this area—at all—but my heart is to grow and mature, as I pray yours is too. I want us Christians to wake up. Keith Green had the most poignant song I've ever heard about this epidemic in the church: "Asleep in the Light." He wrote it in the late 70s, so try and look past the 70s hair, haha. His words are so real, please check it out below :)

I pray that God would open up your eyes to those around you who He truly wants you to LOVE. Who He's called you to love. Cuz they're out there...just start lookin! :)

Song of the Day:

Keith Green- Asleep In The Light

First.blog.ever. Here I go!

I'm not really sure my "direction" for my blog yet, but we'll start with just whats on my mind and what's going on in my life at the moment! Sound good? :)

So let's start with my "username" for the blog: ekballor. I wanted it to be "ekballo" --a Greek word I've been reading about-- no "r", but that was taken. So I figured, since I am a "baller", I should make it "ekballor"...it just made sense ;)

I read about this Greek word "ekballo" on this guys blog I've been reading. His name is Randy Bohlender (http://randybohlender.com/blog/) and I'm reading his book "Jesus Killed My Church"--highly recommended.

Anyways, he was talking about this word. Here's the rundown:

A few definitions for ekballo:
a great thrusting or casting out, sending. 
to draw out, extract, one thing inserted in another.
to bring out of, to draw or bring forth. 
to lead one forth or away somewhere with a force which he cannot resist

The word is used in a few very different contexts in the Bible.
-When Jesus went to the desert for the season of testing, it said He was a driven – or ekballo‘d – man. (Mark 1)
-When casting out demons, Jesus proposed that they must be "driven out" – ekballo. (Mark 1, 3, 5,6,7,9)
-He also used ekballo when telling us to pray that laborers be sent forth into the harvest. (Heb. 11) He pointed out how people are sometimes "sent forth" with the same sort of violent thrust that was used to cast demons out of people! Crazy.

Randy's point:
"We all anticipate that an ekballo moment would be difficult for demons. What makes us think it would be comfortable for us? Sometimes, we’re pretty "entrenched" ourselves. The tearing and shoving that it takes for us to move out of our comfort zone is painful."

"Too many have struggled to stay where they are when they encountered their ekballo moment because they could not conceive of something being at once God’s will and painful."

Why am I retelling what I read on someone else's blog? Because it encouraged me, opened my eyes, and made me realize this is my "ekballo" season.

God has been doing so many things in my heart and life the past 4 years since graduating college. I have often gotten discouraged, wondering "why am I here?", "what am I doing with my life?", "why am I going through this?" but I've come to a peace with God's timing. And more importantly: His promises. This past year He has "thrust" me into situation after situation, "cast out of me, drawn out, extracted" fear after fear, lie after lie, and I've never felt so determined and challenged in my whole life.

The biggest fear I overcame happened only a few weeks ago, with my boarding a plane for the 1st time in 27 years. I was terrified of flying- the mere thought brought me great anxiety and fear. But I knew it had to be conquered and was holding me back in life. It's probably gonna always be one of the biggest fears I've ever had to overcome.

Anyways, long story short: I'm not scared anymore. I do have other things-as-of-yet-to-be-conquered, but alot of these other things are in the works, and im crossing off goal after goal. I truly believe this is my "ekballo" year, and I am so excited for what else God is gonna bring forth [ekballo!] in and out of me.

My heart is open and ready, and He can "ekballo" me wherever He wants, however He wants!

Thanks for reading my first blog. More to come :)

Quote of the day: 

"We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are." -Max Depree

Song of the day: