Categories: changing mindsets, love, missional, Tags: agenda, changing mindsets, church, food for thought, love, mission of Christ
Okay, so here’s the first post….
Aaaand the second one….
I closed out the previous post with a question: How can each of us make the transition into what I call “agenda-free” mission? Once we recognize how much unnecessary (and often damaging) baggage we have attached to mission by our institutional thinking, how do we change our thinking to participate in the mission of Christ in a more organic way, without worrying about what we might have to gain from it?
Categories: evangelism, food for thought, love
That title might sound like a bit of an oxymoron to some. 🙂 After all…doesn’t all evangelism have an agenda?
Maybe. But lemme splain. 🙂
Have you ever had a friend that got involved in multi-level marketing (MLM), like Amway for example, and after awhile every time you talked to that person, you felt like they saw you as a marketing prospect? If not controlled, it can affect the very fabric of the relationship, because you feel like that friend has an ulterior motive–an agenda for being friends with you. And if that person really gets sold on their product and scheme, if you don’t bite after awhile, you stop hearing from that person. You aren’t seen as a productive prospect anymore.
Categories: "Love Is...", faith, love
Take this for what it is…but I felt like bringing a discussion in the comments up here to the front page.
Last night, someone identified only as “oj700” commented on this post I actually wrote one year ago tomorrow, entitled “Love…Does Not Seek Its Own.” I want to publish his/her remarks exactly as written:
Categories: food for thought, love, Meanderings (look it up)
I hate when I do this…something someone said on one of the blogs I read that helped to spark this post, but I let it sit too long while writing another series, and now I can’t remember who to link to. 🙂 So if you see something of your own content here, let me know.
For several years I’ve been pondering the dialogue Jesus had with Peter when they had breakfast together after the resurrection (John 21). Three times Jesus asked him, “Do you love Me?” And three times Peter answered, “You know that I love you.” There’s a lot of powerful meaning in the Greek words that are used, and many of you have probably heard teaching about it. But what Jesus said after each round of “Do you love Me”s has always puzzled me until recently:
Categories: "Love Is...", food for thought, love
The last day in February=the final post in the “Love Is…” series from 1 Cor. 13. Links to the previous posts below.
This phrase, “love never fails”, is one of the most well known in 1 Cor. 13, and so often quoted that the meaning can easily be lost in its catch-phrase status.
Taken simply for how it reads, it sounds like love is invincible, that love always wins, always triumphs, and always meets its objectives. “Love conquers all”. But what does that look like?
Categories: "Love Is...", food for thought, love
(Continuing the “Love Is…” series–previous links are below.)
This phrase in 1 Cor. 13:5 reads “[love] thinketh no evil” in the KJV, but other translations read things like “keeps no record of wrongs”, “does not take into account a wrong suffered”, and a few other variations.
Looking at the Strong’s definition for “thinketh” or “take into account”, it reads, “to take an inventory”. So I think probably the closest translation to the original meaning of the Greek phrase comes from the Young’s literal translation: “[love] doth not impute evil.” This reminds me of other passages of Scripture that tell us that God does not “impute” our sins against us. In other words, He does not store them up as some sort of grudge.
Categories: "Love Is...", food for thought, love
Categories: "Love Is...", food for thought, love
Here, I continue my musings and meditations on 1 Cor. 13:4…
Sometimes I envy the Greeks. (Oops, love isn’t supposed to be envious–see farther down 1 Cor. 13. Sorry, Greek people.)
Anyway, the Greek language (in which the New Testament was written) carries so much more meaning than ours does. One Greek word sometimes can take a paragraph of English to try and describe its meaning–and even then doesn’t always do it justice. So when we translate from Greek to English, some of the deeper nuances can be lost. Add to that the fact that we English-speakers are actually losing some of the deeper sense of meaning from our own language, and even more gets lost in translation.
Categories: "Love Is...", food for thought, love
