MEDITATION MONDAY
.I heard Dan Cooper preach yesterday morning. It was our sixth sermon that we've heard recently in response to viewing the movie FIREPROOF. I loved the way God works! It's called FLEXIBILITY. The rubber band tells part of the story.
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The university classes that I teach are often filled with future teachers. One thing that I want to really sink in over the course of a semester is what I call "Lessons Learned From A Rubber Band". A rubber band is flexible so that it can meet needs of different sizes and shapes. The purpose of a rubber band is to serve to hold things together in a variety of ways. Often, I will put the rubber band on my wrist to remind me to be flexible as a person, as a wife, as a mother, as a friend, as a co-worker, and as a teacher. I can start out with a "plan" for the day but it's not often that what is on my agenda is going to necessarily meet the needs of the moment. So, I am reminded by the rubber band to be flexible.
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As a christian, I pray for Holy Spirit guidance. Not my will, but thine be done! It happens almost everyday that as I pray, God puts something in my mind that I need to do that wasn't on my "list". The past two days both had to do with Dan and Katherine Cooper.
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On Saturday, Dan and Steve, along with others from the Pitman church, went to help Christina's parents clean out their attic as they get ready for their big move. I, in turn, planned to do some other ministry. Yet, as I was out and about the Holy Spirit convicted me to call Katherine and see what she needed (one week out of knee replacement surgery). It ended up that my plans were pleasantly changed. I picked up "Wendy's" for both of us and we sat, ate, and visited. I was able to take Jessica the same! Praise God! Did I finish everything on my list? No! Today is another day!
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On Sunday, the Holy Spirit, through Dan's lesson, convicted me to do a totally different post than I planned to do today:) FLEXIBILITY! Dan passed out rubber bands at the end of his sermon and asked everyone to wear one on his/her wrist this week as we took on his "love dare" of the week. Ah! Although, Dan doesn't know it, his lesson was really entitled: GO LIGHT YOUR WORLD WITH NOTHING LESS THAN AGAPE!!!
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A FEW OF DAN'S POINTS AND HIS CHALLENGE FOR OUR MEDITATION:
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In the Bible, we see the word "love" throughout. In fact, "God is love!" Yet, we must understand that the Bible has been translated from Hebrew and Greek. As Dan explained, there are multiple words in Greek for the word "love", yet in our English Bibles we only read the word "love". Dan talked about three of the Greek words:
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- ERAO or EROS = a physical attraction kind of "love" that asks the question, "What can I get out of this?"
- PHILE or PHILEOS = a friendship kind of "love" that asks the question, "What can we get out of this?"
- AGAPE = a selfless, unconditional love that asks the question, "What can you get out of this?"
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AGAPE LOVE loves in spite of the circumstances! It is the best kind of love! Of course, there are reasons for all three types. A healthy marriage has all three kinds of love! AGAPE LOVE is the best way of loving:
- it thinks about others more than self.
- it makes the first move.
- it takes risks
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Dan took us to Luke 5:1-26 to read about how Jesus modeled AGAPE LOVE in his ministry. He is the Good Teacher who teaches how to truly love. In Luke 5, Jesus:
- thought about others more than Himself
- took the first move
- took risks
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If we follow Jesus' example in Luke 5, we will certainly LIGHT OUR WORLD!
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Dan handed out the rubber bands and then gave us the LOVE DARE of the week:
- For Couples: For the next 7 days your challenge is to love your mate in a way that is not self seeking.
- For Singles: For the next 7 days your challenge is to make every decision in a way that sets aside your needs and puts first the needs of someone else.
- For children and teens: For the next 7 days your challengeis to do a chore to serve without being asked.
- For parents: For the next 7 days tell your child something that you appreciate about them.
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LIGHT YOUR WORLD
WITH NOTHING LESS THAN
AGAPE!
.Enjoy today's video that is different from yesterday's! And, please come back for GRATITUESDAY tomorrow as I continue to blog that YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (are you keeping plugged in?)
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