Sometimes people say something or write something that rocks my world. Or at least stops me dead in my tracks.
Time for an honest confession: I put a lot into Sunday morning. Study. Research. Study. Reading. Prayer. Practice to an empty auditorium. Study. Did I say study? 🙂 All for a short (but hopefully not too painful) 20-25 minute span of a Sunday morning. And I have to keep reminding myself that most, if not all, will not remember what I said.
That is why what Bob Goff wrote stopped me dead in my tracks:
Words will never move people the way love does. If our actions are motivated by love, we don’t have to worry about having big platforms or positions of power, because nothing holds a candle to love that has no agenda. (p.233)
Ouch!! I take his words seriously. All my yacking from the pulpit “ain’t worth spit” if I don’t love. Hmmm. Sounds a little like I Cor. 13:1 doesn’t it?
Recently I texted somebody and said, “It is one thing to say you love and another to live it. You live it.” I was dead serious.
I believe it is important to be ready for Sunday morning, don’t get me wrong. But I also think it is important to get to the point of hating the spotlight (it glows off my bald head anyway) and just be a light. To borrow a further thought from Bob: hate the spotlight and just be a light.
“Father, help me to love by living for you. That light will shine brighter than any effort I may make.”