Foolish heart looks like we're here again
Same old game of plastic smile
Don't let anybody in
Hiding my heartache, will this glass house break
How much will they take before I'm empty
Do I let it show, does anybody know
But You see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause You see the real me
Painted on, life is behind a mask
Self-inflicted circus clown
I'm tired of the song and dance
Living a charade, always on parade
What a mess I've made of my existence
But You love me even now
And still I see somehow
But You see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause You see the real me
Wonderful, beautiful is what You see
When You look at me
You're turning the tattered fabric of my life into
A perfect tapestry
I just wanna be me
But You see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause You see the real me
And You love me just as I am
Wonderful, beautiful is what You see
When You look at me
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Love
I Corinthians 13 is weighing heavy on my mind and I felt the need to write it out.
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." - To whom do I become that noisy gong or clanging symbol? To God? Or to whomever I'm speaking? Perhaps both? When speaking to someone, I must do it out of love whether it be in the training up of my children, the conversations with my husband or to the stranger on the street. More often than not my motives in speaking are self-centered. Perhaps I just need to shut up sometimes. I am reminded of the constant drip, drip, drip of a nagging wife that Proverbs speaks of or the provoked children of Eph. 6:4.
"If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." Nothing, zero, zilch...
"And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." There it is again - nothing. Is this the same as "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build." Or perhaps these are the works that are burned up in the fire - done in vain - wasted.
"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away." A good reminder. This speaks for itself. Bears all things...this is the one that speaks to me today. I have a real tendancy to fall into the martyrdom mentality.
"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." It's time to grow up!
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." Ah, the hope! Praise be to God! This is not all there is - "For the love of Christ controls me..."
"But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." Amen!
"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." - To whom do I become that noisy gong or clanging symbol? To God? Or to whomever I'm speaking? Perhaps both? When speaking to someone, I must do it out of love whether it be in the training up of my children, the conversations with my husband or to the stranger on the street. More often than not my motives in speaking are self-centered. Perhaps I just need to shut up sometimes. I am reminded of the constant drip, drip, drip of a nagging wife that Proverbs speaks of or the provoked children of Eph. 6:4.
"If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." Nothing, zero, zilch...
"And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." There it is again - nothing. Is this the same as "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build." Or perhaps these are the works that are burned up in the fire - done in vain - wasted.
"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away." A good reminder. This speaks for itself. Bears all things...this is the one that speaks to me today. I have a real tendancy to fall into the martyrdom mentality.
"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." It's time to grow up!
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." Ah, the hope! Praise be to God! This is not all there is - "For the love of Christ controls me..."
"But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." Amen!
Friday, July 6, 2007
The Greatness of God
I went to the "praise and worship" portion of a church on Sunday. After we had sung "God of Wonders" (one of my all time favorites, by the way), the worship leader spoke these words that have been on my mind ever since. He said that the Bible speaks of God as the most great, or greater. He went on to say that this statement is limited to our own puny knowledge or perception of what greatness is. We will always strive to make God controllable. God is greater than our circumtances, greater than our abilities, greater than money, greater than fame, and the list could go on and on.
So what is greatness in our eyes? Greatness in American culture has been reduced to being able to act, sing, play a sport well or build a business. Even a couple of the disciples had an argument over what greatness was as Luke 22:24-27 records for us. "And there arose a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called benefactors. But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.'" (NASB) Jesus makes it clear here that they (and we like them) have no idea what true greatness is.
I Chronicles 29:11-13 "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honr come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name."
Luke 9:42-43a - "While he was still approaching, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God."
Psalm 48:1 - "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain."
Psalm 96:4 "For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods."
I believe this word great comes from a root word that means to exceed. God exceeds all else. He is above - and well above - anything we can think or imagine.
So what is greatness in our eyes? Greatness in American culture has been reduced to being able to act, sing, play a sport well or build a business. Even a couple of the disciples had an argument over what greatness was as Luke 22:24-27 records for us. "And there arose a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called benefactors. But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.'" (NASB) Jesus makes it clear here that they (and we like them) have no idea what true greatness is.
I Chronicles 29:11-13 "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honr come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name."
Luke 9:42-43a - "While he was still approaching, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God."
Psalm 48:1 - "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain."
Psalm 96:4 "For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods."
I believe this word great comes from a root word that means to exceed. God exceeds all else. He is above - and well above - anything we can think or imagine.
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