Being Known

What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it - the fact that he knows me. I am graven on the palms of his hands. I am never out of his mind. All my knowledge of him depends on his sustained initiative in knowing me. I know him because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when his eye is off me, or his attention distracted from me, and no moment therefore, when his care falters. 

This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort - the sort of comfort that energizes, be it said, not enervates - in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench his determination to bless me. 

There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow humans do not see (and am I glad!), and that he sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There is, however equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. We cannot work these thoughts out here, but merely to mention them is enough to show how much it means to know not merely that we know God, but that he knows us.

Packer, J.I., Knowing God (41)

Self-Forgetfulness

1 Corinthians 3:21-4:7

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller

"The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel-humble person is how much they seemed to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less...

Wouldn't you like to be the type of person who, in their imaginary life, does not sit around fantasizing about hitting self-esteem home-runs, daydreaming about successes that gives them the edge over others? OR perhaps you tend to beat yourself up and to be tormented by regrets. Wouldn't you like to be the skater who wins the silver, and yet is thrilled about those three triple jumps that the gold medal winner did? To love it the way you love a sunrise?...

You will probably say that you do not know anybody like that. But this is the possibility for you and me if we keep on going where Paul is going. I can start to enjoy things that are not about me. My work is not about me, my skating is not about me, my romance is not about me, my dating is not about me. I can actually enjoy things for what they are. They are not just for my resume. They are not just to look good on my college or job application. They are not just a way of filling up the emptiness. Wouldn't you want that? This is off our map. This is gospel-humility, blessed self-forgetfulness. Not thinking more of myself as in modern cultures, or less of myself as in traditional cultures. Simply thinking of myself less...

Like Paul, we can say, 'I don't care what you think. I don't even care what I think. I only care about what the Lord thinks.' And he has said, 'Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those are in Christ Jesus', and 'You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased'. Live out that."

Relationships: A Mess Worth Making

Is it really a mess worth making? I finally finished the book a few weeks ago and it was a hard book to pick up each time I stopped. But once I started, it felt freeing to be reminded of Truth again. The older we get, the more people we know, but the thinner we may be stretched and the more people change, hence relationships change. Sometimes they change for the better and sometimes for the worse or indifference. But is it worth the hurt? I think I posted the quote from CS Lewis on protecting our hearts by keeping it chained up in a box. But that heart then isn't alive and free.
The book helped me to see that relationships will inevitably be messy, discouraging, disappointing. But it is worth it and it is about Christ. The harder it is to love, the more reality hits that He is our greatest Lover.
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I highly recommend this book regardless of what relationships you're in - parent, spouse, friends, siblings, neighbors, acquaintances, outsider.

To be able to rejoice with others, weep with others, love the Lord together, is such a rare thing but a great blessing. Someone has told me that a little love is still love and she also pointed me to this verse "I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls." (2 Cor 12:15). Relationships change, but I do not regret them.

http://www.ligonier.org/blog/importance-friendship/