Here are three things that I’ve read, been thinking about, and have impacted me this week.

#1 – ⁴⁶ “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?

Luke 6:46 NLT

Oh wow. This verse has stuck with me. Professing with our lips is a fine start, but Jesus says it must include our actions or be in vain. I’ve found that saying “Lord” is a lot easier than living “Lord” out.

Forgive those who offend you. Love those who hate you. Turn the other cheek. Give as it has been given to you. These are all rubber meets the road statements from Jesus’ lips to our lives.

#2 – We need loving communication, we need the presence of the Spirit. When there is a crisis in the Church, it is always here: a crisis of contemplation.

The Church wants to feel able to explain about her spouse even when she has lost sight of him; even when although she has not been divorced, she no longer knows his embrace, because curiosity has gotten the better of her and she has gone searching for other people and other things.

from The God Who Comes by Carlo Carretto

John states in the Revelation that the church in Ephesus has “abandoned the love you had at first” and that has resulted in the danger of imploding. The danger of losing focus is real. There is more of a danger in this day and age when we have so much information at our fingertips and so much to distract us. This is a great reminder of the importance of my daily time with God that includes prayer and Scripture.

#3 – [Christian meekness] keeps clear of every extreme, whether in excess or defect. It does not destroy but balance the affections, which the God of nature never designed should be rooted out by grace, but only brought and kept under due regulations. It poises the mind aright. It holds an even scale, with regard to anger, and sorrow and fear; preserving the mean in every circumstance of life, and not “declining either to the right hand or the left.”

from The Works of John Wesley

Meekness doesn’t get enough credit, in my opinion, as a vital Christian response. I have a blogpost about meekness that has been sitting in draft mode for about a year that I need to re-look at! The heart of meekness is having power to do something but not acting upon it because of a greater good. Jesus on the Cross is our ultimate example. What, for the greater good, am I willing to be a part of even though I don’t have to? This is an important question I’ve been wrestling with recently.