Live brave, not safe

So I'm not super into sports movies. Or Brad Pitt movies. But it just so happened that the other day I found myself watching a movie about baseball with Pitt as the main actor- Moneyball. And although it isn't my new favorite movie, there were some definite morals to be taken away from it. The line that really struck me was spoken to Pitt's character in relation to the idea of being the first one to try something new.

"The first one through the wall always gets bloody."

The guy who said this was making a connection between Pitt's character drafting baseball teams using math and numbers, which was a new idea for the time, and a fight. The first guy through the wall is going to get bloody, but he is also paving the way for people to come after him. Someone has to go first. That's just the way it is.

Someone has to go first for everything. And often God is calling us to be that person. To be the first to heal, the first to obey. We might be called to go first in our families or our circles of friends in living out who God created us to be. Going first is hard. It hurts. It's painful and lonely and sometimes feels hopeless. But going first is important. It paves the way for people to follow suit. It allows others to step out and do what they wouldn't have done, be who they wouldn't have been, if not for your going first.

Better

"When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less."

C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)

 

Welp. I guess it's a good sign then that I am continually faced with my shortcomings, my failures, my fleshly desires. Jesus, make me better.

I Will Choose.

Today I was journaling and thought of how often I choose NOT to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. So often I choose weakness, fear, hate, and sin over Jesus. But I have the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead inside of me. I have that same power. I don't have to live in slavery to my flesh and the things of this world. I can live in the power of the Holy Spirit, or in the weakness and darkness of my flesh. I have a choice. 

Jesus, today I choose to live in the power of your Holy Spirit. 

I will choose...

love over contempt

peace over fear

forgiveness over judgement

truth over lies

surrender over control

purpose over apathy

faith over doubt

selflessness over selfishness

dialogue over monologue

God-pleasing over people-pleasing

trust over mistrust

praise over complaints

self-love over self-pity

your will over my will

belief over unbelief

changed heart over behavior modification

wisdom over foolishness

contentment over jealousy

victory over defeat

honesty over denial

boldness over trembling

doing over hearing

obedience over disobedience

clarity over confusion

patience over impatience

joy over despair

self-control over self-indulgence

righteousness over unrighteousness

freedom over slavery

relationship over religion

real over fake

purity over impurity

repentance over stubbornness

vulnerability over self-protection

gentleness over harshness

thanksgiving over discontentment

encouragement over gossip

people over things

feeling over numbness

your opinion over others' opinions

passion over laziness

depth over surface

acceptance over cynicism

humility over pride

discernment over uncertainty

strength over powerlessness

grace over legalism

dependence on you over dependence on others or myself

serving over competition

holiness over ungodliness

serenity over stress

growth over staleness

redemption over condemnation

life over death

you, Jesus, over the world.