April 11

Step 4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

April 11

Scripture reading: Romans 8

You have just got to love Romans 8. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” - verse 9. Revealed in us? Not to us? Not for us? No. In us. Revealed in us. Glory revealed in us. That’s cool.

But to make room for God’s grand epic adventure and glory, we’ve got to get the junk out of our trunk. We’ve got to deal with suffering. We can’t medicate or run from it. Well, that’s not quite true. We can do both those things and more to avoid embracing our suffering. But we won’t have room for all the glory.

McManus says in entry 4 in Soul Cravings (under Intimacy) that “We are created to know God and to know love.” But he doesn’t stop there. Love may be what we’re created for – but it is risky business. “We cannot live unaffected by love. We are most alive when we find it, most devastated when we lose it, most empty when we give up on it, most inhumane when we betray it, and most passionate when we pursue it.” (Entry 3, Intimacy section, Soul Cravings)

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you write out your answers to these questions:
When have I been most devastated by lost love?
When have I felt empty as I have given up on love?
When have I been inhumane as I betrayed the ones I love?
When have I failed to passionately pursue love because I preferred to protect myself?

Thought for today: Messy loves sometimes leaves us broken, other times bitter. Where are you in your pursuit of love? As you inventory your love life, as the Spirit – is this what love is?

Thought for tomorrow: Let me express my anguish. Let me be free to speak out of the bitterness of my soul. Job 7:11 NIV

April 11
Teresa McBean