Milky tea faith

  

    I have a confession. Sometimes, I feel a temptation to water down my faith so that I am more relatable to others. Sometimes, I give in to that temptation. I convince myself that if I focus more on God’s love rather than His holiness and what obedience to Him looks like then maybe people will actually be interested in the Gospel. However, I’ve been reminded a lot lately in church that you cannot have one without the other. Loving others and obedience to God go hand in hand. 

How can this be? You may ask. Let’s chat about it. The greatest commandment that we are given in the Bible is in Matthew 22: 37-39, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”  This command is explained further on in 1 John by the Apostle John. 

 In 1 John chapters 3-4, John touches on how love comes from God so because love comes from God, then we ought to love one another. He continues on to share that when we believe in Jesus, we are given the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is what guides us. The Holy Spirit nudges us when we are making choices that don’t honor God or are treating others in ways that don’t please Him. The Holy Spirit is the little voice that says, “hey let’s not do that, let’s do this instead. Or hey, you need to go apologize for that, or how about you reach out to this person who seems to be at this event with no friends, or let’s hold our tongue before we speak.” 

 Now, God has given us free-will. So we will get those nudges if we know Jesus but may say “nah I’m good” or let our fears or pride get in the way from obeying. While yes, we cannot lose our salvation, the more we tune out the Holy Spirit nudges, don’t read God’s Word or spend time talking to Him, the quieter the nudges become. If we want to hear from God, we need to seek Him. While we cannot lose our salvation, the question that was being raised in church the past couple weeks is that “well, if we really believe what we say we do….then shouldn’t we look different? Shouldn’t we be in awe of God’s holiness and majesty?” The answer is “yes”. 

True heart change leads to real change. While yes, there is grace for numerous mistakes and sins. We shouldn’t stay the same if we know Jesus. We should look different and at times maybe even “weird”. The process may not be a speedy one but it should still be taking shape. 

Loving God through obedience and time with Him, enables us to love others well. We cannot love others well without putting God at His proper place which is ruler of our hearts. Loving others well means balance. It’s not putting them on a pedestal or knocking someone 3 steps down and running ahead of them. It’s seeing that we both need Jesus equally. We both have flaws. It’s give and willing to receive. It’s a willingness to put oneself in another’s shoe.

I know in my heart that when I am not consistently seeking God, I either become too selfish or too much of a push-over. I’m quick to criticize and slow to forgive. Quick to lose my temper, quick to idolize others and slow to speak up. It is only when I am seeking God that I am able to love others and myself better. To treat both with respect, to give joyfully, to forgive, to take a step back and see I’m not better than “so and so”, to see the good in others when it’s hard to and to see the good in myself. 

I lived in Ireland for a couple of years. Prior to my move there, I spent a couple months as an intern for a summer through a mission agency called Serge. While there, I came across something I never had before. Milk in tea. Now, when I first saw it, I was baffled. Why would anyone put milk in tea?! That’s disgusting! Now, at the time I had only drank iced tea and herbal tea. I never really drank black tea. The first time I was offered it and asked if I wanted milk, I said “no”. What could be so bad? I thought. I drink my coffee black, why not tea? 

But oh it was bad. So bad. It tasted burnt and had a funny aftertaste like the flavor you get in your mouth after you lick an envelope. I asked for the milk after taking a sip and boy! Did that make a difference! I haven’t drank black tea without milk since. 

Black tea tastes strong on its own to the point where it’s distasteful but adding milk adds a bit more flavor and a sweetness. You need a balance of tea and milk to make the perfect cuppa. In the same way, Christians need to speak both on God’s love and His holiness. You cannot have one without the other. They go hand in hand. 

You need both God’s endless mercy and awe-inspiring holiness. You cannot speak on the goodness of God without sharing about how mighty and incomprehensible He is that makes His goodness a gift we don’t deserve. 

I hope that made sense in some way :) I’m still processing this and learning to break it down for myself but I hope this encouraged someone in some way today whether you know Jesus or not and just found this interesting. 

Hope you have a great week!

Amy