Putting Others Before Myself

Our Pastor at Christian Assembly has started an amazing sermon series on the fruits of the Spirit. I loved his opening sermon on the topic as he pointed out to the congregation that it is not about "being" more loving or patient or humble, but rather, it is about remaining in the Vine (John 15) and abiding in Christ. Encountering Christ every day in individual and communal situations is an exciting and wonderful way to live life to the fullest. Seeing each contact with students, friends, family, and the person on the street as a contact with Christ, reminds me of the humanity of Christ, which is something we all too often forget about in our Churches. We can easily lift Christ up to this other-worldly God who has very little interaction with his disciples. Yet, all throughout the Gospels, we are reminded of the incarnation of Christ in human form. The implications of this are astounding, and Eugene Petersen writes well on this topic in the Third part of his book "Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places." Needless to say, yesterdays sermon was on the first of the fruit of the Spirit, love. Mark chose the text of Philippians 2:1-11 to discuss the humble nature we must take on in our lives with our community and the world around us. Phil 2:3 stuck out as a glaring reminder of how little I truly love those around me... "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." I am excited to passionately engage Christ in others around me this week as I try to flush out this verse. It is so easy to "love" the person who has the same political views as I, the same personality, or the same interests as I. It will be a wonderful ride this week as I try to love each of the 50 plus students I will be advising beyond myself. Thank God for the example and teaching of Christ that I can shoot to emulate through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Disrespect at Fuller?

This may be more of a post towards the folks who are students at Fuller. Recently I have been noting the amount of people in my class that either talk, play games, im, or edit their photos during class. The numbers are staggering...I would say I could count at least 20 people every night doing some sort of other project on their computers during the lecture, and this doesn't include the two or three people that carry a conversation in front of me (man I need to keep my anger in check because I just want to slap them up side the head at that point). After breathing and calming myself down last night, I began to wonder if this is less of a form of disrespect and more of a result of our distracted generation. Has technology and our lack of attention spans formed us in such a way that we cannot focus on one thing for too long. I know I spend time on the internet at home, while an informative TV show is on in the background. So, is this the same type of "multi-tasking" that I see in class? And even if it is, should it be happening? I don't know if anyone else struggles with this in class, but man, sometimes I get really annoyed.