God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

Intimacy Is Not a Luxury, but a Necessity

A friend of mine texted this to me the day before yesterday. It’s a quote from Henry Cloud’s excellent book, Boundaries.

“God created us to need a close and intimate relationship not only with Himself but also with others. Relationships are the fuel of life. They provide us with acceptance, encouragement, empathy, wisdom, and a host of other relational nutrients. These nutrients keep us healthy and growing. In fact, many studies have shown that people without enough intimate relationships in life have more medical and psychological problems, as well as a higher mortality rate. The songwriters are correct: a lack of love can literally kill you. So however we look at the digital age, we need to make sure that we are getting our relational sustenance. The key is this:

“Whenever you have the opportunity, set a limit on the digital and default to face-to-face.”

Romans 1:11-12

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 

In our text we see how Paul “longs to see” face-to-face the brothers and sisters in Rome. He has such a longing for three reasons:

1) He wants to give away gifts, he wants to impart spiritual gifts to his Roman brothers and sisters.

2) He wants to encourage his Roman brothers and sisters. And,

3) Paul wants to be encouraged by his Roman brothers and sisters!

It seems obvious that 2,000 years ago, Paul already knew about what the psychologist Henry Cloud shared in his book.

God created us for relationships.

And healthy intimate relationships are the fuel of life.

And, the best way to experience that fuel of life is face-to-face.

Notes:

Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, Boundaries: When to Say YES, How to Say NO to Take Control of Your Life, Zondervan, 2017

Image via StockCake – Public Domain

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Love Like Jesus: How Jesus Loved People (and how you can love like Jesus)

Love Like Jesus begins with the story of how after a life of regular church attendance and Bible study, Bennett was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote this book for himself as much as for others. Love Like Jesus examines a variety of stories, examples, and research, including:

• Specific examples of how Jesus communicated God’s love to others.
• How Jesus demonstrated all five of Gary Chapman’s love languages (and how you can too).
• The story of how Billy Graham extended Christ’s extraordinary love and grace toward a man who misrepresented Jesus to millions.
• How to respond to critics the way Jesus did.
• How to love unlovable people the way Jesus did.
• How to survive a life of loving like Jesus (or how not to become a Christian doormat).
• How Jesus didn’t love everyone the same (and why you shouldn’t either).
• How Jesus guarded his heart by taking care of himself–he even napped–and why you should do the same.
• How Jesus loved his betrayer Judas, even to the very end.

With genuine unfiltered honesty, Love Like Jesus, shows you how to live a life according to God’s definition of success: A life of loving God well, and loving the people around you well too.

A life of loving like Jesus. (Kindle, hardcover, and paperback now available on Amazon and the ebook is now available on Google Play Books.)