Tag Archives: traumatic experiences

How Great is Your Love?

Posted on October 16, 2022 by expressyourself4him

One of my first nights as a college freshman, a girl in my dorm opened up about a traumatic experience that happened over the summer. Her parents’ house backed up to one of the major interstates in New Jersey. While hanging out in her backyard, she heard a large explosion. Something inside of her moved her toward this massive pile up. Moments later, she helped drag a child from a burning car. This instinct was something she couldn’t explain, but it was a sign of love deep inside her heart.

This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do, John 15:12-14.

As God’s plan for His life was a few days from being fulfilled, Jesus began to open up to His disciples. Passion Week served as a way to prepare these twelve men for life after His ascension into heaven. Looking back, it’s clear that Jesus is pointing to his death on a cross in the passage above. Yet, most of the disciples thought that Jesus was merely introducing another expectation for his followers. To someone like Peter, this is an extension of Matthew 16:24-27, a call to prove your love for God.

Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a noble and lovable and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die. 8 But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us, Romans 5:7-8.

Alain de Lille is a French theologian and poet who referred to the apostle Paul’s letter to Rome as the Road to Romans in 1175. This first century epistle is considered one of the most theological books in the New Testament. The passage above along with Romans 6:23 play a crucial role in Evangelism Explosion, a course I took at a local Methodist Church in Delaware. Paul illustrates the greatness of Jesus’ love. Nearly 2000 years after his death and resurrection, Jesus wants to know how great is your love on earth?

by Jay Mankus

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Removing the Leeches from Your Life

Posted on January 28, 2022 by expressyourself4him

Leeches are an aquatic or terrestrial annelid worm with suckers at both ends of its body. Many species of leeches are bloodsucking parasites that are hard to remove once attached. My first encounter with a leech was in the state of Maine. Unaware of this native species, I was walking in swallow water when I first got attacked. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of using my finger to remove it which only made matters worse. This traumatic experience at age 7 made me want to immediately remove leeches from my life.

Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power. 13 Food [is intended] for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will finally end [the functions of] both and bring them to nothing. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord, and the Lord [is intended] for the body [[a]to save, sanctify, and raise it again], 1 Corinthians 6:12-13.

From a spiritual perspective, a leech can be anyone or anything that clings, drains, and or sucks the joy from your life. The imagery used by Jesus in John 10:10 compares the Devil to a spiritual leech. This invisible force seeks to steal, kill, and destroy lives. While praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus explains why it’s so hard to control human bodies. God’s Spirit is willing to help you remove the leeches from your life, but the human flesh is weak.

Shun immorality and all sexual looseness [flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own, 20 You were bought with a price [purchased with a [b]preciousness and paid for, [c]made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20.

This weakness is exposed through addictions, bad habits, and unwholesome cravings that individuals pick up over the course of their lives. While these inner desires may bring temporary pleasures, human bodies develop a dependency upon these highs that result in less and less satisfaction. In the passage above, the apostle Paul warns Christians against sexual immorality. This type of sin results in soul ties that make it harder to break free from. Perhaps viewing your body as a spiritual temple of God will give you the necessary motivation to remove all the leeches from your life in 2022.

by Jay Mankus

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