Category Archives: People / Mennesker

The Second Calling

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One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Mark 12;28-34

There is another calling we have that come before the tasks God have called us to. It is the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. In there is two challenges and traps we may fall into. The first is the challenge it may be to love our neighbor: The people we meet in our everyday lives! The other is the challenge it may be to actually love ourselves as God have meant us to do!

I will begin with the last part of this task: To love ourselves. In this world, it seems that to love ourselves means to put yourself before everyone else. It is important that we do not go into this trap. Nor should go into the trap that we hate and dislike ourselves due to all the weaknesses we can see in ourselves. We need to learn what God sees in us, and what he loves to see in us. This is what we are supposed to love. This is the true core of who we are: The human God created us to be!

To love ourselves is an important condition to be able to love our neighbor as much as we are supposed to. If we hate ourselves, we will end up hating others. When we travel by plane, we are always told during the security briefing that we are supposed to put on our own oxygen mask first, before trying to help anyone else. This is because trying to help others; we may end up not being able to neither give help, or to help ourselves.

If we are to love others at the maximum, we also need to love ourselves at the maximum. But as I said before: To love ourselves have nothing to do about putting ourselves before others, but to see ourselves as God sees us!

Why is it so important to love our neighbor? What makes it so important that it come before the other tasks God have given us?

I mean the importance of this, is that is just that love for our neighbors is what is supposed to motivate our ministry! If our motivation come from other sources that our love for God AND the love for our neighbors, then the danger will always be that we either grow proud in ourselves, or we burn out.

I also believe that the love for our neighbors functions as a multiplicator or amplifier in the ministry we serve. When people see that we do what we do for them out of love, we end up having a much greater influence on their lives. If we want to be efficient in our ministry, we need to love those we serve!

Another reason that the love for our neighbor is so important in our ministry is that it gives our ministry substance, power, reason and cause. Feel free to read 1th Corinthians about what ministry and deeds done without love do us. Do we want to be like a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal?

Therefore: Learn to know God. Get to know how much he loves you! Get to know how much he loves our neighbor. When you learn to know him, and learn to love Him who gave himself for you. Then you will not be able to not love those who he created. Then you will love the many lost daughters and sons of our beloved God and Lord! Then your heart will be filled by sorrow when you see the many who have been fooled, and you will be filled with a passion both for the people of God and the lost sheep!

Love Him, and love those He loves!

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

1 John 4;20-21

The First Calling

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What is the most important calling of God in your life?
A prophet? Teacher? Apostle? Maybe an evangelist? Or a shepherd?
Are you an intercessor? Or a caretaker?
Do you see people, and encourage them where they are?
Or do you have another task?

All these are good callings, given by God to build His church.
But these are not the first and most important calling we have!
Look upon the Lord. Get to know Him who delivered us!
Learn to know Him, spend time with Him, love Him!

When did you speak with God last time? Did you ask him for things?
Or did you just want to spend time with Him? Love Him!
Love Him who loved you in eternities eternity!
Look upon Him who paid with His own life that you may live!

Love Him, and living water will flow from you.
Love Him, and you will love the unlovable.
Love Him, and you will be light and salt in the world.
Love Him, and your gifts of service will grow and be blessed.

How can you love someone you do not know? Without God that is impossible!
Learn to know Him, to see His love for YOU!
Let Him awaken the love in you, for His glory!
Let Him light the light in your eyes!
Let Him make you into a lighthouse of love!
But most important: Learn to know Him!
Spend time with Him who loved you since before the beginning of time!
That is our first calling:
To spend all our time to strengthen the relation with God the Almighty, the Creator of Universe!

From THAT relationship our other callings will flow naturally!
From the first calling, our love for our neighbors will be flooding!
From Him, through us the world will be blessed!
From Him, we get power to get even closer to Him!

See Him
Hear Him
Meet Him
Love Him

Unique / Unik

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A poem I write for “Bunte Abend” (a talents night) at Connect 2012 in Cologne.

Ett dikt jeg skrev for “Bunde Abend” (en talentkveld) på Connect 2012 i Køln. Gå til norsk versjon.

Unique

Uniquely created, an unique personality.
Uniquely loved, an unique love story.
This is THE You, the You created by God.

Why do you dream of being someone else than You are?
Why do you change your appearance to be what You are not?
Why do you try to make yourself a copy of someone else?

To God, You are exactly how He want you to be.
To God, You are an uniquely beautiful person.
To God, rescuing You, was worth dying!

Did you know You are an unique gift?
First of all, a gift to yourself. But also to others.
You are an unique gift and an expression of God’s love!

I know…
You aren’t happy about all things about yourself.
But God want you to be part of creating the ulitimate YOU!
He is championing you!
Championing you to become the best possible You!

How? Through Christ!

You are an unique piece of God’s great mosaic.
His love for you so incredibly unique,
and your love for him…
Something fare more unique and precious than you can imagine!

Just look at the unique combination of personality, interests and experiences,
that together have shaped you to what you are:

Absolutely UNIQUE!

You are worth being yourself!
You are worth being loved as yourself!
You are worth growing in being yourself!
You are worth being unique!
You are worth God’s love!

You are not your parents!
You are not the place you live!
You are not your job, nor your hobbies!
You are not someone else than You!

So…
Tell me…
Who are you… really?

Unik

Unikt skapt, en unik personlighet.
Unikt elsket, en unik kjærlighetshistorie.
Dette er DEG, det DEG som ble skapt av Gud.

Hvorfor drømmer du om å være noen andre enn det du er?
Hvorfor forandrer du utseende til å bli noe du ikke er?
Hvorfor prøver du å gjøre deg selv til en kopi av noen andre?

For Gud, er du akkurat slik Han ønsker at du skal være.
For Gud, er du en unikt vakker person.
For Gud, å redde deg, det var det verdt å dø for!

Viste du at Du er en unik gave?
Først og fremst en gave til deg selv. Men også til andre.
Du er en unik gave og et uttrykk for Guds kjærlighet!

Jeg vet…
Du er ikke fornøyd med alt som gjelder deg selv.
Men Gud ønsker at du skal være med på å skape det ultimate DEG!
Han trener deg til å bli en Mester!
Trener deg til å bli den best mulige Deg!

Hvordan? Gjennom Kristus!

Du er en unik bit av Guds store mosaikk.
Hans kjærlighet til deg så utrolig unik,
og din kjærlighet til ham…
Så utrolig mye mer unikt og dyrebart en du kan forestille deg!

Bare se på den unike kombinasjonen av personlighet, interesser og erfaringer,
som sammen har skapt deg til det du er:

Absolutt UNIK!

Du er verdt å være deg selv!
Du er verdt å bli elsket som deg selv!
Du er verdt å kunne vokse i det å være deg!
Du er verdt å være unik!
Du er verdt Guds kjærlighet!

Du er ikke dine foreldre!
Du er ikke stedet du bor!
Du er ikke jobben din, og heller ikke dine hobbyer!
Du er ikke andre enn Deg!

Så…
Fortell meg…
Hvem er du… egentlig?

 

“Just fine, thanks!”

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Some years ago I had this dream. I don’t think it was about a real person, but it was some sort of a pastor or elder of a church. Anyway in this dream I had just met him and asked “How are you?” And as most people do, he answered “Fine, thanks.” But for some reason I was not satisfied with the answer. Repeated the question several times, and he got apparently more and more annoyed. “How are you REALLY?” I asked. I remember I was thinking to myself in my dream “Why am I doing this? Why don’t I just stop asking? Why am I bothering him?” But the urging in me was too big for me to be able to stop.
But at some point this guy suddenly stopped saying he was just fine, and started telling me the truth. I don’t remember the things he said. But it could be that he was stressed out, had some pain or sickness, some worry or felt down or had problems in his family. I dont remember.

My point with this story is that we sometimes should dare being “bothersome” to someone. Because sometimes that the best way we can show that we really want to bother with their problems. And that we actually care about their well being.
Sometimes we may ask “How are you” to someone and get “Just fine” as an answer, but at the same time have a feeling that it is not all true. The reason for only getting a “Just fine” can vary. At least here in Norway it is almost impolite to answer anything else but some variant of fine, good or similar. At worst it any bad report should be of minor things, unless something is so evidently not right that a positive report would be an obvious lie. Other times the one we are asking simply do not want to bother anyone else with their own problems, whatever what the problems may be. These two factors were the two things happening in my dream I believe.

Yes, there can be other reasons as well. For example you may not know the one asking well enough for you to want to share about your problems, or maybe just want to get over with the pleasantries to get onto whatever business you have to do.
Still. There are those who are not “Just fine”. Some of your very own friends might have more to say than they dare telling you outright. The question to us all is: Do you want to bother with them as much to figure out what is bothering them that you might be bothersome to get them to tell? Do we have the courage and boldness needed to be a true and good friend to a friend of ours who may need our help? Who knows how much closer a friend we may get if we just dare going just a little further than just accepting a “Just fine, Thanks”?

God, help us to see those of our friends that are in pains, troubles or worries. Give us courage and wisdom to find a way to help and to see those friends that need our help. Help us to love them as you have loved us. In the name of Jesus. Amen.