Love is in the giving.

“God gives life to give it away.”

It is a boring thing to live for oneself.

It is a selfish thing to be able to love and not to love someone.

The evidence that you believe in the resurrection is that you hold life loosely as one who knows that you can take it back that which you have given away in the consummation of life.

Life for the follower of Jesus has been mapped out. There is no room for improvisation. The master has set the example by going ahead and going first and leading in front not leading from behind. “My sheep hear my voice and follow me.” A good shepherd is “good” because he gives his life for the sheep.

Someone said, “Life is a gift of God to you and what you do with it is your gift to God.” Living for self will have no fruit whatsoever but dying to self will always secure continuity as a kernel of wheat by dying gives fruit of 20, 30, 100 each seed.

Dying to self requires faith, humility and power from above. By faith humility must be pursued as a noun and not as an adjective. To be known as someone who does humble things is not as important as being known as a “Humble man.”

True humility is one in whom there is no defiling. A true humble person does not do acts of humility he just is humble and every humble man will be great as surely as every great man must be humble first.

A humble wheat is one that carries 30 or 60 or 100 per kernel and bends over “in humility” with the weight of its fruit. But the proud and arrogant wheat will stand straight with nothing to show as fruit that keeps him humble.

What good is it to gain the whole world and lose one's own soul? A man only lives life when he leaves behind one who believes like him. The breath of life dwelling by grace in my mortal body must find a home to live eternally, continually as in Jesus there is no interruption of eternal life.

When everything is said and done, what we leave behind is nothing but our influence. Jesus left behind Peter, James and John as Elijah left behind Elisha and Paul left Timothy, as Moses left behind Joshua and Caleb.

If you love yourself, show it by loving others as yourself. Then you'll be credible to yourself and others. You will never die. You will always live in your genes.

Be a good shepherd to your children and your children will be good shepherds for their children then you’ll have a lived life. Apart from that you have been plowing in the ocean where there will be no memories of you. There will be no true inheritance to your descendants.

“Life is like the grass and the glory of man is like the flower of the grass, the grass withers and the flower falls away, but the word of God remains forever.” Live by the word, die by the word there is no other way to live for the follower of Jesus.

“In the name of the good shepherd who gave his life for the sheep.”

Gerry Gutierrez.

PS. The picture is of my friends Eric and Katrina who have snapped their contagious smiles on my face. Bless them with your prayer please.