It's all about LOVE!

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and love your neighbor as yourself.  This is the first and greatest commandment"...This is not an option if we are a follower of Jesus, this is a requirement!

Love as defined in a dictionary states in part; " a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.  Devotedness".

Love is not about following rules.  Following rules is simple, black and white. It is a line in the sand, a clear demarcation of when we have hit the mark and when we have not.   If you do right, then you are okay, if you do not, then you have some penance to do and some changing to do...  Love is much higher than this and much, much harder to put into practice. It's more about being led by God on a moment by moment basis, being open to take a detour to help someone.   Being kind to those that are very difficult to love is no easy task.  The fruit of the Spirit "is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; against such there is no law".  Galatians 5:22, 23.  

Jesus loved the unlovely.  He loved those that were a stench to the Israelites  those who did not have the beliefs that God ordained.  He loved those who were in sin.  He loved those who did  not love Him.  He didn't force the truth down people's throats.  He confronted them with their sin lovingly.  He challenged them to sin no more.  He was actually much more "in your face" with the religious, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, those that thought they were so right.  He called them "white-washed sepulchers (or tombs)".  They were quick to judge those they thought were not "towing the line", the line that they had established as they had added laws to the laws that God had ordained in the Old Testament, breaking the backs of those around them with their rules.

I am thinking about how Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites numerous times when God had apparently just had had enough- often God spared them and did not do what he intended on doing to the full measure that He had planned because of Moses' intercession on their behalf.  Frequently the people rose up and rebelled against both Aaron and Moses and still they prayed on behalf of them, pleading for mercy, now that is love!  They did not argue with God to destroy them although they were angry with them.  I am sure that Moses did not have a tender affection for the Israelites many times- this definition does not address the aspect of unconditional commitment even when the feelings of love wane and appear to be lost.  Our feelings are so fickle, nothing would ever have hope of lasting if we followed our ever changing emotional tides.

Again, love is the higher way and the harder way.  Much harder way!  It is much easier to judge another for their choices than it is to walk with them through the mud and mire of life and lend them a hand.  Life is messy even for the 'best' of us!  As the religious leader walked on the other side of the road for the Samaritan man who was lying on the side of the road.  It reminds me of the recent saying, "What would Jesus do?"  How many condemn even their own brothers and sisters in Christ for supposedly not having the understanding that they do in certain areas (me included) rather than loving them in these areas?  Walking down the potholed riddled life of another human being is no easy task when their choices fly in the face of all that we believe...but would Jesus do any less?  He died for us WHILE we were yet sinners.  We serve Him out of a greater revelation of what He has done for us, not the other way around.  We don't serve in order to be accepted.  We are accepted and therefore our desire is to serve!  It is so easy to get this all mixed up especially as we get involved in our churches, etcetera.  It is the natural bent of man to find his own way out and forget that he needs help....

Galatians says that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh if we walk in the spirit.  God is the author and perfecter of our faith...He is the author of it, the beginning of it when we first realized our need for a Savior and came into agreement about our need and repented, but it does not end there.  He is continuing to perfect us day by day.  We will never arrive to that place of perfection until we sing, "Oh Happy Day" in the presence of our God, it is from "glory to glory".  

"It is by grace that we are saved, through faith and this not ourselves so that no one can boast".  Grace.  Grace for yesterday, when we were first saved.  Grace today for my every blunder and misunderstanding and misguided way and grace for our future, so that I can actually made it to my Heavenly home.  

"Love one another as Christ has loved you".  It's as simple and yes, as incredibly difficult as that!

What Would You Have Me Do For You?

Have you ever considered that question?  Can you imagine the God of the universe asking you this question?   It amazes me that He would ask me what I would like Him to do for me!  In the Old Testament I remember God was very pleased with Solomon for praying and asking God to give him wisdom...and what happened? He received lots of wisdom and everything else too!  (Though what happened to that wisdom at the end of of his life, it is hard to tell).  Yes, I agree with Solomon, I could use a huge dose of wisdom in my life and have asked the Lord many times for it.

But that question is so far reaching- world peace, how often have we prayed for that in one way or another for our neighbors, our friends, our family, ourselves?  That would be an amazing gift.  What about love?  Surely we could use more love in our world, in our households, and dare I say it, more love in our churches. We are all under construction so maybe we should ask for instant deliverance and healing?  I don't truly know how to answer that question for myself although I have pondered it for some time now.  It is a vast question and I always end with God knows what is best for me in the end, maybe I should pose the question back to Him, "What would You have You do for me?"  He sees the implications for everything in my life, not just my own experience of my life, but the ramifications that would affect the generations to come behind me and the lives around me.  As I said, it is more far reaching that this little brain can fathom from my finite perspective.

Am I over-spiritualizing this question?  Maybe.  Why couldn't He narrow the field just a little bit though.  You know, kind of like  with a young child..."Would you like this blue shirt or the white one?  Do you want to go the park or go for ice cream?"  He is so grand and I so small.  "His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts" He says in His Word.  How do I distill everything in my heart with just one thing or maybe He is not asking me for just one thing, maybe I can ask for whatever comes to my mind,maybe the sky is the limit, He is God after all and owns everything on the planet and has more wisdom to solve every problem we could think of "Lord, can I have healing for my friend, finances, a new job, restoration for our family, healing, direction....and the list could go and on"  I think He is saying yes, but His yes may not look like what I think it should look like or be in the timing that I am hoping for...

What do you think?  If you could ask God for anything, what would it be?   Do you have the faith to believe?

John 11- I Will Choose to Trust

My brother, Curt is hosting a poetry contest and I decided to try and write something about this passage.  This is where Mary and Martha are grieving over the loss of their brother Lazarus and knowing full well that if only Jesus would have been there, he wouldn't have had to die...this was written from the perspective of one of the sisters...

" 'I am the Resurrection and the Life"
So the Master said to me--
Then why did my brother have to die?
These are the questions swarming in my head...
Oh Lord, I choose to trust even when I cannot see...

Does He not see the pain I hold?
My memories of him just aren't enough--
If Jesus could bring sight to the blind,
Then why couldn't He prevent his death?
Oh Lord, I choose to trust even even when things get tough!

I thought He said whoever believes would not die--
I don't understand what happened here.
My head is swimming, this just doesn't seem to make much sense!
Then I saw Him weeping and I knew Jesus loved him too--
Oh Lord, I choose to trust even when things disappear that I hold dear!

Maybe He was talking about eternity...
I do know there is Heaven for those who believe.
Then He came and I wept and He saw my face etched with whys.
He then said Lazarus was just asleep, could it really be?
Oh Lord, I choose to trust even when I grieve...

Why did He wait so long to call my brother forth?
I'll never fully grasp why we had to wait all those days--
But that doesn't matter now--He is alive!
His timing is always perfect--His glory is now revealed!
Oh Lord, I will choose to trust, I will worship You always!"