pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: love


by Leave a comment

Washed Clean

Reading: 1st Corinthians 13: 9-13

Verse 12: “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”.

Today’s passage talks about our process and the end product. Paul begins by talking about when perfection comes. One day – maybe today, maybe in a few years, maybe in many generations – Jesus will return, making all things new and perfect. For some, perhaps many of us, we will be made new and perfect before that day. When we breathe our last and stand before Jesus we will be made new, holy and perfect in His eternal presence. Yet here, in this life, we also experience this in bursts. As we confess our sins and take communion this Sunday, we will be for a time holy and perfect in God’s sight as we are washed clean by the blood of Jesus.

Most of our lives, though, we are but a stained image of who and what we were and are created to be. Yes, we are made in the sacred image of God. But very soon in life, sin enters in and we are in a constant battle between faith and the world. We face temptation and we sin. We become stained, less than perfect. Yet our God never leaves us there. Just as the Holy Spirit brings conviction, so too does it lead us to confession and repentance. Grace and mercy wash over us, making us new again. And the process begins anew. It is different though. As we grow in our faith, our ability to detect and fight temptation grows as we learn to walk a more Christlike faith. We actually get a handle on a few sins and can leave them behind as we die to self. Yet sin is ever present. Like with Paul, there are some thorns in the flesh that remain. For example, I ever struggle with pride and ego and the need to be in control. Yes, the struggles are less, I see the sin more quickly, but they do persist. In this way we do begin to see that “poor reflection” more and more clearly as we grow to be more and more like Jesus.

Paul writes, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known”. Today we know and love Jesus to a certain point. Tomorrow we hope to know Him a bit better. The same the next day as well. Then one day we will stand before Jesus and we will know Him fully. May we each journey well until that glorious day.

Prayer: Jesus, my hope and my salvation, keep me ever drawing closer to you. Work in me to reveal your love and glory to the world in need. May I reflect you to those I meet today. Amen.


by 1 Comment

Love to Give

Reading: 1 Corinthians 13: 1-8

Verse 8: “Love never fails”.

Today we turn to the famous “love chapter”. It is popular at weddings because love is the core ingredient of a lifelong commitment. But Paul did not write these words as a homily for a wedding that he was going to officiate. Paul wrote these words because he knew that love had to be the core of all of our relationships – with our siblings and parents, with our spouse and our children, with our teammates and workmates, with our friends and with the stranger that we meet.

Paul seemed to know a few folks who were talented – one could move mountains – or who were kind – one who gave generously to the poor. He also knew that we can do good things yet they can be meaningless to God. Yes, giving food to a hungry family is good and meets a need, but if I do it grudgingly in my heart or with a look of contempt on my face, then it is “nothing”. It matters not to God if not done in love.

Paul also must have known what we ourselves experience. It is not always easy to love. He reminds us of what love is and does: patient, kind, rejoices in truth, protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres. And he reminds us of what love is not: envious, proud, boastful, self-seeking, easily angered, score-keeping. Loving others is hard. Yet as followers of the One who was love, it is what we are called to be too.

Our passage today closes with, “love never fails”. Paul is speaking of God’s love here. Because Jesus was the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, His love is eternal. It will never fail. Yes, prophecies and tongues and knowledge will pass away. But love will always remain. In Jesus, we find the unending well of love. It is a love that is always poured out upon us, a love that we always have to give to others. May we share love as Jesus does – freely, lavishly, openly, to one and to all.

Prayer: Lord, may I know your love so completely that it becomes who I am. Amen.


by 1 Comment

All Nations, All Peoples

Reading: Luke 4: 21-30

Verse 23: “Surely you will quote me this Proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’. Do here in your hometown…”

It is likely that almost everyone in the synagogue in Nazareth knew Jesus – many since He was a baby or since He was a small boy. As He claims that He fulfills the prophecy from Isaiah 61, many in the crowd think or say, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son”? Isn’t Jesus just the carpenter’s boy? Hearing or sensing this, Jesus says, “Surely you will quote me this Proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’. Do here in your hometown…”. It is hard to be at home as something or someone different than you were just a few months before. The crowd, who are hanging in the balance, want to see someone new, someone who has made good. To know it is true, they want to see a sign, a miracle. They want proof for who Jesus is claiming to be.

Perhaps the words from Jeremiah 1 – the words that we have been looking at the past two days – began to ring in Jesus’ ears. Maybe Jesus hears God reminding Him of who He was created to be. Jesus knows the plans that God has for Him. Perhaps this is what keeps Jesus from offering a sign at this moment. Pretty fresh off of the temptations in the wilderness, perhaps Satan returns with a fury, egging Jesus on to ‘just do it’. Satan would delight in Jesus using His power for the wrong reasons – to bring Himself glory. But Jesus resists all of this.

Instead, Jesus chooses to redefine their understanding of God and faith. To His audience, who are part of the chosen people, Jesus shares two stories that illustrate that God is bigger than Israel’s God. In reminding them that God rescued a foreign widow’s son fro death and healed a Syrian army commander of leprosy, Jesus is saying that it is not all about Israel. The idea that God’s love extends beyond them, beyond the people who keep the circle tightly closed, beyond the people who look down upon all outside of Israel as Gentiles, this was too much.

Yet we know it is not too much. To go just to Zarephath or to heal just an outsider who wanders in is not enough. Jesus called us to go to the ends of the earth, to make disciples of all nations, if all peoples. May it be so.

Prayer: Lord, may I live into Jesus’ vision of the kingdom here on earth. It is a kingdom that includes all people. May I see all as a part of your family, especially those who have trouble seeing it themselves. Guide me to help others to become someone who walks in the light and love of Jesus. Amen.


by 1 Comment

Plans

Reading: Jeremiah 1: 4-10

Verse 5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart”.

As God begins to prepare Jeremiah for the mission ahead He begins by declaring His intent for Jeremiah from even before his earthly, human beginning. I believe the same is true for you and for me: God has an intent, a plan, for our lives. I believe these same words can be said to each of us: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart”.

Although God has a plan or intent for each of us and for our lives, I do not believe that God forces us into His plan or will or way. We live in the world and are influenced by Satan and other things of this world. Therefore there is a constant battle in our hearts and minds. In that battle we have a choice to make – God or the world? Good or evil? Being human, of the flesh, sometimes we do not always choose well – sometimes we sin. Through Jesus Christ, God has a plan for that too!

When we go astray, God does not ever give up on us. God created us, imperfections and all. God understands us, fallabilities and all. When we sin we sense our alienation from God. Through the continuing work of the Holy Spirit we seek to be made right again. It is scary in those times if separation. Verse 8 reminds us, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will rescue you”. Even though we hurt our relationship at times, God’s love is greater.

Because of His great love, God always works to bring us back into alignment with His plans for us. If I choose plan B instead of God’s plan A, for example, then God goes to work to bring me back around to plan A. Through a variety of sources – the Word, the Holy Spirit, other people – God always tries to work us back to the preferred future that He has intended for us. Why? Because God loves us and wants the best for us. That is His plan.

Again, God says to each of us, “Before I formed you…” I knew you and had a plan for you. God is a loving and good God. God’s plan will lead us to good. Living within God’s plan we experience God’s love. This day may we each recommit our lives to living out God’s plan for our lives.

Prayer: God of all, thank you for thinking of me, for choosing me before you even formed me. Thank you for including me in your plans. Thank you for my place in your family. Help me to live into all of this each and every day. Amen.


by Leave a comment

People of Love

Reading: 1 Corinthians 12: 17-20

Verse 18: “In fact God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be”.

In 1 Corinthians Paul gives some instructions on how to be the church. Some of it is practical – concerning worship and communion. Some of it is more relational and spiritual. Such is the case with 1 Corinthians 12. There must have been some discord and disagreement in the church in Corinth. Things typical in the world and in our churches today – ego, status, titles, judging – must have been present.

Paul uses a wonderful analogy of the body to explain how the church should function, see each other, and work together. In our verses for today, Paul is saying that all members of the church are important. He puts it this way: “In fact God has arranged the parts of the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be”. God designed the body with many parts, true. But all the parts are needed and all are just as God designed them.

Sometimes in our churches we cannot initially see how a new person or new family or new group of people from our community will become a part of our body. Maybe we see them as too different in this way or that. Maybe we cannot see what they bring to the body to make it better simply by their presence. And sometimes they bring new thoughts or ways of doing things or they have a new perspective that does not align with the status quo.

God designed the church to be a place with open doors, to be a place where people come to know Jesus and to learn to walk a life of faith. The church was designed to be a place where all people are welcome. If we choose to adopt Jesus’ eyes – to see all with eyes of love – then we will be churches who welcome all and seek to find each person’s place in the body of Christ. May we be people of love today.

Prayer: Lord, help me to see with eyes of love so that I find the image of you in all I meet. In doing so, in seeing you, help me to love all as children of God. Amen.


by 1 Comment

Yes, me. Yes, you

Reading: Luke 4: 14-21

Verse 16: “He went to Nazareth… and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom”.

After the testing in the wilderness, Jesus emerges and begins to preach in the synagogues in Galilee. Everyone who heard Him praised Him. In today’s passage, Jesus returns to His home town. We read, “He went to Nazareth… and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom”. The Sabbath is the day set aside for God. It is a day to read the scriptures, to spend more time in prayer, to grow closer to God. In order to help people grow in their faith, Jesus teaches on this day.

Not coincidentally the scroll of Isaiah is brought to Jesus. It is not by chance that He opens to verses 11 and 12. Jesus reads the passage that was written about the Messiah hundreds of years ago. As we read these words from Isaiah 61, they cry out “Jesus”! He came for these very things – to preach the good news to the poor in faith, to free prisoners from their sins, to bring sight to those walking in spiritual darkness, to release the oppressed from all that binds them down, and to proclaim God’s love for all people. Jesus then sits down and basically announces that He is there to fulfill this passage.

With our 20/20 hindsight we can see that this is exactly what Jesus would do in His ministry. Jesus healed people of their physical and spiritual infirmities. He shed light onto the darkness in people’s lives, revealing the way to walk in the truth. Jesus championed justice for all and welcomed all people into His presence. He fulfilled these words from Isaiah 61. Doing so, Jesus gives us a model or example of what God’s love looks like when fully lived out. It was not, however, just so we could see what it looked like. Jesus set the example so that we could follow it too.

Just as those folks from Nazareth were uncomfortable with what Jesus was saying, we too look at that list in Isaiah 61 and get a bit uncomfortable. Who me? Do all that? Yes, me. And, yes, you. With the power and presence of the Holy Spirit we too can bring healing, offer hope, work for justice, share the good news. We can be Jesus’ light and love to the world. May it be so for each of us today.

Prayer: Lord God, empower me with the Holy Spirit. Enable me to share your light, love, hope, peace. May all I do and say bring honor and glory to you. Amen.


by Leave a comment

One Body

Reading: 1st Corinthians 12: 12-31a

Verse 27: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”.

Paul’s analogy of the church as a body is wonderful. If one thinks about our bodies, we are made of many different organs, tissues, bones, and lots of other parts. Yet the body itself all works together in amazing harmony. Our inner functions hum right along without thoughts directing them. We are fearfully and wonderfully and perfectly made. It is a beautiful image. Isn’t this the dream for our churches?

The body of Christ is brought together by the Holy Spirit. In verse 13 Paul writes, “we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body”. Our faith in Jesus Christ is what draws us together and unites us. Through the Holy Spirit we are each adopted into the body – into the family of God. We reflect this in our baptism liturgy. Also within that liturgy it is not only the parents that covenant to raise the child in the church, but it is also the whole congregation that promises to help do so as well. One body.

But being human, the church is not always perfect. Paul addresses this in verses 14-17 and again in verses 21-26. Sometimes a part of the body thinks it is more important than the rest of the body. One part thinks its way is the best or the only way. This is just one way of causing strife and division in the body. On occasion one part of the body thinks its role is superior to the other parts of the body and this can make other parts feel less needed or less valued. God designed the body of Christ to be better than all of this. Most often, fortunately, it is!

Towards the end of our passage Paul writes, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”. To me this statement has an implied “so act like it” for us to hear as well. We are called to be a witness to the world. We do so by first and foremost genuinely loving and caring for one another within the body of Christ. It is my prayer that all we do and say as the body of Christ is guided by love. May it be so.

Prayer: Lord, when I am feeling pride or judgment creeping in, quickly bring the conviction of the Holy Spirit to my heart. In those times of tension or unease, may I hear the voice of that same Holy Spirit leading and guiding me. Amen.


by 1 Comment

Pleasing

Reading: Psalm 19:14

Verse 14: “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer”.

These words are familiar words. The sermon or message in many churches, mine included, begins with these words. These words ask God to be present in and through the Word proclaimed and to guide our thoughts and responses to the message given. It is a prayer for both the pastor and the congregation. I love how this prayer closes with the dual reminder that the Lord is our foundation and our mercy – our guide through life and our help when we get astray.

Many of us walk out the doors of worship on Sunday morning and return to the world and its ways almost immediately – cussing the one who cut us off in traffic or being rude to the waiter. Some if us might manage to make it to Monday morning before the world creeps back in. At work or school we gossip about the weekend or we resume the shady, worldly business or study practices that we felt convicted of just the day before. We find there is no shortage of ways that we can be displeasing to the Lord. The world is always providing opportunities or encouragement to do so. The battle is constant.

But so is God’s love. And His mercies are new every morning. And His grace is unending. The world is where we now dwell, so the lures of this world will be there. But Jesus had overcome the world. Through faith in Him, we too can walk in the light. Just as Sunday morning is that little boost to our faith and walk, so too can be our own daily time with God. When we read and study and meditate on God’s Word daily, He becomes more a part of our lives. When we spend time each day talking with God, our prayers strengthen our faith. When we open ourselves to the guide and direction of the Holy Spirit, our faith grows stronger still. When we choose to be faithful to our daily disciplines – time in the Word, time in prayer, time connected to the Holy Spirit – our walk with the Lord is closer. We find that we grow more and more into today’s verse. More and more often our words of our mouth and the thoughts of our hearts are pleasing to God. More and more the Lord is our Rock and Redeemer. May we each stay deeply in love with God, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second. Amen.

Prayer: Lord, this moment and every moment, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.


by 1 Comment

Light

Reading: Psalm 36: 5-10

Verses 7 and 9: “Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings… in your light we see light”.

Where I live and in many parts of the world we are about half way through the season of darkness that comes every winter. The darkness builds to December 21 and then slowly recedes. We often go to work in the dark and come home from work in the dark. The dark affects us all – rich and poor, black and white, male and female. We long for more light.

We experience darkness in other ways too. Some of the time it is spiritual – sin has gotten ahold of us or we have become lazy in our spiritual disciplines and we feel as if the source of light and love in our lives is distant. Sometimes it is caused by life – the loss of a loved one puts us in a funk or illness runs us down and we pull into ourselves. In all these cases, we sense the darkness and we long for light.

The psalmist reminds us where to turn. He writes, “Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings”. Because we all experience seasons of darkness, both spiritually and physically, we all have times when we need the refuge found in God. It is offered to all – high and low, rich and poor, black and white, male and female. We are all God’s children and God loves us all deeply. God desires to be our refuge and more. God wants to be our peace, our hope, our strength, our comfort, our all.

When we reach out to God our darkness fades. In our Psalm today we also read, “in your light we see light”. God relieves our darkness with His light. God’s light and love shines into our dark places. God’s light lifts us up and we begin to be the light, sharing the light with others. May we call and wait upon the source of light every day. May we then be filled by the light so that we can be the light for those struggling with or living in darkness. May it be so. Amen!

Prayer: Lord of light, may I walk in the light. You are the light. Draw me in as a moth to a flame. Draw me in with your love. May the light in me shine out, lighting the way for others. Amen.


by 2 Comments

Love, Righteousness, Justice

Reading: Psalm 36: 5-10

Verse 5: “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies”.

Today’s passage is a song of praise. If you did not catch that – read it again. David is praising God for His presence, for His love, for His blessings. Verse 5 reads, “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies”. Perhaps you too can hear Mac Powell’s deep voice singing this verse and the next. They are the opening lines to the song, “Your Love, O Lord”.

When we consider the imagery that David used we begin to get an understanding of the size or quantity of God’s love… It is not an XL or even XXL kind of love… It is a love that stretched all the way up to the heavens. That is a long way. There are some stars that we can see at night that are really far away. The distance that we can see increases greatly with a huge telescope. Yet even with the biggest telescope ever built, there will still be heavens beyond what we can see. Think about that in thinking about how far God’s love reaches. Then we are just beginning to comprehend how big God’s love really is.

David compares God’s righteousness to the mighty mountains and God’s justice to the depths of the sea. The mountains are majestic and strong and beautiful and seem to stand forever. Such is the start of understanding God’s righteousness. The depth of the sea is in fact greater than the highest mountain on earth. To me this says that justice matters to God. A lot. Yet even then I can only start to comprehend God’s desire for justice.

I am awed by the power and might of God illustrated in these comparisons with the natural world. They are good visuals to begin to think about how wide and high and deep are God’s love, righteousness, and justice. It is a love, righteousness, and justice for you and for me. Wow.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for humbling me this morning. This day may I praise your name for your love, righteousness, and justice. Amen.