pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: love


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Life Lived Fully

Jesus says to us, “Come be with me, come spend some time with me.  Be in my love and my love will be in you.  Remain in me and I will remain in you.  Get to know me by being with me and then become like me.”

He calls us to spend time in prayer – both talking and listening.  He calls us to spend time in the Word – both reading and reflecting.  He calls us to take account of our life  and day – both in thanksgiving and in evaluation.  All we do and say should be done to draw us closer to Jesus and to deepen our relationship with Him.

As we get to know Jesus more, two things happen.  First, we begin to recognize then respond to His calls into our life with increasing clarity.  As it really sinks in how Jesus loved and treated others, we come to see that we are called to do the same.  Our ears, eyes, and heart become more attuned to the nudges and voice of the Holy Spirit.  We think less of self and more of how we can come alongside another in the love of Jesus Christ.

Teh second thing is also within but it has more to  do with how we see self.  We question what we once never gave a second thought.  We choose to do this or that (or choose not to) as we seek to imitate more and more the life of Jesus.  Living a life that is holy and pleasing to God takes on new meaning.

As we continue on our journey of faith the line between outward and inward seems to blur.  As this line blurs one comes to see what a life truly lived for Christ looks like.  Be faithful to the journey.

Scripture reference: John 15: 9-11


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Sing a New Song

It is raining outside this morning.  At times the rain swells up and pounds on the windows.  At other times it is a beautiful, steady tapping on the windows. To me it is a joyful sound.  Like the psalmist today writing of how our praises swell up to God, tha rain too brings joy and gladness to the earth.

The psalm brings to mind all of creation raising its voice in praise and worship for God’s steadfast love.  It is the response of all living things to the constant and deep care God has for all His creations.  I can almost hear the grass and plants singing their thanks to God for the moisture He is bringing this morning.  My heart yearns to sing along.

The psalm also calls for us to sing a new song, for salvation has come.  Like a steady rain, the love and compassion of Jesus washes over all who call upon His name.  We are also reminded that with salvation will come judgment.  The world and all of creation will be judged with righteousness and with equity.

Just as the steady rains falls on all of the grass and plants, so too will His judgment fall on all of us.  Today may the love of Christ that is within us be like a steady rain, falling on all we meet.  May it bring refreshment and cleansing to all we meet.  May the incredible love of Christ being to sink into their soil and creep down into their roots.  And in doing all these things, may we sing a joyful song to our God and King.

Scripture reference: Psalm 98 Continue reading →


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This Amazing Love

“God’s Love and Ours” is the title to the section in my Bible that contains 1 John 4: 7-21.  It is all about God’s and Jesus’ love for us and our love for our fellow man.  It is about how our love ought to reflect His perfect love.  The word ‘love’ appears over 25 times in this passage.  Seems that this love thing must be important in our lives.

If we were to look at Jesus’ ministry and to come up with one word to describe it, that word would be love.  In all He did love was at the core.  In all He did.  This example that Jesus set for us is the goal of our lives.  It is how we shine our light.

God’s love also continually pours out upon us.  His love can be found in us and all around us.  If we were to analyze our day, we would find many “God sightings” sprinkled throughout our day.  Some of these would be points where we experienced God’s love for us, some would be points where we shared His love with others, and some would be points where others shared His love with us.

A lot of the time we take this amazing love for granted.  Sometimes I am sure we do not even notice it.  Our days can be so busy that by the time we get to the end of the day, we just want to relax.  But it is important to acknowledge and give thanks for His love.  Whether in your mind or on a piece of paper, take a minute right now to consider where all you experienced God’s love yesterday.  Smile and give thanks.  Repeat each day.

Scripture reference: 1 John 4: 7-21


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Deep, Deep Love

God’s love is amazing.  God’s love is unending.  God’s love is steadfast and true.  He calls us to abide in His love, to dwell in it, to soak it up, to share it with others.  His perfect love was shown on the cross as God allowed His Son to be our atoning sacrifice.

The cross is also the symbol of how we are to love.  The vertical beam represents the love that flows back and forth between us and God.  Despite our failings and stumblings, His love still always extends to us, always calls us back into relationship with Him.  As we find forgiveness after forgiveness and come to know how much God loves us, our own love begins to flow out to our fellow man.  This love is represented in the horizontal beam of the cross.

At times these relationships with our fellow man will challenge us.  Just as we are to others, some are harder for us to love.  Just as in “The Shack” the God character always said, “I am especially fond of that one,” we too are called to not only say this but to live this out.

One of the best parts of how big God’s love is is shown in our struggles to love all of our neighbors.  His love is so big that we can draw and draw upon it.  In those cases when we especially struggle to love one of our brothers or sisters, draw deep into the love of God.  Soak in His love.  Abide in His love.  Steep in His love.  Then go forth to love that friend in Christ.

Scripture reference: 1 John 4: 7-21


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The Second Line

“God is love” is a widely used statement.  When I ask my Youth to describe Jesus using only one word, the word they always choose is “love.”  If we ask how much God or Jesus loves us, we know we cannot quantify the answer.  Their love for us is so vast we cannot comprehend it.  In the Bible our greatest example of ‘how much’ is found on the cross.  In this we get an inkling not only of how much but also the idea that love is intended to be shared or given away to and for others.

In my Upper Room Devotional book, today’s reading contains these words: “The person with true love from God displays the same kind of unconditional love towards all just as Jesus evidenced that agape love toward us.  We do not even consider refusing the needs of a sister or brother in need.”  If you were like me, you were thinking “yep, yep, yep…” as you read the first sentence.  Then you too got to the second sentence.  Conviction time!

As I wrestled with that second line, I came to realize this was really true of Jesus – He didn’t refuse anyone.  As I went further with these thoughts, I came to again see that this idea extended to the cross.  He didn’t die for some of our sins or for a select group of sinners.  Jesus died for all the sins of all the people.  When we are called to follow the example of Christ and to love our neighbors, God means all the people, all the time.  May God grant the strength, faith, and love necessary to walk this path of unconditional love and to do as Jesus did.

Scripture reference: 1 John 3: 16-24


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The Shepherd

Psalm 23 is probably the most well-known psalm.  It is so well-known because of its content.  It speaks so beautifully of the relationship we have with God.  In the words of the psalm we hear how fully David trusts in God because he knows God is always there.

In the psalm God is in the role of the shepherd.  David, and later Jesus, will come to play the role of shepherd as well.  In all of these cases the people are the sheep under the loving shepherd’s care.  This care is spelled out so so richly in Psalm 23.  Today we are the sheep as well.  In this care we find our needs are met.  We find times of rest when we refresh our souls.  We find both guidance and protection.

Beyond these basics, we also find care that extends to our spiritual and emotional needs.  The Good Shepherd prepares for us a table and blesses us with oil.  With Him we are assured that goodness and mercy will be with us all of our days.  Within this relationship we come to see that we do indeed dwell in the house of the Lord all our days.

When we get to this place in our relationship with the Shepherd, the fears, doubts, and other concerns of life do not have a grip on us.  We trust in His care. We rest in His love.  When we know our Shepherd is walking with us through all of life, then we begin to live life to the fullest.  Not only do we live in and enjoy the abundance of God’s grace and love, but we begin to share Him with others.  Our cup overflows into other’s lives.  Through sharing how the Shepherd cares for and loves us, we help others to come into His care as well.

Scripture reference: Psalm 23


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Power in the Name

Something as simple as a name can have a lot of meaning.  The names of famous people can invoke memories or emotions.  For each of us we also have a list of names that do the same things for us personally.  To others, our name has the same effect.

No name carries the power that the name of Jesus carries.  In today’s story a man finds healing when Peter and John call on the name of Jesus.  When the twelve were originally sent out, it was in the name of Jesus.  Then and after Jesus was resurrected, these ordinary men did many amazing works and miracles in the name of Jesus.

Jesus continues to be the cornerstone today.  He is the gate through which all of us must pass to enter eternal life.  Jesus himself declared that He is the only way to the Father; Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  The Holy Spirit only enters into each of us after we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Even to this day, Christians all around the world often end their prayers with the phrase “in the name of Jesus.”

A song I learned recently begins with the words “there is power in the name of Jesus” repeated several times.  It is followed by the words “to break every chain”, also repeated several times.  As broken, imperfect creatures, only the name of Jesus saves us.  He is the true cornerstone or foundation upon which our faith stands.  It is only through and in the name of Jesus that we find salvation.  In the personal relationship we each can have with Jesus we find grace, love, forgiveness.  Call on the name of Jesus and allow Him to break every chain.  Call on His name and be redeemed.

Scripture reference: Acts 4: 11-12


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The New “To Do” List

Jesus offers a new way of faith.  Instead of the long list of do’s and don’ts, Jesus offers relationship.  The Law was and is the way of Israel.  Even today it is too easy for a church or individual to make faith almost a checklist: went to church, gave my offering, prayed each day.  These items are important but our faith must be much more than this type of a “to do” list.

Jesus offers us relational faith.  Instead of being judge and punisher, Jesus offers us a relationship with Him and with each other.  He offers us a constant presence through the Holy Spirit.  The Good Shepherd watches over us, leads and guides us, protects us, and provides for us.  And our response?  To in turn help others to come to know this loving Shepherd.

What if our “to do” list looked a bit different?  What if we began the list with the above items but added a few things?  Offer an extraordinary act of generosity or compassion to a friend or stranger.  Bring someone to church who does not know Jesus.  Give something away to a person in need.  Imagine the impact if each of us accomplished this new “to do” list each week?

We may not be able to heal a man like Peter and John did yet, but we certainly can make a difference the same way: one life at a time.  The sharing of Jesus and our faith is what we are each called to do.  May we each live into our new “to do” list this week, one life at a time.

Scripture reference: Acts 4: 5-12


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One Day

What amazing love God has for us!  We have the promise that one day He will return and we will be like Him.  As a child of God, we know the end of the story.

Even though we know this promise and how the story ends, we muddle along often pretending we don’t know.  For me, I live in the illusion that I am in control of my life and the things that occur in my little world.  But the reality is that in spite of all the planning, organization, … that I do, I control very little.

In fact, at times, I even fail to control myself.  In some cases I do not do what I know I should do and in other instances I do what I know I should not do.  Paul wrote of this struggle in Romans 7.  In the end he concedes what I must concede as well – only Jesus can rescue me from this struggle within.  Only through Christ do I stand a chance.

When life is hard or temptation comes my way, I must again and again remember that I am a beloved child of God.  In these times I need to recall that God is always in control and that He wants the best for me.  Laying aside self, I must trust the Spirit’s leading and guiding and I must rest in the Spirit’s protection and intercession.

1 John 3 reminds me of the “rest of the story.”  One day He will return.  And one day I will be like Him.  Until that day I wrestle with life and try to give my all to be more and more like Him every day.  This day may I live into the promise that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Scripture reference: 1 John 3: 1-3


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Relentless Love

Do miracles really happen?  Miracles really do happen.  Do they really still happen?  They really do still happen.  God and His Spirit are still active in the world.  They do not only work through miracles but they also work through people like you and me, making a difference in everyday life.  God still answers big audacious prayers (and small ones too), still heals people of ‘incurable’ and ‘terminal’ diseases, and still restores relationship that were long ago dead.

Why does God continue to do such works?  It is through our encounters with the divine that our faith grows and that we come to know the nature of God more and more.  When Peter healed the beggar at the gate to ‘perfect health’, it was great for the man.  But the higher purpose was to give Peter an audience to share the story of Jesus with.

Another reason we continue to experience God through a variety of means in real ways is to counter our doubt.  Doubt and questioning continue to pull at us and to creep into our lives.  Yet our God continues to and will continue to pursue us.  His longing for each of us is to form and mold us into just the person He created us to be.  He has a plan for our lives.

Sometimes we don’t always hear His voice and some of the time we make decisions or choices we shouldn’t.  We get off track.  We drift.  We lose touch with our faith.  But our God never gives up.  Another person comes along or we encounter God through an event or other experience.

In His relentless pursuit of us, God never, ever gives up.  Through whatever means necessary He continually works to shape and mold us into just who He created us to be.  That is just how much God loves us.

Scripture reference: Acts 3: 12-19