pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: love


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Set on “Radical”

Early in our faith, Moses directed us to be a holy people, because our God is holy. Actually he directed the Israelites, but it applies to Christians today as well! In the original language of Hebrews the word was “qadash'” and it meant to consecrate, to dedicate, to sanctify our lives. It was and is meant as a mandate to live a life set apart from the worldly way of life. When we dedicate, sanctify, or consecrate our lives to God we are being called into an obedience to live as God’s representatives in this world. Our radical obedience to God’s call in our lives will set us apart.

Yet so often we are neither radical nor obedient. Does our daily walk of faith truly represent a holy God? Does our walk obediently tread where God is leading or where He is pointing us to go? Does our faith extend beyond Sunday morning worship AND outside the walls of the church? Or is our obedience and holiness limited?

God’s grace, love, and mercy for us are not limited. He does not ever hold any of this back from us. And so it should be with our obedience and our holy walk of faith. Our holiness should reflect a God who is loving and caring for all humanity, all of the time. Our obedience should be set on ‘radical’ constantly!


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A Narrow Road

At times in our faith journey we can be immature and rather un-Christlike. We can choose to quarrel or bicker – both within a church and between churches or denominations or religions.

At times we choose as individuals to withhold love or kindness or acts of mercy. There can be a variety of reasons – prejudice, stereotypes, past history…

But thanks be to God that He doesn’t treat us this way! For His love never fails and it never gives up on me. Praise God! At times I must frustrate Him and at times I must miss opportunities He places before me. But He always loves.

As Christians this is our call too. We must emulate this love of God. We are called to love and serve all we meet each day. When they don’t look like us or are different from us or annoy us, this challenge can be hard. But it is the narrow road we are called to walk. May our walks be straight and true every day!!


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The Law and Our Life

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus strives to teach us how to live out our faith. Moses had brought the Law to the Israelites as a means to show them how to live out their love for God. But as time rolled along, they became bound to the letter of the law and not the intent of the law. Sometimes we do the same. Sometimes we get stuck on the principal of the matter instead of understanding what is really going on.

Beginning in verse 21, Jesus explains some basics of how to live. He reminds us that we can’t come to God seeking forgiveness if we are withholding forgiveness or not seeking forgiveness from our brothers. He reminds us that even lustful thoughts constitute adultery and that if our eye or hand causes us to sin, that we should gouge it out or cut it off. Jesus cautions us not to swear by anything but simply to let our yes be yes and our no be no. He is getting not at the literal letter of the law but at the ‘living it out’ concepts.

In the living it out, we can struggle. We are called to be right with our brothers and sisters, to live in correct relationship with them. How could we expect to be in a right or righteous relationship with God if we struggle with our earthly relationships? We are called to love our spouse like Jesus loves the church. How could we truly love our spouse while pining after another? We are called to be without sin. As humans we all sin, but here Jesus is calling us to come wholly before God. If we have sin in one part of our life, how can we come before the perfect Father and expect to be in His presence? We cannot be honest and have integrity some of the time – it has to be all of the time and with all of our being!

Jesus came to fulfill the law – to return the people to the intent of the law. This same challenge exists for us today as Christians – to love God and neighbor with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And what a challenge it is!! But we must remember that in Christ we have the greatest role model ever. Be a copycat today!!


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Blessings or Curses?

Blessings and curses. Like the ‘life or death’ choice this one seems so easy. Who wouldn’t choose blessings? Who in the world would ask for a big old heaping of curses? (At least not on themselves!)

When our choice is life with God, then we are committing to love Him, to listen to Him, and to trust in Him. Notice that all of these things involve us choosing to engage God in some way. All of these things involve us saying we are plugged into God and His plan for our life. The result is blessings. The blessings go both ways too!! We are blessed by God’s presence and how it affects the way we live out our days. God is blessed because when we are in this right relationship with Him, we are also in a right relationship with those in our worlds. We love and care for others.

When our choice is to not do all of these things, the result is curses. Maybe these sometimes come in the form of calamity and bad things. Maybe it looks like things just are not quite going right for us. But in either case, this is not the work of God. We are more suspect to the lies and work of the evil one when we are not close to God. When we are far from God we see things in a different way. Instead of turning to Him, we turn to ourselves or food or …

This choice between blessings and curses can be seen in big and small ways. In big ways we can see it in a tragedy. The family that loves and trusts in God looks at the loss of a loved one so much differently that a family of non-believers. Both families hurt for the human loss of life and grieve over the missing relationship. But the faithful family has a sense of peace and hope. They do not have the ‘what now’ questions and doubts.

In small ways faith allows us to get through a trial at work, an argument with our spouse, a challenge with one of our children a little differently – we know there is a higher purpose, a greater calling to our life. Our trust and faith in God allows us to see past the crisis while we are yet in the midst of it. The hope and peace that comes from Him allows us to work through the crisis filled with a sense of His presence – we know we are not alone. And this makes such a difference!

Blessings or curses? Just as Moses loved and wanted the people to choose God and life and blessings, so too should we want all people today to choose these things. And it is in the way we live out our faith in the real places of life that we are a witness to those in the dark. It is in the way we do the day to day things and it is in the ways we engage the world. May we choose to share faith, life, and blessings today!!


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Living the Law

As people we easily fall into the trap of judging others. We do it for so many reasons, but often it is to say we are better than them or that at least we don’t do what they are doing. Relatively speaking we are a better person, spouse, Christian, … Far from perfect but at least not the worst.

The Bible is composed of the Old and New Testaments. In Matthew 5 Jesus reminds those he is speaking to that the Law of the OT is still in existence. Not only that, but that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Jesus goes on to teach about the consequences of keeping and breaking the laws. Keeping them means we will be ‘great’ in heaven but when we break one we will be ‘least’ in heaven. But catch the important part – even the breakers of the law will be able o be in heaven!!

At the end of this section (verses 17-20) Jesus drops one on the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. He tells his listeners that unless their (our) righteousness exceeds that of these religious leaders, then we will NOT enter the kingdom of heaven. I can hear the leaders saying, “now hold on a minute!” because they knew the law inside and out, forward and backward. But they only knew it, they didn’t live it out. They only knew the letter of the law and not the intent. Maybe this is why they clashed so often w/Jesus on the Sabbath.

Although I understand that Jesus was making a couple points here with this comparative statement, we must be careful not to judge. When we fall into that comparative game, there is always someone ‘better’ out there. On the other end of the scale, do we really want a faith that simply seeks to be above whoever is ‘least’?

We need to hear both sides of Jesus’ point. Don’t get caught up in the rules and requirements – live out our faith in a real and honest way. Don’t think that because we are on the membership roles of a church that we are ‘in’ heaven. It is a day to day, moment by moment way of life that Jesus is calling us. Just because we helped the first person we encountered does it mean we can walk by the second and third and … It is a 24/7 type of commitment to which we are being called. Is it hard? Yes – the road is narrow. But His burden is easy and the yoke is light. Come to know Jesus and we come to know and live out the law because of the great love that dwells within us!


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The Radical Shift

Many people in the world like and chose to live by the Golden Rule. It is some version of the idea “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Treat people how you would like to be treated. The world would be a pretty nice place if we all lived this out. But…

As followers of Christ we are called to more than the golden rule. And the question is how do we get from this rule to living like Christ calls us to live. In 1 Corinthians 2 Paul shares that the Holy Spirit reveals to us the wisdom of God so that we may gain the glory for which we are destined. Gain implies some effort on our part. The Spirit fills us with this knowledge so that we may come to understand the things of God and to make decisions with the ‘mind of Christ’ that the Spirit develops in us.

Through this wisdom of God we move beyond ‘how I want to be treated’ to how Christ would treat me. This is a radical shift. We begin to look without instead of within. It is not a tit-for-tat thought process but a ‘how can I love this person without strings attached’ thought process? It becomes thinking about how we can serve, love, and care for our world without expecting something back.

It is coming to understand how to love like Christ loved. It is bringing people to the John 10:10 Jesus: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Through the wisdom of God that the Holy Spirit imparts we are all capable of this kind of love. May we all begin to make that radical shift that Christ calls us to!!


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Shining for the Lord

Paul was a man who was a religious leader. He was well-versed in the words of the Bible (the Old Testament at the time) and knew every letter of the Law. But whenever Paul shared the Gospel, it wasn’t usually with $100 religious terms or by spelling out a long list of what one must do to come to know Christ. Paul sought the power of the Holy Spirit as his means of delivery of the message. He knew that the people would best see and come to know Christ if they could see the power of God working in and through him.

In our lives we have many ways to share the message. We do not have to have some fantastic conversion story or experience. We don’t have to awe someone with our great knowledge of the Bible or with the great things we have done. We can share our faith through the little decisions we make about how to live out our life daily. We can share the message in the way we interact with and care for our neighbors, co-workers, and friends. Christ can shine in all we do.

We can also share our faith by our actions and commitments. This can be but does not have to be some grand thing either. It can be. It may be serving on a committee or team at church. It may be in donating time to an agency that helps the needy. It may be in visiting people at the jail or the hospital. In all we do, the love of Christ should shine through!!

The world is always watching. Be encouraged by this. Be honored by this. In all ways this day, may the love of Christ shine through you like the sun!!


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With and Not For

Do you ever wonder what pleases God? Have you ever considered what truly helps us to grow in our relationship with Him?

Just because I go and occupy a pew for an hour on Sunday morning, does it necessarily mean my faith grows. Just because I go and help serve a meal at the Cornerstone Rescue Mission does it mean that I am loving and serving the needy. Just because I read the Bible does it mean I am growing in my faith. We can do lots FOR God but if it is not WITH God. Herein lies a huge difference.

A fast is not a fast simply because we skip a few meals. That is just a diet. A fast starts to become a fast when we feel the hunger and turn to God to admit our weakness and to seek His strength. When we declare our inability to do it on our own and call out to God, then we are building that relationship with Him. The physical need leads to and reveals our need for spiritual strength as well.

Similarly, when we read or hear the Word proclaimed and we take it in and claim it as our own, then we are making it a part of our lives and growing in our faith. When we sit down with someone at the Mission and share a meal with them, then we are beginning to know and understand the needy and how to make a difference in their lives. When we connect we are seeing through God’s eyes and not our own. Then our relationship with Christ grows as well.

When we choose to be a part of doing things with God instead of simply for God, then that makes a huge difference in our lives. And equally important it makes a difference in the lives of those around and with us. Ever worshipped with that guy who just seems so into it, so plugged into the Spirit? Be that guy. Ever served alongside that lady who seems that she would rather be there that anywhere else in the world? Be that lady. Ever marvel at how Jesus could love the least and the lost as if they were the only one that mattered in the world? Be that follower. Today.


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Shining the Light

 

At the end of the Beatitudes Jesus reminds us that when we share the light and love, we may be insulted, persecuted, and falsely accused. This mirrors what Jesus faced His last few days as he faced the religious leaders, Pilate, and Herod. Jesus chose to endure insult, persecution, and false accusation so that He could walk to Golgatha and bear death on the cross for our sins. In verse 12 He also reminds us why He walked that road – He knew that great is the reward in heaven!
When we chose to share the light and love of Jesus in our world, sometimes we cast that light and love into and upon the darkness that some people live in. And when we cast that light upon the darkness, sometimes people recoil and react. They respond by hurling insults, by falsely accusing, and/or by persecuting. But they have heard and seen the word revealed. The soil may be rocky and the seed will not bear fruit, but they have heard the word.

When we chose to endure the insults… we are also shining a light upon Jesus. They expect a reaction from us and when we make the choice not to engage, we shed more light. Others that do not recoil and react but have now seen the light and heard the word will be drawn both to these and to our non-reaction. This soil is a little more fertile so these seeds may begin to take root. For in being willing to model love and mercy in the face of insults, accusations, and persecution, we are modeling the Jesus that we seek to share with the lost and the broken in our worlds!!


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Supreme Blessing for All!!

The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes. ‘Beatitudes’ mean supreme blessings or happiness, according to Webster. For some of the beatitudes, they are certainly a blessing. But for some the blessing comes in how we live them out. In the Beatitudes we see some ways for us to draw near to God, some ways to share our God, and some ways God draws near to us.

When we are poor in spirit we see our need for God and move towards deepening our relationship with Him. To me this is like when I am starting to get hungry – I can begin to sense my need for food. The perceived feeling of missing something draws us near to what we need. When we are humble we acknowledge that there is a need. Then we can begin to walk toward Him that fills us. As we seek righteousness with a pure heart, God is happy to meet us in the journey and to fill us up. And thus our relationship with gains depth.

Out of these internal things and the relationship with God that forms and grows, we can allow God to flow forth from us, into the lives of others. Because we are filled with His peace and mercy, we can offer peace and mercy to those we meet who need to come to know God. The hands and feet of God become our hands and feet as we meet someone in their place of need. Their walk begins or is helped along.

And because of His great love for us, at times God draws near to us. When we mourn, He enters in to bring us comfort. When we are persecuted, He enters in to bring us the strength we need to face the trial. Through His presence with us in our times of need, we gain a depth of relationship with God that allows us to be there for others in their time of need. This too can become a way that God flows out of us and into the lives of others.

As we seek out ways to live out the beatitudes, God will be there with us. Some of the opportunities will be obvious and some will require us to see them not through our eyes but through God’s eyes. Some will become only obvious when we feel with God’s heart and not our own. As we draw closer to God in our relationship with Him, our vision for our own faith and the faith of others becomes clearer as well.

Zephaniah 3:17: “The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you singing.”