Yes, Valentine's Day is over. The large red cardboard hearts are torn asunder. The chocolate candy is no longer lingering on the mouth corners of small children. The stores are no longer selling large pink stuffed gorillas, except on clearance.
Sad, isn't it? The holiday that celebrates love in all red has finally come to a close.
... but SHOULD IT?
As Christians, Valentine's Day just reminds us that we need to actually "do" love all year long. I Peter 4:8 says, "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.
Now, this task wouldn't be so daunting for me, if the text said, "above all things have love for one another...." That wouldn't surprise me. What both surprises me and challenges me is the addition of the word "fervent." Believers are supposed to love one another fervently.
So what in the world does that mean? In this context, fervent means "to boil" or "to seethe." Sound like a Valentine's Day love to you every day of the year? Yes, and no.
The love we have for one another...the love we are supposed to exhibit to one another is a love that drives us to compassion. It's a love that fuels or motives and our actions. It's a love that is passionate about the object of it's attention.
I think all too often, I exhibit the verse like this: "Above all else, have 'comfortable' love for each other." I love in action and deed with all my human ability, but when it becomes a little uncomfortable to do so, I back away.
Do you do that too?
I wonder why? I questioned myself about this, and do you know what myself said? (Yes, I talk to myself on a frequent basis. And yes, I also answer myself. And yes, I know what people say about people who do that!)
My answer was eye-opening, to say the least - I love humanly. I love as much in my human nature as I possibly can. And the problem is???
There's no way we can fully love...fervently love...in our human nature. We do NOT have that capability. The type of love that Peter is speaking of here is not human love. It's is "otherworldly." It's spiritual. It's a love born in the heart and Spirit of God and cannot be accomplished without Him.
So, the next time you feel yourself getting a little uncomfortable and backing away from truly caring about someone - think. Think to yourself. Am I loving fervently as Christ would love? Am I putting his/her needs above my own? Am I showing this person that he/she is important to me and to the Lord?
If your answer to yourself (see...you talk to yourself too!) is "no," then don't just try to make it happen. Don't try to think of ways to manufacture "fervent" love on your own. You will only end up tired and burned out, trying to live and love as Christ.
Instead, get on your face before Jesus and ask Him to fill you with a fervent love...a "boiling" love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Ask Him to show you what that means. Get out His Word and read I Corinthians 13. Really - read I Corinthians 13 and ask Him to drive "love" deep into who you are.
I promise you. If you and I can learn to live this way...if we can learn to really LOVE this way, the reality of Christ will be shown throughout the world. No longer will comfortable love be the norm, but fervent love will exude from every Believer in every place, and Jesus would be exemplified for Who He really is. Now THAT would make for a great Valentine's!
Monday, February 16, 2015
Monday, February 2, 2015
But If From There...
Where are you today?
Are you sitting in your home warming yourself by a nice, cozy fire? Are you lying in bed, reading the paper with one eye open and the other one closed? Are you waiting by the side of a loved one in the hospital...whispering prayers of healing while they sleep?
In Deuteronomy 4, the Israelites were somewhere, too...somewhere special. They were about to cross over into the land God had promised would be there resting place - their final home. For years they had traveled, wiping dust off their feet and packing up their belongings only to move from one place to the next. And now, they were almost home. They were finally on their way to a land where they could stake their tents and stay awhile.
Moses, their leader, was giving them some final instructions. He would not be entering the Promised Land with them. He would never see the land as they saw it. Instead, he would die before entering. So, I am sure you can imagine that as they listened, each person - each child - and maybe even the animals hung on his every word, desiring to hear the last few words their leader would say.
He told them to move forward. He told them the land was theirs for the taking and to rejoice in their possession of it.
But then, he gives them a warning. He explains to them, like he had so many times before, that if they choose to disobey God - if they chose to follow other gods and serve them - that they would be taken from their homeland and given over to other people. They would be snatched away from the place they would grow to love and would be scattered throughout the countryside as slaves. Many of them would die in the process.
However, God then gave them a way out. He promised He would not leave them there...in THAT place. He spoke through Moses and said, "But if from THERE (emphasis mine) you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey Him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which He confirmed to them by oath" (Deut. 4:29-31).
I loved that...BUT IF FROM THERE. Where? But if from where?
If from their place of distress...disobedience...disaster. If from THAT place, the people of Israel would seek God, He promised they would find Him, if they searched for Him with all their hearts. In their slavery and solitude...in the midst of the consequences for their sin...in the midst of horrible situations of their own making - if from THERE, they would call on Him, He would hear them and come to them as a loving Father would.
So, that begs the question again. Where are you...spiritually speaking? Are you there in the midst of your own disobedience, thinking that God will never want your presence again? Are you suffering the consequences of your own actions, that have put you and your family in a horrible mess? Are you desperately seeking something to fill your days, because you just can't seem to go on?
Let me say it again, as Moses said it over thousands of years ago...but if from there! If from there - wherever you are - you will seek Him with your whole heart and soul - if you will cry out to Him for help, He will hear you. He will be "merciful" as Moses promised. He will meet you THERE.
Thank You, Jesus, that even in places of distress of my own making, You never leave me alone. You will answer my call for help and mercy, because You are my God. Thank You, Father. Thank You.
Are you sitting in your home warming yourself by a nice, cozy fire? Are you lying in bed, reading the paper with one eye open and the other one closed? Are you waiting by the side of a loved one in the hospital...whispering prayers of healing while they sleep?
In Deuteronomy 4, the Israelites were somewhere, too...somewhere special. They were about to cross over into the land God had promised would be there resting place - their final home. For years they had traveled, wiping dust off their feet and packing up their belongings only to move from one place to the next. And now, they were almost home. They were finally on their way to a land where they could stake their tents and stay awhile.
Moses, their leader, was giving them some final instructions. He would not be entering the Promised Land with them. He would never see the land as they saw it. Instead, he would die before entering. So, I am sure you can imagine that as they listened, each person - each child - and maybe even the animals hung on his every word, desiring to hear the last few words their leader would say.
He told them to move forward. He told them the land was theirs for the taking and to rejoice in their possession of it.
But then, he gives them a warning. He explains to them, like he had so many times before, that if they choose to disobey God - if they chose to follow other gods and serve them - that they would be taken from their homeland and given over to other people. They would be snatched away from the place they would grow to love and would be scattered throughout the countryside as slaves. Many of them would die in the process.
However, God then gave them a way out. He promised He would not leave them there...in THAT place. He spoke through Moses and said, "But if from THERE (emphasis mine) you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey Him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which He confirmed to them by oath" (Deut. 4:29-31).
I loved that...BUT IF FROM THERE. Where? But if from where?
If from their place of distress...disobedience...disaster. If from THAT place, the people of Israel would seek God, He promised they would find Him, if they searched for Him with all their hearts. In their slavery and solitude...in the midst of the consequences for their sin...in the midst of horrible situations of their own making - if from THERE, they would call on Him, He would hear them and come to them as a loving Father would.
So, that begs the question again. Where are you...spiritually speaking? Are you there in the midst of your own disobedience, thinking that God will never want your presence again? Are you suffering the consequences of your own actions, that have put you and your family in a horrible mess? Are you desperately seeking something to fill your days, because you just can't seem to go on?
Let me say it again, as Moses said it over thousands of years ago...but if from there! If from there - wherever you are - you will seek Him with your whole heart and soul - if you will cry out to Him for help, He will hear you. He will be "merciful" as Moses promised. He will meet you THERE.
Thank You, Jesus, that even in places of distress of my own making, You never leave me alone. You will answer my call for help and mercy, because You are my God. Thank You, Father. Thank You.
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