Passage of the Day: 2nd Peter 1: 7b [NIV – see bold verse] … 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
My Journal for Today: This has been quite a series of devotionals in the last few days of my journaling from Peter’s exhortations in his second epistle (1st Chapter). He has built for us, as Christians, a house of love (“agape” – the highest form of love in the Greek language). This “agape” house has faith as its foundation with building beams, walls, and a roof of Christlike goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, and godliness. And Peter’s contention would be that such a home of Christian love will never be blown down by the storms of this world and the oppression of the enemy.
John MacArthur, from his Strength for Today devotional, gives us a scriptural building list which will be seen in Christians who have built their lives on “agape” in this way. He says that loving Christians …
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Edify one another (Gal. 6: 9-10)
Serve one another (Gal. 5: 13)
Bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6: 2)
Submit to one another (Eph. 5: 21)
Forgive one another (Col. 3: 13)
Instruct one another (Col. 3: 16)
Comfort one another (1st Thes. 4: 18)
Rebuke one another lovingly (Titus 1: 3)
Are hospitable to one another (1st Pet. 4: 9 – 10)
Confess to and pray for one another (James 5: 16)
And encourage one another in the body of Christ (Heb. 10: 24 – 25)
{Each verse linked for your meditation}
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So, I think you’d agree with me (and MacArthur) that when you see all of these character qualities and patterns being lived out in the life of one who claims to be a Christian, you would expect that one to exude “agape” and shine God’s light for others to see. In doing so, he/she would most certainly glorify God (see Matt. 5: 16). And I would add to Christ’s words in that verse, since we’ve been focusing on the assurance of our salvation, that such a person would likely also exude confidence in their salvation. Now it’s time for anyone reading this, along with yours truly, to do a personal inventory, meditating on the verses listed above and see where we stand in our witness of faith as a Christian.
My Prayer Today: I praise You, Lord, for living in me and loving through me! Amen
Showing posts with label agape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agape. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
February 17, 2011 … God’s Unfailing Love
Passage of the Day: 1st John 4: 8 … Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
My Journal for Today: It is utterly true, as the Apostle declared in today’s highlight text, that “God is love.” And I hope we all know that it is God’s very nature to be loving. However, we cannot take this in a one dimensional context, saying that because God’s love is unconditional, God will accept our sin nature, and especially our sinful behaviore, in His sight. We must always remember that God ALWAYS loves the sinner; but He also ALWAYS hates sin.
So, God’s nature, being love, has two dimensions; and the first of these is the UNCONDITIONAL nature of His Fatherly love. Romans 5: 8, probably as well as any other scripture, spells out God’s unconditional love in the face of our sin nature …
SCRIPTURE: Romans 5: 8 … But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You probably know John 3: 16 by heart, which along with Rom. 5: 8 above, states that God was willing to sacrifice and die on a cross s0 that you and me, as sinners, may live eternally. Jesus taught about the extending of God’s unconditional love in Luke 6: 32 – 36 …
SCRIPTURE: Luke 6: 32-36 … [the teaching of Jesus] If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
It’s easy to show our love, even our human, brotherly love (Greek = “philadelphia”) to the lovable. But to the unlovable, we begin to see how God’s unconditional love (Greek = “agape”) is not easy to produce in our human will. In fact, I believe that one, especially a non-believer, cannot possibly extend “agape” to another through the natural will. It takes a supernatural surrender of one’s will to God, so that GOD can extend His hand of love through the believer to the unlovable, … yes, even to our enemies, … as Jesus described (above in Luke 6: 35). Now that’s real-deal “tough love” … God’s type of love.
And we must also never forget the second attribute of Godly love; and that is its ever present confrontation with sin. Note the instruction of love involved in Hebrews 12: 5 - 6, where the author quotes from Prov. 3: 11, 12 …
SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 12: 5-6 … And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son." [Prov. 3: 11,12]
If any of you, reading here with me, are parents, you know how tough it is to confront ungodly, wrongful behavior in your child. But the confrontation with evil must take place; and it takes place in the context of the love that drives the confrontation. As John MacArthur puts it in Strength for Today, … “True love doesn’t indulge unrighteousness; it confronts it.”
God’s love, through His Spirit, indwelling the hearts of believers, ever confronts our sin; and we feel it in the form of conviction of conscience and healthy, revealing guilt. That is God confronting our sin nature by His love and our loving, Heavenly Father drawing us, through His prevenient grace, to Himself.
So, as we look at God’s nature of love further in the next few days, we need to ask ourselves whether the love we choose to offer (and love is always a choice – not a feeling) is unconditional and whether it is appropriately confrontational. If so, God is in our love and He will be glorified as it is offered to others in His Name.
My Prayer Today: Lord, let my love, offered to others, be Your love. Amen
My Journal for Today: It is utterly true, as the Apostle declared in today’s highlight text, that “God is love.” And I hope we all know that it is God’s very nature to be loving. However, we cannot take this in a one dimensional context, saying that because God’s love is unconditional, God will accept our sin nature, and especially our sinful behaviore, in His sight. We must always remember that God ALWAYS loves the sinner; but He also ALWAYS hates sin.
So, God’s nature, being love, has two dimensions; and the first of these is the UNCONDITIONAL nature of His Fatherly love. Romans 5: 8, probably as well as any other scripture, spells out God’s unconditional love in the face of our sin nature …
SCRIPTURE: Romans 5: 8 … But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You probably know John 3: 16 by heart, which along with Rom. 5: 8 above, states that God was willing to sacrifice and die on a cross s0 that you and me, as sinners, may live eternally. Jesus taught about the extending of God’s unconditional love in Luke 6: 32 – 36 …
SCRIPTURE: Luke 6: 32-36 … [the teaching of Jesus] If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
It’s easy to show our love, even our human, brotherly love (Greek = “philadelphia”) to the lovable. But to the unlovable, we begin to see how God’s unconditional love (Greek = “agape”) is not easy to produce in our human will. In fact, I believe that one, especially a non-believer, cannot possibly extend “agape” to another through the natural will. It takes a supernatural surrender of one’s will to God, so that GOD can extend His hand of love through the believer to the unlovable, … yes, even to our enemies, … as Jesus described (above in Luke 6: 35). Now that’s real-deal “tough love” … God’s type of love.
And we must also never forget the second attribute of Godly love; and that is its ever present confrontation with sin. Note the instruction of love involved in Hebrews 12: 5 - 6, where the author quotes from Prov. 3: 11, 12 …
SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 12: 5-6 … And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son." [Prov. 3: 11,12]
If any of you, reading here with me, are parents, you know how tough it is to confront ungodly, wrongful behavior in your child. But the confrontation with evil must take place; and it takes place in the context of the love that drives the confrontation. As John MacArthur puts it in Strength for Today, … “True love doesn’t indulge unrighteousness; it confronts it.”
God’s love, through His Spirit, indwelling the hearts of believers, ever confronts our sin; and we feel it in the form of conviction of conscience and healthy, revealing guilt. That is God confronting our sin nature by His love and our loving, Heavenly Father drawing us, through His prevenient grace, to Himself.
So, as we look at God’s nature of love further in the next few days, we need to ask ourselves whether the love we choose to offer (and love is always a choice – not a feeling) is unconditional and whether it is appropriately confrontational. If so, God is in our love and He will be glorified as it is offered to others in His Name.
My Prayer Today: Lord, let my love, offered to others, be Your love. Amen
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
January 26, 2011 … The Bond of Peace
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 3 – NIV 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4: 3 – NASB … being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
My Journal for Today: Continuing in the theme of Christian unity necessary for believers and the church to have individual and/or collective impact on the world, we read the phrase, “… through the bond of peace.” So, in today’s verse, Paul used the Greek word picture involving the term “sundesmos,” which literally refers to a belt or strap which ties packages together. And this is an apt picture of what occurs when a bunch of individual packages (i.e., believers) are tied together by the strapping of the Holy Spirit, Who unites the body together with a “bond of peace.” But, as Paul is exhorting Christians, … this only happens when they are willing to surrender to His cohesive influence so as to exhibit God’s love to the world. And this will only happen when Christians come together in selfless “agape,” … the pouring forth which occurs from the actions of Christians who are unified in humility, meekness, patience, and forebearing love … all of those concepts we’ve already looked at this month which were brought out from the Eph. 4: 1 – 3 passage.
I can’t get the ode to love from the 60s out of my brain as I write this; “… What the world needs now, is love, sweet love …;” and it’s true. The world desperately needs the unified love that evolves from unified believers, living lives of Christlikeness, from the bonding of agape that shines like a beacon into the darkness that is today’s world of greed and selfishness. And when the lost see a Light like this, emanating form the Church in the unified bond of peace, they will either run from it in fear or be drawn to it like moths to a flame.
In the Old Testament, God chided His people for not having true and lasting peace … [Jeremiah 8: 11 – 12] …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Jer. 8: 11 …They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace. 12 Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, … they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.
In the New Testament, Paul rebuked the Corinthian believers for their disunity and their un-Christlike walk in their world (see below) …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Cor 11: 17 - 22 …17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Cor 14: 26 …What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
As individual Christians, melded together in the Church, we simply must be serious about coming together IN PEACE to shine Christ’s light into the world. God’s love light is dampened when we exhibit the divisiveness of denominational or doctrinal differences. How can a lost world see the love of God through the spectacle of hypocrisy and pride when it is all too often the show of the church in today’s world?
I’m convicted; … how about you?
My Prayer Today: Lord, have mercy on your Church; but shine your Light so clearly that we can’t miss it in following You. Amen
Ephesians 4: 3 – NASB … being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
My Journal for Today: Continuing in the theme of Christian unity necessary for believers and the church to have individual and/or collective impact on the world, we read the phrase, “… through the bond of peace.” So, in today’s verse, Paul used the Greek word picture involving the term “sundesmos,” which literally refers to a belt or strap which ties packages together. And this is an apt picture of what occurs when a bunch of individual packages (i.e., believers) are tied together by the strapping of the Holy Spirit, Who unites the body together with a “bond of peace.” But, as Paul is exhorting Christians, … this only happens when they are willing to surrender to His cohesive influence so as to exhibit God’s love to the world. And this will only happen when Christians come together in selfless “agape,” … the pouring forth which occurs from the actions of Christians who are unified in humility, meekness, patience, and forebearing love … all of those concepts we’ve already looked at this month which were brought out from the Eph. 4: 1 – 3 passage.
I can’t get the ode to love from the 60s out of my brain as I write this; “… What the world needs now, is love, sweet love …;” and it’s true. The world desperately needs the unified love that evolves from unified believers, living lives of Christlikeness, from the bonding of agape that shines like a beacon into the darkness that is today’s world of greed and selfishness. And when the lost see a Light like this, emanating form the Church in the unified bond of peace, they will either run from it in fear or be drawn to it like moths to a flame.
In the Old Testament, God chided His people for not having true and lasting peace … [Jeremiah 8: 11 – 12] …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Jer. 8: 11 …They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace. 12 Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, … they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD.
In the New Testament, Paul rebuked the Corinthian believers for their disunity and their un-Christlike walk in their world (see below) …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Cor 11: 17 - 22 …17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Cor 14: 26 …What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
As individual Christians, melded together in the Church, we simply must be serious about coming together IN PEACE to shine Christ’s light into the world. God’s love light is dampened when we exhibit the divisiveness of denominational or doctrinal differences. How can a lost world see the love of God through the spectacle of hypocrisy and pride when it is all too often the show of the church in today’s world?
I’m convicted; … how about you?
My Prayer Today: Lord, have mercy on your Church; but shine your Light so clearly that we can’t miss it in following You. Amen
Monday, January 24, 2011
January 24, 2011 … Forebearing Love
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 1-2 [see bold/underlined portion] – As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
My Journal for Today: Okay, my fellow Christian, … if you are coming along with me and you haven’t been challenged or charged by the studies of Ephesians 4: 1 – 3 this month, then you, if you are like me, will likely be convicted today. The phrase under the scope of truth today from the Apostle’s letter to the Ephesians is “… bearing with one another in love;” and we first look at the term “bearing with [NIV],” which is the Greek term, “anechomai,” which could be translated “forebearing” as well [seen in the KJV] or “showing tolerance for [as in the NASB].” And when one combines that concept with the object term “agape,” that is, “forebearing with one another in love [KJV],” we have one of the most challenge commands in scripture to walk in worthiness to our Lord’s example [remember the command that Christians are to have attitudes like Christ – Phil. 2: 5].
We certainly know that “agape” love is one of the pre-eminent characteristics of God (see John 3: 16); and it’s the kind of love that covers all sins (Prov. 10: 12 and 1st Peter 4: 8) …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Prov. 10: 12 … Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Peter 4: 8 … Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
And the word picture, Paul is using, “anechomai” paired with “agape,” is the idea of the Christian throwing a blanket (i.e., a covering) of God’s love over the sin we perceive or encounter when dealing with others. Another word picture would be like covering a fire with a thick blanket for as long as it takes to smother the flames. John MacArthur, from his devotional, Strength for Today, says, “[forebearing love] … is unconquerable benevolence and invincible goodness; (and) it is completely selfless.”
I don’t know about you; but that is one God-shaped challenge to ask us, in living up to Christ’s command, to die to self (or selfishness) and follow Him (see Luke 9: 23); but it’s exactly what Jesus taught (turning to Matt. 5: 43 – 45) …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Matt. 4: 43 … "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
And wrapped up in these word of Jesus on the Mount, we have an attitude (i.e., forebearing love) to which we should continually ascribe and achieve to bring ourselves into Christlikeness in a world on fire with hatred, desperately needing a blanket of God’s love.
Wow, this surrender and commitment to Christ is certainly no easy walk in the park; is it?
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to carry your blanket of love to put out fires when they erupt in my life. Amen
My Journal for Today: Okay, my fellow Christian, … if you are coming along with me and you haven’t been challenged or charged by the studies of Ephesians 4: 1 – 3 this month, then you, if you are like me, will likely be convicted today. The phrase under the scope of truth today from the Apostle’s letter to the Ephesians is “… bearing with one another in love;” and we first look at the term “bearing with [NIV],” which is the Greek term, “anechomai,” which could be translated “forebearing” as well [seen in the KJV] or “showing tolerance for [as in the NASB].” And when one combines that concept with the object term “agape,” that is, “forebearing with one another in love [KJV],” we have one of the most challenge commands in scripture to walk in worthiness to our Lord’s example [remember the command that Christians are to have attitudes like Christ – Phil. 2: 5].
We certainly know that “agape” love is one of the pre-eminent characteristics of God (see John 3: 16); and it’s the kind of love that covers all sins (Prov. 10: 12 and 1st Peter 4: 8) …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Prov. 10: 12 … Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Peter 4: 8 … Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
And the word picture, Paul is using, “anechomai” paired with “agape,” is the idea of the Christian throwing a blanket (i.e., a covering) of God’s love over the sin we perceive or encounter when dealing with others. Another word picture would be like covering a fire with a thick blanket for as long as it takes to smother the flames. John MacArthur, from his devotional, Strength for Today, says, “[forebearing love] … is unconquerable benevolence and invincible goodness; (and) it is completely selfless.”
I don’t know about you; but that is one God-shaped challenge to ask us, in living up to Christ’s command, to die to self (or selfishness) and follow Him (see Luke 9: 23); but it’s exactly what Jesus taught (turning to Matt. 5: 43 – 45) …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Matt. 4: 43 … "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
And wrapped up in these word of Jesus on the Mount, we have an attitude (i.e., forebearing love) to which we should continually ascribe and achieve to bring ourselves into Christlikeness in a world on fire with hatred, desperately needing a blanket of God’s love.
Wow, this surrender and commitment to Christ is certainly no easy walk in the park; is it?
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to carry your blanket of love to put out fires when they erupt in my life. Amen
Thursday, January 13, 2011
January 13, 2011 … Love for One Another
Passage of the Day: Hebrews 13: 2 [NIV] – 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13: 2 - [NASB] – 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
My Journal for Today: Well, continuing on in Hebrews 13, today the Author begins to stretch the love of God which should be expressed in the lives of Christians. He says that this love should be extended not only to fellow believers but also to “strangers,” which probably would refers to non-believers as well as believers whom we don’t know well enough to be considered “brothers/sisters in Christ.” And like I said yesterday, extending God’s love to those we don’t know well can be a challenge when we don’t know if we can trust such people. Tomorrow, when we go to Heb. 13: 3, we’re going to see that this could even extend to the imprisoned. But I digress.
Paul picked up this theme in two of his epistles. Check out 1st Thess. 5: 15 and Gal. 6: 9-10 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Thess. 5: 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Gal. 6: 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Hospitality was a big deal in middle-eastern culture when Paul and the Author of Hebrews wrote the above passages. And it was especially a mandate of the Jewish believers who no doubt remembered the story of their Father Abraham in Genesis 18: 1 - 5, who gave comfort to absolute strangers, who turned out to be angels, … one of those likely being the pre-incarnate Messiah.
But to absolutely validate the importance of our command to extend God’s love to the seemingly unlovable, to strangers, or to the lost, we need to go no further than the words of Jesus Himself, relating His command to reach out in love to the “least” of the world. Read in Matthew 25: 40, 45:
>>> SCRIPTURE: In His parable, Jesus says, in Matt. 25: 40, 45: ”The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.' … 45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.”
Again, I can’t help but remember the exhortation of John from 1st John 3: 18,19 [NASB], “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed or in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth (i.e., really Christians), and shall assure our heart before Him.”
All of this is tough going for any Christian; but no one said that this Christianity deal was a walk in the park, just smelling the roses. Yes, … these commands are simple and straight forward. However, our walk as Christians can, at times, require spreading some manure on the roses and working hard to tend them for God. But when the roses grow and present themselves, they are sweet smelling and beautiful. So, I guess it’s time to go out and tend to God’s rose garden today.
My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to do what it takes to spread YOUR love in the world. Amen
Hebrews 13: 2 - [NASB] – 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
My Journal for Today: Well, continuing on in Hebrews 13, today the Author begins to stretch the love of God which should be expressed in the lives of Christians. He says that this love should be extended not only to fellow believers but also to “strangers,” which probably would refers to non-believers as well as believers whom we don’t know well enough to be considered “brothers/sisters in Christ.” And like I said yesterday, extending God’s love to those we don’t know well can be a challenge when we don’t know if we can trust such people. Tomorrow, when we go to Heb. 13: 3, we’re going to see that this could even extend to the imprisoned. But I digress.
Paul picked up this theme in two of his epistles. Check out 1st Thess. 5: 15 and Gal. 6: 9-10 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Thess. 5: 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Gal. 6: 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Hospitality was a big deal in middle-eastern culture when Paul and the Author of Hebrews wrote the above passages. And it was especially a mandate of the Jewish believers who no doubt remembered the story of their Father Abraham in Genesis 18: 1 - 5, who gave comfort to absolute strangers, who turned out to be angels, … one of those likely being the pre-incarnate Messiah.
But to absolutely validate the importance of our command to extend God’s love to the seemingly unlovable, to strangers, or to the lost, we need to go no further than the words of Jesus Himself, relating His command to reach out in love to the “least” of the world. Read in Matthew 25: 40, 45:
>>> SCRIPTURE: In His parable, Jesus says, in Matt. 25: 40, 45: ”The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.' … 45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.”
Again, I can’t help but remember the exhortation of John from 1st John 3: 18,19 [NASB], “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed or in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth (i.e., really Christians), and shall assure our heart before Him.”
All of this is tough going for any Christian; but no one said that this Christianity deal was a walk in the park, just smelling the roses. Yes, … these commands are simple and straight forward. However, our walk as Christians can, at times, require spreading some manure on the roses and working hard to tend them for God. But when the roses grow and present themselves, they are sweet smelling and beautiful. So, I guess it’s time to go out and tend to God’s rose garden today.
My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to do what it takes to spread YOUR love in the world. Amen
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
January 12, 2011 … The Importance of Brotherly Love
Passage of the Day: Hebrews 13: 1 [NIV] – Keep on loving each other as brothers.
Hebrews 13: 1 – [NASB] – Let love of the brethren continue.
My Journal for Today: Again from the verse of the day, the Author of Hebrews exhorts believers to hold out brotherly love for other Christians on a continual basis. In this passage, the author uses the Greek term “philadelphia” to speak of God’s exhortation to Christian love. “Philadelphia,” translated into our American culture, is the human love that we hold for those dear to us. It’s … the love that gives and takes in human relationships. However, when Jesus commands His followers to express HIS love to our fellow man, our Lord uses an even stronger term in the Greek for love, “agape,” which is the love that gives and gives and then keeps on giving. It’s that unconditional love that actually is supernatural. [Again, I refer you to Jesus’ mandate in John 13: 34 - 35]
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 12: 34 "A new command I give you: Love [Greek – “agapao”] one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
And in his first epistle, John, reiterates this Christlike emphasis on love. Read 1st John 3: 17 – 20 [and especially note verse 18 in bold below]…
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 3: 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love [again, the Greek – “agapao”] with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth [i.e., that we are truly Christians], and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
And here is the tough thing for Christians from the words of Jesus and His Spirit, through the Apostle John, quoted above. They are telling us that we cannot really call ourselves “born-again Christians” and refuse to love anyone, let alone fellow Christians. John is even writing, inspired by God’s Spirit, that no mature Christian would ever refuse to help another person, and especially another Christian, in genuine need. Such refusal would demonstrate, according to God’s word, a rejection of God’s love, which simply would not be the case with the genuine, surrendered Christian. And if a Christian were to sin by refusing to love another (love is always a choice!), then the conviction of God’s Spirit would be present in the Christian’s heart and would alert the believer of his/her sin. I certainly have felt that kind of conviction when my selfishness has been exercised and I’ve refused to reach out in love to others when I saw them in need.
We’ve heard of “tough love,” which is love doled out in challenging acts of separation or even rejection of the behavior of those whom we don’t want to be “enablers” for their acts of sin. Jesus taught (in Matt. 18) that there is a time when we must love another Christian enough to put them out of the church for their habitual and flagrant sin. But there’s another kind of tough love as well… and that’s “the love that is tough” to express in living up to John’s exhortation in 1John 3: 18, “… let us not love with (just) words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” I think you’d agree that this can be really tough at times; and I must admit, I find it difficult to live this out when I perceive a “drunk” panhandling for money. My struggle and question is: “How do I show love to this man?” My rational nature is saying: “If I give him money, he’s going to use it for booze.” >>> Have you ever been there and wondered how to “love” the sinner without enabling the sin? That is the real tough love for me.
Yes, all of us who are genuinely in Christ must continually take a sober look at our relational choices; and if God, the Holy Spirit, convicts us of any act where we withhold our “agape,” or our “philadelphia” from another, we simply must act to allow God’s love to be channeled through us to others. Again, according to Jesus in John 13: 34 - 35, that’s the only way that the world is ever going to see God’s love working in and through us as Christians; – and that, my dear one, is when God’s love is given out in His Name by His people.
How about it?! Let’s give out a little “agape” today and let the lost world see Christ in us.
My Prayer Today: Lord, convict me to be a light of love in this ever darkening world. Amen
Hebrews 13: 1 – [NASB] – Let love of the brethren continue.
My Journal for Today: Again from the verse of the day, the Author of Hebrews exhorts believers to hold out brotherly love for other Christians on a continual basis. In this passage, the author uses the Greek term “philadelphia” to speak of God’s exhortation to Christian love. “Philadelphia,” translated into our American culture, is the human love that we hold for those dear to us. It’s … the love that gives and takes in human relationships. However, when Jesus commands His followers to express HIS love to our fellow man, our Lord uses an even stronger term in the Greek for love, “agape,” which is the love that gives and gives and then keeps on giving. It’s that unconditional love that actually is supernatural. [Again, I refer you to Jesus’ mandate in John 13: 34 - 35]
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 12: 34 "A new command I give you: Love [Greek – “agapao”] one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
And in his first epistle, John, reiterates this Christlike emphasis on love. Read 1st John 3: 17 – 20 [and especially note verse 18 in bold below]…
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 3: 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love [again, the Greek – “agapao”] with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth [i.e., that we are truly Christians], and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
And here is the tough thing for Christians from the words of Jesus and His Spirit, through the Apostle John, quoted above. They are telling us that we cannot really call ourselves “born-again Christians” and refuse to love anyone, let alone fellow Christians. John is even writing, inspired by God’s Spirit, that no mature Christian would ever refuse to help another person, and especially another Christian, in genuine need. Such refusal would demonstrate, according to God’s word, a rejection of God’s love, which simply would not be the case with the genuine, surrendered Christian. And if a Christian were to sin by refusing to love another (love is always a choice!), then the conviction of God’s Spirit would be present in the Christian’s heart and would alert the believer of his/her sin. I certainly have felt that kind of conviction when my selfishness has been exercised and I’ve refused to reach out in love to others when I saw them in need.
We’ve heard of “tough love,” which is love doled out in challenging acts of separation or even rejection of the behavior of those whom we don’t want to be “enablers” for their acts of sin. Jesus taught (in Matt. 18) that there is a time when we must love another Christian enough to put them out of the church for their habitual and flagrant sin. But there’s another kind of tough love as well… and that’s “the love that is tough” to express in living up to John’s exhortation in 1John 3: 18, “… let us not love with (just) words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” I think you’d agree that this can be really tough at times; and I must admit, I find it difficult to live this out when I perceive a “drunk” panhandling for money. My struggle and question is: “How do I show love to this man?” My rational nature is saying: “If I give him money, he’s going to use it for booze.” >>> Have you ever been there and wondered how to “love” the sinner without enabling the sin? That is the real tough love for me.
Yes, all of us who are genuinely in Christ must continually take a sober look at our relational choices; and if God, the Holy Spirit, convicts us of any act where we withhold our “agape,” or our “philadelphia” from another, we simply must act to allow God’s love to be channeled through us to others. Again, according to Jesus in John 13: 34 - 35, that’s the only way that the world is ever going to see God’s love working in and through us as Christians; – and that, my dear one, is when God’s love is given out in His Name by His people.
How about it?! Let’s give out a little “agape” today and let the lost world see Christ in us.
My Prayer Today: Lord, convict me to be a light of love in this ever darkening world. Amen
Thursday, December 02, 2010
2010 – December 2 – The Greatest Is Love
Study from God’s Word… 1st Corinthians, Chapters 11 - 14 … Passage for Reflection: 1st Cor. 13: 1 … NIV 1 If I speak in the tongues [or “languages”] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
My Journal for Today: Reading today, again from 1st Corinthians, in the section where Paul apparently is addressing some pressing/acute problems being experienced by the church in Corinth, including disunity, improper use of spiritual gifts, and the role of women in that particular setting. Apparently chaos was denigrating the impact of the God’s Spirit in their midst. And there has been a lot of controversy over the centuries about the interpretation of some of Paul’s teachings in these chapters.
However, in the proper context, the principles taught in 1st Cor. 13, the so-called “love-chapter,” are indisputable. Paul wanted the Corinthian believers and church, which by extension applies to today’s Christian and Church, to realize that they [we] might have all the Spirit-given gifts imaginable and they [we] might desire to apply them to “the greater good” of need in their [our] world; but if they [we] don’t express God’s love (i.e., agape love), their gifts would be like clanging gongs and accomplish nothing.
This section of the Pauline epistles is often read at weddings; and certainly the application of agape love should be exercised in a marriage. But the contextual application of 1st Cor. 13 goes way beyond the specific context of marriage. It speaks to how the church, with unity and Spirit-led fruitfulness, is shining the light of Christ, Who is our model of agape, into a world which desperately needs it. The world is dark, isn’t it? And it desperately needs the Light of God’s love to shine forth and dispel the darkness. But from whence does that light come?
Well, Jesus Himself said it (in Matt. 5: 16), … “… let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." It is those “good deeds,” activated by the expression of God’s love in/through the believer, which shine Christ’s light into the darkness. Love is so incredibly enlightening! And therefore, it empowers the believer to BE Christ in a Christ starved world; so, … it behooves you and me to answer Dr. Smith’s probing question for the day, as he writes, ”If perhaps appreciating ‘the good’ comes easy for me, how motivated am I by ‘the greater good?’ “ And for me that “greater good” is doing all I can to shine Christ’s light of love when I see darkness.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to be Your torch in an ever darkening world. Amen
My Journal for Today: Reading today, again from 1st Corinthians, in the section where Paul apparently is addressing some pressing/acute problems being experienced by the church in Corinth, including disunity, improper use of spiritual gifts, and the role of women in that particular setting. Apparently chaos was denigrating the impact of the God’s Spirit in their midst. And there has been a lot of controversy over the centuries about the interpretation of some of Paul’s teachings in these chapters.
However, in the proper context, the principles taught in 1st Cor. 13, the so-called “love-chapter,” are indisputable. Paul wanted the Corinthian believers and church, which by extension applies to today’s Christian and Church, to realize that they [we] might have all the Spirit-given gifts imaginable and they [we] might desire to apply them to “the greater good” of need in their [our] world; but if they [we] don’t express God’s love (i.e., agape love), their gifts would be like clanging gongs and accomplish nothing.
This section of the Pauline epistles is often read at weddings; and certainly the application of agape love should be exercised in a marriage. But the contextual application of 1st Cor. 13 goes way beyond the specific context of marriage. It speaks to how the church, with unity and Spirit-led fruitfulness, is shining the light of Christ, Who is our model of agape, into a world which desperately needs it. The world is dark, isn’t it? And it desperately needs the Light of God’s love to shine forth and dispel the darkness. But from whence does that light come?
Well, Jesus Himself said it (in Matt. 5: 16), … “… let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." It is those “good deeds,” activated by the expression of God’s love in/through the believer, which shine Christ’s light into the darkness. Love is so incredibly enlightening! And therefore, it empowers the believer to BE Christ in a Christ starved world; so, … it behooves you and me to answer Dr. Smith’s probing question for the day, as he writes, ”If perhaps appreciating ‘the good’ comes easy for me, how motivated am I by ‘the greater good?’ “ And for me that “greater good” is doing all I can to shine Christ’s light of love when I see darkness.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to be Your torch in an ever darkening world. Amen
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