Tag: sincere love

October 12, 2023 – Matthew 22 – Love God and Others

It is amazing how we humans like to rank and rate things. If you’re not first your last… We want to have the best products if possible. If not the best, we certainly don’t want the worst.

The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day were not strangers to the ranking and rating game. They had greater and lesser prophets. They were also interested in ranking the commandments. One day as others were trying to trip Jesus up in something he might say, an expert in the law joined in.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew22:36–40NIV

According to Jesus, the greatest commandment is to love God. Quoting Deuteronomy 6:5, Jesus points us to something very important. God is not interested in us simply keeping rules or the law. God wants us to love him with all our heart, soul, and mind… essentially all that we are.

Next Jesus ranks loving our neighbor the way we would love ourselves as the second greatest commandment. Not just the neighbor that lives next door, but anyone that we may encounter in life as was pointed out in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We are to love those who God loves (that’s everybody) the way we love ourselves.

These two commandments are so important that Jesus said everything else in scripture hangs on them. That seems to put them far and ahead of the big ten and the hundreds of other commandments in scripture.

If we want to please God, we must love him with all that we are, and love others as much as we love ourselves. Nothing else is more important.

Prayer: Dear loving God, help me to love you and those you love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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October 11 2023 – Hebrews 3 – The Danger of a Hardened Heart

Reading through the Bible, we see many warnings about wandering from the faith. They are in both the Old and New Testaments. In Hebrews 3, we see a warning about wandering from the faith from the Old Testament example of the Israelites that were led through the wilderness for forty years.

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’; As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” Hebrews3:7–11NASB1995

I have said on many occasions that allowing sin to remain in our lives is dangerous. The Holy Spirit continually shows us the sin in our lives that is separating us from God. We either deal with the sin and continue in right relation with God or we choose to keep the sin and ignore the Holy Spirit. That is how we harden our hearts against God.

It is a slippery slope when we choose not to deal with sin because it allows other sins to take root in our lives. Once this begins to happen, we accelerate the hardening of our heart against God. It becomes more and more difficult to hear God speaking to us. This puts us in a dangerous condition where we can actually deny our faith in God.

The author of Hebrews gives us clear warning and we would do well to, not only listen but examine our lives to see if we are cherishing sin over God.

“Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end…” Hebrews3:12–14NASB1995

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for the incredible sacrifice you made to make me right with God! Help me to listen to your Spirit and continually confess and turn from sins that harden my heart against you. Amen.

February 20 2023 – Luke 8 – Scattering Seed and Conditioning Soils

I am a beekeeper. I like to give my bees something to make honey from, so I have planted Dutch White Clover seeds occasionally. I don’t have an expensive seed drill or even an aerator so I have hand spread the seed. It is hit or miss. There are lots of factors for clover growth. The soil composition is one. Is it too hard for the seeds to get in and germinate? Does it have too much acidity? Is there too much shade on the lawn? Clover seed is not cheap so I don’t put it out every other week.

In Luke 8, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. He talks about someone going out and sowing seed. Some seed fell beside the road where it is trampled and birds eat it. Some fell on the rocky places where it springs up quickly but withers because it has no root. Others fell in the thorns and is choked out. Still other seed fell in the good soil where it produced “a crop a hundred times as great.”

The seed is the word of God and the different soils are the hearts of the people who hear it. I invite you to read the parable to hear about the hearts of people and how that affects their receptivity to the word of God. However, I want to think about how the seed was scattered. If I were a farmer listening to this parable I would think, who scatters seed on the roadside, the rocky soil, and in thorns? It must be very cheap seed to scatter it in those places.

The way the seed is scattered is often overlooked to talk about the soil conditions, or rather, the conditions of the hearts of people. How shocking to farmers or people who buy seed to think of sowing so broadly that you are casting seed even in places that you have little expectation of harvesting a crop. However, that is exactly how God operates in spreading his word. He makes no distinction in where the word of God is shared. He doesn’t just pour his word on good people, or people who go to church. He scatters his word everywhere, on the good and the bad.

He does this because God is patient and wants all people to be saved. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Peter3:9NIV

There are ways to condition soils to make them more receptive to the seed sown. We can fertilize, balance the pH, remove thorns, weeds and rocks, and we can till the soil to make it more hospitable to seed sown. We can also, through our living witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, condition the hearts of people. By our genuine love and care for others, we can change the condition of their hearts whereby they are more receptive to the word of God. Heart conditioning doesn’t happen just because we bombard people with the word of God. It happens as we intentionally care for, and love others.

God does not discriminate in who should hear the word of God. The Bible is the most widely translated book in the world. He spreads his word to the good people and the sinners alike. We can help in producing a bountiful harvest to the word by scattering abundantly and broadly, and by conditioning the hearts of all people by loving others as we love ourselves.

Prayer:

Lord thank you for planting your word in my heart and changing my life! Help me to share your word with everyone and help me to genuinely love others so their hearts will be receptive to your word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

December 9, 2022 – Exodus 20 – The Big Ten

Exodus 20, John 2, 2 Corinthians 10

There are a lot of laws, regulations, and exhortations in the Old and New Testament. I was talking to a Episcopal Priest friend of mine about a law that shows up in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it is not presented as a law, but to do it clearly seems to put one at odds with God. My friend said, “well Jesus didn’t mention it, and it didn’t make the Big Ten.”

I recommend reading the Bible. If one could memorize all of the various laws, regulations, and exhortations in the Bible, well, that would be great. However, there are a few that God thought important enough to set apart from the rest. In Exodus 20 we are given the Ten Commandments. They weren’t called the Big Ten in Scripture, but that name seems very fitting. Here is my paraphrase:

  1. You shall have no other gods before me.
  2. You shall not make yourself any graven images.
  3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
  4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.
  5. Honor your father and mother.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. You shall not commit adultery
  8. You shall not steal.
  9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
  10. You shall not covet what your neighbor has.

The first four have to do with your relationship with God. The last six have to do with your relationship with others. It reminds me of Jesus’ response to the question, what is the greatest commandment?

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew22:36–40NIV

The Big Ten are about relationship… ours’ with God and ours’ with each other. There are 613 commandments in the Old Testament. However, Jesus took the Ten Commandments and all the rest and summed them up in loving God and loving neighbor. That should give us an indication as to what is important to God… love.

It is supremely important to love God. The commandments in the Big Ten that deal with loving and honoring God come first. It is also important to love others. There are six commandments about loving our neighbor.

If you don’t know all 613 commandments in the Old Testament, don’t worry. If you are hard pressed to remember all ten of the Big Ten, you won’t be kicked out of heaven. Especially, if you remember to love God with all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. These two sum up all 613, which include the Big Ten.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Thank you for your law that helps me to live in your blessings. Thank you Jesus, for simplifying the law for us and focusing us on loving God and loving our neighbor. Help me to honor you by living a life of love. Amen.

November 4, 2022 – A Matter of the Heart

Genesis 35, Mark 7, Romans 7

“If you have tattoos, you’re going to hell.” “Those unusual piercings have got you on the broad road to destruction.” “Saying that proves you aren’t saved.” Maybe you have heard some people say stuff like that.

In Mark 7, Jesus calls foul on the Pharisees and teachers of the law, who are criticizing his disciples for eating with unclean hands, by quoting Isaiah. He said, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” Mark7:6–7NIV

We have to be careful not to let our devotion to God devolve into Pharisee-ism. Jesus gave us the wonderful parable about taking the plank out of our eye before we go after the speck in someone else’s eye. Jesus didn’t seem to focus on the minutiae of the law. He referenced the Ten Commandments, or the “Big Ten” as a pastor friend of mine called them.  

However, he seemed to simplify the commandments. He said all of the law hangs on the two greatest commandments… Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

In John 13:34-35 he says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The commands that Jesus said were the greatest, and the new command he gave us, show Jesus was focused on the heart rather than making sure folks meet norms established to judge someone’s devotion to God.

That brings us full circle in Mark 7. After pointing out their hypocrisy, Jesus says what defiles a person comes out of the heart. Conversely, we may also conclude that it is a person’s heart that reveals if they really love God or not.

We may stumble over what Christians have come to make the norms of the faith, but have a heart that loves God deeply. On the other hand, we may look exactly how a Christian should look, right down to our black leather Bible with our name engraved on it, but have a heart that is far from God.

Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. Let’s not drive them away because they don’t fit our norms.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, only you know what is truly in our hearts. Help us to be careful not to judge based on the outward appearances of others. Help us to love each other, and those you send to us, as you loved us. Amen

 

 

Practice Makes Perfect

Have you ever been told you were a natural at something?

I am naturally inclined to art. I like to draw and create things. As a child I was able to sit down and draw images that were recognizable to others. The more I practiced drawing and artistically creating things, the more they were easily recognizable and even pleasing to look at.

There were some things that seemed unnatural to me at first. For instance, riding a minibike and then later a trail bike. The minibike seemed way too fast the first time I rode it. The trail bike had gears and a clutch. You can imagine how long that took to learn.

Eventually, riding a motorcycle became second nature to me. I changed gears without thinking about it. I instinctively knew when I need to put a foot down to keep from wrecking. I knew how to compensate for when the bike was coming out from under me.

Practice makes perfect.

1 Peter 1:17-23 New International Version (NIV)

17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

This is the word of God for the people of God.

There are just a few things that I want to point out from this brief passage of scripture.

First, Peter continues reminding the believers he is writing about how valuable our redemption is. Peter tells us that we were bought by the precious blood of Jesus, not silver or gold or other things that can lose value. Our sins were covered by the blood of our sinless Lord Jesus Christ. He who has not sinned died for us sinners to ransom and redeem us.

Peter compares our faith and hope and eternal life given to us through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus to gold. Although gold can be lost, stolen or devalued, our faith and eternal hope bought by the precious blood of Jesus can never perish or lose value. They are held secure for us by God Almighty. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. The faith and eternal hope God has given us in Jesus will never lose value or disappear.

Next, Peter tells us about the change that was worked in our lives through our faith in the resurrected Jesus Christ. Before we knew Christ, before we had given our lives to him in faith, we followed an “empty way of life handed down to [us] from [our] ancestors.” Our purpose in life was ourselves. Now however, having been redeemed by the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, our faith and hope are in God. Our purpose is to please God.

We please God by keeping his commands. Jesus said if you love me you will keep my commands. The commands Jesus gave summed up all of the law and prophets. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. The Holy Spirit living in us leads us to do both of these. As people of God, this is what we are to be about. This is where we put our energies and efforts. This is our work.

This morning Peter also tells us our work, how well we have followed the direction of the Holy Spirit to love God and love others, will be judged by God one day so we should live our lives in light of that fact. We have a scriptural tension here. We know that God loves us. The Bible also teaches us that God expects us to respond to that love by obediently doing the will of God. We will be judged for how well we obeyed God by following the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, Peter tells us, now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. This sounds wonderful! The way Peter worded it to his readers makes it sound like a done deal… sort of. He says we have sincere love for each other but then he tells us to love each other deeply from the heart. Those phrases don’t seem to belong together in the same sentence. Here is another scriptural tension.

We have sincere love for each other because it was part of what we received when we were born again in Jesus Christ. However, we need to love each other more and more until it becomes deep love from the heart. We need to practice loving each other.

We used to focus on ourselves… on getting what we want. That was what was handed down to us through our sinful human nature. That came natural to us. We did it without even thinking. Now, however, we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. We are born again. We have been given a new nature whereby we can love God with all that we are and love our neighbor as ourselves. Now, we have a new nature that focuses on God.

We have to practice being the people of God. We have this new nature that focuses on God and the Holy Spirit living in us who prompts us to do the work of God. We have to practice until it becomes natural to us. We are living in a tension. We have been saved, we are being saved and one day we will be completely saved. Right now, the more we yield our wills to the direction of God through the Holy Spirit, the more like Jesus we become and the more we experience the love of God and the more we please God. We also move from having to think about pleasing God to where it becomes natural to us. When it becomes natural to us, we don’t think about it. We are in tune with God and we naturally do his will.

We have to practice loving God and others until it comes deeply from the heart, until it comes natural to us. Early in his ministry, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church was having a crisis of faith. He was about to give up preaching because he didn’t think he had faith. He asked a Moravian preacher, Peter Bohler, if he should quit. He wrote about the conversation in his journal. Wesley said, “How can you preach to others, who have not faith yourself?” I asked Bohler, whether he thought I should leave it or not. He answered, “By no mean.” I asked, “But what can I preach?” He said, “Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.” We must practice love until we have it, until it becomes natural for us and then, because we have it, because loving God and others is our nature, we will love others deeply from the heart.

Friends, we have been redeemed and ransomed by the precious blood of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ! Have you taken the first step in following the direction of the Holy Spirit? Have you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you repented of your sins? And have you been baptized?

The Holy Spirit living in us actively directs us to love. It may be to support some ministry financially. You may be directed to call and check on someone. You may be directed to pray for someone. Are you responding to the Holy Spirit’s direction in your lives?

Remember, Peter says one day we will all be judged by God, knowing this should cause us to live our lives here in reverent fear of God. Practice sincere love until you have it and then when you have it, you will sincerely love God and others from the heart.