Believing Equals Loving
Thank you, Father, for a very productive day today. Tomorrow is a VERY big day with lots to accomplish but I find great comfort in knowing You are by my side. Your companionship is cherished!
1 John 3:11-24 (<<click here)
“And this is his command: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another.” v.23
Lord, as I pray and read through my study Bible* notes, I understand that first of all we must believe what You have said, that is very important but equally important is embracing who You are – You are the Son of God.
Believing “in the name” means that my goal is to pattern my life after Your life. And if I am doing that then I will abide by Your command and Your lifestyle to “love one another.”
It really is very much like a simple mathematical equation.
Believing Your words + believing You are God = loving one another
Living out my faith in You will always result in love. And that love has no exceptions. We cannot pick and choose – it is all-inclusive. In reading Your word, that is how You lived.
Thinking along those lines brings to mind a portion of a recent sermon. In the days before Your crucifixion, You loved Judas. He wasn’t excluded. He wasn’t avoided. You didn’t withhold Yourself from him. In the upper room, You washed his feet just as You washed everyone else’s feet. You loved him. You repeatedly gave him opportunity to turn from the path he was headed down.
Could I have done the same? Could I willingly love someone that I knew was going to betray me? Could I treat with tenderness the individual that I knew was the catalyst for my death?
You are my example, in the flesh. You lived out Your love, withholding absolutely nothing. Lord, make me like You. May my love grow deeper and stronger as I spend time with You. Amen.
May 5th, 2017, Fri, 5:11 am
Cancel Code Yellow
Thank You for this day, Father. May I follow closely by Your side with my hand firmly in Yours. Amen.
Luke 15:11-32 (<<click green)
At Kohl’s, we have a protocol in place for certain emergencies – Code Blue for medical emergencies, Code Red for fire, Code Green for tornadoes and such. In my more than seventeen years of employment, I can count on one hand the number of times all three of these together have been called (thank You, Lord!). But we have a fourth one that is called multiple times each week – Code Yellow. It is a notification for associates to help locate a lost child or if we’ve found a lost child, a lost parent. Thankfully, there has never been a long-term separation and parent and child are soon reunited. One of the best things to hear is “Cancel Code Yellow”.
Lord, none of us are exempt from wandering from You. Some of us wander away for just a short period of time. Some of us have wandered for years. Your desire is to be reunited. But like the children we are, we sometimes relish in our “freedom”. But many times it is short-lived when things bigger than we are, scare the bejeebies out of us.
Unfortunately, many wander in separation for years feeling like they are beyond being reunited with You. You know different but we feel like our list of “crimes” is too large to consider reconciliation. But no list is too big for You, Lord. Your sacrifice encompassed the entirety of sin from all of mankind. Nothing is too big nor is anyone too far gone that You cannot redeem.
Lord, all of us wander. May we all see that You are not poised with a lightning bolt ready to nail us for our wandering but like the Father in Luke 15, You eagerly await our return. If we will but ask with sincerity of heart, all will be forgiven.
Thank You, Lord, for Your fathomless love and forgiveness, mercy and grace.
June 28th, 2017, Wed, 5:34 am
Unpardonable?
Boy, Father, my body is protesting my cleaning out our flower beds this past weekend! It is good to be able to sit down but even more so it is good to be able to sit down with You. Bless our time together. Amen.
Matthew 26:14 -16 (<<click to read the passage)
Judas. One of the twelve. Chosen by Jesus. Thief. Betrayer. Universally despised. Embodiment of evil.
I’m sure if you had asked any one of the remaining eleven about him they would have most assuredly spit his name out as if it were something putrid in their mouths. He would definitely not rank on anyone’s top 10 list of favorite Bible characters…but…
Was he a hopeless cause? …let me rephrase that… Is there anyone that is a hopeless cause? How did Jesus see him? He knew what he would do but did that affect the way he interacted with him?
Just think about it for a moment. When Jesus interacted with the teachers of the Law, he wasted no time in setting them straight. But here is someone who he knew was going to be the instrument through which his path to the cross would begin. Yet he never once directly confronted him, though He referred to His betrayer many times throughout their time in the upper room as they observed the Passover Meal.
Honestly, I don’t believe Jesus ever gave up on Judas. Judas gave up on himself. Judas ended his own life believing that he was beyond forgiveness. He alone believed his sin was unpardonable.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 NKJV
Let me ask, is there any translation of the Bible that reads
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever – with the exception of Judas Iscariot – believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Nope. No one, not even the betrayer of Christ himself, was excluded from the possibility of forgiveness.
I truly believe that if Judas had not ended his own life but had instead found himself before Christ and if he had humbly bowed before Him, begging forgiveness for his horrific act that Jesus would have forgiven him.
We all, at one time or another, though chosen by Christ have betrayed Him. I, for one, am grateful that He extends his forgiveness to everyone and forgives all of our dastardly deeds. His mercy, though incomprehensible on so many levels, is truly wonderful! Praise His holy name!
Nov 5th, 2018, Mon, 4:47 pm
Broken and Spilled Out
Father, we sing the Doxology every Sunday at both churches but that’s what comes to mind as I sit before You this evening.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Matthew 26:6-13 (<<click to read the passage)
Back when I sang a lot more solos this was one of my favorites. In regards to this passage, this song says it all…
Click on the link to hear Steve Green’s beautiful rendition. You can watch the lyrics on the video or follow along below.
*************
BROKEN AND SPILLED OUT
One day a plain village woman
Driven by love for her Lord
Recklessly poured out a valuable essence
Disregarding the scorn
And once it was broken and spilled out
A fragrance filled all the room
Like a pris’ner released from his shackles
Like a spirit set free from the tomb
Broken and spilled out
Just for love of you Jesus
My most precious treasure
Lavished on Thee
Broken and spilled out
And poured at Your feet
In sweet abandon
Let me be spilled out
And used up for Thee
Lord You were God’s precious treasure
His loved and His own perfect Son
Sent here to show me
The love of the Father
Just for love it was done
And though You were perfect and holy
You gave up Yourself willingly
You spared no expense for my pardon
You were used up and wasted for me
Broken and spilled out
Just for love of me Jesus
God’s most precious treasure
Lavished on me
You were broken and spilled out
And poured at my feet
In sweet abandon Lord
You were spilled out and used up for Me
In sweet abandon, let me be spilled out
And used up for Thee
Written by: Bill George and Gloria Gaither
Nov 4th, 2018, Sun, 6:25 pm
It Begins…
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. John 12:24
Thank You, Father, for a solid good night’s rest! I pray for Your infilling as I take on this day with all its many components. May my recollection be complete in my training and may my heart be guided by You in my preparation for Sunday. You are my guide and stay. Amen.
Matthew 26:1-5 (<<click to read the passage)
It begins… In reality, it began before the beginning and if you think it all through what may seem like the end is just part of the story that has no beginning or end…much too deep a thought for this early hour!
God has always been and always will be. If we think that the story of Christ is just a young, rogue prophet life taking a turn for the worse then we are sadly mistaken. It – everything – was a part of God’s plan to redeem us – to rejoin us, His crowning achievement of Creation back into His family. There was no arbitrary chance involved. It was strategically, meticulously laid out before all the “nothing” become something – before the first breath was breathed into the first man.
I love the synopsis that my study Bible* places before chapter 26 begins.
After facing much opposition for his teaching, Jesus is betrayed by Judas, denied by the disciples, crucified, and he dies. Three days later he rises from the dead and appears to the disciples, confirming that he is indeed King over life and death. The long-awaited King has brought in his Kingdom, but it is different than expected, for he reigns in our heart until the day he comes again to establish a new and perfect world.
Several times John, in his Gospel, states that Jesus’ “hour had not yet come” (John 2:4, John 7:6, John 7:30, John 8:20). But as we transition into Matthew 26 that changes, “his hour had come” (John 13:1, John 17:1, Matthew 26:18).
Lord, all praise goes to You! Where, oh where, would we be if it were not for You! You knew from the very beginning what we would do but Your desire to love us and have us love You in return was so strong You did whatever it took to do just that!
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Nov 1st, 2018, Thurs, 6:45 am