Love Ain't Easy, but God Never Fails

Have you ever had one of those times when you thought you were doing something right, but then the backlash makes you wonder why you bothered in the first place? I won't get into details, but I've had that happen more than once and each time I find myself swallowing my pride or taking one for the team or any number of other cliches.  It seems to be hardest when family is involved.  I find myself asking the question "Do my personal views need to be glorified or do I need to make sure that God is glorified?"  The answer to that is easy when looking from the outside-in, but in the midst of a situation, the lines in between the two can be easily blurred.

Today I am especially reminded of the verses on which I have based this blog.  "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." ( Corinthians 3:4-8).  Wow...that's hard stuff.  Personally, I have read that verse a hundred times and while I know what it says, it wasn't until recently that I began to internalize the importance of these verses.  What is the greatest commandment from God? "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27).  The greatest commandment is to love and through 1 Corinthians 3:4-8 we know what love looks like.  Are we doing it?

I encourage you to try this little exercise:  rewrite 1 Corinthians 3:4-8, but insert your name in place of the word 'love' or pronouns referring to love and read it out loud.  Here's how mine reads:

"Kevin is patient, Kevin is kind. Kevin does not envy, Kevin does boast, Kevin is not proud.  Kevin does not dishonor others.  Kevin is not self-seeking, Kevin is not easily angered and Kevin keeps no record of wrongs.  Kevin does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  Kevin always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Kevin never fails."

This is humbling as I reflect on the fact that I am generally a good person. But if the greatest commandment is to love, and I insert my name and can then clearly see that I fall short of reflecting what love is, then I have got some work to do.  It is a daunting task to look at love and look at our shortcomings and seek to try to correct the situation.  For me - I get three words into that verse and fall apart...I am not a patient person.  Personal evaluation and reflection is overwhelming at times, but what gives me hope is knowing that I can rely on God's attributes and not my own.  Now let's rewrite that verse and insert God's name and I will show you what I mean:

"God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does boast, God is not proud.  God does not dishonor others.  God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered and God keeps no record of wrongs.  God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  God never fails."

While I fall apart on the first three words,  I am comforted that I can lean on God right to the final three words where I am reminded that "GOD NEVER FAILS."  So while I am easily angered, God is not.  While I may keep a mental list of the wrongs others commit against me, God does not remember mine.  While I may fail miserably in every aspect of my life, I can count on Him because God never fails.

Love isn't easy - I don't find anywhere in the Bible where God says anything will be easy (a result of the fall?) but He's there to help us.  The Holy Spirit that indwells us gives us the strength to do the difficult even when we don't think we need the help.

Demystifying Mysticism & Contemplative Prayer

"Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with, identity with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, instinct or insight. Mysticism usually centers on a practice or practices intended to nurture those experiences or awareness. "  (Thanks to Wikipedia for that definition)

In beginning this journey I have been very skeptical and have had a rather closed mind about mysticism, but it now seems logical to me that there needs to be a significant spiritual aspect to our faith.  We are in fact spiritual beings who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  When we think of mysticism we tend to think about eastern religions and having out-of-body experiences and the sort.  We thinks about chanting and meditation and burning incense and well, it all seems a little too "new age."  But the fact is that mysticism means communing with God and that is something that every Christian should be interested in.  I think I get caught up the terminology and the “how-to’s” rather than the purpose and meaning. 

The Holy Spirit is most often the member of the Trinity that is forgotten, probably because we have a hard time understanding and relating to this "spirit."  For me, having been raised in New England and having worshiped at a Baptist church for a number of years, the Holy Spirit wasn't really emphasized as part of our worship life.  We left that to those Pentecostals down the street and dismissed much of it because of the likes of Benny Hinn and the fake healings and claims to be able to raise the dead.  I also had a bad experience when I was younger in that some friends who attended a more charistmatic church asserted that my family members were not true believers because we didn't speak in tongues (a 'sign' that we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit).  Perhaps you can now understand some of my skepticism.

I mentioned in a recent post that I am not one for deep theological studies on any particular subject, but I have been reading quite a bit to check this out for myself and gain some understanding.  After reading a numbers of passages in Acts and a few commentaries on whether or not the Spiritual gifts such as tongues are active today, it was recommended that I read a couple of books that really helped me.  "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster and "Into the Depths of God" by Calvin Miller.  Both of these books discuss the importance of meditation and contemplative prayer in order to get more in touch with God through the Holy Spirit.  Rather than go through all of their explanation, I will recommend you do a bit of reading.  Here's my take on it:  we need to spend more time listening to God - letting Him speak into our hearts.  This is how we gain a deeper knowledge of Him and gain an understanding of His will for our lives.  This is accomplished through contemplative prayer and meditation.

Most people don’t spend one hour a week in prayer, let alone setting aside an hour a day to ‘listen’ to God.  Too often we fill our prayer time with a list of the wants and needs that we have.  God knows them already…but do we spend time to listen to Him? or do we just expect God to do all the listening and answer our prayers?  Good relationships are a two-way street.  Communication must be flowing both ways.  I have recently tried to set myself apart from my routine and pray – and just be still.  I have closed the door to my home office, turned off all the lights and music and with just a flashlight I read some scripture and then doing anything possible to block out noise, I just prayed and then sat quietly.  It was so refreshing to think of nothing but God through contemplative prayer.

I think people hear instruction on this practice of contemplative prayer and see that one should repeat a word or phrase over and over.  Why do this?  Well I like to think practically – it helps block out other thoughts and distractions.  It keeps us focused on the task and that is to sit and focus on God, to be in His presence.  Technology has wired our brains to be active constantly – it’s no wonder there are so many sleep clinics – so this repetition is a way to de-program ourselves and allow our brains to take some rest.  It is in this quiet stillness that we can feel God’s presence.  I believe God’s presence is always there, but we don’t recognize it or feel it because of everything else we have chosen to “feel.” 

We cannot simply put our hands or eyes on every answer that is to be had.  Hugging the Bible does not make us closer to God any more than holding a glass of water quenches our thirst.  We need to ‘take it in’ – let it become a part of who we are.  Does this mean meditation?  Yeah.  Does this mean contemplative prayer?  That’s probably part of it.   Is contemplative prayer and meditation some form of eastern mysticism?  I now do not believe so.   

I have decided that I need a more purposeful quiet time with God and I hope that you too will do some reading on the subject and find that there really is a very good reason to "...be still and know that I am God!"  Do you want to love God more and deepen your relationship with Him?  Spend more time listening and understand that the Holy Spirit is alive within us.

Does it Really Matter?

Those of you who have read any portion of my blog know that I am not a theologian, and I don’t believe it is in my future either.  In fact, I find reading books written by theologians to be incredibly ...what’s the word?...Oh yeah….dull.  I know that there’s an important role to be played by Biblical scholars, but it’s not for me.  My preference is to let them do their ‘thing’ and I will do my best to fulfill God’s purpose in my life.  I’m just not built that way.  The problem I see with over-analyzing the Bible and biblical history is that too much attention gets paid to the details and the big picture is missed.

I’ve recently seen some interesting details of Jesus’ birth circulating on Facebook.  It seems that someone took the time and certainly some effort to explain that Jesus was not actually born in a stable.  It’s a compelling argument to understand the culture of the day and also to understand that some things are lost in translation.  What amazes me though is that some 2,000 years after the birth of Christ, someone figured out it wasn’t a stable he was born in.  Was this some big secret that was meant only for people in the 21^st century?  Why is it that God granted some special wisdom to somebody in recent times, but chose not to reveal that part of the story earlier?  I choose to believe that if God’s son had been born in a spare room in someone’s house, then we would have figured it out much sooner.  But here’s the bigger question – WHY DOES IT MATTER?

We Christians do ourselves a disservice to argue over some minor details.  Born in a stable…born in a back room…born in a field – it doesn’t matter.  Born of God and the virgin Mary, raised as the son of a carpenter…those are the things we know for sure and the rest of it just isn’t important.  Did Mary ride a donkey or a horse?  Does it change God either way?  I admit that I do not think deeply about spiritual matters.  I don’t feel the need to delve into a big theological study every time I am confronted with something I don’t quite understand.  Will I read and pray and seek advice?  Sure, but I am convinced that God’s intention was for us to know Him as easily as possible.  We do not need a Master of Theology degree or an M. Div. to have a relationship with God or to call ourselves Christians.

There are lots of varying viewpoints floating around on numerous subjects.  Did God create the world in seven literal days or does each day represent a period of time?  Will God call us up to heaven pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation or post-tribulation?  I could go on and on, but the point I want to make is that these things really don’t matter.  Does it change my relationship with God if each day of creation was really symbolic of a longer period of time?  Do I live my life differently if I know I’m going pre-trib?  God doesn’t ask us to become scholars and have an understanding of everything He did, does and will do.  He asks us to believe with faith like a child.

                Heavenly Father, there are so many things that I do not understand, and many more that I never will.  I trust that you’ve known what you were doing since the beginning of time and that you will continue to be in control in ways beyond my comprehension until the end of time.  Thank you that my salvation does not depend on the depth of my scholarly knowledge, but rather depends wholly on the depth of your love for me.  Let me not lose focus of the big picture and your call upon my life.  AMEN.

A Mother's Love

As mentioned in a previous post about books, I haven't done much reading in the last 15 or so.  However, in the last 12 months or so, starting with some suggestions from my brother-in-law, I have regained a passion for reading anything and everything I can get my hands on...mostly free from the library.  While borrowing books from the library is great, I find myself being aggravated at times because I must refrain from dog-earing the pages and marking them up with underlines and highlights.  Yes, I am finding lots of material worth remembering later on.  I know the "e-readers" are becoming increasingly popular - but can you select and highlight passages to refer back to later?

I have discovered that I enjoy reading about people who made incredible sacrifices in order to serve God.  The first couple of books I read explored the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.  Absolutely inspiring!  Most recently I read a book called "No Greater Love" written by Mother Teresa.  Everyone knows who she is and about the work that she did in Calcutta, India, but I was interested in reading something from HER perspective.  Why did she do what she did?  What words of wisdom can she offer?  Did she ever consider doing something different with her life?  The thing that amazed me most after reading her book, was the number of times that she talked about LOVE!

Mother Teresa was able to completely abandon her own wants and desires because of her love for Christ.  She thought of herself as a bride of Christ and intimately loved Him with all of her being.  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength" was a command recorded by 3 of the 4 gospel writers.  It is also mentioned numerous times in the old testament (Deut. 6:5; Deut 10:12; Deut 11:13; Deut. 13:3 to mention a few...)  It must be an important thing to do for it to be mention more than a few times throughout Scripture.  Mother Teresa was able to care for the sick and dying because of her immense, personal love for her Savior. 

In point of fact she refers numerous times in her book to the passage in Matthew 25:40 "...whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Mother Teresa saw the image of Christ emblazoned on every person she pulled out of the gutter.  She gave food to the famished, medicine to the sick, dignity to the dying & love to the unlovable.  She didn't spend all her time preaching - although she was more than happy to share about Christ when someone asked.  She knew that her actions helped to meet the needs of a broken person and that quite often opened a door to a conversation about Christ's love.

I wasn't left with a feeling of guilt after finishing this book, instead I felt empowered and motivated to help those less fortunate than me.  How can I possibly complain about all sorts of things, while 1/2 way across the world, there are people that haven't had a meal in days?  I don't feel guilty about that, I feel blessed to live in the country I live in.  "For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required..." Luke 12:48.  I am reminded rather that we have a responsibility to help those in need.  I think a great number of people are willing to help, but Mother Teresa points out that it is much too easy for people to choose to reach out to the rich instead of the ones who really need help.  She says that in general the majority of people would rather try to witness to a bunch of rich folks than clean the wounds of the dying.  Yeah, she was probably right. 

Love, pray, love, serve, love, give, love and then love some more.  That is a quick summation of Mother Teresa's life.  No task was too gross or too degrading.  Nothing she did was too menial and nothing was more important than for caring for one of God's children.  She understood God's love for her and she was able to show that same love in a very tangible way.  I pray that God would open my eyes to see the opportunities before me to show His love, no matter the cost.

 

Loved Before You Were Born

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”  (Jeremiah 1:5)

God knew you, as he knew Jeremiah, long before you were born or even conceived.  He thought about you and planned for you.  We weren't some cosmic accident, but rather individually knit together by a God who loves us.  I've never had a so-called "conversion moment" as I was raised in a Christian home and Christianity was all I knew.  As a result, I have had a difficult time wrapping my head around the idea that I was made intentionally for a specific purpose.  Honestly, it has been a constant struggle for me to comprehend God's love for me.  To think about God's love meant thinking in general terms in relation to this Creator loving everything that He made.  It wasn't personal enough for me.  And it is for that reason that I have created this blog.  I know God loves me...but I need to learn more about what that means and how to then apply it in showing that love to others.

There are two families in our church that are currently in different stages of adopting a child.  I cannot write enough about the love that is shown through adoption (I'd like to sometime!) but for this post, I want to share the picture of God's love for us that I see through watching our friends.  One of the families has already met the child they are to adopt and I know that their hearts ache to be back with him.  I cannot imagine having to leave a child behind on the other side of the globe.  They've experienced this child's laugh, his smile and warm embrace.  They've seen him play and run and have seen the progression from the shyness of their first encounter to the acceptance and comfort of knowing they will soon be together forever.  As it is with adoption, especially international adoption, there is a waiting period and paperwork that must be contended with and that means weeks of waiting and longing.  But this family now knows who their child is going to be.  Their child has a name, a face, a personality and has captured the love and affection of two people soon to be known as Mommy and Daddy.

Preparations are being made for this child's arrival into their family.  There have been baby showers and shopping trips and the room is decorated with his name proudly spelled out in large white letters across one wall of his bedroom.  There is so much anticipation and so much love that goes into making things perfect for the big day when they walk him through the front door.  I can only imagine that every moment of their days are filled with thoughts of being with their son and showing him a love that he hasn't known before.

Isn't this a fantastic picture of that verse in Jeremiah?  God knew who we were before we were born just as this family now knows their child before his "birth" into their family.  I have 3 children of my own, and I can remember the emotions waiting for the birth of each of them.  The difference was that I did not "know" my child the way these adoptive parents have had a chance to know their son.  In my case, I knew a baby was there and it was mine and I loved him or her no matter what.  But to be able to see the smile, the laughs and get the hugs and kisses before the "birth" - that makes it so much more personal.  God loved us on that personal level.  He knew us by name, He knew our smile, our laugh, our cry, our pain, our struggles, our joys, our excitement...all before we were a twinkle in our parents' eyes. 

"In the very beginning, when this great universe lay in the mind of God like unborn forests in the acorn cup—long before the echoes awoke the solitudes—before the mountains were brought forth. Long before the light flashed through the sky, God loved His chosen creatures. Before there was any created being—when the ether was not fanned by an angel’s wing, when space itself had not an existence, when there was nothing save God alone—even then, in that loneliness of Deity and in that deep quiet and profundity, His heart moved with love for His chosen. Their names were written on His heart and then were they dear to His soul. Jesus loved His people before the foundation of the world—even from eternity! And when He called me by His Grace, He said to me, “I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.” -- Charles H. Spurgeon

How do we respond to Him? Do we reject His love and forget that we were once 'orphans' in a foreign land or do we cling to him with love and affection?  Remember that God has always thought of you as valuable and that he has a purpose in mind for you.  Now THAT's family planning!