Love Means...

 

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

This letter is from John, the elder.  I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth—as does everyone else who knows the truth—because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever.  Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.  How happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded.  I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another.  This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning.  Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.  2 John 1-6

The much beloved apostle, John, writes to the chosen lady, a code word for the church he pastored while in Ephesus.  He tells the believers there to love one another. 

That one word, “love” could mean a lot of things.  In popular culture of the 21^st century the word evokes images of a far-different meaning than that to which John referred.  When writing these devotionals I hunt for an image to use as a title base, something which conveys some of the thought central to the Scripture.  For today I typed in the word “love” and, within 3/10^ths of a second I had 482 pages of images from which to choose.  Each page had around 100 images.  Do the math…if I looked at them all to make a selection it could have been a week from next Friday before I even wrote word #1 on the page.  Even more problematic is that most of the images would have been rated PG…at best!  (My choice of search filter for my computer won’t even show me the more lurid ones).

The point here is that our current popular culture’s idea of love centers around romanticism, a far cry from what John urged for his congregation.

But even when you make that distinction…not romantic love, but God’s love…there is a disconnect about what the apostle means (thus having 40,000 pictures from which to choose). 

So, let’s be clear; John doesn’t mean we should lust, like uncontrollable animals.  He is not referring to sappy flowers-and-balloons, tear-jerking feelings.  And he is certainly not into Hallmark-movie sighs of everything will be just fine and dandy.  John is full-on describing the way God dies for us…laying-down His life, spilling His blood, so that we can live forgiven and joyful.  When the apostle says we should love one another he’s pointing to the command to be obedient to God’s command to live in truth with each other, humbly accepting each other as part of the same family.  He’s calling us to a lifestyle of unconditionally doing what is best for each other, even if it hurts, is inconvenient, or costly.

Most of us respond…but who can live like that?  The short answer is:  Jesus!

When John says “love one another” he’s saying “be like the one you chose to follow”.

For You Today

It’s hardly ever easy, strapping on a towel and carrying a basin to wash another’s feet.  But, if you claim the name, it’s time to get in the game!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image: Vanni, via Wikimedia Commons  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

Cleaning Up Our Act

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Monday, January 27, 2020

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.  He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.  Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you.  Such sins have no place among God’s people.  Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you.  Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.  You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God.  For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.  Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.  Don’t participate in the things these people do.  For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord.  So live as people of light!  For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.  Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.  Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them.  It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret.  But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible.  This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”                           Ephesians 5:1-14

With the struggle of our culture over human sexuality currently coming to a head, particularly in the United Methodist Church, today’s poignant reading from Paul is a vibrant reminder that the sins of one group ought not to be categorized worse than the sins of another.  Telling coarse jokes, or spewing expletives, and even foolish talk seems to be of little consequence, matched up against sexual immorality and rampant greed.  However, Paul lumps them all together and calls it all worthless deeds of evil and darkness.  He flatly says, expose that nonsense; don’t take part in it, or make excuses for that kind of behavior.  Wouldn’t you just love it if Paul didn’t beat around the bush so much?

Paul’s blunt rebuke for ungodly behavior is no stranger to me.  Years ago, in a new pastorate, I met a church member for the first time in the nursing home.  She was struggling with the fading strength of age, complicated by dementia.  Her family told me before I went that Grandma didn’t have long to live.  So, when I arrived at the home I introduced myself and asked her to share her faith story with me.  She immediately began to tell about the revival that was held when she was a young girl, and how she’d served Jesus at that church in this way and that way.  When there was a brief pause in the recounting of the last 70 years, I asked if she was secure in her heart that when she left this world she would meet Jesus in heaven.  She said, Oh, yes, young man.  I know I’m going to heaven, and if you want to get there too, YOU’D BETTER CHANGE YOUR WAYS!  Granny had nailed me like Paul the Apostle, right where I live.

Funny, I don’t remember much else we may have talked about on that visit.  What I do remember is being caught up short about how in world she knew I was such a sinner.  This was the first time we’d laid eyes on each other, and she didn’t know me from Adam’s housecat. 

On one level I knew it was the dementia speaking, but on another level, spiritually speaking, she was spot-on; I was (and am) a sinner.  And it makes little difference if it’s greed, coarse speech, foolishness, gossip, anger, lust, or homosexuality; how much, or what kind of sin does it take to make one a sinner?  When you think about it, it’s kind of like robbing banks, or killing, or lying; one will do!

And so, this morning I’m thinking particularly about how United Methodists will treat each other in the coming days at the meetings where they’ll try to work on how to part and go separate ways, as opposed to staying together like two fighting cats with their tails tied together.  Or how the people I know who populate the churches I serve (along with their pastor) will treat our community.  We are, as Paul the Apostle (and Granny the nursing home sage) said, supposed to be about the business of changing our ways to be more like imitators of God’s godliness, and less of the other!

For You Today

You and I won’t be able to solve every bit of what’s wrong with the world, or even within our own hearts by lunchtime today, but we can start to bend our ways to His ways with a season of prayer that shines a little light on our darkness.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:   Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

James the Just - Part 5 - The Downward Spiral of Sin

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Monday, August 19, 2019

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation.  Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.  And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.”  God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.   James 1:12-13

Temptation is the seed of sin, and Satan plants it.  We cannot control the thoughts that enter our minds.  However, as Martin Luther pointed out, though we cannot prevent the birds from circling over us, we can stop them from nesting in our hair!  Satan may plant the seed as a temptation; growing it to a bumper crop is our fault!

THE DIRECTION TEMPTATION TAKES TO BECOME SIN       

There are dozens of examples in the Bible of this pathway – however, David’s sin with Bathsheba is striking.  Let’s use that as our roadmap to compare it with what James is teaching us about the way sin defeats believers.

Desire (James 1:14)
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 

David (2 Samuel 11) saw Bathsheba, a very beautiful, but married woman.  God created desire in us; it’s necessary that we be interested in the opposite sex if our species is to continue.  However, just like fire, which is a good thing – if you handle it in a way God didn’t intend, you will suffer the consequences.  Someone once said that lust is what develops with the second look.  First is desire, then…

Decision  (James 1:15a)  
These desires give birth to sinful actions.

Once the decision is made in the heart to abandon what is known to be right (that which is approved by God), the line is crossed between Satan’s work, and our receiving sin into our lives.  David saw Bathsheba, and it was only a temptation.  The minute he began inquiring about her, wanting her, (knowing she was married, and therefore outside of God’s approval), the desire was intensified to lust.  There is a play on words in this verse and verse 13 – desires is like the cravings of a pregnant woman.  They are exceedingly strong, as any husband and father who has ever made a 2am trip to WalMart for pickles can tell you!  A woman great with child can exert great control over a man of average intelligence and reasoning.  It is that way with our God-given desires.  If Satan places a temptation before you – something outside of God’s approval – and when you stay, lingering, wondering, the lure has a hook attached, and you are very close to being reeled-in!  The hand’s disobedience is only a thought removed from the heart’s disobeying!  Desire, Decision, then…

Disobedience (sinful actions)  
The word in this text for giving birth is actually a military word; it means take prisoner.  The long look created lust; the lust carries you away and you are its prisoner!  Satan’s work is successful.  He handed off the temptation, you accepted it, and are now running down the field.

Annie was our American Pit bulldog/lab mix.  She was only about 65 pounds, but when the bulldog mentality in her took over, she had the strength of Samson!  Our daughter Carrie and her husband Shannon had a young Rottweiler named Magnum who outweighed Annie by a ton and a half.  Once when Elizabeth and I stayed at their apartment to dog-sit, I was told to walk the dogs.  Just like an unsuspecting child, I accepted the leash from that temptress I’ve lived with for over 50 years.  Bulldog and bad-dog in tow, I never saw the lady coming, the one with the two Huskies, the ones Annie really didn’t like!  Magnum decided to join Annie’s attitude, and when they took off after them I was dragged along like a sack of dirty laundry.  I couldn’t have held them back with a brigade of Storm Troopers.  Now, the analogy is clear.  The leash was offered to me, and I accepted it.  But once I had the leash it was mine; or so I thought!  Sin is always like that.  You start off thinking, Man, this is great, I will…then, the hook sets, and you get dragged along; you get reeled in, scaled and cooked!  Desire, Decision, Disobedience, and…

Death!  James 1:15b   
And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. 

It’s the payoff!  The payoff for King David’s sexual affair was the blowing-apart of his family and the kingdom God entrusted to his leadership erupted in civil war.  The leash led him to places he never intended to go!  And we don’t have a leg to stand on either.  The Devil SUGGESTS sin; he cannot MAKE us sin; that is our choice.

For You Today

James has the last word: 

Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.  James 1:14-15(TMNT)

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons
                          Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

When the Fragrance Remains

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Monday, April 15, 2019

Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead.  A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor.  Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.  Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair.  The house was filled with the fragrance.  But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages.  It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”  Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.  Jesus replied, “Leave her alone.  She did this in preparation for my burial.  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”  When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead.  Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.  John 12:1-11

John tells us that the house was filled with the fragrance Mary used to anoint Jesus’ feet.   I don’t know a whole lot about perfume, but I do know you don’t use a whole lot.  

Especially if it’s Clive Christian Imperial Majesty.  You have to be a serious buyer to get a price quote, but when it was introduced 15 years ago the price tag was $215,000 for a 500ml bottle (16.9oz)  “The bottle’s design is meant for royalty with a collar made with 18 carat gold. It does not even end there, a five carat diamond is stuck to the fabulous golden collar. Each bottle is delivered in a Bentley. Interested buyers ought to order one now since it is a limited offer.[iii] 

I think Judas would have been interested in that perfume.  He was the keeper of the purse, and, according to the Gospel writer, he helped himself to the purse’s contents often.  When Judas objected to Mary’s lavish gift of anointing Jesus’ feet with some of the most expensive perfume, he was sticking up for the treasury, not really concerned about the poor.  He wanted to make sure something like this never happened again.  All gifts had to go through Judas…this was the rule.  Judas used the poor to make sure the cash kept flowing through his sticky fingers; by the tone of his answer, Jesus was having none of it!

The meal they ate that day was to honor Jesus in Lazarus’ house.  Freshly back from the tomb, it made sense for it to be a joyful occasion.  But the loss of a pricey perfume that would have kept Judas’ Ponzi scheme going strong, and the crowds showing up to see a formerly-dead man, which made the Pharisees jealous over the increased attention towards Jesus (and the lack of attendance at the temple) made for a different kind of fragrance hanging in the air. 

The lingering odor of greed and jealousy don’t mix well with extravagant scents of loving gifts poured at God’s feet.  Of course, it all depends on what’s important to you.  For Mary, the gift of her brother’s life was an occasion to open the floodgates of thanksgiving as she gave the costliest possession she had.  For Judas and the Pharisees, the greed and lust for power slipping away like a lost opportunity to fill their pockets with pride was a cause to resent this unlicensed phony of a prophet from Nazareth.

Whether you’re talking about perfume or a Savior sent from heaven, some people just can’t recognize an Imperial Majesty even when the fragrance fills the house!

For You Today

What would it take for you to be extravagant towards Jesus, just like Mary?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

[iii] Top 10 Most Expensive Perfumes for Women by Sammy Said, 6-5-13

Made...with Flaws

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Monday, June 4, 2018

Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God?  Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”  When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?  In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.  He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory.   Romans 9:20b-23^(NLT)

To say that we are perfect (in the sense that when we are born there are no flaws), is to completely ignore the reality that we are born into (and of) a fallen human family; this is a sin-touched world.  To say the flaws are nothing more than parts of the sum of who God made me, and therefore perfectly alright, flies in the face of the necessity of the cross for salvation.  Literally, that kind of thinking says, I’m OK and you are also OK…we have nothing in our character or being for which we should be ashamed…or from which we need to be redeemed.  Scripture takes a 180^o opposite take on that:

 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.  Romans 6:23^(NLT)

It’s true we are made with flaws.  God has allowed, in His patient love and because He gave us free will, this world’s flaws to exist in us; that is our right and it is what we all choose with that free will.  But that also presupposes that, even in the patience of God there is accountability and judgment for what we do with what we’ve been given.

I have written before about the “universalist” thinking ^(here) which claims the cross was God’s unilateral acceptance of all humans, regardless of their actions or beliefs.  I cannot think of anything that so blatantly denies Scripture and flaunts sin as this heresy. 

The LORD God, Jehovah of the Old Testament declares through the prophet Malachi ^(3:6) that He does not change, and He ends the New Testament with judgment for those who have not received His Son, Jesus, and a shopping list of sins those who live the lie of universalism.  If all are forgiven, why are there sheep and goats?  If all are forgiven, why is there Hell?  Why would Jesus teach about Dives, a wealthy man who winds up in Hell because he lived outside of God’s ways, treating a poor man as if he didn’t exist?  If all are forgiven, what would be the point of a Great White Throne Judgment? 

All these teachings and more, added to common sense, and an innate knowledge of eternity, evil, and accountability imprinted in our very being by God[2] make it abundantly clear that denying the coming judgment amounts to nothing more than ignorant whistling in the dark.  Living outside the express will of God, by purposefully rejecting what God has said, is the very definition of the flaw of sin.  We are born with it, but Christ has made the way possible to have our flaws addressed.

But it isn’t all passive (as universalism suggests) – salvation is received when sins are forgiven.  There is not a sin too big to be forgiven.  There is never a sin too small to be confessed.  And therein lays the trap; we humans think we get to judge what is a small sin.  The truth is, even the smallest, hairline crack in your car’s windshield will eventually make the thing come apart.  It isn’t IF a crack will bring ruin – it’s WHEN; it’s always just a matter of time!

It also isn’t a matter for we humans to judge what sin is…it is not for the jar to tell the potter how to define a crack in its’ being.  In the same way, humans must acknowledge sin for what God has declared in His Word.  If you look at the condition of our world today, sin is rampant, and that means we are ripe for judgment; Greed…Lust…Fornication…Homosexuality…Infidelity…Anger…the list is massive!

Only the cross of Jesus has healing for our sin…and that only when we repent of our sins and trust in His grace.  Blaming God for our flaws, saying this is the way He created me, makes Him an implicit co-conspirator in our evil.  We are Adam all over again, offering our excuse, instead of our confession, blaming the Creator instead of admitting to having chosen evil over righteousness.

For You Today

Arguing with God over sin didn’t work for Adam and Eve; does it work for anyone?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart.  Ecclesiastes 3:11^(NLT)

The Voice of God

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Friday, May 25, 2018

Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings; honor the Lord for his glory and strength.  Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.  Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.  The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.  The God of glory thunders.  The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.  The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.  The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon’s mountains skip like a calf; he makes Mount Hermon leap like a young wild ox.  The voice of the Lord strikes with bolts of lightning.  The voice of the Lord makes the barren wilderness quake; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the Lord twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare.  In his Temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”  The Lord rules over the floodwaters.  The Lord reigns as king forever.  The Lord gives his people strength.  The Lord blesses them with peace.  Psalm 29:1-11^NLT)

The Psalmist describes the voice of God as mighty and cataclysmic – something not to be denied or ignored.  His voice echoes above the sea, splits gigantic cedars, shakes the mountains as if they’re dancing in reply, sends lightning flashes, and stirs quakes in the quiet wilderness, making everything shout-out the glory of God.

After all that imagery the poet peels back the façade of storms and natural disaster to reveal the majestic Lord reigning as king forever, the One who gives his people strength and…peace!

Peace?  How does peace enter into all that earth-shaking and shattering?  Where is the peace in all the clammor of today’s constant arguing, partying, and killing?  Peace?

I cannot imagine anyone not wanting to live at peace, and in peace.  Of course this assumes people who are mentally healthy.  Anger, conflict, confrontation, and a general sense of in-your-face attitude are so alien to what my soul craves, it makes me cringe just to think about all that.  I don’t want to be around people who are at war, literally, or merely in their own minds; they spill-out bile and vengeance into their relationships.  There is little sense of peace or well-being there, or even just considering that picture.

I heard it said once that there are two types of people who are on the positive side of peace; there are peace-lovers, and there are peace-makers.  For me that’s too simple. 

Here’s what I mean:  Loving peace and making peace are as night and day different as passive and active.  Loving peace only requires an attitude – a desire to not have a fight going on.  Making peace sometimes (even often) requires the willingness to have a fight in order to end the fight.  Again, that’s too simple.

The complexity that enters this picture is when people who really aren’t in a healthy place enter the equation (people who are not sound of mind).  These are terrorist-seeds looking for a place to root.  Their literature claims peace as the motive for their “holy war” but goes no farther than throwing-off the blame for their warring ways on the higher power.  There is really not a desire for peace; there is only a lust for aggression.

So, how can you tell the difference between a really strong soldier whose target is peace, and a really strong terrorist who only craves the frenzy of war?  There are lots of variables in the answer to that question, such as the peace-making soldier who loses sight of peace being his target.  But my insides tell me the one true test is whether or not one is willing to trust.  Trust is the ability to lay-down the weapons and engage with words.  That is a first step in moving towards peace; without that first step, there is no chance to go anywhere but to the grave.

And isn’t that the crunch?  War and graves go hand in hand; only those who trust, people who are willing to lay down their anger, war and hurt are candidates for peace.  You need a quiet moment to hear the voice of the Lord.

For You Today

True peace lovers are also peace makers; and the other way around too.

Are there any weapons in your arsenal that need laying-down?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy Pixabay.com

Praying Like a Camel

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Wednesday, January 3, 2018

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?  Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?  You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.  You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.  Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.  You adulterers!  Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  I say it again:  If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.  Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning?  They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.  And he gives grace generously.  As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  James 4:1-6^(NLT)

The Apostle James is affectionately known as camel knees.  I’m not sure where that’s written in church historical documents, but it’s certainly a colorful and instructive picture.  It seems this half-brother of our Lord spent so much time in prayer that he had callouses on his kneeling parts that made him look like he had the front legs of a camel.  Now, I don’t know camels very well, other than the first-hand knowledge that they can “spit” up to 10 yards or more…with some measure of accuracy!  I’m also not sure they spend any time praying, so the comparison of a camel to a long-praying person (for me) ends with the knee-callouses, the measure of time spent in contact with the floor!

James makes the singular and monumental point that most of the strife in the world can be traced back to a culture that has either forgotten, or never learned to pray.

I’m certain that’s true in my life.  If prayer is merely a quickly-offered ritual to bless the pork chops and taters, or something reserved for the preacher during the weekly church thing, or the place we turn when life turns against us, then we’ve missed the point entirely!  Prayer is the on-going conversation with our holy and gracious Creator.  It is the moment-by-moment check-in that keeps us aligned with His will, and not wandering around chasing pleasures or stuff. 

And there is precious other option than the two.  You either wander or follow.  My pride makes me wander, chasing my dreams.  My praying helps me follow…doing His will.  And if that’s the case, it is always time to choose carefully which you will do.

For You Today

How about establishing a prayer life that’s more than a hiccup before you dive into breakfast?  Let’s pray together:

Lord, here we are in a new year that is barely out of the womb.  You have graciously placed breath in our lungs another day, and it is your glory that we live.  Help us to use this day in the cause of ending strife and wars, by ending the pride and selfish desires that want to drive us.  May we be people this year who develop knees like our camel friends…calloused, so our hearts won’t be!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Images: Courtesy of Pixabay.com