We Walk Because He Walked First

Monday, June 12, 2023

We love each other because he loved us first.  1 John 4:19

For many years in American culture, love has been portrayed as a feeling that overcomes you.  It includes weak knees, unexplainable loss of appetite, head-in-the-clouds, and that goofy look on your face.  That is not really love, but rather it is romance, a kind of lust-driven drunkenness. 

Love is also not doing things for other people because you have the means and they don’t.  That is simply what many nice people do out of compassion, at best.  A lesser motive is that we fear being like the poor folks; our generosity is to appease whatever gods control the distribution of stuff.  Christian love is doing what other people need most, simply because truth and integrity demand it.

Football great Bubba Smith has sworn off booze. Not drinking it, but selling it. Bubba never did drink, but he sold tons of beer by making cute television ads. Not anymore.  Bubba kicked the habit….Here's how it happened (in his own words):

I went back to Michigan State for the homecoming parade last year, I was the grand marshal and I was riding in the backseat of this car.  The people were yelling, but they weren't saying, 'Go, State, go!'  One side of the street was yelling, Tastes great' and the other side was yelling Less filling.  Everyone in the stands is drunk.  It was like I was contributing to alcohol, and I don't drink.  It made me realize I was doing something I didn't want to do.  I was with my brother, Tody, who is my agent.  I told him, Tody, I'll never do another Lite beer commercial.  I loved doing the commercials, but I didn't like the effect it was having on a lot of little people.  

Everything that makes a believer act unselfishly, truthfully, and compassionately is motivated by the Master’s love.  We love because he first loved us: 

He could hear the crowds screaming "crucify, crucify".  He could hear the hatred in their voices.  These were his chosen people.  He loved them, and they were going to crucify him.  He was beaten, bleeding and weakened; his heart was broken, but still He walked.  He could see the crowd as he came from the palace.  He knew each of the faces so well.  He had created them.  He knew every smile, laugh, and shed tear, but now they were contorted with rage and anger...his heart broke; But still He walked.  Was he scared?  You and I would have been, so his humanness would have mandated that he was.  He felt alone.  His disciples had left, denied, and even betrayed him.  He searched the crowd for a loving face and he saw very few.  Then he turned his eyes to the only one that mattered, and he knew that he would never be alone.  He looked back at the crowd, at the people who were spitting at him, throwing rocks at him, and mocking him, and he knew that because of him, they would never be alone.    So for them, He walked.  The sounds of the hammer striking the spikes echoed through the crowd. The sounds of his cries echoed even louder; the cheers of the crowd, as his hands and feet were nailed to the cross intensified with each blow.  Loudest of all was the still small voice inside his heart that whispered I am with you, my son.  And God's heart broke.  He had let his son walk.

Jesus could have asked God to end his suffering, but instead he asked God to forgive.  Not to forgive him, but to forgive the ones who were persecuting him.  As he hung on that cross, dying an unimaginable death, he looked out and saw, not only the faces in the crowd, but also, the face of every person yet to be, and his heart filled with love.  As his body was dying, his heart was alive; alive with the limitless, unconditional love he feels for each of us.  ^{(author unknown)}

For You Today 

When I forget how much My God loves me, I remember his walk.  When I wonder if I can be forgiven, I remember his walk.  When I need to be reminded of how to live like Christ, I think of his walk.  And to show him how much I love him, I wake up each morning, turn my eyes to him, and I walk.

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

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Condemned in the Shadows  and  Table Talk                                          

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Life & Death Tightrope

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Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God.  And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.  We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.  Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.  For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.  And who can win this battle against the world?  Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  1 John 5:1-5

We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.  We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.  And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God.  And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ.  He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.  Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.  1 John 5:18-21

Habit determines everything.  

Habitually practicing the art of couch potato-ing can result in heart disease, or a guest appearance on a segment of My 600-Pound Life.  Habits set the pathway of our life’s decisions.  The apostle, John is giving sound spiritual advice to the church of how forming our life around obedience to God’s commandments is the pathway that leads to life. 

On first reading many people are tempted to imagine this obedience thing as walking a tightrope suspended over hell’s fires; one slip and you’re toast!  However, that would be inconsistent with God’s grace and patience.  God knows us and understands better than we do that when it comes to being perfect in our obedience we slip off a rope like that.  We see that in the apostle’s description of both sin and obedience; he points us in the direction of habituation, making a practice of either.  A well-practiced habit becomes our default, part of our character, who we really are.  A slip-up is an aberration, a setback from the path we really want to travel.  John is making the case that true belief in Christ, trusting Christ and relying on His power for every need and every shortcoming, is not only possible, it is part of God’s promise.  And what it looks like in everyday living is forming habits.  The person that wants more strength for living a life of obedience forms the habit of meditating on God’s Word.  A person who wants greater strength resisting temptation of any kind forms the habit of prayer, fasting, and removing themselves from the source of temptations. 

One of my mother’s favorite sayings was you lie down with dogs; you get up with fleas.  John’s whole case about being obedient to God’s commands is that we must make the choice where we will stand, and it must be peremptory; the first time we decide to cuddle up to the fleas of sin will be merely the first step in setting the habitual practice.  We warn our children about taking the first pill, or drink, or tobacco product so they will not get caught in the addictive downward spiral that affects their health.  We use parental controls on media to monitor their internet time and what content they view to protect them from the downward pull of pornography and violence.  Should we do less for our children and ourselves when it comes to spiritual health?

For You Today

A healthy spiritual practice is to habitually examine our habits; look at the things we do regularly with an eye towards answering the question:  is this what God wants my life to look like?

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

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[1] Title Image:  Adi Holzer via WikimediaCommons    Unless noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

Perfect

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Wednesday, July 31, 2019

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.  For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.  If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?  Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.  If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?  Even pagans do that.  But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.  Matthew 5:43-48

We are called to be different.  It is certainly different to act in a loving way to those that hate you and describe themselves as your enemies!  But that is the kind of love we see on the cross, where Jesus prayed, Father, forgive them.

C.S. Lewis wrote:  There is no safe investment.  To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.  The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation.  The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.[2]

There are plenty of people we have all met that we would rather leave off the guestlist; but that isn't the way it works.  When we find ourselves in that condition we must work at finding ways to love, and even as far as liking!

Chuck Swindoll tells a great story of the man who fell in love with an opera star:

He hardly knew her, since his only view of her was from the third-floor balcony.  But he was convinced he could live happily ever after married to anyone who sang like she did.  He scarcely noticed that she was much older than he.  Nor did he note the limp.  Her mezzo-soprano voice would carry them through anything!  After a whirlwind romance and a hurry-up ceremony they were off for the honeymoon. As she began to prepare for their first night together, his chin dropped to the floor when she plucked-out her glass eye and plopped it into a container on the nightstand.  She pulled off her wig, ripped off her false eyelashes, yanked out her dentures, unstrapped her artificial leg, and smiled at him as she slipped off the glasses that hid her two hearing aids.  He was stunned and horrified.  But he managed to blurt out, Sing, woman; for goodness sake, SING!"[3]

For You Today

We are called to perfection in love.  But we are far from perfect people.  This is not a perfect world, you don’t belong to a perfect church family, we will never see it so until Jesus comes back to clean up the mess.

But, for now....When it comes to the brother or sister in your church that you have a hard time with, sing, Christian, sing! 

When your unbelieving neighbor upsets you, sing, Christian, sing! 

And when the last thing on your mind is reconciling, or denying self, or keeping your vows sacred, or forbearing...sing, Christian, sing!

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

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

[2] C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves  Image, Ibid.

[3] Image:  By Srđan Doroški - Serbian National Theatre, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Anxious Moments

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Wednesday, July 11, 2018

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”  Psalm 46:10^(NLT)

Yesterday’s devotion on patience revealed how “anxious” a control-freak pastor can get when stuff happens to turn a worship service on its ear.  I’d like to revisit that today for a few moments to pull back the flap of an introvert’s quiet, control-loving insides.

That thing the Psalmist wrote about being still is something that comes naturally to me.  Introverts prefer – uh, change that to love, crave, and would sometimes actually consider killing for – quiet!  Well, not really, but you get the picture.  My traditional response to seeing high-energy interactive opportunities is to grab a book and head for the nearest quiet corner!

The difference between “type-A” and “type-B” (extroverted vs. introverted) personality types is well-documented.  The A-types crave interaction and being with as many others as can fill a noisy room.  Type-B’s prefer one-on-one, and a much quieter experience. 

Some research about pastors indicates there are many more introverted pastors than the other.  Strange, isn’t it?  You know that old saying about the pickup line in a bar:  What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?  It applies here:  Hey, pastor, what’s an introverted book worm like you doing leading a frenzied mess we call church?

Now that may say two things:  the first is that you don’t choose ministry; it captures you when God taps you on the shoulder and says:  Saddle-up, bucko…it’s time to ride.  The other thing has to do with God’s sense of humor; only God would choose a quiet-loving person to be a pastor, where he has to stand in front of a crowd, and stand-up even in the awkward moments to push for the right thing to be done.  You gotta love God’s sense of humor!

Now, it’s not that introverts can’t function in a crowd; we just prefer the quieter ways.  But when we do find ourselves in the fast lane, we will hunt the quickest exit ramp.  That’s because socializing really takes the energy out of an introvert’s batteries.  After the ball is over it takes a lot longer to recharge our batteries than the average extrovert.

So, what does that mean to the introverted pastor who wants to obey God’s call to share the Good News, but still maintain sanity, relevance, and transparent integrity?  In short, how can I still be who I really am, if I must continually work against the natural tendencies I was born with?  I’m quiet by nature, but I must speak up.  I’m shy in social situations, but I’m called to engage anyway.  I prefer thinking, but am expected to talk.

Well, it IS a problem, but, before we gavel the Russell pity-party to order here, let’s take a look around.  What other kinds of “natural” tendencies do we see that God seems to want us to “overcome” in favor of something opposite? 

·      What about tempers popping-off at the slightest offense? 

·      How about gluttonous appetites going back for a fourth time at the buffet line at the annual homecoming dinner on the grounds? 

·      What about the anger that crushes a spouse’s hopes and dreams, or even her eye socket and collarbone? 

·      What about the tendency to give up on people or even church? 

·      What about the child learning to go through life as if everyone else is unimportant…only to be screamed at if you don’t get the toy you wanted? 

·      What about striking-back when the world has done you dirty?

·      And, lest we forget the current ruckus in which the United Methodist Church is embroiled – sexuality issues.  What about our tendencies to do, (and be) what we want – the way we were made…work out all that animal lust our way, and not God’s way?

In the same way this introvert, flawed, sometimes petulantly quiet and moody, needs to get a life, put on a smile, shake a hand, and give a hug to someone who needs it, all of us need to keep our natural tendencies under the influence of self-discipline. 

God calls all of us to that!

For You Today

Paul told the Ephesian church this about their natural tendencies that made them selfish and less than Kingdom stars for Jesus:

We are to grow up and be more like Christ. He is the leader of the church.  

Ephesians 4:15b^(NLV)

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

Wisdom & Discipline

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Tuesday, January 2, 2018

These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel.  Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise.  Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.  These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young.  Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser.  Let those with understanding receive guidance by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles.  Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.  Proverbs 1:1-7^(NLT)

What is understood as wisdom and discipline in our culture reveals how genuine wisdom and discipline are in short supply.  Wisdom is seen as the accumulation of facts and applications; discipline is perceived as the ability to love oneself and therefore step-up your game to the next level of excellence.  From a Biblical/Godly perspective, both pieces of that puzzle need to receive a restoration of original meaning.

Wisdom is more than providing an answer; it is considering whether your answer squares with the kind of answer God would give.  If something is true (or as Solomon phrased it, doing what is right, just, and fair), then your answer is wise.

Discipline is the opposite of loving self enough to ramp up your game; discipline is a matter of learning to love God enough to match your will with His will, which is found in His Word.  That’s why Solomon wrote that the foundation of true knowledge (wisdom and the discipline to do right) is when you reverence God, your Creator.

So, by learning to reverence God the puzzle of life begins to make sense.  And in the end that is what everyone is really trying to figure out; we need a sense of purpose for breathing in and out every day.

It’s January again – a new year.  So, naturally our minds turn to that better diet and exercise thing we told everyone was going to happen this time.  (Sorry, but this is probably going to hurt). 

What is the purpose for a better diet and all that exercise? 

Is it really health…so you can live longer? 

Is it really better stewardship of your earthly body so you can please God with how wonderfully you use His creation?

Or is it really to get back that smoking-hot body so when you wear that slinky dress that’s been hanging in the closet forever, or you go to the gym and work-out, all the eyes will be on what a smoking-hot body looks like?

Genuine wisdom figures out that drawing attention to oneself, whether it is by developing a smoking-hot body, sporting a granite-like six-pack of abdominal muscles, or a new expensive sports car, or a golf swing to die-for, is a form of lust, and has the effect of creating lust in others.  If you trace that thinking through both the Old and New Testaments you’ll find no place where lust is ever considered a Godly quality.  In fact, lust is just the opposite; it is the launch-pad for spiritual death:

Your desire grows inside you until it results in sin. Then the sin grows bigger and bigger and finally ends in death.  James 1:15^(ERV)

The key, then, when you recognize that wrong desire, or lust on the inside of your heart and mind is to put wisdom to work …you commit yourself to thinking of that lust in the same way God thinks about it…sin is something that will bring forth death. 

I have a beautiful example of that, and I see it in the mirror each day; it’s the result of the radiation treatments on my throat.  There was cancer there…the doctor said the killer needed to be killed with strong medicine.  The killing of the killer left a freckle the size of a softball on my neck.  It reminds me that cancer was not my friend…ever.

For You Today

Sure, your life is a riddle; certainly you want to figure it out.  Start with the foundation of true knowledge – reverence God and watch Jesus go to work on that puzzle!

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 & Pixabay.com