Beautiful Song
When Kae, my 5 year old, heard this song for the first time, it touched him so much he came up with his own praise and worship dance. =)
posted by As The Deer at 11/24/2007 05:47:00 PM
12 comments
Saturday, November 24, 2007
When Kae, my 5 year old, heard this song for the first time, it touched him so much he came up with his own praise and worship dance. =)
Friday, November 23, 2007
Is Your Mind In The Desert? = Joyce Meyer
The people of Israel wandered around in the desert for forty years, making what should have only been an eleven-day journey. Why? Was it because of their enemies, their circumstances, or the trials along the way? Or was it something entirely different that prevented them from arriving at their destination?
As I pondered this situation, God gave me a powerful revelation that helped me, personally, and thousands of others. The Lord revealed to me that the Israelites spent all that time in the desert because they had "wilderness mentalities."
We really shouldn't look at the Israelites with such astonishment, because most of us do the exact same thing. We go around and around the same mountain instead of making progress. It takes us years to experience victory over something that could, and should, have been dealt with quickly and put behind us. God showed me that wilderness mentalities are wrong mindsets. We can have right mindsets that will benefit us or wrong mindsets that will hurt us and hinder our progress.
Colossians 3:2 teaches us to set our minds and keep them set. We need our minds set in the right direction. Wrong mindsets not only affect our circumstances, but they also affect our inner life. There was a time when my circumstances weren’t bad, but I couldn’t enjoy anything in my life because my mind was "in the desert." Dave and I had a nice home, four lovely children, good jobs, and enough money to live comfortably. However, I couldn’t enjoy our blessings because I had several wilderness mentalities that had me trapped.
Some people see things negatively because they’ve experienced unhappy circumstances all their lives and can't imagine anything getting any better. Then there are those who see everything as bad and negative simply because that’s the way they feel on the inside. Whatever the cause, a negative outlook leaves a person miserable and unable to make any progress toward the “promised land.”
God called the children of Israel out of Egypt (bondage) and in to the land He promised to give them as a perpetual inheritance—land that flowed with milk and honey and every good thing they could imagine. It was a land where there’d be no shortage of anything they needed—land of prosperity in every realm of their existence. Most of the generation that the Lord called out of Egypt never entered the Promised Land; instead, they died in the desert. To me, this is one of the saddest things that can happen to someone—to have so much available but not be able to enjoy it. I was one of those people for many years of my life. I was on my way to the Promised Land (heaven), but I wasn’t enjoying the trip. My mind was in the desert, and I was dying in the wilderness. My wilderness mentalities, or wrong ways of thinking, were keeping me from dealing with those areas of life that God wanted to touch and redeem.
I was stuck...going around and around the same mountain; but thank God for His mercy. He helped me identify and change those wrong mindsets. Today, my mind is renewed. I have a new way of thinking, and I've been rescued from the desert. What God did for me, He can certainly do for you. Ask Him to show you your wilderness mentalities and help you make the necessary changes. He can deliver your mind from the desert and help you enjoy the journey to the promised land!
As I pondered this situation, God gave me a powerful revelation that helped me, personally, and thousands of others. The Lord revealed to me that the Israelites spent all that time in the desert because they had "wilderness mentalities."
We really shouldn't look at the Israelites with such astonishment, because most of us do the exact same thing. We go around and around the same mountain instead of making progress. It takes us years to experience victory over something that could, and should, have been dealt with quickly and put behind us. God showed me that wilderness mentalities are wrong mindsets. We can have right mindsets that will benefit us or wrong mindsets that will hurt us and hinder our progress.
Colossians 3:2 teaches us to set our minds and keep them set. We need our minds set in the right direction. Wrong mindsets not only affect our circumstances, but they also affect our inner life. There was a time when my circumstances weren’t bad, but I couldn’t enjoy anything in my life because my mind was "in the desert." Dave and I had a nice home, four lovely children, good jobs, and enough money to live comfortably. However, I couldn’t enjoy our blessings because I had several wilderness mentalities that had me trapped.
Some people see things negatively because they’ve experienced unhappy circumstances all their lives and can't imagine anything getting any better. Then there are those who see everything as bad and negative simply because that’s the way they feel on the inside. Whatever the cause, a negative outlook leaves a person miserable and unable to make any progress toward the “promised land.”
God called the children of Israel out of Egypt (bondage) and in to the land He promised to give them as a perpetual inheritance—land that flowed with milk and honey and every good thing they could imagine. It was a land where there’d be no shortage of anything they needed—land of prosperity in every realm of their existence. Most of the generation that the Lord called out of Egypt never entered the Promised Land; instead, they died in the desert. To me, this is one of the saddest things that can happen to someone—to have so much available but not be able to enjoy it. I was one of those people for many years of my life. I was on my way to the Promised Land (heaven), but I wasn’t enjoying the trip. My mind was in the desert, and I was dying in the wilderness. My wilderness mentalities, or wrong ways of thinking, were keeping me from dealing with those areas of life that God wanted to touch and redeem.
I was stuck...going around and around the same mountain; but thank God for His mercy. He helped me identify and change those wrong mindsets. Today, my mind is renewed. I have a new way of thinking, and I've been rescued from the desert. What God did for me, He can certainly do for you. Ask Him to show you your wilderness mentalities and help you make the necessary changes. He can deliver your mind from the desert and help you enjoy the journey to the promised land!
posted by As The Deer at 11/23/2007 11:16:00 PM
0 comments
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
In this series of stories about the Heroes of Faithing we've never seen a faither like Noah. He faithed, or acted in trust of God's word, longer than any of the others. Longer than Daniel in the lion's den. Longer than Joshua at the battle of Jericho.
What made the difference in Noah's case, was that God told him and his grandfather to go preach for a hundred and twenty years to the wicked people in the land at that time. Noah and Methuselah were to tell the evildoers that they had 120 years to turn away from their ungodliness or God would send a rain and flood the earth. A hundred and twenty years is longer than a whole lifetime now days.
Now you have to remember that up to that time it had never rained on the earth. That's in Genesis 2:5. Some people say that a great water-filled cloud canopy covered almost the whole planet. Can you imagine what the people thought when Noah came around saying that if they didn't change their ways God was going to send a rain that would flood the earth? They must've laughed long and hard. I bet old Noah, he was then 480, got run out of town more than once.
Finally, after 115 years, God told Noah that he'd had it with those people. He told Noah to build an ark. And the word ark can also mean a "chest." So the ark didn't have to look like a boat. It could have easily looked like a giant shoebox that was close to a football field long. That would make it a lot easier for Noah and his sons to build such a big thing for all the animals. God also told Noah to make three levels with dividers inside the ark. I guess to separate the animals.
It's time to use our imaginations. We want to see what it was like for Noah and his boys when the people came around and saw that they were building this huge thing because it was going to rain. They couldn't even picture what rain was like. Those people must've poked a lot of fun at Noah. And it must have gone on for five years. That's how long it took to build the ark.
Now you see why Noah is the longest Faither in the Bible. He acted on God's promise to flood the earth, for one hundred and twenty years!!! One hundred and fifteen, he went preaching, and for five he acted in building the ark. Both those things are actions that people can see, and tells them that you trust in God's promise.
I bet you can remember one time when everyone around you was making fun of something you did or said, and you felt like you wanted to stop or take it back. It's very hard for us to not go along with a bunch of our friends; especially if we're embarrassed. It takes a great deal of courage. I'd say Noah was very brave standing up to ridicule for 120 years.
Have you ever thought about how Noah was able to handle all those animals, or pictured him trudging all over the earth for 50 or 60 years collecting two of everything? So did I. Well I found an old writing called the Book of Jasher which has an answer that makes sense to me.
God was to do all the rounding up. I bet Noah was relieved about that. God simply told Noah that he was to sit down at the door of the ark and when God sent him an animal that crouched down and showed meekness Noah was to send that one in for his sons to take care of. If an animal approached Noah and stood up, it was to be placed aside.
I found two more interesting parts to Noah's story in the Book of Jasher. First, about controlling the animals.
A few chapters after the story of the flood, it tells of one of Noah's sons, Ham, stealing some animal skins from Noah. Ham then passed them secretly to his son Cush, and Cush to his son Nimrod. Nimrod later became we could call the first emperor of the world; he ruled many cities. But Jasher says, that when Nimrod put on those animal skins, "God gave him might and strength and he became a mighty hunter."
If those skins were the ones God gave Adam for clothes, as it also says, and Noah had those very same skins, then the skins probably had some special power from God that helped the person wearing them to make the animals unafraid and easy to control. Maybe even, Noah had those skins on when he sat by the door of the ark. Any animal that could overcome the power of the skin's, and wouldn't crouch down for Noah, wasn't good enough to go. The second thing I've wondered about was the people outside the ark. I have a little Arguer inside my head, and my Arguer wants to say that those people weren't standing around laughing when the water started coming down. I can easily see a large mob of people with big timbers ramming the door of the ark. Well, Jasher says it was God to the rescue. When the people yelled for Noah to open the door, and he told them they were too late, 700,000 people started in on the ark. There were a great number of animals that didn't get chosen by Noah. They were still hanging around. God just sent all the leftover animals after the people and chased them away. Pretty neat, huh? By the way, those skins probably helped Noah calm the animals while the water tossed the ark around.
Well the rain and flooding certainly came, and it was a full year that Noah's family had to stay in the ark. It took that long for the waters to go down and the land to dry out enough for people to live. But in the end, all the animals came out and Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives. Noah immediately built an altar and made a sacrifice to thank God for taking care of them.
It's interesting to know that the Bible isn't the only place that talks about a worldwide flood. The ancient historys of all the different parts of the world tell of a flood happening at the same time as the Bible flood.
I hope Noah's faithing example helps you next time you find people making fun of you for doing something you know is Right. You can be sure that God will help you, too.
Before we leave the subject of Noah, let's do a couple fun exercises. First let's get an idea of how the people felt when Noah told them about the coming flood. Let's imagine that someone came on national TV and told us that we should build a 600 foot tower to put solar panels on for energy because a black cloud 500 ft. thick is going to cover the earth. We would have to install large fiber otpics bundles in order to get sunlight to our plants. Can you imagine anyone taking this person seriously?
Now I want to take a practical look at the 40 day rain. In order to flood the whole earth there would have to be much more rain than we could have in 40 days. How much rain could that be by today's conditions? If we allow for 100 inches of rain, we would have more rain than most places get in a year. Forty days at 100 inches per day makes 4000 inches of water. Four thousand divided by twelve inches per foot makes only 333.33 ft.. That's only a little more than one football field. The Bible says that the water covered the mountains, and took a full year to subside.
But mountains are thousand 's of feet high. The height of mount Ararat is said to be 16,873 feet. Then where did all the water come from? The Bible lists two other things. The "fountains of the deep" and "the windows of heaven." I'm not positive what the "fountains of the deep" are, but "the windows of heaven" certainly sounds like more than just rain. Genesis 8: 2 says three things stopped: 1. fountains, 2. windows, 3. rain.
So the world must have been very different. Maybe it looked like Venus. Except that other evidence indicates that there was an opening in the canopy at the poles. This would explain how the earth could have no rain but still not be a desert. Genesis says the earth was watered by a mist.
Two other things are explained by the earth having a canopy. If the earth had a canopy, the air would be much more dense than it is today. Scientists have wondered how the flying dinosaurs could fly. Our air is too thin, and those flying lizards couldn't run fast enough to take off. They would have had to have a good stiff breeze blowing. But in the thicker atmosphere of the earth under the canopy they would be able to fly OK.
Secondly, the canopy would block out the harmful rays of the sun and allow people to live longer. This would help explain the very great age listed for some of the people in the Old Testament.
Be sure to check out the Other Heroes of faithing listed in Hebrews, chapter eleven. See if you can tell what each did that showed he trusted things that God had said. I also invite you see how the whole book of Hebrews talks about faithing.
posted by As The Deer at 10/25/2006 06:59:00 PM
0 comments
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
The Search For Peace
The Search For Peace
Marybeth Whalen, Speaker Team Member
Key Verse:
John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (NIV)
Devotion:
Peace. The very word settles down in my soul and sits quietly there, hopeful and waiting. How I long for peace to well up to overflowing inside me. Instead, I search in vain for this elusive part of God’s promise to me. Didn’t Jesus say that He was leaving us with peace when He ascended into Heaven? Then where is my peace? How can I have peace in my life?
I make the mistake of seeking peace by trying to control my life, my circumstances and the people I love. Surely if I can exercise some control over what happens to me, then peace will be a byproduct of that control. Right? Yet, peace still eludes me. I realize that control is not the answer I had hoped for.
I know I am not the only woman who struggles with desiring to control my life. I think that it is in our nature to want to control things. When Adam and Eve were cursed by God, He told Eve, “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16) God was telling Eve that her desire for control would be a struggle for the rest of her life. She would want to rule over things, yet that was not the responsibility God had assigned her. Eve and every women after her has struggled with this ever since.
In my search for peace, I found that peace was not a product of control but the very opposite of it! I find peace when I surrender control. When I say to God, “I can’t,” I feel the absolute serenity of knowing that He can. I have found that being “out of control” is actually a very peaceful state of mind! When I am “out of control,” I allow God complete control.
To help myself remember this valuable lesson, I developed an acronym for “Peace” that I want to share with you:
Purposefully
Embracing
All
Circumstances
Everyday
I don’t have control and never will. When I purposefully embrace all the circumstances that God allows to come into my life, and accept that He has allowed them according to His perfect plan to accomplish His purposes, then I can experience the freedom He intended and experience the peace that passes all understanding. Try peace God’s way today! It may not be what you expected, but I can testify that His peace is truly perfect peace.
Dear Lord, Help me to embrace everything You allow in my life. Help me to surrender the control that I have tried to have and to trust You instead. Thank You for giving me perfect peace as You promised. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Application Steps:
Write down the acronym for PEACE and the verse from John 14:27 on an index card. Carry it with you throughout your day. Ask God to help you surrender control and submit to His plans for you, whatever they may be. When you feel yourself starting to wrestle with your desire for control, reflect on the acronym and the verse on your card. Meditate on the Power Verses below. Spend more time in prayer seeking ways to give up control so that you can know God’s peace.
Reflection Points:
Why do you want to control things around you?
What steps can you take to lay down the control habit? What does the Bible instruct about this?
In what ways will it benefit you to replace control with peace in your life?
Power Verses:
John 16:33, “I have told you all these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (NIV)
Psalm 34:14, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (NIV)
Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
Marybeth Whalen, Speaker Team Member
Key Verse:
John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (NIV)
Devotion:
Peace. The very word settles down in my soul and sits quietly there, hopeful and waiting. How I long for peace to well up to overflowing inside me. Instead, I search in vain for this elusive part of God’s promise to me. Didn’t Jesus say that He was leaving us with peace when He ascended into Heaven? Then where is my peace? How can I have peace in my life?
I make the mistake of seeking peace by trying to control my life, my circumstances and the people I love. Surely if I can exercise some control over what happens to me, then peace will be a byproduct of that control. Right? Yet, peace still eludes me. I realize that control is not the answer I had hoped for.
I know I am not the only woman who struggles with desiring to control my life. I think that it is in our nature to want to control things. When Adam and Eve were cursed by God, He told Eve, “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16) God was telling Eve that her desire for control would be a struggle for the rest of her life. She would want to rule over things, yet that was not the responsibility God had assigned her. Eve and every women after her has struggled with this ever since.
In my search for peace, I found that peace was not a product of control but the very opposite of it! I find peace when I surrender control. When I say to God, “I can’t,” I feel the absolute serenity of knowing that He can. I have found that being “out of control” is actually a very peaceful state of mind! When I am “out of control,” I allow God complete control.
To help myself remember this valuable lesson, I developed an acronym for “Peace” that I want to share with you:
Purposefully
Embracing
All
Circumstances
Everyday
I don’t have control and never will. When I purposefully embrace all the circumstances that God allows to come into my life, and accept that He has allowed them according to His perfect plan to accomplish His purposes, then I can experience the freedom He intended and experience the peace that passes all understanding. Try peace God’s way today! It may not be what you expected, but I can testify that His peace is truly perfect peace.
Dear Lord, Help me to embrace everything You allow in my life. Help me to surrender the control that I have tried to have and to trust You instead. Thank You for giving me perfect peace as You promised. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Application Steps:
Write down the acronym for PEACE and the verse from John 14:27 on an index card. Carry it with you throughout your day. Ask God to help you surrender control and submit to His plans for you, whatever they may be. When you feel yourself starting to wrestle with your desire for control, reflect on the acronym and the verse on your card. Meditate on the Power Verses below. Spend more time in prayer seeking ways to give up control so that you can know God’s peace.
Reflection Points:
Why do you want to control things around you?
What steps can you take to lay down the control habit? What does the Bible instruct about this?
In what ways will it benefit you to replace control with peace in your life?
Power Verses:
John 16:33, “I have told you all these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (NIV)
Psalm 34:14, “Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” (NIV)
Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)
posted by As The Deer at 9/19/2006 01:59:00 AM
0 comments
Monday, August 14, 2006
Patience...
Arek Appayim, Makrothumia and Hupomone
Three words are most frequently translated as either "longsuffering," "endurance," "perseverance" or "patience" in modern English Bibles: arek appayim in Hebrew, makrothumia and hupomone in Greek. When the time came to translate the Old Testament into Greek, the translators used makrothumia as the synonym of the Hebrew arek appayim. Both words mean essentially the same thing: slow to anger.
In writing the New Testament, the apostles added hupomone. Both Greek words generally mean the same thing. However, scholars have noted that each has characteristics that sets it apart. Spiros Zodhiates, in The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 939, says,
Makrothumia is patience in respect to persons, while hupomone, endurance, is putting up with things or circumstances.
The difference does not end there. While both words have positive connotations, hupomone tends to be decidedly more upbeat. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 690, says, "As makrothumia is especially related to love, so hupomone is especially related to hope." The same volume also states the distinction between hupomone and makrothumia can best be seen in their opposites. The opposite of hupomone is cowardice or despondency, whereas the antonym of makrothumia is wrath or revenge.
Thus, while makrothumia is somewhat more passive in its implications, neither word allows us to be apathetic while enduring affliction. Makrothumia is somewhat more passive because, since people are usually involved as persecutors or instruments of our affliction, we should respond with greater caution and wisdom.
People, even those who persecute us, are not things, and we best represent our Father by not being hasty and rash. "Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves," Jesus says (Matthew 10:16). It is the soft answer that turns away wrath (Proverbs 15:1). James writes, "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity" (James 3:6). Jesus left retaliation to the Father.
Paul says in I Thessalonians 5:15,
See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Two wrongs do not make a right, and in our irritated or angry impatience, we frequently say or do something just as bad or worse as was done to us! Then where are we? Often, our patience does not delay our wrath as God's does.
The obvious meaning of Paul's advice is that we should not take vengeance. In Romans 12:19, Paul repeats this more plainly:
Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.
This, in turn, feeds directly into Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:39-45:
But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
The consistent instruction is that we not set ourselves against an evil person who is injuring us, whether verbally, physically or judicially. Rather, Jesus teaches us to be willing to give the offender something that might defuse the immediate situation—and perhaps even provide some small example that will promote his eternal welfare. Patience is of great value in this respect.
This in no way means we are weak, though to them we may at first seem so. Nor does it mean that we approve of their conduct. Though we may hate their conduct and suffer keenly when it affects us, Christ tells us to bless them, meaning we should confer favor upon or give benefits to them. We can do this by wishing the person well, speaking kindly of and to him and seeking to do him good.
Situations like this may be the most difficult test we will ever face. Patiently deferring retaliation and committing the circumstance to God's judgment is indispensable to the best possible solution. But the primary point of Jesus' instruction, however, is not how to resolve these situations, but that we may be children of our Father. By imitating God's pattern, we will resemble Him and take a giant stride toward being in His image.
Three words are most frequently translated as either "longsuffering," "endurance," "perseverance" or "patience" in modern English Bibles: arek appayim in Hebrew, makrothumia and hupomone in Greek. When the time came to translate the Old Testament into Greek, the translators used makrothumia as the synonym of the Hebrew arek appayim. Both words mean essentially the same thing: slow to anger.
In writing the New Testament, the apostles added hupomone. Both Greek words generally mean the same thing. However, scholars have noted that each has characteristics that sets it apart. Spiros Zodhiates, in The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, p. 939, says,
Makrothumia is patience in respect to persons, while hupomone, endurance, is putting up with things or circumstances.
The difference does not end there. While both words have positive connotations, hupomone tends to be decidedly more upbeat. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 690, says, "As makrothumia is especially related to love, so hupomone is especially related to hope." The same volume also states the distinction between hupomone and makrothumia can best be seen in their opposites. The opposite of hupomone is cowardice or despondency, whereas the antonym of makrothumia is wrath or revenge.
Thus, while makrothumia is somewhat more passive in its implications, neither word allows us to be apathetic while enduring affliction. Makrothumia is somewhat more passive because, since people are usually involved as persecutors or instruments of our affliction, we should respond with greater caution and wisdom.
People, even those who persecute us, are not things, and we best represent our Father by not being hasty and rash. "Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves," Jesus says (Matthew 10:16). It is the soft answer that turns away wrath (Proverbs 15:1). James writes, "The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity" (James 3:6). Jesus left retaliation to the Father.
Paul says in I Thessalonians 5:15,
See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Two wrongs do not make a right, and in our irritated or angry impatience, we frequently say or do something just as bad or worse as was done to us! Then where are we? Often, our patience does not delay our wrath as God's does.
The obvious meaning of Paul's advice is that we should not take vengeance. In Romans 12:19, Paul repeats this more plainly:
Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.
This, in turn, feeds directly into Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:39-45:
But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
The consistent instruction is that we not set ourselves against an evil person who is injuring us, whether verbally, physically or judicially. Rather, Jesus teaches us to be willing to give the offender something that might defuse the immediate situation—and perhaps even provide some small example that will promote his eternal welfare. Patience is of great value in this respect.
This in no way means we are weak, though to them we may at first seem so. Nor does it mean that we approve of their conduct. Though we may hate their conduct and suffer keenly when it affects us, Christ tells us to bless them, meaning we should confer favor upon or give benefits to them. We can do this by wishing the person well, speaking kindly of and to him and seeking to do him good.
Situations like this may be the most difficult test we will ever face. Patiently deferring retaliation and committing the circumstance to God's judgment is indispensable to the best possible solution. But the primary point of Jesus' instruction, however, is not how to resolve these situations, but that we may be children of our Father. By imitating God's pattern, we will resemble Him and take a giant stride toward being in His image.
posted by As The Deer at 8/14/2006 06:31:00 PM
0 comments
The Fruit of the Spirit:
The Fruit of the Spirit: Love
by John W. Ritenbaugh
Forerunner, "Personal," March 1998
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love" are the opening words to a popular ballad of a number of years ago. It expresses a desire that virtually everyone holds. But what is love? Judging by the commonly held understanding of "love," the world does not need any more of it! If what is happening in the world is evidence, it is very clear the world has only the foggiest of notions of what love is. If it does know, it is not doing it, or the song would not be making the statement of need.
Love is a much abused term. Because of our experiences, we all have somewhat different ideas about it. The most prevalent notion in the Western world is that love is a warm, topsy-turvy feeling, a thrill one gets in the pit of the stomach or a tingle running up and down the spine. We think of it as a warm sense of regard, a strong desire to be with or be satisfied by someone or something.
Some have equated it with caring, benevolent giving or nothing more than sheer emotionalism. On occasion, we use the term very casually and loosely. People express their "love" for the liturgy of a certain church. Some will say they just "love" ice cream, a certain beer, pizza, style of house, color, automobile, fashion, performer or team. People say they love an endless number of things. What some call "love" a theologian might call unbridled lust.
But these statements become ridiculous once we begin to understand what biblical love is. People's "love" of something is merely an opinion, a preference. A preference is not love, and to use "love" in this way devalues it.
To care about something is not love either. One can care to the point of obsession or lust. A measure of caring must be a part of true love, but by itself, that caring feeling or preference is not love.
Love's Supreme Importance
In I Corinthians 13, the Bible reveals love's supreme importance to life. Paul directly compares love's value to faith, hope, prophecy, sacrifice, knowledge and the gift of tongues and indirectly with all other gifts of God mentioned in chapter 12. He in no way denigrates the others' usefulness to life and God's purpose, but none can compare in importance to love.
The Corinthians took great pleasure in their gifts, just as we would, but a gift's relative importance is shown in its temporal quality. That is, there are times when a gift is of no use. But love will never end; it will always be of use.
Indeed, the receiving of gifts from God—unless accompanied by and used with love—have the potential to corrupt the one receiving them. God's gifts are powers given to enhance a person's ability to serve God in the church. However, we have all heard the cliché, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." If gifts are not received and used with love, they will play a part in corrupting the recipient, just as they were corrupting the Corinthians. Love is the attribute of God that enables us to receive and use His gifts without corruption.
The Bible says in I Corinthians 8:1, "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies [builds up]." "Puffs up," when opposed to "edifies," implies tearing down, destruction. Paul is saying that pride has the power to corrupt the bearer of knowledge. This statement is part of the prologue to the great chapter on love, written because the Corinthians had allowed their emphasis to drift into the wrong areas. Even as a gift from God, knowledge has the potential to corrupt its recipient, if it is unaccompanied by love.
Paul thus begins chapter 13 by contrasting love with other gifts of God. He does this to emphasize love's importance, completeness, permanence and supremacy over all other qualities we consider important to life and/or God's purpose.
Prophecies end because they are fulfilled. The gift of tongues is less necessary today as then because of the widespread use of English in commerce, politics and academia. Its value depends on specific needs. Knowledge is increasing so rapidly that old knowledge, especially in technical areas, becomes obsolete as new developments arise. Yet the need for love is never exhausted; it never becomes obsolete. God wants us to use it on every occasion.
Paul also admonishes us—by instructing us "to put away childish things" (verse 11), as well as his reference to a mirror (verse 12)—that love is something we grow in. It must be perfected. What we have now is partial. Therefore, God does not give it to us in one huge portion to be used until we run out of it. In that sense, we must always see ourselves as immature. But a time is coming when love will be perfected, and we will have it in abundance like God. In the meantime, while we are in the flesh, we are to pursue love (I Corinthians 14:1).
This indicates that the biblical love is not something we have innately. True, some forms of this quality we call love come unbidden; that is, they arise by nature. But this is not so with the love of God. It comes through the action of God through His Spirit, something supernatural (Romans 5:5).
Love, Debt and Motivation
In Romans 13:8-10 Paul injects love into the context of law, showing that it is the sum of all duties:
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
He does not say love ends the need for law but that it fulfills—performs or accomplishes—the law.
Notice love's relationship to law in context with what immediately precedes it. The context is a Christian's response to government. He should submit to and honor human government as God's agents in managing human affairs. A Christian is indebted to the government to pay tribute and taxes. When we pay them, a Christian is no longer financially indebted to the state until it imposes taxes the following year.
Regarding men, we are not to be in debt. He is not saying a Christian should never owe anybody money, but that there is a debt we owe to every person that we should strive to pay every day. This debt is one of love, paid by keeping God's law, and this Paul illustrates by quoting several of the Ten Commandments! Inherent in this debt is that no matter how much we pay on it each day, when we wake up the next day, the debt is restored, and we owe just as much as we did the day before!
This sets up an interesting paradox because we owe everyone more than we can ever hope to pay. The paradox, however, is more apparent than real because this is not what Paul is teaching. He is teaching that love must be the driving force, the motivation, of everything we do. This points out a weakness of law regarding righteousness. Law, of and by itself, provides neither enough nor the right motivation for one to keep it.
Notice verse 3. "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same." Laws are stated and have penalties. Rulers enforce them, but that does not stop people from breaking them—in many cases with impunity—especially if they feel no government representative is watching them. The government's power lies largely in coercion, meaning forcible constraint or restraint, whether moral or physical. In other words, it is government by force.
For instance, most people flagrantly disobey the speed limit on freeways and interstates, especially when they are not crowded, until they spot a patrol car with a trooper or two in it. Suddenly the speed limit becomes the norm until the trooper is again out of sight. That the law is on the books, prominently displayed and common knowledge are insufficient motivation for many people to obey.
But love toward God, the love of God, can motivate us to do what the law says to do but cannot motivate us to do. We can conclude that Paul claims that if one exercises God's love in paying his debt to man, he will keep the commandments.
We could also conclude that Paul says that if one does not break the commandments, he is acting out of love. This is the weaker of the two. Within this context, then, every phase, every facet of our responsibility to God and man, is covered if we make sure love has its place as the motivation for all we do.
If we really love another person, we cannot possibly injure him. Love would immediately stifle any thought that leads to adultery, murder, theft or any form of covetousness because love cannot harm. Since love cannot break the laws designed to protect another, it is supreme in providing the right kind of persuasion.
Love as a Bond
In Colossians 3:12-14 Paul shows another aspect of love's supreme importance to community life:
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
Paul puts love "above all," showing that love is the epitome of virtues. Here, its importance is as "the bond," something that binds or holds things, like a congregation, together.
Eventually, all groups tend to fly apart. They do not remain united by magic. Generally, a group maintains its unity through a common cause. As each person contributes to attaining that cause, unity is generally served. However, even though individuals expend effort to achieve the cause, frictions arise from a multitude of reasons. Love is the supreme quality that enables the members of the group to maintain unity and keep it from flying apart. This is achieved by each person constraining or restraining himself to act in love.
Interestingly, qualities that we normally think of as being manly—like drive, courage, determination and aggressiveness—are missing from this list in Colossians 3. Though they are not inherently evil, they play directly into the human ego, frequently resulting in crass individualism.
Because it tends to produce division, individualism is not what Paul is aiming for here. Without strong spiritual control, those traits tend to descend into competitiveness, anger, wrath, malice, dissembling, accusation, slander, and foul talk. These in turn are nothing more than unashamed self-seeking, traits that split and divide.
Each virtue Paul lists is actually an expression of love, traits that make it possible to live in a community. There is nothing weak and effeminate about them: It takes a strong person to resist what comes naturally and do what God commands rather than go along with urges of our carnal feelings. Paul lists love as a separate attribute here to show that it is not limited to the qualities he names.
God, Man and Love
Some have called I John 4:7-12 the most sublime statement in all the Bible regarding God's nature:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
If we are going to be like Him, these verses are important to us because they tell us much about Him and our responsibilities. First, love is of God—He is its Source. This love the apostles write about comes from God and is not normally a part of man's nature. It is agape love. Human love apart from God is at its best a mere pale and vague reflection of what God is eternally.
Next, John says "God is love." Sublime as this is, some have misunderstood it because it can be misleading. God is not just an abstraction like love. He is a living, dynamic and powerful Being whose personality has multiple facets. He cannot be boxed, wrapped and presented as merely being one attribute.
John's statement literally reads, "The God is love." The Greeks used an emphatic form of writing, and here the emphasis is on the word "God." The syntax means the two words "God" and "love" are not interchangeable. "Love" describes God's nature. A good paraphrase would read, "God, as to His nature, is love." God is a loving God!
This does not mean that loving is one of God's activities, but that every activity of God is loving. If He creates, He creates in love. If He rules, He rules in love. If He judges, He judges in love. Everything He does expresses His nature. God and His nature are manifested by what He does. By love God is revealed and known.
The very existence of life in others besides Himself is an act of love. His love is revealed in His providence and care of His creation. Since we are not robots, free-moral agency is an act of His love. God, by a deliberate act of self-limitation, endowed us to respond with mind and emotion. We are not animals. God's love is the explanation for redemption and our hope of eternal life. Out of love, God has given us something to live for. Life is not just a matter of going through the paces. We do not live our lives in vain.
God made humanity in His image and likeness. But the Bible says, "God is Spirit," and "God is love." Man, though, is flesh, and the Bible describes us as carnal, self-centered and deceitful. In practical fact, this means that man cannot be what he is meant to be until he loves as God loves. Only then will he truly be in the image of God because he will have the same nature as God. So, to achieve his potential, a person must love, but he must love with the love of God.
John 13:35 adds, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Even as God is revealed by what He does, so will His children. Our love for God has not made this possible, but His love for us, as I John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." Thus, our love for Him is a response to His love for us. Since God shows His love for us by drawing us to Him, it behooves us to do acts of love toward others to draw them.
God's act of love in giving His Son defines the ultimate requirement of true love, the giving of our most beloved possession in sacrifice for another's gain. We can understand, then, that godly love will almost always have sacrifice involved in its giving. Sacrifice is the essence, the essential or vital part, of love.
God's love originates in Himself, was manifested in His Son and is perfected in His people. God's love is perfected in us when we reproduce it in or among ourselves, primarily in our fellowship. We either use love and perfect it or lose it. This partly explains the apostle John's intense concern about fellowship. What concerned him is not just an optional blessing to believers, but a fundamental outlet for the manifestation and perfection of God's love among and in the saints.
How May We Have This Love?
It should be obvious that we neither have God's love by nature, nor is it self-generated. Romans 5:5 verifies this understanding: "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which was given to us." We receive godly love from its Source, God, by means of His Spirit.
Only by knowing God can we have this love, and only by loving can we know Him! This may sound like a viscious cycle, but the two go together. Only by learning to love God can we learn His nature, that is, what He is like. We cannot have that love until we first come to know Him. By fellowshipping with Him, we come to know Him and receive His love, and in using His love, we become like Him and really know Him. We can only really come to know God by experiencing the use of His love ourselves.
All this is possible because God, in His love, initiates a relationship with us, grants us repentance, gives us His Spirit, and then, because of His love, takes the lead in sustaining the relationship. This is why Paul says in Romans 5:10 that "we shall be saved by His life." He primarily shoulders the burden of our salvation. How comforting!
What Is this Love?
I John 5:1-3 is helpful in defining God's love in a practical way:
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
God intends the love of Him and the love of man to be inseparable parts of the same experience. John explains this by saying that if we love the Father, we also love the child. If we love the Father who begot the children, we must love the children, otherwise we do not have God's love. In I John 4:20, he amplifies this: "If someone says, ‘I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"
I John 5:3 is the Bible's basic definition of love. The commandments define, make clear, what the basic elements of love are and what direction our actions should take if we would show love. This means that obedience to God is the proof of love. Obedience is an action that submits to a command of God, a principle revealed in His Word and/or an example of God or the godly.
In a sense, this is where godly love begins in a human being. Obeying God's commands is love because God is love. Because His very nature is love, it is impossible for Him to sin. Thus He gives us commands in love, and they will produce right and good results. Any command of God reflects what He Himself would do were He in the same situation.
Jesus says in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Keeping the commandments is how one expresses love. He adds in John 15:10, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."
A person may have a thought to do good or to refrain from evil. He may have a feeling of compassion, pity or mercy. One may feel revulsion about doing an evil action. But none of these become love until the thought or feeling motivates one to act. In the biblical sense, love is an action.
Love has yet another aspect, however. We can show love coldly, reluctantly, in "dutiful obedience." We can also show it in joyous, wholehearted enthusiasm or warmhearted, thankful devotion. Which is more attractive to God or man as a witness?
Regardless of the attitude, it is far better to obey than not at all (Matthew 21:28-31). If we cannot get beyond doing what is right, the proper feelings will never be formed. Experience is largely responsible for training attitude and emotion. We will never form proper emotions without first performing the right actions with the right spirit, God's Holy Spirit.
Coming to Know God
I John 2:3-6 helps us understand how we can have the right attitude and emotion in our obedience:
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
We come to know God through the same general process we get to know fellow human beings—by fellowshipping or experiencing life with them.
Around 500 years before Christ, Greek philosophers believed they could come to know God through intellectual reasoning and argument. This idea had a simple premise: that man is curious! They reasoned that it is man's nature to ask questions. Since God made man so, if men asked the right questions and thought them through, they would force God to reveal Himself. The flaw in this is seen in the fruit it produced. Though it supplied a number of right answers, it did not—could not—make men moral beings. Such a process could not change man's nature.
To them, religion became something akin to higher mathematics. It was intense mental activity, yielding intellectual satisfaction but no moral action. Plato and Socrates, for example, saw nothing wrong with homosexuality. The gods of Greek mythology also reflect this immorality, as they had the same weaknesses as human beings.
A few hundred years later, the Greeks pursued becoming one with God through mystery religions. One of their distinctive features was the passion play, which always had the same general theme. A god lived, suffered terribly, died a cruel, unjust death and then rose to life again. Before being allowed to see the play, an initiate endured a long course of instruction and ascetic discipline. As he progressed in the religion, he was gradually worked into a state of intense expectation.
Then, at the right time, his instructors took him to the passion play, where they orchestrated the environment to heighten the emotional experience: cunning lighting, sensuous music, fragrant incense and uplifting liturgy. As the story developed, the initiate became so emotionally involved that he identified himself with and believed he shared the god's suffering, victory and immortality.
But this exercise failed them in coming to know God. Not only did it not change man's nature, but the passion play was also full of lies! The result was not true knowing but feeling. It acted like a religious drug, the effects of which were short-lived. It was an abnormal experience, somewhat like a modern Pentecostal meeting where worshippers pray down the "spirit" and speak in tongues. Such activities are escapes from the realities of ordinary life.
God Reveals Himself!
Contrast these Greek methods with the Bible's way of knowing God. Knowledge of God comes, not by speculation or emotionalism, but by God's direct self-revelation. In other words, God Himself initiates our knowing of Him, beginning our relationship by drawing us by His Spirit (John 6:44).
What God reveals is equally important. He reveals Himself as a holy, loving and giving God with a purpose so awesome that our minds cannot grasp its full implications, though we can appreciate it. He shows that if we truly desire to be part of His awesome creative purpose, our covenant with Him obligates us to be as holy, loving and giving as He is!
God guides and empowers us in this great pilgrimage by the Holy Spirit, but obedience, following God's commands, is the way we begin to experience and grow in God-life, called "eternal life" in the Scriptures. By obedience we come to know God. It is like walking in His shoes, as it were.
In its biblical usage, the word "know" implies intimacy. From biblical examples, this implication can even mean sexual intimacy. That is really knowing someone closely, especially considering how long a relationship with God exists. When we apply this to our relationship with God, the sexual dimension disappears, and the intimacy becomes a deep and abiding reverence, devotion and loyalty.
People may think of God as nothing more than an intellectual exercise. They might say "I know God," or believe in a "first cause" or Creator without having any moral compunction. They go to church on Sunday and live the rest of the week just like all their neighbors and coworkers.
People may be emotional, saying God is in them and that they are filled with the "spirit," yet fail to see God in terms of commandments. They see God as something warm and snugly, a grandfatherly figure who rushes to their aid to blow away their problems, but they do not see Him as still purposefully creating.
Unmistakably and without compromise, Jesus, Paul and John show that the only way that we can show we know God, that He is in us and we love Him is if we have been begotten by His Spirit and are obeying Him.
How High Is the Standard?
We can approach this question in a number of ways, but in comparing some scriptures, the answer becomes clear as we see a pattern develop. Jesus states the second great commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). All by itself, this establishes a very high standard because we love ourselves so much. We will sacrifice a great deal to please ourselves.
He raises this a notch or two when He says in Matthew 5:44, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." This is a great challenge, confirming that the love of God is certainly not natural to us.
Our Savior also says in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Paul draws this standard out even further by reiterating Jesus' own example in Romans 5:7-8:
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He adds in Ephesians 5:25 that we are to love "just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it."
We are dealing with a love of such towering strength and determination that one with it will sacrifice himself over a long time even for his enemies. And if that is not enough, he will finally give himself totally in death for their well-being before it is reciprocated!
Will we ever live up to that? It is possible but only because God has made us partakers of the divine nature. We now have the same Spirit in us that enabled and empowered Jesus. Peter writes:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (II Peter 1:2-4)
Love, godly love, is the fruit, the product of that Spirit which now courses through our lives. That Spirit guides us and leads us into truth. It remains our responsibility, however, to choose to follow its guidance, to obey the truths of the great God who is creating His image in us. Obedience to His commands is godly love, the fruit of His Spirit that empowers us, the supreme virtue of the Almighty Creator.
by John W. Ritenbaugh
Forerunner, "Personal," March 1998
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love" are the opening words to a popular ballad of a number of years ago. It expresses a desire that virtually everyone holds. But what is love? Judging by the commonly held understanding of "love," the world does not need any more of it! If what is happening in the world is evidence, it is very clear the world has only the foggiest of notions of what love is. If it does know, it is not doing it, or the song would not be making the statement of need.
Love is a much abused term. Because of our experiences, we all have somewhat different ideas about it. The most prevalent notion in the Western world is that love is a warm, topsy-turvy feeling, a thrill one gets in the pit of the stomach or a tingle running up and down the spine. We think of it as a warm sense of regard, a strong desire to be with or be satisfied by someone or something.
Some have equated it with caring, benevolent giving or nothing more than sheer emotionalism. On occasion, we use the term very casually and loosely. People express their "love" for the liturgy of a certain church. Some will say they just "love" ice cream, a certain beer, pizza, style of house, color, automobile, fashion, performer or team. People say they love an endless number of things. What some call "love" a theologian might call unbridled lust.
But these statements become ridiculous once we begin to understand what biblical love is. People's "love" of something is merely an opinion, a preference. A preference is not love, and to use "love" in this way devalues it.
To care about something is not love either. One can care to the point of obsession or lust. A measure of caring must be a part of true love, but by itself, that caring feeling or preference is not love.
Love's Supreme Importance
In I Corinthians 13, the Bible reveals love's supreme importance to life. Paul directly compares love's value to faith, hope, prophecy, sacrifice, knowledge and the gift of tongues and indirectly with all other gifts of God mentioned in chapter 12. He in no way denigrates the others' usefulness to life and God's purpose, but none can compare in importance to love.
The Corinthians took great pleasure in their gifts, just as we would, but a gift's relative importance is shown in its temporal quality. That is, there are times when a gift is of no use. But love will never end; it will always be of use.
Indeed, the receiving of gifts from God—unless accompanied by and used with love—have the potential to corrupt the one receiving them. God's gifts are powers given to enhance a person's ability to serve God in the church. However, we have all heard the cliché, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." If gifts are not received and used with love, they will play a part in corrupting the recipient, just as they were corrupting the Corinthians. Love is the attribute of God that enables us to receive and use His gifts without corruption.
The Bible says in I Corinthians 8:1, "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies [builds up]." "Puffs up," when opposed to "edifies," implies tearing down, destruction. Paul is saying that pride has the power to corrupt the bearer of knowledge. This statement is part of the prologue to the great chapter on love, written because the Corinthians had allowed their emphasis to drift into the wrong areas. Even as a gift from God, knowledge has the potential to corrupt its recipient, if it is unaccompanied by love.
Paul thus begins chapter 13 by contrasting love with other gifts of God. He does this to emphasize love's importance, completeness, permanence and supremacy over all other qualities we consider important to life and/or God's purpose.
Prophecies end because they are fulfilled. The gift of tongues is less necessary today as then because of the widespread use of English in commerce, politics and academia. Its value depends on specific needs. Knowledge is increasing so rapidly that old knowledge, especially in technical areas, becomes obsolete as new developments arise. Yet the need for love is never exhausted; it never becomes obsolete. God wants us to use it on every occasion.
Paul also admonishes us—by instructing us "to put away childish things" (verse 11), as well as his reference to a mirror (verse 12)—that love is something we grow in. It must be perfected. What we have now is partial. Therefore, God does not give it to us in one huge portion to be used until we run out of it. In that sense, we must always see ourselves as immature. But a time is coming when love will be perfected, and we will have it in abundance like God. In the meantime, while we are in the flesh, we are to pursue love (I Corinthians 14:1).
This indicates that the biblical love is not something we have innately. True, some forms of this quality we call love come unbidden; that is, they arise by nature. But this is not so with the love of God. It comes through the action of God through His Spirit, something supernatural (Romans 5:5).
Love, Debt and Motivation
In Romans 13:8-10 Paul injects love into the context of law, showing that it is the sum of all duties:
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
He does not say love ends the need for law but that it fulfills—performs or accomplishes—the law.
Notice love's relationship to law in context with what immediately precedes it. The context is a Christian's response to government. He should submit to and honor human government as God's agents in managing human affairs. A Christian is indebted to the government to pay tribute and taxes. When we pay them, a Christian is no longer financially indebted to the state until it imposes taxes the following year.
Regarding men, we are not to be in debt. He is not saying a Christian should never owe anybody money, but that there is a debt we owe to every person that we should strive to pay every day. This debt is one of love, paid by keeping God's law, and this Paul illustrates by quoting several of the Ten Commandments! Inherent in this debt is that no matter how much we pay on it each day, when we wake up the next day, the debt is restored, and we owe just as much as we did the day before!
This sets up an interesting paradox because we owe everyone more than we can ever hope to pay. The paradox, however, is more apparent than real because this is not what Paul is teaching. He is teaching that love must be the driving force, the motivation, of everything we do. This points out a weakness of law regarding righteousness. Law, of and by itself, provides neither enough nor the right motivation for one to keep it.
Notice verse 3. "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same." Laws are stated and have penalties. Rulers enforce them, but that does not stop people from breaking them—in many cases with impunity—especially if they feel no government representative is watching them. The government's power lies largely in coercion, meaning forcible constraint or restraint, whether moral or physical. In other words, it is government by force.
For instance, most people flagrantly disobey the speed limit on freeways and interstates, especially when they are not crowded, until they spot a patrol car with a trooper or two in it. Suddenly the speed limit becomes the norm until the trooper is again out of sight. That the law is on the books, prominently displayed and common knowledge are insufficient motivation for many people to obey.
But love toward God, the love of God, can motivate us to do what the law says to do but cannot motivate us to do. We can conclude that Paul claims that if one exercises God's love in paying his debt to man, he will keep the commandments.
We could also conclude that Paul says that if one does not break the commandments, he is acting out of love. This is the weaker of the two. Within this context, then, every phase, every facet of our responsibility to God and man, is covered if we make sure love has its place as the motivation for all we do.
If we really love another person, we cannot possibly injure him. Love would immediately stifle any thought that leads to adultery, murder, theft or any form of covetousness because love cannot harm. Since love cannot break the laws designed to protect another, it is supreme in providing the right kind of persuasion.
Love as a Bond
In Colossians 3:12-14 Paul shows another aspect of love's supreme importance to community life:
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
Paul puts love "above all," showing that love is the epitome of virtues. Here, its importance is as "the bond," something that binds or holds things, like a congregation, together.
Eventually, all groups tend to fly apart. They do not remain united by magic. Generally, a group maintains its unity through a common cause. As each person contributes to attaining that cause, unity is generally served. However, even though individuals expend effort to achieve the cause, frictions arise from a multitude of reasons. Love is the supreme quality that enables the members of the group to maintain unity and keep it from flying apart. This is achieved by each person constraining or restraining himself to act in love.
Interestingly, qualities that we normally think of as being manly—like drive, courage, determination and aggressiveness—are missing from this list in Colossians 3. Though they are not inherently evil, they play directly into the human ego, frequently resulting in crass individualism.
Because it tends to produce division, individualism is not what Paul is aiming for here. Without strong spiritual control, those traits tend to descend into competitiveness, anger, wrath, malice, dissembling, accusation, slander, and foul talk. These in turn are nothing more than unashamed self-seeking, traits that split and divide.
Each virtue Paul lists is actually an expression of love, traits that make it possible to live in a community. There is nothing weak and effeminate about them: It takes a strong person to resist what comes naturally and do what God commands rather than go along with urges of our carnal feelings. Paul lists love as a separate attribute here to show that it is not limited to the qualities he names.
God, Man and Love
Some have called I John 4:7-12 the most sublime statement in all the Bible regarding God's nature:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
If we are going to be like Him, these verses are important to us because they tell us much about Him and our responsibilities. First, love is of God—He is its Source. This love the apostles write about comes from God and is not normally a part of man's nature. It is agape love. Human love apart from God is at its best a mere pale and vague reflection of what God is eternally.
Next, John says "God is love." Sublime as this is, some have misunderstood it because it can be misleading. God is not just an abstraction like love. He is a living, dynamic and powerful Being whose personality has multiple facets. He cannot be boxed, wrapped and presented as merely being one attribute.
John's statement literally reads, "The God is love." The Greeks used an emphatic form of writing, and here the emphasis is on the word "God." The syntax means the two words "God" and "love" are not interchangeable. "Love" describes God's nature. A good paraphrase would read, "God, as to His nature, is love." God is a loving God!
This does not mean that loving is one of God's activities, but that every activity of God is loving. If He creates, He creates in love. If He rules, He rules in love. If He judges, He judges in love. Everything He does expresses His nature. God and His nature are manifested by what He does. By love God is revealed and known.
The very existence of life in others besides Himself is an act of love. His love is revealed in His providence and care of His creation. Since we are not robots, free-moral agency is an act of His love. God, by a deliberate act of self-limitation, endowed us to respond with mind and emotion. We are not animals. God's love is the explanation for redemption and our hope of eternal life. Out of love, God has given us something to live for. Life is not just a matter of going through the paces. We do not live our lives in vain.
God made humanity in His image and likeness. But the Bible says, "God is Spirit," and "God is love." Man, though, is flesh, and the Bible describes us as carnal, self-centered and deceitful. In practical fact, this means that man cannot be what he is meant to be until he loves as God loves. Only then will he truly be in the image of God because he will have the same nature as God. So, to achieve his potential, a person must love, but he must love with the love of God.
John 13:35 adds, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Even as God is revealed by what He does, so will His children. Our love for God has not made this possible, but His love for us, as I John 4:19 says, "We love Him because He first loved us." Thus, our love for Him is a response to His love for us. Since God shows His love for us by drawing us to Him, it behooves us to do acts of love toward others to draw them.
God's act of love in giving His Son defines the ultimate requirement of true love, the giving of our most beloved possession in sacrifice for another's gain. We can understand, then, that godly love will almost always have sacrifice involved in its giving. Sacrifice is the essence, the essential or vital part, of love.
God's love originates in Himself, was manifested in His Son and is perfected in His people. God's love is perfected in us when we reproduce it in or among ourselves, primarily in our fellowship. We either use love and perfect it or lose it. This partly explains the apostle John's intense concern about fellowship. What concerned him is not just an optional blessing to believers, but a fundamental outlet for the manifestation and perfection of God's love among and in the saints.
How May We Have This Love?
It should be obvious that we neither have God's love by nature, nor is it self-generated. Romans 5:5 verifies this understanding: "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which was given to us." We receive godly love from its Source, God, by means of His Spirit.
Only by knowing God can we have this love, and only by loving can we know Him! This may sound like a viscious cycle, but the two go together. Only by learning to love God can we learn His nature, that is, what He is like. We cannot have that love until we first come to know Him. By fellowshipping with Him, we come to know Him and receive His love, and in using His love, we become like Him and really know Him. We can only really come to know God by experiencing the use of His love ourselves.
All this is possible because God, in His love, initiates a relationship with us, grants us repentance, gives us His Spirit, and then, because of His love, takes the lead in sustaining the relationship. This is why Paul says in Romans 5:10 that "we shall be saved by His life." He primarily shoulders the burden of our salvation. How comforting!
What Is this Love?
I John 5:1-3 is helpful in defining God's love in a practical way:
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
God intends the love of Him and the love of man to be inseparable parts of the same experience. John explains this by saying that if we love the Father, we also love the child. If we love the Father who begot the children, we must love the children, otherwise we do not have God's love. In I John 4:20, he amplifies this: "If someone says, ‘I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?"
I John 5:3 is the Bible's basic definition of love. The commandments define, make clear, what the basic elements of love are and what direction our actions should take if we would show love. This means that obedience to God is the proof of love. Obedience is an action that submits to a command of God, a principle revealed in His Word and/or an example of God or the godly.
In a sense, this is where godly love begins in a human being. Obeying God's commands is love because God is love. Because His very nature is love, it is impossible for Him to sin. Thus He gives us commands in love, and they will produce right and good results. Any command of God reflects what He Himself would do were He in the same situation.
Jesus says in John 14:15, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Keeping the commandments is how one expresses love. He adds in John 15:10, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."
A person may have a thought to do good or to refrain from evil. He may have a feeling of compassion, pity or mercy. One may feel revulsion about doing an evil action. But none of these become love until the thought or feeling motivates one to act. In the biblical sense, love is an action.
Love has yet another aspect, however. We can show love coldly, reluctantly, in "dutiful obedience." We can also show it in joyous, wholehearted enthusiasm or warmhearted, thankful devotion. Which is more attractive to God or man as a witness?
Regardless of the attitude, it is far better to obey than not at all (Matthew 21:28-31). If we cannot get beyond doing what is right, the proper feelings will never be formed. Experience is largely responsible for training attitude and emotion. We will never form proper emotions without first performing the right actions with the right spirit, God's Holy Spirit.
Coming to Know God
I John 2:3-6 helps us understand how we can have the right attitude and emotion in our obedience:
Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
We come to know God through the same general process we get to know fellow human beings—by fellowshipping or experiencing life with them.
Around 500 years before Christ, Greek philosophers believed they could come to know God through intellectual reasoning and argument. This idea had a simple premise: that man is curious! They reasoned that it is man's nature to ask questions. Since God made man so, if men asked the right questions and thought them through, they would force God to reveal Himself. The flaw in this is seen in the fruit it produced. Though it supplied a number of right answers, it did not—could not—make men moral beings. Such a process could not change man's nature.
To them, religion became something akin to higher mathematics. It was intense mental activity, yielding intellectual satisfaction but no moral action. Plato and Socrates, for example, saw nothing wrong with homosexuality. The gods of Greek mythology also reflect this immorality, as they had the same weaknesses as human beings.
A few hundred years later, the Greeks pursued becoming one with God through mystery religions. One of their distinctive features was the passion play, which always had the same general theme. A god lived, suffered terribly, died a cruel, unjust death and then rose to life again. Before being allowed to see the play, an initiate endured a long course of instruction and ascetic discipline. As he progressed in the religion, he was gradually worked into a state of intense expectation.
Then, at the right time, his instructors took him to the passion play, where they orchestrated the environment to heighten the emotional experience: cunning lighting, sensuous music, fragrant incense and uplifting liturgy. As the story developed, the initiate became so emotionally involved that he identified himself with and believed he shared the god's suffering, victory and immortality.
But this exercise failed them in coming to know God. Not only did it not change man's nature, but the passion play was also full of lies! The result was not true knowing but feeling. It acted like a religious drug, the effects of which were short-lived. It was an abnormal experience, somewhat like a modern Pentecostal meeting where worshippers pray down the "spirit" and speak in tongues. Such activities are escapes from the realities of ordinary life.
God Reveals Himself!
Contrast these Greek methods with the Bible's way of knowing God. Knowledge of God comes, not by speculation or emotionalism, but by God's direct self-revelation. In other words, God Himself initiates our knowing of Him, beginning our relationship by drawing us by His Spirit (John 6:44).
What God reveals is equally important. He reveals Himself as a holy, loving and giving God with a purpose so awesome that our minds cannot grasp its full implications, though we can appreciate it. He shows that if we truly desire to be part of His awesome creative purpose, our covenant with Him obligates us to be as holy, loving and giving as He is!
God guides and empowers us in this great pilgrimage by the Holy Spirit, but obedience, following God's commands, is the way we begin to experience and grow in God-life, called "eternal life" in the Scriptures. By obedience we come to know God. It is like walking in His shoes, as it were.
In its biblical usage, the word "know" implies intimacy. From biblical examples, this implication can even mean sexual intimacy. That is really knowing someone closely, especially considering how long a relationship with God exists. When we apply this to our relationship with God, the sexual dimension disappears, and the intimacy becomes a deep and abiding reverence, devotion and loyalty.
People may think of God as nothing more than an intellectual exercise. They might say "I know God," or believe in a "first cause" or Creator without having any moral compunction. They go to church on Sunday and live the rest of the week just like all their neighbors and coworkers.
People may be emotional, saying God is in them and that they are filled with the "spirit," yet fail to see God in terms of commandments. They see God as something warm and snugly, a grandfatherly figure who rushes to their aid to blow away their problems, but they do not see Him as still purposefully creating.
Unmistakably and without compromise, Jesus, Paul and John show that the only way that we can show we know God, that He is in us and we love Him is if we have been begotten by His Spirit and are obeying Him.
How High Is the Standard?
We can approach this question in a number of ways, but in comparing some scriptures, the answer becomes clear as we see a pattern develop. Jesus states the second great commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). All by itself, this establishes a very high standard because we love ourselves so much. We will sacrifice a great deal to please ourselves.
He raises this a notch or two when He says in Matthew 5:44, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." This is a great challenge, confirming that the love of God is certainly not natural to us.
Our Savior also says in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Paul draws this standard out even further by reiterating Jesus' own example in Romans 5:7-8:
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He adds in Ephesians 5:25 that we are to love "just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it."
We are dealing with a love of such towering strength and determination that one with it will sacrifice himself over a long time even for his enemies. And if that is not enough, he will finally give himself totally in death for their well-being before it is reciprocated!
Will we ever live up to that? It is possible but only because God has made us partakers of the divine nature. We now have the same Spirit in us that enabled and empowered Jesus. Peter writes:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (II Peter 1:2-4)
Love, godly love, is the fruit, the product of that Spirit which now courses through our lives. That Spirit guides us and leads us into truth. It remains our responsibility, however, to choose to follow its guidance, to obey the truths of the great God who is creating His image in us. Obedience to His commands is godly love, the fruit of His Spirit that empowers us, the supreme virtue of the Almighty Creator.
posted by As The Deer at 8/14/2006 06:10:00 PM
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Friday, May 26, 2006
Oops long time never write
I have been through quite a bit lately... lots of soul searching and being lost. Today is one of the better days... not as blue and mebbe the 2 chocolate cakes i had helped afterall haha.
The only thing that made me blue today was a long distance fone call I had that made me wish I was a stronger, wiser Christian who is blessed with the gift of touching the most frozen heart and turning it back to Good Ol'Dad again.
The only thing that made me blue today was a long distance fone call I had that made me wish I was a stronger, wiser Christian who is blessed with the gift of touching the most frozen heart and turning it back to Good Ol'Dad again.
posted by As The Deer at 5/26/2006 12:48:00 AM
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Thursday, March 16, 2006
He consumes me with the fire of His love.
The words of this song really spells out what I feel about my King, my Father...
Every time I open up the bible, I see new things I have never noticed before and passages that I've read before seem to have a new meaning... All that treasure, I had never noticed before... like a consuming fire fanning into flames creating a new passion for His name (from another praise song that really touches deep within).
I was telling Ian the other day, the deeper I venture into letting go and letting Him... the more some worldly goals no longer matter. Yes I still want to write scripts and do films... but more than that, I want to serve Him with what he has given me- my talents... God forbid that i should waste them on materialistic pursuits instead of using them on promoting His Kingdom, His name.
How true this verse of the song:
Zach Neese, Walker Beach
Every time I open up the bible, I see new things I have never noticed before and passages that I've read before seem to have a new meaning... All that treasure, I had never noticed before... like a consuming fire fanning into flames creating a new passion for His name (from another praise song that really touches deep within).
I was telling Ian the other day, the deeper I venture into letting go and letting Him... the more some worldly goals no longer matter. Yes I still want to write scripts and do films... but more than that, I want to serve Him with what he has given me- my talents... God forbid that i should waste them on materialistic pursuits instead of using them on promoting His Kingdom, His name.
How true this verse of the song:
You've given me though I deserve nothing
Everything I have,I owe it all to You
With each new day, I realise that what I have in this world are
blessings from Him... there is no such thing as luck. No such thing
as astrology or fate. Just blessings and leaps of faith... trusting
Him, building that amazing relationship with the true Majesty...
El Shaddai himself.... the rest are just shifitng sand. He is the
only rock that has stood firm in my life from the beginning and He will
be there till the end. Indeed, boyfriends and crushes aside...
Jesus will always be my first love...
I remember singing to Him all alone in the school chapel when it
felt like i had not a friend in the world...
I love you Lord
And I lift my voice
To worship you
Oh my soul rejoice!
Take joy my King
In what you hear
May it be a sweet sweet sound
In your ear...
No one would understand or accept me except Him.
He held out his hands to me, embraced me in His love and gave me the
solace and rest I sought... from the politics of a convent school
that seemed to teem with girls that shared the herd mentality and hurt
another to please themselves.
I was very dark and very alone then... but He showed me the way back
to Him again.
Jesus never ostracizes or bitches or hurts...
Our broken hearts are met with only grace and compassion in Him who
heals and loves unfailingly.
We can run and hide away from Him or fly beyond the horizon and still be
overtaken by his amazing love for us... becauseit is so great, it covers
us no matter where we are, regardless of the time of day... He is always
there.
OvertakenZach Neese, Walker Beach
Key: A
Verse 1:
A
Jesus Christ, I worship and adore You
D
Every day I live, I'm living for You
E
What else can I say?
A Esus
You've overtaken me
A
Every day with You is getting better
D
every word from you is like a treasure
E
Giving all of me,
D Esus
I'm finding more of You
Chorus:
A
God, You're taking over
F#m7
all of me I'm letting go, so
D E A Esus
You can come, and have Your way in me
A
I leave it all behind for
F#m7
Jesus You saved my life, now
D E A
everyday I worship You, my King
Verse 2:
Jesus Christ, I thank You for the love
You've given me though I deserve nothing
Everything I have,
I owe it all to You
Nothing that this world has got to offer
satisfies my soul, I still hunger
Pouring out my heart
I'm filling up with You
Bridge:
D E
It's only by the blood
D E
And it's only through the cross
D E F#m7 (E)
You have overtaken me (4x)
posted by As The Deer at 3/16/2006 11:59:00 AM
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About Me
- Name: As The Deer
- Location: Singapore
I am Christ redeemed & blessed many folds more than I have been tried. =) I am the head not the tail, above not beneath, blessed in the city and in the country, my bread kneading bowl and bread basket are blessed and anointed, i rest in the shadow of the most high! I claim the promises of blessings in Deut 28, Psalm 91 and Psalm 23 over my life. I claim the blessing of Jabez and the double blessing Elisha and Benjamin received in my life. AMEN!
Links
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- Beautiful Song
- Is Your Mind In The Desert? = Joyce Meyer
- HEROES OF FAITHING NOAH In this series o...
- The Search For Peace
- Patience...
- The Fruit of the Spirit:
- Oops long time never write
- He consumes me with the fire of His love.
- Every parent must memorise this by heart... and of...
- I just love to sing His praises lah
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