Love – Part 1

For some reason the Holy Spirit has me considering the topic of love lately. As I think about love and what the Bible has to say about it, it has become clear that I fall way short of loving God, loving people, and even my own family as the Bible calls me to. How about you? As God’s people, we are called to be the light of Christ to the dark world we live in and it is through love in which we can best shine. So, what does that look like?

The first thing we must remember is that God loves us. How do we know?

John 3:16 tells us, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” 1 John 4:9-10 explains that “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so 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.” There are many proofs of God’s love for us, but there is none greater than the sacrifice of His own son, given so that we can be in a personal relationship with the Almighty God.

So how must we respond to the love of God? Again, let us see what God says?

We find the answer in Matthew, chapter 22:36-38 where Jesus answers the lawyer’s question, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus answers him saying, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.”

This is where I must stop and examine myself. Jesus doesn’t just say we are to love God. No, He puts a heavy weight to that love saying we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Can I honestly say I do that? Can you? I sure cannot. Jesus described what our love for God should look like in John 14:15 by saying,” If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” I have not kept all of God’s commandments. Have you? Again, we go back to the Bible. 1 John 1:8 is clear in its message, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Verse 10 is even more biting saying that “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” But because God loves us we find this sandwiched in between these two verses in verse 9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Yes, God loves us. God is faithful, even when we are not, but we must confess our sins, admit we have not loved Him as we should.

Personally, I often find the facts of my sinful nature depressing and sometimes am tempted to doubt my salvation. If loving God is based on my ability to obey, I seem to be in deep trouble. But guess what? God’s love is bigger than my sinfulness and according to scripture, that kind of love is a deal maker. Romans 5:6-8 reminds us “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” This is good news. This is the Gospel. This is the love of God.

Waiting On God

It has been often said that “patience is a virtue” and yet how many of us have mastered the art of waiting? We live a culture today that is always in a hurry. One trip on the roads and highways of our nation reveals the truth of this statement. Try driving the speed limit sometime and you will soon learn that, yes, we are all in a hurry.

As I continue to study the Old Testament and am currently in Genesis, I am amazed at the relevance of the lessons being taught in this ancient text. This morning I read the story of Abram and Sarai and how they responded to their perceived lack of urgency in God fulfilling His promise. If you aren’t familiar with the story you can find it in Genesis chapter 16. Basically God promised Abram that He would bless him with a child and through that child Abram would become the father of a great nation. Abram hits about 85 years old and starts to doubt. Sarai does more than doubt, she starts looking for her own solution as we read from Genesis 16:2 which says, “And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.”

I actually like the way the HCSB translation states her plan. It translates her to say, “…Perhaps through her I can build a family.” You know this is possibly one of the greatest mistakes our culture makes today. We try and build a family OUR way. In our youth we get into marriages that are not built upon the foundation upon which God intends us to. Divorce and the act of child bearing without benefit of marriage have destroyed the American family. In far too many families there is no father or his role is greatly diminished. Even in good, Christian marriages we are listening to man’s psychology, instead of simply applying God’s Word to how we live and how we raise a family. The truth is we do not listen to the wisdom God has provided us in His Holy Word. We think we need to do it OUR way. We believe our happiness is more important than bringing glory to God by committing ourselves to each other as parents and staying married. The truth is we don’t believe God’s promises any more than Sarai did. We have a lack of faith.

There is a very important truth that we must implant into our hearts. Get ready because it is a hard scripture.

Romans 14:23
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

Pop out the last phrase of that reading. It says whatever is not from faith is sin. Anytime we step out of faith in God and His Word we are sinning. Let that sink in.

There is some really good news in the rest of the story as found in Genesis 16. You see the bad news of our sinful nature is counteracted by God’s immeasurable grace and mercy. Get ready, because here it comes.

Romans 5:20
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

God’s grace will abound even in the midst of our sinfulness, but only if we recognize our sin and take it to God. 1 John 1:9 instructs us that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

None of this is a license to sin. Even though God’s grace and mercy will carry us through, the consequences of sin can and often are terrible. The son that came from the loins of Abram and Hagar, Ishmael, would become the father of another great nation of many people. From Ishmael would come the Arabs and they were and continue to be the source of great trouble for the nation Israel. The sins we commit today have a definite effect on our peace and on the peace of our generations to come.

Read the story of Abram and Sari and search out the great lessons in it for us as Christians. We must wait on the Lord. We must concern ourselves with what brings Glory to God, instead of what we think we need or want. And if we want peace and joy, then we must obey God’s Word.

I leave you with a scripture about waiting. My wife gave me a little visor pin many years ago when we were struggling through some hard times and it seemed as if God was never going to act.  On it was this verse.

Isaiah 40:31
 But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Are you weary friend? Feeling tired and weak? Cry out to Jesus. He will answer you but you must be patient. You can trust in Him.

Isaiah 40:28-29
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Facing the Dark Night of Your Soul

“One who truly fears God, and is obedient to Him, may be in a condition of darkness, and have no light; and he may walk many days and years in that condition.” Those are the words of the Puritan Thomas Goodwin, written some 350 years ago. 

Several of the most popular books found in Christian book stores today are written by men who preach things that sound nothing like the words of Thomas Goodwin. “Your Best Life”, one title reads and it’s filled with the notion that Christians deserve the best of everything and if we “speak” it out then God has to respond with that new Lexus. Yet all around us we see our brothers and sisters suffering through many sorrows. Just last night I attended the wake of a young man who took his own life at the very young age of 23. My church’s prayer list is filled every week with new prayer requests. Struggling marriages, addictions from drugs to pornography, children with behavioral problems that defy the best of psychologists, cancers of all types, and a list of many other afflictions seem to run amok amongst God’s people. For many of us it is truly a dark night of the soul.

The truth is Goodwin got it right; those who follow God sometimes “walk many days and years” on a dark and difficult path. The world we live in seems to get worse every day. Where is the light? How can we go on?

The truth is that those books you find in the bookstores are filled with lies and distortions of God’s Word. They are written with one purpose; to tell you what you want to hear so you will pay your $29.99 for the book and eagerly anticipate the next one.

In truth if you are a Christian you have the only book you need to find hope. God gave us the Bible and it is His Word and it is the truth. As you read the stories of the Old Testament you find that you are not alone. Many others have faced their own “Dark night of the Soul.”

Look at Abraham. Minding his own pagan business and one day God just shows up and promises him that he will become the father of a great people whose number will be like that of the stars in the sky and the sands on the beaches. Yet well into his old age God has yet to make it happen. Abraham is in his 90’s and still wondering, “Where is the son God has promised me?” Abraham packed up his whole life and wandered off as God told him, yet he has not even seen a glimpse of the promise’s fulfillment. It must have been dark nights for Abraham.

Maybe today you know that feeling. Maybe last night you cried yourself to sleep in the dark night of your own soul. Maybe you feel as if God has abandoned you. I can assure you; He has not. Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah from Isaiah 50:10:
 

“Who is among you that fears the LORD, That obeys the voice of His servant, That walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.”

The Christian life is a life of faith. It is not an easy one despite what some may say. Jesus said this to the disciples and He is also speaking to us.

John 16:33
"These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

He spoke those things in anticipation of the darkest of dark nights. He would soon go to the cross. To the disciples things could not have sounded bleaker. Even Jesus was distressed by the events about to unfold. So distressed He would sweat blood as He cried out to the Father in prayer in the Garden Of Gethsemane. Yet he would finish that prayer by saying “You will be done, not my will.”

This life is hard. It seems to be getting harder, maybe even harder for the Christian. But the Bible is a story of hope and redemption.  It a story that ends with light, a light so wonderful that words cannot describe it. We must open the Word of God and make it real in our lives. In the darkness of the night we must believe it and we must cling to it. We must gather together and encourage each other to stand in faith and believe God. Sometimes we must have faith for others and simply hold them up until they can regain a foothold of faith.

There is a sure hope. Jesus promised this in Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Even in the darkest night of your soul, Jesus is there with you. Cling to Him and hold on to Him no matter how dark it is. The night may be a long one but it shall one day pass and the bright sunny morning will arrive.

I will say this until my last dying breath, we must read God’s Word and make it real in our hearts and minds. This life is hard and we must live by faith.

Romans 10:17
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Read about Abraham. He was a man of faith. He stumbled a few times and took matters into his own hands, which didn’t go well. But in the end he lived by faith. The result of that?

Romans 4:3
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Believe God. Even in the dark. Then He will count it as righteousness and you will dwell in the house of God forever.