Posts Tagged ‘love’

Love For One Another

August 16, 2010

Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn

READ: John 13:33-35

By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. —John 13:35

You have to work hard to offend Christians. By nature, Christians are the most forgiving, understanding, and thoughtful group of people I’ve ever dealt with. They never assume the worst. They appreciate the importance of having different perspectives. They’re slow to anger, quick to forgive, and almost never make rash judgments or act in anything less than a spirit of total love. . . . No, wait—I’m thinking of golden retrievers!

I laughed when I read this in an e-mail. But having had experience with goldens—and fellow Christians—I think it’s true that sometimes believers are just too easily offended! “The choir director always gives her the solos.” “The pastor didn’t even look at me when he shook my hand.” “I do a lot around here—people ought to appreciate me a little more.”

Anger. Resentment. Pride. Sure, issues between believers do sometimes need to be addressed. But what if we always tried to treat others the way we want to be treated (Matt. 7:12), weren’t quick to judge others but forgave them (Luke 6:37), and demonstrated a little humility? (Phil. 2:3).

And what if the world could actually recognize that we are followers of Jesus by the love we have “for one another”? (John 13:35). Is this true of us? —Cindy Hess Kasper

Lord, let me be a shining light
In all I say and do,
That Your great love displayed in me
May lead someone to You. —Sper

Sometimes the best witness is love.

From Gail:

20Now then we are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5)

God is trusting you to represent him well and to accurately portray his love so others can see and believe.  Don’t betray this trust.

The ghost of a little white kitten

Crying mournfully, early and late,

Distracted St. Peter, the watchman,

As he guarded the heavenly gate.

“Say, what do you mean?” said his saintship,

 ”Coming here and behaving like that?”

“I want to see Nellie, my missus,”

Sobbed the wee little ghost of a cat.

“I know she’s not happy without me,

Won’t you open and let me go in?”

“Be gone,” gasped the horrified watchman,

“Why the very idea is a sin;

I open the gate to good angels,

Not to stray little beggars like you.”

“All right,” mewed the little white kitten,

“Though a cat, I’m a good angel too.”

Amazed at so bold an assertion,

But aware that he must make no mistake,

In silence, St. Peter long pondered,

For his name and repute were at stake,

Then placing the cat in his bosm

With a “Whist now, and say all your prayers,”

He opened the heavenly portals

And ascended the bright golden stairs.

A little girl angel came flying,

“That’s my kitty, St. Peter,” she cried.

And seeing the joy of their meeting,

Peter let the cat angel abide.

This is the tale of a kitten

Dwelling now with the blessed above,

It vanquished grim Death and High Heaven

For the name of the kitten was Love.

Leontine Stanfield

Love and fear cannot dwell together.  By their very natures, they cannot exist side by side.  Evil is powerful and fear is one of evil’s most potent forces.

Therefore, a weak vacillating love can be soon routed by fear, whereas a perfect Love, a trusting Love, is immediately the Conqueror and fear, vanquished, flees in confusion.

But, I, [Jesus] am Love because God is Love and I and the Father are one.  So the only way to obtain this perfect Love that dispels fear, is to have me more and more in your lives.  You can only banish fear by my presence and my name.

Fear of the future–I am with you.

Fear of poverty–I will provide. 

You must not allow fear to enter.  Talk to Me.  Think of Me.  Talk of Me. Love Me. And that sense of My Power will so possess you that no fear can possess your mind.  Be strong in this My love.

Taken from God Calling.

There is a healthy fear of God and an unhealthy fear.  You should have a healthy fear of heights, for example.  It is the unhealthy paranoid fear of heights that cause the problems.  Gail

¹²And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but [reverently] to fear the Lord your God, [that is] to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being.   ¹³To keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10)

¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.  (I John 4)

 7For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (I Timothy 1)

Backsliding in the Christian faith refers to those who lose their first love, and cease to be grateful for all the good things God has done for them.  A classic example is found in the Church of Ephesus.  Read what Jesus had to say to this church.

There are many forms of backsliding.  It comes it all shapes and sizes.  TV evangelism is many cases, although not all, encompasses backsliding when they decide making a average living off the gospel is not good enough–they have to get rich off it, thus turning into spiritual fat cats that cease to be of any earthly good.  Backsliding occurs when we lose our zeal for Christ.  We stop praying and believing.

Revelation 2

4But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love].

    2I know your industry and activities, laborious toil and trouble, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot tolerate wicked [men] and have tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars.

    3I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary.

    What caused this beautiful church body to lose its way?  Look at all the good things Jesus had to say.

First, many impostors came into the church.  How many times have we been tempted to lose our faith because of the impostors in the evangelical community today?  They are liars to be sure, but how many of us blame God for this either directly or indirectly by not going to church anymore?  You go to church to worship God.  The solution might be to start a home church (see category for  home church). 

Second, we have desired the world over God.  Look at the parable of the sowers , especially the third soil type.

 7Other seed [of the same kind] fell among thorn plants, and the thistles grew and pressed together and utterly choked and suffocated it, and it yielded no grain.

    18And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word;

    19Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.

Third, it is possible you never were serious about your relationship with Jesus to begin with.  Perhaps you accepted him as your savior for the wrong reasons–what he could do for you instead of what you can do for him.

Fourth and last, but not least, perhaps you feel abandoned by God.  You feel he quit caring so you quit caring.  I am finding more and more people that fall into this category.  They keep their feelings buried deep, but they suffer in silence.  The reason you feel this way primarily is because the Church as failed you, not God.  We are his tangible hands and feet, and when Christians become spiritual fat cats, they backslide and don’t feel the love of Christ enough to reach out to others.

Today, list some ways you have backslidden.  All of us are guilty of this, at least here in America.

Please remember that God does love you no matter how you feel. Remember always:

Praise him always!

Yesterday there was a knock on my door so I answered it and it was two Mormon missionaries.  They were so sweet and were all smiles.  They didn’t act pushy.  They just portrayed the image that they cared about me.

Although I can never endorse the cult of Mormonism, it did bring back memories of two childhood summer friends I had growing up in the 60’s when I would spend the summer in Springfield, Mo. We all lived in the same neighborhood within three houses of each other.  My grandmother always taught me to never “stick my nose up” at someone just because their belief systems were different than mine.  That would be a contradiction to the commandment to “love one another.”

Pam, Kathy and I did everything together.  We were a threesome.  We went to the movies, went roller skating, hiking, and just had fun talking.  What was so unique about us that made my grandmother grin?  She used to comment, “interesting–one Protestant, one Catholic, and one Mormon.” 

Pam and Kathy both came from good moral homes, and that was what was the primary concern for my grandmother.  I don’t remember the three of us ever arguing or having a conflict. 

This is a good lesson for all of us.  Remember, people can come to the Lord only as the Holy Spirit draws them in.  It isn’t our place to play the role of the Holy Spirit to convict people of their sin.  Today, ponder on these scriptures:

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” John 12:32)

This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. (Matthew 15:8)

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.  (Proverbs 18:2)

“And why call ye Me, `Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46)

Today, list some ways you have not let your light shine for Jesus before people this past week.  Let us learn to judge not and love instead.

About Our Daily Bread |      RBC Ministries |      Donate
Judge Not! July 16, 2010 Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn   READ: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 Judge not, that you be not judged. —Matthew 7:1 When Jesus commanded, “Judge not,” He was not implying that we should be naïve or imprudent. Of course we need to think critically and analytically in this world where we are often confronted with error and wrongdoing. Instead, He meant that we should not be condemning or accusing, a point Paul made eloquently: “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts” (1 Cor. 4:5). Poet Robert Burns made a similar point, writing of those whose actions are in doubt: “One point must still be greatly dark—the [motive]. Why they do it.” No one knows another’s motives. God alone can bring to light what is hidden in darkness; He alone can expose the intentions of the heart. Jesus knows the latent forces that motivate others: the cruel beginnings, the fear, the disappointment, the broken heart, the sin that is resisted. Moreover, He is working in every submissive heart to bring it to maturity. Thus in the end—quite often contrary to our expectations—He will bring praise to those He has brought to completion. The Lord alone can try the heart. Until He returns, let’s ask Him to help us examine our own. —David Roper “Condemn not, judge not”—not to man Is given his brother’s faults to scan; One task is yours, and one alone— To search out and subdue your own. —Elliott Be slow to judge others, but quick to judge yourself.

From Gail: I know sometimes it is difficult to understand why people talk about loving one another, but they don’t actually do it in actions and attitudes. Try to remember that we can only love to the extent we know what it is. Love is always growing and can never stand still. The minute it starts to stand still, it begins to die.

Please don’t be so quick to judge Christians that don’t practice love the way they should. We are only saved sinners and we come from dysfunctional homes too. The difference is we don’t practice sin.

Also, judging gets very subtle.  How many times have you sized someone up because of the car they drive or the house they live in?

Another thing to remember is that just because someone says they are a Christian and goes to Church, doesn’t mean he/she is one.  So-called Christians are said to be the hardest to convert.  People on the street, etc., need help and they know it.  Church going people who live moral good lives that believe the Christian doctrine in word only are deceived into thinking they don’t need help.

In conclusion remember this–those that love the least, need it the most.

On this special day for America, I want everybody to ponder what has made America so great.  No other democracy has worked for so many years.  I am sorry this younger generation will never know the great role models we had in Hollywood years ago.  They cared about the kids and what image they were portraying to them.  There are too many to mention.  Roy Rogers had a chance to play a drunken cowboy once but refused because he was primarily concerned with the kids rather than his pocketbook, and that they might copy him.  John Wayne and many other always tried to always give the cowboy a good name.

Please enjoy this tribute to the American cowboy and their patriotism.  I hope everyone clicks on “America’s Christian Heritage, and reads it, especially the African American community to whom most do not know their Christian heritage that belongs only to them.

Have a great 4th of July!! 

” I don’t know right from wrong.” You would be surprised how many people, especially young people,  relate to this statement.  This isn’t the kid’s fault.  It is the adults.  So, next time you are tempted to say, “those darn teenagers,” think again.  You should be saying “those darn parents,”  because 98% of the time, that is the case.

Why is that?  Because parents and adults have “fallen down on the job.”  Kids used to be the center of the lives of adults, now they are on the peripheral.  Hollywood used to care about the kids.  In the 60’s Hollywood couldn’t even use the word “sex” on TV.

Legally, freedom of speech  doesn’t allow you to yell fire in the theatre and cause mass panic because it infringes on other people’s rights.  Corrupting the kids use to fall under this category also, but doesn’t any more.

So, let’s use God’s standard of right and wrong.  Let’s start with the 10 commandments, and these are ten commandments, not ten suggestions!!

They are found in Exodus 20.

1. Thou shalt not have any gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

3. “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

 4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

  5.  ”Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

  6.  “Thou shalt not kill.

  7.  “Thou shalt not commit adultery.

  8.  “Thou shalt not steal.

  9.  “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10.”Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

Basically, anything you put before God is an idol.

Now, the next question rears its ugly head, “I know I am supposed to love, but I don’t know how.  Somehow, I can’t get the job accomplished.  What is love?

The best definition of love God gives us is in I Corinthians 13

1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

 8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

 11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

 13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Remember, without God, Paul said he could do nothing.  You are no different.  Only God can change hearts.  Let him change yours today. Jesus is only one prayer away.

 

Psalm 51
1-3Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I’ve been;
my sins are staring me down.
4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I’ll let loose with your praise.

16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

18-19 Make Zion the place you delight in,
repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
Then you’ll get real worship from us,
acts of worship small and large,
Including all the bulls
they can heave onto your altar!

What did David do that caused him to pray this prayer to God? First, he lost his first love–the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As a result, he didn’t go to battle as he was directed to do, and coveted his closest friend’s wife and slept with her. To make matters worse, he plotted the murder of this friend who saved his life more than once, and had him killed in battle just to cover up his actions, which he could have been put to death for under the law. Read the account in 2 Kings 11:

2 Samuel 11
1In the spring, when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab with his servants and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites [country] and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2One evening David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, when from there he saw a woman bathing; and she was very lovely to behold.

3David sent and inquired about the woman. One said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

4And David sent messengers and took her. And she came in to him, and he lay with her–for she was purified from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house.

5And the woman became pregnant and sent and told David, I am with child.

6David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. So Joab sent [him] Uriah.

7When Uriah had come to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the people fared, and how the war progressed.

8David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of food [a gift] from the king.

9But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house.

10When they told David, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?

11Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah live in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as my soul lives, I will not do this thing.

12And David said to Uriah, Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13David invited him, and he ate with him and drank, so that he made him drunk; but that night he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house.

14In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

15And he wrote in the letter, Put Uriah in the front line of the heaviest fighting and withdraw from him, that he may be struck down and die.

16So when Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah opposite where he knew the enemy’s most valiant men were.

17And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David fell. Uriah the Hittite died also.

18Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war.

19And he charged the messenger, When you have finished reporting matters of the war to the king,

20Then if the king’s anger rises and he says to you, Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know they would shoot from the wall?

21Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth (Gideon)? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall? Then say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.(A)

22So the messenger went and told David all for which Joab had sent him.

23The messenger said to David, Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in to the field, but we were upon them even to the entrance of the gate.

24Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

25Then David said to the messenger, Say to Joab, Let not this thing disturb you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack upon the city and overthrow it. And encourage Joab.

26When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for Uriah.

27And when the mourning was past, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

God forgave David of all the evil he had done, but there were dire consequences for his actions, as we have when we sin.  But, God is the God of second chances and no matter what evil you have done, it  is covered by the blood of Jesus.  So, do yourself a favor and forgive yourself.

 Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. (Acts 3:19)

6Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is nea    7Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. 8″For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” saith the LORD. 9″For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!

How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!

These are two different translations of Psalm 133:1.  James asks the question in James 4:1 how could so many divisions and strife happen within the body of Christ?   Let’s see how he answers the question.

 ^1-2Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

 ^2-3You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

 ^4-6You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”

 ^7-10So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.

 ^11-12Don’t bad-mouth each other, friends. It’s God’s Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You’re supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

I use to sing the following song back in the 1970’s.  You don’t hear it being sung to much any more, but it should be.

“We are one in the spirit we are one in the Lord

We are one in the spirit we are on in the Lord

And together we’ll spread the news that God is in the land

And they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love,

yes they will know we are Christians by our love.

 

We will walk with each other we will walk hand in hand

We will walk with each other we will walk hand in hand

And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride

And they will know we are Christians by our love by our love

Yes they will know we are Christians by our love.

 

All Praise to the Father from whom all things come

And all praise to Christ Jesus His Only Son

And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one

And they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love,

Yes they will know we are Christians by our Love.   

This Pentecost season, let’s try to break down denominational barriers.  Let’s not see our brothers as sisters in Christ as Catholic, or Lutheran, etc.  See them as your brothers and sisters in Christ.  After all, do you really think when we get to heaven the Catholics will be in one corner, Protestants in the other, and on the Protestant side, Baptists will have one section, Lutheran’s another and Pentecostals another, etc. etc.? 

We need to find the Church that fits our identity in Christ the closest, and Jesus would only want us to respect other Christians’ identity in Christ that is different from ours.  He doesn’t want a bunch of clones for children.  We have a free will.  Just love your brothers and sisters in Christ that believe different than you and leave the judging to God.  We will all stand before Christ to give an account.  I personally don’t believe that any one person’s belief systems are absolutely correct.

Prayer for the day:

Lord Jesus, please forgive my judgmental spirit towards others.  Please change my heart and take the scales off my eyes so I won’t see men as “trees walking” as you suggest I do. (Mark 8:23-25).  Do something new in my heart this Pentecost season.  Amen