Monthly Archives: June 2015

What is the Nature of Love?

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The parents of a murderer are pressed hard against the wall.  They remember when he was a baby; purely innocent and full of potential.  But now, like he, they must face the fact of the things he has done.  If he is sentenced to life in prison, they have to wrestle with the understanding that he will never come home again.

With the purest possible love, and the greatest possible regret, they remember him when he lay so sweetly in their arms.  But mistakes, the influence of outside forces, and the choices of the man, have ripped potential from their dreams.  Who can voice a sadness like that?  Tell me that loss isn’t personal.

Tell me they don’t think of how much better it might have been if their sweet baby had been stillborn.  Better for the victim’s family.  Better for the society that was robbed of precious potential.  Better that a prison cell should house anyone else, and that for lesser crimes. . . PLEASE!  Better for the sounds that the walls of their house remember.  Better for their aching hearts that cannot find healing.

They cannot love their child to the potential they once desired, for once a deed like that is done it cannot be erased. 

But you will not rip away what love remains, from their hearts.  For they will seek with great diligence to find the shreds of their baby that remain in their son.

Love is not passive. 
Love is not blind. 
Love is married to wisdom.
Pure love understands what is pure. 
Love makes way for reality.
Love may experience restriction.
Love may be forsaken!
But it is impossible for love to die.

Fearless Proclamation

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People keep telling us we have no right to judge.  In the language of this world I have responded that we have the right to make assessments.  But the Apostle Paul went much farther than that.  Read this and understand.

14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2)

There is no truth to what they say, we are compelled to make judgments according to the rule of our Lord.  But even if we water it down to simple assessments, still they rage in our direction.   Do not let that stop you.  For unless they hear, they will surely die.

God has spoken his expectations.  If we perceive a man refusing to obey, we have an obligation to step forward and help him.  If he throws back in our face, “You have no right to judge me”, ponder in your heart; is it better for him to hear your words or the words of the living God on the final day of his life?

Who will rise to the things of God?  Who will willingly dawn the mantle of the Gospel and go with strength?  The only thing they throw at us are words, my brothers!  Why do we let them make us afraid?!

Opinion?

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Will you help a beggar in the street?  Will you look the other way when you see a drunk?  In your opinion, what is the difference between the two?

Are not both bodies in a posture of weakness?

You praise the soldier whose pride lets him run toward the enemy, mindless of death.  And you agree with the average Joe who is proud to say he does not worry about the coming judgment.  In your opinion, what is the difference between the two?

Are not both of them bent on self reliance?  Do you think death cares?

Do you fear God?  Do you think the fear of God is a matter of opinion; as if it’s okay to let another man think he has a choice.  As if God has said he is willing to give eternal life to those who refuse to love him.  Or do you realize that that man will surely die?

All day long, everyone of us are witness to people who despise the teaching of God.  When you see them, do you realize you’re looking at a dead man?  Or do you just say to yourself, “It takes all kinds to make the world go around”?

Do you shake your head in pity when you consider what people are doing in this world?  Are you doing anything to bring the judgment of God to your fellow man?  Is shaking our heads in pity putting an end to the violence in our streets?

Do you know what the Bible says about the coming judgment?  Do you use the Gospel simply as a motivator for social righteousness?  Do you honestly believe that’s all it is? 

Escape, Because You Can

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The title of this post was on a billboard for a casino.  We all know what they meant.

But in the blink of an eye, I think we can all see how that applies to the judgment of God.

No one needs to stand in the great assembly of sinners that will be cast away from His presence.  Every single man and woman can enter into the joy of Christ for eternity.  How?

Humble yourself in prayer and ask God to show you.  Read the Bible with an earnest desire to learn.  Strive to do what it says.  And continue to return to earnest prayer, that God may show you what to do.

No one needs to be cast away from God’s presence. 

Positive Thinking

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I just read that stuff about Olsteen.  I don’t follow the news anymore,  so I didn’t even know there was a problem.

In a way he’s right.  But only in a small way.  A very very small way.

Our Lord didn’t say, “Come be happy”.  He said “Come and suffer and die with me”.  And he made that point lot more often than he talked about happiness.

When he met with his disciples again, he didn’t chide them for their grief.  Before he was crucified, he warned his disciples that they would have grief.  But he assured them it would turn to joy.  He urged them to have faith. 

Remember how he told them the horrible things they would endure for his namesake.  Does that sound like today’s teaching about joyous positive thinking?

Olsteen, you forgot about the brotherhood of suffering for the name of your Lord. 

Hoorah for the broken hearts!   Shame for the hearts who binge themselves on joy. 

Integrity of faith is tested in the crucible of suffering.  How some people miss that is beyond my understanding. 

Research the English saying, “Stiff upper lip”.  You’ll find it reflects an honor even a godless man can respect.  How much more the servants of Christ?

Rule of thumb:
If a Christian teaching gathers a vast multitude of followers, be suspicious.

Fear?

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What is fear?  Isn’t it fear to ponder what can be done to us?  Doesn’t fear come because we know we are weak and defenseless.

What is perfect strength?  Isn’t it the knowledge that we are perfectly protected?  Doesn’t strength come because we know that He who protects us is above all things?

Therefore I am proud of my weakness and am not afraid.  For the One who has sworn, by his very blood to protect me, That One cannot lie!

I see the fear that was in me, and gladly spit in its face.  “You will not own me!  You have been dethroned.  You are destroyed before you speak!  The One who is above you owns this soul.”

Come!  Believe beside me.  The shadow of fear has no hold on those who believe!