Love

 Love

I cannot believe that Mary likes that guy. He is self centered, inconsiderate, unfaithful and abusive to her.  Oh well, love is blind. 

The expression “love is blind” has been used since the early 1400’s when Geoffrey Chaucer introduced The Merchant’s Tale . Shakespeare used it in several of his works in the late 1500s and early 1600s. 

Blind love is not love at all. Love can disguise itself in many ways. Most of us have been bitten by those misguided love bugs. How did you feel after that bug bit you? When we were kids we had crushes on someone, and we got over those quickly. There were those puppy love experiences, and when those ended we thought our world was ending as well, but in time we found another love and all was good. As teenagers many of us found the love of our life. We wanted to be with that person forever, but in time we realized that we would not be together forever, and our hearts were broken. When a breakup happens in a marriage the result is devastating. Not only can love be blind, but it can be cruel. Very often the jilted partner is left wondering, “Can I ever trust love again.” 

That’s a good question. Can love be trusted? I believe there is a love that can always be trusted. There is a chapter in the Bible that speaks of this kind of love. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” I Corinthians 13

Love that never fails is the kind of love the world needs. We need to find someone who loves us with an unfailing love. That someone is Jesus. He loves us so much that he died for us. His desire is that not one person should perish. Jesus wants to change us so that we can be like him. When we are changed and made a new creature in Christ we will be a witness of his love. We will be completely humble and gentle; patient, treating one another in love and respect. We will make every effort to be united in his Spirit so that no matter what happens we are at peace with others and ourselves. 

If we trust Jesus, we trust love for Jesus is love. His love is not blind. Without the love of Jesus we have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal…but if we do not have love, we are nothing.

Old Pictures

 Old Puctures

Pictures, old pictures of youngsters, of us as we were many years ago. Look, there we are posing, smiles on our faces, dressed in our caps and gowns and a diploma in our hands. We were ready to tackle the world, our future before us, and we were smarter then than we would ever be again. The army, work, college and in some cases marriage awaited us. We were young, and we wanted so badly to wear the banner of adult hood.  Some of us, most of us were impatient. We made many mistakes, and we quickly found out that becoming an adult  would take time. Some of us had adult responsibilities sooner than we had anticipated. No time for adolescent foolishness. Responsibilities kept us busy. Hard times made us tough. The world that we thought we would tackle was hard, too hard sometimes. We were knocked down, but we got up determined to fight with all our might so as not to go down again. But we went down again and again and again. Many time we have been floored and stomped on,  but  our faith in our Lord lifted us up, and we kept on going. 

Old pictures of high school graduation, college graduation, places we worked, marriage, children, vacations—the people we were back years ago, memories both good and bad, and we wish we could have a do over to correct our mistakes. We look at those old pictures, and it seems as though they were taken only days ago. But when we look in the mirror we are quickly reminded that decades have passed, and we no longer look like those young images on those old pictures. Yet, despite our mature years we remain the people we were back then, older but wiser, thankful for the life God has given us and looking forward to the new life that will last forever.

Strive to Be Positive.

 A well known pastor was preaching about how Christians should be positive no matter what is going on in their lives. He went on to express that people who are depressed have a spiritual problem, not a mental problem.  He is against taking medicine to control depression. His remedy for overcoming depression is to  read the Bible, pray and trust in Jesus. I listen to this man two or three times a week. He is an excellent preacher. I think he is one of the best, but when I heard his view on depression I became a bit angry at him. I was disappointed. In fact, his statements hurt me because I am on medication to help me with depression. 

I do agree that Christians should be positive. I think I am positive most of the time. But there are still those episodes of depression that may last weeks when I am not able to be positive. There is no reason that I can put my finger on as to why I am depressed. I wish I didn’t get depressed, but I do. I am on a new medication that has helped me. I rarely get depressed and the depression doesn’t last very long. After 30 years since my problem was diagnosed God directed me to a doctor who figured out the severity of my depression and is treating it correctly. Fifty-three years ago God directed me to another doctor who diagnosed that I had type 1 diabetes. He prescribed insulin which I have taken ever since. This medication didn’t heal me, but it has kept me alive so that I have reached the ripe old age of 73, and I am still doing pretty well. 

I wonder how many Christians are positive all of the time no matter what is going on in their lives. I think most of us have times when we have difficulty being positive. Reading the Bible, praying and trusting in the Lord should be the daily routine of every Christian. Let me add to those three, worship, praise, adoration and rejoicing.  I read and study the Bible and serve in the church I attend. I pray. I worsip God, praise him and adore him. And I try to rejoice in all things, but sometimes I have a hard time with that one. I wonder if there are Christians who do not struggle with depression, that have difficulty rejoicing in all things and are not very positive. Do you ever have trouble being positive?

Some Truths About Heav

 Call me Pollyanna if you want. I don't care! I believe that heaven awaits me, and it will be my eternal home. I'll tell you this, once I'm there I'm staying. I'm going to shed these filthy rags, and leave them behind in this defiled, sinful world. Every horrible thought I’ve had on earth will be deleted from my mind, and every evil, tragic, violent image that I had wished I could unsee will disappear. There will be no words in my vocabulary such as anger, hate, bitterness, and greed. No stress, and nothing to cause me frustration at the place where I'm going.

You and I will not  get bored. God will have plenty for us to do. All of us will have responsibilities. One more thing, we won't need our watches in heaven. We are not going to be on the clock. The only time in heaven will be FET, Forever Eternal Time. There will be no time restrictions. Everything we do will be for Jesus. All we take part in will honor the One who made it possible to be at home with our Heavenly Father.

The Invitation

I pastored small churches for 40 plus years, and I gave an invitation at the end of every Sunday morning service. Many times I was discouraged and disappointed that no one responded. Sometimes I wondered why I even bothered to give an invitation. But then after weeks of no responses someone would come down the aisle and share with the church what God had put on their hearts. Public decisions to accept Jesus as Savior; someone whose heart is breaking and just wants their pastor to pray with them; a Christian who has wandered from the Lord, and as they listened to the word of God being preached were convicted by the Holy Spirit knowing they needed to return to their Father—just a few reasons to give an invitation. 

When I was a young man I knew God was calling me to preach, but I didn’t want to because I didn’t think I could get up in front of people and preach. For over a year I kept putting off making that decision to preach.  Finally, one Sunday morning during the preaching service I realized that I could no longer refuse to obey God’s will for my life. I was afraid to go down when the invitation was given. Satan was holding on tight, but I knew that that moment was the time I had to let the church know that I was going to do what God had called me to do. But there was no other person in the church that I wanted to tell than my pastor. He had prayed with me many times about my struggle, my fear of public speaking, and he was the one I wanted to tell first. If I had not gone down that day I’m not sure I ever would have made the decision to preach. 

I think churches should always give people the opportunity to make decisions for Christ. And I think that the pastor,  and/or the pastors in larger churches should be available to receive those who want to publicly share their decision. Personally I don’t want to talk to an elder, a deacon or another member of the church after the service is over about my desire to do something God is telling me to do. If an invitation is not given the likelihood that people will act on what God is calling them to do is much greater. It is my opinion that churches that don’t offer an invitation are throwing water on the fire within the hearts of those who need to publicly tell what God is leading them to do. I know I’m old school, but if this practice worked many years ago I don’t know why It can’t work today.

Faith

 FAITH

What is faith? It is trust, assurance and confidence in God. Living faith is shown by service and obedience to God. 

This is a great definition of faith. A follower of Jesus should always trust him, be assured that is is able to do what is best for you, and have confidence that he will keep his promises. 

Have faith in God when you feel lonely. Believe the promise of Jesus that he is always with you and will never leave you.

Have faith in God that his word is true and without error. Trust that the way to salvation is found from the beginning to the end of God’s holy word. 

Have faith in God when your heart is broken, when you are grieving, and you are torn into because you think your world is falling apart. 

Have faith in God when your body is hurting and your pain is almost unbearable. Have assurance that God cares for you when you are sick and when you are close to breathing your last breath.

Have faith in God when you pray, and pray and pray and God doesn’t seem to answer.  Be patient because he will answer. Have faith in God when his answer is not what you wanted. Trust in him that he knows the plans that he has for you, and his plans are always best. Have faith in God that he will provide. You will have what you need, not always what you want. 

The last part of the definition says that a living faith is shown by your service and obedience. There is a serious flaw in what you call faith if you are not serving God, and you are not being obedient to the ways his word says you are to live. 

James, the half brother of Jesus, wrote that if a person says that he has faith but does not have works to go with his faith, then his faith is useless or dead. There are many who speak of faith, but they really don’t know what faith is. Living faith is shown by service and obedience. There has to be commitment and determination to follow Christ. We must serve him in all the ways he taught his disciples to live. Where would the church of Jesus Christ be if those early disciple had not obeyed Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Question: What song do you think of when you read this post?

Only One

 The average American household has multiple items of the same kind. For instance most of us, depending on if you are male or female probably have more shirts, blouses, pants, shoes, purses, and other types of clothing than you can count. In our houses we have many more lamps, pictures and nick knacks than we realize. How many chairs do you have? What about vehicles, guns, books, televisions and communication devices? I could go on and on listing things that we have more than one of. I think it would be mind boggling if we took inventory of all the duplicate items that we have. 

There may be a number of things that you own of which you only have one. But there is one most important thing that everyone of us have. Every person, past and present, has but one life. There is only one you. God did not make a duplicate when he made the person you see when you look in a mirror. Each of us were wonderfully made. We were created for a purpose. We were made through loving kindness. Every individual was born in sin, but because of God’s grace each of us has been given the opportunity to be forgiven of our sin to become children of his kingdom. God made us to live forever. He created us to be with him forever. 

As wonderful as we are in the sight of God we are extremely fragile. Just as we are careful to take good care of all the things we own, we should take care of ourselves both physically and spiritually. If we do not eat properly, exercise, get plenty of sleep and avoid things that are harmful we will suffer in various ways. God will not be pleased that we have not taken care of  one of his precious masterpieces. In the same way God expects us to be diligent in carrying for our spiritual self. We are to daily receive the spiritual manna that God offers us. Study and meditate on the holy scripture. Meet our Lord in conversation allowing him to speak to us. Praise and worship him privately and corporately. Surround yourself with others of like faith. We need each other. I need encouragement that my brothers and sisters give me, and they need my encouragement. We are to serve together because that makes us stronger. 

Why is all of this important? Because the one person and one body that is you will certainly die. You and I don’t know when, but it will happen. Hopefully you will be ready when death knocks on your door. Taking care of your life now us important because when you stand before your creator you will want to hear him say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”