What Is Love?

I John 3: 16-20 

This is how we know what Love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers [and sisters]. 

John called himself, "the one Jesus loved." He was so vitally aware of how Jesus loved him beyond his understanding, he never got "over" it, but continued to focus on Love in his writings. 

Love is more than a mere feeling: it's a passion so deep that we will do anything, pay any cost, for the benefit of the one loved. Like God loves us. 

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the Love of God be in him?

This is not "laying down our lives" if we cannot even share our temporary material possessions with one another. 

Little children, let us not love [only] with word or with tongue, but in deed and Truth. 

To say loving words is not enough. Our tongue and words should always reflect the love we have for one another, but it should never stop there. 

This then is how we know that we belong to the Truth, and how we set our minds at rest in His presence whenever our hearts condemn us. 

When "our hearts condemn us" is when we experience a guilty conscience. Knowing how much God loves us, to have given us His most precious, His Son, to die, taking our place in death to pay our debt of sin; then forgiving all our sins, and putting His righteousness upon us, washing us as white as snow, as though we never sinned at all because He never sinned. 

For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.

If you think your own heart is more powerful than God to let it condemn you when God forgives you, then you have another think coming. 

He has already thought through all the ramifications of every evil that has ever or will ever be perpetrated against His good, and has already taken care of it all, from beginning to end. And has given us the choice to repent and turn to Him.

As we live through Time, we are experiencing the working out of His Plan of the Ages; as He works through every scenario, ties up every loose end, and completes every story of every person He made. 

He loves everything and everyone He made, and has gone to every extreme end to show us His love. 

Only when we decide to reject His love and goodness to us is when we find ourselves on the wrong path, the road to ruin. God doesn't desire our ruin, but He will not violate the freedom of the will that He granted us so we could choose Him. 

So let us love one another as our Father has loved us. Let us always consider other before our own benefit, and be deeply passionate in our care for one another. Anything shallower than that is not God's love for us, so must also be how we see one another. With His eyes. 

O my Father, You are Love. You love each one of us as passionately as a newlywed groom is enamoured with his new bride. So You made us the Bride of Christ, to show us how and how much You love us. 

Father, help us to love one another as You have loved us. Teach us how to love You and others. You have shown us in what You have already accomplished for us, all written in Your Word. 

Help me, Father, to respond to Your Love, Your lovingkindness to me, with the love that will show the World that I am Your disciple (John 13:34-35). Teach me how to see the needs of others that You have enabled me to meet, and give me Your loving words to share with everyone in my world how much You also love them. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Horizontal Or Vertical

II Corinthians 19: 12 

For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves, 

We are to be bold in our witness for our Lord, but not to compete with one another.

But when they measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

Whenever we get ourselves into comparisons and competetitions with one another in the spiritual realm, we're showing that we don't understand how the spiritual realm works. 

Our spiritual focus is not on one another horizontally--it's vertical. If we're just looking at one another down here, counting numbers and adding up sums, we're missing out on the real treasures God has for us. 

God's gifts are primarily spiritual--the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)--these are the results of thinking like God thinks, forming attitudes aligned with God's views, and living out the Love-style God shows us. None of this is physical, it's all spiritual. 

So when we try to compare ourselves with one another, we're missing the point. We can't see into each other's hearts, so we can't measure anyone else's closeness to God. We're only responsible for our own relationship with our Lord, and make sure we're relating to our fellow man with the lovingkindness we have received from Him. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

God's Law

Exodus 5:20: 1-3, 4-6

Then God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, Who brought you up from Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before Me.

This is the first and foremost commandment. To pray to any other is idolatry; praying to that saint or angel instead of praying to God is putting them before Him. Anything we put first is our god.

The second commandment says:

You shall not make for yourself an idol (statue) in the form of anything in Heaven above, or on the Earth beneath, or in the waters below. 
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing Love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Vs. 4-6.)

There is a sect of Christianity that lost it's way in the Middle Ages and never recovered, who pray to statues of the saints in Heaven and light candles to them. This is idolatry.

We are to pray to God the Father in the Son's Name, and no other.

Jesus took each one of our place in death (because we all deserve death) to save us. 

He also died for all of us together to purchase us, so He is our rightful Judge. 

So if you consider yourself one of many He died for, then you are still under Wrath.

God very graciously gave us all the rules for living our lives here to get along with how He made it. When we know the principle under all this body of Law and follow it (obey it), then we can know the bounty He put here for us. 

When Israel followed the Lord God and obeyed His laws, then they had abundant crops (their wealth), and peace with their neighboring nations. 

It's only when they were drawn away from God to honor the gods of the peoples living among them and around them, is when the weather went against them to produce draughts and floods, and their neighbors attacked them. 

Now the Law is written "on our hearts," in recognizing the foundational principle all these precepts were based on; namely, loving God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. When we base our lives on this Love principle, then we will, as the result, be obeying all the Law God gave Moses. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Process

Romans 8: 28-30

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purposes. 

We can confidently trust God to be powerful enough to use even the worst, destructive and evil things to fit into His good plan to give us good, in this life and eternal life forever. But only for those who He has called. And it's all to fulfill the purposes for which He made us and called us.

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son,

God knew who would be in His own Family, and determined the destination we would arrive at when He finished changing us from the vile sinners we are into the pure, shining, Resurrected being we will be, like Jesus is now.

That He might be the firstborn among many brethren;

The term "firstborn" is a position in a family given to the preeminent sibling, even if not actually the first one born. Jesus was always the Son of the Father, and holds that preeminent position. He didn't have to be "born" to be the Son. And the Father wanted many, many more, so He makes us brothers and sisters to Jesus in becoming our Father by the New Birth. 

And whom He predestined, those He also called;

The ones God chose before He created the Universe are the ones He is calling to Himself to be His children.

And whom He called, these He also justified; 

Those who are called to Salvation are saved from the power of sin in their lives, and will be delivered from the very presence of sin, by cleansing by the sacrificial Blood shed on Calvary. That Blood completely washed away every stain of sin, justifying the recipient by putting his sin on Jesus and Jesus' righteousness on the penitent. 

And whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The final destination is our glorification, when we are resurrected as Jesus was, and our physical bodies will be changed into glorious spiritual bodies. Because God began this process in each of us, He will finish it. He always finishes what He starts, so our glorification is just as sure and real today as our physical life is right now. 

And we can know all this for sure, as we trust our Father in His truthfulness and faithfulness. This is our faith. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Short-Term Versus The Long-Term View

John 5: 18

For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

The Jewish leaders did not want to give up their power and authority over the people, or stir up the Romans who had conquered them. 

They knew that if they recognized a Messiah, then He would be their King, which was a very dangerous proposition in that day. The Romans were notorious for being the bullies that would violently put down any movement that rebelled against their authority. 

So that was the "blaphemy" charge with which the Sanhedrin condemned Him. And Pilate wrote the charge, nailed to His Cross: "Jesus, the King of the Jews." 

Politicians will do anything they can to hold on to the political power they wield over the little people. They think of themselves as above the law, not subject to the consequences of their crimes. That has never changed.

So these Jewish leaders would refuse to recognize the obvious, that Jesus' miracles could only be done by God's own power. Their denial enabled them to do the unthinkable: to murder their only hope. 

Whenever we see only the temporary we are also vulnerable to Satan's subtile little lies that lead us into faulty thought processes. Once we start down that wrong road, it leads us further and further away from the good that our Father wants for us.

God will not violate the free will He gave us. We are free to destroy ourselves and everyone around us. We are also free to choose to do what is right, the hard thing that may look foolish in the short-term. 

We always need to see the final consequences, drawn out to its logical conclusion, to know which path will lead us to where we really want to go. 

So many will embark on the road to ruin, following those who have gone before. That is the broad way, where the crowds run (Matthew 7:13).

But the narrow way has a small entry, and only those who are wise will search for it and find it. Once entered the path is hedged in, with a definite path to follow (Matthew 7:14). 

God's Word is the footlight we need to see each step forward, as our car headlights only light the portion of the street we are driving on, not the whole way to our destination. Only enough light to show up the potholes and stumbling stones in the way, so we can bypass them or step over them (Psalm 119:105). 

The Jewish leaders were politicians, only looking at their own temporary advantages in the Roman system they lived under. They couldn't see the final ramifications of their efforts to rid themselves of this "problem." 

When I need to make a decision that will affect my future, I try to look far enough ahead to see where this way will take me. My intent is to go the way that will lead into the very best that my Father has planned for me, so I seek His Word on how to think. 

My thoughts lead to my opinions, which form my beliefs and convictions, which lead into my words and actions. It all starts in my mind. 

O my Father, thank You for Your Word! Thank You for giving us Your thoughts, for sharing with us Your Love and Your bounty (II Timothy 3:16-17). 

Lead me, Father, in the way I should go. Show me the path You have placed my feet upon, that I may do the things only I can do, and accomplish the works You have prepared me to finish in this my time in this society at this period of the history of the World. Help me to know that only Your Spirit in me is what will enable me to do this. 

Thank You for showing me how everything fits together, how the whole Bible describes this Earth and Universe from its very beginning, its Creation (Genesis 1:1ff), all through the human history of the World of Societies we build on it, to its final culmination, its pinnacle, and its end (Revelation 20), to be re-made into a New Heaven (Universe) and a New Earth based on a whole different basis of being (Revelation 21-22). So all our knowledge, our Science, will become obsolete then, and we will learn a whole new way of existing (I Corinthians 13:10). 

And Your Kingdom will continue to grow. The increase of Your reign will never end (Isaiah 9:7). 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

What Else Can This Mean?

Genesis 50: 20

And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

This is what Joseph said to his brothers, the other sons of Jacob, who God renamed Israel. They had wanted to kill him, but instead they sold him into slavery, thinking that they'd never see him again.

But God was with Joseph, and caused him to rise in Pharaoh's Egypt. 

Joseph "re-framed" how his brothers treated him. He faced that they meant to do evil to him, but he considered God's purpose as much higher than his brothers'. 

We also need to "re-frame" the bad things that happen to us; the insults, the betrayals, the losses, our own failures. Our Father always fits whatever happens into His good plan for each of us, and for all of us. 

Whenever we find ourselves in a negative frame of mind, we need to think, "what else can this mean?" We don't need to understand all the details of how God will use even the worst that happens to us for our good; we only need to trust Him. He knows more than we do, He sees the whole picture and causes all things to promote His timeline, to bring His Kingdom to this Earth. 

He is the One Who is wise, and clever enough to bring good out of bad. He never calls "bad" "good," He just arranges it all to come out right in the end. We can trust Him to do that.

Joseph's brothers carried the guilt of what they did to him all those years, and when they found themselves in front of him, they were afraid of him, thinking that he would be like them. But Joseph had forgiven them a long time ago, and was glad to have his family around him again. 

When someone is mean to us, or insults us, or cuts us off on the highway; we need to remember that, "hurt people will hurt people." Everyone is living his/her own story, and will sometimes take out their frustrations on someone else. We're all susceptible to this. 

O my Father, please help me to always remember how much You love me and want good for me. Help me to remember to pray for whoever would mistreat me in any way, that You would comfort and heal their hurts, and draw them to Yourself. Keep my attention off of myself and my own little hurts, knowing that You have comforted and healed me. 

Show me how to re-frame every negative memory that is dredged up in my mind. Replace the anger and pain with Your own Presence, as the Great Physician Who loves me more than I am able to imagine. 

And may You receive all the glory for planning it all out, for our good and Your honor. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Thorns And Snares

Judges 2: 12-13, 20-21, 3

They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, Who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger because they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, Because this Nation has violated the covenant that I laid down for their forefathers and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the Nations Joshua left when he died. 
I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their forefathers did. 

...They will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.

God gave His people every advantage. He wanted them to know how powerful He is and how much He loved them, and wanted the very best for them. 

But they didn't drive out all the people who were already there, as God told them to; instead they let them stay and work for them, to be their slaves.

God wouldn't drive them out if the people wouldn't cooperate, so they became "thorns in their sides" and their idols became "snares" to trap them. 

And that's what happened. When that whole generation died, the new generation didn't even know their history, of how God brought them out of Egypt, gave them His Law, and brought them to this good land. And they were caught in the snare of these gods, worshiping and serving them instead of their own Lord God (verses 10 & 11). 

It only takes one generation to forget our history of where we came from and how we got here. To know who we are we need to be acquainted with what went before us. If we forget that, then we become a people without identity. 

This has been deliberately planned and carried out by our enemy, in taking out of our schools the important history they need to be taught, and the culture into which they've been born and should be a part of. 

We now have a generation who have no identity, so they grasp whatever the World is holding out to them, causing division, hatred, and violence. Exactly the opposite of what our loving Father wants for us. 

We need to know who we are. We need to learn what our forefathers learned, and build on it. We really need to go back to our foundations, the concepts that enabled us to have such great prosperity in the past.

Just like Israel, we need to turn back to the Source of all of our well-being--our finances, our relationships, our physical and mental and psychological health; and God will see to our environmental health with the weather and the "acts of God" as He did for Israel when they followed Him in His ways of thinking and living. 

When they obeyed His Law, the fields yielded abundant crops (the source of their wealth), and they had peace with the Nations around them. Life was good. 

It was when they forgot God that they were ensnared in the traps of the gods (demons) of the peoples among them, and the weather destroyed the crops, and neighboring Nations rose up and conquered them. 

We see this recorded in Judges, the cycle repeated over and over. You'd think that they (we) would learn to follow God. 

But, no, Israel asked for a king they could see, instead of their King who took care of them. He made them special, but they preferred to be like the other Nations of the World instead. 

God honored Jacob's family in giving only them His Law. He wanted for them to display to the World how wonderful God is--how He elevates His own people above all the other people who don't revere Him. So they will see, and want to also follow this God Who is so good and generous and fair and just (I Kings 8:41-43). 

Today God is calling to Himself people from every Nation, every region, every language, every tribe, every family, all over the World. Christ's church, His bride, is a new kind of Nation, that the World has never seen before. We are called out of darkness into His marvelous light, to be a nation of holy priests, belonging to Him as His own possession; so that we will proclaim His excellencies (I Peter 2:9). 

It is up to us to teach our children and grandchildren. We cannot afford to let them forget who they are, who God is, and how much He loves all of us so much. It's so important, both for now and for eternity. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!