Two questions to seriously ponder. First, does the world love you? Does it think you’re cool, hip, a mover and a shaker? Does it love your style? How does that fit in with what Jesus told His disciples? “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” If you claim His name and accepted His grace, you are His disciple! You may be able to have a love/hate relationship with some people, but not with the Lord and the world. Second question, what do you love more than God? What earthly delight can’t you let go of and it is coming between you and Him? The first and greatest commandment is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. So, what part of your heart, soul, or mind keeps you from fulfilling that commandment? The world offers so many alluring temptations and it’s funny how the enemy knows just which ones we are weakest to resist. It takes effort, it takes commitment to stay true to God, but that’s what He does for us, He stays committed! “I chose you out of the world,” Jesus said. We are strangers in a strange land. Enjoy the temporary world you’re in but live for the eternal world where you will be going! Don’t worry, you can still be cool. A cool Christian isn’t an oxymoron, it’s what we all should be!
Even though He was rejected, even though He was ridiculed and blasphemed, even though He was mistreated and misunderstood, even though He was betrayed and beaten, Jesus still died for you! “Greater love has no one than this, then to lay down one’s life for their friends,” He told His disciples on the way to Gethsemane, and then He did just that! How great is God’s love! Can we ever even come close to that? No, but He expects us to try. “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Even more so, our love isn’t meant to be only for our friends as He stressed to His disciples. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Really, our neighbors? Even though they don’t weed their garden, even though they are busybodies, even though they didn’t return your power tools, even though they cut you off on the highway, even though they don’t look like you (thankfully), even though they don’t go to church, even though … you shall love your neighbor as yourself! When you truly grasp His awesome love for you personally, when you allow His uncomprehending love to flow through you, loving your neighbor is no longer a daunting task. You don’t have to like someone to love them. You only need to willingly obey His commandment and before you know it, you will find yourself really liking loving
“I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus told His disciples. He always used practical ways to convey His truths, metaphors with which they could easily relate. Not that everyone was a vintner or a farmer, but wine was a commonplace beverage and they readily understood the concept of growing grapes. Especially when He said, “He who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit for without Me you can do nothing.” Ever see grapes grow off a vine? Struggling with something? Maybe you’re off the Vine! You want to grow in Christ you need to stay connected, abide in Him. He wants to nourish you, help you to bear fruit. As James told us, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Are you bearing fruit? If not why? What stumbling block stands between you and the Lord? What hinders you from being the Christian you should be? We all have our hang ups. There may be some minor (or major) things that only we think we know about, but so does God. Don’t let anything keep you from clinging tightly to the Vine, and hang ups can! We need to deal with whatever it is, be it inward or outward, that comes between us and the Lord. Ask Him for help, ask Him to clean all the rooms in your heart, confess your hang ups, give them to Him, and then give Him the glory in all things. We are part of a mighty vine. Grow in it, take nourishment in it, and then produce a bounty of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. The fruit the world desperately needs to be fed!
Peace is a precious thing. Peace of mind, peace and quiet, peace from conflict, Miss America’s “world peace,” but the most precious peace one can have is the peace that only Jesus can give, that precious peace that passes all understanding. One of the last things Jesus instilled in His disciples was, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” That peace He gave His disciples is the same one He gives to us. If that wasn’t enough, He also promised to give them, and us, the Helper, the Holy Spirit. If you think you’re life is in turmoil from uncontrollable circumstances, health, finances, children, think of the turmoil the disciples went through as they turned the world upside down! His peace was with them. Allow His peace to comfort you, overflow you. Do as Paul told the Philippians. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God …” Did you catch the key there, in everything by prayer with thanksgiving? Seek Him, trust Him, in turmoil or not, and let that peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Jesus!
Running through life can take its toll, leave us with cuts and bruises, scars. Our parents tried to protect us, but cuts and bruises still happened. When we look back, if we had been a little more obedient, life would have been much easier for both parent and child. So too it is with God. Life is so much easier when we obey Him. How many times did Jesus say, “If you love Me, keep My commandments?” He wants our obedience to show our love for Him but also to save us from cuts and bruises, scars. He’s not a cosmic killjoy who doesn’t want us to have fun, He is a loving Father who wants to prevent us from leaving scars, on ourselves and others. While we are forgiven from any misdeeds we may have done, forgiveness doesn’t remove old scars. He wants to be close to us, to be there when we stumble, to keep us from falling, but like in any relationship, for Him to be close to us, we must be close to Him, obeying His Word, spending time in His Word and prayer. While He would like us to be holy as He is holy, for most of us that is a struggle, but it doesn’t mean we don’t try! David’s cry in Psalm 51 is one we all should echo often. “Create in me a clean heart oh Lord.” Show Him your love, obediently keep His commandments, and He will be there helping to prevent you from creating any new scars!
“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?” Whoa, I’m a temple, that’s heady stuff! But whose temple are you? The rest of that verse, ” … and you are not your own.” If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have been bought by His blood and belong to God. You’re not just a temple, you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and unlike many city churches, the doors to the temple need to be unlocked and open! The temple needs to be used. The Holy Spirit has filled it with His fruit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control, and the temple needs to be sharing those fruit as much and as often as possible. We need to leave the speakers in the temple turned up so we can hear His gentle voice and not be afraid of what He might ask us to do. He will never ask us to do something we are unable to do because He will already have equipped us to do it. As Hebrews 13 says,” May the God of peace … make you complete in every good work to do His will.” Jesus said He wouldn’t leave us alone and He didn’t. As promised, God sent the Helper, the Holy Spirit, and He is greater than he who is in the world! Let Him help you, lean on Him, seek His wisdom, share His fruit, listen to His gentle prodding, and keep those temple doors open!
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
By, Tim Irving – Evangelism Team
