Disappointments?

 

Yesterday God prompted me to think of the folly of those who put getting rich at the top of their priority list. All day I remembered this amazing promise from Jesus:

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:33–34)

And all day I was thankful that He blessed my life with abundance. Putting His righteousness at the top of the list resulted in blessings never expected. I often feel like a spoiled brat in His kingdom.

Yet this morning I woke up feeling anxious for tomorrow, for family who do not seek the Lord, and anxious for other things and commitments. I sang the truths but felt as if I didn’t mean them or believe them. The sermon yesterday was about disappointments and many of them coming from wanting the wrong things. Is my desire for the salvation of others a ‘wrong’ desire? I don’t think so. Why then this sadness?

Could it be that I wanted instant results? One unsaved family person was here — with no interest or desire in anything but what could be seen on her cell phone. But then we went to an event at church and a boy who spent much of his youth in our home was there and we had the most incredible conversation about our abundant life in Christ. I can rejoice that this boy now a man who seems more like family than some family does.

But this morning the burden for family stuck. Piper points to God and in mixing the order of these verses, reminds me that God…

… determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. . . .  His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. . . .  He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. . . . The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground. (Psalm 147:3-11)

Reading them in this order seemed to calm my heart. This God who names the stars (and they do what He says) is able to deal with all whose lives are wounded, sometimes with their own sin. One person comes to mind who has been on a slippery slope for many years and is now in a slimy pit. Is there hope for her? Will this pit break the hardness of her heart?

I might as well ask if the God who tells the stars what to do can bind up her wounds. What folly to think that she is beyond His power. Yes, He could cast her to the ground, but I’m not asking for that, but thinking how He loves us even while we were sinners and I want Him to delight in the day when she hopes in His love rather than in the lure of all that is not only false but ruining her life.

PRAY: God, the burdens in my heart threaten to overwhelm me at times, even after the blessings and joy of deep and sweet fellowship with Your family and mine in the house of the Lord. Forgive me for letting those burdens overrule the peace and joy of trusting You totally and completely. You are fully able to accomplish Your will in the lives of those who seem to never give You a second thought. I know the Holy Spirit has the power to heal hearts that are broken and messed up by sin as well as other wounds. All I can say is ‘have at it’ — humble their pride and in stedfast love and mercy, bring them to their knees before Jesus.

 

God’s love — not like ours!

 

Today’s reading says that Christians tend to view the love of God in the same way that we love others, which is often selfishly and with impatience, suspicion, and conditions attached. That is, I most love those people who have characteristics that please me, and this can warp my idea of God’s love — thinking that He only loves me when I do the things that please Him.

This attitude is some of the reason Paul wrote to the Galatians. They were trying to please God by keeping rules so he wrote:

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:2–3)

I understand this and am aware of the flesh and those selfish motives and actions that are contrary to living like Jesus. I’m also aware that loving others is not the same as my old nature’s version of love. Jesus said:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34–35)

God’s love is unconditional, wants the best for me and is well described, both by the written Word and His living Word. But still the flesh tries to ruin it. I’ve realized from these and other verses and by the conviction of the Holy Spirit that when another Christian loves me with that God-like love, I selfishly enjoy its appeal to my old nature when I should be seeing it as a gift from God to show me how to obey the above new commandment! The people who are unselfish and love others like Jesus loves are models, teachers, instructors — not only a wonderful gift from God, but sent to show me what I should be doing also.

Abiding in the love of God is not wrong. It is the only way to survive the storms of life. Several other Christians have shown me how to love others like Jesus does by simply being like Him and I need to learn from that, not just selfishly eat it up like a bratty kid who will not share her birthday cake. God does not give His love to me so I will hoard it, but so I will share it.

Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5)

The older King James version says: “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5) so I searched the meaning of “poured into” and the sense is: “to be expressed, be poured out.” That is, God loves me so that His love will go forth from me, not for me to hoard it for my own enjoyment. This gives new meaning to verses like these two:

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Hebrews 13:16)

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (Romans 12:13)

Surely the needs of others includes that amazing love. While sharing it with others, it will be a sacrifice, a giving up of my time, effort, and selfish I-wants, but such sharing is never going to leave me bereft for God’s love in inexhaustible. It never runs out. I can give it away and He pours more into my life.

PRAY: Of course I know this is true. It is the doing of it that often eludes me. Jesus, You are the source of all goodness and loving kindness, yet You have sent me several examples of how You want that to look in my life, not just for me to enjoy but to imitate. Thank You for Your sweet, unlimited love demonstrated. Enable me to be more teachable and to learn from and imitate these who are far more obedient than I have been.

Love endures with discernment

 

Last night we watched a television episode where one of the characters wanted to be helpful. She was in a dangerous situation but without experience or training she did not realize the danger or her vulnerability. She just wanted to help and nearly died because of her ignorance. The word ‘childlike’ comes to mind. Even though this was fiction and acting, I gripped my seat and hoped she would not be harmed.

Today’s devotional is about love enduring when in incredible opposition. The character in the TV show was in that situation, but her endurance was ambition, not love. She was not concerned for the well-being of those who threatened her as well as being oblivious to the danger. Her situation was the opposite of what the NT describes as love:

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:7)

The example given is Stephen who preached the Gospel but was hated for it. His enemies stoned him to death and as he fell, he cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60).

Without love, most people would never forgive or ask God to forgive, but Stephen followed the example of Jesus who prayed while dying on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Jesus had good reason to endure and I am to do the same . . .

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1–4)

For me, loving others is often a sacrifice of time, energy, or resources. It involves believing the best about others and trusting God to work out any complicating issues. For instance, someone is demanding my attention to meet her needs the way she wants them met. I’m relying on Jesus to help me sort that out. Is it love to do what she wants done? Or are those demands confusing the instructions from the Holy Spirit as to how God wants me to respond? I do realize that I must love her and not do wrong toward her:

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8–10)

I also know that love comes from the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5 and Galatians 5:22 make that clear. It is also normal Christian behavior:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:7–10)

This love is to be “earnest and from a pure heart” and a love that puts a ‘roof over’ the sin of others. (1 Peter 1:22; 4:8) It is part of how I demonstrate my love for God.

At the same time, the people of His day wanted Jesus to show the love of God to them by setting them free from Roman rule. Instead, He set them free from sin, getting to the bottom line of their need and not going along with them telling Him how to love them. This clarifies my confusion. I must listen to what the Lord is telling me concerning the greatest need of others. It may be what I’m being asked to do, but because the request seems very selfish, God very likely has another plan.

PRAY: Jesus, I asked for clarification on this puzzle and You have shown me that love is not blind or ignorant or based on what I think or what needy people think. You gave me this verse days ago that says my “love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment” (Philippians 1:9), so my prayer is for greater understanding of what is going on with this person so I know what You are wanting me to do that is the best way to express Your love for her.

PONDER: Pay attention to the Holy Spirit and to the above Scripture as well as to what people say about their needs. Make sure no selfishness is involved, especially in me.