My problems originate where?

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–7)

Read at weddings and other special occasions, the love chapter in first Corinthians is so familiar it has almost become a platitude. The problem with platitudes is that we hear them so often we forget what they really mean and usually fail to do what they really teach.

The love chapter is like this. Love is proactive yet it is easy to say I love you to family members and yet be impatient with them or unkind. It is easy to say I love my friends but I can envy them and I can boast about myself to them. I can say I love people but I can be arrogant and rude if they cut me off in traffic or talk down to me in some way.

As Tozer says, we have a problem in that we want to be known as being spiritual, close to God and walking in the Truth, but how easy to forget that “every flower and every fruit has a stalk and every stalk has a root, and long before there is any bloom there must be a careful tending of the root and the stalk.”

This morning’s Bible readings took me to both Matthew and Mark where Jesus tells His disciples:

“Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (Matthew 15:17–20)

He was talking about roots, or to put it in technical terms, the GIGO principle is not our problem but rather the difficulty is the garbage that is already in there, the sin principle, the love of ‘I want what I want’ without paying any attention to the will of God. He says to think pure and wholesome thoughts, not immoral or mean, or false and greedy. Without those being weeded out, there is no fruit in the garden of a life, or at least none that matches the description of what God wants.

Tozer says we misunderstand thinking the flower and the fragrance and the fruit come by some kind of magic, instead of by cultivation. Another misunderstanding is thinking it will appear if I stare at it long enough, memorizing the right verses, going to the best conferences, faithfully attending worship services. All are good things but the doing of them does not remove the weeds nor make love grow in my heart. Confession is needed to clear out the junk:

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Obedience to the Holy Spirit is also needed to produce the fruit:

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:3–8)

The devotional for today points out the many words in the Bible that are included under the banner of caring for others in obedience to God, words like: love, charity, brotherly kindness, tenderness, meekness, longsuffering, patience, forbearance, unity, gentleness. However they are expressed, they need to be more than mere words, more than platitudes and more than nice sounding promises. If my life is going to be fruitful, I must do them.

^^^^^^^^

Jesus, it is easy to find reasons to stay home, read a book, keep to myself, neglect the needs around me. I can say I don’t know how, and say that I am praying continually, but love is not passive. Love gives. I need to get off my butt and move.

Spiritual sitting ducks

Idleness is not a good idea. A former pastor told of a time in college when he was on the football team. He’d been benched for some reason (injury?) and was not playing with the team. At first he cheered for them just as any team member would do, but over time noticed himself becoming critical of the team. Soon he was criticizing the coach too. He said he eventually found himself hoping the other team would win.

Spiritual inactivity is not a good idea either. Taking time off from teaching a Bible class was God’s idea, and I did need a rest. However, I found myself being tested and needing to watch that I didn’t fall into criticizing the team hard at work in my church. I also have had to watch myself in areas that I never realized were problems. My mother used to say that the devil found work for idle hands. I know what she means. When I’m not “pressing on” he keeps offering me stuff to do that would only mess with my life.

I’ll be teaching again in the later part of March, and also have been asked to do a major presentation at our district convention. Both involve preparation and study, and this has taken me off that bench, yet I still feel a bit “out of it” as if I need a spiritual tune-up of some kind. Friday and yesterday helped. We had a ladies retreat at our church with a vibrant missionary speaker. Her work and life story inspired and encouraged everyone.

Today’s devotional reading is something like yesterday’s in that the focus is on my need to confess my sins and on God’s power to clean up my life. The verse is:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

This are David’s words. He had been idle too. His men were at war but he was at home in his palace. One night he stood on the roof top and saw a beautiful woman taking a bath. The rest of the story is briefly outlined in Friday’s post.

After this, David repented. The word “repent” is not about feeling sorry as much as it is about turning from something to something else. For me, it could be about simply getting off the bench and back into action, but here it is about forsaking sin and embracing the Lord. Without repentance, God cannot forgive or cleanse my life.

This verse is significant in another way. The verb translated “create” is the same one used in Genesis 1:1 and refers to what only God can do. David asked that his heart be made new, that he be restored and made steadfast in his determination to remain a “man after God’s own heart.” God is the only source of such a renewal. No one can make that happen, just God.

The devotional reading repeats that a true confession of sin includes repentance. I’ve sometimes held back on confession because I was not ready to let go of a sin. It is fairly common for young Christians to tell the Lord we are sorry for a particular sin that we commit, even thank Him for already forgiving it, but that is all. No change happens because repentance is missing.

I’ve realized that I need to hate my sin as much as God hates it. I have to see that it is destructive to me and to my relationship with Him. He has shown me that I must also desire His presence, desire also an open and clear communication with Him that is not clouded by anything that displeases Him. I have to want to be on the team, not critical of anything my Coach is doing, or the other players, and certainly not hoping for sin to score any points.

It has been nice to have a rest. Preparing lesson material and teaching takes much time and energy. Serving the Lord in this way also involves spiritual warfare as the enemy does not want me to be effective or others to learn.

However, too much time out is also dangerous. Spiritual muscles can atrophy. My heart can get lazy and my skills can become dull. I’ve found staying “in shape” while not in action much more difficult than it is when God gave me plenty to do.

Not only that, I’ve seen that this ‘vacation’ has had far more purpose than I expected at the beginning. I am more aware of the dangers of not being involved. Serving the Lord can make us targets, but as my dad used to say, it is harder to hit a moving target. When someone is a Christian and not serving the Lord, they are simply sitting ducks.