Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment. I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. So I urge you to imitate me. (1 Corinthians 4:10-16 NLT).
Today’s devotional announces a little bonus as well as an important truth. Soon I will be able to email you an mpeg file of some highlights of messages I have preached through the years. The entire sermon seems to be too big to email and I have not found a way to post them yet. We will be working on that also. That’s the announcement, here’s the truth: There is far more power in imitation rooted in love than blind obedience rooted in fear.
My favorite activity as a youngster was accompanying my Dad fishing. He was either incredibly lucky or very skillful. We always caught as many as we wanted. He always caught more than I did. I remember those days as if they were yesterday. We would rise early and drive to the pier to get some live shrimp for bait and then make our way to the flats off the coast of Galveston. The water was always warm, so we merely waded into the water with our bait boxes in tow. He always wore a baseball style cap, cocked to one side. I never knew why and never thought to question it. I would watch his every move. I tried to imitate each one. I wore my cap the same; waded out to the same spot; baited the hook the same; cast to the same place; and worked the line just as he did. I remember when he’d catch a fish and I wouldn’t, I’d ask, “What’s wrong?” He’d smile his crooked smile and with a glint in his eye, he’d reply, “I guess you’re not holding your mouth right!”
I never did outfish him, but I still tried to imitate his every move. The interesting thing is that I did that not because of some rule or law that he had issued. He never said that I must do the things he did in order to be successful. He simply led the way and my love for him made me want to follow. That’s the point of being a disciple of Christ. He didn’t give us laws and rules; He gave us Himself in grace. Paul caught that and led others the same way. My great hope for you is that you will stop working on your “checklist” of right things to do and begin falling in love with your Savior as never before. If you do that, you’ll do all the right things, but they will come far more easily to you and bring far greater results. Give it a try! Imitate Love!
Showing posts with label love for God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love for God. Show all posts
Friday, August 13, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
"the Face of Favor" (Part 3)
A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. (Mark 15:21-24 NIV).
J. Sidlow Baxter says that Simon was converted on the Day of Pentecost. We don’t know for sure when, but the “why” is apparent. The bearing of the cross of Jesus made an eternal impact on him. Simon must have left Golgotha and been troubled at the sight of what he had seen. Surely he couldn’t just shake those images. Over the next three days he must have spent a great deal of time pondering what he had experienced. It was certainly far different than he had imagined as he had dreamed of his pilgrimage in the years leading to that singular event in his life. It’s not hard to imagine that just fifty days later when he heard Peter preaching, he also felt the compulsion in his spirit that called him to faith and commitment. He went into very active and public service following that day. In fact, he is the Simon we later learn was a prominent leader at the church in Antioch.
I read a story about a monk who prayed night and day to receive the marks of the Lord upon his hands and feet. A vision was given to the monk where he was shown another mark on Jesus that most of the world had forgotten. It was the mark left on his shoulder from bearing the cross, falling under its weight three times. He was also told that if he truly desired the marks on his hands and feet, he must first have the mark on his shoulder!
There are two closing remarks in this little series about the face of favor and the difference it makes in our lives. First, regardless of what you have done, or not done, Jesus turns His face toward you in acceptance not rejection; forgiveness, not judgment. That’s the central message of the Cross. He died so that we might live. He suffered so that we might be set free. He paid our penalties in full! The second remark is that the cross we are called to bear can be heavy, perhaps even causing us to stumble and fall. Jesus intimately understands that! In fact, he has already prepared others to come along side us and help carry it! It’s strange that cross-bearing always precedes crown-bearing. However, it is the calling we all are asked to accept.
There is a verse of an old hymn that speaks to me: “Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there is a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.” The original words of that verse are different. It went “Must Simon bear the cross alone, and other saints god free? Each saint of thine shall find his own, and there is one for me.” How about it? Have you taken up your cross? Come on, join me. It is a great journey. It is a path that leads to abundant life!
J. Sidlow Baxter says that Simon was converted on the Day of Pentecost. We don’t know for sure when, but the “why” is apparent. The bearing of the cross of Jesus made an eternal impact on him. Simon must have left Golgotha and been troubled at the sight of what he had seen. Surely he couldn’t just shake those images. Over the next three days he must have spent a great deal of time pondering what he had experienced. It was certainly far different than he had imagined as he had dreamed of his pilgrimage in the years leading to that singular event in his life. It’s not hard to imagine that just fifty days later when he heard Peter preaching, he also felt the compulsion in his spirit that called him to faith and commitment. He went into very active and public service following that day. In fact, he is the Simon we later learn was a prominent leader at the church in Antioch.
I read a story about a monk who prayed night and day to receive the marks of the Lord upon his hands and feet. A vision was given to the monk where he was shown another mark on Jesus that most of the world had forgotten. It was the mark left on his shoulder from bearing the cross, falling under its weight three times. He was also told that if he truly desired the marks on his hands and feet, he must first have the mark on his shoulder!
There are two closing remarks in this little series about the face of favor and the difference it makes in our lives. First, regardless of what you have done, or not done, Jesus turns His face toward you in acceptance not rejection; forgiveness, not judgment. That’s the central message of the Cross. He died so that we might live. He suffered so that we might be set free. He paid our penalties in full! The second remark is that the cross we are called to bear can be heavy, perhaps even causing us to stumble and fall. Jesus intimately understands that! In fact, he has already prepared others to come along side us and help carry it! It’s strange that cross-bearing always precedes crown-bearing. However, it is the calling we all are asked to accept.
There is a verse of an old hymn that speaks to me: “Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there is a cross for everyone, and there’s a cross for me.” The original words of that verse are different. It went “Must Simon bear the cross alone, and other saints god free? Each saint of thine shall find his own, and there is one for me.” How about it? Have you taken up your cross? Come on, join me. It is a great journey. It is a path that leads to abundant life!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
"Like God's Family" (Part 5)
Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.” (Luke 15:11-12 NIV).
As we come to the next section of the parable the curtain falls on the first act of this little drama and we see something that can be very helpful to us in our families. In the first act, the father exercised calm wisdom at the son’s request; in the second act we see forgiveness in action.
A great deal has happened between the leaving of the young son and this point in our story. To set the story for you, I can imagine the father standing at the crest of the hill, where he has gone every evening since his son left. He stands there and waits until he can no longer see because of the darkness. However, on this particular night he sees something on the horizon. He strains to see clearly, something catches his eye. He’s not sure at first, but then he realizes that it is no stranger as has been the case so many times before. He runs to meet his son and opens his arms to welcome him home. The son has a little speech he’s been rehearsing over and over in his mind since he began his journey home. Every bend in the road he’s rehearsed it: how wrong he was, how he didn’t deserve to be his father’s son anymore, how he just wanted to be a servant in his father’s house. His father met him in the road, they embrace, and the boy begins his little speech, “Father…” and the father puts his hand over his mouth and says, “Son, you don’t have to tell me anything, not where you’ve been, or what you’ve done. I know. The important thing now is that you’re home.”
He takes him home and the curtain falls on the second act of this drama. NOW WATCH THIS… DON’T MISS IT! We learn something very important about the love of God from this scene. When we come back to God, he doesn’t ask us where we’ve been or what we’ve done. He doesn’t demand an accounting of the way we’ve spent our money. He just puts his arms around us and welcomes us home. He forgives us. And, isn’t that just what we want and need? It is what all of us want and need, including our children. This is the example of God’s methodology of parenting and family life. I wonder how many families have been destroyed simply because we have not followed God’s example of grace and forgiveness. Tomorrow we’ll get more specific about these principles of forgiveness. Today, is there some member of your family that has become as a stranger to you simply because you cold not, or would not extend grace and forgiveness? Maybe it’s time to take another step toward making your family like God’s family.
As we come to the next section of the parable the curtain falls on the first act of this little drama and we see something that can be very helpful to us in our families. In the first act, the father exercised calm wisdom at the son’s request; in the second act we see forgiveness in action.
A great deal has happened between the leaving of the young son and this point in our story. To set the story for you, I can imagine the father standing at the crest of the hill, where he has gone every evening since his son left. He stands there and waits until he can no longer see because of the darkness. However, on this particular night he sees something on the horizon. He strains to see clearly, something catches his eye. He’s not sure at first, but then he realizes that it is no stranger as has been the case so many times before. He runs to meet his son and opens his arms to welcome him home. The son has a little speech he’s been rehearsing over and over in his mind since he began his journey home. Every bend in the road he’s rehearsed it: how wrong he was, how he didn’t deserve to be his father’s son anymore, how he just wanted to be a servant in his father’s house. His father met him in the road, they embrace, and the boy begins his little speech, “Father…” and the father puts his hand over his mouth and says, “Son, you don’t have to tell me anything, not where you’ve been, or what you’ve done. I know. The important thing now is that you’re home.”
He takes him home and the curtain falls on the second act of this drama. NOW WATCH THIS… DON’T MISS IT! We learn something very important about the love of God from this scene. When we come back to God, he doesn’t ask us where we’ve been or what we’ve done. He doesn’t demand an accounting of the way we’ve spent our money. He just puts his arms around us and welcomes us home. He forgives us. And, isn’t that just what we want and need? It is what all of us want and need, including our children. This is the example of God’s methodology of parenting and family life. I wonder how many families have been destroyed simply because we have not followed God’s example of grace and forgiveness. Tomorrow we’ll get more specific about these principles of forgiveness. Today, is there some member of your family that has become as a stranger to you simply because you cold not, or would not extend grace and forgiveness? Maybe it’s time to take another step toward making your family like God’s family.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
"The Thirsty Deer" (Part 8)
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me--a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:5-8 NIV).
So far I’ve done a lot with Psalm 42 to encourage you. Today I’d like to be a little more practical and look at some of the things that can be done. The Psalmist has a secret. It’s not as earth shattering as you and I might think it is. The secret is not found in a self-help book or in the horoscope. You won’t find it on Oprah, Dr. Phil, or Dr. Oz! Most people think it sounds a little too easy. The Psalmist’s secret to overcoming hopelessness is an active prayer life.
Look at the emphasized verse in our reading today: By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life. There it is. He came to understand that constant communication with the Father kept him from slipping into extended periods when he couldn’t seem to manage. So here are some “principles” of the continuous practice of prayer:
First, learn to pray conversationally. Just like you might chat with a friend or loved one, chat with God through the day. It may be no more than a phrase or two. The important thing is to train your mind to recognize that He is always there. You are never alone.
Second, practice “His song.” That’s not listening to Christian music, though there’s nothing wrong with that at all. I encourage you to listen to praise and worship music as often as possible through the day. However, this is the act of worship. It is practicing gratitude with God. Concentrate on the little things that happen, or even don’t happen each day, and thank Him.
Third, put yourself in the way of receiving God’s love. This is a horizontal, you and others, experience. We give and receive God’s love when we interact with others in a godly way. This is a little tougher than the others. It requires that we both give and receive love. I’m pretty good at giving. Sometimes I’m not very good at receiving. Get good at receiving. It brings a blessing to you and those who give!
Last, recognize that no storm of life is forever. Your “forever” has been secured by Christ and it is going to be perfect in every way.
We’ll see more of the Psalmist’s declaration tomorrow. Today, would you begin to form these habits in your life? It will make a difference. God guarantees it!
So far I’ve done a lot with Psalm 42 to encourage you. Today I’d like to be a little more practical and look at some of the things that can be done. The Psalmist has a secret. It’s not as earth shattering as you and I might think it is. The secret is not found in a self-help book or in the horoscope. You won’t find it on Oprah, Dr. Phil, or Dr. Oz! Most people think it sounds a little too easy. The Psalmist’s secret to overcoming hopelessness is an active prayer life.
Look at the emphasized verse in our reading today: By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life. There it is. He came to understand that constant communication with the Father kept him from slipping into extended periods when he couldn’t seem to manage. So here are some “principles” of the continuous practice of prayer:
First, learn to pray conversationally. Just like you might chat with a friend or loved one, chat with God through the day. It may be no more than a phrase or two. The important thing is to train your mind to recognize that He is always there. You are never alone.
Second, practice “His song.” That’s not listening to Christian music, though there’s nothing wrong with that at all. I encourage you to listen to praise and worship music as often as possible through the day. However, this is the act of worship. It is practicing gratitude with God. Concentrate on the little things that happen, or even don’t happen each day, and thank Him.
Third, put yourself in the way of receiving God’s love. This is a horizontal, you and others, experience. We give and receive God’s love when we interact with others in a godly way. This is a little tougher than the others. It requires that we both give and receive love. I’m pretty good at giving. Sometimes I’m not very good at receiving. Get good at receiving. It brings a blessing to you and those who give!
Last, recognize that no storm of life is forever. Your “forever” has been secured by Christ and it is going to be perfect in every way.
We’ll see more of the Psalmist’s declaration tomorrow. Today, would you begin to form these habits in your life? It will make a difference. God guarantees it!
Monday, June 7, 2010
"The Thirsty Deer" (Part 1)
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. (Psalm 42:1-2 NIV).
Mary and I have been moving the past few days. What I thought would be a relatively easy task has turned into quite a project! We are still not finished completely as of this writing! An interesting thing happened while we were moving that sparked a line of thought for this series The Thirsty Deer. Kyle and Brandy, as well as Faith and Logan were present to help us move. They were indispensable. However, the kernel of the devotional thought came to me when Logan saw me taking my guns out of the cabinet and safe to move them to the new address. He knew they were real guns, but wanting to help, he asked, “Grandpa, can I help you carry the guns?” I answered him that I’d better do it myself. Even though I had checked to make sure they were unloaded, I felt it was safer for me to carry them down the stairs and into the truck. I didn’t want him to feel left out though, so I asked him to carry some of my other hunting gear.
On the way down the stairs he began a rapid fire series of questions about the rifles and what they were used for. When I told him that I used some of them to deer hunt, he became very interested in that. He asked when he could go deer hunting. I told him that was up to his mom and dad. He ran inside to ask immediately! Kyle said he might be able to shoot a gun when he was twelve. Then Logan came back to me and recited his plan to go deer hunting on November 28, 2015. That’s the day after he will be twelve! He allowed a day to travel back to Texas after his birthday, since he thought that would be the best place to hunt deer!
There are many places in Texas where the deer population is very dense. I’ve hunted many of them. Some of the roads that took me to those places were some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. These roads could also be some of the most dangerous to travel at night. There are so many deer along the side of the road that you must exercise extreme caution. Sometimes they will dart in front of you without any notice at all. I’ve often wondered why they were in such a hurry to cross the road. Maybe they were being chased by some unseen threat. Maybe they were just thirsty!
I wonder if that is the background the Psalmist uses meant in today’s reading. Had he witnessed deer in such a frenzy to find water? Had he seen the anticipation of a deer who was heading to quench its thirst? I’m not sure exactly what correlation the Psalmist was making to deer in their search for streams of water, but I’m fairly certain he was saying that He had a deep thirst for God. Whatever the reason the deer was in such a hurry, I know it must have been critical in its mind. At that moment nothing mattered like getting to the water. What matters most in your life? What do you need most? Run to the God who cares for you more than you can imagine. Develop a passion for Him so great that you will be like the deer who panted for water. Let your soul thirst for God!
Mary and I have been moving the past few days. What I thought would be a relatively easy task has turned into quite a project! We are still not finished completely as of this writing! An interesting thing happened while we were moving that sparked a line of thought for this series The Thirsty Deer. Kyle and Brandy, as well as Faith and Logan were present to help us move. They were indispensable. However, the kernel of the devotional thought came to me when Logan saw me taking my guns out of the cabinet and safe to move them to the new address. He knew they were real guns, but wanting to help, he asked, “Grandpa, can I help you carry the guns?” I answered him that I’d better do it myself. Even though I had checked to make sure they were unloaded, I felt it was safer for me to carry them down the stairs and into the truck. I didn’t want him to feel left out though, so I asked him to carry some of my other hunting gear.
On the way down the stairs he began a rapid fire series of questions about the rifles and what they were used for. When I told him that I used some of them to deer hunt, he became very interested in that. He asked when he could go deer hunting. I told him that was up to his mom and dad. He ran inside to ask immediately! Kyle said he might be able to shoot a gun when he was twelve. Then Logan came back to me and recited his plan to go deer hunting on November 28, 2015. That’s the day after he will be twelve! He allowed a day to travel back to Texas after his birthday, since he thought that would be the best place to hunt deer!
There are many places in Texas where the deer population is very dense. I’ve hunted many of them. Some of the roads that took me to those places were some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen. These roads could also be some of the most dangerous to travel at night. There are so many deer along the side of the road that you must exercise extreme caution. Sometimes they will dart in front of you without any notice at all. I’ve often wondered why they were in such a hurry to cross the road. Maybe they were being chased by some unseen threat. Maybe they were just thirsty!
I wonder if that is the background the Psalmist uses meant in today’s reading. Had he witnessed deer in such a frenzy to find water? Had he seen the anticipation of a deer who was heading to quench its thirst? I’m not sure exactly what correlation the Psalmist was making to deer in their search for streams of water, but I’m fairly certain he was saying that He had a deep thirst for God. Whatever the reason the deer was in such a hurry, I know it must have been critical in its mind. At that moment nothing mattered like getting to the water. What matters most in your life? What do you need most? Run to the God who cares for you more than you can imagine. Develop a passion for Him so great that you will be like the deer who panted for water. Let your soul thirst for God!
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