They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love

If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no records of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:1-8a NRSV)

For the past week, the daily scripture verse from my Gateway Bible app has focused on love. I can't help but wonder if it was a lead-up to Valentine's Day. A daily reminder of what true love is reminds me sentimental affection, as well as infatuation, is not the love Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians. We cast that word around flippantly. We apply it to objects, food, music, as well as people. Somehow it doesn't feel right.

During the prior seven days as my bible app meted out daily portions of that passage from scripture, I found myself convicted of how often my love is superficial. I think I love like Christ, but when pressures mount, my heart can sometimes become irritable, unkind, find things unbearable, and lose hope. I read each daily verse over and over until tears formed as I perceived my clanging cymbal life. I had felt fairly grounded in what God-love is and believed I walked in it, but I've seen once again, there is to be continual growth in us. We will not reach the pinnacle of perfect love until we see Jesus face to face. Once we feel we've made it, God has to open our eyes to our poverty, and our shortcomings, which we have to be willing to see and desire to change continually. He doesn't do it punitively, but in mercy, so we will repent of coasting and cry out to grow more in Christlike love.

Today's verse tore at my heart. But then when I felt so far from its mark, God gently reminded me how far I have come walking hand-in-hand with him because of his boundless love, the love he wants to flow through me: In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice our sins. (1 John 4:10 NRSV) We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19 NRSV) Oh, glorious truth! What hope that should bring.

Where we lack love, God is ready to pour his love into us and through us. 1 Corinthians love is possible through our humble confession of how we fall short of sharing God's love when it's just plain hard. It's easy to love the lovable, our dear families and friends. It's easy to love the masses we don't really rub elbows with. But when we readily confess our lack, God will lead us to a place where we have the opportunity to love the difficult, the modern-day lepers we want to cross the street to avoid. Stay on the same side of the street and let God lead you into a deeper love for all people. 

Jesus told the twelve the world would know they were followers if they loved one another, and he meant 1 Corinthians 13 love. Laying down your life love. And just as they were to first evangelize in Jerusalem and then move outward to the world, our command to love begins with the people closest in proximity to us, some of whom may be challenging. Then we move outward as we grow in greater love.

There is a song made popular during the Jesus Movement of the '60s and '70s, They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love. I've had to ask myself just how clear it is that I am a Christian by my love. My words are worthless without love; love freely given without expecting it to be reciprocated. 

I must admit, I sometimes fall short. If others do soul searching they may discover they also sound like a clashing cymbal at times. God's love will lift you and me over and over until we fully love like him: wildly, absolutely, and without condition. 

Slowly, but Faithfully

My regular readers know much of my history: Alcoholism, drug abuse, and mental illness to name a few things I have written about. I may have also written about my struggle with PTSD from a home invasion in which I was beaten, robbed, and threatened with a knife. Some circumstances were before I wholly embraced Jesus, some after. 

My history includes things that added to what I've named left me a broken person. Some of the brokenness was self-inflicted, some resulted from what others have done to me, and some to which no fault can be assigned. While sins were committed against me by unbelievers before my life changed radically, some have been at the hands of Christians who have been quick to judge me by my past. I have been open about much of my history, but more often than not I stay silent because of the rejection I have experienced in the Church, wounding an already wounded person. 

Like Humpty Dumpty, people can be shattered by self-committed sins, sins of others, and the circumstances life sometimes deals us. And like him, we cannot be put back together again by human effort. I can't heal myself. I nor others are able to reassemble the person I was before my life went south. But there is hope for what seems to be a hopeless condition; the words Jesus spoke to his disciples that I use as a signature tag in my emails: With God, all things are possible.

What is impossible for us, is not beyond God's healing power. But it's a lifelong process, often with two steps forward and one step back, at least that's how it's been for me. I so want to say I am utterly healed and whole, but I'm not. Yet, the Holy Spirit is active within my heart, mind, and soul working the healing process. Like Paul, I've pleaded with him in the past to remove the constant pricking of thorns, but he hasn't. Why does God not heal us right away? Gradually I have come to understand the answer to that question. God's plan for me, and other broken people, is complete dependence on him throughout our lives in this world. 

I believe it was the author Henri Nouwen who wrote God's grace, mercy, and light leak through the fissures of our brokenness, drawing other broken people to him. Honestly, I would be a poorer person was I completely whole right now. I would likely be a Christian who shows little mercy toward frail people who are seeking sanctuary in Christ. 

God knows me better than I or others know me. He knows without utter dependence I would shrivel on the vine by striking out in my own strength and wisdom, causing more brokenness. Knowing that makes me cling to my Savior. It's what he wants for all broken people. And frankly, if everyone asked, God would gladly reveal their brokenness. I am not alone. My experiences may be different, but all have sinned and all have been sinned against and are broken. What an opportunity God gives us to channel his abundant grace to the hurting people he brings to us, and he will bring them. And if we allow, he will also bring people into our lives whose presence he uses to show his loving acceptance of who we were and where we are now in the healing process.  

Slowly, but faithfully he heals while his mercy and grace flow through our broken places showing there is indeed hope for all. 

Though Trials May Come

I am reposting my third blog entry from 2008, the year I began Everything is Not Relative. I have been reading my blog entries from many years ago to see if I've progressed, not as a writer, but in becoming more Christlike.  I can honestly say with humility, that God has been growing me. I still have many issues to work on and fall short far too often, but I am a work in progress. I sincerely hope my readers have been able to take away something beneficial from this blog. The whole point of it is to chronicle my journey with the Lord. As Michael Card, a Christian singer/songwriter from the 70s and 80s sang: 

There is a joy in the journey, there's a life we can love on the way. There is a wonder and wildness to life and freedom for those who obey.  I hope the following entry blesses you: 

 There are days when nothing goes right. I stub my toe getting out of bed, the toast burns, I'm late for work and customers are royal pains. These are the days that try me and I admit I don't always live up to the title Christian. It's like I'm watching myself in slow-motion and see I am about to stumble and fall, yet am powerless to stop it all from happening. Or am I?

A while back I watched the movie "Evan Almighty." It's a cute feel-good movie about a modern day Noah. Tucked in among all the silliness was a nugget of truth. In one scene, God (Morgan Freeman) is talking to the wife of Noah and listens as she pours out her frustrations and fears. In response, he tells her that when we pray for courage God doesn't just give us courage, rather he gives us the opportunity to be courageous. When we ask for patience, the chance comes to demonstrate patience. That scene made me cry because he spoke it so kindly and I realized how true the words were. We cannot live by the strength of the Holy Spirit or demonstrate his nature without trials.

Days like today were tailor-made for the Holy Spirit to reveal himself to the world through me. It is when demands increase and stress abounds that we have opportunity to let him show his character through all of us. Do I get it right every time? No, I don't. But eventually, I do. He keeps giving me chances to grow. James 1:2-4 says, "My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing."

Some trials are life-and-death issues, like a cancer diagnosis, a lost job, or the death of a loved one, and others are simply everyday stresses that have worn us down. But the words of James apply equally in all trials. While we are in the world, God grants opportunities for us to learn to be like Jesus every day of our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. He also grants us the companionship and fellowship of other believers who walk with us through the trials that come our way.

Regardless of how our days/lives are going, God has promised to uphold us and extend his grace so we may bear the burdens and show ourselves children of our Father. We are not alone. Praise God for his great mercy and wisdom! May you know the love, grace, and peace of God that surpasses all understanding in all your trials today.

He Has Shown You

 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:6-8 NIV)

As I read that scripture this morning during prayer time, I remembered verse eight as being my mother's favorite bible verse. She told me that on several occasions. When she passed away, I was tasked with connecting with her pastor about the service message and music. He ended up preaching Psalm 23. Don't get me wrong, I love that Psalm for its comfort. But to have preached on Micah would have been greatly more challenging. And it would have been much more comforting to me if the challenge would have been accepted. My mother did her level best to walk by that verse. 

This passage of scripture challenges us because it clearly states what God expects of us, and frankly, we sometimes sidestep it as Christians. Not always, but enough that we need to look deep into our hearts and see why we will offer other things to God. 

Micah asked what he should bring to atone for his transgressions. He asked a reasonable question. Under the old covenant, precise sacrifices were commanded for multiple reasons. Among the acceptable sacrifices were calves, rams, and olive oil. The firstborn male to open the womb was dedicated to the Lord. But in the book of Hebrews, the author writes that after the sacrifice of Jesus, we are no longer to approach God with the sin and guilt offerings of the old covenant for covering sin. Jesus made the ultimate and final sacrifice for sin. We can boldly approach the throne of grace by his blood. 

But for reasons I have yet to fully fathom, perhaps pride, we often approach God with the sacrifice of our works. Perhaps because of the words, "Faith without works is dead." But it's a very fine line between human faith works and Holy Spirit faith works. We do things because Christians ought to do them, true enough. We are well-intentioned. But it's so easy to do things God does not intend us to be doing. We ask for his blessings on our plans and follow through with them. Many preach that approach will lead to failure, but not always. Sometimes we succeed as we draw upon our own talents, grit, and prior experiences. We then decide we have done God's will. God is not going to be angry at us for doing that, but we cut ourselves off from the refreshing wind of the Holy Spirit we would experience as we go about doing exactly what God does intend for us as individuals and as churches. Instead, we grow weary of doing good, burned out, and even frustrated, which grieves the Lord for us. I can't tell you how many times I have fallen into that trap.

Micah's aha moment was from the Holy Spirit. He heard what God expects from us as our sacrifice:

 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (verse 8)

We cannot walk humbly with our God when we bring our own sacrifices. Jesus' sacrifice is ours. God expects us, in return, to work for justice for the poor, the widows, and the orphans. God is merciful and we are to be the same toward everyone we encounter, even the unlovable, the cruel, and the immoral whose sins may repulse you. Jesus is calling them to his mercy. Can we do any less?

The sacrifice we make to God is to walk as Jesus did during his life and ministry on earth. And he acted justly, he loved mercy and he walked humbly with his Father. He came bearing his sinless blood to the heavenly tabernacle and offered it there where it was accepted for all humanity, for all time. 

I admit I was initially challenged by this passage because of my mother. It intrigued me. But that is not enough. I need to embrace the challenge to the point I seek God earnestly for power to live it every day.

 He has shown you, O Susan, what is good...

The Summons to Love

This morning I have been listening to the worship song, The Summons, and have been deeply moved by it. If you've never heard it, or if it's been a while since you listened to it, please go to YouTube and pull it up: https://youtu.be/GiXnbOORTAU  The challenge it presents to our faith lived out daily is real and God-spoken. 

I have fallen so short of God's best recently. Like the parable of the scattered seed falling among the thorns and thistles, the things that have claimed my attention have choked the flow of the Holy Spirit through me. This is a hard thing to admit on this page for all to see. I don't want to own up to it, but I determined when I began this blog years ago that I would chronicle my faith journey honestly. I've been humbled many times by what I've read in scripture and heard from the lips of more mature Christians. 

The recognition of missing the mark first elicited grief, then a degree of shame followed. Shame is a heavy burden to bear, but it's easy to fall into its grasp; at least it is for me. Again, an honest admission of weakness. But a verse from the song reminded me God isn't into shaming his children:

Will you love the 'you' you hide
If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside
And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found
To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound
In you and you in me?

Scripture says to love others as we love ourselves. For many, including me, that can be difficult to do in light of our sins and failures. But how can we love others with the same wild abandon God does if we do not embrace his grace, mercy, and love toward ourselves? We can't if we don't see his transforming work in us. Paul wrote we have put off the old and put on the new. We are new creations in Christ. When we catch hold of that truth we are enabled to love the self we are becoming as we walk in his light.

Who you once were before you came to Jesus is no longer an issue. And your current sins do not stop God from loving you. All the law claimed against you was nailed to the cross and Jesus' last words were, "It is finished." Grace. No more can or should be added to that. 

Today, set aside some quiet time. Ask God to show you "you" and dare to love who you see.