Be A GREAT Lover!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.  It’s a day to celebrate love and blessed, indeed, are those who know the joy of loving and being loved. Nothing in this world feeds the soul more than love. I’m not referring to the stuff that most of Valentine’s Day will be about, either.  The love that gives life says “you are a person of great worth to me”  in multiple ways; serving, affirmation, support, just to name a few. There will be multiple motivating factors for gifts of chocolates, roses, or jewelry tomorrow.  Some will be 'pay-offs. '  Some will be given in the hope of winning an advantage.  Sad to say, many roses will be sent by dutiful husbands just because 'it's the right thing to do.'

But, I am not such a cynic that I cannot appreciate that many, many gifts and cards will be exchanged with the heart-felt desire to communicate to the other person – “I love you” – and to bring them joy.

Part fact, part legend, I’m sure;  the story goes like this. Valentine was a third century Christian priest who believed strongly in marriage at a time when there was much immorality.  The Roman emperor forbade young men to marry, believing that an unmarried man made a better soldier for the empire. Valentine resisted this  injustice and conducted marriages in secret. He was caught and eventually executed in the most gruesome manner, but legend has it that he sent notes from prison encouraging love which he signed, ‘from your Valentine.’  True or not, we need that kind of bold love in our world, don’t we?

Valentine's Day is not just for romance!   Take the opportunity to write a note of appreciation to somebody who has loved you this year.  It might sound crazy to you, but how about a note in the spirit of St. Valentine to your kid’s coach, neighbor whose gone beyond the call of duty, friend who has stood with you through a rough time that affirms their worth and lets them know you love them.

I pray that Christ will make me a man who loves;  purely, wholly, and selflessly.  Jesus was not ashamed to tell a room full of men, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command." (John 15:9-14, NIV)  My desire that my words and actions will make love a reality for many, with the hope that ultimately they will see the Great Lover and be healed!

Christian love is much, much more than sending a card or buying some flowers.  It is a deeply other-focused way of life that actively attempts to serve, to care, to be involved.  Those who love enrich others and are made richer. When we love in a Spirit-inspired way, people will take note and Jesus said the quality of our love will be THE mark that we belong to Him.

Meditate on this today - "This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.” (John 13:35, The Message)
______________

Father, I sing about your love,
receive the benefit of your love, and
often am almost completely unaware of how
blessed I am to be loved so wonderfully.
I worship You for the gift of Jesus Christ,
a gift of love that changed me forever.

Spirit of God, work in me today -
deeply, profoundly,
causing me to love others,
the unlovely as well as those who love me.

Lead me to people who need
to know of their worth in Your sight and
teach me how to pour out what
You have poured into me.

In this, may Jesus Christ be honored,
glorified, and receive all the praise.
Amen."

You CAN stand up under the pressure!

I learned many things in the last 24 months about standing up under pressure. In March, Bev received a diagnosis of cancer, had to go through extensive surgery and chemotherapy. We lived with daily uncertainty about the future.  I, too, had some physical issues and was hospitalized twice.  These things came on top of the day to day issues that continued. Paul’s words about living with brokenness became very real to me. "We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us." (2 Corinthians 1:8-10, NIV)  I am not writing this for sympathy, but to encourage you! If someone had written down all the trials that would come our way from November, 2012 to November, 2014 I would have thought – “I can’t survive that. It’s beyond bearable.” But, here I am! Bev is strong again. My body is healed. The other issues are settled and God is still Lord of my heart.

There is a word in the New Testament about this. It’s a fun word to say:  hupomone (hoop·om·on·ay). It's a compound word, the prefix meaning 'under' and the root meaning 'remain.'  It is found in this passage from Hebrews – “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance (hupomone) the race that is set before us," (12:1)  Here we see the distance runner given as an example of how to live as a Christian. Unlike a sprinter who explodes from the starting block, pouring everything he has into a 100 meter dash, Christians are called  run their race - steadily and consistently living for Jesus-- with patience, with endurance (hupomone)!  The word is about holding steady even under intense pressure!

Lots of people start something with gusto- only to collapse before they finish! Marriages that begin with great romance and firework can go flat, the love buried by a mountain of work.  We intend to do that new job in a way that leads us to be 'team member of the year' but lose vision and turn into a burnt out functionary. Students go off to college intending to make the Dean's list and too easily get sidetracked into the three day weekend party life style.  And...  some people invite Jesus Christ to become Lord and begin the race to Eternity with enthusiasm (interesting word that comes from a compound word meaning to be full of God) only to lose the joy, to let the full life of the Spirit, turn into the dull life of religion.  Hupomone is not about a BIG start, it's about a faithful finish!

Let’s be 'finishers;'  people who keep their word, who fulfill their calling, who maintain their Christian witness through joy and sorrow, Summer and Winter, sunshine and rain.

Do you take time to think about commitments, praying for guidance - and only embracing those that you will see through to completion?  Jesus told a little teaching story about this. Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’  Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce? (Luke 14:28-32, The Message)

The implied conclusion is - FINISH what you start! That means - hupomone!

Remember that it isn't "all guts, no glory." Finishers enjoy what mere starters never find: the satisfaction of a job well done,  a life well lived,  a victor's crown!
Need a boost to stay in the race today? Here is the word from the Word.  

Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever.  And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.  (Hebrews 12:2, The Message)

HUPOMONE! You can endure much more than you think – with God’s strength that He pours into you.

Rugged Faith to Last a Lifetime

My heart broke as I read a blog in which a man wrote about the death of his faith in God.  His story was compelling! A boy from his youth group died tragically while this man stood watching.  As the life drained from that boy he prayed for a miracle that never came. He said that was the moment when he concluded that God was not Who he thought he was. I not going to blame that man for failure because I believe it more likely to be true that he was inadequately equipped. His Christianity, as he describes it, was largely based on ‘experience’ rather than being constructed with both healthy reason and acceptance of Divine Mystery.

It is important to ask if the roots of our faith are deep, if our hope in God is built on solid rock or just feeling some `good vibes'.  In many churches Christians are not being trained to live for Christ, or to aspire to greatness, holiness, and unwavering commitment.  Instead, they are hyped up on emotionalism, sentimentalism, and a great ‘worship’ experience!  Even more tragic is that many do not know the difference. Rugged faith is founded on God's revealed truth, the holy Word. It is strengthened by daily decisions that are made in alignment with that Truth. And, it will stand up when tragedies, cancer, disappointment, temptation, and mystery come our way.

Paul urged Timothy to let a rugged faith develop. "My son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ... endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 2:1,3, NKJV)  Those are not texts often preached in our American churches.  Our sermons are as padded as our pews!  Make no mistake. God is not asking us to seek out misery for miseries sake, but He is telling us to get into training, to do the hard stuff – with an eye on growing up into spiritual maturity.

How many prayers have you prayed asking God to take away the tough choices instead of courage to live through the circumstances with faith and a focus on eternity?  When we try to avoid hard choices and steep pathways we will inevitably have an under-developed faith. When we step away from service that demands sacrifice, or run away from the work of forgiveness, or refuse to face the hard facts about our sins and weakness, we make faith unnecessary.  Yes, many of  us choose wide detours that keep us on smooth highways that keep us from breaking a holy sweat!  But, those choices also make our spiritual muscles non-existent. Jesus will lead us through deep valleys as well as onto high mountains. He will take us through seasons that cause us to hunger deeply for more of God.  He said "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it." (Matthew 7:13-14, NLT)

That message is counter to our culture and mostly falls on deaf ears. Americans want it all now and value happiness far more than most everything else.

Perhaps you wonder, why work so hard to own what I cannot see or hold in my hands?  The answer is found in our destination.  Heaven is our true home, not this present world.  We live kingdom lives now so that we can enter the Kingdom gloriously at Christ’s return or the moment of our death.   Will we live like Abraham?   "By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God. " (Hebrews 11:8-10, The Message)

Disciple, do not be seduced by the preachers who promises perpetual prosperity and  unending happiness. Such "Christianity"  will break down when real adversity shows up; and it will. If your ‘faith’ is shaped around 'Bible study' that is just a search for the daily promise, prayers that are little more than ‘bless me, Jesus’ - you’re headed for a crisis and a likely loss of ‘faith.’   Isaiah says that real faith is shaped around real choices to connect with God and do His work.  (Pause here and ask the Holy Spirit to make these words live.  Now, read on.)  "Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. " (Isaiah 58:9-12, The Message)

If your life is blessed today, praise God and begin to 'lay up treasure' in Heaven, by building a rugged faith that will stand when the world around you crumbles. The steady practice of spiritual disciplines produces a harvest of righteousness from which we can be sustained in the lean times.

Worship faithfully, not the `god' of your imagination, but Awesome Lord of Glory found in Isaiah's visions, at the Cross of Calvary, and in the dungeon with Paul.

Learn the Word and really eat the Truth, meditating on it, so it is driven down deep to the core of your soul. Don't let religious jargon that sounds like the real thing replace the Truth that will keep you in times of trials.

Here's a word from the Word. Note especially the outcome of a rugged faith. "It will bring you much praise and glory on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed."

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.

These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:3-9, NLT)