How to love as God loves

"Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself." - Ozzie Chambers

The Bible reveals to me that I must learn to love people. I am not always very good at loving others. God has loved me not at all because I am worthy of it or that I am lovable in any way, but because it is His very nature to love. How can I actually love in a way that is GOD's nature? To love someone as God has loved me!?

God will likely bring people purposely into my life who I do not like much. He will bring people who are not at all easy for me to love.

God: the great patronizer? No, it is His love. That is His kind of love, which I am called to.

My problem is I most often try to force it and make this kind of love happen. I do not think this kind of love is going to happen within me overnight, but I also do not think God is forcing me into it. Yes, he has called me to it. He has demanded it of me, but I do not think he expects it so promptly that he pushes me forcibly into it either.

In fact, 2 Peter 3:9 tells me that "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." I cannot overlook Jesus' ability to wait for me. I cannot forget that Jesus knows I am incapable of loving as He does, and yet he patiently waits as I learn.

But it is that patience which should compel and drive me to be better. It is that patience, which should drive me to love more. I have to go to the hard to love and not only love them more, but love them as Jesus has loved me, which as I have revealed, is PATIENTLY!! There will always be irritating people who are very difficult for me to love, but the call still remains. Love others as Jesus has loved me. Love with patience!

But it all must be nurtured. It is not an overnight change. I must learn to grow that kind of love within me. I have to learn that kind of love as I daily learn to accept that kind of love.

It's just the Grand Canyon

What do we do when God seems distant and hard to see? There are those times when God seems so difficult to know. I find encouragement in Romans 1 verse 20.

“His eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.”

We are able to see God in the things he has made. If we would take more time to notice these things we would come to see him and know him more clearly.

We would stand at the lip of the Grand Canyon unaffected.  A huge problem is that we have lost all wonder.  Nothing amazes us anymore.  We grow more and more numb to the amazing!  We forget how powerful God really is because none of these things amaze us anymore.

Remember being scared to death of a thunderstorm?  Remember when the Grand Canyon WAS amazing before seeing it in a million pictures?  We lose all the wonder when trees, natural running streams and crashing waves, enormous mountains are no big deal to us.  We see them every day, in pictures or as we walk outside.  But we forget the amazing things we learned in elementary school; about how trees grow, the details about how waves are created.  We forget all those things because we learn it and are no longer amazed.

We do our ability to praise a disservice!  We do God a disservice when we are no longer amazed by these things.  Praise is our amazement expressed!  The problem is that we simply are not amazed!

How many tears

Imagine how many tears it would take to washa man's dirty desert-wandering feet enough to need your hair to dry those feet!

How many tears would one need to cry? How much pain would it take to produce? What kind of love?  What kind of dependence?

I must be climbing

There is a flaw for me in the whole “mountain and valley” analogy we so often use for our spiritual journey. We commonly make the mountain top that spot we desire and aspire to, and the valley those times when it’s the most painful and difficult to take on. Then we make the climb the journey in between.

Now let’s think of the literal in hopes of understanding the symbolic a little more. In reality, I have never been in a valley I did not enjoy. Often valleys are complete with rolling grassy hills and a cool breeze. It is not all that unpleasant.

I do love mountain tops. When you are the mountain top there is a powerful sense of accomplishment. The mountain top is refreshing and holds a beauty which is often spectacular.

So there is only one other element left to be grueling, painful, and difficult. The climb up the mountain is the painful part. I love climbing and hiking, but it is usually a grueling task to climb the face of a mountain. Your heart beats to the thinning air and physical exhaustion. You come around every bend and corner wondering if THIS one will be the last. But a hiker, climber and backpacker will continue to trek because they know one thing; they are climbing to get to the top. It is painful but it is worth it knowing your endurance gets you to the top. Your endurance comes with pain, but it all gets you to the top where the beauty, refreshment, and accomplishment await.

Chapter 1 of James starting with verse two reads, “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.”

The truth is we all face trials and will continue to face more. Something I am learning to do in my prayer time lately is to actively praise God for my trials of all kinds. It has really stretched my faith to watch trials come my way and to not only take them to God (which is a common Christian reaction) but to praise God for those trials.

1 Peter 1:6-7 reads, “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Christ is revealed.”

This kind of reaction stretches our faith to points many of us have never been before. I am talking about actually praising God…thanking him FOR our painful trials.

Why is this so difficult for us to do? Because we have the mountain and valley analogy all messed up. We have convinced ourselves that the pain is the valley, and like literal valleys we are comfortable there. So we just stay there. We have seen our trials in the wrong light.

We have to remember the valley is not the worst part of the journey. The climb is the worst part of the journey. If I can keep myself from experiencing pain and saying, “I must be stuck in the valley,” and instead turn those moments into praise by saying, “This hurts! I must be on my way up. I must be climbing.” If we can turn our responses to that, we can find it easier to praise and thank God for the pain and trials. Because we climbing!

When you say "I hate to say this, but..."

When you say "I hate to say this, but..." we assume you love to say this.

Come on! Admit it! Whatever you follow up that precursor with is something you have either been dying to actually say at the right time or it is something you actually say all the time...BECAUSE you love to say it.

Save the theatric! Just own it. You cannot wait to say this out loud for everyone to hear, so just say it.

This phrase usually completed with: - "I told you so" - statements about the state of an organization or country - statements about a person to or behind their back

Pain and Gods goodness

True Story: Our professor asked the class a simple question:

"What do you think of when you think of God's goodness?"

Slowly hands went up, and then a flood of hands shot up. It was story after story of hurt, pain, and suffering. Each story reflected how incredibly painful situations came and went, but there was a common thread of retrospect by which each person realized they were stronger having come through it. They each reflected on how they came away from those moments with a stronger understanding of God's goodness.

After about 30 minutes of story, I sat amazed that all these stories of pain faced and gone through were sparked by a question about what we thought of when we thought of God's goodness. We were not asked about pain, evil, hurt, or why bad things happen to good people. We were asked about God's goodness, and it sparked reflections on painful points in life.

I came away wondering if we could understand God's goodness until we have come through things like this.

How incredible is God's goodness!

When you fall

"When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand." Psalm 37:24

I love the reminder today of WHEN we fall, because we certainly will and do. For those who follow Christ, we are promised we will fall, but we will not fall too far as God holds our hand.

My two year old has been walking for a little while, but from time to time she attempts running. She can only go so far at a certain speed before she falls. I will hold her hand often while she walks and runs. She does fall, and WHEN she does, it is never too far. I have a hold of her hand.

In verse 39, the Psalmist writes, "[God] is their strength in time of trouble."

In your life, there WILL be trouble. God does not take trouble away. He is strength IN times of trouble. He will be the hand to hold you in times of trouble. He will not let you fall too far, but fall you will. Find strength only God can be and give to you in those times.

The richest least of these

I found the least of these in our rich America.  Huh?  How could that be possible?  Where could you have possibly found the least of these here?

Jesus tells the Disciples, “I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.  I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, naked and you did not clothe me.”  Then they ask Him the same thing I could here at the university.  “God, when did I ever actually see you hungry, thirsty or naked here?”  There are no least of these here, God.  They pay good money to be here.  These people don’t ever go hungry or thirsty, and it is illegal to be naked in public should they even desire to do so.  Where are the least of these among me here?

God would answer me to tell me I am swimming in a sea of people who are hungry, thirsty and naked in their soul.  How am I meeting those needs?  What do the least of these look like in the culture around me?

Are we only hungry for food?  Do we only thirst for liquid?  Do we only need clothing to cover us?  I am sure our hearts would bleed with all sorts of answers to that question.  Of course we hunger and thirst for all sorts of things.  Many of us hunger for purpose.  We thirst for passion.  We are hungry for some sort of understanding.  We are thirsty for someone to recognize us; for someone to affirm us in our pursuits and existence.  We all want to be clothed in someone’s concern for us.  We desire to be covered by some sort of care from anyone.  We are all hungry, thirsty, and naked souls.

More importantly, the least of these surround me on all sides each day.  But Jesus’ question still lacerates my heart today.  “What have I done for the least of these among me?”  Not much!  This kills me not only because it’s a condition on my heart, but because is literally my JOB to do something for the least of these among me.

I fear that I refused to give to them what they needed.  I fear I did not clothe many if any friends in affirmation.  I fear I did not feed many if any friends’ hunger for understanding or purpose.  I fear I did not quench many if any person's thirst for passion or someone else’s active concern for them.

I fear there were too many hungry, thirsty, and naked souls I passed by for an entire year with miniscule interest.  I fear the least of these among me saw me too BUSY for their hopes, fears, concerns, aspirations, dreams, doubts, disappointments, and loneliness.  And its my job, not only as an pastor but as a Christian.  I must love more.

I MUST QUIT SERVING PEOPLE AND START SERVING THE LEAST OF THESE AMONG ME!

CAN I SEE THE LEAST OF THESE IN EACH PERSON I SEE AND MEET?

What must you be like

But it was on SALE!!!

Early this year I put out a spoken word poetry EP. I had been charging $4 which was $1 a track, but I think that is ridiculous. I have marked the entire album down to $1. WHAT?!?!

Yeah! $1

You can pay $1 for the entire EP, or truth be told, you can download each track by naming your own price. You can name your price at $0.00 and its all yours. I only ask that if you take it for free, you please click like or tweet it. If you're going to take it, please share it!

[bandcamp album=1107388974 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=venti]

Saved from what?

I need a more concentrated sense of my sin.  We need to understand our sin in a more detailed manner.  Only through knowing our sin in its detail can we really experience grace and salvation to its fullest within us.  Ozzie Chambers writes, "There is never any vague sense of sin [in the presence of God], but the concentration of sin in some personal particular."

This concentrated understanding of our sin is important because then there is real freedom in realizing what grace has saved you from.  It is easy for us to claim we are sinners.  OF course we are sinners!  We all know that and can claim it very simply.  We do not experience real grace in that though.

It is just as easy for us to claim we are sinners, but we have been saved.  Yes, that is true, but that kind of understanding is not concentrated enough to really understand what grace really means.  A more concentrated understanding of our sin allows us to feel and answer the real question:

"SAVED FROM WHAT??!!"

If we are only claiming the unconcentrated and ambiguous claim of being a sinner, we are no different than anyone else.  In this manner, we only know grace and salvation as a concept, which does no one any good.

We have to break ourselves down and embrace our sin that we may sincerely embrace grace offered to all of us.  When I begin to quit calling myself only a sinner, but a selfish man with too much desire to please myself through my time, my words and my actions, I can THEN feel a distinct sting of my sin.  When I feel that distinct sin, I am able to realize what I am actually saved FROM!  Salvation and grace become that much more real to me. With each sin exposed, the embrace of grace grows that much more sincere and real.

Ozzie writes, "The cleansing fire had to be applied where the sin had been concentrated."  When we allow ourselves to concentrate our sin instead of leaving it vague and general, we begin to know real cleansing.  In Isaiah 6, verse 5, Isaiah concentrates his sin.  He does not say, "Woe is me!  For I am a sinner."  We all know he is a sinner.  We all know ourselves to be sinners.  No!  Isaiah repents, "Woe is me!  For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips."  Isaiah concentrated his idea of his sin.

The Seraph touches the cleansing coal not to Isaiah's entire life either.  He touches the cleansing coal to Isaiah's lips; the very concentrated part he had repented of.

When we can concentrate our sin into the detailed sins, we can answer the question,

"SAVED FROM WHAT?!"