Tuesday, April 14, 2009
FOLLOWING
Since I last wrote to you, Jackie and I have spent a few days staying in the otherwise vacant home of some friends, near Divide, Colorado. (Thanks Mike and Dianne - your kindness to us will never be forgotten.)
Their home is located about :90 from ours...but, on the west side of Pike's Peak, in the middle of rolling landscape, rocky outcroppings, and thick forrests.
Mike, the home owner, had told me to "be sure to feed the turkeys."
So, each day, I took a half bucket of crushed corn out and scattered it on the ground...banging the bucket to call in the birds...and plentiful deer.
One day it snowed a lot and I wondered if I should continue my feeding. I did proceed and walked out into the 6 inches of fresh snow to scatter the corn. I went downhill towards the treeline and began to pour a long stream of gleeming yellow feed onto the whitened earth.
This is probably useless, I thought - that is, until I turned around - and behind me, following in single file, were twenty or more big turkey's waddling uphill for lunch.
To see them in procession, with their awkward gait and long pinkish legs, brought me to a chuckle.
And I wonder what Jesus sees in us, when we try to follow Him.
It was one of His most repeated calls to His disciples.
Follow Me.
It truly is the secret to a whole lot of God-life in our lives.
And I write myself some quick mental notes...
Follow Me - means that the critical factor in my life is to stay as close as I can to Jesus.
Follow Me - means that I must learn to listen more than look...just the opposite of what we do when a person tells us to "follow" them.
Follow Me - means that I must have a submitted spirit, to always be following - no bullies in the Kingdom.
Follow Me - means that I can be deeply at ease inside, because HE will always be where I end up.
So today, may you and I be really good.....at following.
And may we follow so close, until now becomes forever.
Selah,
David
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Learning from Palm Sunday
LEARNING FROM PALM SUNDAY
This Sunday I will be speaking to the church in Golden, just west of Denver, whose pastor has been in a three year battle with cancer and is very ill. He is a valiant warrior and I hope that you will pray for him. His name is Crest.
So what do I say given this real situation and the texts of Palm Sunday? This morning here is what is emerging and I share it with you.
The text: Matthew 21:1-9
Parades are surrealistic moments when large crowds, bright colors, artistic inventiveness, and loud noises fill the air.
I love a parade.
We just need some times when we can holler, let out the tension, invest in hope and let our joy ride helium-born into the heavens.
It just does us good.
(Remember: becoming like children is a pretty important kingdom value to Jesus.)
On this day, Jesus found Himself in the center of a parade.
A "red carpet" of robes strewn before him.
"Special effects" palm-branches-waving.
Large crowds shouting hopeful extravagences - "hosanna, King, prophet...there he is!!
And the "shiney black limo"...covered in thick brown hair with occasional bleats as he walked beside his mother...a colt.
Excitement indeed...Oh wow...What's next?
But....life is not just one long happy parade.
It wasn't for Jesus either.
At the end of the parade loomed the shaddow of a cross.
Life, according to Jesus, is not picking it all up, but laying it all down.
Paul, the most prolific blogger of the first century, wrote: "I die daily." God forbid that I should revel in anything but the cross of Christ.
So that is the first point...parades are fun, but we are called live with unswerving purpose as did our Lord, and embrace the passion and cross that He allows in our lives.
Unless Jesus returns to this earth and makes "everything new" all of us have an appointment scheduled....to die. It is not the faithless that do so...it is all who have been breathing that do.
But...
The second thing I see is (here, for added insight, read John 12:16-19)
When God is God in our lives....death is never the end.
The parade takes Jesus to the cross.
The cross takes Jesus to death.
And the Father/God takes Jesus into the Resurrection...and a new forever form of existance.
Death dueling resurrection always looses.
It a pin in the first round...a TKO right after the fight has begun.
Jesus appeared after being pummeled to death, speared, nailed, pierced. beaten, spit on...(I cannot endure writing more)....and around 36 hours later he is so healthy and strong, angels attending him are dazzling, gleaming, radiant with the effect of his presence. Can you imagine being honor guard to the first one raised from the dead?!!
So Palm Sunday says to us...
1. It's not about the parade, but the passion.
2. It's not about death, but life.
3. It's not about "the end" but the beginning.
In a generation where so many were martyred, it is no surprise that what we are looking at today was commonly called "the blessed hope."
So...let's have a parade and shout and wave.
Let's stay the course no matter what "cross" is involved.
And let's keep the glow of "forever with Christ" in our hearts and on our faces.
On the journey with you...
David
This Sunday I will be speaking to the church in Golden, just west of Denver, whose pastor has been in a three year battle with cancer and is very ill. He is a valiant warrior and I hope that you will pray for him. His name is Crest.
So what do I say given this real situation and the texts of Palm Sunday? This morning here is what is emerging and I share it with you.
The text: Matthew 21:1-9
Parades are surrealistic moments when large crowds, bright colors, artistic inventiveness, and loud noises fill the air.
I love a parade.
We just need some times when we can holler, let out the tension, invest in hope and let our joy ride helium-born into the heavens.
It just does us good.
(Remember: becoming like children is a pretty important kingdom value to Jesus.)
On this day, Jesus found Himself in the center of a parade.
A "red carpet" of robes strewn before him.
"Special effects" palm-branches-waving.
Large crowds shouting hopeful extravagences - "hosanna, King, prophet...there he is!!
And the "shiney black limo"...covered in thick brown hair with occasional bleats as he walked beside his mother...a colt.
Excitement indeed...Oh wow...What's next?
But....life is not just one long happy parade.
It wasn't for Jesus either.
At the end of the parade loomed the shaddow of a cross.
Life, according to Jesus, is not picking it all up, but laying it all down.
Paul, the most prolific blogger of the first century, wrote: "I die daily." God forbid that I should revel in anything but the cross of Christ.
So that is the first point...parades are fun, but we are called live with unswerving purpose as did our Lord, and embrace the passion and cross that He allows in our lives.
Unless Jesus returns to this earth and makes "everything new" all of us have an appointment scheduled....to die. It is not the faithless that do so...it is all who have been breathing that do.
But...
The second thing I see is (here, for added insight, read John 12:16-19)
When God is God in our lives....death is never the end.
The parade takes Jesus to the cross.
The cross takes Jesus to death.
And the Father/God takes Jesus into the Resurrection...and a new forever form of existance.
Death dueling resurrection always looses.
It a pin in the first round...a TKO right after the fight has begun.
Jesus appeared after being pummeled to death, speared, nailed, pierced. beaten, spit on...(I cannot endure writing more)....and around 36 hours later he is so healthy and strong, angels attending him are dazzling, gleaming, radiant with the effect of his presence. Can you imagine being honor guard to the first one raised from the dead?!!
So Palm Sunday says to us...
1. It's not about the parade, but the passion.
2. It's not about death, but life.
3. It's not about "the end" but the beginning.
In a generation where so many were martyred, it is no surprise that what we are looking at today was commonly called "the blessed hope."
So...let's have a parade and shout and wave.
Let's stay the course no matter what "cross" is involved.
And let's keep the glow of "forever with Christ" in our hearts and on our faces.
On the journey with you...
David
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Directions
April 1
DIRECTIONS
Recently I have found a dime, and a bashed up nickel, and a bunch of pennies, and a bicycle reflector and some very smoothe and colorful stones.
It's all happened as I have looked down as I walk neighborhood streets, or restaurant parking lots.
Feels like a bit of a treasure hunt.
And some day, I tell myself, I will find a diamond, or a watch, or something that is really worth a lot.
But that just never does happen.
Looking down seems to bring just scruffed-up pennies....mostly.
But, if I look up
I see mountain peaks,
and birds high in the air,
and cloud formations playing with the last rays of sunlight,
and airplanes on final approach, bouncing slightly in the turbulence.
And if I look up "higher" still....I see God.
My "seeing" of God is helped by
the silence of the walk,
and recalling memorized scripture,
and seeing His fingerprints in everything around me.
Lots better than pennies....this looking up.
Today in these very turbulent times....may you and I look up not down.
Emmanuel....
God is with us.
Selah.
David
DIRECTIONS
Recently I have found a dime, and a bashed up nickel, and a bunch of pennies, and a bicycle reflector and some very smoothe and colorful stones.
It's all happened as I have looked down as I walk neighborhood streets, or restaurant parking lots.
Feels like a bit of a treasure hunt.
And some day, I tell myself, I will find a diamond, or a watch, or something that is really worth a lot.
But that just never does happen.
Looking down seems to bring just scruffed-up pennies....mostly.
But, if I look up
I see mountain peaks,
and birds high in the air,
and cloud formations playing with the last rays of sunlight,
and airplanes on final approach, bouncing slightly in the turbulence.
And if I look up "higher" still....I see God.
My "seeing" of God is helped by
the silence of the walk,
and recalling memorized scripture,
and seeing His fingerprints in everything around me.
Lots better than pennies....this looking up.
Today in these very turbulent times....may you and I look up not down.
Emmanuel....
God is with us.
Selah.
David
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
uncertainty
March 31, 2009
Uncertainty.
Yesterday I went to the Ear Doctor...he wouldn't like that title :)
First time to check out why I say, "what did you say?" in a crowded restaurant.
He came back after tests with papers in his hand and took a comfortable position (not a good sign, I surmised). Then a barrage of questions...and I wondered that the part with the white paper results was headed in the wrong direction.
Uncertainty.
Finally it was time for the test results
....and he gently landed me in the realm of needing to make up for high decible hearing loss.
Then he said: "Wow, aside from this you are a really healthy guy."
Ah such pleasing words. Certainty.
So I went from uncertainty about my hearing to a wonderful certainty about my overall health.
All of us have to deal with uncertainty...some of us many times each day.
Uncertainties....about health, about job, about relationships, about money about career choices, and on...
Every one of these categories have popped up in front of me in the last 24.
Makes me pause and think...that there must be some basic Bible ways to deal with uncertainties.
There are.
First one that comes to mind is: through choosing to exercise faith. Focusing our faith on what is certain and letting that spread its stability to everything else.
Like lingering on: "you sure are healthy"....instead of "about your hearing." But on a bigger and more strategic scale, it is in putting faith in what is certain and letting that certainty calm everything else down.
Like the only thing I have found that is certain is: God. Not job, not health, not intelligence, not relationships, not life. The only certainty, really, is God...His nature, His promises, His power.
Mayby that is why some of God's nicknames are: Forever Faithful, Rock and All Wise
Faith in God acts like an anchor does to a boat in a storm..."as an anchor to the soul." (Hebrews 6:19)
So, God, I may not have "enough" (I think) in the future, but I will always have You. And in my future, You will show me the way ahead....for You are the Way.
Another way
to deal with uncertainty is through getting hope in better focus.
Uncertainties bring a tension plague to us when we don't have real hope growing inside. Uncertainties tend to starve out hope...panic sets in...we live in an agitated state.
But when hope is alive, "well, in the end, everything is just all going to be all right." (See the beatitudes for a more complete sense of what I am saying here)
We live with our hearts set on what is called "a living hope."
A living hope means that in the end, as we walk with God, our future will work out just fine.
In very dark times I have let fear and uncertainty move me to the very end...the what if's becoming so final. But when hope is alive in us, even death doesn't kill us. It just translates us into the presence of God forever. Feeling uncertain these days? Set your hope on God.
Finally....
Uncertainties tend to pull us into ourselves....endless evaluations and negations....endless spiraling into self. Is there an escape....a way out?
There is.
Love breaks us out of self and surrounds us with others.
I'm not talking about loving feelings....but loving actions. Loving actions draw us closer and closer to people, fills up our spirits and prepares us for the world beyond.
Now, if you are really perceptive, you already are ahead of me. What are three important things to focus on when life seems quite uncertain?
Faith, hope and love.
The greatest three elements in the places where God is showing up.
So, may we, in the midst of today's uncertainties respond with passionate faith in God, a wise grasp of hope and future, and an extravagent love to those on our journey.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
Standing with you...
David
Oh, by the way, the greatest of the three? Love. See I Corinthians 13.
Uncertainty.
Yesterday I went to the Ear Doctor...he wouldn't like that title :)
First time to check out why I say, "what did you say?" in a crowded restaurant.
He came back after tests with papers in his hand and took a comfortable position (not a good sign, I surmised). Then a barrage of questions...and I wondered that the part with the white paper results was headed in the wrong direction.
Uncertainty.
Finally it was time for the test results
....and he gently landed me in the realm of needing to make up for high decible hearing loss.
Then he said: "Wow, aside from this you are a really healthy guy."
Ah such pleasing words. Certainty.
So I went from uncertainty about my hearing to a wonderful certainty about my overall health.
All of us have to deal with uncertainty...some of us many times each day.
Uncertainties....about health, about job, about relationships, about money about career choices, and on...
Every one of these categories have popped up in front of me in the last 24.
Makes me pause and think...that there must be some basic Bible ways to deal with uncertainties.
There are.
First one that comes to mind is: through choosing to exercise faith. Focusing our faith on what is certain and letting that spread its stability to everything else.
Like lingering on: "you sure are healthy"....instead of "about your hearing." But on a bigger and more strategic scale, it is in putting faith in what is certain and letting that certainty calm everything else down.
Like the only thing I have found that is certain is: God. Not job, not health, not intelligence, not relationships, not life. The only certainty, really, is God...His nature, His promises, His power.
Mayby that is why some of God's nicknames are: Forever Faithful, Rock and All Wise
Faith in God acts like an anchor does to a boat in a storm..."as an anchor to the soul." (Hebrews 6:19)
So, God, I may not have "enough" (I think) in the future, but I will always have You. And in my future, You will show me the way ahead....for You are the Way.
Another way
to deal with uncertainty is through getting hope in better focus.
Uncertainties bring a tension plague to us when we don't have real hope growing inside. Uncertainties tend to starve out hope...panic sets in...we live in an agitated state.
But when hope is alive, "well, in the end, everything is just all going to be all right." (See the beatitudes for a more complete sense of what I am saying here)
We live with our hearts set on what is called "a living hope."
A living hope means that in the end, as we walk with God, our future will work out just fine.
In very dark times I have let fear and uncertainty move me to the very end...the what if's becoming so final. But when hope is alive in us, even death doesn't kill us. It just translates us into the presence of God forever. Feeling uncertain these days? Set your hope on God.
Finally....
Uncertainties tend to pull us into ourselves....endless evaluations and negations....endless spiraling into self. Is there an escape....a way out?
There is.
Love breaks us out of self and surrounds us with others.
I'm not talking about loving feelings....but loving actions. Loving actions draw us closer and closer to people, fills up our spirits and prepares us for the world beyond.
Now, if you are really perceptive, you already are ahead of me. What are three important things to focus on when life seems quite uncertain?
Faith, hope and love.
The greatest three elements in the places where God is showing up.
So, may we, in the midst of today's uncertainties respond with passionate faith in God, a wise grasp of hope and future, and an extravagent love to those on our journey.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
Standing with you...
David
Oh, by the way, the greatest of the three? Love. See I Corinthians 13.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Witness
#67
March 24
WITNESS
So it's getting towards Easter.
Time to look at the four accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus again. Never seems like a person plumbs the depths of what is happening and how it happened...and the consequences for our lives.
For instance, I'm reading Eugene Peterson's CHRIST PLAYS IN TEN THOUSAND PLACES and find him doing the same thing. Here's how he puts it regarding Mary, the prime witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
"In the resurrection stories, marginal people (in this case, women) play a prominent role in perception and response. Mary Magdalene, perhaps the most marginal of any of the early followers of Jesus, is the chief resurrection witness and the only person to appear in all four accounts. The only fact we know about Mary Magdalene before she joined Jesus was that she had been possessed by and delivered from "seven devils." The "seven devils" could refer to an utterly dissolute moral life or to an extreme form of mental illness. Either or both of these pre-Jesus conditions, coupled with being a woman in a patriarchal society, puts her at the far edge of marginality.........and in contrast - in our day we give such place to celebrity endorsements." pp120-121
Jesus died in substitution for our sinfulness.
He rose again, proof that his death was sufficient for all.
The Father's kiss of life was upon Him forever.
And it was so certain, that even "marginal witnesses" could play a major role in it all.
Feel like your ability to talk about Jesus is a bit marginal?
Join the Mary gang this Easter.
'cause it's all about Jesus, not me or you.
Happy (Early) Easter.
Dave
March 24
WITNESS
So it's getting towards Easter.
Time to look at the four accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus again. Never seems like a person plumbs the depths of what is happening and how it happened...and the consequences for our lives.
For instance, I'm reading Eugene Peterson's CHRIST PLAYS IN TEN THOUSAND PLACES and find him doing the same thing. Here's how he puts it regarding Mary, the prime witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
"In the resurrection stories, marginal people (in this case, women) play a prominent role in perception and response. Mary Magdalene, perhaps the most marginal of any of the early followers of Jesus, is the chief resurrection witness and the only person to appear in all four accounts. The only fact we know about Mary Magdalene before she joined Jesus was that she had been possessed by and delivered from "seven devils." The "seven devils" could refer to an utterly dissolute moral life or to an extreme form of mental illness. Either or both of these pre-Jesus conditions, coupled with being a woman in a patriarchal society, puts her at the far edge of marginality.........and in contrast - in our day we give such place to celebrity endorsements." pp120-121
Jesus died in substitution for our sinfulness.
He rose again, proof that his death was sufficient for all.
The Father's kiss of life was upon Him forever.
And it was so certain, that even "marginal witnesses" could play a major role in it all.
Feel like your ability to talk about Jesus is a bit marginal?
Join the Mary gang this Easter.
'cause it's all about Jesus, not me or you.
Happy (Early) Easter.
Dave
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Porno
Thursday, March 19, 2009
PORNO
Writings, pictures etc....anything designed to arouse sexual desire.
There is a lot of it out there...magazines, tv, movies, internet, art...indeed it is anything - designed to arouse sexual desire.
As if we needed more encouragement.
I've lived a long time in a body that doesn't need a lot of assistance. Seems like sexual desire is one of God's better,high impact design mechanisms - if unharmed by other things, it will rage on blissfully until most all of the fires of life have died down. (Some tell me that is around 85 :)
So, it always is going to be a factor in all of our lives. AND it needs to be managed appropriately or it will create havoic. The power of it will spill over into babies, and diseases, out-of-control life patterns, rages and death, depression and craziness.
Good thing is, as powerful as it is, if not allowed to get out of control, it will take care of its own pressures and needs. I've never heard of anyone exploding because they haven't had sex. :) In a wonderful way, God has built pressure relief into the system. Don't have to focus on it, for it to maintain itself.
Lots of people, not knowing that, come to places where they assume they are simply driven. They leave the exercise of good taste and self-control on the shelft and just cater to what can become almost animalish behavior. (I'm being pretty blunt today, right?)
So what do you do if you don't want to be taken over by lust, but are surrounded in the context of your life with it?
Like, what do you do if your roomate is feeding on it...or your computer buddy is loading up with it....or the walls are getting covered with it...and there is no basic escape?
Here are some ideas that have helped me...
1. Put as much distance as you can between you and the junk. I remember once when I worked in a steel mill and one of the men started telling a filthy sexual joke. I didn't know what to do, but all of a sudden I just started singing a silly song. He stopped speaking. I stopped singing. He started speaking again. I started singing again. We all stared and that was the last time he told his jokes around me. Distance...best if its in yards, or barriers etc. But put as much distance as is possible between you and the junk.
2. Wash each day just as thoroughly as you got grimey. Washing our insides is just as important as our outsides. The Bible says it plainly: we wash our insides by getting the word of God inside of us. Memorize verses, read passages, put up your own clean notes in parallel places to their dirty stuff.
3. When David went out against Goliath (the giant warrior - who was mocking him and telling him he would make a porno poster out of his beheading) - he did so with a buddy. A buddy who is committed to the same battle as you is so strengthening. You can process what is happening and how you are doing together. And the power of agreement in prayer is truly awesome. "If two of you or more agree..." Two is much better than one...there is exponential strength in partnership. So ask God to show you a buddy who doesn't want his mind and life crudded by the junk.
4. Ask God for supernatural intervention in your situation. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind when thinking about this kind of situation was of Daniel and company - living in a very corrupt time...and thrown into the fire to be roasted alive. And when their tormentor looked into the large furnace where they had been thrown, the fire was not burning them. When Daniel was thrown to the lions they did not eat him. God can supernaturally sustain and protect even when the fire is all around and the lions haven't eaten for days. Ask Him to help you.
It is an ancient truth: "Who will see God? Only the clean-handed, only the pure-hearted; men who won't cheat. Women who won't seduce." (See Psalms 24 - The Message)
May God help us as we journey towards 85....to so occupy these bodies that even our sexuality brings praise to His name, trust in His grace and power, and a straight-ahead gaze with pride.
For Jesus...not junk.
Dave
PORNO
Writings, pictures etc....anything designed to arouse sexual desire.
There is a lot of it out there...magazines, tv, movies, internet, art...indeed it is anything - designed to arouse sexual desire.
As if we needed more encouragement.
I've lived a long time in a body that doesn't need a lot of assistance. Seems like sexual desire is one of God's better,high impact design mechanisms - if unharmed by other things, it will rage on blissfully until most all of the fires of life have died down. (Some tell me that is around 85 :)
So, it always is going to be a factor in all of our lives. AND it needs to be managed appropriately or it will create havoic. The power of it will spill over into babies, and diseases, out-of-control life patterns, rages and death, depression and craziness.
Good thing is, as powerful as it is, if not allowed to get out of control, it will take care of its own pressures and needs. I've never heard of anyone exploding because they haven't had sex. :) In a wonderful way, God has built pressure relief into the system. Don't have to focus on it, for it to maintain itself.
Lots of people, not knowing that, come to places where they assume they are simply driven. They leave the exercise of good taste and self-control on the shelft and just cater to what can become almost animalish behavior. (I'm being pretty blunt today, right?)
So what do you do if you don't want to be taken over by lust, but are surrounded in the context of your life with it?
Like, what do you do if your roomate is feeding on it...or your computer buddy is loading up with it....or the walls are getting covered with it...and there is no basic escape?
Here are some ideas that have helped me...
1. Put as much distance as you can between you and the junk. I remember once when I worked in a steel mill and one of the men started telling a filthy sexual joke. I didn't know what to do, but all of a sudden I just started singing a silly song. He stopped speaking. I stopped singing. He started speaking again. I started singing again. We all stared and that was the last time he told his jokes around me. Distance...best if its in yards, or barriers etc. But put as much distance as is possible between you and the junk.
2. Wash each day just as thoroughly as you got grimey. Washing our insides is just as important as our outsides. The Bible says it plainly: we wash our insides by getting the word of God inside of us. Memorize verses, read passages, put up your own clean notes in parallel places to their dirty stuff.
3. When David went out against Goliath (the giant warrior - who was mocking him and telling him he would make a porno poster out of his beheading) - he did so with a buddy. A buddy who is committed to the same battle as you is so strengthening. You can process what is happening and how you are doing together. And the power of agreement in prayer is truly awesome. "If two of you or more agree..." Two is much better than one...there is exponential strength in partnership. So ask God to show you a buddy who doesn't want his mind and life crudded by the junk.
4. Ask God for supernatural intervention in your situation. One of the first thoughts that came to my mind when thinking about this kind of situation was of Daniel and company - living in a very corrupt time...and thrown into the fire to be roasted alive. And when their tormentor looked into the large furnace where they had been thrown, the fire was not burning them. When Daniel was thrown to the lions they did not eat him. God can supernaturally sustain and protect even when the fire is all around and the lions haven't eaten for days. Ask Him to help you.
It is an ancient truth: "Who will see God? Only the clean-handed, only the pure-hearted; men who won't cheat. Women who won't seduce." (See Psalms 24 - The Message)
May God help us as we journey towards 85....to so occupy these bodies that even our sexuality brings praise to His name, trust in His grace and power, and a straight-ahead gaze with pride.
For Jesus...not junk.
Dave
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Love
March 17, 2009
#65
Love -
Well, I came up pretty short again yesterday.
I had something all worked out in my head, set my heart on it, and made plans to pull it off.
And it didn't work...slowly and successively in fact, it went up in smoke... and I got frustrated, even angry and fussed and fumed for a very long time....all the while, telling myself I will not fuss and fume.
I went to bed and tossed and turned, and I finally said, "I am not getting up so early for the meeting in the morning." So the alarm was not set for me.
But right when the alarm should ring, shortly after 5am. I was awake...hmm. (Not a usual behavior.)
So this morning after my 6am board meeting, I came to the office very early and began to read scripture - beginning in Joshua - great stuff there about being strong and going with the Lord's presence. But as I read and prayed I felt that there was more that I should focus on - like on where I was just hours ago, and the famous passage on "love" in I Corinthians 13.
For maximum benefit today, get a Bible, and read that chapter over a few times.
I read it once and colored in some important words...like every verb addressed to the reader.
I read it again and began to scratch down some ideas....what follows here.
And something fresh and important to me began to emerge....hope it helps you too.
LOVE IS.....
This...(+ves) Not this...(-ves)
1.Patient 1.Envious
2.Kind 2.Boastful
3.Rejoicing/joyful 3.Proud
4.Protective 4. Rude
5.Trusting 5.Keeping track of wrongs/keeping score
6.Hopeful 6.Delighting in evil
7.Persevering 7.Failing - quitting
And from that process, as I pondered Insights/ideas began to emerge...
1. Each column has an equal number of listings. Hmmm...real love has to do with positives accentuated in our lives, and negatives avoided. Not just one-sided. Am I getting stronger on one side and weaker on the other? Might signal the presence of God-real love.
2. The -ve column is helpful to tag me with a more accurate behavioral read. If I imagine I am loving, but then exhibit pride, keep score so I can devalue, and fail to actually express love. I haven't got it.
3. I look at the positives and reflect that #2-5 are all headed in one direction: to encourage, uplift, express grace and all are "other" focused. Real love in me lets me live out this truth: It's not about me, it is about them....if I really have love. It's the kind deeds, the patience, the manner with which I celebrate the other's success and good times. It is about the way I watch out for and protect my brothers, and the way I believe in them and help them to keep coming on with greater strength that measures my love.
4. On the other side, notice (2-5) how negatively focused not having love can make us....arrogant, big-talking, unmanerly, ME-centered. This is not love. I don't like being around people like that...including me, when I give place to that junk.
5. Love, when it is within us and growing, settles us down. We become more at home with ourselves....There is no need to envy, boast, act pridefully and keep track of others behaviors (only to pull them out at the right time to really get a dig in). Yuk. Been there. Done that.
6. Sometimes I have tended to set spiritual gifts up very high...like prophecy, tongues, special gifts of knowlege....but Paul does the opposite. He sets love up very high...and lets the special gifts of God find their appropriate places in that protective shelter....unless we want to become empty people with a gonging impact (see :1).
7. Finally, I note that three times in these verses we are encouraged towards perserverance and process...."patient, perserveres, never fails."
So, last night I was real low on love....the real stuff. Real big on myself. And finding again some grace and truth to keep pushing on....the word and presence of the Spirit of God is always like that.
Oh God, in Jesus' strong name, we ask you to help us to continally grow in love.
Amen.
Selah
David
#65
Love -
Well, I came up pretty short again yesterday.
I had something all worked out in my head, set my heart on it, and made plans to pull it off.
And it didn't work...slowly and successively in fact, it went up in smoke... and I got frustrated, even angry and fussed and fumed for a very long time....all the while, telling myself I will not fuss and fume.
I went to bed and tossed and turned, and I finally said, "I am not getting up so early for the meeting in the morning." So the alarm was not set for me.
But right when the alarm should ring, shortly after 5am. I was awake...hmm. (Not a usual behavior.)
So this morning after my 6am board meeting, I came to the office very early and began to read scripture - beginning in Joshua - great stuff there about being strong and going with the Lord's presence. But as I read and prayed I felt that there was more that I should focus on - like on where I was just hours ago, and the famous passage on "love" in I Corinthians 13.
For maximum benefit today, get a Bible, and read that chapter over a few times.
I read it once and colored in some important words...like every verb addressed to the reader.
I read it again and began to scratch down some ideas....what follows here.
And something fresh and important to me began to emerge....hope it helps you too.
LOVE IS.....
This...(+ves) Not this...(-ves)
1.Patient 1.Envious
2.Kind 2.Boastful
3.Rejoicing/joyful 3.Proud
4.Protective 4. Rude
5.Trusting 5.Keeping track of wrongs/keeping score
6.Hopeful 6.Delighting in evil
7.Persevering 7.Failing - quitting
And from that process, as I pondered Insights/ideas began to emerge...
1. Each column has an equal number of listings. Hmmm...real love has to do with positives accentuated in our lives, and negatives avoided. Not just one-sided. Am I getting stronger on one side and weaker on the other? Might signal the presence of God-real love.
2. The -ve column is helpful to tag me with a more accurate behavioral read. If I imagine I am loving, but then exhibit pride, keep score so I can devalue, and fail to actually express love. I haven't got it.
3. I look at the positives and reflect that #2-5 are all headed in one direction: to encourage, uplift, express grace and all are "other" focused. Real love in me lets me live out this truth: It's not about me, it is about them....if I really have love. It's the kind deeds, the patience, the manner with which I celebrate the other's success and good times. It is about the way I watch out for and protect my brothers, and the way I believe in them and help them to keep coming on with greater strength that measures my love.
4. On the other side, notice (2-5) how negatively focused not having love can make us....arrogant, big-talking, unmanerly, ME-centered. This is not love. I don't like being around people like that...including me, when I give place to that junk.
5. Love, when it is within us and growing, settles us down. We become more at home with ourselves....There is no need to envy, boast, act pridefully and keep track of others behaviors (only to pull them out at the right time to really get a dig in). Yuk. Been there. Done that.
6. Sometimes I have tended to set spiritual gifts up very high...like prophecy, tongues, special gifts of knowlege....but Paul does the opposite. He sets love up very high...and lets the special gifts of God find their appropriate places in that protective shelter....unless we want to become empty people with a gonging impact (see :1).
7. Finally, I note that three times in these verses we are encouraged towards perserverance and process...."patient, perserveres, never fails."
So, last night I was real low on love....the real stuff. Real big on myself. And finding again some grace and truth to keep pushing on....the word and presence of the Spirit of God is always like that.
Oh God, in Jesus' strong name, we ask you to help us to continally grow in love.
Amen.
Selah
David
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