Loving Indeed

"My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. "

1 John 3:18

As children of God, we are called to love one another as He loves us.  God's love is practically displayed, meeting all our needs by God's grace.  This love is more than words or feelings, but is actively demonstrated in opening our hearts to one another.  1 John 3:17 asks the question:  "But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?"  We cannot meet every need, nor does God expect us to.  Based upon the great love we have received from Jesus, our hearts should be open to being used by God to meet needs everywhere in Jesus' name.

When there is hatred in our hearts, we cannot love as we ought.  This passage in 1 John reveals that in God's sight hatred towards our brother is murder in God's eyes, even as looking with lustful intent is the same as committing adultery.  We do well not to hate others, but our aim must be to love them.  As James demonstrated his faith in God through God works, the righteousness of God is displayed through love towards others.  It does us little good to ask ourselves if we nurse a grudge or hatred of others, but better to ask if we have demonstrated love to them.  God's love is active and never fails.  Praise God for that!

What Jesus Does

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another."

John 15:16-17

These things Jesus told His disciples during their celebration of the Passover are true for His followers today.  Whilst instructing His followers Jesus also emphasised their calling.  In choosing to pursue Christ as disciples we can mistakenly place our primary focus on what we have done and what we must do, but the words of Jesus remind us of His divine role.

Jesus corrected the disciples' thinking they had chosen Him because Jesus had chosen them first.  He knew them before they knew Him; He first called them and then they followed.  He chose them and appointed (ordained, commissioned) them to go and bear fruit which would remain.  Having supplied the good seed of the Word of God, it would doubtless bear much fruit according to the design of Jesus Christ.  Jesus also appointed them to pray to God, and whatever they asked in Jesus' name would be given.

See all the things Jesus did for His disciples before they even knew Him?  He chose and ordained them, He formulated a plan for them, and ensured they would be successful.  Do you realise as a child of God He has done the same for you?  You do not need to graduate from seminary, become a foreign missionary, or have a ministry position recognised by men to be eternally fruitful.  All we do is within the context of God's love, loving one another as He loves us.  Disillusionment comes when we figure fruitfulness depends primarily upon our efforts.  We imagine "fruit" to be immediate and qualitative and forget seeds take time to grow.  There is danger in departing from the good Word for anything else in an effort to accomplish our plans rather than seeking God.

I am blessed to know God has chosen me, ordained me, and commissioned me to go and bear fruit.  I am humbled to have access to God's throne room of grace to find mercy and help in time of need.  Since I am called to love as Jesus does and cannot do this without Him, how necessary it is to seek Him.  Looking outside on this spring morning, God knows how to make seeds germinate, flowers bloom, and trees flourish with new growth.  Won't He also do marvellously with His Word in the hearts of those prepared to receive Him?

Do You Suppose?

Have you ever thought something which turned out not to be true?  Expectations and assumptions which seem reasonable can often lead us astray.  A lot of things we think are simply wrong, and God has provided His Word to guide us into all truth.  I was surprised how often supposing and being mistaken correlate in scripture.  It is not always the case, but take a look at some examples:

• The disciples were rowing in the sea and supposed they had seen a spirit when it was in fact Jesus walking on the water (Mark 6:39).
• Joseph and Mary supposed Jesus had left Jerusalem in their company, but He had remained behind in the Temple (Luke 2:44).
• People supposed Jesus was the son of Joseph, but He had been conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary and was the Son of God (Luke 2:23).
• Mary Magdalene supposed Jesus was the gardener when He was her risen LORD (John 20:15).
• Peter corrected the people who supposed the Christians who were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues were drunk (Acts 2:15).
• Stephen related Moses supposed his fellow Hebrews would have understood he had been called by God to deliver them from the Eyptians, but they did not (Acts 7:25).
• The Philippian jailer woke up from sleep, being startled by an earthquake.  He supposed all the prisoners had fled when he saw all the doors open, and would have killed himself had not Paul shouted to say the prisoners had not escaped (Acts 16:27).
• The master of the ship and the centurion supposed they had obtained their purpose to winter in a haven of Crete, only to be driven by a massive tempest and shipwrecked on Malta (Acts 27:13).

Based on these examples, "supposing" obviously has many pitfalls.  We likely all (to some degree) assume and think many things which have no basis in reality.  No matter how much we know of the truth and think things through, assumptions can creep in.  I believe supposing leads to much unnecessary heartache and sorrow only wisdom and discernment from God can deliver us from.  When you discover things are not as you supposed do not lose heart, but seek the LORD and trust in Him.  God never supposes; He always knows.

The Best Bargain

Do you love to find a great bargain at the shops?  I know many people who will haggle or bargain even over fixed prices with great enthusiasm.  For me, however, I feel uncomfortable with haggling in shops even when it is the norm.  My bargaining has improved over the years after trips to Cambodia, Israel, and from buying appliances at local stores in Sydney, but I still don't enjoy it.  The time spent going back and forth debating over dollars never feels worth the effort in the end.  Even when I have obtained a better price, I wonder if I could have done better.  Anyone with me?

It occurred to me this morning bargaining may be more common than we recognise.  Even for those who hate haggling, it is in the self-centred nature of man to look for or be open to a better offer.  We make these kinds of bargains with ourselves all the time.  We weigh our options concerning eating, drinking, and exercise.  We reduce our calorie intake or increase exercise one day because we want to have dinner and desert at a restaurant that night.  People reduce consumption of alcohol or tobacco to have more money for other things or for health reasons.  We make sacrifices in one area and reward ourselves with other things.  Much of our lives are lived with constant tension between needs and desires, moderation and excess, indulgence and abstention.  Our motives and issues may be different, but this inner haggling happens.

As with decisions which effect the health of our bodies, we can bring this same approach to moral, biblical, and spiritual issues.  We make a mistake when we try to bargain with God concerning repentance and sin.  This happens so subtly it often escapes our notice.  We attempt to trade abstinence in one area for dabbling or indulgence in another - complete with arbitrary, self-imposed boundaries.  We will repent and put sin away from us if we see how it is negatively affecting our lives, but not just because God said so.  We can go so far as to refuse to obey unless our demands are met.  My patience runs thin quickly when it comes to making what I consider drastic changes to my diet.  In the past if I didn't see tangible, quantifiable results quickly from sacrifices, it wasn't long until I went back to my old ways.  In a spiritual sense we can do the same thing.  We can choose to love a person in obedience to Jesus but when it doesn't seem to work in our favour our unbelief rises up:  "See?  I loved that person and it didn't do anything!  What a waste."

The people of Israel provide a good example in the book of Judges when they found themselves oppressed by their enemies.  They cried out to God and He pointed out their chronic idolatry.  "I have saved you many times in the past but you chose to forsake Me.  Cry out to the gods you have chosen and see if they will save you," He said.  See the response of the people in Judges 10:15-16:  "And the children of Israel said to the LORD, "We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray." ¹⁶ So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel."  God's people confessed their sin, made their request, but did not make their repentance contingent upon God doing anything for their good.  They put away their idols and served the LORD.  And guess what?  They were still oppressed.  They remained in a miserable season and God's heart went out to them.  Eventually God would deliver His people according to His mercy, but He would lovingly refine them as long as it took.

How good it is when God's people unite with His will and the revelation of His righteousness.  To bargain with God is an affront to His holiness and exposes our selfish unbelief.  Let us be numbered among those who repent and serve the LORD without haggling, not making our obedience contingent on benefits we want God to guarantee us.  Like the good example provided in Judges, let us keep seeking God, keep repenting, and keep serving Him.  Satan and self provide offers which appeal to our flesh, but all they do is deliver us into bondage and death.  God's offer is a fixed price which He has already paid in full through the Gospel, and the cost for us is repentance, trust, and obedience.  God exchanges our sin for righteousness, distance for intimacy, bondage for freedom, and death for eternal life.  We are called to do our part, and He will deliver in due time.