Practice Love

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

John 13:34

As Christians, we love God because He first loved us.  Having freely received His love, we are also called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to love others like He loves us.  God's love is not of this world and is not natural to our flesh, so it requires spiritual regeneration by the Gospel, faith in God and obedience to embrace God's will to love one another as Jesus does.

When going through notes penned during a funeral service years ago, I came across an acronym for "love" I had not seen before that I found useful.  While it is not a formula to be followed or a perfect summation of God's love for us in convenient form, it provides practical advice for what form God's love can take in our interactions with others--a sacrificial love that cares deeply for the good of others without thought of self.

The scrap of paper had this written in the middle of it:

• L isten
• O verlook other's faults and offences
• V alue each person
• E njoy everyone

The love of God is deeply personal because it always involves people.  For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, and God's desire is that every single person would receive and respond to His love by freely choosing to love Him back.  God has listened to our cry for love and purpose  in this world, and He has treated us infinitely better than we deserve by His grace.  He values each one of us and enjoys us as we are--though He would have us free from the curse and bondage to sin that brings death.

All who love Jesus Christ are called to love others as He loves us.  God loved us while we were miserable wretches, self-righteous hypocrites and arrogant atheists; He has loved us when we felt entitled to be loved and thought we naturally loved like Him.  Knowing we cannot love as God's loves, how wonderful it is by God's design the fruit of the Spirit is love.  You cannot love as God loves, but are you willing to take a step of faith in God (because you love Him) to give Him the opportunity to love others through you?  Let us be those who choose to put love into practice.

The Supremacy of Christ

God's grace, mercy and love has no equivalent in this world.  All this world can offer are lesser, cheaper substitutes that may have a similar appearance but lack the good motivation God always has.  It struck me today that world aims low (compared to God) and preaches "tolerance" as ethical when Jesus preached and lived according to God's love.  The world is fine when we tolerate people who are different from us while Jesus demonstrated loving His enemies.  God does not merely "put up with" those who malign and falsely accuse Him of wickedness, but He truly loves them and proved it by Jesus dying on the cross for sinners.

People are quite skilled to learn what things to say or do to have their way, to get what they want.  Children learn from a young age the doors good manners can open for them, how by saying "please" and "thank you" they find favour from parents, teachers and even strangers.  Good manners are a far cry from humility, and cultured behaviour is no indicator of the heart.  God's desire is for us to live righteously and godly in this present age, and this is only possible by being transformed from within, born again by faith in Jesus Christ.  There are no shortage of self-righteous people in this world, yet doing good is no substitute for calling on the LORD out of a pure heart (2 Tim. 2:22).

The wisdom of the world has great fleshly appeal because it makes sense to us, yet God's ways and wisdom are infinitely beyond ours.  God's wisdom appears foolish to people who do not know Him, and despite man's wisdom he remained completely ignorant of God who created him.  So God revealed Himself to the world through Jesus Christ.  1 Corinthians 1:22-25 says, "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."  Paul does not infer God is foolish but showed how man's wisdom is pathetic when compared with the weak and foolish things God uses in His wisdom to confound the wise.

Some pursue what they call the "good life" when all this world can offer will fade away into obscurity forever.  Jesus is both good (because He is God) and the Life who alone offers eternal life by the Gospel.  Jesus asked in Mark 8:36, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"  Jesus was asked many questions, and often Jesus answered questions of those who sought to entrap Him with questions of His own His enemies could not answer without self-incrimination.  God has the incredible ability to say things a child can easily understand while at the same time the most learned dare not answer.  Isn't His love, righteousness and wisdom awesome?

God's Service

We can view deliverance as all or nothing, yet God was intentional to grant His people some deliverance.  Because His people humbled themselves before the LORD, He decided not to pour out His wrath on Jerusalem by Shishak, king of Egypt.  But He said in 2 Chronicles 12:8, "Nevertheless they will be his servants, that they may distinguish My service from the service of the kingdoms of the nations."  This made me consider:  how is the service of God distinguished from the service of the kingdoms of the nations?  Only after personally experiencing the two options the wise of God's people would come to appreciate and love God more because His yoke is easy and His burden light by comparison.

When God appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and later revealed Himself to the Hebrews on Sinai, God made a covenant with them.  He made promises to make them great and prosperous, to provide for their needs, protect them from enemies and establish them in their own land as an inheritance.  He chose them, not because Abraham or the Jewish people were the mightiest people, but because He is a gracious, merciful and awesome God who chose them.  In the Law of Moses God gave His people statutes to keep and sins to avoid, and He did all this for their good and to enable privileged fellowship with Himself.  God gave His people a covenant and precious promises He would be faithful to keep, and they were beneficiaries of His goodness and generosity.

Shishak, on the other hand, was all about taking anything he wanted from the Jewish people.  He only sought to enrich himself from their labours.  He was not interested in helping or giving them anything.  There was absolutely no love, kindness or relationship to be enjoyed.  The children of Israel found themselves impoverished and lacking with no promise of prosperity or protection.  They were slaves to a cruel master who did not care about them, their children or future.  Compared to God Shishak had no power at all, yet the power he had was never inclined to be used for their good.  There was no satisfaction of a job well done but a fear of reprisal if Shishak was ever displeased--and it is doubtful he was ever pleased with them.

The children of Israel experienced the difference between serving to be blessed and serving because they were blessed.  They could never earn the favour or approval of Shishak, for this was never an option on the table.  They worked to placate an adversarial ruler, avoid punishment and grimly hang onto survival.  The service of God was completely different, for the LORD loved His people as the apple of His eye.  He cared for them like a good shepherd who led his flock, provided for their needs and protected them from harm.  Shishak would suddenly come with demands and leave, but the LORD dwelt among His people as their God who fought their battles, was faithful to bless and gave them peace.  The children of Israel had no idea how good life was under God, so God gave partial deliverance so they could compare serving God or Shishak.

To people weary and burdened by the cares of life under Roman occupation and the demands of lifeless religion, Jesus called in Matthew 11:29-30:  "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  How blessed we are to serve alongside Jesus Christ because of His humility, gentleness and generosity.  He truly loves us like no one else would or could.

The Rest of Your Life

When I was thinking of my dad this morning I looked up a jazz/big band album that was among my favourites of his:  Woody Herman Thundering Herd from 1974.  The album cover was memorable because of some pretty amazing 70's hair on nerdy-looking guys posing as football players.  We kids were always allowed to play his records on his turntable, and over the years Dad introduced me to Glen Miller, Buddy Rich, Tommy Dorsey and classical music as well.  He would point out the instruments as I listened along and helped me learn to distinguish them.  A lot of his music was instrumental, so it was a perfect opportunity to practice whistling and imitating the sound of a trombone--an instrument he played.

Amazingly, when I searched for the album the first song that come up was the song I always thought of as "his song" to me because it features a long trombone solo.  I couldn't have told you what the title was before today, but it hit me a bit different because today happened to be his last day on earth.  The song is titled,  "What are you doing with the rest of your life."  There may not be what is considered a perfect song, album or life, but we can have our favourites--and Dad is that for me.  When I think about the body of work my Dad accumulated during his 70 years of life on earth, by God's grace he quietly and steadily accomplished incredible things.  He loved God, family and country; he ate, worked, read and slept with an emphasis on work.  Yet his work never took him away from us or people, for his labours always drew people closer.

At the end of a timed exam people are told by the teacher to put their pencils or pens down, and so it was for Dad--who was content to remain on the tools his entire carpentry career.  A day came (earlier than Dad expected) when God determined it was time for my dad to put down the tools, and he did.  He ran his race God set before him with joy even when there was bad news, unexpected obstacles, valleys and uphill climbs.  He faithfully expressed his love for God by using his gifts and building skills to help others free of charge.  There is no one I admired more or aspired to be like than Dad, and I'm grateful for a life filled with happy memories of a man with a sense of humour who didn't mess around, a fellow who swung a hammer for a living and also tied balloon animals with those calloused hands to minister God's love to kids at church or outreaches.

My dad's favourite verse in the Bible is found Psalm 116:15:  "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints."  God loved us sinners so much He sent His Son Jesus to be the Saviour of the world, and He provided atonement with His own blood.  Considering the precious payment God made to redeem mankind, those He has purchased are most precious in His sight having chosen them as His own inheritance.  My dad said many times if he was ever to have a tattoo it would be, "Do not resuscitate" emblazoned across his chest because when God called him home, that is exactly where he wanted to be--glorified in the presence of God without pain and sorrow, loosed from a failing body, finally home and whole for eternity.  It wasn't that Dad wanted to die, but he earnestly looked forward to the day when He would see Jesus in person.

What am I doing with the rest of my life?  It's one of those questions that cannot be answered with words:  looking back may supply a more accurate assessment of our character moving forward than staring into the unknown or having aspirations.  Knowing Jesus is my life as His redeemed through the Gospel, may God help me to run the race set before me with joy, to faithfully follow Jesus all my days no matter what comes--a decision my dad nor countless saints will ever regret.  For those who are in Christ, the rest of our lives lead to rest in God's presence as we serve Him faithfully.