Loving others can be hard...

When things don't go your way, it's really easy to start "throwing stones." I remember when I use to visit my parents - without fail, this scene would play out over and over again. Dad would say, "Can you believe what your Mom did?" - I would reply, "You've been married for over 50 years, are you surprised?" Mom would say, "I can't believe Dad did..." and I would give her the same reply.

We live in a fallen world. Many people don't even realize that they have a problem with sin that needs to be overcome, so it's very easy to look at people and start throwing little stones of:

• You did this wrong
• You offended me
• You always

I won't lie. Some personality types truly get under my skin and irritate me... badly. Many times I find myself wanting to throw the same little stones... but in all honesty, we have been given a different directive as Christians:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

It's important to know what Jesus love looked like. He told people the truth that sometimes hurt their feelings, He called them to be better and to live in the Kingdom of God. The difference is that every "little stone" that Jesus threw was filled with hope, faith, peace, and love.

Let us struggle to remember what it means to truly love.

It's okay to be different...

We live in a culture where they want everything to be the same. If you listen to the radio, all the songs almost sound the same. The televisions shows are the same type of reality TV about dating, or a dysfunctional family, making a business better, or promising fame and fortune to the next great act.

If you stand out as being different, people look at you oddly and try to get you to conform to the way that they do things. If you disagree with what they are asking you, they call you names like intolerant or old fashioned.

For example, I have a friend who is single. She has determined that she is going to be celibate until she gets married. She's joined several dating sites, including eHarmony, and was surprised at the number of men that have stopped talking with her because she has chosen not to casually lend her body as their play thing while they decide whether or not she's worthy to date. She is worthy because she has chosen to embrace God's ways.

Our problems are no different than the problems that people faced in the Old Testament, in the New Testament and through out the age of the church. Society is calling us to be like them. God expects us to be like Him. Our struggle is whose voice to listen to.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statues. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules. if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:1-5)

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the congregation of the people of Israel and say to the, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am Holy." (Leviticus 19:1-2)

And if you think this was just for the Old Testament:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." (1Peter 1:14-16)

So... it's okay to be different than those that surround you. Especially when they are calling you to walk in a way that is contrary to the will of God. Let us struggle to keep the will of God more important to us than what the world around us is offering.

Diet and Exercise

For years, I have been struggling with my weight. The one thing that I realize is that I am most effective at being healthy when I match diet and exercise together. It's amazing how those two things work very well together. When you work out, you're less likely to eat poorly. 

The two go hand in hand... when you start seeing the changes, you it inspires you to continue to eat healthy an to work out... until something happens that throws you off the path. But I'll cover that in a later blog. 

Diet and exercise is like studying and prayer.

Studying the Word of God is your diet. It's what you place into your spiritual body. Jesus is the Word of God. To read our Bible is to know Jesus. Jesus says:

They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. John 6:34-36

Even in the beginning of the  church in the book of Acts the earl y church understood this too.

Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.  But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. Acts 6:3-5

Let us not lose sight of this. My challenge to you for the next week is to couple prayer and Bible study together and see how that changes your walk with God. 

Is your view of love upside down?

A friend of mine posted a simple statement to Facebook this morning that made me think. He simply stated that:

Love is not the acceptance of a sinful lifestyle.

Somewhere along the way, the message of love from the Christian perspective has been perverted. While it is true that Go loved the world so much that He gave His only son as sacrifice. But that's not the end of the sentence - it continues to say "so that whoever believes should not perish, but have eternal life."

God loves, but He doesn't accept the sinful lifestyle. He calls for repentance.

¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. ¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelations 3:18-20)

The call is for us to be as purity, to be able to see our sin, understand our sin an repent. I think that's the lesson that we need to share with those who don't believe. We need to share the message that God does love us all, but He also wants us to understand the consequences of sin and to turn from our sinfulness because there is a consequence for disobedience. And disobedience isn't decide by a popularity poll.

Let us struggle to stand firm on what the Bible says and not be swayed by popular opinion.

Adjust

I use to love playing chess when I was younger. I would sit and play for hours. One day, when I was playing against a more experienced player I needed to straighten out one of my pieces on the board. The piece wasn't fully on the square, and I couldn't quite figure out my next move because it was distracting.

In the game of chess, if you touch a piece, you have to move it... unless you say j'adoube which is French for "I adjust." Every once in a while, you just have to straighten things out else your perspective can get skewed.

And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples,“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:15-17

In this story, the Pharisees needed to adjust. Their vision of how the world worked had become skewed. They thought that in order to be "holy" you shouldn't have anything to do with those that were considered to be unclean. Jesus told them that they need to adjust.

Too many times, we surround ourselves with people who are like us, but in reality, we should be reaching out to those people who need a savior.

Who do you know that doesn't know Jesus? Do you tell them about His love, the gospel, salvation?

Let us struggle to change our perspective and reach out to those who don't know Jesus... so they can adjust and obtain this great salvation that we share.