Category Archives: Uncategorized

More Important than Loving God?

First off, you probably already know how Jesus summarized the most important commands for humans. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37-40

So love God and love each other. What could possibly be more fundamental? Maybe: whatever empowers and motivates us to obey those commands. That, I think, is God’s love toward us.

“We love because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19

You can be nice to anyone out of sheer will power, at least for a few minutes. But that is not why we treat our good friends well. We’re kind to our closest friends because it just flows out of us naturally. We don’t have to ‘try.’ In fact, we may even be nicer to other people when we’re around that friend because that’s just the effect they have on us.

Similarly, the more time you spend meditating or thinking about the love of God for you personally, the more you will find love spontaneously coming out of you toward God and others. Knowing he loves us makes love flow out of us naturally.

The only thing more important than receiving God’s love for us is Who He Is in himself. He, of course, is Love. “God is love,” I John 4:8.

This is good news for those of us who feel undeserving, because it recalibrates everything. Do you see it? Where is the focus when we think, “How could God love me? I don’t deserve it. I’ve done all these bad things?” Yeah, that’s what we say we are looking at ourselves. Which is why this verse is so great. When we look away from self to Father, we go, “Oh, now I get it. He doesn’t love me because of me. He loves me because of him.” Like when people say, “Well, that’s just the way I am.” And God is saying, “I am loving because that’s just the way I am.”

The very most important thing is Who God Is.

So, the more time and effort we invest into finding out what his personality is like, what makes him tick, the better we’ll understand why he has so much affection for us.

And the more we realize how deeply we are loved, the more it naturally transforms us into loving people. It takes less and less effort (although it still takes effort) and becomes more second nature. And that makes it a zillion times easier to love God and others.

Analogy for Teenage Boys

God’s ways are kind of like 3-D printing a machine gun.

He has the blueprints in his mind. He knows exactly what he’s shaping us into. He knows where all the pieces go in the exactly perfect timing.

But he doesn’t do it all at once. He does it very slowly in many, many layers. He does it little by little, conforming us to the image of Jesus in 100,000 small steps.

A lot of times all we see are little blobs and dots and fragments that don’t resemble a machine gun in any way. So we may be tempted to get frustrated or angry sometimes because Father’s plans make no sense to our minuscule human minds.

But he knows exactly what he’s doing and it’s going to turn out perfect. If you want the best version of your 3-D printed machine gun, the wisest thing to do is trust him.

Life Means Union, Death Means Separation

One of my favorite pastors once said that in the Bible, death means separation. Intuitively it made sense. When you die, your spirit separates from your body. Similar examples could be made with death of a company, a nation, a vision, etc. 

I think I just found where it says that in the Bible. 

“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” James‬ ‭2‬:‭26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

If you separate the body from the spirit, the body is dead. If you separate faith and works, faith is dead.

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the *second death.*”Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The first death is when the spirit leaves the body. The second is when you are divided from God forever. 

The other side of the coin is that life means unity or oneness. 

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” ‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Knowing God personally (unity, togetherness) is the definition of eternal life. 

John 3:16 says as much. 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish [death, separation] but have eternal life [be together with him both now and in the next life].” ‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

When talking about God as our Father, sometimes I think of my dad — who happens to be a very good one — and I think how God is similar to him. But the other day somebody upgraded my thinking.

God was a Father before my dad was, right? So it’s probably more accurate to say it the other way around. My dad is a tiny bit like God is, rather than God resembles my dad.

Both statements are true, of course. My point is not to split hairs, only to say everything good we experience, if we get right down to it, originated inside God himself.

For example, the Bible says, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Romans 11:36. That would include trustworthiness and generosity for example. Humans didn’t invent those.

So if your best friend can be trusted and likes to give and share a lot, it’s kind of like God is saying, “I put this person in your life to show you a bit about what I’m really like.”

Or if somebody is merciful, he is saying, “Here is a little glimpse of what it’s like to be around me.”

All the good and delightful things we experience are peeks into what Father’s character is like. Each displays part of his nature that he’s invited us to dive deeper into. It’s all to draw us into closer communion with him.

Grief, I’m thinking, also shows a bit about what goes on in his heart. If he made us like him — “in his image” the Bible says in Genesis 1:26 — everything about us (except sin) would probably reflect part of who he is. Creativity … engineering … anger when people mess with your kids … writing poetry … jealousy if your spouse is cheating … laughter … love for great music. And grief.

I’m getting a little deep here, but I think grief is another way God is giving us a view into how he feels.

“Jesus wept.”
John 11:35

“And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”
Genesis 6:6

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God“
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭30‬a

He’s letting us experience what he experiences.

How do you think he felt the day his Son died?

Loss is not necessarily good. But the ability to grieve over it is.

And the experience of grief is something God felt before we did. If knowing his heart is important for us, this is probably another way he is letting us ‘in,’ making us a little more like him. He felt all that we feel, and he felt it first.

We can say, “Jesus, I am completely devastated. I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest and crushed into pulp.” And he can say, “Yep. Me, too. Been there.”

That, of course, isn’t the whole story.

He is also the Party God. He invented succulent food, warm friendship, perfect sunny weather, children, lovers, laughter and comedy. When we enjoy any wholesome pleasure, he is again letting us feel what he experiences. Plus, if we consider what the Bible promises us in the next life (consider reading Heaven by Randy Alcorn), the real parties haven’t even started yet.

Forty Ways Jesus is Like Me, and Maybe You, #9

He got soaking wet in a river.

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ‘Mark 1:9-10

Picture it. You’ve seen rivers. Most of them are a little murky. Maybe the water was high from rains upstream, with leaves and muddy twigs in eddies swirling beside the bank.

Up he comes out of the water, the same way we do. Wet hair sticks to his face. He’s drenched. Water dribbles off his sopping clothes, the drip, drip, dripping of clear beads from his beard back onto the river.

Stepping ashore, he leaves a soaked, muddy trail in the dry dirt, which fades after twenty minutes in the sun.

Maybe he went swimming afterwards. Why not? He was human.

Peace

Isaiah 26:3 means so much more than peace when I’m afraid, although that is monumental. Pick any sin. How about pride? Jealousy? Hate? When I’m experiencing any of those, I am profoundly not at peace. When, in place of any of those, I turn my gaze back to him, peace is mine.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭26:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Suggestions on Finding God’s Will

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2

Clues I see here include…

  1. We must present our bodies as living sacrifices to God. That at least means living in a way that is holy and which God finds acceptable.
  2. What drives us to do that is “the mercies of God.” (Why did he appeal specifically to God’s mercies to motivate us for holy living?)
  3. We must have our minds renewed in a way that brings transformation.
  4. We must not be conformed to this world.

None of those things are ends in themselves. They are means to an end, and that is knowing our Father intimately. Then it’ll be easier to discern his will.

It is very similar to someone asking you what your best friend wants for their birthday. You might say, “A Golden Doodle puppy,” or, “Anything strawberry flavored,” or, “Tickets to see this band play in London.” If they asked how you knew, you’d probably just say, “Because I know them. We spend a lot of time together.”

In our case, we are the ones wanting to know what God wants. And the way we can understand what he wants is by really getting to know him, by spending lots of time together.

The Hymn about Ink

Could we with ink the ocean fill

You go to the beach. Instead of water washing up on the sand, it’s black ink. Ships sail past in the distance, on top of it.

And were the skies of parchment made

You go outside in the morning to sip your coffee. There are no clouds, no sky blue, no orange sun. It’s a giant piece of paper so big it takes jets several minutes to fly across it, from the horizon on one side, all the way to the top of the sky, and all the way down the other horizon.

Were every stalk on earth a quill

Every single blade of grass in your yard (have you ever counted how many are in one square foot?), every stalk of corn in Kansas, every tree trunk in any forest — all of them are quills people write with.

And every man a scribe by trade

All 7.6 billion of us writing furiously, nonstop. Picture everyone in a packed soccer stadium with a pen and a bunch of paper all writing simultaneously.

To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

Though stretched from sky to sky.

“The Love of God”

by Frederick M. Lehman

An Atypical Command

“Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭27:2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Father tells us not to boast, but if someone else wants to praise us, we must let them.

Of course, we must love the praise that God gives us more than what comes from men.

“for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”
‭‭John‬ ‭12:43‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Interestingly, KJV uses the word ‘praise’ instead of ‘glory.’

The other strange part of that verse is that God praises us. God does not worship us, obviously, but praise is different. Google defines praise like this: “express warm approval or admiration of.”

And isn’t that what kind people do? “We are so proud of you!” “I knew you could do it!” “You are such an amazing artist!” We are emulating God’s example when we do that.

I think I know why we naturally encourage and praise each other. It’s because God made us in his image. He made us (and continues to make us) like him. And kindness / encouragement / praise is what he did first.

The Subtle Mistake in my Quiet Times

For a long time I have felt pressure to have my devotional times with God because of what would happen if I didn’t.

I’m not minimizing the importance of self discipline. The Bible has plenty to say about that. I’m only talking about fear. And I don’t mean the biblical fear of God, just the unhealthy kind that does not honor him like he deserves.

You are familiar with the little voices. “You’d better pray or you’ll quench the Spirit / God will be angry at you / you will lose your faith / blah blah blah.”

Those come from Satan, who is an idiot. He cherry picks his facts, inserts convenient lies, and Wham! I swallow his accusations hook, line, and sinker. But of course, Father told us he is the Accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10). “You are weak. You are a failure. People are going to hell because you didn’t XYZ. You are such a wretched sinner, just look what you did!”

Accusations need not be true to be effective.

I say he is an idiot because all his advice is terrible. In context with Who God Is, everything the devil says is completely preposterous and empty headed.

I think the subtle mistake in my quiet times was not walking according to my true identity. What I mean is this.

Father says he loves me as much as he loves God the Son. In John 17:23, Jesus said to his Father, “you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” So if I’m afraid God will be angry with me for not reading enough of my Bible today, the honest truth is I do not believe – not deep down in my heart – that God loves me as much as he does his other Son.

So I would submit that the answer to failing at my hardest efforts is not trying harder, nor is it to quit trying. It’s to understand my identity and walk in it. I would also suggest that scripture memory, evangelism, and all the other disciplines of the faith are a means to an end. The Pharisees did those things well. We do them, not for show, but because of who we are and who he has made us. That is, because of our identity.

And our identity is wrapped up entirely in who God is, if you think about it. Sons of who? Sons of God. Which means in order to really understand who we are, we first need to understand our Father’s Identity.


‭
But that is a discussion for another day.