Thankful for God's Love

Originally posted Saturday October 16, 2004

Erwin McManus wrote; “It is gratitude that nurtures wholeness and expresses itself as generosity in the end. Gratitude is the pathway of love. It unleashes the healing power of love. It increases our capacity to experience love and give it” (Uprising; p. 114). Gratitude helps us to become people of love.

Love is a choice, but first it was a gift. God’s love for us is the greatest of all the gifts which He has given. Our very lives are products of God’s love. If God did not love we would not exist. If God did not love all the pleasures we enjoy in life would never have been woven into the world. It is God’s love that is behind every gift and blessing that we have ever enjoyed.

Even before we became Christians God’s love was freely given to us. When we were God’s enemies He showed us love through giving us time to repent and an opportunity to hear the Gospel. That is cause for thanksgiving.

I do think we run into a problem with God’s love. The problem is that God’s love has been such a constant for us we have grown use to it. We no longer see it as the great gift that it is, and instead we come to think of it as something that we deserve. God’s love is a gift to be treasured, but it has become an everyday occurrence which is easy to ignore.

How do we show our gratitude for the love God has given us? I believe the first step is taking an honest look at ourselves. This is not a one time occurrence, but it is something which needs to be done on a regular basis. As God’s messenger, I give each of you this warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you (Romans 12:3; NLT). This is the beginning point of humility. Without humility we begin to think we deserve gift that is given to us. Only the humble see the blessings of God as the gifts that they are and therefore respond in gratitude.

I believe the next step in being grateful for God’s love is by using the gifts He has given us. Rather than wishing we had life of someone else, we live the life God has blessed us with. God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you (1 Peter 4:10; NLT). When we use the gifts God has given us we are expressing the gratitude we have towards God and we are allowing His generosity to flow through us into the lives of other people.

The third step in having a grateful life is living a life of love. We cannot be grateful to a person we do not love or care about. If we are going to be thankful to God for the gifts He has given, then we need to first love Him. Follow God’s example in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, because that sacrifice was like a sweet perfume to him (Ephesians 5:1,2; NLT). A life of love is a life lived in obedience to God’s Will. Paul states here that a life of love is a life which is pleasing to God. A grateful persons seeks to please the One who has blessed him.

God has given us the gift of love. Often in return we accept that love as if it is something that we deserve, rather than worshiping and thanking Him for His generosity. If we are going to be grateful we need to be humble, we need to be stewards, and we need to be lovers. That is how we show God, and the world, that we are thankful for His love.

We Expect Too Little

I have been reading Max Lucado’s No Wonder They Call Him The Savior as part of my devotional reading in the morning. Max Lucado is not a scholar, but he does a very good job at pointing people to Christ Jesus. What I read this morning got me thinking. This is what he wrote:

We make the same mistake that Thomas made: we forget that “impossible” is one of God’s favorite words.

How about you? When was the las time you let some of your dreams elbow our your logic? When was the last time you imagined the unimaginable? When was the last time you dared to dream of the day when every mouth will be fed and every nation dwell in peace? When was the last time you dreamed about every creature on earth hearing about the Messiah? Has it been awhile since you claimed God’s promise to do “more than all we ask or imagine?” (p. 99)

My dreams tend to be “realistic”. I have shared before about the condition of the church family I work with, that our numbers are dwindling and there is nothing about us that would attract people to attend. My dream for this congregation is that God would send one or two families willing to do the hard work of ministry, but perhaps I should be dreaming and praying for something grander.

I know of church families that have partnered with church families in Africa to bring the gospel, food, and medicine to the dirty slums there. Why shouldn’t I pray that God would enable this church family to have a similar impact?

I know of church families that have their own free medical clinics. That is something which is truly needed, and so perhaps I should pray that God make it possible for us to minister to the hurt and sick.

Here is my point: I think too many of us have a small vision of God and His Kingdom. We are satisfied if God increases the attendance at church, and so that is where all our focus is at and we miss out on the masses of hurt and lonely people that are in the world.

The gospel is more than that our sins are forgiven and we get to go to heaven when we die. It includes that to be sure, but the Gospel also includes the Good News that God’s Kingdom is breaking into this world. The Gospel is the proclamation that Jesus Christ in Lord, and the days of Satan, sin, and death are numbered. The Gospel is the call to people of faith to pray for and work towards the day when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. The Gospel contains both salvation and mission; hope and purpose.

Instead of focusing on “realistic” things like growing our church attendances, I think we need to start thinking and praying about how we can bring the whole Gospel to the communities that we live in.

Max Lucado mentioned quotes part of Ephesians 3:20. This is what the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20-21; Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen (ESV).

We are not going to out think or out imagine God. He has the power to accomplish our greatest hopes, and so maybe it is time for us to unleash those hopes. Let us dreams great dreams about ushering God’s Kingdom into the lives of people, and than ask God to help us make it happen.

The Greatest of These

Originally posted Friday October, 15 2004

Wouldn’t it be great to win $10 million? Who among us hasn’t taken time to dream about what we would do with that type of money? Of course being Christians we think about the good we could do with the money: the orphans we could help, the missionaries we would support, and the ministries we would start. After all we are not greedy; we just want to be comfortable.

I don’t know about you, but I often play the “if only” game. If only I had $10 million I would use it for God’s glory. If only I had courage I would plant a church. If only I had the ability I would lead worship. The list could go on and on, but I think you understand my point. I tend to think that if I had a couple of additional talents or blessings I would be able to do so much more for the Kingdom.

The truth is that our gifts have very little to do with the difference we make in this world. The important thing in God’s eyes are not our talents, but our love. God is the Creator, and He can provide us with the gifts we need to accomplish the task He has called us to do. The one thing God cannot do is make us love. Love is a choice which we make. It is a product of our free will.

We may be jealous over the amazing talent someone else has, but what makes those talents meaningful and effective is love. Without love our gifts are meaningless. That was the apostle Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 13:

If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I knew all the mysteries of the future and knew everything about everything, but didn’t love others, what good would I be? And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move, without love I would be no good to anybody. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would be of no value whatsoever (1 Corinthians 13:1-3; NLT).

Paul wants us to understand that the power behind our talents is love, and if we don’t have love then we what we are doing is ultimately meaningless. I think this is an important truth that we should ponder for a while. All the money in the world and all the awards that are won do not mean a thing without love. Love for God and love for people. Are you allowing love to power your talents?

While all the blessing God gives us are wonderful and amazing, none of them has the impact to influence another person outside of our decision to use those blessings in love. Love shows people we care about them. It makes our message both authentic and relevant in their lives.

While love is a choice, I think it is essential to remember that love was first a gift. The apostle John wrote; This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins (1 John 4:10; NLT). Because God first loved us we are able to love those around us. It is through His love overflowing from our lives that we are able to change the world. That is why the greatest gift God has given us is love, and that is why He wants us to keep giving it away.

Sunday Quote: The Highway of Holiness

“But my heart cry is to say it is crucial that we hold ourselves accountable to a life of holiness—that if we walk righteously, there will come a response from God. Our lives will be a highway over which God shall come” ~ Henry Blackaby, Holiness, p. 90

The Need for Disciplines

Today was one of those days when I didn't feel like doing much of anything. Hopefully I am not the only one who has days when I feel like the best option is remaining in bed. When these days come around I have noticed the best thing to do is to get started with my routine.

That requires me getting out of bed, making coffee, and getting a bowl of cereal. With a cup of coffee in hand (with lots of chocolate Carmel creamer in it) I sit down in my chair to pray and read.

I may not feel like doing it, but the mere fact of having a routine gives me steps to go through, one at a time, so I can be ready to take on the day. Disciplines, whether they are spiritual or not, help give focus to our days, and provide meaning when the rest of the day seems meaningless.

I know in the past I have devalued the idea of discipline, especially the idea of spiritual disciplines. The reason I did this was because I didn't want to get caught up in "works" and that praying and reading my Bible should flow out of my desire to connect with God.

Because we still live in the flesh there are times when our flesh desires something other than time spent with God. That is why the spiritual person sets time aside each day, as a priority, to connect with God. The spiritual person is well aware that giving the chance his/her flesh will find other things to do rather than spend time with God.

I have come to discover how vital disciplines are in my life. As a guy who likes routine, they give me a path to follow as I go through my day. They also give me any opportunity to connect with God when I would rather spend more time in bed. We need disciplines in our lives, not because we want to show people how spiritual we are, but because with out them we will disconnect ourselves from God, our very source of life. For the sake of life, and to grow in our relationship with God, we need to have spiritual disciplines in our lives. We cannot live a life of faith without them.

"Anyone can attend church. Only truly devoted followers of Jesus can change the world." - Aaron Brockett

Sent from my iPod

Worse than Death

Originally posted Tuesday, September 21, 2004

One of the things I inherited from my father is a love of westerns. I particularly love the stories written by Louis L’amour. One of my favorite books is a collection of short stories entitled West of Dodge. The main reason why I think I like this book so much is because many of the stories seemed to contain the truth that John Eldredge wrote about in Wild at Heart. These are stories of what it means to be a man. The story I think I connected with the most is the story To Make a Stand. The story contains the following scene.

Hurley knew death then. He knew the Talbots were behind him, and he knew there were four of them, and he knew he was fairly caught.

But he was calm.

That, of all things, was the most astonishing. There were, he knew in that moment, worse things than death, and there were few things worse than fear itself.

He turned slowly. “It’s my fight, Benton,” he said. “You get back in bed.”

Fear is a huge life robber. Fear paralyzes us from doing what we need to do. We have a fear of rejection so we are careful not to reveal too much about ourselves, and the result is that we miss out on the close relationships we need for life. We fear ridicule so we tone down the message we have for other people rather than risk stepping on their toes. We fear looking like a fool so we avoid new situations rather than trying to expand our experiences. Fear keeps us back from going where God wants us to go.

Think about how fear kept a generation of Israelites out of the Promised Land. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt, they had passed through the Red Sea, they had received the Ten Commandments, and they had witnessed God at work. The nation gets to the borders of the Promised Land and Moses decided to send out 12 spies. They reported back that the land was very good, but it was controlled by people who were big and strong. Ten of the spies had fear in their hearts and advised against moving into the land. The other two spies, Caleb and Joshua, urged the people to follow God into the Promised Land; “Let’s go at once and take the land. We can certainly conquer it!” (Numbers 13:30; NLT).

Why were Joshua and Caleb so confident about conquering the land? The rest of Israel had witnessed the same miracles, the same power of God, as Joshua and Caleb had. God’s power was not a mystery to the Israelites. Joshua and Caleb had seen the same fortified cities and strong people the other 10 spies saw. The impossibility of the task had not escaped Joshua and Caleb. The difference was that the ten spies allowed their hearts to be ruled by fear, and that fear spread to the rest of the people. Caleb and Joshua allowed their hearts to be ruled by faith, and that caused them to live by courage.

Miracles and examples of God’s power will not extinguish the fear in our lives. Fear is present anytime there is a risk involved in what is before us. What allows us to have courage, to do the right thing even though we are afraid, is trusting in God’s power and promises. Courage comes because we are confident that God is in control and trust that whatever happens to us that He will use the experience for good in our lives.

That generation of Israelites missed out on the Promised Land. Their fear held them back from experiencing what God had in store for them. When we allow our fear to dominate our lives we too miss out on what God has for us. What are you missing out on because of your fear?

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9; ESV).