Kindness Beauty Brutality Severity

09.07.12

1 John 1.6 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. NLT

Today marks day 21 in my forty day cleanse through the letter of 1 John. I am trying to use different translations each time I read through these five short chapters in order to get a different flavor as I spend these days thinking and praying about what I read. For 10 years I have read through the Bible every year and the New Testament twice every year. This is a change for me and depending on where these cleanses go, I may return to my daily reading in the mornings and spend the evenings participating in the Cleanse.

What does one expect in a cleanse? I expected, expect, and am expecting change. I expect old thoughts and perspectives to be washed away by the purity of the word and then replaced or redeemed as I go forward with new thoughts or better thoughts. I expected just what the name Cleanse implies: cleanliness. And I haven’t been disappointed. 1 John is packed with so much, forty days doesn’t do it justice. One of the beauties of 1 John is how much is unpacks the Gospel of John. That was a bonus I didn’t expect.

I didn’t expect to see myself in the light I now do – and this is hard: I see myself as pathetically weak (not beyond remedy, but weak). I don’t suppose I am all that different from most others: I seem to have a rather high regard for myself and go along thinking my ways are fairly sound and functional. And I think I am original…foolish, foolish boy! I think I practice the truth because I outwardly avoid certain things and for years have masterfully put on the façade of: I’ve made it. So, stopping long enough to read and evaluate has been good for me. I need to see where I am still failing and where I am still hiding “in the cool of the day.” (Genesis 3)

The Bible is marvelous in its beauty and its brutality; its kindness and severity (Romans 11.22). The danger is getting caught up in the comfort of the beauty and kindness and failing to see the brutality and severity in which God deals with sin and unbelief. 1 John helps me be honest with the brutality and the severity. 1 John helps me be honest with the fact that though I publicly call myself a “follower of Christ” I don’t do a very good job of following at times. And His love is not fully formed in me.

But here’s the bottom line: I want to see what God will do. I hang in there because I believe there is wisdom and life in the Word of God that I desperately need and I want to hang in there with the kindness and beauty as well as the brutality and severity because I want to see what God does with this pathetically weak “follower of Christ.” John speaks of a joy that accompanies the ones who follow Jesus Christ and I want that joy – not for joy’s sake but for Jesus’ sake and for my own.

If God is who He say He is then I want all I can get and I’m willing to be beat upon however frequently or infrequently, however severely or brutally, it takes to get me to get it. Here’s what I do know: when I compare what I have in this world with what the Bible promises about God’s Kingdom and eternal life: I’ll take God! I don’t want to end up being called a liar by claiming fellowship with God and ignoring the fact that I might be walking in spiritual darkness. I need the light of His word!

Look for Love

09.05.12

1 John 4.7 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ESV

How would you define love in your experience? Ever have a fight with your spouse? What about a child who keeps on pushing your buttons and pulling your chains? Is there anyone you can think of that you’d just rather not be around? How does love fit in these circumstances or situations?

John wrote his letter to believers to help them to combat the assaults on their faith. There were many false prophets then who were (as they are now) perverting faith in Christ by adding to it with rules, regulations, or hoops to jump through; or they were taking away from it by trying to change the simplicity of relationship with Jesus by omitting the basics of love. So when John said, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” the beloved he was writing to were those who knew Christ and were being assaulted with misinformation and disinformation about God and love.

John said, wait a minute! Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God: are you loving the brethren? How would you define or describe love in your experience? Because despite all this other stuff you’ve been hearing, here is the bottom line: love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. It all boils down to love.

Most of the “love” I see these days borders on irritated tolerance: I love you, but OMG you bug the crap out of me! There aren’t kind words. There isn’t selflessness. Life has to be more than snipping and bickering at each other. Life has to be more than trying to find ways to kill my irritations by taking it out on you. A life that reflects irritated tolerance is a life that is not of God…at least according to the Apostle John.

John lived with Jesus for three years. John saw love up close and personal. John knew love because he knew God. And so he knew when he didn’t see love that God probably wasn’t around. And when John saw false religion and false professors he knew what it was and who they were because they didn’t have the birthmarks of God’s love: whoever loves has been born of God.

So, I guess we need to define love in order to recognize true love. Jesus said the two greatest commandments were these: 1. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 2. And love your neighbor as yourself. And then Jesus defined love this way: if you love Me, keep my commands. Love defined: love God with all that is in you to keep His commandments, and love other people – look to meet their highest good – as you would for yourself.

Want to know if you’re truly a believer? Look for love…

Trustworthilly

09.04.12

1 John 3.21-22 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. ESV

If nothing else is considered, 1 John is full – chock-full – of promise for those who love God and know God. I marvel at the power of sin that draws us away from our Creator and it’s all based, I think, on fear of the unknown. We fear God that He’s going to make us do what we don’t want to do, or take from us what we don’t want to give up. Sadly, we don’t know what it is that God is going to make us do or take from us, but we fear it dreadfully anyway.

John’s letter is all about relationship with God and what it’s supposed to be like. He explains what should be in the relationship and what shouldn’t be – it’s no different than a healthy relationship between two friends: it’s based on mutual love, respect, kindness, trust, and other-ness. Relationships are all about what the other person does to fill in the holes in my life; and brother, I am holey, Swiss-cheese don’t hold a candle to me…

In the verses above I notice trustworthiness: If my heart doesn’t condemn me, then I have confidence before God. If I see myself – even in some small measure – the way God sees me, then I have confidence of my place in our relationship. And confidence helps this old boy in the arena of acceptance. And acceptance is huge in relationships. So, when I am confident, and accepted, I am free to ask God for the things I need because God sees that I will be trustworthy with them. The things I need are all about Him and He knows I will use them wisely.

But I need Him to fill in the holes in my life so that I can be confident and accepted in Him. Or I need Him to do His God-thing in me so that I may be of use to Him in whatever He is accomplishing in my little space of the world. So, my rightly relating to God is partly being trusted by Him to use what He gives me for His glory and not my own.

I blog for at least two reasons: one, I like to think (and talk and write) about God. God is Someone worth knowing. The promise of, and hope in God I have, is far beyond what I can think or imagine. The adventure that awaits me today because of Him, is alluring beyond my comprehension. And every day the adventure grows more and more alluring. Another reason is: I seem to think you seem to want to think and talk about God as well. You seem to think: in Him is adventure worth taking, and relationship worth making. Some of you I know fairly well and others no so well, but we all seem to have this God-thing in common.

My hope is what I write is of help to you in your walk with God, and that somehow in whatever way, God uses my perspective to fill in holes in your life. I also hope that in some way the words written here will help some to see the magnificence of our God and His indescribable love for us. And, that God has so much to give puny little creatures like us – that He values us so much – that He alone made a way for us to be freed from ourselves and to come to know Him fully, confidently, and trustworthilly for all eternity.

Love in Action

09.03.12

1 John 2.3-6 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. ESV

On the eve of His crucifixion Jesus spoke these words:  “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14.15) The test of love, according to Jesus Christ, is to keep His commandments. John was at that meeting when Jesus spoke those words. And several decades later John wrote what he wrote in 1 John 2: “…but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.” Love is expressed in action.

The story goes that an elderly man and his wife were sitting on their front porch one evening and she lamented to him: you never say, “I love you”. The man sat and thought for a moment then said, “I told you on the day we were married, I loved you, and if that ever changes, you’ll be the first to know.” Nice guy. Love is expressed in action.

Jesus isn’t a cruel tyrant – He isn’t a petty despot. He stayed committed to the Father’s wishes because He knew what was at stake if He didn’t: you and I would be lost forever. And so because of us Jesus did what He did. He took on human flesh and lived among us so that He could demonstrate to us the level of His love for His Father: obedience. We can say we love Him all we want; the question is do we obey Him.

What does Jesus want us to do? The biggest is to love one another. Christians are to go to the nth degree to love one another. That’s one thing He wants us to do. Another thing is to tell others about Him. Jesus died for every person on earth throughout every age in which people live. He wants people who don’t know that to know that. Love is expressed in action. And love for Him is expressed in action as well.

My pastor said yesterday that the greatest power in the world is love. And love is powerful. But love and all its power is nothing without obedience. Love is expressed in action. Our actions speak much louder than our words. Our actions proclaim our love in a way that is tangible and obvious. Many a man has tried to patch up his failing marriage with his words after he’s ruined it by his inaction. It don’t work fellas – your words will mean a whole lot more to her when they’re accompanied with your action.

God desires our action. He desires our cooperation. He desires our partnership and he tells us plainly: the amount of love you have for Me will be proved by your obedience to My commands. My love for God is not in writing these pathetic blogs. My love for God is not shown in my perspective. My love for God is shown in my obedience to His commands. Love one another. Tell others about My love for them.

Father in Heaven, as Jesus loved and obeyed may I follow His example and do the same – amen.

Light Right and Love

9.2.2012

1 John 1.5-10 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. ESV

Let’s read this passage this way:

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is right, and in him is no wrongness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in wrongness, we lie and do not practice the right. 7 But if we walk in the right, as he is in the right, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all wrong. 8 If we say we have no wrong, we deceive ourselves, and the right is not in us. 9 If we confess our wrongs, he is faithful and just to forgive us our wrongs and to cleanse us from all un-rightness. 10 If we say we have not wronged, we make him a liar, and his right is not in us.

To us (me included) right can be power – depending on where one stands. We can use right to club others over the head – to whip them into submission; to manipulate them. But right is not a weapon; it’s a way of thinking and doing that’s in perfect harmonious synchronization with the Living God.

Let’s try the passage again, but this time…

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is love, and in him is no un-loveliness at all. 6 If we say we have love with him while we walk in un-loveliness, we lie and do not practice the love. 7 But if we walk in the love, as he is in the love, we have love with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all un-loveliness. 8 If we say we have no un-loveliness, we deceive ourselves, and the love is not in us. 9 If we confess our un-loveliness, he is faithful and just to forgive us our un-loveliness and to cleanse us from all un-loveliness. 10 If we say we have not un-loved, we make him a liar, and his love is not in us.

Love is never a weapon – love and weaponry are not compatible. Selfishness can be a weapon but love is always a gift, if it’s freely given – anything outside of love freely given is love with condition and that isn’t love. And God has given us love freely in the gift of His right. His right is not compatible with our right because of the purity of His and the impurity of ours. And this is found in His light – the illumination of Who He is and what He does…and how He operates. Light, right, and love. Freely given.

So You Will Know

09.01.12

1 John 5.13 13 I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God so you will know you have eternal life. NCV

This morning I noticed several people had changed their profile photo on FaceBook and I briefly mused about changing mine. I thought I might try to find a pic of Sir Winston Churchill and use it as my profile foto. I then thought about Churchill’s dabbling into the occult (he was trying to defeat Nazi Germany and was looking for every advantage he could find) and decided maybe my current profile photo was just fine.

In ancient times, (history has it) Roman noblemen would try to know the future by gutting a sheep and allowing the entrails to spill out on the ground and study the path the guts took, as they spilled, then use that as some kind of indicator as to what the future held for them. (No, I wasn’t considering using a picture of a gutted sheep as my profile photo…)

I also read 1 John 5 where the apostle John wrote: I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God so you will know you have eternal life. It seems one of the characteristics of humans is a need to know. We want to know what happens to us. We want to know if our future is bright and shiny or dark and gloomy. And John wrote his letter so we who believe, would know that if nothing else, we have eternal life.

Faith in Christ in John’s time was under attack like it is in ours. People warped and distorted the message of Christ and His salvation then like they do now. It was important for John to write his letter to the believers to correct these distortions and help the believers to keep believing the truth despite the level of error around them. (Remember: it was at this same time in history that sheep were being gutted so the gentrified could try to figure out what was in store for them in the future.)

In our day folks are concerned about the future. In America we may not gut sheep but we’ll bet the farm in the stock market. In our day we try to use every advantage we can to figure out what is going to happen to us. Horoscopes, astrology, psychics – it’s all about wanting to know: what is going to happen to me. If ever there was a need for the truth and reassurance of First John, it’s now; right now in our times and in our day.

The future waits for no one – it comes at us every moment. But just because it does, doesn’t mean we need to fear it – I write this letter to you who believe in the Son of God so you will know you have eternal life. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, eternal life; I just want to know what’s going to happen to me now!) Knowing I have eternal life, helps me to know that this present life and all that is in it prepares me for eternal life. Knowing nothing will stop me (and that I don’t have to spill any guts in the process) helps me to know I’m on the right path and God is completely in control of whatever happens in my life: I’m safe in His.

For now, the FaceBook profile photo will probably remain the same but my knowledge of God and His purposes for me will intensify until that day when I depart this place, with all it holds; and step into eternity – with all it holds – and live in His presence forever.