True Love

True love is something to behold.  It is not a quick infatuation.  It does not flee easily.  It sits and waits and patiently grows with nurture over time.  Repeatedly in Song of Songs we read where the lover, or the woman says,

Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem:
Don’t excite love, don’t stir it up,
until the time is ripe—and you’re ready. (8:4 MSG)

She is speaking from experience.  She is speaking to the rashness of infatuation and the idolatry of things that quickly fade. We pour our time and talent and energy into things that are right in front of us but do not last.  But love is a commitment more than it is a feeling.  It can “be stirred up” into a deep feeling but love encompasses more than passion and more than sentiment.

When we first come to know the extraordinary gift of God’s salvation, we are excited.  We are stirred up with gratitude and our response is a fiery one.  Many of us jump in with both feet and run headlong into the relationship.  We have conviction that we have found the answer and we have arrived at our destination.  We fill our schedule with things we believe will fuel this relationship.  We focus on how to know Him more and to love and serve Him fully.

Yet for many of us, as time goes on, life gradually encroaches on this relationship.  We put aside our time alone with Him for more pressing needs.  Our jobs, our families, our commitments beckon to us to give a little more.  They draw us further away in little steps.  The rituals of our relationship with God become less pressing from our original fervor to give Him all our time and heart.  We encounter conflict that wounds us and disappointment in our initial expectations.  Slowly we move into a creeping apathy and the passion we once knew has been snuffed out.

By an act of God’s ever pursuing grace, the recognition of our sad state, and the conviction of his Spirit, we are beckoned back to our first love.  God prepares us this time to know and receive  his love that has never lessened or changed based on our behavior. God’s love for us far exceeds our understanding. 1 Corinthians 13, speaking of true love, tells us:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^8-10 Love never dies.  (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 MSG)

As we yield again to God’s love for us we learn to love Him and others and ourselves. This love is “as strong as death.”  It will not end. It cannot “be quenched”. It continues to hope, it continues to grow, it beckons us into eternity with Him even while we face the schedules, meetings, carpools, laundry and busyness of today.  This deeper place and deeper longing is the crux of Song of Songs.

A Deeper Longing

The past six months have been long and slow.  I have been physically sick for the first extended time of my life.  This road is lonely and depressing at times. My spiritual life has felt detached.  A desert; a long dark night of the soul. It has been particularly rough the past few weeks. Though spring has been emerging in the outside world, the bleakness of winter remains inside me. It is not that God has left me; rather, my sense of his imminent presence has dulled.  This too, is a first for me – at least for this long a time.  Certainly there have been short seasons where he seemed far away (usually because I had moved away from Him due to my own choices), but this has been different. So far as I can discern there has been no apparent sin separating us; just the heaviness of sickness and the exhaustion of my mind and emotions from the pain and discomfort.  God feels absent.  I know in the core of my being that this is untrue.  He is always with me because he lives in me. But practically and experientially I have had little sense of his presence and little of the joy that has been my strength for so many years.  I don’t feel like myself.

Gradually, I have noticed a longing that has begun within me. It is a longing for the One who loves me. A longing for the One whom I love.  In the Song of Songs, we hear this same kind of longing developing in the Bride. She cries, “On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not,” (Song 3:1 ESV).  While on her couch at night a painful longing seizes her. She’s heartsick with the fact that her Beloved isn’t there with her. She can’t stand that she has lost the feeling of his nearness. It seems almost as though he has forsaken her.  Has he forgotten her? Has he changed his mind? Did he move on? Does he no longer love her?

This longing compels her to seek the one “whom her soul loves.” She is willing to get up in the night to search for him throughout the city.  It doesn’t matter the time. It doesn’t matter the inconvenience. She is single minded in her pursuit of the one she loves.  I remember a time when I was courting my wife Catherine and feeling this same way.  We had not seen each other for a few days.  I was agitated.  I felt out of sync.  I wanted so desperately to see her that when she returned to town I made a bee-line for her parent’s house even though it was late in the evening and the drive was across the city. I remember the look of surprise on her father’s face as I inquired whether I might see her for a few moments.  He looked at his watch, hesitated briefly, and let me in the door. I only stayed a short while; I remember that her father stayed up watching the television in the adjoining family room while I was there.  It didn’t matter to me. I was with the woman I loved and her nearness was enough.

I’ve noticed that my soul has begun to long again for the One whom I love.  I have found myself crying out to Him with renewed intention. There is an urgency within me to re-connect with Him despite the time, the inconvenience, the seeming absence, the distance. It’s not that I have stopped seeking Him during these months. Only that my desperation for Him has grown again of late. Perhaps that’s the reason for “dark nights of the soul” we all experience in our journey with Him. These renew our pursuit and passion for the One whom our souls love and to strengthen us to go hard after God again.  To not take for granted His presence but to pursue Him with a new depth and strength again.

Set Free

Don’t forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I’m locked up in this jail.  Pray that every time I open my mouth I’ll be able to make Christ plain as day to them.  Colossians 4: 3-4

This is a remarkable request from Paul.  He is sitting in prison.  He could be feeling sorry for himself, angry at the world; doubting the call God had given him.  Yet he continues to ask boldly for God to open doors so that he can spread the Gospel of Christ.   Even if he isn’t released; he prays that he will be able to share the amazing news of freedom in Christ from right where he sits.

Most of us have never been incarcerated as Paul was.  He had broken no laws; yet he was  imprisoned for  his faith.  For many of us, however, we are trapped in a different kind of prison.   The prison of our minds.  We are trapped by our feelings; trapped by our perspective, trapped by offense, trapped by our own unwillingness to let go and embrace the life God has given to us.  We can’t hear God’s call upon our lives over the clamor of the world’s opinion of us.

Paul was so convinced of his call to spread the Gospel that regardless of where he was or what his condition was he continued to share the message.  Despite living in chains, Paul boldly pressed on; writing to and encouraging  the churches he had started to press on alongside him in Spirit.

What made it possible for Paul to do this?  Paul had a radical encounter with the Living God of the Universe.  He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this world is just rotting away while eternity beckons us home.  He no longer lived for today or what he could accomplish in the world’s eyes.  He fixed his eyes upon that which cannot be seen; a call only known by living in relationship with Christ himself.

Do you know what Paul knows?  Have you heard God’s call on your life?  Ask him today.  Reach out to Him.  Receive his extraordinary love for you.   Walk with him and ask him.

What has God called you to?  What are the chains that are holding you back?  Are you afraid?  Ask him for courage and to clarify his call upon your life.  Fear is a real part of living in this world, but it is absent from life in his Kingdom.  Are you tired and worn out?  Ask him for rest and peace to fill and to sustain you.  Are you unwilling to let go of your plans and embrace his for your life? Ask him to release you from yourself.  Ask Him to release you from what you can see and to give you His vision for your life.  Ask him to be set free.  Then trust Him to do it for you.

Real Love

^“So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.” (1 Cor 13:7b – The Message)

William Gladstone, in announcing the death of Princess Alice to the House of Commons in England, told the following story. The little daughter of the princess was seriously ill with diphtheria. The doctors told the princess not to get too close to her daughter and especially not to kiss her as this would endanger her life by breathing the child’s breath. However, one night the child was struggling to breathe and the mother, forgetting herself entirely, took the little one into her arms to keep her from choking to death. Rasping and struggling for her life, the child said, “Momma, kiss me!” Without thinking of herself the mother tenderly kissed her daughter. She herself contracted the diphtheria and some days later went to be forever with the Lord.

Real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger. Real love doesn’t fear the cost.  According to the bible, love is never about the self (that’s lust), but always about giving the self away for others.  I think the best synonym for love is the word ‘sacrifice’. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13).  And that is exactly what Jesus demonstrated as he died on the cross for the sins of the world. As Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13, love is always other centered. Incidentally, the kind of love he is speaking about has nothing to do with feelings and it certainly isn’t something you can “fall out of”. Instead he says: “Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end,” (The Message).

How to eat the Meal

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1Cor 11:26)

 

In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul gives us an account of the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist/Mass/Holy Communion) and then tells of its value. It was established on the night in which Christ was handed over to suffering and death. That night marked the greatest betrayal in human history and encapsulated every betrayal and sin by every person who has ever lived (including you and me).  The Lord of Glory – the God of Love – the King of Heaven allowed himself to be slain for the sin of the world. What a mystery! What a tragedy! But now it is to be celebrated as the greatest demonstration of love the world has ever known. For you! For me! What an amazing Love!! The bread is his body broken for us and in our place. The cup is the new covenant made through the shedding of his blood. God has pledged that all who come to him in faith, trusting in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross have forgiveness of sin. There is no sin too great for Christ to forgive. There is no sin to heinous for the blood of Christ to cleanse. And through this cleansing by his blood we may approach God with confidence, sharing intimacy of relationship (communion) with him.

Paul tells us we should be careful not to eat or drink in an unworthy manner.  Mind you, Paul never tells us we must be “worthy” to eat at the Lord’s Table, for if that were the case, no one could partake. Though we are not worthy, we can partake in a worthy manner. To do so, he says we ought to “examine ourselves” (v 28). This means:

1. We need to face our sins honestly, judge them, and confess them to the Lord — if we will judge ourselves and seek his mercy, God will not have to judge us — (v 31-32).
2. We need to have love for our brothers and sisters. “Don’t think only of yourselves, think of others” (v 33). So often we come to church asking, “What am I going to get out of this service?” when we should be asking, “What can I say or do or pray to give someone else a blessing?” If we would come to worship in this way, our services would overflow with the presence and life of the Holy Spirit.
3. We need to remember him with thankful and loving hearts as we receive his body and blood (“do this in remembrance of me” vv. 24-25). Think on Christ when you go to the table. Allow your mind to engage with him.  Allow your heart to overflow with praise. He longs for your love and adoration and heartfelt worship!

 

 

The Stumbling-Block Principle

“Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.” (1 Cor 8:9)

In 1 Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul gives us a practical example of Jesus’ command that we love our neighbors by putting their needs above our privileges.  It has been referred to as the “stumbling-block” principle.  Paul tells us that we who are mature in Christ are to be willing to give up our rights and our freedoms for our “weaker brothers and sisters.”

Specifically, Paul was addressing a question the Corinthians had written to him about; namely, was it right to eat meat that had been offered in sacrifice to idols (false gods)? It may seem strange to us, but this was a serious matter for the Corinthians who had left their pagan backgrounds when they encountered the Living Christ.  Because meat which had been offered in pagan rituals was later sold in the public market, the Corinthians were trying to figure out if they could purchase it for personal consumption and also whether they could eat in their pagan neighbors’ houses (who regularly sacrificed and served this meat). Would eating this meat defile them? Would knowingly receiving meat offered to another “god” make them a participant in the worship of this other “god”?  This was a serious matter of discipleship within the context of a pagan culture.  And because people in the church were coming to different conclusions on the matter, it was becoming a matter of division within the body of Christ.

Paul’s answer?  LOVE!  Love was to trump knowledge. Love was to guide their actions. Those who rightly understood that this meat couldn’t defile them spiritually because of the  greatness of God and the righteousness and power of Christ who lived in them (verse 6), were to be willing to forsake their freedom for the sake of their fellow Christians whose consciences were offended by the pagan practices.  Love is always willing to lay down its rights for the sake of another. Isn’t this exactly what Jesus modeled for us in his incarnation and crucifixion?

Paul writes, “You must be careful with this freedom of yours. Do not cause a brother or sister with a weaker conscience to stumble,” (v 9).  “You know there is nothing wrong with it, but they will be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been dedicated to an idol,” (v 10b).  “So because of your superior knowledge, a weak Christian for whom Christ died, will be destroyed. And you are sinning against Christ when you sin against other Christians by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong.  If what I eat is going to make another Christian sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live – for I don’t want to make another Christian stumble,” (vv 11-13).

Here’s a contemporary application of this principle.  You’ve invited a group of Christian friends to your home for dinner.  You discover that one of them believes it is wrong for Christians to drink alcohol.  (Perhaps they come from a Christian tradition that emphasizes this). While you know that you are free to drink alcohol (in moderation), you willingly forsake serving alcohol to the party for the sake of your brother or sister whose conscience would be violated by your freedom.  You might be tempted to think of yourself as superior to them (“knowledge puffs up” — verse 1), but you remember that humility and love always win the day (“love builds up”). Let’s follow the way of love for the sake of Christ and his church!

 

All We Need Is Love

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10

Christ’s life was the ultimate expression of love. It began in the heart of God when from eternity he determined to rescue us despite our sin. Because of his great love for us, God gave us his Son. Christ, out of love for the Father and for us, lived his life perfectly under the law and then was killed unjustly upon the cross. All to demonstrate his great love for us.  All to fulfill the law.

So often we tend to think that love is soft and flexible and, well, fluffy. Yet love is stronger than death. It is tougher than the grave. While we tend to think of tough love as being love that is hard on those who desperately need boundaries , tough love really is the willingness to die to self for the sake of another.  This kind of love must be lived out practically in our lives.  It is no mere matter of words. If I say I love my wife, but never take out the garbage to help her, do I really love her? Of course not! Love must be lived or it is not love at all.  And when we live lives of love, we naturally fulfill the law. This in no way obtains righteousness for us, but is instead the outworking of the righteousness of Christ which we received by grace through faith.

Who are you loving today? Some people will be easier to love than others. In fact, perhaps the person in your life whom you find the most difficult to love is actually the one God is using most to develop Christ’s character in you.