The word “love” has
gone from meaning something to meaning relatively nothing. That sounds rather cynical don’t you
think? The word is used to describe a
love of beer in the same sentence that a man tells someone he loves them. We need to first understand what “love” is to
understand cynical reactions by people.
For beginners we’ve numbed ourselves to real love but mesmerized
ourselves with commercial love. Which
isn’t love at all. We have become a
cynical people when it comes to believing in an ideal or something highly
important. Rarely is love seen as a gift
from God and the glue that holds all things precious. To come to an understanding of this “gift” we
will need to open our minds and be ready for positive as well as negative
consequences. Should we dare to live
life on God’s expectations we will soon be a part of the minority of those
serious about their faith and their God.
The “gift” of love is both a power to pull people together as well as a
power to separate people. What’s your
experience? Does the gift of love seem
illusive to you? Perhaps you are
wondering when you will get yours. I
wouldn’t blame you. What I would like to
suggest is that maybe, just maybe, you already have the gift of love. It is possible that the definition you are
using is so far removed from the love of God that you haven’t been able to see
real love.
While we live in a world of constant
movement and vacillating approaches to words and their meaning, we fail to look
at the words from any prospective other than that which we have been taught by
the society around us. Part of the
reason people are cynical about love is because they have complex histories of
living with selfish people. Day in and
day out it seems that people have their lives mainly focused upon
themselves. Simply put, the cost of
being unselfish is too great for most people.
For people to live unselfish lives a brokenness is necessary for us to
be taken out of the way of God’s love.
In the end we placate ourselves by surrounding ourselves with people
like us. Thus, a new standard (much lowered) now exists that allows for the
selfishness necessary to support this life style. Keep in mind that this is not God’s standard,
nor it is his example. I don’t recommend
his example to you. God came himself to
earth to, out of love, redeem his creation from sin (selfishness). Unlike the world we live in, when God takes
something away from us (like our sin) he fills the empty place (with himself) for
us to enjoy his gift of love. The world
we live in does the exact opposite. What
you may believe in is taken away through any number of manipulations. These manipulations have been around since
the Garden and Adam, Eve and the serpent (Satan). Love does not manipulate. At least not negatively.
We take words and apply them in more of a
worldly way than a heavenly way. This
results in a skewed understanding of these words and an even more skewed
application of them in the way we live both with ourselves and others. Take, for instance, “justice” as opposed to
“injustice”. In the world, justice is
great, grand and the right thing…until it applies to us. The same logic is applied to injustice. Application of injustice is almost always
something that happens to us and no one else.
If we are feeling that an injustice is being done or has been done to
us, we then seek justice to rectify the injustice. Okay, this makes my mind weary. Have I been served an injustice? No, of course not. Sometimes justice and sometimes injustice
come our way. Sometimes they are of our
own doing and sometimes others do them to us.
Now, don’t get offended when I say this next statement. We have no right to feel an injustice has
been done to us. Yes, you did read that
right. We have NO right to feel an
injustice has been done to us.
“Why is that?” you might ask. I’m so glad you asked! The simple answer is, “because you gave up
your rights when you gave your life to Jesus.
The complex answer is the same.
For many of us (me included), when we came to the point of decision in
our lives sin was already running rampant in our lives. The worlds rules were applicable one instant
and not applicable the next. When we
live in the worlds rule selfishness and injustices reigned supreme. In fact, rules based on selfishness, were
instituted and were/are injustices to many.
We, all people, deserve justice.
We deserve to be tried and sentenced for all the sin that has captivated
our lives. While God sees us with mercy
and love because of his love of his creation.
He gladly sets free all who give their life to him. Set free from sin, there is no longer the
need to feel injustices. After all, the
greatest injustice of all time was Jesus’ crucifixion. He died for our sins and took the justice
away from us and upon himself. This
would be great if we had only given up our rights and began to approach every
day, every thought, and every action by listening to God and then just doing
what was asked. How does that feel to
you? Do you find yourself in the
quandary of wanting what you don’t deserve and then feeling selfish when you
take what is offered?
It’s true that to be saved from ourselves
we need to be selfish just one more time.
The gift of salvation can be received but never earned. What we have earned is the judgment of God. What he offers through Jesus Christ is mercy,
grace and freedom. Some of you have been
thinking way too long about what you need to do to be okay in the eyes of
God. Some of you work yourselves into a
tizzy that you are unable to appreciate God or his grace. Some of you are so intent on doing instead of
receiving that you have never received.
Still others among you believe there is some formula needing to be
completed before you are saved. How
about you? What is your excuse for not
letting the love of God flow through you freely? Anything that detracts from the gift of love
from God is living a “less than” life.
Over the years I have spoken with and to many different faiths. I’ve been called upon to learn what they
believe to be an effective therapist and pastor. Regardless of what we all believe there are
only three things all people want: love,
acceptance and approval. That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. We spend our entire life living to receive,
have and give away these three elements.
Yet, we have such a great hesitancy doing so with God.
God loves us. It’s not just a past thing or a future thing
but a very real day to day love that is meant to sustain us. This is all about surrender and focus. Surrendering out definition of love and
accepting Gods will start us on the way to a Christ centered focus. This will be different from our past
focus. This definition of love boils
down to selflessness. Unselfishness is
hardly known in the world. However, we
are asked to live an unselfish life.
This is the center of the Christian life. God promises us so much if we would just choose
Him. God accepts us. It’s true.
We are told in the Word that God has loved us from conception through
our earthly death. Past, present and
future nicely packed away. God doesn’t
accept our sin and that will require sanctification to become more like
Jesus. Did you realize that God loves
us? When he does so, he is also
accepting of us as his creation. It
seems like the whole world is continually focused on getting kudos for anything
and everything. Even when we don’t
deserve kudos we still seek them. Having
a God who approves of us is essential to our inner peace. You see, when we are in God’s will and living
as free men and women, we are loved, accepted and approved. God approves us. With the world looking for approval for the
ungodly we can be distracted and distanced from the truth we receive from
God. There are groups of men, women and
children that bank their existence on the approval of a gang, parent, sibling,
boss and pastor. Looking for approval
from any of these renders all unable to deliver the love of God much less
receive it. This love, acceptance and
approval is only competitive in the eyes of the world. Love, acceptance and approval from any other
source is never enough, never the best and never what God wants for us.
Here is where we need to cross the
intersection and put some perspective in our lives. We know that injustice exists. We know that love exists. We know that the definition from the world
and God’s point of view exists. What one
would call injustice another would call justice. One element of this discourse is for
sure. We all hate injustice. Because of that we have an easy time
discussing justice in the Christian understanding. Within the world we have a different
paradox. Understanding of worldly is
completely subjective to the speaker’s definition of the word. The greatest dilemma for both groups surfaces
when talking about justice for “them” versus justice for “me.” The justice for them is punctuated with force
and punishment. The justice for me is more
like a slap on the hand. Why the
difference? Because we are selfish and
don’t want punishment we want for others.
Hypocrites are we all. We are
continually asked to examine ourselves and see if there be any wickedness in
us. When we are in any of many
situations where there is a choice between justice and injustice we are called
upon to look at justice even if it doesn’t benefit us. Right will always win out. Cynicism never is found in the heart of
God. It stands to reason that if we call
ourselves Christian that cynicism in not found in us either. I hope you understand as you read this that
this applies to me also. We live in a
world that is harsh, depressing and violent.
It is very difficult to not let those impact us. So, how do we do this task of not being
cynical about love?
I am not going to tell you that
eliminating the cynicism from our lives is easy. However, we are also asked to hate
injustice. How do these two meet? I once attended a seminar where the speaker
had two pictures of water on the table.
One was filled with clear water and the other was filled with clear
water. He was demonstrating the example
of polluted versus clean. He took a cup
of dirt (cynicism and hate) and poured it into the picture of clear water. The water became muddied and unfit for
drinking. He used a cup of dirt but
could have used a teaspoon of dirt or even less to pollute the clean
water. He went on to say that there was
a solution for this now polluted water to be ingested without fear of contamination. Then he took another picture of clean water
and began to pour it into the picture he had previously polluted. Eventually, and with enough water, the
picture was once again clean and appearing drinkable. We all know there is residue of this or that
in all our water. The point taken for my
example here is that we need to displace the cynicism and injustice in your
life. Don’t try to do this with someone
else’s life. Focus only on yours. Don’t try to fix anyone. That is not your job. Speaking of which; the only job of the
Christian is to bring glory to God.
That’s it. How do the actions,
thoughts and words in your life bring glory to God? If they are focused on love and justice, they
will change the world inside of you and around you.
Are you in a church arguing about what
color to paint the bathroom? Do you
think so and so should sit up front or in the rear? Are you concerned more about how you appear
to others than how you appear to God? Do
you keep a radar detector on your dash to sin?
Are you one person at church, another at work and yet a third person at
home? Do you pray for people or prey on
people? Could you tell the person you
are gossiping about what you tell others?
Do you read the Bible as it pertains to others but not to you? I could go on and on with this list. They all come from real experiences I have
had either with myself or others in various places of my life.
Let love eliminate injustice in your
life. This will begin as a difficult
change because of the habits that have taken a lifetime to form. The only way to overcome this problem is to
seek the love of Christ. Which in turn
is changing your view of God’s intent in your life. This process of sanctification is as
difficult as you want to make it. These
changes really come down to choosing whom you will follow. It’s always been your choice anyway; might
just as well make the right choice. What
you will find is the love of God flowing out of others towards you. It’s always been there but invisible to the
sin driven eye. No one has done this to
you. You have done it to yourself. Though society has defined the very
vocabulary you use; learn the meaning of “love” and “affection” as you discover
them to be through reading the Word and seeking God while he may be found. When we have surrendered our “less than”
existence for the full and vibrant life in Christ we are free to be whom He has
created us to be. Discovery of that life
should propel us into seeking more. With
that going on in our lives there will be very little time that we could devote
to the ways of the world.
We have come a long way since engaging
this journey with chapter 1. Being
peaceful amidst the noise and haste is a result of love. Being quiet can spark the love of God in someone
who fears your condemnation. It’s not
about surrender as much as it is about standing up for what is right. In the end they may not like your belief but
will respect you the man for having stood up for right. When we speak His truth; doing so will with
respect and dignity will enhance how we listen to others. There are dull and ignorant people around us
and with this dignity we can find ground on which to stand to take their hand
as well. Their story, you will find, is
not that different from your own. We cannot
be everything to all people. We can be
whatever God wants us to be to all people.
One doesn’t have to take someone from sinner to saint. Perhaps your task is simply to open the book,
another to read and yet another to pray the salvation prayer. Keep in mind that being in the continual
presence of loud and aggressive people will get to you. Don’t spend so much time there. Likewise, don’t compare yourself to others. Keep the sight on the Lord Jesus and seek
daily to be more like him. Doing so will
help you to avoid keeping up with anyone else.
You can be sure you are not looking at Jesus when you begin to become
vain and bitter. That’s a good time to
stop. Stop and go back to your first
love. I don’t care whether you use
comparisons with the world or Christ as there will be greater and lesser
persons than you. It shouldn’t
matter. Christianity is not a
competition. It’s a journey taking us
home. Let’s take a few folks with
us. Enjoy the successes of yourself and
others as a celebration of what God has accomplished through you. You need to be responsible in supporting
yourself and your family. If that means
flipping burgers or driving a garbage truck, do the work with a glad
heart. Having a means of income and
security is important for you and yours.
Don’t lose sight of who provides the job for this. Also remember to be wise. Allow the Holy Spirit to teach and lead you in
all your business affairs. This includes
the multimillion dollar deal you are working on with the same insight and
application of teaching your children how to save money that they can use for
God’s purpose here on earth. If they
don’t learn it from the Godly, they will learn the trickery of the ungodly. Trust me, you don’t want that to happen. Sometimes we find ourselves encountering
negative after negative and this can take you and me down. What’s the solution? Quite simply put, we need to pay attention to
the positive and push the negatives out of the pitcher of water. The positives will carry you farther in life. Your life will be blessed, and you will pass
on a legacy of virtue to your children and your children’s children. As you enter this great crowd of witnesses
(yes, here on earth) you will see many who have chosen the life Christ intended
for them to have. A life with high
ideals as a common thread in the various aspects of your life. Don’t forget that you have ample opportunity
to be an unsung hero to those around you.
What a great life we have in Christ. Go forth and bless others by your life of
service to Jesus Christ.
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