Tag Archives: Love

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I once was fatherless,
A stranger with no hope;
Your kindness wakened me,
Awakened me, from my sleep

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Your love it beckons deeply,
A call to come and die.
By grace now I will come
And take this life, take your life.

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Sin has lost it's power,
Death has lost it's sting.
From the grave you've risen
VICTORIOUSLY!

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Into marvelous light I'm running,
Out of darkness, out of shame.
By the cross you are the truth,
You are the life, you are the way

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My dead heart now is beating,
My deepest stains now clean.
Your breath fills up my lungs.
Now I'm free. now I'm free!

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Lift my hands and spin around,
See the light that i have found.
Oh the marvelous light
Marvelous light
Lift my hands and spin
See the light within...

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I'm going through a devotional of prayers, "Everyday Prayers: 365 Days to a Gospel-Centered Faith"and yesterday's really struck me.

My thoughts first, then the devotional.

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I work with the "least of these."  Yet, every single one of these people, the non-verbal, the violent, the kids who can't count to...two.

Every.  Single. One of these has made a contribution to my life!  From the one who can make me smile on a very dark day, to the one who only sees the positive in life...from a wheelchair.

It struck me that Paul described Onesimus as "formerly useless." - what made him useless?  and then...being with Paul, he's useful to both Paul and Philemon.

It was only serving Jesus, through Paul, that made Onesimus useful.  No matter who we are serving, who we are teaching, who we ARE...if it's in service to the King, we are useful.

 

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A Prayer about Formerly “Useless” People

Accordingly, although I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you— I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) (Philem. 8– 11)

 

Dear Jesus, what a great story these few verses tell— the story of how one man’s “useless” slave became another man’s beloved son. Stories like this make the gospel so beautiful and believable. I see myself in this story, both as Onesimus and as Philemon.

Jesus, thank you for not giving up on me, for coming after me when I was running away from you as fast as I could, just like Onesimus ran from Philemon.Overtly and covertly, I did everything I could to avoid you and ignore you, but you found me, you bound me to your heart through the cords of the gospel, and slowly but surely, you’re changing me. The journey from slavery to sonship hasn’t always been easy.

Jesus, I also know what it’s like to be Philemon. I’ve been failed and I’ve been hurt. I’ve been betrayed and suffered loss. But forgive me for labeling anyone as useless. Paul saw something in Onesimus that Philemon didn’t see. Jesus, you saw something in me that no one else saw. Please give me your gospel eyes to see what you see in others: broken people just like me.

Who have I branded “useless,” with either my actual words or unspoken words? Who have I written off? Who have I renamed “failure,”“worthless,”“you’ll never amount to anything,” “never to be trusted again”?

I know you’re calling me to be wise, but I also know you’re calling me to love others as you love me. None of us is beyond the need of your grace and none of us is beyond the reach of your grace. I pray in your chain-breaking name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers: 365 Days to a Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 1059-1076). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

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This is so pretty I wanted to post it.

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

- Captain Corelli's Mandolin

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Oh, my...this has been around a while...I'll add some to the end of it.

1 John 3:1-3: "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

Ephesians 1:5 ...he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Mark 10:15 "I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Our sermon on Sunday was on the passage in Mark and the person who spoke gave examples of what that might  mean.

Children are not by nature clean beings.  My daddy always says, "a boy is a noise with dirt on it."  On that day, when Jesus was speaking...nobody was clean.  They had traveled on the dusty roads and had been sitting in the hot sun all day.

When we come to the Father, we come to him as broken and messy children.  We may not have a clue where we're going, but like a child, the Father just picks us up and puts us where we should be.

We bring nothing with us.

Job 1:20 "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return.

We don't bring our works, our faith, our love.  All that we have, the Father has given.

 

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From "The Gender Blog"

The article is mostly good, but when the whopper comes...

Misconception #4: Submission is a right-a husband has the right to demand his wife's submission.

A husband does not have the right to demand or extract submission from his wife. Submission is HER choice-her responsibility... it is NOT his right!! Not ever. She is to "submit herself"- deciding when and how to submit is her call. In a Christian marriage, the focus is never on rights, but on personal responsibility. It's his responsibility to be affectionate. It's her responsibility to be agreeable. The husband's responsibility is to sacrificially love as Christ loved the Church-not to make his wife submit.

My thought is that a Christian man, who has married a woman who claims to be a Christian, has the right to expect her to act like one.  That includes being a submissive wife.

If he has not rights, then he is effectively in a hostage situation.  Not a pleasant place.

 

She is to "submit herself"- deciding when and how to submit is her call.

Agreed.

The "when" is when she says "I do" on the altar.

The "how" is "as unto the Lord."

Anything other than that is disobedience to the Law of Christ, Scripture and love.  It saddens me to see Kassian teach so.

 

 

 

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I don't like this bumper sticker.

Not because I'm opposed to love...

This bumper sticker comes to us from Mars Hill, courtesy of Rob Bell.  The number of these things that I see on the road is an indication of how many followers Bell has.  That I don't like.

The other reason..."Love wins" (the bumper sticker) is misunderstood.  It was put out after Bell preached a sermon on the cross - "Love Wins" (although from what I've read about Bell, I think I'll look up what his version of the cross is).

If you ask most people about the sticker, they'll stand on 1 Corinthians 13 - "love wins, you know."

No, that's a mistranslation.  Love never fails.  Love lasts forever.  Love perseveres.

But it doesn't always win.  Love, once given, lasts.  If it doesn't, maybe it wasn't really love in the first place.

But love does last forever.

I was reading Thomas Watson yesterday and he noted that love is the only grace that will last with us forever in heaven.

There will have no need of forgiveness, since there will be no sin.

There will be no need for baptism, since all there have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

There will be no need for holy communion, since the Lord's Supper proclaims His death and resurrection until His return...and we will be looking at Him face to face.

Love lasts forever.

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"We know that all things work together for good to them that love God."
--Romans 8:28

Upon some points a believer is absolutely sure. He knows, for instance,
that God sits in the stern-sheets of the vessel when it rocks most. He
believes that an invisible hand is always on the world's tiller, and that
wherever providence may drift, Jehovah steers it. That re-assuring
knowledge prepares him for everything. He looks over the raging waters and
sees the spirit of Jesus treading the billows, and he hears a voice
saying,  "It is I, be not afraid." He knows too that God is always wise,
and, knowing this, he is confident that there can be no accidents, no
mistakes; that nothing can occur which ought not to arise. He can say, "If
I should lose all I have, it is better that I should lose than have, if
God so wills: the worst calamity is the wisest and the kindest thing that
could befall to me if God ordains it."

If we allow it, it is a great comfort to know that we belong to a God who is in control of the universe.  We see this life; God sees into eternity.

In the midst of pain and trial, it can be so hard to see that, yet it is true...there is nothing that happens that God does not have a hand in - and He will use it to bring us closer to Him.

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The "T" matters because all have sinned and there are none that seek the face of the Lord.

If there are none that seek the face of the Lord, how do we find Him? The answer is a hard one - for me it was the most difficult of "TULIP".

If we, in our sin, do not have the ability to seek after God, then it must be God that seeks after us.

That is the "U" - unconditional election. Predestination.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Eph 1:3-6 ESV)

Logic tells us that if we are steeping in the "T", we cannot seek God.  We are chosen in Christ.

Chosen.

Our election is not based on the good that we have done - it is unconditional upon our behavior.

It is the very idea of our salvation NOT being rooted in ourselves that points to the glory of God.  Our salvation is not of ourselves, it is by grace; faith is the vehicle that God has chosen.

It is not of works.  We are chosen.