Friday Focus #28

Love Out Loud

For those of us who text and love to use acronyms during communication we have all seen LOL which stands for "laugh out loud." I was sitting here thinking of another topic and I thought, what if we take that acronym and change the meaning, or add a meaning to it. Let's change LOL to mean "Love Out Loud." I know, that seems corny, but think about how different this can be. How many times do we criticize out loud? How many times do we tell people what we do not like about them out loud. But, when it comes to loving them and sharing what we love about them, we don't tell them. Ever. Just for today, try something different. For the person that you criticize the most (spouse, child, friend, celebrity on twitter- haha) use that same energy to focus on being loving. Jesus didn't go around critiquing everyone all the time, but you do. Flip it. Use today to be loving as Christ loves you for your shortcomings, mistakes and bad decisions.
 

Sometimes we need some verses to help us remember to be loving. I like the one which is often known as the "Golden Rule" which is Luke 6:31. It tells us do to others as we would want them to do to us. I mean think about it, if we all treated people they way we would want to be treated I think we would all be in a better place. If you don't like being yelled at and cut down, then don't do it to others. If you don't like being criticized in public, then don't do it to others. Flip it. Be loving and encouraging in public. No backhanded compliments, but genuine love. Let it flow from you freely for the benefit of others.

Lastly, let us remember 1 John 4:11. This verse tells us to love one another as God loves us (as I stated in the first paragraph). Even someone who doesn't "deserve" it. No where does scripture tell you to be mean or cruel to someone because you don't like them. We follow Christ. He didn't go around putting people down and telling them that they don't deserve to be loved or forgiven or given grace. Remember Christ is our example. Study his life and follow the example.

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Wednesday Wake Up #26

Christ-like Valentine

Valentine's Day is this weekend, Sunday to be exact. This is the time of year that we tell our significant others how much we love them and buy them roses and chocolates and dinners and gifts and really try to impress them. We tell them that we love them. All those things are wonderful and you should absolutely tell those that you love, that you love them. But what about a real focus for Christ followers? Does your significant other have Christ-like character? That is something that we Christ followers need to look at. 

When you communicate with your significant other, when you see them walk through life, is their focus on being of the same mind as Jesus? If you read Philippians 2:5 we see that we are to have the same mind as Jesus. This take effort, but overall through grace from God, it takes submission to God's will. Jesus was completely sold out for God and died as it was in God's will so that we could be redeemed through Christ with God. Is your mate completely sold out for God's will? If you are a Christ follower ask yourself that question. But also ask yourself, am I sold out for God?
 

Remember when Jesus gave us a new commandment? Do you remember what it was? It was that we love others as he (Jesus) has loved us (John 13:34). This isn't about religion and all of that, this is about dedication to Christ and being loving to others. Others is everyone. Loving others as God would have us love them. That means remove the condemnation. Remove the denigration. Remove the bitterness. Remove the hate. Add unconditional love. Add grace. Add respect. Add Christ-likeness to cover it all. If you really want to know if they are the "one" check their character against that of Christ. Check your character against that of Christ. If you are united in Christ's love that is a great start to this Valentine's Day as well as many others.

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Friday Focus #14

The Open Doors of Freedom

Now that I am taking steps to live outside of my "box", I recognize my freedom. This is not just freedom in the choices I make, but the freedom from that which I fear. I feared heartbreak, broken relationships, and not getting what I wanted in life. I even feared being humbled from being wrong. But the perfect life where everything goes my way is not realistic, and it is not what scripture teaches us either. We are taught to follow Christ and submit to God's will in our lives.

I wanted freedom from fear, yet I did not ask. I didn't ask God for His strength in my daily life. I just adjusted my life based on what I thought the right decisions would be, yet it was not based in Biblical principles. We know about "Ask, Seek Knock" from Matthew 7:7-12. If it is in God's will and I ask Him for it and seek it and knock on the door it will be provided to me. If it is not in God's will then there may be a problem with my motives.

I wanted to be free from condemnation. If anyone person or group of people condemned me for a dream, goal or a sin I committed or if I felt they did not support me, into the "box" I would go. Jesus wouldn't condemn me or want me to go inside my "box." Not once have I ever read about Jesus condemning people for their sins, only calling out hypocrites who used God's word to undercut others for personal/political gain (like the Pharisees did). We read in Romans 8:1 (one of my favorites) that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. I am free from the condemnation and judgment from others (we are not called to condemn Luke 6:37) and I am free from the condemnation of sin. Others look at the outside and do not see the heart as God does (John 7:24).

But with my freedom, I need to also be responsible. Just because I am coming out of my box it does not mean that I should run around and do all the things I want to do either. Yes God will forgive me when I repent, but what about my influence on others? What I do in my life can definitely affect others. I read in 1 Corinthians 8:9 about being careful that just because I can do something, I need to be careful not make another brother or sister in Christ stumble. While learning myself in God's will, I need to check my influence on others and make sure that I am in His will and not my own.

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John 18: Peter is Like Us, Jesus is Our Example

Peter is Like Us, Jesus is Our Example

We know Jesus knew that Peter would deny that he knew him three times (Matthew 26:30-34).

Then we know that Peter said he would not deny Jesus (Matthew 26:35). 

When Jesus was captured, he did not cure Peter's name or talk about him as if he was the worst person ever (John 18).

What does this say about Jesus? He knew he would be denied and essentially left alone in a time of crisis, yet he still loved Peter anyway. He was still compassionate to Peter any way. He forgave Peter in advance.

God's love is not finite. It is infinite. It is not conditional like human love. Jesus knew what Peter would do and did not condemn him. Since Christ is our example we must see and apply the knowing that we must forgive others and forgive our selves. We mess up. Others mess up. We need forgiveness as others do. No one deserves forgiveness, it is a gift. That gift comes from the power from God's gift of redemption to us through Christ.

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Wednesday Wake Up #11

Righteous Judgement

Many people say "don't judge" or "judge not lest thee be judged." They take a Bible verse and misinterpret it by not reading the whole context of the verse, the section of the chapter or the Bible as a whole. The words they quote are from Jesus, but how it is often understood is different than how it is used.

Jesus saw that many judged based on appearance and not on what was the below the surface truth. Have you ever seen a homeless person and thought that they must have done that to themselves? People jump to conclusions and think the person must be a drunk or drug addict. They don't know that there are people with mental issues that have been left to fend for themselves. God knows the context for all of our situations. Just because you see someone at one moment it does not mean that the person is that person overall. We don't need condemnation for our mess ups, we need compassion. Christ was full of compassion whether you were blind (John 9:1-7), and adulterer (John 8:1-11) or a tax collector who was known for taxing too much (Luke 19:1-10).

Jesus was known to also respond accordingly when God's house was disrespected (Matthew 21:12-13) or religious leaders were misleading people (Matthew 23). We cannot judge on appearance and what we think unless it is in line with what God wants from us. We are not judging on personality and fashion sense and character. We don't know why people do what they do. Maybe they weren't raised well? Maybe they were abused? Do you really want to condemn an adult who may have been abused? We don't know motives. We don't have the full picture. I make mistakes and bad decisions just like you do. We can love each other through our sin and help one another with mercy and compassion, or we can condemn and keep reminding people of what they have done wrong. I don't need all of my sins brought up over and over again just like you don't.

It is okay to evaluate and confront a sinful brother/sister in Christ. That takes a judgment. It is a judgment call. We must use proper judgment when seeing who are the false teachers and false messiahs. We must use right judgment in order to serve God and encourage others, lovingly.

To hear a sermon on righteous judgment click here for John MacArthur

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John 8- Throwing Stones

Throwing Stones

Isn't interesting that when we see someone doing wrong we want to jump down their throats and tell them how wrong they are for what they did? Why do people get so angry about the sin of others? Do they get that mad at your their own sin?  

In this John 8:1-11, we see a woman brought before Jesus. She was caught in the act of adultery. They were asking what should they do with her as the law of Moses said that she should be stoned. Jesus knelt down and wrote in the dirt and told them that whoever was without sin should be the first one to throw a stone at her. We don't know what Jesus was writing. He could have been writing the sins of the men who brought her to Jesus or he may have been writing the names of the men she had been with that could have included the accusing men's names as well. We don't know. But we do know that Jesus did not want us to throw stones (physical or verbal) at people. After each man left, Jesus asked her where the accusers were and then he told her "Go and sin no more." He did not say "let and let live" or "to each his own." He said go and sin no more. Gentle. Direct. Compassionate.

We can learn from Jesus in this example as well. When people sin by lifestyle or by slip up, condemning them is not the way to get them to turn their life around. The don't need to be reminded of their sin. They need a scriptural response to their sin and compassion. If they mess up, that is not your job to fix them. It is your command from God to love them the same way Jesus loved us by dying for us selflessly. Think about that the next time You get outraged at a sin. Maybe that person just need a Christ like hug and God given direction. Try it. Condemnation turns people away from God.

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