What Does Love Have to Do With It?

Familiar words:

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant  or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.   Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. . (ESV)

How many weddings have you gone to and heard these words given as some guide to make your marriage work? "Just be all of this and everything will work out" Wrong!

There is no earthly way of doing any one of them in our own flesh and selfishness.  

^{Consider the first verses of  chapter 13 in I Corinthians:}

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Now in the above exchange the word love for God or better yet, Jesus.

So here is my point. Love referred to in this chapter is not human love. It is the supernatural love of Jesus as He hung on the cross.  Agape love!

In the original language the English word translation was charity. Charity was substituted 28 times in the new testament. It has little to do with giving money away. It has everything to do with why Christ stayed on His cross.

Seriously great sermon on these verses:
John Piper-Dying as a means of loving-part-2

Just somebody that I used to know

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened
And that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger
And that feels so rough
You didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records
And then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Lyrics from song by Gotye 

Sad but so true.

The Depth of Christ's Love: It's Freedom

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/the-depth-of-christs-love-its-freedom

Shine

This morning in the quiet place, the grass was wet, glistening with last night's rain and morning dew. Even after an hour and one half of being there in the sun, it still was glowing with dampness. No hot morning sun to dry things up. Such a contradiction to how it looked just a few weeks ago! Dry and brown and hard earth beneath it. The birds had even stopped coming for their morning catch. That was very sad, but they are back now, singing their little hearts out. Gods choir.

But it is the dew that brought me to this page today. It prompted me to the back of my little leather bound book where I looked up all the references for shine. Although my little book certainly didn't have as many references as a big concordance, it had more than I expected. Psalm 80 it is repeatedly asking for God's face to shine upon us, that we might be saved. But really isn't is that when He does save us then we shine, reflecting His glory back to the world. It wasn't the dew that made the grass shine. It was the reflective property of the water that shone the light of the sun. So what properties in us can make us reflect Him? Daniel 12:3 says "Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever." It is only by gaining the wisdom of who we are, and who He is, then giving Him complete authority in our lives, that we become shining image bearers for the One and only God of all.



Side note: Yesterday, Pastor Danny challenged the congregation to "have coffee with Jesus". aka time alone in a quiet place  Just you and your bible. Then listen for His voice. But part of the challenge included a systematic plan for bible reading. I've never been good at keeping a plan like that before, but I'm planning on using the little concordance each day to take me to places I've either never been, rarely been, or have been "too" often. And as always, I thank Him for my quiet place where we meet every morning!

Recovering Biblical Womanhood - Paul Washer

The Lost Doctrine - Paul Washer

The Prayer that Damns Many to Hell

Importunity in Prayer by Paul Washer | illbehonest.com

Importunity in Prayer by Paul Washer | illbehonest.com

A promise for those who seek god ( Paul Washer )

The promise belongs to the weak!

A Life worth celebrating

Ninety years ago a baby was born. She had older brothers and would have younger sisters and more brothers. Born in a time of poverty with all those siblings caused hard decisions to be made. A stay at an orphanage. Heartache for parents who couldn't feed her and her little sister. What goes through a little girl's mind though such circumstances?  How does that effect the woman she grows to be.

Her fate was good. Great people took her in. And another couple took her sister. Yet there was always that lingering fear. She was my mom. She passed the fears on to me, ever so unintentionally. And I guess I passed them on to at least one of my own. How to break that mold?

 Her life was hard most of her years.

Yet she was good, kind, loving and generous, despite the fear.

Rest in peace mom. We still think of you and will always love you.