Relationship

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” - Jeremiah 29:11-13

Most readers of the Bible are familiar with this passage.  Most read it as a great passage about God and his promises.  Which it certainly is.

But I can also see it about relationship.  Yes there is the promise aspect. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Enjoy, relish in these promises.

But, as in any healthy relationship, there is another side here.  Yes God brings to his believers and trusters great promises of wellbeing and hope.  Count on it.  But there is an expectation of something in return.  Not as a debt, not things to be done out of obligation, but as a result of a relationship.  He expects his people to call, pray, seek and find.  To be in a vital living relationship.  With God.

How is your relationship today? 

God will keep up his end.  And he’ll help you keep up yours. And then enjoy the welfare, good, future and hope he gives you. 

In relationship.

Perfection

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.  - 1 John 4:11-12

This is an interesting concept.  No one has seen God; well at least survived having done so.  Yet, we are told that “if we love one another” then “God abides in us” and “his love is perfected in us.”

Perhaps one of the main criticisms of Christ followers is that they do not demonstrate love readily.  No doubt, I have been guilty of that.  We don’t show it enough.

Yet we follow and trust in the one that so demonstrated his love for us that he went to the cross for us.  But John here hints – no it’s not a hint, he says that his love for us is perfected when we love one another.  That God abides in us when we allow the love of Christ to work through us.  OK.  I added that last part.  Because I don’t think any of us is completely capable of loving one another in the way God would want without his love first working in and through us to begin with.

 As a matter of fact, that is what John says a few verses later.  “We love because he first loved us.” (visit 1 John 4:19)

As we head towards the holiest day of the Christian year, let us reflect on what Christ has done for each and every one of us, and respond…in kind. 

Love one another.  And be amazed at what God’s perfected love will accomplished with and through us.  That will be perfection.  May Jesus Christ be praised!

Counter-culture

“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….”1 Corinthians 13:4,5

This passage is, among many things, a reminder that trusters and believers in Christ are to be strongly counter-cultural.  In a day and age where people are encouraged to stand up for themselves and be in people’s faces about their wants and rights, here comes a teaching about the attitude we should be bringing to the conversation.

Doesn’t mean Christ followers are marshmallows; doesn’t mean that Christ followers are not to have a cogent reflection on or even a criticism of society.  They are.  It’s about the attitude we bring in such discussions.  And in doing so, we become strongly counter-cultural.  Strongly.

It is interesting to note that the Apostle Paul’s words about love here are addressed to a church that is strongly divided and filled with disputes (ahem, 1 Cor. 13 is not about weddings!).  While he would like us to have the same mind as Christ (visit 1 Corinthians 2:16); he also knew how darned human we are.   If we sometimes disagree as to what the mind of Christ is…what is the solution?  Love.  Because …”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 is as Peter wrote, “…keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (visit 1 Peter 4:8)

And that…is counter-cultural. 

And that…is where we need to be.

Valentine

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  - John 3:16

Happy Valentine’s day!

And here is the greatest valentine of all. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”

How much does he love you?  So much that he sent his son Jesus to the cross for each and every one of us.

Who does God love?  “The world.”  Not just Americans; not just a race; not just a certain church.  The world.  Period.

What is the result of this love?  That we would “not perish but have eternal life.” We can count our years by just by the ones we spend in this life, but the eons gained in eternal life.

Who gets this result?  “Whoever believes.”  Gosh, what a simple concept.

Happy Valentine’s day.  And know that you are loved!

Simple

“Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.” – Proverbs 21:21

Wow, when I received this passage in yesterday’s email, it hit me like, well, not a ton of bricks, but like an ounce of small feathers.  And it should.  It is so simple, just so simple.

It reminded me of what I was taught not too long after I became a Christian in 1980.  And it was this: Christianity is a faith, not a religion. Again, a very simple statement. And oh so true!  Christianity is not about learning and following a strict set of rules.  It’s not.  Following laws and rules will never lead to righteousness, although it might lead to live a good life, I suppose.

True righteousness (let me define it as virtue) is found, so simply, in Jesus Christ.  If you know him and trust him for your life and eternity, you have pursued and found righteousness. You have.  That is the first part of the above passage.  The second part says to simply pursue kindness.  Kindness.  As a response to the righteousness we have in Christ, live a life of kindness.  Oh, we may gussy up the word “kindness” to try to make it mean more than it does.  Or we might elucidate on what kindness looks like, such as Paul’s list in Galatians 5:22, 23 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, etc.).  We might.

But it is simply best expressed as…kindness.

Pursue righteousness.  Pursue kindness.  It’s all found in Jesus.  Avoid the ton of bricks…enjoy the feathers.

And it is that simple.