Month: February 2010

Hello again,

Now all that snow here on the East Coast (and in Aberdeen) is melting… and it is causing a squishy, muddy mess in my yard. How is your yard? Fret not, the sogginess allows us to sail along to greater understandings of love… true love. In knowing about love, we can see if we love others as we ought. And more importantly, the condition and manner of our love reveals the state of our faith.

Can you believe we are still on a single verse again this week? Here we go…

1^st Corinthians 13:4b
…love… is not puffed up…

“Puffed up”, hmmm… I think of conceited, full of one’s self, haughty, proud, big-headed… I also think of bullfrogs puffing out their throat sacks and turkeys fluffing their feathers, oh yeah and $5 clouds of cotton candy at the carnival that really only cost pennies to produce. All these things to me scream “Bigger is Better”. What comes to your mind when you ponder “puffed up”?

Here’s the Greek: physioō; and it means “to inflate, blow up, to cause to swell up”.

So if I plug that meaning into the verse it reads: Love is not inflated/ love is not blown up/ love is not swelled up.  Lemme think of how this works out in our everyday living…

Okay, say you have your priorities pretty straight. Say your humming right along in your Christian walk… or even for some of you non-Christians, you’re feeling pretty good about whatever you’re doing… and then it happens…

You think, “I’m making a positive contribution to this”, and “I really wasn’t making much of a difference then, but I know I am now.”, and also you begin to proclaim things you have done to other people because how would they know otherwise.

But stop and ask yourself this: Why do I want to let other people know? Why do I need other people to know?  In other words, why put forth accounts of good deeds rather than respond to inquiries of good deeds, or why volunteer stories of your acts of love rather than wait to be asked about them? Examine your motivations.

See how subtle pride is? It cannot stand anonymity. It longs to be puffed up. Love intertwined with pride is not pure love, but mixed with self-glory seeking. And you know, even recognizing it does not inoculate us from engaging in it. As fallen and corrupted sinful human beings, I am afraid we’ll battle this till our death. Yet by the Holy Spirit’s inner working, pride-deflating humility will (and must) characterize the true believer’s walk in ever-increasing degrees.

Resist the things that tend to puff you up… recognition for your acts of love. It is okay if no other person ever knows… and here is why…

Matthew 6:3-4
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

**Comments/ questions/ testimonies/ objections most encouraged!

Dear Lord, thank you for this time to consider Your word and Your ways. May our thoughts, words, and deeds bring You glory… and glory to You alone. –Amen

Peace,
Jim

Hola!

Continuing on with our look at love according to Holy Writ, please read and ponder the following…

1^st Corinthians 13:4b (NKJV)
…Love does not parade itself…

When I think of a parade, I think of the Macy’s parade or the Disney World parade I have observed. It is a show to for people to watch. A parade (if it could talk) would say, “Look at me, Look at me. Look what I am doing. Look at all the wonderful things I am putting before you”.

Here are a couple of other translations of this verse:

1^st Corinthians 13:4b (ESV)
…love does not… boast…

1^st Corinthians 13:4b (NAS)
…love does not brag…

Okay, so we see that love DOES NOT “parade itself”, “boast” and/ or “brag”. All three of these actions are indicative of calling attention to it. So what is wrong with calling attention to ourselves and our actions?

Well, when we call attention to ourselves, we really are seeking recognition, right? And why are we seeking recognition? Do you really deserve it? Hmmmm? May I suggest our pride it at work here?

Imagine this: Say you do something special for someone and they don’t acknowledge your efforts… Or say you work really hard to change something about yourself and no one notices…

How would you feel? Would you feel taken for granted? Would you feel insignificant? Would you feel depressed and throw yourself a pity-party? I know I have!  And I even thought “What’s the point if no one cares?”

Yes, my friend, pride is easily hurt when it has been allowed to grow big. Pride is the opposite of humbleness. If we are humble, then lack of recognition is no cause for concern, right? And better yet, a loving attitude is just glad to be of help, just glad to serve… Humble Christians seek to glorify God, not stoke their own pride!  Frankly, I would say you should regard a sour puss attitude as a consequence of proud heart that has been starved of glory; and repent of it!

Hear our Lord’s words on the parading person…

Matthew 6:1
Take heed  that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Luke 6:35
But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

God is kind to the unthankful… How about you?

 Jesus, during the Last Supper, became like a lowly servant and washed the disciples’ feet. Almighty God in human form stooped down to do a slave’s task. With this, He reveals to us a heavenly principle…

John 13:15b
… you should do as I have done to you.

And it is okay to seek reward, but seek the heavenly rewards that will never fade away! How???

Matthew  20:26b
…whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant.

Stuff that ugly parading pride and humble yourself, thereby getting into the proper posture to love others as Christ loved you!

**Comments/ questions/ testimonies/ objections most encouraged!

Dear Lord, thank you for this time to consider Your word and Your ways. May our thoughts, words, and deeds bring You glory… and glory to You alone. –Amen

Peace,
Jim

Yo Wassup!

Isn’t snow a wonderful thing? So pretty to look at. Also, a lot of it has a way of bringing us closer together… in the cabin (so to speak). My tardiness is because my draft was on my work PC. And without further delay… let’s look at love some more!

So you know now that love IS patient and kind, right? The Holy Spirit, writing through the Apostle Paul, also tells us what love IS NOT…

1^st Corinthians 3:14b
…Love does not envy…

So love IS NOT envious.

Keep in mind that the love Paul is talking about is an action word… a verb. Love does things and does not do other things. Love does good things and does not do evil things. (Remember the treasure analogy from last week?)

Therefore envy is evil.

Okay… so now we need to look closer at what envy really is. The ancient Greek word is zēloō, and the definition is:

1) to burn with zeal

a) to be heated or to boil with… hatred, anger

I am fairly certain the word “zealot” comes from zēloō. I think it is also helpful to look at Merriam-Webster’s definition for envy…

1 : painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage

Ahh, now the meaning is coming into clear focus, huh? I am sure all of us have experienced envy at least one time in our life. In high school, I envied the guy who dated the prettiest girl in school. Oh yeah, I definitely wanted to possess what he had. As a high school rock and roller, I envied the band that had the largest following. I most-definitely wanted the cheering crowds and subsequent hallway fame.

But look closer… With envy comes self-centered pride. You see, in my pride, I came to resent the popular high-school rock bands, convincing myself they were untalented and simply lucky… untalented compared to me, and lucky as only fools could be… See how ugly my thinking was in this example? Who am I to be so puffed up and conclude that the Providential hand of God is “luck”? My friend, there is no such thing as luck. Anyhow…

Envy is not loving but hateful. See how envy expresses itself…

Genesis 4:5b
And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. (And what did Cain eventually do to Abel?)

Genesis 16:4b
And when she (Sarah) saw that she (Hagar) had conceived, her (Sarah’s) mistress became despised in her (Sarah’s) eyes. (And what did Sarah eventually cause to be done to Hagar?)

Genesis 37:4
But when his (Joseph’s) brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. (And what did Joseph’s brothers eventually do to him?)

John 11:48
If we (chief priests and Pharisees) let Him (Jesus) alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. (And what did they eventually do to Jesus?)

Envy IS NOT loving is it? Rather than seek the best for someone even at our own disadvantage, our envy seeks to remove them and take what they have for ourselves. See now the wickedness of envy! If you see envy in your thoughts toward your “loved” ones, however subtle and secret it may be, repent of it now! Starve that cancer that hinders true love. Let love prevail!

**Comments/ questions/ testimonies/ objections most encouraged!

Dear Lord, thank you for this time to consider Your word and Your ways. May our thoughts, words, and deeds bring You glory… and glory to You alone. –Amen

Peace,
Jim

Good Lunchtime Everyone 🙂

Our subject is love and our minds should take a few moments and meditate on this…

1^st Corinthians 13:4a
… love is kind…

The word “kind” is a small simple word, but has such a depth of richness to it. If you are kind to someone, or if someone is kind to you, such kindness shown has a way of sweetening life and relationships. Kindness can be felt! Kind people should leave an impression on us… if our hearts are not already hard. Talking with a kind person has a warming effect… if we are not too distracted to notice. If you are a Christian, your kindness towards others should be demonstrative of the kindness Jesus showed you when he saved you (1^st John 4:19). Right?

The Greek root word for “kind” in our verse is chrēstos, and it means:

1.       fit, fit for use, useful

virtuous, good

2.       manageable

mild, pleasant (as opp. to harsh, hard sharp, bitter)

of things: more pleasant, of people, kind, benevolent

Some other English words for chrēstos are: easy, better, goodness, and gracious.

Now, as I sometimes do, I like to try to understand a word by looking at its antonyms. Looking at the definitions above, see what kindness is NOT…

Kindness is not harsh
Kindness is not hard sharp
Kindness is not bitter

With this understanding of “kind”, can you now see how if someone loves you, they would be kind to you? Or if you love someone, you wouldn’t be harsh or bitter towards them?

I find it amazing that what we have in our minds expresses itself to those around us. It is simply a natural consequence of being human. As a trumpet blows forth sound as an expression of air, kindness comes forth as an expression of our love. The Bible confirms this, BTW…

Luke 6:45
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

But a distinction must be made between “the milk of human kindness” and “inspired kindness”. Most people can muster up some kindness for a moment… but what of the kindness despite bad treatment and/or misinterpretations?

Matthew 5:46a
For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?

It is easy to be kind to “deserving” people.  But kindness from God enables us to love the unlovable. What have been the expressions of your heart lately? Are they like good treasure or evil treasure?

Oh Lord convict our hearts! Expose our hearts with your fiery eyes!  Help us to be more loving…

**Comments/ questions/ testimonies/ objections most encouraged!

Dear Lord, thank you for this time to consider Your word and Your ways. May our thoughts, words, and deeds bring You glory… and glory to You alone. –Amen

Peace,
Jim