Real Life Cannot be Disconnected from Real Love

S - 1 John 5:1, 11-12, 20-21 (NLT): "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.  … And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life. … And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life. Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God's place in your hearts." 

O - Loving the Father's children has only one starting place, Jesus … the only true son.  It starts there because he is God and he is eternal life.  However, loving the Father's children does not end where it begins.  Jesus insists that we love all who have been adopted into the Father's family by faith in him.  But wait, there's more! Jesus also insists that we love all … even our enemies.  This is formidable on a good day and all but impossible on a less than good day - and could this be the point? Could it be that just as real life, eternal life, requires Jesus so does real love?  Is it that we are to turn into Jesus to be able love all as intentionally as we turn into Jesus for eternal life?  Can it be that love engages a daily or a circumstance by circumstance turning-in and never a 'once for all'?  Confidence in eternal life in Jesus inspires and requires us to confidently, intentionally and consistently turn into him so that we may love all with the love we are being loved with.   

A - My assignment as an adopted son and brother is to love.  Like life, this love has its origin and first object in Jesus.  Jesus then turns my attention to all other children and inhabitants of planet earth.  This personal connection with Jesus and with the Father require consistent and intentional interface so that the intended fullness of life will be flowing into all who are his and through all who are his to the world which belongs to him by right and has been purchased by grace.  The greatest commandments are all about this love and upon them hang all Scripture and eternal life.  I am not sure how this all plays out in a life as flawed and distracted as mine, but I am sure I must engage.  Faith, Hope and Love remain … and the greatest of these is love. 

P - Lord who is God, Friend, Father, Brother and Hope,

This day dawns and offers to me the opportunity to love you back, to turn-in, to engage you so that as a recipient of your irrepressible life I would be a fountain of your love flowing out toward all.  Lord, I am not sure how all this works but I am sure you want me to turn in and believe.  Help me do the work of God in believing today while it is called today.  Lord, let and cause your life and love to flow into and out of me in ways known and unknown, by my intentional acts and by your awesome acts in and through me … even when I'm unaware. Lord you are the source and you determine the flow rate; all I can do is throw open my heart/life and rely on you to cause the living water to flow.  I choose to do this  kata; kariv~!
Steve

It Really is All in a Name

S - Acts 9:13-16, 21:11-13 (NAS): " But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake."  … And coming to us, he [Agabus] took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: `In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' “When we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.""

O - Why all this attention on the name of Jesus?  Why not use gospel or message or teaching in these exchanges between heaven and earth and between people?  What brought about transformation in Saul of Tarsus' life (and in the entire original band of followers) was not more information, teaching or concepts but an encounter with a Resurrected Person.  The concepts and principles of Jesus are not Jesus and they have no power or authority.  They do not save us, love us or protect and shepherd us … Jesus does all this and more.  We are not saved by the blood or the cross … we are saved by Jesus; it is his blood and his cross.  Paul will not go to Jerusalem for a cause, concept or religion. He will go for only one reason … a Person.

A - I was not/am not called to a worldview, principle, cause or promise.  I am called to a Person and he said "Follow me." It is such a privilege to know him and to be simply and directly charged to carry his name to all people and their kings/leaders. Jesus (and all of heaven) has loved me first, most and refuses to change his mind.  I am ready (ἑτοίμως: prepared to receive someone and/or to do something) to love him back and follow … no matter what!

P - Lord who wants and loves us,

Thank you for calling us to your name because we are called to your person.  You don't want us to live for you but in you.  You don't want us to work for you but with you.  You don't want us to know about you but to know you in the fellowship of your sufferings and the power of your resurrection.  Today, Sovereign Strong, I am ready.  I am not ready by strength or superior positioning.  I am ready according to love … because you have set your affection on me/us and refuse to change your mind.  Lord Jesus, today I will carry your name and stay near.

Following because of love,

Steve

WWJD and Mother's Day

S - Luke 11:27-28 (NAS): "While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed." But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.""

O - Apparently Jesus wasn't trying to start "Mothers' Day" in the culture of his day.  Wouldn't this have been a great opportunity to affirm his Mother and give her a public "shout out"? While I don't think we may infer any resistance or hostility toward our cultural celebration of our moms, I do think the absence of it is an intentional backdrop to intensify his response.  The lady who raised her voice could never have the blessing she was identifying.  Yet, all people, female and male, can have the blessing (μακάριος: supremely blessed, a poetic form of μάκαρ) directly connect with the word of God. This extreme good fortune is available to all who hear the word AND "observe it".  The term Jesus chose to connect with hearing is the verb φυλάσσω. It strongly connotes the idea of an isolation which will prevent something or someone from escaping. Anyone who hears the word of God (Jesus is the Living Word of God) and observes it will be the one who exceeds the blessing the woman called out; a blessing which Jesus affirms as supreme. 

A - Since I can qualify for this supreme blessing, what is it which might prevent it?  What allows the word of God to escape or dissipate from a life … my life? It's not that the word "wants out" or to run away from me but rather that it requires my willing and ongoing cooperation … a cooperation rooted in the same reality in which God's word (written, spoken and Living) is offered.  This reality is not theological acumen, intellectual brilliance or mere informational acquiescence. The word of God in all its expressions is offered in the reality of love.  Love is the reason and the response.  Love will present the word and love will engage; not a mere exercise in passive acknowledgement but a focused embrace which won't let it evaporate … unto the extreme blessing intended all along.

P - Lord who loved his Mom,

Thank you for presenting all human beings the opportunity to have a relational connection with you which is identical to the one you have with your earthly Mother and the one you have with God your Father . Thank you for wanting us near and blessed and forever in your family.  I welcome you and your word unto new wineskins, mulberry trees in the ocean and that which is too wonderful for me.  Jesus, I am asking for help, not self-help.

I love you back,

Steve

How do you Agree?

S - Mark 12:32-34 (NIV): ""Well said, teacher," the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions."

O - The truth is it is always "wise" to side with Jesus.  So why was the Lord so affirming of this man?  I don't think it was from the information agreed upon but rather the depth of agreement … agreement by heart and life not just thought and theology.  This stands in stark contrast to the religious leaders who would agree theologically but not by their daily lives. According to this passage it seems that it is the agreement of life which brings and keeps one near. Jesus does more than affirm the man's conclusion; he identifies his life as one which is "not far" from the kingdom of God. 

A - I don't know how far the man had yet to go to enter but I am sure that being near is better than far away. The question for me with regard to all the words of Jesus is: Am I, in any given day or setting, primarily agreeing with Jesus by theology or by life? According to the announced "final exam" (Matthew 25) agreement by life carries the day over agreement by theology.  I want to be one who comes near and stays near … entering and remaining according to grace and the child-likeness heaven loves.

P - Lord who is truth,

Thank you for wanting us near and making being near possible for whoever would come.  I praise you for wanting us at our worst and for refusing to stop loving us no matter what.  On this day I want to agree with you by my life, not just my theological conclusions.  Please cause your life to come into me and to flow, splash or at least leach out of me for the blessing and good of those I am with and will be with.  Jesus, I do love you back and I am so grateful to belong to you not only by right but by grace.

Relying on you,

Steve

Gotta Serve Somebody

S - Luke 19:11-15, 26-27 (NAS): "While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, "A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.” And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, `Do business with this until I come back.' "But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, `We do not want this man to reign over us.' "When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. … "I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.” But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."

O - This is the only place where Jesus via this parable identifies humans who are hostile to him as enemies.  Normally, the term enemy is reserved for the Devil and his angels.  Those who are not embracing the Kingdom are called lost sheep, lost coins and lost sons.  Why this stark change?  What happened to love your enemies?  Is this indicating some kind of shift in Jesus and in his teaching?  I believe the answer is no.  This parable is illustrating certain fixed realities which all are subject to. They include:

1. a calibration in understanding the timing of the kingdom's appearing.

2. the unchanging identity and authority of the king.

3. the accountability of all under his domain to an assessment.

4. the devastating consequence for those who refuse to accept the inevitable conclusion of the coming kingdom and its king.

The Lord hasn't run out of love for his enemies, they've run out of time.  God has established certain dynamics and consequences which he will not shift or relax.  All human beings are set in this context.

A - In this age, at some point, every human being will run out of time. The accountability to the Creator and King is unflinching.  The design of willing relationship uncompromised.  The consequence of our decisions unaltered. Today the words of Joshua remain strikingly potent: Choose this day whom you will serve.  Bobby Dillon got it right … 'you gotta serve somebody.'

P - Lord who is the Lord and who loves,

You've given such great dignity to all inhabitants of this planet … created with great significance to yourself and all others; empowered with the capacity to choose (free will), invited to a very intimate and forever relationship with yourself as the objects of your love.  I admit my flawed bent and tragic propensity to miss, refuse or misunderstand.  I admit my designed need of you and your ongoing help, interface and empowerment.  I admit that not only do I need you but I want you. I admit that you are THE king and I am amazed that you want to be MY king.  Lord God Almighty, I choose you back!

In Jesus' Name,

Steve