Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Micah 6:8  He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God? (Amplified)

Donna and I watched an old black & white movie on TCM that truly touched us deeply.  This 1944 film was the second film featuring a young Gregory Peck in the leading role. His role was that of Father Francis Chisholm, an unconventional Scottish Catholic priest who struggles to establish a mission in China.  His moving performance led to his first Oscar nomination. (Good news: Available on DVD)

The name of this movie is The Keys of the Kingdom and is based on the 1941 novel by A. J. Cronin.  The story is so wonderful, I was hoping that it was based on a historical figure.  Although it is not, that did not diminish the power of its message.  I found myself relating to the struggles that he faced.  So many aspects of the Christian life – the joys and the hardships – are presented in this movie.  Many of them are worth noting but the one that I want to focus on is one that repeatedly stuck me throughout the story.  I was repeatedly touched by the refreshing and vibrant humility that the character of Father Chisholm possessed.

Father Chisholm experiences many difficult challenges over the six decade span of this story.  I found myself being convicted of my own pride in watching how Father Chisholm responded with humility and dependence upon God.  Yes it was a movie, but I found myself repenting and being inspired to Godliness by watching the story unfold.  I am embarrassed to say that I had forgotten just how moving and inspiring true humility is.  “…Biblical humility is not the inverted conceit which disguises itself as lowliness.” (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, pg 223)  It is a virtue that God prizes.

I am so grateful for the book and the movie because God has used both of them to provoke me to pursue walking humbly with my God in a renewed way.  Pride can be so subtle and so pervasive in our lives.  Fortunately, God enables us to see our shortcomings and embrace the process whereby His Spirit will enable us to become more like Jesus.

Ruth  2:10-12  ¹⁰ At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

I find such delight in reading about Ruth and the ways she responds to the difficulties and reality of her life.  She has wonderful attitudes; she works hard; she loves Naomi and cares for her; by doing the right things, she is blessed by the Lord.  What an example her story is for us!  In spite of all the difficulty in the situation she and Naomi found themselves in, she was simply concerned with caring for Naomi and making their situation better.

The quality of Ruth’s life was recognized by those around her and by Boaz who she encounters in today’s verse: ¹¹ Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. ¹²May the LORD repay you for what you have done.  May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

Proverbs 13:9a says, “The light of righteousness shines brightly,” How true this was of Ruth!  Her reputation preceded her and the quality of her life was apparent to those around her.  Boaz’s comment about her taking refuge under the wings of the LORD, the God of Israel, is a picture of God’s protection.  By doing the ‘right things’, Ruth put herself into a position to encounter God’s best for her.

God led Ruth to Boaz’s field, where she was safe. The timing of Boaz’s arrival on this day was perfect for her.  The Lord caused her to find favor with him and he became God’s ‘hands extended’ to her, to protect her and provide for both Naomi and her.

Isn’t Ruth’s life and Boaz’s response a perfect illustration of Matthew 5:15?  “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  The simple reality of our lives is that God wants others to see Him when they observe us!

The Lord loves right attitudes.  He loves the right and appropriate things that we do.  He loves to provide his blessing and protection to us.  He loves to guide us in the path of righteousness that He has for us.  He loves to see His plan unfold in our lives.  He loves it when we love Him.  No matter what difficulties we find ourselves in, He is for us and with us.  May our lives ever reflect these wondrous realities!

Ruth 1:16  But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

This is another of my favorite verses in the Bible.  It speaks of such devotion, commitment and love.  Ruth had lost her husband, but her mother-in-law Naomi had lost her own husband and both her sons.  Naomi and her family had moved to Moab from Bethlehem ten years earlier due to the famine in the land.  Both sons had married there in Moab.

Into this situation of grief and difficulty came word that the LORD had come to the aid of His people in Judah and there was food there.  Naomi and the two daughter-in-laws (the other being Orpah) prepared to return to her home in Bethlehem.  Once on the road, Naomi lovingly instructed the two women to return to the homes of their mothers.  She believed this was best for them because her misperception was that the LORD’s hand had been against her.

After weeping and protestations from the young women, Orpah returned.  But Ruth clung to Naomi and spoke the wonderful message of today’s verse.  Why did Ruth do it?  Was her mother’s home not desirable?  Was she motivated by her love for Naomi, and therefore wanting to support her in this time of grief and change?  Whatever it was, her commitment was complete because she declared, “Your people will be my people and your God my God”.

Ruth wasn’t aware that God was guiding her – that He was in the midst of her strong commitment to stay with Naomi.  She was simply responding to the conviction in her heart that she belonged with Naomi and would not leave her no matter what it brought.  In the midst of all of this, her direction was clear and she was committed to it.

Little did Ruth know that her destiny required that she come to Bethlehem– and that she be there as a young woman eligible to be married.  It’s difficult not to conclude that the whole move to Moab by Naomi and her family was ultimately designed by God to get Ruth and bring her back to Bethlehem.

Bethlehem is where the prophet declared that the Christ would be born (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1-6).  Ruth’s commitment to return to Judah with Naomi enabled God’s destiny for her to unfold.  It required her to be there, in Bethlehem, because only there would her life became part of the genealogy of Christ, our Messiah – the son of David, the son of Abraham.

To be continued…

Romans 12:13  Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

In the spring of 2010 when the greater Nashville area experienced severe flooding, the churches played a huge role in bringing relief and assistance to those who were victims of the flood.  Some areas received as much as 26 inches of rain in 36 hours.  The motivation of the churches wasn’t to receive recognition; it was a spontaneous response to the obvious crisis that descended upon this region.

While applicable to major disasters, today’s verse particularly speaks to the needs we Christians have in our daily lives.  It speaks to us about the importance of being aware of the needs in the lives of Christians around us and helping to meet them.  Widows, the unemployed, the sick, those in financial distress, family crises, accidents, the hungry, the elderly – the list of needs goes on.  The Lord wants to use us to meet the needs of one another.  This is another powerful attribute that must characterize who we are

A few days ago we began looking at the verses starting with Romans 12:9.  They contain a list of righteous attributes that identify God’s people.  In order for the church to be what God intends it to be, these attributes must characterize it.  That means they must characterize us!

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.

Most of these form a consistent thread running through these verses.  They are all other-oriented – and all positive in nature.  They reflect Christians loving one another in practical, useful ways.  They reflect the body of Christ living out a lifestyle that is most attractive; a lifestyle of salt and light.  Such lives will cause people to become thirsty for God.

Unfortunately we allow our lives to become self-oriented.  We allow the busy-ness of life to deprive us of rich opportunities to bless and be blessed – to see and become aware of needs in other Christians’ lives, and to help meet them.  The more we do these things, the better and richer it becomes for us and those around us.  May our lives richly reflect these wonderful attributes that glorify our Lord.

Romans 12:12  Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Several years ago on three successive days I received a wonderful email and phone calls from three dear friends who had me on their hearts.  Those contacts were beyond encouraging – they were tokens of kindness from the Lord.  At that time I had been without a job since the end of October and my search hadn’t produced one yet.  There had been a great job opportunity that I thought for sure was going to be mine, but the Lord had that door close.  (As I later learned, God closing that door was a real gift to me!)  In the ongoing job search I hadn’t been without hope but sometimes we flounder because the results seem to be in hiding somewhere.

The first of those 3 days was a very difficult day and later in that afternoon I received the first of these communications from a friend I’ve mentored and is like a son to us.  WOW – what a blessing it was.  Then the next morning another friend called because the Lord had put me on his heart for two days.  We had been involved with Afghanistan together.  The message and encouragement he spoke to me were priceless.  Then the third day, while writing a devotional, a third friend called, concerned about us.  He was a soon to graduate and was a student at the college we had been with.  Three days – three major touches from the Lord through friends.

Then there is the treasure contained in today’s verse – which so powerfully declares how we are to live no matter what is going on.  I’m thrilled with the encouragement God has given me through friends.  All of that just enhances my focus upon Him and the power of His Word.  Our Lord gives us hope and enables us to be joyful in it.

Life is filled with trials and He enables us to develop patience (one of the fruit of the Spirit) in the midst of it.  He teaches us to pray and through spending time with Him we want to pray more.  On top of all that we learn that these concrete actions have an ever greater reality to them.  They are specific expressions of our love for Him.  We love our Lord by being joyful in hope.  We love our Lord by being patient in affliction.  We love our Lord by being faithful in prayer.  And, each of these actions are things that we can grow in.

There are those around us who need to be encouraged.  We need to ask the Lord to show them to us so that not only will they be encouraged by our contact, but also by this wonderful scripture.  Help them remember the power of prayer and to see that they too can have joy and hope and patience in the midst of all they’re going through.  God will provide us with the opportunities to share our faith as we live out these qualities each and every day.  God wants to use us to show them Himself.  We get to be the frame and He is the picture!

Romans 12:11  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

This morning when I was asking the Lord about today’s verse, I was reminded of some friends of ours.  Their home is in the north where the winters are long and cold – like below zero.  They heat it with a wood burning stove.  Having a bonfire in the fireplace once a week, while nice, just doesn’t do it.  They have a wood supply and habit patterns that include tending that stove so it produces heat around the clock; day after day.

If they want the house to be a comfortable temperature, they maintain the stove and all it involves.  Their physical bodies are constantly aware of how well they are doing or not doing.  When the temperature in the house is comfortable, their ‘bodies’ are ‘quiet’.  But let the temperature drop in the house (somebody forgot to put wood in the stove) and their bodies start ‘communicating’!  Can’t you just imagine being busy and all of a sudden your ‘body’ speaks up and saying, “Excuse me!  We are shivering and turning blue.  Put some wood on the fire!!”  Ignore it some more and it says, “The pipes are going to freeze to say nothing about us!”

At this point we look at the goose bumps on our skin; notice that we are rubbing our hands trying to warm them up; the ‘rice-buddy’ around our neck isn’t keeping us warm – so we go tend the fire.  Again, we don’t build a bonfire, we just add wood to the stove to produce the needed warmth.  A fact of life is that our bodies are very difficult to ignore; they can get our attention.

In a similar manner, we must learn to pay attention to our spiritual condition.  It, along with the Holy Spirit, will communicate that our ‘fire’ is getting low.  Unfortunately, it is much easier to ignore our spirit – and the Holy Spirit – than it is a shivering physical body.  Today’s verse in The Message reads, “Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master.”  We must train ourselves to tend to this because it is far more important than physical warmth.  Tending this ‘fire’ is a daily thing – not something done once or twice a week.

We cannot be the people we must be – that He wants us to be – if we don’t.  The Amplified Bible states the phrase in a wonderful way, “…be aglow and burning with the Spirit…”

Romans 12:10  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Being devoted to something is pretty normal in our society.  People are devoted to families, sports teams, hobbies, TV, Facebook, Twitter, etc…  Today’s verse points us in an important direction.  The Lord expects us to be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  This is something we do as part of Jesus’ command for Christians to love one another.  In John 14:34, 35 Jesus declares, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Isn’t it wonderful to be loved?  Isn’t it a blessing to have friends who are caring and devoted?  Think of the richness of relationships we have with those who live out this verse.  Think of individuals that you know who exemplify this truth.  Their lives engender appreciation and gratitude within us.  We are to be the same kind of people. We have the opportunity for others to experience the devotion and love flowing through our lives.  We get to be blessed by being a blessing to them.

One of my favorite verses is Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  When we are genuinely devoted to one another in brotherly love, the result is our Father in heaven being glorified.  What a thrilling thought that others will glorify God simply by seeing us live the lives He wants us to live.  Not only that, but loving one another is primary evidence that we are Jesus’ disciples.

When I read of honoring one another I think of humility.  What a refreshing quality that is!  The Message presents another thought on humility, “Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.”  We get to honor and defer to others.  Bless them.  Take the lesser seat – not grudgingly, but joyfully.  Be other-oriented rather than self-centered.  One of the great blessings of this process is the heartfelt gratitude we develop.  The more we become what God intends us to be, the more gratitude we have for His kindness and grace.

Romans 12:9  Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Imagine for a moment someone you love speaking this verse to you; carefully and lovingly, not rushing or reading a list, but focusing upon each thought.  These and the next few verses in Romans 12 present a picture of who we are to be.  They identify the attributes that must characterize our very being.  We get to discover what they each mean and partner with the Holy Spirit to work them out fully in our lives.

Today’s verse raises all manner of questions:

1. What exactly is this love that must be sincere?  Is it feelings?  Is it actions?  How do we know that what we think is Godly love, really is?  Does God’s word define it for us?
2. What exactly does it mean for that love, whatever it is, to be sincere?
3. What is evil?  Are God and the world (our culture) on the same page when it comes to identifying evil?  Where do we look to find out?  Might we consider something okay that God considers evil?  What does it mean to hate evil?
4. What exactly is ‘good’?  Who defines what is good?  How does one cling to what is good?

The point that I’m getting at is that we must be careful not to use worldly wisdom in determining the answers.  Here are two other versions of today’s verse to give us some additional insight – and also raise some more questions:

“Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good.” (The Message)

“[Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.” (Amplified)

Do we ‘run’ for dear life from evil?  Do we ‘loathe all ungodliness; turn in horror from wickedness’?  Picture the contrast of being around someone wearing delightful cologne, where the fragrance is attractive and draws a response of “oooh, I like that!” – and being around someone with body odor that makes us move away, it repels us.

How do we do these things in a way that honors God; in a way that attracts people to God rather than repelling them from us.  Jesus spent a lot of his time with sinners.  He demonstrated that there is a way to hate sin and love the sinners.

Each phrase contains treasure to dig for – to pursue and discover the richness they hold.  They are guiding principles and qualities that we must have in our lives in order to be the men and women that God has chosen and destined us to be.

2 Kings 2:19  Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold now, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad and the land is unfruitful.”

This scripture has always fascinated me.  The men communicate to Elisha that their city is a pleasant situation – with a very significant ‘but’.  There are a few little problems: the water is bad, the land won’t bear crops and the animals can’t reproduce.  But it is a pleasant situation!  It looks good from a distance – and don’t ask too many questions.

Fortunately for that city, Elisha receives a miracle from the Lord for them.  He asks them to bring him a new bowl and to put salt in it.  He then goes to the spring and throws the salt in it saying, “This is what the LORD says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’”  No more death from the water.  The situation became a whole lot more pleasant.

Many of today’s Christians seem to have a lot in common with the men of that city.  They consider their Christianity to be ‘a pleasant situation’, but there are a whole lot of problems that don’t seem to go away.  Unfortunately they don’t recognize that the source of these problems is their very lives and the way they live them.

It’s like Christianity looks good from afar, just don’t get too close and ask too many personal questions.  Putting it in the context of today’s verse, it’s like they were hoping that becoming a Christian was the equivalent of having ‘salt’ thrown in their spring.  The natural results would be wholesomeness and productivity.

We are made new when we are born again and God so remarkably transforms our very lives.  But here is where the ‘roads diverge in the woods’.  One road leads to a lifestyle of adding Jesus to the stuff we’ve been doing.  Sort of, God threw ‘salt’ in our lives; we’re grateful; and we go about our business.  Our lives might produce ‘fruit’ but much of it is unrighteous fruit that has a lot of sourness and bitterness in it – similar to the culture around us.

The other road is where the Lord says to us, “I have a way and I want you to walk in it – along with Me.”  He has given us His word and His Spirit to enable us to learn His ways and walk in them with Him.  This road leads to passion for the Lord and the fruit is His righteousness in every area of our lives.  It doesn’t mean we won’t have problems, but faith and godliness will characterize us and how we deal with them.  It is a faith-process requiring our continual commitment and adherence to His word.  People will see Jesus when they see us.  It’s called loving God – and it is the only appropriate response to His loving us.

The scripture is at the end of the devotional.

I must confess that I sure enjoy the springtime.  Here in the midst of cold and snow I keep telling myself spring is only a few weeks away.  One of the sights of spring that we typically see is young people at the front of stores in their uniforms raising funds for their season.  There are different uniforms for baseball, track, football, soccer, cheerleading, basketball and the list goes on.  One thing they all have in common is that it’s pretty easy to recognize that they all involve sports – even though we might not recognize which one.

While the uniform indicates sports, it is how they play the game that counts.  Games have rules and require learned skills.  Typically they also have officials, umpires, referees or judges to assure that rules are observed.  Sports involve teamwork, practice and include features that measure how well something is being accomplished: getting the ball in the basket, scoring runs, completing passes, keeping the ball within the lines.

In our culture today it is easy to fall into the trap of treating Christianity somewhat like a sport.  Certain outward behaviors and acknowledgement of certain things indicate we are a Christian; they are our ‘uniform’. The differences between the things we believe, place us in different ‘teams’ of Christians.  Unfortunately, this ‘sport’ of Christianity has lots of players modifying or ignoring the ‘rules’.  In spite of sincerity, we can succumb to the temptation of creating our own definition of who is a player and how the sport is played.

But what constitutes being a Christian? Is it as simple as acknowledging that Jesus is Lord, confessing we are a sinner and adopting certain behaviors (like putting on a uniform)?  Mentally, most of us would say there’s a lot more to it than that.  But what is the actual testimony of our lives, thoughts, attitudes and actions.  What does God say about it?

In the book of Revelation (3:15-17) is the Lord’s admonition to the Church of Laodicea.  They thought they were rich but in reality they were “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”  They were lukewarm – neither cold nor hot.  The Lord also speaks to the Church of Ephesus.  They are commended for doing many things right, but then the Lord says this,

“ 4‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.  5‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place–unless you repent.”  (Revelation 2:4-5)

These admonitions are serious!  They raise questions that we must consider: What are lives really like that have Jesus as their genuine first love?  Do our lives reflect such love?  What is our basis for knowing?  And how do we respond if our lives don’t reflect such love?

To be continued…