Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

When I was a new Christian I remember being given some advice by an evangelist friend.  He said it was a good idea to identify those around me who were really like Jesus and to go rub up against them in hopes that some of it would rub off.  After we quit laughing, I took to heart the importance of identifying the qualities of Jesus in others and learning from them how to make them in my own life.

This led me to realize that I had to learn what the qualities of Jesus were.  It was a whole lot more than just someone who is nice or pleasant to be around.  Have you ever had a friend who was nice but cheated at games you played?  What about friends who would talk about Jesus in a great way, but then they would go out and involve themselves in immorality?

Or being a sales person and stretching the truth regarding their products in order to get the sale?  What about not following through on commitments made, leaving it to others to pick up the loose ends?  What about someone one who is nice with everyone but has a habit of taking their frustrations out on their spouse?  They might be wonderful to their spouse most of the time, but with some degree of frequency they let their anger fly wounding the one they say they love the most.

This was the one that I was so guilty of 20+ years ago.  I was so blind to the anger I would let fly at home.  I had to come to grips with the reality that in spite of all wonderful things I did for and with my wife, this one “fruit” was undermining it all.  I was so embarrassed that my grasp of the obvious in this area was so totally malfunctioning.  Fortunately, God dealt with it and me, and our marriage became better and stronger than ever.  Using the fruit illustration we’ve been talking about, it was like seeing a beautiful apple and turning it in our hands and finding it rotten on the back.  Thankfully, repentance and forgiveness works!!  Jesus can touch that “apple” and make it rich and new.

The simple reality is that we don’t become perfect overnight – or in a lifetime.  But when we are truly disciples of Jesus, the Holy Spirit enables us to more and more walk in His ways.  We are continually being transformed into His image.  We learn to recognize our sins much more quickly so that Godliness flourishes in every area of our lives.  No matter where we are or what we’re doing or who we’re doing it with, we want our lives to glorify our Father in Heaven.  This comes by bearing the fruit consistent with being full-time disciples of Jesus.

Isaiah 27:2b-3  “Sing about a fruitful vineyard: ³ I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it continually.  I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it.

I grew up in Southwestern Michigan in an area known as the Fruitbelt.  Orchards and vineyards were everywhere and the area had renown for its wonderful non-citrus fruit.  Strawberries, peaches, apples, grapes, plums, blueberries… – it makes me hungry just writing about them.  So many different varieties yet how wonderful they all were.

Every farmer and buyer wanted a fruitful season – as well as anyone who enjoyed fruit.  I remember walking through vineyards and seeing the vines loaded with ripening grapes.  It was particularly nice to be able to pick a bunch of grapes and eat them as we walked.  There is something very special about tasting sweet fruit out in the field; that juicy taste in our mouths that says, “YES! – I want another one!!”

But there is a well known expression that covers an experience that we don’t want to have.  That expression is ‘sour grapes’.  Think of walking along, picking a grape and when you bite into it, your mouth is filled with sourness! You spit it out!  Think of being in a fruit market where you are able to sample the fruit before purchasing it.  Does the fruit pass the taste test?

Today’s verse particularly applies to Israel, but I love its application to us, both individually and corporately.  I love the picture of being a vineyard that the Lord watches over and is sung about.  I want to be a fruitful vineyard and I also want to be part of a fruitful vineyard.  Jesus said He is the true vine; we are the branches; and the Father is the gardener (think vine dresser).  The goal is bearing much fruit – sweet fruit.  If we remain in Jesus we will bear much fruit and the Father will prune us so that we will bear even more.

Think of the people that are in our lives.  They can be anything from strangers to close friends or family.  Also think of our lives being a vineyard where they sample the fruit that we are bearing.  What if we have no fruit or if the fruit we have is sour?  That is our testimony no matter what we might say.  But think of the joy of having abundant fruit and the fruit is sweet.  Our lives glorify our Lord Jesus and He will work with us so that we bear even more.

Proverbs 16:22a  Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it,

About six weeks after meeting the Lord, I went up to Minneapolis for what I thought was going to be a youth retreat for high school and college age over Thanksgiving weekend.   I had just turned 21 and hitched a ride up there with 3 other Western Michigan college students in a VW Bug.  I was in the back seat with a large suitcase and another large person.  That was a ride to remember!

When they dropped me off, I discovered the retreat had been cancelled.  The folks at the ministry center there were then wondering what to do with me – probably not the first time in my life that’s happened.  They had a Christian community / retreat center in northern Minnesota and one of the families was going up there for the weekend so they decided to take me along.  It turned out to be one of the most critically important times of my entire life.  I didn’t know it but I had a date with destiny.

The people at the community where we went were wonderful and very gracious to me.  The worship and ministry times were wonderful.  In my joy as a new Christian I was struggling with a serious issue that was warring within me.  It was only after meeting the Lord that I discovered it was an issue.  During one of the services, the leader called me up to the front.  The Lord had divinely given him knowledge of my struggle and in a brief time of ministry my issue was dealt with and gone.  My war with this issue was over! I was free!!

What followed next was profoundly important.  He said to me, “Don.  You cannot afford dating either spiritually or financially.  Seek Christian fellowship.”  Then he said, “I want you to pray for your wife – but don’t pray, ‘God, send me a wife’.  I want you to pray for her like this.  Lord Jesus, I thank you that you have the girl I am going to marry.  I pray that she will come to know you – that you will protect her and bless her.  Thank you that you are preparing us for one another.  I acknowledge that in your time and in your way, you will bring us together.  I commit her and our relationship to you.”

So I regularly began praying in this way for the unknown girl who would be my wife.  This enabled me to really release this whole area to the Lord.  Later the next spring I read an article by Billy Graham where he wrote about his children playing on a hillside.  He realized that on some other hillside were the children who would one day be the spouses of his kids.  So he prayed for their future spouses in the very same way.  We should do so as well.

2 Corinthians 5:7  We live by faith, not by sight.

Have you ever noticed how common mistakes are?  Fortunately we don’t have video replay in our daily lives where family and friends can relive our blunders.  It’s bad enough listening to our kids hilariously remembering them.  But the sporting world provides some wrenching examples of errors by referees / umpires, and usually there is video replay that everyone has to live with – for better or worse.  While no one expects perfection, you just hope mistakes are inconsequential.  Unfortunately, some errors that come to mind were anything but.

Several summers ago a Detroit Tiger pitcher was deprived of a perfect game by an umpire’s mistake.  With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the umpire mistakenly called a runner safe at first when replays clearly showed he was out – the last out! Afterward, the umpire was devastated to see the video replay of his mistake that deprived the pitcher of a rare perfect game.  Yes, umpires make mistakes, but this one involved the final out of a perfect game.

Most sports use technology or video replay to some degree to ensure against significant refereeing mistakes.  Soccer does not.  A few years ago in the World Cup, on the same day, Germany and Argentina advanced in games marred by refereeing errors.  The whole world saw that England scored against Germany to tie the game up before the half at 2-2.  Unfortunately the referee and his linesman missed it! Germany went on to win 4-1.  That evening Argentina beat Mexico3-1, but Argentina’s first goal should have been disallowed because it was scored by a player clearly offside.

Such mistakes really offend our sense of fairness – particularly when video replay confirms the error!  If only the mistakes could have been corrected, the results might have been different.  If only the baseball Commissioner had overturned the umpire’s call… If only video replay had been used in World Cup games…  If only God had….

Our response in difficult situations reveals what we really believe about God – who we think He is.  Is He our rock, our refuge, our comforter, our sustainer, our enabler, our inspiration, etc….  Or is He a referee who occasionally gets it wrong – who allows things that aren’t fair?  Do we get upset because something happens that is ‘against our understanding of the rules’ and we complain and question and argue: “He should have caught that!”

We need to understand that walking by ‘sight’ leads us on the path to the ‘referee / fairness’ model that results in victims and blown calls.  Walking by ‘faith’ leads us to the reality of who God is and how incredibly secure we are in Him – no matter what our circumstances look like.  Remember, God never has an “Oops!”

Titus 2:13-14  while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to devote yourself to doing things for someone when your heart is filled with gratitude for what they’ve done for you?  Reciprocating the kindness and love is a wonderful opportunity to express that gratitude.

Gratitude is a powerful motivation to do the right things that we’ve been talking about in our recent devotionals.  It’s particularly important now that we’re about to be in the Lenten season with its focus on repentance, prayer and fasting.   Ash Wednesday is this coming Wednesday.  May we be moved to make it a very important time in our lives.  We have an advantage over the early disciples.  We know what happens!

One of my favorite worship songs highlights so wonderfully what we have in Jesus – and what He did for us.  The song is “You Are My King (Amazing Love)” by Billy James Foote.  I am so blessed by the overwhelming sense of gratitude and love welling up within me as I worship with this song.  The words of the song contrast what we have – with what happened to Him and His sacrifice for us.

Read these words slowly and see if you don’t experience the same thing that I do:

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken
I’m accepted, You were condemned
I’m alive and well, Your Spirit is within me
Because You died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be
That You, my King, would die for me?
Amazing love, I know it’s true
It’s my joy to honor You

May we never let it grow old that Jesus gave His life for us – that we never cease to be moved by His love and sacrifice.  The movie, The Passion of the Christ shows so vividly what Jesus went through.  It was the only way for God to make us His own.  He wanted us to be His children – His family – His people.  Without Jesus’ sacrifice, it couldn’t happen.

We’re forgiven
We’re accepted
We’re alive and well
His Spirit is within us

BECAUSE

Jesus was forsaken
Jesus was condemned
Jesus died
BUT Jesus rose again!

Amazing love, how can it be that You, my King would die for me?  Amazing love, I know it’s true.  It’s my joy to honor You.

Here is a link to enjoy this wonderful song sung by Newsboys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNousF-YMHo

Proverbs 20:11  Every child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.

One of my favorite memories is the time a few years ago when I drove to Akron where our son Jamie and his family lived.  He and his wife Tiffany have a daughter Sophia (now 13) and a son Sam (now 11).  My wife was already there and I had not seen them in 16 months.  I didn’t realize how much Sophia and Sam wanted to see and be with me.

I was the recipient of repeated hugs and lovin’s.  They snuggled next to me and curled up in my lap, just wanting to be near me.  They expressed their love verbally and physically.  Sometimes it felt like they were applying a tourniquet to my arm or leg they squeezed me so tightly.

The marvelous thing is that they weren’t asking for anything.  It was clear that they were not “doing to get” but they were “doing to give”.  They were expressing what is within them.  They simply wanted to be with me and they freely expressed their love and affection in wonderful ways.

It’s amazing the impact that their expressions of love had on me.  I wanted to be with them even more.  I wanted to bless them and I found myself looking for new and creative ways to express my love for them.  This struck me as a significant aspect of what God wants in us as His sons and daughters.

He desires us to express our love for Jesus, not out of duty or obligation, nor as an attempt to get something from Him.  He desires that our lives express the genuine reality that we are thrilled to have Jesus; that we don’t take Him for granted.  Our actions and attitudes determine the genuineness of our love.  The more we walk in His ways and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us, the more we express our love for Him.  And He responds to that love in ways that allow us to experience even more apsects of His love for us.

Colossians 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Whenever I go outside I love to hear the soft song of a Mourning Dove.  It is something that has always been dear to me.  I am thrilled that these special birds have been common wherever we’ve lived.  During our last year in Colorado Springs we had the blessing of a pair of these doves nesting on the top of our trellis below our deck.  Daily we were able to see them and watch the whole process from building their nest to raising their young.

When I see or hear Mourning Doves a wonderful process kicks in. I stop, enjoy their beauty, think of my Lord Jesus, and am filled with gratitude for Him and the blessings He has given me. My enjoyment of these birds triggers this process that leads me to a quiet, rich reservoir of gratitude for my God.  Gratitude is priceless and is one of the most important attributes we can have.

I also love bouquets of fresh flowers.  One of my favorites is blue hydrangeas.  The blue color is rich and deep and they are so beautiful.  At Williamson Christian College where I worked there is a large bush of them.  I tried to keep a vase of these flowers on the front desk where everyone could be blessed by their beauty during the day.  The wonderful thing is that these flowers trigger the same process within me that the Mourning Doves do.  I go from seeing and enjoying their beauty to savoring the richness of my love relationship with God.

I believe this is a process that we all can and should experience repeatedly each day.  We are surrounded by beauty, whether in flowers, birds, nature or the people around us.  We need to ask the Lord open our eyes to see and enjoy it – to recognize the moment.  It is then simply a matter of His Holy Spirit creating the links within us that go from seeing beauty to enjoying the peaceful place of gratitude for Him.  The neat thing is that pretty soon we start seeing beauty everywhere and it all leads us to Jesus.

Psalm 139:23, 24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. ²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Eureka!  I don’t know how much this word is used today.  Possibly most people think of a brand of vacuum cleaner when they hear it.  Historically this was an exclamation attributed to Archimedes that he made to express his triumph of discovering an important process involving gold.  It was a shout made by gold miners when they discovered gold.  It became a general term used to describe the discovery moment when something being looked for was found, or a difficult problem was solved.

Teachers talked about students having ‘Eureka moments’ in their studies – those wonderful times when the ‘light goes on’ and something that has been elusive is finally understood.  Think of the times when reading the Bible, the Lord opens our eyes and we see something we haven’t seen before.  A verse or a truth just comes alive and it’s like discovering gold.

Sometimes these ‘Eureka moments’ occur when the Lord opens our eyes to see behaviors and attitudes in our lives that are negative and hurtful, both to us and to others, and we just haven’t ‘seen’ them.  It’s like our grasp of the obvious has been turned off.  We’re clueless to the red warning light flashing on the dashboard before us.

On the one hand, my life has too many of these embarrassing moments where Jesus has opened my eyes to see and understand such things in my life.  But on the other hand, they are unspeakable treasures because they are answers to the prayer of this verse.   They are ‘Eureka moments’ because they are priceless ‘doorways’ to repentance.  They are intended to lead us to times of forgiveness and transformation – not condemnation! They enable us to become more like Jesus.

Romans 1:20 and Ephesians 2:10

We are in a time of amazing special effects in the entertainment industry.  Things we see in movies appear real but aren’t.  Think about all the sales appeals made to us.  Claims are presented as real & marvelous but often experience with ‘said’ products reveal they aren’t what they are represented to be.  How often are we alerted about scams?  Being able to discern between what’s real and what isn’t is an essential skill.

Along this same line of thinking are two verses that have an extraordinary relationship with each other.  At face value they both refer to something God has made – His workmanship.  In the Greek, the word is ποιημα (poiema) and in the New Testament it only appears in these two verses.  But the critical fact is that in one of these, we Christians play an absolutely critical role in what the world perceives as real.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The first verse in Romans speaks about how God is (and always has been) revealed to mankind through nature – His creation.  He declares that it alone is sufficient to reveal His existence.  Psalm 19:1-4a speaks so eloquently of this truth:

 ¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

³ There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

The second verse in Ephesians (2:10) speaks about how we Christians – His people – are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works.  We have written how God wants His people to love Him – to walk in His ways – to reflect His glory.  His intent and equipping of us is so that the world will see Jesus when they see us.

Jesus came to enable us to do just that.  Further, Ephesians 3:10 states that “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,”

Putting these two verses (Rom 1:20 & Eph 2:10) together reveals a stunningly important reality:  God has made us both to be critically important revelations. Creation is a general revelation that God exists.  We Christians are to be a specific revelation that Jesus Christ is Lord!  

What do communities see when they look at the Christians in their midst?  Do they see Jesus or do they see something not at all reflective of Him.  How we, who claim to be Christians, choose to live determines whether the picture we reveal is one of Jesus – or one that undermines the power of Gospel because our lives don’t reveal Him

Joshua 23:11  So be very careful to love the LORD your God.

I once was able to attend a meeting in which the author Stephen Covey spoke (7 Habits of Highly Effective People).  There was a large crowd and the hall that he spoke in was in the round.  He was in the center and the crowd surrounded him.  He asked everyone to raise their arm and point in the direction that they thought was north.  There were people pointing in all manner of directions.

He proceeded to place a compass on an overhead and was able to identify which way was north.  He made a comment that has always stuck with me.  He noted that, “Which direction is north is not subject to public opinion!”  It is what it is and we cannot change it.  Life is filled with principles that are true.

Some time ago a newspaper, The Tennessean, had an article on cheating with cell phones in high schools and colleges.  The writer (Jennifer Brooks) noted “In one recent study, more than a third of teens with cell phones admit to using them to cheat, at least once.  Half of them admit to cheating with the help of the Internet.  Worse, the survey released by Common Sense Media two years earlier found that many of the students saw nothing wrong with their actions.”

Think about that last sentence – students cheating and seeing nothing wrong with their actions.  Even more distressing is the whole-hearted embrace of sexual impurity and immorality by society.  Compounding the problem are decisions from courts and legislatures that call evil good and good evil.  From God’s perspective, sin is sin.  Our opinion doesn’t change the fact.  We are surrounded by a culture that okays all manner of behavior that is incompatible with loving God.

I am reminded of a wonderful article by Rick Reilly of two 11-year-old twins who were hockey players and their family.  He wrote about an event that happened to them and the article is titled Doing The Right Thing.  Honesty was more important to them than $50,000.  Think about the title of his article.  This is the very point we are dealing with.   Who or what in our lives determines what “the right thing” is?

That is the beauty of becoming passionate about loving Him.  We recognize our utter dependence upon His Spirit and Scripture to instruct us how to do it.  We want our lives filled with righteous thoughts, attitudes and actions.  We want our eyes open to see things in our lives that shouldn’t be there – some of which we might think are okay, but in God’s sight they’re not.  He gives us the grace to repent and change.  Loving Him is to be our passion and goal.

Note:  Here is the link to Rick’s article:  http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/id/7599623/11-year-old-hockey-fan-nate-smith-doing-right-thing