Don's Devotionals: Learning to love God

Matthew 13:16 But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.

I want to take this story in a different direction than I did when I first shared it.  Years ago a friend of ours named Paul bought a home that had been through a fire.  He was good at construction and was able to do most of the work himself.  The plumbing had to be redone for most of the house so he had a plumber friend come and handle all of that.  When the plumber was about finished he came to check out his work.  Paul was amazed by what happened.

As they were walking down the stairs into the large basement, the plumber stopped.  He asked Paul, “Do you hear that?”  They were both quiet and Paul didn’t hear anything.  The plumber said it’s over there and pointed toward a corner of the basement.  Paul asked him what was over there.  His friend said, “A leak” – as he motioned with his finger the timing of the drips.

Sure enough, when they got to the corner, behind a bunch of stuff, there was the leak.  Drops of water were falling to the floor at a frequency just like the plumber had indicated.  Paul asked him why he (the plumber) could hear them while Paul couldn’t.  The plumber responded, “This is my business.  I have my ears trained to hear such sounds.”

Typically, this verse is thought of in terms of recognizing or understanding God’s truth.  But today, let’s consider our lives to be the plumbing system of the house and the leak(s) to be the sinful behaviors that we allow to encroach into them.  (We can develop ‘leaks’).

In difficult, stressful times it seems our blindness and deafness can increase regarding negative behaviors and responses in our lives.  We can get so overwhelmed by our circumstances that we lose sight of the stuff growing in our lives that is incompatible with our faith.  We have ‘leaks’ and don’t know it – and those leaks cause real problems for us and those around us.

No matter how overwhelmed we might feel, let’s stop to seek the Lord and ask Him to open our eyes and ears and enable us to see and hear the ‘leaks’ in our lives; and enable us to repent and repair them.  In difficult times, we can be ‘deaf’ to things in our lives that in quieter, less stressful times would not likely occur.  Remember, the more difficult the situation we find ourselves in, the greater is our opportunity to glorify Jesus with how we respond.

When the difficult times end, we will look back – hopefully it will not be with eyes of regret.  We have such opportunity to live righteously in the midst of difficulty.  I often think of Esther and Mordecai…”for such a time as this.”

Psalm 139:13, 16  ¹³For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Today, a more personal note of thankfulness: Yesterday was Mother’s Day.  It was wonderful for Donna to hear from our 4 sons and 3 daughter-in-laws on this special day.  We even got to see online last night our oldest granddaughter, Becca singing in church down in Recefe’, Brazil.  The service was broadcast live.

At church we heard the true but funny saying, “If it weren’t for your mother, you wouldn’t be here.” Mothers do so much to raise us, but most basically, they give us life.  It brought to mind the special debt I owe my Mother for the very fact that I was born.  She shared this story with me after I became a Christian in college.

In 16 years of marriage, my parents planned and had 3 children.  My brother Richard was first and my sister Judy was third.  Unfortunately, the second baby, Marilyn, died at birth.  Then in the spring of 1947 my mother discovered she was pregnant with me.  I was the ‘accident’ as people like to call such things.  But my mother had been told by her doctor after the birth of my sister Judy that she couldn’t and shouldn’t have anymore children or it might kill her.

Our family doctor, who we shall call Dr. Em, was very distressed by this pregnancy for he feared for her life.  So he tried to talk my mom into having an abortion.  Mom told him that she and my dad wanted to have the baby (me) but Dr. Em was persistent, recommending the abortion on her subsequent visits.  Finally, my mother told him, “We are having this baby – and if you ever speak of having an abortion again, I will never come back!”

I had no idea how close I had come to not being born.  There is also quite a club of ‘accidents’ out there – or shall we call us God’s surprises.  None of us are ‘accidents’!  He knew us before we were born.  It’s interesting how many pastors, missionaries and Christian workers were initial ‘surprises’ to their parents.  I thank God for my mother, Louise and my father, Oscar and their determination to have me, in spite of the danger that might accompany my birth.  They were the ones chosen by God to give me life, so that I might live for Him.

Luke 17:15, 16  One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

These verses are at the heart of the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers.  All ten were cleansed but only this one returned and gave praise to God.  Jesus wondered where the other nine were – why they didn’t come back too.

But let’s focus on the one who responded as they all should have.  There’s a good possibility that he led a normal life until he became a leper. Maybe he was a farmer or a shepherd.  He likely had family and friends.  Then came the day when he discovered that he had leprosy.

I cannot imagine the pain of being separated from wife, children, parents, friends, your home – your entire world.  This separation is on top of having this dreaded disease.  Living a life where you are shunned by everyone except those who have the same disease.

Then you hear about Jesus – a Nazarene who is performing all manner of miracles.  Think of the discussions among the lepers as they dared to hope that Jesus might heal them.  And then He does.  All ten are cleansed. But this one, in his incredible joy, returns loudly praising God and finding Jesus to thank Him.

Then, imagine returning to your wife and children – to your parents and brothers and sisters and friends.  This man had his life not only returned to him – but it was as though all things became new.  Can you see him asking God to help him to never forget what Jesus did for him?  Can you see him thanking God every day for all the normal little things that he can now do again?

Spend some time thinking about the wonderful things that Jesus has done in your life.  Think of where you might be, if He hadn’t responded to your cry for help.  Ask the Lord to restore gratitude within you if it is missing.  Hopefully, we all will be overwhelmed with gratitude for the loving kindness of our God.

1 Corinthians 8:3  But the man who loves God is known by God.

When I read this verse I think of Moses and the burning bush.  The bush was on fire but it didn’t burn up.  It caught Moses’ attention and in the midst of shepherding his sheep, he turned aside to see this strange sight.  Once God saw that he had turned aside to look, He called to Moses from within the bush.

Moses responded and encountered God in a stunning way.  It strikes me that in today’s verse, ‘the man who loves God’ is the bush and ‘is known by God’ is the burning part – the fire that doesn’t consume.  This verse is there, like a bush on fire, that doesn’t burn up, with God waiting to see who will be attracted and turn aside.

There are other verses that have this same feature – this same element of mystery and attraction.  They are there – waiting – to see if they will cause us to ‘turn aside’.  James 4:8a says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”  Stop and think about that.  God is everywhere.  He’s omnipresent.  As Christians He lives within us.  So what is He talking about when He says if we come near to Him, He will come near to us?  Could He be talking about something more intimate?

Then in John 14: 21b Jesus says, “The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”  This verse is explosive!  The one who loves Jesus will be loved by His Father!  But, doesn’t God already love us?  Isn’t that why He sent Jesus?  Is it possible that somehow, when it comes to the love of God, there is a whole lot more we can experience?

The Amplified Bible states the last clause of John 14:21 this way, “…and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]”  WOW!!!  This shouts that there is unspeakable treasure waiting for those who love God!  Not in terms of things, but in terms of relationship and intimacy with our Lord God.  All of this is there waiting for the ones who love Him.

These experiences are reserved for those who truly pursue loving God.  It’s almost like God saying that when we first come to Him, as marvelous as our experiences might be, it’s only the ‘tip of the iceberg’.   There is so much more of Him that only the ones who love Him will get to experience.  The choice is ours.

1 Corinthians 8:3  But the man who loves God is known by God.

In these past few days we’ve seen that we love God by obeying His commands.  If we want to love Him, He has given us a very precise answer on the way it is done – the only way it is done.  And it is something that we can grow in.  Our ability to love Him is not static – He intends for it to grow all the days of our lives!  When Jesus said to walk in His ways, this is what He meant.  Think of the intimacy reflected in today’s verse for the ones who do.

I would like to offer a different perspective on commands for your consideration.   January 21, 2005 while in Brazil with our son and family, I was struggling with this whole issue of truly loving God.  That evening, in a wonderful experience with the Lord and His presence, He brought to mind a movie that has been a favorite of our family.  The movie contains something that He just opened to me that night that continues to bless me to this day.  (I love to reread my journal entry where this is all recorded)

Have you seen the movie Princess Bride?  Peter Falk is a grandpa reading a love story to his grandson – the story of Princess Buttercup and her servant Wesley.  Every time she gives Wesley a command to do something he utters the phrase, “As you wish.”  Her “wish” is his command.

It becomes clear in the movie that “As you wish” means “I love you”.  They go through all manner of adventures and the movie has a wonderful ending.  For the sake of this illustration, don’t think of God’s commands as commands, but think of them as His wishes.  So, we are responding to wishes instead of commands.

Then think of being in love. You want your loved one to share with you their wishes – to which you respond, “As you wish.”  (Remember the expression ‘Your wish is my command!’)  You then go and do what they wish to bless them and please them and be overwhelmed with joy as you do.  God shares His “wishes” with us in His word.

All of His  “wishes” become opportunities for you to lovingly say to Him, “As you wish.”  “As you wish.”  “As you wish.”  Each and every time is your opportunity to love Him by what you do, and to say “I love you” to Him.  Your heart will be filled with the desire to learn and embrace all of His “wishes” so that you can do more and more of them.

Then, there are the times when we sin, and with painful remorse we come to the Lord and say, “Father – forgive me.”  To which He replies, “As you wish.”

(*Note: A few months later John Ortberg, my favorite author, came out with a book titled, God Is Closer Than You Think.  It has a chapter titled “As You Wish”)

1 John 5:3  This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

One evening I was really moved by Jesus’ question to Peter: “Do you love me?”  The more I thought about it, the question became alive to me – Do I love Him?  If so, how do I know for sure that I truly do love Him?  What if I’m deceiving myself?  The Bible has many examples of His people thinking they loved Him but their lives didn’t give any evidence of it – in fact their lives demonstrated that they didn’t!   Does He leave us to our own devices to determine if we love Him?

As I was crying out to Him about this, a sudden thought shot through my mind, “The answers are in the back of the book.”  This really spoke to me because I’m good at math.  All the math books I used had the answers to the odd problems in the back of the book.  Sometimes I had to start with the answers in order to figure out how to work the problems.  God was saying the answers to my question were in His book!

Loving God is defined by God as obeying His commands.  Scripture is filled with commands on how we should or should not live.  Culturally we have the unfortunate tendency to think of them as instructions or suggestions, but they are commands none-the-less – and every day we have nearly unlimited opportunities to obey them.

Every time we obey a command in Scripture, or respond to His Spirit, it is an objective, concrete expression of our love for Him.  (Think be kind, be gentle, don’t gossip, seek humility not pride, love one another, forgive, etc…)  We don’t have to wonder if we are really loving Him.  We just have to live His word. (Note: As a helpful aid, I have identified 25 different portions of Scripture in the NT that contain such lists and have them written in the back of my Bible under a title of ‘Loving God’.)

God also transforms our motivation.  Obedience (holding fast to His teachings and living in accordance with them) becomes something we don’t “have to” do, but we “get to” do!  It becomes a joy to do what Scripture says because His Spirit confirms in our hearts that we are expressing genuine love for Him.   The more we obey Scripture and the promptings of His Spirit, the more we love Him.  It’s like a dream coming true!

Part 5 tomorrow – A different perspective on commands.

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.”

In our culture we tend to have an allergic reaction to certain words – obey and command are two in particular that Christians tend to react to.  Typical responses are to immediately think of such words as part of legalism or to counter with a ‘grace not law’ type of argument.

Picture yourself in a quiet time and suddenly Jesus is there with you – just you and Jesus – face to face.  With a loving yet serious look, eye to eye, he says to you, “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.”  I imagine that would catch your attention.  Afterward those words would likely burn within you.

“If you love Me…”  One of the problems we have in English is that there is one word for love.  That word love applies to everything around us.  We love our sports team.  We love fried chicken..  We love beautiful sunsets.  We love walks in the woods. It goes on and on.  We love potato chips.  We love God.  What does the word “love” really mean – particularly since we use it so frequently to describe such a wide variety of things.

“If you love Me…”  With these words comes the realization that God wants us to love Him.  In fact it’s more serious than that because there is an implication in this verse that is truly shocking.  At face value, the verse says if we love Him, we will obey what He commands.  But consider the implication of the reverse: If we don’t do what He commands, we don’t love Him.

It’s imperative that we understand this is not talking about earning our salvation.  It is coming to grips with the fact that the God of the Universe – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – wants, and expects, His people to love Him.

Let that sink in.  Loving God is not optional, nor something to be approached casually.  It is at the very heart of our faith.  It is what defines us as Christians – the people of God.  The wonderful news is that He does not leave us to our own devices to figure out what loving Him means.  He gives us the answer!

Part 3 of 5

John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

In yesterday’s devotional we saw that in order to receive the promise of John 8:32, you had to be a disciple of Jesus.  A disciple is one who holds fast to His teachings and lives in accordance with them.  Today’s verse, gives us a primary answer on how those around us will know if we are His disciples.  It is critical to note that the criteria focus on how we actually live our lives.

Back in the Jesus People days of the late 60s, my wife Donna told me of a phrase written as graffiti on a tunnel wall at North Carolina State University.  The phrase was, “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”  Think about that for a minute.

Let’s take it a step further and place some restrictions on acceptable evidence: 1) Church attendance is only acceptable if it is backed up by other evidence, 2) Your verbal testimony is not admissible as evidence – only the testimony of others reporting what you’ve said and done is admissible, and 3) Evidence is primarily going to be provided by the testimonies of those who know you, work with you, interact with you or wait on you, i.e., clerks, waitresses, storekeepers, parking lot attendants, etc…

How will others describe you?  Simply put, what kind of person are you?  What kind of neighbor?  Friend? Acquaintance?  How do you treat people?  Suppose it goes further and they are able to identify everything you watch, read, or view – TV, phones, computers, whatever.

Will the evidence presented confirm that we are loving people?  Upon examination, will the testimony confirm that we hold fast to the teachings of Jesus – that we live our lives in accordance with them?  Or will the testimony present a picture where our Christian testimony (verbal) is at odds with our lives?

Part 2 of 5

John 8:31, 32  To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The context in which a scripture is set is frequently very important to both the understanding of the verse and its application.  Unfortunately Christians and people in general have a tendency at times to over look this fact.   A good illustration of this point is Ps 14:1, which contains the statement, “There is no God.”  But the context makes a world of difference.  The entire verse reads, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

This importance of context really applies to today’s verses.  The portion that is so frequently quoted is the 32^nd verse, “…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  It’s usually presented as a Biblical promise that one is set free simply by hearing or recognizing the truth.   But a closer examination reveals that the context has a very important qualifier in verse 31.

This promise is part of an “If… Then…” situation.  If the first condition is true, then the benefit or desired result will follow.  If the first condition is NOT true, then it typically won’t.  The full context presents the two components of what Jesus is saying: 1) IF you hold to my teaching…2) THEN you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

The context provides a lot of clarity.  Jesus is also defining what is required to be a disciple, who then can be the recipient of the promise.  It’s not just a matter of acknowledging Him as Lord.  A disciple is one who holds fast to His teachings and lives in accordance with them.  The promise specifically applies to that individual who is a disciple.

Part 1 of 5…

Galatians 5:22-23   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Have you ever considered the thought that we Christians should always be the best friends that anyone could possibly have?  We should be the best spouses; the best family members; the best workers; the best bosses; the best neighbors; the best strangers.

Taking this one step further, is the thought that anything less than that is missing our destiny of who God intends us as Christians to be.  Paul, in writing to the Corinthians describes the reality of what are lives are and are to be, “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Our lives, like letters, are read by all the people we encounter, only the messages we communicate are far beyond just words.  Think of how differently we respond to encountering a neighbor’s pet that is always friendly versus encountering one that is grumpy or one that can be friendly but will also snap at you.   With the second one, we stay away; with the third one our guard is up.  We don’t want to be snapped at.

Applying the ‘pet-factor’ to our lives, ask the question, “What are we like?”  Are we grumpy?  Do we have a tendency to ‘snap’ unpredictably?  Do we have a tendency to be undependable or worse, to be jerks?  Or are we consistently someone that people enjoy being around because we reflect the qualities of our faith identified in today’s Scripture?  If asked to describe us (in an anonymous and candid survey) there wouldn’t be a ‘but’ in their description.

It’s critical that we recognize that our lives are about so much more than us.  We are an intimate part of God’s plan to reach and transform the world.  How we lead our daily lives has a profound impact on what our lives communicate.  Our destiny, corporately and individually, is to be a love letter from Jesus Christ to those around us.  So what are they reading when they encounter us?