Where is the love?

My heart is heavy with deep conviction this morning. I received an encouraging email from a friend about some testimonies in his ministry in Bolivia, but rather than simply providing me joy, it has produced a grieving in my soul for the church in America. I feel called to earnest repentance for my selfish heart. My heart is now burning with this question: "where is the love?"

This music video is by the Black Eyed Peas and is a song that has been around for some time. This is the same group that has produced songs such as "Don't Stop the Party" and "My Humps." Pardon me if I step out on a limb and question their devotion to the message of Christ, but this song is true. Where is the love?

Why is the outcry coming from secular artists, those with no regard for righteousness, rather than from the church, who was purchased by the blood of Christ to be a symbol of His righteous love?

We have become so concerned with "our best life now" and how to live the "blessed life" and how to escape our addiction to approval and reputation. We go to conferences to find out how to be peace keepers and women of faith. We travel across states to renew our passion, to ignite a flame, and to experience revival. We seek signs and wisdom and joy and peace and confidence and all these things that sound good. All these things that will give us purpose. We teach people that God blesses us as an example of His goodness. We teach the principles of sowing and reaping. We talk about how to be good Christians and live lives that honor God, yet all the while, our feeble attempts are a stench in His nostrils. Where is the love?

The modern American church is famous for coining phrases like, "its about a relationship not a religion." We preach that the "do's and don'ts" don't matter. We do this, not to honor God with our motives, but to free us from the obligation of His grace. We shift our focus from freedom to law and back again, over and over. We are so caught up in the do's of love rather than the motives of love. We are so concerned with the don't of sin rather than the motives of abstinence. Where is the love?

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Paul said, "If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body up to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." Love is not about the actions, but the motives that lead to those actions. Where is the love, church?

We are constantly looking for books, teachings, revelations that will excite our senses or invigorate our spiritual lives, but we rarely take the same time to examine our hearts to see if we are "abiding in the love of Christ." We let opportunity after opportunity pass us by and wonder why there is so much division and animosity within the church. What happened to "if someone strikes your cheek, turn and let them strike the other"? What happened to "if someone asks for your shirt, give them your coat too"? For those of you looking for your "best life now," what happened to the verse that says, "he who seeks to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for me will find it"? Where is the love, church?

Who will love the forgotten in nursing homes, the scared in the hospitals? Who will serve the hungry in your city, the inept and the elderly? Who will meet the needs of their town, not for the sake of meeting needs, but for the sake of building relationships that glorify God. The needs exist for the sole purpose of building relationships of love. It's not about the doing, but the motive. We are to be doers, but not in our own righteousness, but through the love of God that wells up within us to produce the works prepared for us before the foundations of the earth. Who will love the least, church, if we neglect our purpose?

To quote the song above...

"People killin' people dyin'

children hurt, you hear them cryin'

Can you practice what you preach

and would you turn the other cheek

"Father, Father help us

send some guidance from above

cause people got me, go me questionin'

where is the love?"

The great love-hate....

"For God so loved the world..."

     "You hate all who do wrong..."

          "For while we were still sinners..."

               "the one who loves violence, his soul God hates..."

                    "Jacob I loved..."

                          "Esau I hated..."

So.... which is it? Does God "hate the sin but love the sinner"? Recently (this morning), I was challenged in my "uber-calvinist" tendencies. I don't claim to be "uber-calvinist" and am typically very reluctant to label my self with the dirty word of "calvinist." Yes, I do believe in election and in God's sovereignty. I believe that the doctrines of grace are the surest form of the gospel. However, I also believe in the inerrancy of God's Holy Word. I believe that God's vocabulary is much more extensive than mine. I believe that there are mysteries that are yet to be revealed. I believe that the foolishness of God can confound the greatest of earthly wisdom.

My blog post I recently published was on the eternal security of the believer. I believe this to be a great encouragement and wanted to share my thoughts on the subject. By relation, I felt the need to touch on God's sovereignty in our salvation to establish the footing for why we can trust our salvation to be eternally secure. I also linked another post in which I detailed why I believe in the doctrine of election. Here is where I now feel the need to give clarity.

I don't know about you, but I tend to be a very boundary oriented person. I like to know where the fence is and I meticulously color "in the lines". I think most of us are like this to an extent, at least in things we think are important. Because of this, we like to see things in black and white. As my friend put it, "either or." He makes a valid point that I often fail to put forth in my writing. There are many cases in scripture that require a "both/and" understanding of God's character and the truth of scripture.

Now, why do I tend to lean (quite heavily) on the calvinist side of the arguments? For one, I grew up as a charismatic holy roller steeped in the doctrines of man's volition and the 'off the road' Christianity that depended heavily on personal spiritual revelation (often more so than simple biblical study). I am fairly new to these concepts and am exploring them heavily. I love to discuss theology and the word of God. It is my favorite pass-time. That said, you can hopefully see why I write so much on the topic.

But there is another side to the coin. I live in south Mississippi, the left ventricle of the heart of the Bible Belt. I grew up and live in an area where "predestination" is a dirty word and "hell, fire, and brimstone" preaching is as sinful as murder. We have an understood culture that involves church on Sundays, family meals that afternoon, bumper stickers and flags, but a do what you want on Friday and Saturday mentality. Everyone and their Moma is a Southern Baptist. A few of us are tongue talkin' holy rollers. And much fewer still are the Methodist, Catholics, and Episcopalian (so few in fact, I had to look up the spelling of the last one). Then even smaller are the Presbyterians, those frozen chosen.

The issue with my part of the country is that we have made Christianity more of a culture than a religion. We have created an idea that so long as I go to church, profess Christ, and live a relatively good life, then we can go to heaven. Sadly most of us don't even really want to go to heaven, we're just so sick of the heat and humidity of the south we don't want to go to hell. We like to think that we are in control of our destiny and it is the great southern temperament to not let anyone tell us what to do (it was the whole basis of the civil war..). We like control and we like our God-fearin' beer bellied wranglin' bubble. We don't like anyone to stir the waters. We have more churches per square mile than probably any place else, almost all competing to fill more pews than the church down the road. The reason is because everyone seems to be called to preach, which here is just another way of saying that no-one wants to submit so anyone else. It is a matter of control and it plagues the south more than any other place (obviously this is just my opinion).

This is why election and predestination, etc are such a taboo subject. I believe in both the will of man towards his salvation and also the sovereignty of God over that choice. I believe both because both are evident in Holy Scripture. Do I have certain opinions as to how they operate together? Yes. Do I think one doctrine is more vital than the other? I do. But does that mean I am to explain away all seeming contradictions in the Bible simply to make sure my theology can fit into a nice, understandable shrink-wrapped box? No.

Indeed, man has a place in his choices and in his salvation. One can be still be sure that God is still sovereign and that election is plainly taught in scripture. We can be sure that when we are told that God loves the world and sinner, this is a true statement. We can also be sure that the Bible teaches the hatred of God towards sinners. I guess you can call it a love-hate relationship. I love cake and fried pickles, but I hate the fat-cells they add to my waist. God surely loves His creation and he surely hates sin, even to the point of hating the sinner. The cool thing is that God is big enough to do both. To love us, to reject us in our sin, and to provide a means to make us acceptable through Christ Jesus. Does man's will affect our salvation? Of course. Does God sovereignly elect us and place His seed in us to live righteously? Yes. Can these two be thoroughly explained? Probably not. The question is: Are you okay with it?

We must resolve to pursue first and foremost Christ. We are not called to "fix" each other's theology or to make full sense of every aspect of the Christian walk. We are called to read the Bible. To proclaim its good news in Jesus. To study it, showing ourselves approved. We are called to love one another, to serve one another. I write a lot in my blogs on the doctrines of grace, but only because I ride the grain against the settled beliefs of my precious Bible Belt. When given two valid options, we will always choose our comfort. However, when struck with the more difficult option, we grow and expand our pallet of understanding. Then, we can return to our comforts balanced and matured.

Hate - The promise that hurts...

I recently started reading the book, Radical by David Platt for an upcoming Bible study that I'm leading at school. My wife has read it (very recently), which means that I have read it by association...since she generally quotes entire books to me if she likes them. I won't lie, sometimes I daydream, but everything she quoted from this book was confirmation to the truth that God has been revealing in me lately through my own study of scripture. I'm very excited about leading this study with some of my co-workers. Especially since they are teachers who have a great opportunity to impact and impart to the students at our school.

I've read chapter 1 and outlined the points I want to focus on, written down some verses I'd like to throw into the mix, etc. Everything was set, but there was one issue: the explanation of one of the scriptures just didn't sit well within my spirit. Now, don't get me wrong, Platt hit the bull's eye so far in everything I know about this book. I'm so glad he has the guts to say some of the things he says. Christians definitely should be living much more radically for Jesus. The issue wasn't necessarily with Platt. It was the verse and it's widespread interpretation. The "commonly accepted, yet rarely lived" interpretation that is even defending by the Greek words used in it.

Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple."

Hate. Hmmm. Taken at face value, this can be pretty hard to live up to. It also seem quite strange for the 'prince of peace,' the 'loving father,' the 'light of life' to say something so contrary to his central message of love. We think of the commandments that tell us to love our neighbors. Or the verse that tells us to honor our father and mother. Or the fact that Paul told the Romans to love one another with brotherly love. This can seem quite contradictory.

Now, traditionally, the word Hate is understood in this verse by the Greek word used in the text, "miseo." A word that means, in the Greek, to love less. So because of this, people have assumed that this verse means that our love should be so great for Jesus that our love for those other people looks like hate. There is almost a full measure of truth to this statement. We definitely are to love the Lord with ALL our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We are supposed to long for His return. But I still couldn't help thinking that there was more to this than that. Why would Jesus have drawn such a comparison when He could have communicated it a different way. Jesus wasn't telling a parable here, he was simply speaking to the people about the cost of discipleship.

Well, my journey (of several hours.. not days) consisted of researching, a la web, words used in this verse, translations, greek meanings, cultural context, yadda yadda until I discovered an explanation that made sense theologically, biblically and also just seemed to feel right. Now, please forgive me if this dude is some type of hypocritical heretic, I didn't really research him. I just read the article and liked the article and its contents regarding this verse. I was able to get insight into the meaning of this scripture, and also feel that the Holy Spirit confirmed it within me through peace of mind. You can read it HERE.

Here is a summary: It means just was it says. And, it doesn't conflict with scripture when placed in context.

Sorry if the summary should have been more elaborate, but I didn't want to sound redundant and knew I'd be "summarizing" it again as I explained what I have learned, and now want to communicate with you.

Keeping in mind that Jesus would have been speaking to Jews who honor the Torah, (this huge thing coming up is a quote from the article) "We need to realize just how shocking this statement would have been in Yeshua’s culture. The rabbis taught that the Lord put the obligation of honoring one’s father and mother before honoring Himself. They considered honoring parents one of the great obligations, equal with honoring God. But there is one rabbinic comment that might explain Yeshua’s remark within the Jewish context. It is a rabbinic teaching on Leviticus 19:3. “Even though I have admonished you regarding fearing [your] father, if he shall say to you ‘Profane the Sabbath,’ do not listen to him.” Clearly, the requirement to not honor parents or anyone else depends on the condition that these people are encouraging Torah disobedience. What if Yeshua’s remark is taken in this sense? Does He claim that He is greater than the temple, greater than the Sabbath, greater than Moses? Wouldn’t this rabbinic exception apply if relatives were instructing you to disregard His status as Messiah and Son?"

Considering that he would have been speaking to people who were "under the law," it makes sense he would communicate the truth to them in a way that they could grasp the severity of his identity. Jesus is more holy that the Sabbath because he was there when it was proclaimed. Jesus was saying to them, unless you love me to the point that you are willing to reject, with all of you, those who are dearest to you, you cannot be my disciple. Your love should be so great, that if anyone asks of you to 'profane the Sabbath' (which means to break the covenant - in this case the new covenant with Christ), you are to reject them with all of you. This breech, if you will, of the law is protected under the 'loving Jesus like you're supposed to' clause. Jesus knew that most of, if not all, the families of those he was talking to, would not accept this teaching. And he needed them to know that following him was costly. "Who builds a city without first counting the costs?"

This revelation of scripture has been both joyful and a little painful. The thought of rejecting those I love is a hard pill to swallow. But my allegiance to Christ and my citizenship of Heaven is to be the most important commitment of my life on this earth. But, there is also freedom in truth. To know that my God is for me, no matter who is against me. To know that God wants us to succeed. While walking in His perfect will, we cannot fail. Oh, how I long for my God in Heaven. I want my life to be a pleasing sacrifice to the creator of all things. To be His disciple and to learn from His word, with revelation through His spirit. The question we must ask ourselves each day is, "Am I THAT committed?"

Are we growing cold?

I'm not sure why, but I think God is still teaching me about love. I just can't seem to meditate on anything else right now. I have been watching and thinking and praying about it, and God continues to reveal things to me that I still don't fully understand. I hope that by writing it down here, God will help me grasp all that he is teaching me.

My last post was about love, but this one will be a little different. I want to talk a little about a scripture God has been bringing me back to, "because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold," - Matthew 24:12. A friend, a few months ago, mentioned the an important word in the text of this verse, "most." What a scary thought, to think that the love of MOST will grow cold. Not a few, but most. Such a change, surely can only occur subtly. I mean, who wants to be cold-hearted? We aren't exactly lining up to get that trait. No, this type of societal heart change will slither its way into our attitudes and mindsets as slowly and slyly as possible. The question is, "how can we tell if our love is growing cold?" The answer, by knowing what love is and what it looks like.

Two additional scriptures, God has been puting on my heart, carry so much weight when it comes to what love looks like. The first, "[love] is not rude, [love] is not self-seeking, [love] is not easily angered, [love] keeps no record of wrongs." - 1 Corinthians 13:5. The part I feel God most wants us to comprehend is that true love doesn't keep a tally of wrongs. If you really love someone, why remember their faults. Aren't we so thankful that God chooses not to remember ours? This is such a great measure of our love for people. Ask yourself, "do I often choose to remember or often bring up someone's wrongs?" Are we loving people or condemning them when we bring up times in the past when they have fallen short or made the wrong choice? The real question to ask ourselves is, "am I focusing/exposing someone else's wrongs to hide or minimize my own?" True love doesn't compare charts, it doesn't put down, it doesn't brag -- remind you of another scripture about love? This chapter in 1 Corinthians is more than just a passage that should be read at a wedding, and means more than just the love shared in a marriage. Jesus told us the most important commandment was to love. This scripture applies to our attitude toward everyone we come into contact with, including family, friends, coworkers, classmates, etc. Our love is the testimony of our faith.

The other scripture is, "there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..." - 1 John 4:18. I heard a sermon once about faith. The man who was delivering it made the comment that many people think that doubt is the opposite (the side that is against) of faith. He went on to say that the real opposite was fear. He said the faith is securely trusting God's word, doubt is the absence of trust, but that fear was trusting or believing the opposite of God's truth. If we love people the way God loves people, then our desire for their life is to be blessed in accordance with God's will. If we love them, our utmost desire should be to save them from Hell, and see them live and abundant God-filled life. The only way to do this is through perfect love. If we learn to love people by showing them love the God had in mind, then that love casts out fear. It casts out the mistrust in our hearts towards God's amazing plan for our lives. Love will not condemn your brother, but will bring healing and strength to him.

God's desire for us is to love. We were created in his image with the wonderful capacity to love one another. God is love, and as he is in us, so are we in him. If we dwell in love, we dwell in righteousness. May our words, deeds, and intentions always be in alignment with the will of God.

For additional commentary on Love, please check out my 2 part series on Desire.

Love Manifest

This may sound a bit silly, or cliché, given the Holiday occurring near to the date of this post; but, I have been thinking to myself lately about what love really is. So many people, practically everyone, seem to know what love is, and yet can't seem to participate fully or grasp its eternal and grossly important significance. Love is more than just a feeling, a thought, an action, a word, a desire, or a state of being. Love is life. Life is good. Good is God's perfect will manifested in something measurable, tangible, or observable. After each of God's creations, he said, "it is good." He meant, this is the joy that is wrought from my will which is perfect in every way. Goodness, is the operation of God's will, the state of being purposed and complete. In the scriptures we see such a connection between several words representing both concepts, so I would venture to say that love should be defined as such. First, God is love. When we participate in love, we are joining ourselves with our creator. Jesus was in a human body that was filled and perfected with the fullness of God. As was he, so are we through our salvation and the accepting of the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives. This gives us all strength, power, and wisdom to be the perfection of God's will as a body of believers. This does not mean we will ever be perfect. Perfection is only achievable outside of a realm in which sin is a part. Perfection can only fully exist where there is an absence of sin. That is only with God the father in Heaven. However, we can be an example and vessel of God's perfect love for people by delighting in and celebrating who God is and by seeking first Him in every aspect of our lives. Second, love is non judging. We learn in the Bible that true love (note the "true") keeps no record of wrong doing. If we truly love our neighbors, their sin will be irrelevant Ignored? No, not at all. Quite the opposite, only perfection can identify imperfection. Perfect love, will reveal the sin of the sinner to the sinner. This is not a matter of words meant for condemnation. But actions of servitude, grace, and mercy. We are to speak the truth in love. To speak is not to talk, it is to communicate, to convey, and to demonstrate. True love is the only way to reveal truth. Just as the old saying goes, "actions speak louder than words." Third, as love and actions go hand in hand, so do love and faith. Faith is the result of a love relationship. We have faith because we have love. Abraham revealed more his love for God than his faith in him by his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. Faith is more than believing in an ideal or something not yet revealed. Faith is the life lived as evidence of that belief. If Abraham only believed in God and didn't understand and participate in God's love, he would not have put this relationship before his son. His step of faith revealed his love relationship. This is the relationship God wants with his people. To put the other's good above all else. When we put God first, we reveal our love, hence our faith, not only to God, but to the world that sees it. Last, love is fruitful. It produces life fruits that are a further representation of true love. Patience endures, kindness is pervasive, envy is put to death, and pride is humiliated. True love, is oneness with all that God is. That love was nailed to a cross and conquered death to earn a resting place in the hearts of men. God calls all creation to himself, love is his vessel. Christ is our hope.