Loving One Another

Readings for today: Leviticus 19-20, Psalm 36

Everyone is a fan of love. We all want love. We all need love. We all crave love. It’s essential for the flourishing of human life. Without love, we fail to thrive. Without love, we struggle to connect. Without love, we become isolated, alone, afraid, and anxious. If we remain without love, our hearts fill up with hate, rage, and potentially, even violence. Violence against others. Violence against ourselves. Communities that lack love are fractured, divided, abusive, and exploitative in all kinds of ways. Nations where love is absent are chaotic, unjust, oppressive, and volatile. The lack of love in our world today creates all kinds of trauma and brokenness in our lives.

This is why God gives us a law. He is not only seeking to restrain our worst impulses as human beings but also seeking to create an environment where love is put into action. Don’t glean to the edges of your fields. Why? Because you are to love the poor. Don’t dishonor your father or mother. Why? Because you love your parents. Do not steal or lie. Why? Because you love your neighbor. Do not have sex with someone other than your spouse. Why? Because you love others and don’t want them to be exploited for your own sexual pleasure. Give the land rest from agriculture. Why? Because you love creation. Offer pure offerings before the Lord. Why? Because you love the Lord. Such boundaries are not arbitrary. They are absolutely necessary to create the conditions for love.

Loving one another is not an abstract idea. It’s not an aspirational idea or wishful thinking. Love takes concrete form in laws and regulations and policies and healthy boundaries that define relationships. The relationships might be familial or collegial or communal or civic. As much as we may resist them at times, they are essential for us to experience love or learn love or show love to those around us. The fact that we don’t often associate laws with love - especially God’s Law with God’s Love - only shows how much we need them. As you read through the laws in Leviticus, I know many of them may seem archaic and strange. It’s because they were designed to some extent for a far different world. Don’t let that throw you. Instead, think about how such laws might promote the experience of love in an ancient near east context. Now think about the laws we live by in our own world. The moral law God has given us through His Word. The civic law we live by in our communities and nation. Prayerfully reflect on how such laws lead you to experience love and share love with others.

Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 21-23, Psalm 37

God’s Tenderness

Readings for today: Genesis 46-47, Psalm 15

There are moments in the Bible when we see the tenderness of God on full display. I cannot imagine how Jacob must have felt when he first received the news that his beloved son was alive. For years, he had grieved Joseph’s death and it has taken its toll on him. When he appears before Pharaoh, he describes his life as short and hard and not on the same level as his ancestors. “My pilgrimage has lasted 130 years. My years have been few and hard, and they have not reached the years of my ancestors during their pilgrimages.” Jacob has endured a lot of emotional and relational turmoil. He grew up in conflict with his brother. He took advantage of his ailing father. He deceived his uncle. He buried a beloved wife. He believed he lost a beloved son. And yet, God has been faithful. He has never left Jacob’s side. And now at the end of his life, God has one final surprise for this man He loves so much.

“I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back. Joseph will close your eyes when you die.” (Genesis‬ ‭46‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭CSB‬‬) Jacob will get to see Joseph again. Not only that but Joseph will be the one to close his eyes in death. Joseph will be the one who will secure his body and make sure he is buried in the Promised Land. Joseph is the one who will make sure all of God’s promises come to pass because Joseph is God’s chosen instrument. The one God sent before Jacob and his entire family in order to preserve God’s plan of salvation. God could easily have accomplished all this without giving Jacob this special gift but God loves Jacob. God has loved Jacob from before he was born and God will love Jacob all the way to the end. In His tender mercy, God allows Jacob to see His plan come to pass. It’s a beautiful and tender scene.

Friends, God looks at us with that same tenderness in His heart. The Bible says it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. It is God’s love that drives His relentless pursuit of us. It is God’s desire that all should be saved and none perish. As we move into Exodus in the coming weeks, we will see God literally define Himself as the God of compassion. Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast, loyal love. This is who God is, friends. Today, yesterday, and forever. As you approach God in prayer today, come with the sure and certain knowledge that God loves you with such deep tenderness. His heart is for you. It breaks for you when you go through pain. It rejoices with you when you have success. It mourns with you when you experience loss. It is stirred for you when you are excited. God loves you, friends. There’s no greater news in the world!

Readings for tomorrow: Genesis 48-50, Psalm 16

The Prayers God Loves

Readings for today: Philippians 1-4

If you are like me, prayer isn’t always easy. It’s hard to know what to say to the Lord of the universe. What do you tell someone who already knows everything? How do you talk to someone who doesn’t always talk back? At least in an audible way? What do you do when it feels like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling or you can’t seem to find the right words or you feel like you’re just going through the motions? For me, that’s when it’s time to go back to the Scriptures and read over the kinds of prayers God’s people have been praying for centuries.

The first one that comes to mind is the Lord’s Prayer, of course. The Psalms are next as they express the full range of human emotions and can help us find our “voice” again. But then you run across prayers like the one we read out of Philippians today. I love it. Listen to it from the Message version, “So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭MSG‬‬) Isn’t that awesome? Paul is literally in prison, potentially awaiting his death, and how does he spend his time? He’s praying for his brothers and sisters in Philippi to increase in love. I can think of no better prayer to pray!

Paul is an amazing man. As you read Philippians today, listen to how little Paul thinks of himself. From a human perspective, he has every right to complain. Every right to demand justice from God like Job. Every right to be angry with where his life has ended up. After all, has he not given up everything to follow Christ? And this is his reward? Thankfully, Paul left the “human perspective” behind a long time ago. He now sees the world as Christ sees it. It’s why he calls the Philippians to have the mind of Christ. It’s why he can say to them that to “live is Christ and to die is gain.” It’s why he points them to the love of Christ even as he languishes in a prison cell awaiting execution. Paul lives a “lover’s life” to the very end. He never stops preaching. Never stops making Jesus Christ attractive to everyone he meets. He wants everyone to get involved “in the glory and praise of God.” And for that great end, he is willing to give his life.

I still remember going to Africa for the very first time. Meeting church planters in some of the most remote areas on earth who also lived “a lover’s life.” Like Paul, they too were willing to sacrifice everything for the privilege of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. I was changed by that encounter. My life has never been the same. I came back with a renewed desire to lay down my life for my wife, my children, my family, and my church. Most importantly, I came back with a passion to give my life to God and His great mission in our world. The mission of love. And God has answered my prayers. He gives me opportunities every day to share Christ with those around me. I wouldn’t want my life to be any other way.

Readings for tomorrow: Philemon, Colossians 1-4

A Humble Life

Readings for today: 1 Corinthians 12-14

One of the curses of our current age is self-righteousness. Whether we’re talking politics or social issues or cultural norms or personality traits, there is this drive within all of us to be right in our own eyes. And this need to be right or righteous is elevated to an almost sacred level which means anyone who may disagree with us is wrong. And not just wrong but unrighteous which means they’re evil. And if they’re evil, they cannot be tolerated and must be destroyed. We see this dynamic on display in the rhetoric from many of our current political leaders who claim those who differ from them are out to “destroy democracy” or are enemies of America. This dynamic seems jet fueled by social media which only serves to channel outrage and hatred and anger. This, unsurprisingly, leads to violence and conflict which is justified if it serves your particular agenda but gets labeled an insurrection if it doesn’t. One would think with all the information we have at our fingertips that we would humbly acknowledge the deep complexities of our world and other human beings. One would think because we all share the same fundamental nature that we would assume the best of one another rather than the worst. Sadly, this approach to life seems beyond us.

Of all people, Christians should understand the danger of self-righteousness. We should be the first to relinquish the need to be right in our own eyes. We understand, as the Apostle Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 MSG, that “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.” This side of heaven, we don’t have a clear view of ourselves much less the world around us. We can only see the outward appearance of a person, we cannot see their hearts. And this should create a deep sense of humility within all of us. A willingness to let go of the need to justify ourselves. A deep longing for the day when “the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!“ On that great day, every wrong will be righted…not by us but by God. Every injustice will be rectified…not by us but by God. Every tear will be wiped away…not by us but by God. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work for these things in the here and now - of course we should - it simply means we should approach these issues with humility, recognizing the deep complexities of the human condition that lead us to our choices.

I love how Paul describes the way we work for justice and righteousness in our world. He says, “But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” Trust God. Always hope. And love as generously and lavishly and unconditionally as possible. What a great recipe for life! I know in my own life, things changed for the better in my marriage and with my kids when I decided to approach them with love rather than the law. When I let go of my need to be right and instead chose the way of love and encouragement and blessing. The arguments in my home went away. The conflict in my home died down. The tension and stress decreased significantly. It doesn’t mean we don’t speak the truth to each other. On the contrary, we have family meetings quite often where we have to talk about hard things. But we always do so with love first. We find ways to affirm and encourage first. We hug first. We seek to understand rather than be understood. We seek to meet the other person where they’re at rather than demand they meet us where we’re at. We recognize we don’t often know all that’s going on in that other person’s heart and we give them room to express what they are feeling. Ultimately, we show each other a lot of grace and trust the Lord to do the work only He can do in each of our hearts.

Readings for tomorrow: 1 Corinthians 15-16

Love God, Love Others

Readings for today: Matthew 22:15-46, 23:1-39, Mark 12:13-44, Luke 20:19-47, 21:1-4, 13:31-35

You can spend a lifetime learning to love and still never plumb her depths. You can spend years training yourself to scale the mountain of love and never reach the summit. You can work on love every hour of every day and still never reach the end. The love of God is infinite. It is boundless. It is eternal. It is steadfast, faithful, loyal, and true. I could preach every sermon from here to eternity about love and still not scratch the surface. That’s how I feel every time I get to this part of the Gospels and read the words of Jesus in response to the question about the greatest commandment.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” (Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭37‬-‭40‬ ‭MSG‬‬)

These two commands are the pegs on which hang not only the Law and the Prophets but all of life itself. From the beginning, we were created in love to love. We were created to love God first. To walk with God in the Garden in the cool of the day. At the end when Jesus returns again, we will walk before the Lord once more. We will see Him face to face. We will dwell in the light of His presence. We will live in the midst of His glory. We will worship and adore Him continually. We were also created to love one another. It is not good for human beings to be alone. It’s why loneliness creates an existential crisis. We were made for relationships. Made to relate to those around us. Made to relate to other human beings. We see this reflected in our biology. Male and female literally made to fit together. We see this reflected in our psychology as our emotions are specifically designed to help us engage with those around us. We see this reflected in our neurology as the brain literally fires up every time someone smiles at us or waves. God fearfully and wonderfully and specifically making us to live and move and have our being in love. Love is the foundation of all creation for God is love and He is the Creator. Love is what sustains all of life for God loves the world so much He will never let it go. Love is the antidote to our fear and anxiety because God’s perfect love casts those things out. Love is the basis for our foundation for it is love that drove Jesus to lay His life down on the cross. Love is power for it is love that conquered the grave and raised Jesus from the dead. It’s why Paul says to the Corinthians, “Love bears all things. Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Love never fails.”

How are you cultivating love in your life? Love for God? Love for those around you? Do you spend time with God each day, basking in His great love for you? Resting in His delight in you? Worshipping Him from a place of devotion and adoration? Do you worship God each week with God’s people? Loving those around you even though they may be different? Loving those around you even though they may be at a different stage in the journey? Loving them even as you express your love to God through music and prayer and self-offering? How are you intentionally loving those around you? Your family? Your friends? Even those you are in conflict with right now or your enemies? Love is the answer, friends. It is always the answer because it is God’s answer to the problem of human sin that corrupts everything in our world. Take courage today and press into love!

Readings for tomorrow: Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, Luke 21:5-38

A Kingdom of Love

Readings for today: Isaiah 13-17

“Tell us what to do! Help us out! Protect us, hide us! Give the refugees of Moab sanctuary with you. Be a safe place for those on the run from the killing fields. When this is all over, Judah answers, the tyrant toppled, the killing at an end, all signs of these cruelties long gone; a new government of love will be established in the venerable David tradition. A ruler you can depend upon will head this government, a ruler passionate for justice, a ruler quick to set things right.” (Isaiah‬ ‭16:3-5‬)

Human beings are fearful creatures. We struggle with anxiety. We do not like feeling insecure. As such, we find ourselves coping in different ways. The great Viennese schools of psychotherapy - all founded by Jewish psychotherapists - suggested human beings deal with fear in one of three ways. Sigmund Freud argued for the “pleasure principle.” Human beings are oriented towards pleasure whether it be sex or drugs or some other activity that helps us escape our fears. The problem is we all know pleasure is fleeting at best and there tends to be a crash when we come down from our “high.” Alfred Adler argued for power. Human beings are oriented towards power in an effort to control their environment so they don’t have to be afraid. After all, if you can eliminate “threats” then perhaps you can eliminate fear. The problem is we all know such a pursuit is futile. History is littered with strong men and dictators and the power-hungry who eventually find themselves overcome by the same forces they unleashed. Viktor Frankl argued for meaning. Human beings are ultimately oriented towards meaning and if one can lay hold of some vision greater than themselves, one can endure just about anything. Forged in the fires of death camps like Auschwitz where all pleasure and power were stripped away, Frankl realized he needed something more. Something deeper to hold onto if he were going to survive without giving into despair or going insane. And while I appreciate Frankl’s approach the most, I think there is yet another approach to consider. The way of yet another Jewish “psychotherapist” - Jesus Himself. It is the way of love.

The words from Isaiah today are powerful. They present a vision that is foreign to us. Alien to the human experience. In our experience, thrones and dominions and kingdoms are founded on power. Authority. Control. It doesn’t matter whether one is talking about monarchies, dictatorships, socialist republics, or democracies. All human governmental institutions are established in power. They are maintained through power. They often come to an end because some other power rises up against them. This is the way of the world and it has been like this since the beginning. Furthermore, those in power tend to become corrupt. They begin using their power to pursue their own selfish ends. They chase pleasure. How else can one explain the rampant financial and sexual and criminal abuses that we so often see from our political leaders? Certainly not all of them succumb to such temptations but it must be hard to resist when so many are trying to curry favor. And, of course, the ones who do find the strength to resist are often successful only because they cling to a higher purpose. A greater meaning to their lives that gives them the strength to overcome.

Isaiah identifies that “higher purpose” for his people. It is love. When a throne is established in God’s love, justice and mercy naturally flow. When a kingdom is founded on God’s love, it becomes a light to the world. A beacon of peace and righteousness and goodness that shines for all to see. This was the whole point of the nation of Israel. To show the world a different way. To be a light to the nations around them. To be a country built on the foundation of righteousness and justice where steadfast love and faithfulness undergirded how they lived. In such a nation, outcasts would find refuge. Enemies would become friends. Widows and orphans would find care. The poor would be lifted up. Oppression would cease. Destruction would end. Peace would reign. This is a picture of the Kingdom of God and it is what we pray for when we pray the Lord’s Prayer together.

Jesus affirms this Kingdom. He came to establish this Kingdom on earth through His life, death, and resurrection. Jesus is love. He is the love of God incarnate. He is the love of God made flesh and blood. And as He lays down His life for us, He defines love for us. It’s not a feeling. It’s not an attraction. It’s not selfish or arrogant or boastful or impatient or unkind. It is self-sacrificing. Self-denying. It always puts the needs of others before itself. It always focuses on the welfare of others before it’s own. It is costly. It is a high-risk endeavor. It never loses hope. Never gives into despair. It always endures. It always perseveres. It never fails because Jesus never fails.

Ultimately, a passage like the one we read today points us forward to Jesus. He is the One who gives counsel. Who grants justice. Who shelters the outcast and the fugitive. He is the One who puts an end to all oppression and destruction and brings peace. He establishes His throne from the cross, the place where perfect love and justice meet. He sits on His throne with faithfulness and is always swift to do righteousness and justice. As followers of Christ, we acknowledge Jesus is our King. We acknowledge Jesus as Lord. We acknowledge His authority over our lives. As such, we who are called by His name must align ourselves with His Kingdom. We must seek to incarnate His values in our lives. We must reject the ways of this world. The will to power. The will to pleasure. Even the will to meaning and instead find - in Christ - the will to love.

Readings for tomorrow: None

A Prophetic Word

Readings for today: Jeremiah 24-26, 2 Timothy 3

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a good friend about my views on the state of the world. He felt I was taking too dismal an approach. He felt I was too down on humanity. Too cynical about her future. Too pessimistic about her ability to make progress. He is not a Christian so he does not believe in original sin. He does not believe in total depravity. He believes human beings are essentially good and just need to be loved in order to be successful in this world. So I challenged him in return. What evidence does he see in the world today that would suggest to him humanity - as a whole - is essentially good? One only has to consider the greed of the ultra-wealthy. The corruption rife in every human government. The lust for power and control. The objectification and abuse of women. The persistent hatred between tribes and ethnicities. The penchant for violence - physical, emotional, professional, personal - against those we consider our enemies. The selfishness of the average person. Shall I go on? Certainly, individuals are capable of great good as our groups of individuals but on the whole, on balance, when one honestly considers the natural state of humanity, it isn’t good. It’s almost as if the Apostle Paul had caught wind of it…

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” (2 Timothy‬ ‭3:1-5‬) Not much has changed in two thousand years. Humanity is still a wilderness calling for a voice. Still a dumpster fire desperate for water to put out her flames. Yes, we’ve made some progress. Yes, life expectancies have gone up. The amount of wealth we create on an annual basis is staggering. Technology has made life so much easier. But to what end? Why live longer in misery? Why pursue wealth when it so easily snares our hearts? Why innovate when such technology can be turned to horrifyingly destructive ends?

Please hear me out. I am not saying we shouldn’t do these things just that we need to rediscover our purpose. Our chief end. Our primary goal which is “a godly life in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 3:12) Without Jesus as our North Star. Without Jesus as our True North. Without Jesus leading the way, we fall into all sorts of error. We fall into all sorts of self-inflicted suffering and pain. We fall into all manner of evil and sin. Only Christ can lift us up out of the hole we’ve dug for ourselves. Only Christ can set our feet on a firm foundation rather than the shifting sand we too often choose for ourselves. Only Christ can satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts which is to be loved.

My friend was right about one thing. We all long to be loved. We all need to be loved. We all were made to be loved. Loved by God. Loved by others. The lack of love in our world is the fundamental issue we face. It is the scarcity of love that creates so much of the world’s problems. None of this is new to God. He saw it in Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and all the generations down to Noah. He saw it in humanity after the Flood and identified a family through which He would reveal His great love to the world. But Abraham and Isaac and Jacob struggled with to love as well as did Moses and Joshua and David and Solomon and Israel. So God sent His one and only Son into the world. Jesus came with a mission to show the world the heights and depths of the love of God. He gave His very life to make God’s love known. And all who look to Him in faith have received the gift of God’s faithful, steadfast, everlasting, loyal, covenant love in return. This is the story the Bible tells and it’s why we must spend time in God’s Word every single day. To remind ourselves we are loved and to remind ourselves of the charge to go and tell the world about the love we have found in Christ. This is why Paul tells Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy‬ ‭3:16-17‬)

Friends, God is equipping you for every good work. God is preparing you to be His instrument of love and grace in our world. God is getting you ready to endure the persecution that will come to all who truly seek to follow Jesus. Abide in God’s Word and let His Word abide in you. Abide in God’s love and let His love abide in you. Do all you can to live a godly life in Christ Jesus and you will find the peace and joy your heart longs for.

Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 27-28, 2 Timothy 4