Where be love??

I came across the example of the missionary Robert A. Jaffrey this week:

Robert Jaffrey played a major role in opening Vietnam to the gospel.  He did so largely because of this quality that all great leaders share.  “Nothing can take the place of affection… Intellect will not do.  Bible knowledge is not enough.”  Jaffrey loved people for their own sakes.  He was happy in the presence of human beings, whatever their race and color.

Jaffrey was able to love all people because of how Christ loved him, and that is the same love that we are called to.  Yeah, yeah, I know that most Christians know this, and many Christians excel in this area.  There is an area in each of our hearts, however, where we would like to hide away a few individuals that we consider exempt from the command to love, or times in our daily lives that we excuse ourselves from having to love.

How well do we love when it is inconvienient, or when the recipient does not love us back? What about when the person is actively sinning against us, either openly or behind our backs?  The words of Jesus often convict me at this point:

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ do that.  And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ’sinners’ lend to ’sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full.  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:32-36)

Can we say that, like Robert Jaffrey, we are really “happy in the presence of human beings?”  Can we say that we really love indiscriminately? The purpose of conviction is to lead us to Christ, and in Christ this type of love is possible.  He is the example of this type of love, and his Spirit is our source.  Let us thank Christ for this love, pray for this love in our own lives, and seek specifically to live it every day!

Thanks for reading,

Mickey

Tolerance is not the answer

Or society today continues to be infatuated with political correctness and toleration, but adhering to to these policies is not only ineffective, but keeps us from getting to the heart of the issue.  Consider the following story from Martin Luther King’s book Stride Toward Freedom.  It describes a evening when his house was bombed, and MLK was rushed home from a civil rights event where, thankfully, he learned that his family was safe.

I was immediately driven home.  As we neared the scene I noticed hundreds of people with angry faces in front of the house.  The policemen were trying, in their usual rough manner, to clear the streets, but they were ignored by the crowd.  One Negro was saying to a policeman, who was attempting to push him aside: “I ain’t gonna move nowhere.  That’s the trouble now; you white folks always pushin’ us around.  Now you got your .38 and I got mine; so lets battle it out.”  As I walked towards the front of the porch I realized tht many people were armed.  Nonviolent resistance was on the verge of being transformed into violence.

In this atmosphere I walked out ot the porch and asked the crowd to come to order.  In less than a moment there was complete silence.  Quietly I told them that I was all right and that my wife and baby were all right.  “Now let’s not become panicky,” I continued.  “If you have weapons, take them home; if you do not have them, please do not seek to get them.  We cannot solve this problem through retaliatory violence.  We must meet violence with nonviolence.  Remember the words of Jesus: ‘He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword.’” I then urged them to leave peacefully.  “We must love our white brothers,” I said, “no matter what they do to us.  We must make them know that we love them.  Jesus still cries out in words that echo across the centuries: ‘Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; pray for them that despitefully use you.’ This is what we must live by.  We must meet hate with love.  Remember,” I ended, “if I am stopped, this movement will not stop, because God is with the movement.  Go home with this glowing faith and this radiant assurance.”

MLK was not arguing for the toleration of their oppressors, but for love!  When we ‘tolerate’, we are compensating for someone that we do not love.  When we love, there is no need to try to tolerate; it is already taken care of.

When the difference is skin color or cultural heritage, we are artificially creating barriers that we must ‘tolerate’.  We coexist daily with those who have different eye and hair color, but for some reason many cannot get over a simple difference in skin color.

When the difference is religion or faith the divide is very real; however love is still the answer.  Simple toleration does not build bridges or crumble walls, but love shows the character of Christ and introduces the Gospel – and the Gospel of Jesus is the only solution to our world-wide lack of love.

Thanks for reading!

Mickey

Life-changing love

Jessica and I watched a program on TV this week about Masab Yousef, a man who was converted to Christianity from Islam.  His story, shown below, is remarkable because he is a Palestinian and his family is heavily involved with Hamas.

What stood out to me about his story in the documentary that we saw is the verse that God used to bring Masab to passionately study Christianity and the Bible and eventually accept Jesus as his Lord: Matthew 5:24

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

The power and truth of the Word of God is amazing, especially its ability to change hearts and redirect lives.  I wonder, though, are we faithful in proclaiming this message with our own lives?  Loving enemies is vitally important, however just as important is loving our brothers.  1 Peter 1 says

21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

What if Masab had not picked up the Bible, but had just observed how you love your neighbor, or how you treat your enemies?  Many, many people do it every day, and it is our duty to develop the character of Christ so that we do truly love both our brother and our enemy.

We are the only Bible that many will ever read.

Thanks for visiting!

Mickey

When the Bible Offends

Romans 9:10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad – in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls – 12 she was told, The older will serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

What do we do when the Bible offends? Sometimes we read passages that do not ring true with what we would expect the Bible to say, but they are there nonetheless. We can go from Bible translation to [reputable] Bible translation and even to the original languages, and wham, there we are still assaulted by what we cannot explain.

Many are very offended by Romans 9:11-13 and seek to explain it away or simply ignore it. Regardless of how you handle these verses – I recommend, since they are in the Bible, that we accept them – I propose that what may offend us initially ought not be what shocks us.

It is easy to pull out election and I hated and become immediately offended and to rush to rescue God from being unjust, unloving, etc. What ought to grab our attention is not the linking of election and I hated but the connection between election and I loved.

Because God is a just God and we declare ourselves to be His enemies, God can do no other but hate what is evil – who we are in our sinful ways, apart from Him. What initially shock us is what really makes the most sense. What is amazing is that, in spite of our continued rebellion, God would call some of us to Himself!

Argue all that you want about how it happens and what happens when, but at the end of the day we must, first of all, accept every word of the Bible as true even when it may not initially make sense to us, and second of all, recognize that God’s grace is amazing – that He would love any of us!

Isaiah 24:1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

Are we on the Right or Left?

The following statement is from former SBC President Jimmy Draper:

“We have reached a place that our spiritual forefathers feared… We need to admit that the problem with America today is not the government or the politicians,” Draper said. “It is not Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John McCain… not the educational system or the economy… not the liberals or the abortionists. The problem lies with us.” “We conservatives claim to have the truth and we think we are rich in spiritual position and power, but yet we are cold, complacent, impotent and unattractive, and irrelevant to the world,” Draper said. “I hate to say it, but we are not plateaued. We’re not even just declining. We’re in a free fall.”

“You know why we don’t win the lost?” Draper asked. “Because we don’t like them. They are different from us. We don’t care for them. We have no real love for them.” “People just don’t touch eternity when they are around us,” Draper said. “We’re too self-absorbed.”

This statement by Draper speaks to each of us to a different degree, but I think that if we are honest, no American Christian can consider themselves fully exempt from this indictment.

• We are hospitable, but only as far as we’re not inconvenienced.
• We are generous, but usually after all of our needs – and most of our wants – are met first.
• We love, but only when we choose and in ways that make good ’sense’ to us.

Christ loved us while we were His enemies; we struggle to love those who are just indifferent to us.

Matthew 25

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

To serve others, we must first love others.

Plow deep in me, great Lord, and fill me with your love!

Love Stinks

OK, so love doesn’t really stink, but it does have a lot in common with odor in general. Hang with me for a sec.

When we talk to someone that we are physically near, before we finish our first sentence, the odor of our breath is clear to whoever we are talking to. Sometimes it stinks like garlic, while other times it is pleasant like the flavor of mouthwash or chewing gum (at least pleasing to some). We carry around a personal odor, too, and this smell can also be pleasant (cleaness or sometimes cologne) or offensive (body odor). While it is usually impossible to rid ourselves of all odor, we can at least attempt to make it pleasant.

Just as some sort of smell always accompanies us, we also have an aroma of love around us. Our love precedes us because people can sense our love for them before we finish our first sentence of a new conversation. It is clear in our actions, reactions, and expressions. Our love is clear to everyone around us, and just like our physical odor, it can be pleasant (deep and Christlike) or offensive (fake or even absent because of the flesh).

And just as our physical aroma, good or bad, hangs around after we leave, the aroma of our love remains long after we are gone. Our love acts in the memories of those around us even more than it does in the moment when it is demonstrated. Genuine love is used by the Spirit to change hearts and work in the lives of those around us, while Satan uses the lack of love to harden hearts and drive people away from God. Regardless of the aroma of our love – be it pleasant or sour – we can be assured that it will hang around much longer than we will.