I want to know what love is...

Happy Valentines Day! 

Today is a day of great expectation.  We expect to receive demonstrations of love from our loved ones.  We expect lavish gifts, expensive meals and elaborate proclamations of amore.  From childhood, we are pressured into giving cards, candy or other special gifts to those we love.  Those who don't receive "offerings of love" are often left to feel lonely, unloved and depressed.

During this time of great expectation, let us look into our own hearts and seek ways to show genuine love instead of receive superficial love.  Let us cast away our social conditioning to be selfish in our desires and frivolous in our displays of love.  Let us set expectations of ourselves to be living examples of love everyday to everyone. 

Below you will find an excerpt from I Corinthians 13.  It explains perfectly on its own what love is.  I have added a few links (okay, maybe more than a few...) in the text as usual so please click to see other examples of how we can use God's word to be a living exhibition of love today!   

"Suppose I speak in the languages of human beings or of angels. If I don’t have love, I am only a loud gong or a noisy cymbal.  Suppose I have the gift of prophecy. Suppose I can understand all the secret things of God and know everything about him. And suppose I have enough faith to move mountains. If I don’t have love, I am nothing at all.  Suppose I give everything I have to poor people. And suppose I give myself over to a difficult life so I can brag. If I don’t have love, I get nothing at all.

Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud.   It does not dishonor other people. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people’s wrongs.  Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken.   It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up.   Love never fails.

The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love."

Dear God, Help me to love the way you love.  Remind me of your goodness and merciful ways as I go about my day.  Help me to be a living example of Your word in my thoughts, speech and actions so that people will see me and feel Your love.  Protect my heart from being corrupted by evil.  Help me to put to death my evil ways and live a renewed life of love as Jesus displayed to us all. In Jesus' name, Amen. 

Two for One Special

Sheep and Goats/Jesus in Disguise

 

 

I came across a particular scripture during my devotional Bible study that fascinated me.  Well, many things I read in the Bible are fascinating but this scripture in particular led to a week-long dissection of the meaning behind the words.  The scripture lesson comes from Matthew 25:31-46 which tells of Jesus as He gave His followers a glimpse of what Judgment Day will look like.  To just read this scripture lesson without really studying it is a mistake people commonly make.  It gives the average person an idea that if they do good deeds, they will be acceptable to God.  That, my friend is completely false.  Today is going to be a two-for-one special so set aside a few extra minutes, pay close attention and let it all sink on in those brain cells…

SHEEP AND GOATS:

Imagine this.  The King comes into his throne room.  All his knights and fellow royalty are coming in with him.  The King sits on the throne and all the people in his kingdom are brought in.  The first thing he does is separate the sheep from the goats…

Hmmmm…  Okay… Sheep and goats, huh?  I am not into animals so I don’t really get the whole “sheep and goats” analogy.  So I researched sheep and goats in an effort to understand why they needed to be separated.  I discovered that sheep and goats are similar in appearance.  There are only a few minor physical differences.  Depending on what region of the world you observe these animals in nature, it is possible to confuse one for the other based merely off appearance.  Sheep and goats are best differentiated by their behavior.    

First, sheep have a selective diet of particular varieties of grasses and herbs.  Sheep are very picky eaters.  Goats, on the other hand, will eat anything.  They will even eat inedible objects.  Next, sheep tend to stay in a large group and follow where ever the master leads.  Sheep don’t like to be separated from their group and are easy to keep in a fenced-in area.  Goats are not likely to stay with a herd.  Goats prefer to test boundaries and roam freely.  Lastly, mother sheep are very maternal.  They usually only birth one or two sheep at a time, they nurse their lambs frequently and keep them under constant contact and supervision.  Mother goats are neglectful of their young.  Goats usually give birth to two-five babies at a time. They will often leave the babies to fend for themselves and may nurse once or twice each day.  It should also be noted that mother goats do not protect their babies from predators and will flee at the first sign of danger.  Mother sheep will protect her lambs from predators, even if it costs her life.  There is one more thing of importance to take note of.  In a mixed herd, sheep will sometimes follow the goats and roam away to hazardous landscapes or eat things that can be hazardous to their health. 

After I read this information, I had that “AHA” moment and was amazed at how sheep and goats are so much like humans!  In the scripture, the sheep and goats are used to illustrate how the believers in Christ will be separated from the non-believers on judgment day.  Just like sheep have a selective diet, believers are selective in their diet also.  Believers are careful to only partake of things that will enhance their relationship with God.  Non-believers are not concerned with their relationship with God therefore they partake in anything available.  Believers are obedient to their master (God) and follow His commands.  Non-believers do whatever they want to do.  Period.  Believers minister to new believers and nurture them to help them grow in relationship with God.  Believers are protectors and will lay down their lives for anyone.  Non-believers are evil and do not have any sense of loyalty or responsibility to their fellow citizens.  They will not stand up to defend or protect even their own flesh and blood.  Unfortunately, when believers mix and mingle with non-believers, they are susceptible to picking up the non-believers’ bad habits.  Oftentimes we will see examples in our own lives of Christians who have sex outside of marriage, do not make God a priority, practice dishonesty and unforgiveness and many more bad behaviors.  Now that we clarified the ‘sheep and goats’ analogy, let’s start from the top…

 Imagine this.  The King comes into his throne room.  All his knights and fellow royalty are coming in with him.  The King sits on the throne and all the people in his kingdom are brought in.  The first thing he does is separate his loyal, faithful, good citizens and places them on the right side of the room.  He places his disloyal, rebellious, evil citizens on the left side.  After he separates them, he invites the group on the right to enter his new and improved kingdom!  It is a land that he built in conjunction with the current kingdom however this new one is way cooler and has all sorts of luxuries and amenities beyond their wildest fantasies.  Then he looks over to the group on his left and banishes them from his kingdom and into a faraway prison where they will be tortured to death, revived, tortured to death, revived, and so on…  Which now leads me to →↓

JESUS IN DISGUISE:

When the King invited the good citizens into the new kingdom, he said, “I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was homeless and you gave me a room. I was shivering and you gave me a coat. I was sick and you stopped by to visit. I was in prison and you came to me.”  The good citizens were confused by the King’s statement.  I mean, he is THE KING!  They could not recall ever observing the King in need of anything let alone providing any of those services to him!  The good citizens asked, “Your Majesty, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to visit you?’  The King replied, “Whenever you did any one of these things to one of my citizens, you were doing it to me.”

When the King addressed the evil citizens, he said, “I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.  I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.  I was homeless and you gave me no shelter.  I was shivering and you didn’t give me any warm clothes.  When I was sick and in prison, and you never visited.”  The evil citizens looked puzzled.  They asked, “Your Royal Highness, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?”  Then the King replied, “Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.”

Today, we see countless commercials on the television of people who are starving all over the world.  Here in our country, we encounter people on a regular basis who live in poverty, immigrants from foreign lands and people who are homeless.  There are people who suffer from debilitating and fatal illnesses.  Prisons are overpopulated with all sorts of criminals.  What do all these groups of people have in common?  These people are often looked at as the dregs of society.  They are the ones who are considered a burden, a nuisance, a plague, a disgrace.  They are often put in their own contained environment, separate from the more fortunate members of society.  They are largely ignored or treated in a demeaning manner.

Jesus Christ reached out to every one of these groups of “undesirables”.  He ministered to them and gave them hope.  He was never too busy to help someone who was in need.  As a matter of fact, He spent most of His time reaching out to those in need!  He trained His disciples to do the same and instructed them to spread His teachings all over the world, to encourage people to be more charitable and selfless.  The believers of Jesus Christ are all given salvation by faith through grace, not by good works alone.  Good works are an effect of salvation.  Believers are led by the Holy Spirit to show mercy, hope and compassion to those who obviously need it most.  Believers are God’s way of shining light in a dark world.     

Are you a Sheep or a Goat today?  If you take time to reflect and discover you are a goat, I would encourage you to consider changing your species immediately.  Becoming a Christian, and not just going with the motions of rituals and ceremonies but actually striving to be intimate with God and living by His instructions, has been the most amazing decision in my life.  Life may not be perfect but it is so much better.  I am no longer weighed down by negative consequences for bad choices.  Now I am more conscious of my behaviors and make better choices.  Because of my good choices, I am blessed every day and all the desires of my heart are filled.  If you are a sheep, stay encouraged and never give up when life knocks you down.  There is a reward far greater than anything you can imagine when you keep walking on that straight and narrow road.  Make the choice to believe and never pass up an opportunity to serve Jesus when He is in disguise!