Jesus Threw Away My Lists, part 2

I wrote earlier today about my love affair with lists and how it is easier for me to follow a list like the Law of Moses than it is to allow love to govern me as Jesus taught. However, Jesus has removed any need for lists in our lives because he has revealed to us the greater way of love. In saying this I do want to share with you one list that I find to be amazing.

It is something you have read before and maybe you may have even taken note of it. It is a list that I find sums up so much of what we desire to be and do in our relationship with God. It is a list that can help us with a greater intimacy with Jesus. I don't consider it a law but more the guard rails on this path of love Jesus has placed us on. It prevents us from wandering away from this life of love and dedication.

We find it in the book of wisdom, Proverbs, specifically chapter 3. The pure simplicity of this list struck me the other day and it starts with the most important part of our relationship with God:

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; 
   bind them around your neck,    write them on the tablet of your heart. (v. 3)

I am telling you the greatest pursuit in our life should be to discover the depth of God's love. There should be no more important desire than this, to learn how to love as Jesus loved. What does God mean by love? How does it impact our living? And as you discover these mysteries make sure you are living it, applying it to everything you say and do. The result is evident:

Then you will win favor and a good name    in the sight of God and man. (v. 4)

If you are honestly spending the quality time with God that you are suppose to be it will have a radical change in your life, how you see things, how you respond to people, the words that you speak. People may not agree with your faith but they certainly will not be able to hold anything against you when love is written on the tablet of your heart.

With love firmly fixed in place we are ready for the rest of the list. In fact the command to love makes everything else possible. Item number two:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart 
   and lean not on your own understanding; 
in all your ways acknowledge him,    and he will make your paths straight. (vv. 5-6)

This is a huge stumbling block for most people and I could devote an entire book to this subject of trust. Love leads us to trust, to letting go of what we think we know and acknowledging that God knows far more than we do. This is where we falter in our relationship with Jesus and things begin to unravel. You know what I mean. We want something but God seems to prevent it so we fight against him. We want something and God is saying no but we don't want to accept that answer. We are in a situation that only God can rescue us from but we allow fear and worry to propel us into a rash act that only makes things worse. It's easy to say we love God on the sunny days but it is in the storms that our love and trust are tested.

This naturally leads us to the third point:

Do not be wise in your own eyes;    fear the LORD and shun evil. (v. 7)

This is another big problem we have, when we think we know better than God or the godly council he has surrounded us with. We ask godly people, who we trust, for their wisdom and they give us excellent council from the Word of God but then we decide we know better. Every time this mistake leads to disaster. If we hold God's wisdom up to the highest esteem, giving him our respect and turning away from everything that is evil there is great benefit:

This will bring health to your body    and nourishment to your bones. (v.8)

Worry, fear, anxiety take years off of our life. We begin to look old fast and we become feeble quickly. Living by our wisdom instead of God's will lead us into situations that will provoke worry, fear and anxiety in us and we will not be able to see the peace Jesus has given to us. What a foolish people we are.

The next point should be a natural out pouring of our love but you would not believe how many people try to get out of this. They lie to themselves, they use their own wisdom, they try to argue the point but in the end they are only robbing themselves of a greater freedom and intimacy with Jesus:

Honor the LORD with your wealth,    with the firstfruits of all your crops; (v. 9)

It is amazing how people allow money to separate them from the Lord. It becomes their stumbling block but they are only robbing themselves. They forget who the Provider is and how we honour him in this matter of the first fruits. It is something that love provoked long before the Law of Moses was established. We can read about it with Cain and Abel and the fact that Abel gave his best and was blessed by God. It led to the first record of jealousy and murder in the history of man. When love provokes a cheerful giver there are results:

Then your barns will be filled to overflowing,    and your vats will brim over with new wine. (v. 10)

The last point in this list has to do with keeping a proper perspective in our walk with God. So often we accuse God of being mean and unfair because we are looking at it from the perspective of a comfortable life in this world. We need to understand that God's perspective is one of eternity and he is preparing us for it:

My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline 
   and do not resent his rebuke, 
because the LORD disciplines those he loves, 
   as a father the son he delights in. (vv. 11-12)

Discipline is not punishment in the same way that correction is not punishment. I do not punish my children when they do wrong because punishment has to do with vengeance and there is no lesson and improvement in vengeance. No, our role as parents is to correct our children, to teach them from their mistakes and to reinforce that lesson so they will not forget it. God disciplines us because he loves us and he wants to make sure we will be prepared for eternity. So instead of weeping, wailing and complaining, look around and see the lesson at hand, learn it quickly and move on.

The items in this list in Proverbs 3 are great guardrails in our daily walk with Jesus. They will make sure that we do not wander off of this narrow path to the narrow gate. They will help us stay in that place of intimacy and growth with Jesus. However, these things are absolutely useless if our great pursuit is not growing in the love of the Lord. Like all lists there is a danger that we will seek our salvation in it instead of in Jesus Christ but understand that in this list you will find a great summary of the elements you are responsible for in your relationship with Jesus; love, trust, honour, giving, and submission.

Do You Want To Know What Real Love Is? It Will Cost You

Are you the type of person who likes watching YouTube videos of people getting hurt because it happens in a funny manner? You probably don't even realize what you are doing. It's like watching a slapstick comedy only these people are real so their pain is real. It looks funny as they fall down the stairs, or slip on the ice, or walk into a car but that is real suffering at which we are laughing. That is our society but it is not the Kingdom of God.

We have the same problem when it comes to vengeance and wanting our enemy to suffer. It is like watching the school yard bully finally getting beat up. We have this comic book hero mentality where we think that there needs to be pay back Old Testament style, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This may be justice but it is not love. We are not believers in karma. In fact, we take delight in breaking that karma cycle in people's lives:

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6)

The people of God take no delight in the suffering of any person. We do not want to see the school yard bully beat up in the name of justice but instead we want to see him saved under the blood of Jesus. As followers of Jesus we want nothing to do with vengeance, lying, cheating, cutting corners, compromising, or anything that would throw dirt on the purity of God's love. I find the most powerful statement of what makes God's love different from the world's is this:

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:7)

Do you sense the power of this statement? Do you see the transforming power in relationships? Do you see why forgiveness is not enough for a Christian, we must also work at reconciliation in our relationships, even in the ones that have caused us great pain. Notice the word "always". We are commanded to love as Jesus loved. God loves everyone; we are to love everyone. God loved his enemies (us); we are to love our enemies. What does this love look like?

Love always protects; not just our family and friends but our enemy as well. We have a hard time doing this for our family and friends so how will we ever be able to do it for our enemies?

Love always trusts; even those people who have hurt us deeply by breaking our trust. This is why I said forgiveness is not enough, we must reconcile as well. In order for love to be sincere we must be vulnerable to the pain of betrayal.

Love always hopes; even when the person shows no sign of change. No matter how stubborn a person is we continue to hold out hope that they will become everything they were born to be. Just as a fat ugly caterpillar is destined to change into a graceful, beautiful butterfly so God has destined every person to move from being his creation to becoming his child. We do not let go of this hope, even when the person is the ugly school yard bully.

Love always perseveres; which goes along with hope. We never give up, pack our bags and walk away from anyone. If we do it means that we do not love as we say that we love. According to God's love, which we are to possess and have for each other, there is never an excuse for giving up on anyone. We give up only when we start measuring the cost to us. Love is expensive, it cost our Father his Son. What is it costing you?

When we measure what we call love against this definition of the love we are suppose to have ours ends up looking pathetic and sick. We realize that we haven't even begun to grasp the fundamental truths of God's love. There is so much in us that has to die and be pushed aside. It is the reason Paul said to his friend that he needed to work out his salvation daily. We have to grow and mature in this love in order to be the effective workmen we have been called to be. We cannot fail in love and then just shrug our shoulders. There must be a daily breaking and surrender to the will of the Spirit so he can enable us to live this love. It is not optional, we must move forward in our desire to live this with our entire being. We have been called to love with God's love that he may be glorified through us. Do not delight in evil but instead rejoice with the truth.

The Power Of Authentic Love

What we call love in our society is pretty pathetic. It is based more on a euphoria of feelings and hormones. It can better be described as a feeding trough; as long as we are getting something out of the relationship we are happy but don't expect us to put anything into it. Love is described as how we feel, so I may be in love today but tomorrow who knows. What we claim to be love today has very little substance and absolutely no stick-to-it-ness. Today love fails because it is no love at all.

It is no different in our relationships in the Church or with God. That is quite the command he put in place when he told us to love him with our entire being and then to love our neighbour as ourself. This is a powerful thing, an incredible love, a demand of complete devotion. We rob it of its essence and make it a thing of attending church and reading our Bible but the love of which God speaks is a thing of power. Consider this as Paul continues with the Spirit's definition of love:

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Corinthians 13:5)

I know a lot of Christians who fail the love test with this first word describing what love isn't. I have been embarrassed countless times by my behaviour as well as the behaviour of other believers when we allow our feelings to get the better of us and we react in rudeness. In fact, there are some people who I think have never met Jesus because of their daily wrong behaviour in this area. Teens are rude to their parents, parents are rude to the sales clerk, people are rude because someone was rude to them. Young adults should look at their love interest and if they experience rudeness in that person realize that their love is not authentic or at least not mature. There is never an excuse for being rude.

If I had to describe what passes as love today I would use the word self-seeking. People are always looking for what they can get out of a relationship instead of what they need to put into it. I think it best describes our relationship with God as we continue to treat him like a genie in a bottle. It is always what we can get out of him, including in worship. Worship is about blessing our God from a thankful heart but we come in wanting that great feeling we get from worship. If we don't get that feeling we walk away feeling dissatisfied. Love is always about what we do for others, what we do for God, what we give to that relationship. If it is about us, what we want, what we expect, what we desire then it's not love.

When I was a young adult I had an anger problem. I could become angry in an instant over the smallest thing. I could see that this was damaging to relationships and asked God to save me from it. He did this by taking me to the place of service. He showed me that love meant I was glad to serve others, to be kind, to sacrifice for the benefit of other people. This became my ambition, my desire, to love in action instead of words alone. Love replaced my anger problem so much that when I tell people who know me today that I had an anger problem when I was younger they don't believe me. Most claim that I am a very patient man and I hope I am but I know I have a long way to go in my understanding of God's love. One thing I do know, anger has no part to do with love. A quick temper does not belong in the Body of Christ.

I believe with all my heart that forgiveness is a key ingredient in all relationships, but not a forgiveness that simply sets the offence aside. A forgiveness that comes from love removes the offence and never brings it up again. That kind of forgiveness makes a conscious decision to live like it never happened. So many relationships accumulate a ton of baggage along the way, never forgetting even though forgiveness was offered. Every time there is a disagreement a list of past offences are read out but love doesn't do that. Love doesn't keep score. Love offers authentic forgiveness so that there is also complete reconciliation and trust again. Love does not accumulate baggage but instead travels through life without even the carry-on bags.

Now can you imagine the power of this love shown to the world through the Church? Can you imagine what the Church would look like if we lived so that love is patient, love is kind? Can you begin to imagine relationships in the Church where love did not envy or boast and was not proud? Could you imagine authentic love in the Church so that people were not rude, self-seeking, easily angered and kept no record of wrongs? Are you beginning to see that our wimpy sentimental version of love is no love at all but is rather ugly compared to the authentic love of God?

It doesn't matter how much we try we cannot produce this authentic love in ourselves. We cannot wake up today and say "Hey, I am going to be more authentic in my love". They only way we can possess it is if it is produced in us by the Holy Spirit and this happens when we are completely sold out to Jesus Christ, living like we have died to ourselves. But that's a different posting. It is enough for now to desire this greater love and to seek it from God with all our being. If it is really the desire of your heart then Jesus will take you to the depths of his love where you will learn to love as he has loved us.