Simplifying The Complicated, part six - Love Each Other In This Same Manner

This is the last blog on my short series on uncomplicating the things of our Father. He has made it simple and we have complicated it by adding our ideas and traditions. So far we have considered the simplicity of loving Yahweh, of loving ourselves, of loving others and of valuing everyone. These are straightforward commands that are only empowered by love. The last thing I want to consider is Jesus' final command that we, in the Body of Christ, must love each other as the Lord has loved us.

Jesus loved us in simplicity and largeness. Maybe the theology behind it can be complicated by the tremendous depth of it when we examine it from beginning to end, but the application is simple. Jesus loved the Father to the point of laying down his life in obedience. This huge act of love also carried the message that Dad loves us so much he was willing to sacrifice everything. It is simple, straightforward and uncomplicated. While we were still enemies of God Jesus sacrificially paid the only price demanded so that we could be redeemed from our rebellion into life with Father. Nothing is asked of us except to believe.

This is how love is defined. This is the measuring rod. Simple.

Now Jesus turns around and says even before he gave us the measuring rod, love each other in the same manner I have loved you. No lesser definition of love will do other than the sacrificial love that is willing to go the distance:

"For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends." John 15:13 TPT

So I ask the question, how do we define love, because in our current season we are not going the distance. The division in the Body is growing among believers over the silliest things. "Should we wear a mask or not?" "Should we trust our government?" "What is the origin of COVID-19?" I kid you not, this type of thing has Christians at each other's throats. It is like we do not even consider the prayer of our King that we would be united, at one with each other as he is with the Father.

In Kingdom reality, it doesn't matter how wrong we think a brother of sister's opinion is, it does not give us the right to change the standard of measurement of love that has been given to us by our King. We can be wrong and we can do wrong but don't try to cover it by changing the measurement and coming up with excuses. We are to confess when we get it wrong, change our thinking according to the conviction of the Spirit, seek forgiveness and keep moving forward.

I get it wrong all the time. I have had to apologize more often than I can remember. I sometimes work myself up in defending an opinion so much that I forget there is a real person on the other end of that opinion who I am under obligation to love to the point of laying down my life. Here I am fighting over opinion (some would consider them facts) and failing to walk in obedience to my King. Praise him though that he said love would empower me to obey his commandments. This is dear to my heart so when the Spirit speaks I am quick to listen and to act.

If a brother tells you that Jesus was not raised from the dead you may defend the faith in love. But if a brother argues that COVID is a conspiracy for a one world government, you do not have the right to destroy your relationship with them over an opinion. If you think they are lacking discernment and are falling for a lie, your responsibility is to tolerate them, pray and trust that they Spirit will teach them, if they need to be corrected. Love does not mean we act the part of the Spirit, it means we sacrifice our right to prove ourselves right. Paul told us to do our best to be friends with everyone.

Love is and always has been the key. Not just any love but Jesus' perfect love that empowers us to obey. It's simple. There are no gray areas. Love God. Love your enemy. Love your neighbour. Love your fellow believers. Love is sacrificial. Love requires us to put other people first. It requires us to consider their needs along with our own. It requires us to lay down our life. There is no lesser standard.

I am going to end this thought with a passage from Romans 12. This is not some ideal. This is what a transformed heart looks like. This is what the Spirit is growing us into. This leaves us with no excuses and with a wonderful measuring rod for measuring our attitude and actions. Consider the simplicity of the Lord's ways and thus the simplicity of the Lord himself. This is what our life has been designed to look like.

"Let the inner movement of your heart always be to love one another, and never play the role of an actor wearing a mask. Despise evil and embrace everything that is good and virtuous.
Be devoted to tenderly loving your fellow believers as members of one family. Try to outdo yourselves in respect and honor of one another.
Be enthusiastic to serve the Lord, keeping your passion toward him boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let him fill you with excitement as you serve him.
Let this hope burst forth within you, releasing a continual joy. Don’t give up in a time of trouble, but commune with God at all times.
Take a constant interest in the needs of God’s beloved people and respond by helping them. And eagerly welcome people as guests into your home.
Speak blessing, not cursing, over those who reject and persecute you.
Celebrate with those who celebrate, and weep with those who grieve.
Live happily together in a spirit of harmony, and be as mindful of another’s worth as you are your own. Don’t live with a lofty mind-set, thinking you are too important to serve others, but be willing to do menial tasks and identify with those who are humble minded. Don’t be smug or even think for a moment that you know it all.
Never hold a grudge or try to get even, but plan your life around the noblest way to benefit others. Do your best to live as everybody’s friend.
Beloved, don’t be obsessed with taking revenge, but leave that to God’s righteous justice. For the Scriptures say:
“If you don’t take justice in your own hands,
I will release justice for you,” says the Lord.
And:
If your enemy is hungry, buy him lunch!
Win him over with kindness.
For your surprising generosity will awaken his conscience,
and God will reward you with favor.
Never let evil defeat you, but defeat evil with good."

Simplifying The Complicated, part three - Love Your Neighbour

We live in the age of misinformation. That has become clearer for us since the pandemic hit, as half-truths and lies have muddied the waters to the point that people are just shutting down and shutting off. This is the same tactic the enemy uses in trying to get us to shut off the voice of our Father.

It is an old tactic that we first see with Eve as the enemy tried to muddy the waters around Father's instructions. Today he does the same thing to provoke division and distrust. And he doesn't have to do much. He simply whispers an half-truth about someone (half-truths are so much more effective than full lies when people don't check it out) then walks away and watches us create an eco-system from it. One lie will perpetuate more likes until we have this wonderful system feeding on itself.

Father made it simple but we have complicated it. This is the third installment on this subject of simplicity with God and in this I want us to consider the simplicity of our purpose.

A lot of us complicate what Father made to be very simple. We take lots of classes, courses, write assignments, listen to sermons, read books but it comes down to this. I will let James explain it:

"Your calling is to fulfill the royal law of love as given to us in this Scripture: 'You must love and value your neighbour as you love and value yourself!' For keeping this law is the noble way to live." 2:8 TPT

This is exactly what Jesus said is the most important thing in life after loving God. When questioned about what he meant by 'neighbour' Jesus gave the example of the good Samaritan. He purposefully chose a Samaritan sacrificially helping a Jew because these two groups considered themselves theological enemies.

Jesus made love a simple thing in every example he gave us and we complicate it. We muddy the waters.  James said that there is no way that anyone filled with love could praise God and then curse a brother, but guess what we do all the time when we are attacking ministries we do not agree with. We do opposite to what Jesus said and then we cover this by saying we were "called" to the task of tearing down people we measure as wrong. Self-appointed hate-mongers. We love complicating things.

It is simple : We are to love. We build up. We encourage. We support. We give generously. We forgive. We live by grace. We are positive. We are hopeful. We believe God will do it where we can't. We remember our testimony and believe Dad will do the same for everyone. We allow the Spirit to do his thing. We do this by getting our minds out of the sins of others. Scripture tells us:

"So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always." Philippians 4:8 TPT

Paul wrote this in a portion where he was telling two sisters to work out their differences. Where we focus matters. If we focus on the faults and failings we will struggle to see value and be able to love. When we focus on the Kingdom then we will see everyone as the King values them and we will concentrate on the person not their actions. This is not a "nice if you can manage it" but the core of our being as the Child of God.

Part of our problem is not understanding our purpose as James has described it. We see ourselves as Old Testament prophets bent on calling out sin and pronouncing judgement. This muddies the waters, cuts off Father's voice, causes the enemy to dance in delight. Instead we are suppose to proclaim the good news, that the Kingdom of God is at hand and that there is an invitation to enter the King's rest. We are in an age where grace enables us in all things and where the Spirit of God is responsible for conviction.

Our assignment is to carry the Kingdom of God into every situation we encounter and to demonstrate the love of Father for every single person regardless of their actions. It is in relationship with people that we get to demonstrate the value Father has placed on them. It's as simple as that: to love.

Of course it goes a lot deeper than that but this is where we start. In fact, if we do not start at sacrificial love we can't go any deeper. Doors into the hearts of people will not open. We will spend all of our days trying to conform the behaviour of people without ever touching their heart. There is no exception to this purpose. There is no exception in love. We do not get to exclude any person, even our enemies. All of our days are spent learning how to love God, ourselves and others better, higher, deeper, wider. 

The enemy has been muddying the waters, getting us to do opposite to what Father has designed. Muddied waters allow us to believe that attacking differences is a holy action. Muddied waters allow us to take part in the enemies goal to steal, kill and destroy and we do it all in the name of Jesus. Muddied waters got us kicked out of the garden and it prevents us from unifying and growing up into the fullness of Christ.

Perhaps the real problem with loving people is that we have failed to understand the importance of learning to love ourselves. "Love and value your neighbour as you love and value yourself." How can we love others as we love ourselves if we do not know how to love ourselves? That will be our next entry.

What To Do When Life Is Too Busy For Prayer

My hat goes off to some of you. So many of you are either my "friends" on tumblr, google+, twitter or FaceBook, allowing me a window into the parts of your life, or at least the parts that you share. One thing I see is that some of you are really busy. I mean really busy. I am not sure how you manage. Busyness can be fulfilling but also consuming. It can be rewarding but also addictive. Sometimes it is a choice we make and other times it is thrust upon us.

My roots started back in the day of the "DayTimer". That thing was like my best friend. It was a fantastic organization system (non-electronic), that allowed us to design and build the components that were essential to organizing our life. As a pastor, it came second only to my Bible and at times I am not sure even that was true. Imagine my delight when the first Blackberry came out. Today I work with my computer, iPhone and iPad. I have no excuse for not being organized, only, I find it is not so necessary for me any more.

At one time I found great enjoyment and fulfillment in filling my "DayTimer" with todo lists and appointments. It was a thrill for me to review my coming week and see my days so full. It gave me a sense of accomplishment, of worth, of importance. Somewhere along the line that all changed for me. I realized that in my busyness I was missing out on the essentials. I started kicking back at the time management mentality and began opening up great holes in my day. Maybe this started happening when I realized I had left no room for Jesus to do his thing in my life and I was simply managing the people he had given me to love. I began to simplify.

I needed to give space for Jesus to move in my life. He could not do that as long as I was thinking I was in charge of my agenda every day. The first thing I needed was plenty of space for my relationship building with Jesus. I needed time to pray, worship and study. Time management had taught me to squeeze this in on the run. Try loving your spouse on the run and see how far the relationship develops. I have learned not to squeeze this in but to treat it as the foundation of my day. Now I start off with two to three hours with the Lord before I do anything else. I get up at 5 am every morning to do this so there are no distractions and no interruptions. This is holy ground for me. To do it I had to adjust my bed time, getting to sleep early. It's all possible but instead of management it takes discipline. Read this:

However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. (Luke 5:15-16)

I am telling you, if it was necessary for Jesus to often get away to pray, how much more important is it for us? Other portions of Scripture explain how he got up early and stayed up late to pray as well. It was his lifeline, his source of renewal, where he found the sustenance to go on. His days were filled with people and ministry but Jesus never neglected the foundation.

Simplifying my life has helped me get to the place of living the essentials. I seldom watch television, maybe a couple of hours a week because there is something my children want to see. My life is now filled with prayer, worship, Scripture, relationship building with my wife and children and spending time with the sheep the Lord has given me to love; no distractions, no diversions. I am now also building in the discipline of evangelism because during my foundational time with Jesus I have been convicted of how I have not obeyed his command to make disciples. I never seemed to have had time before but now I am putting all my energy into seeking the things of the Kingdom.

I haven't totally discarded everything I have learned about management because, to be honest, I was quite good at it. There are still some elements of time management I use. I still fit some things into cracks in my day, only I allow those cracks to be bigger so I can experience God moments. For instance, on my way to meet with someone I take the time to work on memorizing portions of the Word. How do I make this "crack" wider? I give myself more time by walking instead of taking the car. It may seem like a waste to some people but it ends up being to my profit as Jesus teachings me deeper things about the Scripture I am hiding in my heart.

Simpler is better. I wish I had known that from the beginning but I guess it is one of thousands of lessons we learn on our journey with Jesus. I hear a lot of people telling me that they have no time for prayer or Bible study; they can't afford the time. But I say, how can you not? It is of far greater eternal worth than anything else in your agenda. Take a serious look at your day and find the time wasters, the things that are not essential and you will find time for the all the important God moments in your day.