Choose to Flourish

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
   they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
   they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
   they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The Lord is upright;
   he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

Psalms 92:12-15 NIV

My wife has a green thumb. She gives them just the right amount of care so they will flourish. Once she planted aloe vera plant and it has grown from a little sapling to full sized plant. More than once I have gone out to it and cut off a leaf and rubbed its juices on a cut or burn. 

We, planted in the house of the LORD, will flourish in his care. That means we will grow up in Christ and be useful for the body of Christ. The Lord is upright. That means he isn't going to abuse us or allow things to hurt us for no reason. God will prune us and that may not be enjoyable at the moment, but, it will lead to greater fruitfulness. Through those pruning moments we need to remember to look to the LORD our Rock and remember there is no wickedness in him. 

The difference between you and I and a seed is that we can choose where we are planted. We can be planted in "the house of the LORD" or we can plant ourselves on rocky places and among thorns (see Matthew 13:1-9). If you are reading this I feel confident you are trying to flourish in the house of the LORD. Let him doing his pruning and be willing to be the aloe vera that will bring healing to someone else in the house of the LORD.

How do you make faith real?

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

James 2:14-17 NIV

Talk is cheap. What I say doesn't mean much if my actions don't match up. James really hits it on the head with his example. Someone you know is without clothes and daily food and they are right in front of you. If the best you do is wish for them to keep warm and well fed but you don't DO anything, like give them some clothes and buy them some food, then your faith isn't real. 

If my faith doesn't lead me to action, then my faith is dead. So, my question, to myself and you is: How can we make our faith real? 

Love and the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Saint

My mom had this friend who if you said something and she didn't necessarily go along with it would just nod her head and say, "Hmmm...really...OK..." in the most no threatening manner. But, you didn't know if she was agreeing with you or not. It made you think about what you said. What do you think it means to love God and love each other?

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 5:1-5 (NIV)

I don't know about you, but when I start thinking about what it means to love God and each other, even after reading these verses I find myself trying to explain my actions or reasons for treating others the way I do. I can almost hear, "Hmmm...really...OK..."

Let's go with the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Saint. I think that it was the Apostle John is getting at. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ you're born of God. If you love the father you love his child. If you love God you follow his commands to love one another. If you love God and one another, you will have victory. 

I don't want to get too specific here because I think the Spirit is working in each of us in different ways and what I may need to do to love my wife may be different than what you need to do to love you spouse. I just want you to ask yourself, "Was that in love?" If you have to explain it or justify it, maybe you might want to check yourself.

The point is simple. Love God. Love each other. 

Father, help us to simply love you and each other. Praise be to you in us today!

Love Real People

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever who loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:19-21 (NIV)

Love begins with Christ. He loved us first, when there was no compelling reason to do so. We were his enemies, yet, he chose to love us by dying on the cross in our place, taking away our sin and placing us in his family. 

Let's get real here. It's easy to say you are a Christian and that you love everyone. What's difficult is when someone acts in a very unloving way toward you and you must respond in some way. I think, sometimes, that the closer the person is to you the harder it may be to respond in love. If a random person says something hurtful to me I can blow it off, but if my wife does, then I can be a little defensive. (And of course this goes the other way too.) 

The lesson is that loving each other in Christ is not necessarily easy.  Most of the time we need to sit down before the throne of grace and ask for grace. We need to remember that he first loved us and he forgives us, multiple times, on a daily basis! If you think you are easy to deal with, you probably aren't. 

I am a sinner saved by grace. I may accidentally step on someones toes or I may purposely step on someones toes, but I will step on toes. We all will. Humility, knowing who I am in Christ, should lead me to remember that because Christ first love me, I should love whoever God puts in my path.

Father, help us to love others just like Christ loved and loves us. Praise be to you in us today!

Fear and Legalism vs Love and Freedom

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:16-18 (NIV)

I have worked with two different kind of bosses/leaders. One is the person who leads by fear, the other by calm competency. I am sure you can relate. 

I have worked mostly in construction, restaurants and education. When I think of a "by fear" boss I think of one in particular who may have been, for me, the prototypical tyrant boss. He told me that if I didn't walk around with a pit in my stomach worried that something could go wrong then I didn't care and would not be ready for something that could go wrong. Consequently he would run around yelling at people, making up stuff to be upset about, accusing people of not working hard and generally just trying to make everyone work in a constant state of fear to "keep us on our toes". The real effect was that he was very distracting making people pay attention to a possible problem rather than dealing with the situations at hand. Thus creating more mistakes and problems which he would just yell about. 

The calm, competent people who I have worked with in a moment of crisis calmly identified the issue and resources and dealt with the problem at hand. I have seen this type of leadership deal with a house built one foot too tall, cooks and food servers not showing up at a restaurant (plus various disasters dealing with food), and anything from angry parents who want to deal out justice by themselves to fights and on campus turf wars. Calm and steady leadership always keeps things in perspective and seeks to resolve the issue with the minimum amount of damage. 

As Christians if we live under fear we are not free to love. Often we are afraid of being hurt, or of hurting others. Most of the time people make up rules to not get hurt. That usually ends up being legalism. For example, we fear the damage of alcoholism so we add to the word of God and say, "No alcohol." So, if someone has one drink, they are in sin or disqualified from leadership and condemnation keeps them free from being able to love. To be frank, I have seen a lot of people who didn't drink, dance, smoke or run with those who do (some of you older folks may remember that), cheat on their wives, lie, and do some pretty sinful things. Being afraid doesn't always stop you from being hurt or sinning.   

Loving God and my wife keeps me from being unfaithful more than being afraid of being caught. Love causes me to view everyone with humility and grace. People don't need my attention, they need Christ's love. So if I interact with another women (and as an educator I often do) I deal with her with respect and distance. Because I love my God and my wife I am not going to put myself in a place,  physically or emotionally, that will produce intimacy. I also realize I am an emotional moron. A woman's emotional language is on a graduate school level and I am in elementary school (probably kindergarten). Someone once told me that if a women talks to you about "a problem" and you can't identify  it and start to work on a solution in three minutes, she doesn't have a problem, she just wants to talk to you. 

Love is not afraid to do the right thing, to give of yourself or to allow others to freely enjoy what God has provided for them. Our faith in the love of God in Christ trusts that he is sovereign over our attempts to be like him and love in his Name. Try to love like Christ. 

Father, help us to be like Christ and love with the perfect love that casts out fear. Praise be to you in us today!

Bumping Heads

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

I John 1:7

I have a couple friends of mine who had a disagreement a couple months ago. They did not handle it well.  I still don't know exactly what happened except for the little part that I just happen to catch my self in the middle of. Both were too concerned about what bothered them or about being right to actually allow any reconciliation. Then after the initial dust settled, a handshake and an, "I'm sorry" wasn't enough. 

I think this relates to the passage because there will be issues. We will bump heads and offend each other, even in church. The intention is that when we interact with each other we act Christlike. We humbly deal with each other knowing that Christ forgives all our sins and still loves us. We, in the same way, forgive each other. Not only do we forgive which is reactive but we serve each other, which is proactive. 

Today we ask ourselves: How can I serve those I come in contact with today? Do I need to forgive someone?

Father, help us to serve each other proactively and forgive each other and you have forgiven us in Christ. Praise be to you in us today!