Skip to main content

Maybe Easy, Not Comfortable


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 him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (I John 4:16-17) 

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15:18-19) 

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world (I John 2:15-16) 

          So, having completed a three-week rabbit trail, we return to where it began. If we living in love, we live in God. If we live in God, we live in love. I don’t want to say that living in love isn’t easy. I’m not sure that’s the right word. Living in love and not living in love may both be easy, like walking in or out of a house. In fact, changing between the two is so easy I suspect the door must be nearly automatic. On a daily basis, we slip through it and back, hardly noticing that we’ve done so. 
          If we fail to love God, we fail to love those around us. If we fail to love those around us, we fail to love God. It is our ability – our growing ability to love that gives us confidence before God. As we do better at loving the unlovable (and for some people, that may include God,) we become more like God. 
          Love may be easy (or perhaps not) but it is often not comfortable. John tells us this in his last phrase: in this world we are like him. The world does not love anyone who is not part of it. This is why, when people say, “Look at what (name that country) is doing,” our response should be, “But what does Scripture say?” Chances are better than not that the country is not loving God, and therefore, it is not loving its people as it should, no matter what we think based on this report or that. 
          Considering the material on which we’ve spent the last three weeks, I think all of us feel the need to cry out, “Lord, love where I cannot, be the love that I cannot be.”

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more