Skip to main content

Follow God's Example...

             Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Yesterday’s blog was about God’s love for us. Often, love is described as a desire and commitment to do someone good, but it is also the desire and commitment to a relationship with someone without making that person nothing more than an extension of oneself. It’s one of those two sides of the same coin things. Today’s passage turns the focus from God to us and challenges us to experience God’s love for us and live out love for God and one another.

How are we to accomplish this? After all, God is good at this because God is God, but we aren’t. Different people experience love in different ways. While one person wants to spend hours walking, working, and being together, another would find that smothering. Someone else may want to give gifts that may make the person receiving them feel inadequate because they can’t reciprocate or as if they now owe the giver. One person may want to hold hands, hug, or put a hand on the shoulder of a touch-me-not, speak encouragement to someone who hears empty words, or do something for someone who might consider the activity a rival for the server's attention. All of that is discussed in The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.

But the other side of the equation is equally important. Our love must not make the other person merely an extension of us, nor should we become an extension of the other person. Extensions are not partners. They are slaves. Part of this means that we must not think of love as meaning that two people must always hold only one opinion. And here’s where we run into a Biblical issue, the misunderstanding of which causes problems: submission. The Bible clearly states that wives must submit to husbands, children to parents, slaves, servants, and employees to owners/masters/employers, and citizens to rulers. It also states that we are to submit to and love one another, but those pieces of the puzzle get lost once submit, submission, or submissive gets mentioned. 

The problem is one of definition. Subcontractors help general contractors accomplish their tasks. They may be far better at the part of the job they do than the contractor. But huge problems develop if the contractor and subcontractor work from their own and not shared blueprints. When it comes to marriage, such wisdom seems to fade away. Differing expectations and plans don't matter. All that seems to matter is attractiveness, sexual prowess, and the ability to make the partner "feel good." In other words, both walk into the marriage thinking of the other as an extension, not a partner. Small wonder that nearly half of all marriages officially fail, and probably at least another half fail without the freedom provided by divorce. Those things are not love.

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

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
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