Category Archives: Essential 100

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The Power Of One

Essential 100—Read:
John 1:1-51

“One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’ And he brought him to Jesus.” ~John 1:40-42

The disciple Andrew inspires us with a crystal clear, very simple, non-threatening, doable example of how we can be active in reaching lost people. When you read the few passages in the New Testament about Andrew, like this one in John 1, there are a couple of really encouraging things that stand out:

First, Andrew shows that you don’t have to have any special skills to introduce people to Christ. Andrew just simply brought people to Jesus.

In reality, even though he was the first disciple Jesus enlisted, and even though he was the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, Andrew never achieved the fame that his brother Peter did. Jesus’ never included Andrew in his inner circle, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there at the Transfiguration, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gesthemane, like Peter. Andrew never preached like Peter, never wrote a gospel like John, was never recognized by the early church as a leader like James.

Peter’s name appears close to 200 times in the New Testament, ninety-six times in the four gospels—only Jesus is mentioned more often. We find Andrew in only eleven different places, ten of them in the Gospels—mostly grouped together with the other disciples; five as “Peter’s brother.” Only three times do these passages tell us any details about Andrew—and even that is minimal.

Someone once asked a conductor what the most difficult instrument to play in the orchestra was. He said, “second fiddle”. That was Andrew! Yet beneath everybody’s radar, Andrew was being used in the most powerful way of all—to bring people to Christ.

Andrew not only brought Peter to Jesus, but in John 6:8, we find it was Andrew who brought the boy with the loaves and fish to Jesus, and then one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible took place: The feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. On account of Andrew, we have a story preserved that has helped millions to understand that Jesus is the true and only Bread of Life.

Then in John 12:20, some Greeks came to Philip and said, “we want to see Jesus.” Philip took them to Andrew, and what did Andrew do? He hooked them up with Jesus. Andrew became both the first home missionary—when he led Peter to Christ, and the first foreign missionary—when he led these Gentiles to Jesus.

In Andrew you don’t see any special skills or an incredibly charismatic personality, or an extremely articulate speaker. You just see a guy who was faithful, available, and useful. He just kept bringing everybody who got near him to Jesus.

Tradition tells us that Andrew kept on introducing people to Jesus for the rest of his life. He was finally put to death at a ripe old age in Greece. His death came after he befriended Maximilla, the wife of the Roman proconsul Aegeas, and led her to faith in Christ. Aegeas became so enraged over this that he ordered Andrew to offer sacrifices to a heathen god. When Andrew refused, he was severely beaten, tied to a cross, and crucified. That cross, shaped like an X is today called St. Andrew’s cross.

It is said that he lingered for two whole days before dying, but the whole painful time, he preached the Gospel to everyone who came by. Andrew never stopped introducing people to Jesus, even to his last breath.

And the second thing we can learn from Andrew is the power of one. Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, and Jesus transformed him into Peter, a rock—and you know the rest of the story.

We really don’t understand the power of one life simply being available, faithful and useful to God, and letting God do the rest!

Edward Kimball was a Sunday school teacher. He won a young man to the Lord when he was a Boston shoe salesman. That man became the well-known evangelist Dwight L. Moody.

After evangelizing in America, D. L. Moody traveled to England. There Frederick B. Meyer heard his message. F. B. Meyer was so affected by the impact Moody’s preaching was having on people that it began to inspire his own ministry. Meyer was invited to come to America, where he preached at Furman University. A student in the audience had decided to quit the ministry and go back to a secular job, but Meyer’s message was given with such fervor that the young man walked to the altar and renewed his vow to preach the gospel. He became the well known evangelist R. G. Lee. Another young man, J. Wilbur Chapman, was inspired by Meyer’s preaching, and Chapman went on to have an amazing impact as well. Chapman came along side Billy Sunday, a recent convert, and mentored him.

Billy Sunday became an evangelist, holding a meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sunday so inspired a group of businessmen that they organized a committee to invite other preachers back to evangelize their city. One of those invited was Mordecai Ham. In one of the meetings Ham preached, a young man by the name of Billy gave his heart to Christ. Billy Graham’s ministry is known throughout the world and his crusades have influenced hundreds of thousands if not millions.

All this happened because of one Edward Kimball. One nobody won one other nobody, and that started a series of dominoes falling that ended up with millions acknowledging Jesus as Savior. That’s the power of one.

That’s Andrew. Every time Andrew is mentioned, he’s bringing someone to Jesus—then Jesus does the rest, and lives get transformed. His single talent seems to have been leveraging his relationships to introduce seekers to Christ. He doesn’t lay the “Four Spiritual Laws” on them; he doesn’t whip out a “Roman Road” tract on them. He just says, “hey, come with me, I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”

That’s the Andrew Factor—which, if you haven’t picked up on it by now, is simply inviting your friends to church and letting God do the rest.

Did you know that 80% of people who come to Christ do so through an established friendship. 10% of the people you bring to church for the first time are likely to become regular attenders. Get people to come twice, 25% become attenders. Bring them a third time, 45% will become a part of the church. Most people don’t join a church because of the great music, the outstanding programs, or the sensational preaching. They will come, and get transformed, because of you!

That’s the power of one! That’s the power of you!

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith.” ~Paul, Philemon 1:6

Reflect and Apply: Ask the Lord to help you to cut through all of the things that distract you from the most important thing you should be doing with your life:  Bringing people to Christ.

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It Pays To Tithe

Essential 100—Read: Malachi 1:1-4:6

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. ~Malachi 3:8-12

In God’s Word are irrefutable financial laws that transcend time, cultures and economic conditions. One of those laws is the law of the tithe, describe in Leviticus 27:30 & 32,

“A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD…The entire tithe of the herd and flock—every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod—will be holy to the LORD.”

How you embrace and obey that law reveals a great deal about you.  In fact, your response to God’s call to tithe to him your income is the acid test of your faith. It is actually a test from God… arguably the first and biggest test he gives you. The test determines the most important thing of all in life: Who will have first place. You see, that’s what money does: It reveals what we worship. Money determines godship. And the biggest and most stubborn issue in our lives, I guarantee, is godship: Who’s going to be in charge; who’s going to be worshipped; who’s going to get priority.

That’s why the Bible talks so much about money. You’ll find about 500 verses on prayer, about 500 on faith…but over 2,000 on money and material possessions. That’s why 16 out of Jesus’ 38 parables spoke of money.  That’s why he spoke more about money than even heaven and hell. He knew that he’d have to battle mammon for godship in your life. And if that one didn’t get settled, nothing else would work right. Not only is tithing the acid test of your faith, it becomes the foundation of your faithful stewardship. The practice of tithing settles the issue of godship and strengthens your obedience. Then, as you get both your attitude toward and practice of handling money aligned with God’s command, your giving will be organic. It will come from your heart. You will become a joyful, generous giver—and that is someone upon whom God can release his blessings. That is when your stewardship of God’s money will become the gateway to the blessed life.

God is calling you to test him out in this area of giving; to see if he won’t hold up his end of the deal and bless you with his abundance. That is God’s promise, by the way. Malachi 3:6, “I the LORD do not change.”  Malachi 3:10 follows, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

God has made some pretty amazing promises to you about his desire to bring you into the blessed life.  But his promises require the alignment of your thinking and behaving to his Word.  If you will ruthlessly commit to following his commands in this area, you will find that, indeed, it pays to tithe!

“One verse in every six in the first three Gospels relates either directly or indirectly to money. Sixteen of our Lord’s forty-four parables deal with the use or misuse of money. A loving, joyful, liberal giving to the Lord’s work is an acid test of a spiritual heart, pleasing to God.”  ~William Allen

Reflect and Apply: Joshua 1:8 promises, “if you’ll do everything written in this book, then you will be prosperous and successful.”  Think about that one word, “everything”, then ask God for his help to bring those things in your life which have previously been excluded into alignment with “everything”.

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Unwanted Gifts

Essential 100—Read:
Jonah 1:1-4:11

“You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love.” ~Jonah 4:2

I grew up in a Christian home, and as a small child, I learned Bible stories—especially the stories worthy of inclusion in the Bible’s album of greatest hits: Moses crossing the Red Sea, Joshua bringing down Jericho, David defeating Goliath, Daniel in the lions’ den, and of course, Jonah and the whale.

Now obviously, the Bible doesn’t say it was a whale that swallowed Jonah—it was probably something else—but that image burned into the photo-plate of my mind’s eye so that for years, I never really got past “Jonah and the Whale” to see, as the late Paul Harvey would famously say, “the rest of the story.”  And what a story the rest of it is. The “real” story is not so much about Jonah and the great fish as it is about God great gifts—his great compassion, his great grace, and his great provision of both for wayward sinners and wandering saints alike.

Rereading this short story again today reminded me of how amazing the book of Jonah is, and even more, of how amazing this God we serve truly is.  One of the phrases you run into a few times in the Jonah account is “the Lord provided”.  It is encountered right away in Jonah 1:17 where we find that it was the Lord who provided “the great fish” to swallow the disobedient prophet.

Now think about that!  Normally our theology wouldn’t lead us to connect “man-eating creature” with “Jehovah-Jireh”, but in truth, we need to broaden our theology. Sometimes the very things we view as enemies to the life of faith are in reality God’s best tools to shape us into the useful, faithful servants he calls us to be. Often, it is pain, frustration and discomfort that in reality are the Father’s gracious gifts to us—unwanted and unappreciated gifts—that redirect our disobedient, selfish and shortsighted ways to bring us to the place of greater usefulness and greater blessing.

Jonah didn’t want to obey God and go to Nineveh to preach to the godless people there, not because he was afraid of them, but because he figured they would repent. He hated them because of what they were capable of doing to Israel (the Assyrians, Israel’s sworn enemies, were not nice people) and Jonah knew quite well that if they humbled themselves in response to his preaching, the gracious and compassionate God would relent from sending judgment upon them (which is ultimately what happened). So Jonah rebelled, he followed his own plan, he disobeyed, and the gracious and compassionate God sent Jonah a gift—a great fish that would redirect him to the path of obedience.

Yes, that is what the book of Jonah is about: A great fish and a gracious, compassionate God who sends his provision of unwanted gifts to wayward sinners and wandering saints alike. Consider what the great thinker C.S. Lewis said in this regard,

“Because we are rebels against God who must lay down our arms, our other pains may indeed constitute God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world to surrender. There is a universal feeling that bad people ought to suffer: without a concept of ‘retribution’ punishment is rendered unjust (what can be more immoral than to inflict suffering on me for the sake of deterring others if I do not deserve it?). But until the evil person finds evil unmistakably present in his or her existence, in the form of pain, we are enclosed in illusion. Pain, as God’s megaphone, gives us the only opportunity we may have for amendment. It plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul. All of us are aware that it is very hard to turn our thoughts to God when things are going well. To ‘have all we want’ is a terrible saying when ‘all’ does not include God. We regard him as we do a heart-lung machine—there for emergencies, but we hope we’ll never have to use it. So God troubles our selfishness, which stands between us and the recognition of our need. God’s divine humility stoops to conquer, even if we choose him merely as an alternative to hell. Yet even this he accepts!”

Perhaps God has graciously sent you some unwanted gifts. Take it on faith, they are gifts that come out of the deep reservoir of his compassion for you.  They are the very things he will use to redirect you to the path of obedience, and ultimately of greater usefulness and greater blessing.  Right now, you may not be too happy about them. Later on, you will!

“My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorns.  I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorns.  I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross: but I have never thought of my cross as itself a present glory.  Teach me the glory of my cross: teach me the value of my thorn.  Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain.  Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.” ~George Matheson

Reflect and Apply: Try praying George Mattheson’s prayer, giving thanks for the “unwanted” gifts God has placed in your life. By the way, if you think that prayer seems a bit too hard for you to pray, just consider this: The man who prayed it, George Matheson, went totally blind when he was twenty years old.

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Integrity

Essential 100—Read:
Daniel 6:1-28

“‘O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king. The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” ~Daniel 6:21-23

Robert Freeman wrote, “Character is not made in a crisis—it is only exhibited.”  That is so true, and the great Old Testament character Daniel is Exhibit A of that truth. Daniel faced an imminent crisis of epic proportions—he was thrown into a den full of hungry lions—simply because of the daily practice of his faith in God. And you know the rest of the story: God yet again miraculously delivered this faithful old saint from his dilemma, exposed and deposed the enemies who put him there, and solidified Daniel’s reputation for integrity and place of influence in the government of the Medes and the Persians.

One of the salient points of this story is one that desperately needs to be considered in our day—by politicians, pastors, parents and simple salt-of-the-earth people like you and me. It is simply but profoundly this:

Daniel did not gain his famous integrity because of the lions’ den, the lions’ den was simply the stage on which his integrity was displayed.

Daniel’s courage under fire, his resolute response in the face of death, and uncompromising commitment to godliness under the pressure of accusation was based on a lifetime of living out in real life what he believed in his heart. As you read this story, you will notice four unimpeachable character qualities in Daniel:

Daniel was flawless in his work.  Verses 3-4 tells us, “Now Daniel so distinguished himself…by his exceptional qualities.  [They] tried to find grounds for charges against him in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so.”  Daniel’s enemies looked for a crack, but couldn’t find one in his conduct.

Daniel was faultless in his integrity.  Verse 4 says, “They could find no corruption in him. ‘We’ll never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’”  His integrity was without question.

Daniel was fervent in his prayers.  Verse 10 reveals, “three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to God…”

Daniel was faithful to his God.  In verses 21-23, Daniel answered, “‘My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouth of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I done any wrong before you, O king. The king was overjoyed and he gave orders for Daniel to be lifted out of the den.  And when he was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted his God.”

Daniel’s courageous response to the lion’s den was rooted in his rock-solid character. But not only that, his response was also calculated. It was deliberate and thought out. It was a conscious, premeditated act of faith. When he heard the king’s edict banning prayer to God, verse 10 says, “Daniel went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem.  Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to the God of heaven.” Daniel clearly understood that the practice of his faith would land him in trouble.

And you will also notice that Daniel’s courageous and calculated faith was also consistent. The end of verse 10 reveals a very significant truth about the exercise of Daniel’s faith: “He prayed…just as he had before.”  Daniel wasn’t doing something that he hadn’t done all along. He didn’t wait until the crisis arrived to pull a response of faith out of the hat; he just did what was consistent with his walk with God. Daniel demonstrated what had been growing within all along—courageous, calculated, consistent character!

What was the result of Daniel’s courageous integrity? God displayed his incredible glory, a nation witnessed an undeniable miracle, and Daniel came away with a testimony for the ages.

By definition, maintaining your integrity will be difficult, but at the end of the day, it will be worth every ounce of pain and every personal sacrifice that it requires—even standing before a den full of lions licking their chops at the thought of you being their dinner. And when you face your lions’ den—and you will, whatever your lion’s den may be—with courage and conviction, God gets the glory and you will come away with an incredible testimony!

“If you have run with the footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with the horses?  If you fall down in the land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?” ~Jeremiah 12:5

Reflect and Apply: Make sure you work on your integrity before you get to your lions’ den. How? It is not easy; it will take a lifetime of effort. But a good place to start is by going to God and asking for his help—to purify your character, to infuse you with courage, and to strengthen you to consistently display pure and courageous integrity.

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Designed For Greatness

Essential 100—Read:
Jeremiah 1:1-3:5

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” ~Jeremiah 1:2

Most people struggle with three critical issues in life:  “Who am I?”  “Do I matter?”  and, “What’s my place in the world?”

The first question addresses the issue of identity – Who am I?

The second addresses the issue of importance – Do I really matter?

The third addresses the issue of impact – What’s my place in this world?

All of those critical questions are answered when you grasp God’s role in your very existence—if you’re still wondering, Jeremiah 1:2 reminds you that it was God who created you—and then get on with that purpose for which he created you—obviously, if God thought it important enough to create you, he must have an amazing, one-of-a-kind plan for your life.

The Bible in general and this verse in particular have a great deal to say about this business of identity and importance and impact:

What is your identity? You are somebody God planned for before you were even born. He scheduled your life before you even began to breathe.  That is who are you: Somebody who matters to God.

What about your importance? If it was God who “formed you in the womb” and even “knew you, before you were born”, the probability of your significance is around, well, 100%!

So what about the impact God has planned for your life?  The Creator who divinely designed you did so with an eternal impact in mind for your one and only life.  The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10 that you are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ to do good works which God prepared in advance for you to do.”  Yes indeed, God has designed and built you for impact.

Even though you may not be a “prophet to the nations” like Jeremiah, God wants you to enjoy who you are and be confident in whom he has made you to be!  When you do that, something powerful will begin to happen: God’s workmanship in you will be unveiled and the incredible impact he has planned for you will begin to be unleashed! You will increasingly appreciate your identity, you will begin to sense your importance, and you will start to make your impact!

And you’re going to make God smile, because you’re doing what he had in mind when he thought enough to create you!

“God makes no mistakes.” ~Karl Barth

Reflect and Apply: Romans 9:20 says, “The pot has no right to say to the potter:  ‘Why did you make me this shape?’ A potter can do whatever he likes with the clay.”  Quit trying to be somebody or something you are not. When you constantly compare yourself to others and conform to another’s vision for your life, you offend God.  So accept what God has created in you; he likes it and you should, too.

 

 

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Who Caused Jesus To Suffer?

Essential 100—Read:
Isaiah 51:1-53:12

“Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” ~Isaiah 53:4-6

So who really caused Jesus to suffer and die? Several years ago, after the release of the movie, The Passion of the Christ, Newsweek magazine made this question their cover story—a question that stirred quite a lot of debate, and antagonism.

Did the Jews kill Jesus? Well, in the historical context, the Jewish religious leaders conspired to kill Jesus. Out of jealousy, they plotted to kill Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry right up until they carried it out. Matthew 26:3-4 says,

“Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted to arrest Jesus in some sly way and kill him.”

And similar indictments are repeated throughout the Gospels at various different times. The Jewish leaders bear responsibility for his death.

But the Biblical record also shows that the Romans were complicit in Christ’s death. The Jewish leaders didn’t want to dirty their hands in this, so they manipulated Pilate, who also, tried to wash his hands of the matter, but couldn’t. John 18:31-32 tells us,

“Pilate said, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’ ‘But we have no right to execute anyone,’ the Jews objected. This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.”

The truth of the matter is, the Jews plotted and the Romans carried out the death of Jesus. They were both complicit. And to suggest anything else is to re-write history. You can do that, but the truth remains the truth.

But let’s be clear about something: If Jesus had been born in Paris, Phnom Penh, Pretoria or Portland, it would have been the people in those places who caused the Messiah to suffer and die. Why? Because in reality, it wasn’t the Jews or the Romans, it was the sin of mankind—our sin—that put him on the cross. The Bible is clear that we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that the wages of our sin is death. And it took Jesus, the perfect, sinless God-man to pay the cost of our sins to deliver us from eternal death. I Peter 3:18 says,

“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

But in a way that defies human reason and explanation, the truth is that God was responsible for Jesus’ death. Peter said in Acts 2:23, “Jesus was handed over to you by God’s set purposes and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of evil men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” Further, Isaiah 53:10 points out,

“It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer… the Lord makes his life a guilt offering.”

The message of the cross is that we all put Jesus there…it was our sin. And out of the great kindness and love of God, he sent his Son to pay the cost for us all. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Who killed Jesus? I did! Who was responsible? It was ordained in the eternal counsels of a foreknowing God. Who did it? Jesus said, “I lay down my life, and I take it up again.” He did it because he loved you and me!

When you consider the cross and realize the awful price that Jesus paid, out of love, to bring us life, how can we not want to give him our very best, our very lives, in return?

Who made Jesus suffer and die? Lots of people—including me. But I’m so glad he was willingly pierced for my transgressions and crushed for my iniquities; that the punishment that brought me peace was upon him. Why? Because it is by his wounds I am healed—now and for all eternity!

“Even Christ pleased not Himself…. As man He ever moved for God. As God He ever moved for man.” ~Geoffrey T. Bull

Reflect and Apply: Read Isaiah 53:1-12 reflectively—and pause to give thanks for such great love.

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The Test of Love

Essential 100—Read:
Proverbs 16:1-18:24

“He who covers an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends…A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” ~Proverbs 17:9

“A friend loves at all times!”  There is a very complex and profound meaning in the Hebrew language for the word “all” in that sentence.  Are you ready for this?  It means…well…all. As in, all the time…always…morning, noon and night…24/7. Not sometimes, but all the time! That is when true love is active.  It never takes a day off, never goes on a break, never needs a time out, doesn’t take naps. It is always on!

That is especially true when the object of one’s love is not so lovable. For sure, we would agree that love sticks with people through thick and thin, but thin has to include those times when the people we love have done things that cause the relationship to otherwise be on thin ice. Yes, through thick, and especially in thin. That is the real test of love.

And the truest test of real love comes when the loved one offends. That is when true love chooses to cover the offense. Not ignore it–that is what we call avoidance or denial, which is never healthy for any relationship. Covering the offense doesn’t negate the appropriateness of confrontation or setting boundaries or expecting corrective action. No, love that covers an offense fully recognizes the pain, disrespect, selfishness and betrayal of the offender and chooses to pay the cost of the offense by absorbing it, forgiving it, and moving ahead without diminishing the love for the guilty one at all.  It’s kind of like Jesus did for us on the cross, wouldn’t you say? By the way, that is exactly what Ephesians 4:32 calls us to do,

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

How did God forgive you? Rather than ignoring or avoiding your sin, he looked your repugnant sinfulness right in the eye and said, “my Son will take care of that!  He’ll pay the penalty price in full.  It’s on him!” He forgave you freely, fully, and forever removed the transgression from your account and wiped it from his memory bank. That is what it means to cover an offense—and that is the truest test of love there is.

If you want your love to be a real love, then it is to that kind of loving you are called. It won’t be easy; in fact it will be the hardest thing you will be called to do. But being the kind of Christ-follower you are, you are up to it! And that’s a good thing since you are likely going to be called upon to exercise that kind of covering love sooner than you think.

“All the fruits of the Spirit which we are to lay weight upon as evidential of grace, are summed up in Christian love; because this is the sum of all grace. And the only way, therefore, in which any can know their good estate, is by discerning the exercises of this divine love in their hearts; for without love…[we] are nothing.”  ~Jonathan Edwards

Reflect and Apply: Since your love is likely to be tested soon, take a moment to proactively pray for the Holy Spirit’s help to offer an immediate response of covering love to your loved one when the offense comes your way.