Posted on

Love Rejoices When Truth Wins

Be A Truth Seeker, A Truth Speaker and Truth Lover

SYNOPSIS: Knowing and loving the truth may be the most difficult aspect of agape love to figure out in today’s American culture where the virtue of truth has been replaced with relativism. Propositional truth — something is either a) true or b) false — is rapidly being replaced by a version of an ever-changing truth that is based on an emotion of the moment, a current ideology, or a preferred perspective. From the top to the bottom of our leading institutions — government, media, business, and academia — as James” Russell Lowell presciently warned, “Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.” But as God-lovers, we must be truth-finders, truth-speakers, and truth-lovers! If we don’t pursue truth, as difficult, fatiguing, and confusing as that may be these days, we will know neither agape love nor be a conduit of it.

New Article: Love Rejoices With The Truth

Making Love Work // 1 Corinthians 13:6

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

Have you heard someone talk about “their truth” or say, “Well, that’s true for you but not for me”? There is a rare New Testament Greek word to describe that: BALONEY!

God defines truth, and He loves it. So should we. Here’s the Living Bible’s paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:6, “Love rejoices whenever truth wins out.”

This may be the most difficult aspect of agape love to figure out in today’s American culture where the virtue of truth has been replaced with relativism. Propositional truth — something is either a) true or b) false — is rapidly being replaced by a version of truth that is based on an emotion of the moment, or a current ideology, or a preferred perspective. From the top to the bottom of our leading institutions — government, media, business, and academia — as James” Russell Lowell presciently warned, “Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.”

But blurring the lines of truth hasn’t stopped at the doors of our institutions, it’s commonplace in our homes as well. Recent studies estimate that 60% of adults will lie on average three times within a ten-minute conversation. (https://brandongaille.com/24-nose-growing-statistics-on-lying/) Now there’s a great example we’re setting for our kids, wouldn’t you say!

Philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote, “Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.” As believers, for agape love to flourish in and flow from our lives, we must search out the truth in all things, as difficult as it is to find, and rejoice when it triumphs over that which is false.

A God-lover must be a truth-finder, a truth-speaker, and truth-lover! If we don’t pursue truth, as difficult, fatiguing, and confusing as that may be these days, we will not know agape love nor be a conduit of it.

God help us to find, know, speak, and love the truth!

Take A Moment: Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” Since we live in a world ruled by the god of this age, Satan, who is the master of deception, we would do well to question the veracity of most of what we say and told. That is not to suggest that we belligerently challenge everybody we meet to a truth duel, but we must pray for a loving but discerning heart. We must ask for the Spirit of truth to reside in our hearts. We must bathe our hearts in God’s truth. Moreover, we must become so familiar with the truth that the false is easily discernable. A good place to start is with a simple prayer for the Triune God of truth to fill your heart with his truth.

Posted on

God’s Unseen But Unstoppable Work On Your Behalf

There’s More Going On That What You See

SYNOPSIS: You may not see what God is up to, but He’s up to good. He’s fulfilling His purposes for His own glory and working out the details of your life for your good. Don’t let circumstances tell you otherwise. You may be tempted to flee in fear and God’s enemies may be fighting mad—at you. But at the same time, God is repurposing even the most unlikely sources, the Rahabs in your world, as instruments of faith.

Unseen But Not Unstoppable

Moments With God // Joshua 2:7-11

So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut. Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below.

God is always at work, even when we cannot see it. God is always fulfilling His glorious purposes, which includes perfecting everything that concerns you and me. That is what King David reminds us of in Psalm 138:8

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me.

At times, God is working in visible, dramatic, undeniable ways. We will see an example of that very thing a few chapters later in Joshua when the walls of the city of Jericho miraculously fall. Those kinds of stories are strategically placed throughout scripture to build our confidence in God.

But between those faith stories which are long stretches of times — we might call it the “in-between times” — God’s work is not so visible. He is not inactive, mind you; His work is just invisible. You see, most of the time God is behind the scenes, working in unseen ways, as is the case here in Joshua 2. The Israelite spies that Joshua sent out to size up Jericho have made their way into the city, but word has gotten out and now the authorities are looking for them. Their lives are at risk. They don’t see that God is at work — yet. For all they know, they’re toast!

Then Rehab rescues the day. Yes, Rahab—an idol worshipping, street walking, “lady of the night.” At great risk to her own life, and that of her family, she hides the spies and tricks the authorities, making it possible for the two deep cover Israeli agents to make it out alive. What the two spies didn’t know at the time was that God was working on their behalf by working on a prostitute, whom He would use in such a significant act of faith that her bravery would land her in God’s Great Hall of Faith. (Heb 11:30-31)

As she spoke with the spies, this lady of questionable character was laying down some unquestionable theology: the work of God on Israel’s behalf was striking fear in the hearts of Israel’s enemies. His mighty acts of deliverance forty years prior in Egypt and over the decades of Israel’s wandering out in the desert had been sending shock waves into the unseen realm, and the principalities and powers that opposed God, and everything of God, were now quaking in their boots. God had been at work all along on Israel’s behalf, and they didn’t even know it.

What is interesting here is how the different actors respond. The enemies of God are fighting mad. The men of God are fleeing in fear. The woman of the night is responding in faith. And over it all, God is at work, fulfilling His purposes and perfecting everything that concerns His people—redeeming a prostitute, rescuing the spies, and redirecting the bounty hunters.

That is true for you too. You may not see what God is up to, but He is up to good. He is fulfilling His purposes for His own glory, and He is working out the details of your life for your good. Don’t let circumstances tell you otherwise. You may be tempted to flee in fear and God’s enemies may be fighting mad—at you. But at the same time, God will be repurposing even the most unlikely sources, the Rahabs in your world, as instruments of faith.

What you see isn’t all that is going on. Never forget that. And learn to trust God’s unseen but unstoppable work on your behalf.

Take A Moment: You may be facing forces today that are out to cause you harm. Take courage: God is also aligning a Rahab or two to work on your behalf. Take a moment to thank God for the good he is bringing about, even if you don’t see it yet.

Posted on

Job Description For Jesus’ Disciples

Reflecting and Replicating the Master

SYNOPSIS: Are you a true disciple? The answer is easy: If you are reflecting and replicating the life of the Master, you’re in pretty good shape. If you aren’t, you need to go back and have a serious conversation — should I say, “conversion” — with the Master.

Discipleship is a journey.

Moments With God // Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

What do real disciples do? Two things actually: They reflect and they replicate.

First of all, authentic disciples become like the Master. They fully devote themselves to his life and they fully obey his teachings. They become like Jesus in thought, word, and deed to the point where his very being is reflected in the essential quality of their being. The Master becomes the sum and substance of their lives. Only by the kind of transformation where the Master is fundamentally reflected from center to circumference in their lives can Christ’s disciples in turn “go and make [other] disciples.” Only then can they teach others to “observe all that [the Master] has commanded.”

That is what it means to be truly Christian. Being truly Christian means being an authentic disciple. One cannot happen without the other—Christianity means discipleship; discipleship means Christianity. Being either is not just in name, it is in the reflection of the Master in the life of the disciple. Calling oneself a disciple is simply wishful thinking without doing the things of discipleship and being in essence the reflection of the Master. Call it what you will, anything less is nothing more than inauthentic discipleship, non-Christianity, a false religion.

Second, authentic disciples replicate the life of the Master through their lives in the lives of others. In other words, they reproduce. Barren discipleship is non-discipleship. True disciples go with the message, bearing the life of the One they reflect and persuading others to follow Jesus.

Disciples don’t just win converts to Christianity; they make other disciples in the way of the Master. To convert a soul to Jesus simply begins the process of discipleship. Conversion is the first step; discipleship is the journey. True conversion begins the journey of authentic discipleship; the convert requires the same full devotion to the Master’s life and the same full obedience to his teaching that took place in the proto-disciple. The Master’s life is replicated in the disciple, who in turn replicates the Master’s life in the convert, who then, in turn, replicates the Master’s life in still others.

That is when discipleship comes full circle and is proven authentic.

Here is the real question in all of this: Are you a true disciple? The answer is easy: If you are reflecting and replicating the life of the Master, you’re in pretty good shape.

If you aren’t, you need to go back and have a serious conversation — should I say, “conversion” — with the Master.

Take A Moment: If you are serious about being a true disciple of Christ, let me suggest that you offer this prayer: “Jesus, you said we cannot truly call you Lord unless we do the things you said we should do. With all of my heart, I want to be authentic when I call you Lord. Help me to give you my full devotion and complete obedience. Make me a true disciple.”

Posted on

Love Is Never Glad About Injustice

Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere

SYNOPSIS: Let’s long for the day when God metes out retributive justice, but at a much greater ratio, let’s put love into action by conduiting his reparative justice to those who have unjustly suffered at the hands of bad people and evil systems. Perhaps the most enlightening yet challenging insight on the blend of this two-sided justice coin comes from Micah 6:8: “God has shown you what is good and what He requires of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Do you want to be a conduit of agape love in your world? Then embody justice in your actions, but make sure the scales are tipped in favor of mercy, and for sure, stay humble before the God who can rightly meet out His justice upon you but instead put it upon Jesus in your place.

New Article: Love is never glad about injustice

Making Love Work // 1 Corinthians 13:6

It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

God’s love flowing through us—agape love—is deliriously happy when His justice rules the day. Of course, “justice” has become a political flashpoint these days—just mention social justice to your friends, and depending on their political orientation, especially in extremis, they’ll either air-kiss in the vicinity of both your cheeks or ghost you like a weird uncle.

Don’t forget, however, that God is a just God, and he expects us to love justice as well—both theologically AND practically.

What does justice look like? Theologian Herman Bavinck says God’s justice doesn’t just punish evildoers (boy we love that one!), but it repairs those who are victims of injustice (give that some thought!). Furthermore, Bavnick notes, “God’s [reparative] justice is far more prominent in Scripture than his retributive justice.”

Yes, let’s long for the day when God metes out retributive justice, but at a much greater ratio, let’s put love into action by conduiting his reparative justice to those who have unjustly suffered at the hands of bad people and evil systems.

Perhaps the most enlightening yet challenging insight on the blend of this two-sided justice coin comes from Micah 6:8: “God has shown you what is good and what He requires of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Do you want to be a conduit of agape love in your world? Then embody justice in your actions, but make sure the scales are tipped in favor of mercy, and for sure, stay humble before the God who can rightly meet out His justice upon you but instead put it upon Jesus in your place.

To then embody God’s justice in your actions, make sure the scales are tipped in favor of mercy.

Take A Moment: Benjamin Franklin noted, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” Out of a loving heart, consider who in your personal world has been the victim of an injustice, and while you may not be able to right their wrong, do what is within your power to offer them comfort and friendship. That act of love may be the most life-giving expression they will ever receive.

Posted on

The Beauty of a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

God Is Never Without A Purpose; God Is Never Without A Plan

If there’s a test in your life that‘s stressing you to the point of cracking, even if you have to “faith it ‘til you make it,” just know this: God is at work! He never allows a test that is not without a purpose and a plan. God’s purpose is to show you that you cannot do life apart from Him—and knowing that is the greatest form of knowledge. God’s plan is to bring you to a place of humble dependence on His immutable goodness and constant provision—and there’s no better place to be. So if you’re having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, stop and thank God for yet another building block to a better testimony!

Moments With God // Deuteronomy 8:2-5

Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell. Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.

Like Alexander the Horrible, have you just come through a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day? Maybe it’s not just the day, it’s the season you are in that makes you feel like you are on a losing streak—with no end in sight. Perhaps the weight of an unwanted burden is straining your capacity—and if one more thing is added, you will break. It might be that personal failures and shortcomings are constant reminders of your incompetence—you just don’t measure up. Maybe it’s not just your day that is really bad, horrible, and no good—it’s your life, it’s you!

Or so you think. But there’s some really good, terrific news for you! If there is a test in your life that is stressing you to the point of cracking, even if you have to “faith it ‘til you make it,” just know this: God is at work! Moses reminds you that God never allows a test that is not without a purpose and a plan. The purpose is to show you that you cannot do life apart from Him—and knowing that is the highest knowledge a human being will ever attain. The plan is to bring you to a place of humble dependence on His immutable goodness and constant provision—and there is no better place to be. So thank God for tests!

Slowly read and absorb these verses again from the Message translation:

Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth. Your clothes didn’t wear out and your feet didn’t blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.

Whatever the test you are enduring, stop what you are doing, set aside your raw emotions, fears, frustrations, disappointment, and anger to reframe your thinking so that you are focusing on God’s purpose and plan for you. Realize how privileged you are that God has allowed, or even caused, and always uses what you are going through for your gain and His glory. Use your test as a building block for our testimony. Think of these wise words from Hebrews 12:7-11,

Endure hardship as discipline. Remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

So you see, a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day is really not so terrible, horrible, and very bad after all. Reframe your hardship, or your test, as the discipline of your loving Father, because “God disciplines those he loves, as a father the child he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:12)

Got a test? Congratulations, it means you are incredibly loved.

Take A Moment: What is your current hardship? Embrace it as God’s discipline, which you are to embrace as love. And the best way I know to do that is simply to say “God thanks!”

Posted on

Somebody Save Me From Me

Learn To Lean Into The Great Rescuer

Each of us has an area where we do what we shouldn’t and don’t do what we should, and like the Apostle Paul, we cry out in exasperation, “O wretch that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” That’s the question, isn’t it: who will rescue me since I don’t have much of a track record of self-rescue? The answer, Paul discovered, was the Great Rescuer: “Thanks be to God—it is through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Moments With God // Romans 7:15,19,24

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do… For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice… O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Huh? Did you catch that? Paul had a convoluted way of saying something pretty straightforward, which was simply this: “I do what I shouldn’t and I don’t do what I should—man, I’m in big trouble!”

Can you relate to Paul? I sure can. He was in a wrestling match with sin, and sin was smacking him around. It was frustrating because Paul knew what he shouldn’t be doing—yet he was drawn to sin like a moth to the flame.

Let me ask you this: Where are you most vulnerable to temptation? What represents your moth-attracting-flame? Maybe it’s a whole container of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey®—perhaps you are an overeater. Maybe you are a sucker for anything that says, “Red Tag Sale”—perhaps you are an over-spender. Maybe it’s an adult site on the Internet—perhaps you’ve got a compulsion for porn. Perhaps it’s alcohol or drugs or gambling or gossiping or griping.

Each of us has an area where we do what we shouldn’t and don’t do what we should. “What a sicko I am! Who will rescue me from the Chunky Monkey®?” That is the question: who will rescue me since I don’t have a track record of self-rescue?

Jesus will! That’s what Paul said in Romans 7:25, “Thanks be to God—it’s through Jesus Christ our Lord!” When Jesus died, he broke the power of sin, so it no longer has a hold on us. Through the power of the resurrection, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God has provided a way out from under every temptation:

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Did you catch that? Your battle with temptation is winnable. The last part of the verse says, “But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out.”

That’s good news. There’s always an escape route—always. When you’re tempted, God himself will provide a way out; He will make a way. God has provided a door! But here’s the deal: you must look for it and walk through it!

So, just what are those escape routes?

One way of escape is to immerse yourself in Scripture. Psalm 119:9 & 11 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word…I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

That’s how Jesus battled temptation in the wilderness. Every time the tempter came at Jesus with something that would tear Him away from the Father, Jesus came back at Satan with the truth of scripture. There is no more potent weapon against temptation in your life than in reading systematically, meditating daily, and memorizing strategically God’s Word.

Another escape route from temptation is to become accountable to another believer, especially for your particular weakness. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” We need to bring our temptation into the light of accountability to other people—as difficult as that may be.

Proverbs 27:5-6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” You would do yourself a huge favor by finding someone with whom you can be accountable for your weakness.

And yet another way out is to ask God to deliver you daily from the tempter. Jesus taught us to pray a daily prayer that acknowledges both our weakness and our need for divine power in this area: “Deliver us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13) As simple as that sounds, the amazing thing is, God hears those prayers. And He provides a way out.

Who will rescue you from this body of death? As Paul says in Romans 7:25,

Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.

Take A Moment: Memorize Romans 7:24-25, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Posted on

Get Good At Letting Go Of Offenses

True Love Never Keeps Score

SYNOPSIS: If an altogether holy God, who cannot tolerate sin in His glorious presence, can forget our sins, then certainly we flawed human beings can forget the sins of our fellow sinners. In fact, if we want to be a conduit of God’s love on earth, we have to get really good at forgetting, as God does. Now, can an omniscient God truly forget our sins? No, but what He can do is choose not to remember them. And He does! How does He do that? He creates an unbridgeable chasm between us and our sins, according to Psalm 103:12. So, if God does that for us, then we cannot continue to be record keepers with those who are in our lives—we must become good forgetters.

Love Keeps No Record

Make Love Work // 1 Corinthians 13:5 (LB)

Love does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong.

Are you a record keeper? Do you tend to hang onto past offenses, slights, and oversights? Are you one to nurse a grudge? Stop and think about how harmful that is—and not just to the one who has offended you, but to you. Unforgiveness is toxic. As someone has humorously but accurately put it, not forgiving another is like drinking rat poison … then waiting for the rat to die. Christ-followers are to be good forgetters. You see, true love learns to let offenses slip away like water off a duck’s back.

If an altogether holy God, who cannot tolerate sin in His glorious presence, can forget our sins, then certainly we flawed human beings can forget the sins of our fellow sinners. In fact, if we want to be a conduit of God’s love on earth, we have to get really good at forgetting, as God does. Now, can an omniscient God truly forget our sins? Of course not, but what He can do is choose not to remember them.

How does God do that? He creates an unbridgeable chasm between us and our sins, according to Psalm 103:12,

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Now if God does that for us, then we cannot continue to be record keepers with those who are in our lives—we must get good at letting go of those offenses, slights, and oversights. And one of the most helpful and motivating things we can do to achieve this impossible task is to think early and often about God’s forgetfulness when it comes to the sins for which we have repented. Slowly, meditatively, and gratefully read through these verses on God’s forgetfulness.

  • I will be merciful to them in their wrongdoings, and I will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12
  • I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins Isaiah 43:25
  • I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Hebrews 10:17
  • If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
  • And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:34
  • Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18
  • Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out. Acts 3:19
  • Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
  • Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
  • There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
  • He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19

That last verse from Micah led to the Jewish tradition that thought of God as casting our sins into “the sea of forgetfulness.” While there is no mention of that in the Bible, it certainly is an appropriate and beautiful image of what God does for us. And that would be an appropriate and beautiful image of how we should treat the offenses of those who have sinned against us.

So, in light of that, if you are one to hold onto offenses, then stop. It is not the way of Christ! And for sure, it is impossible to be the source of God’s love to people while holding past offenses against them.

Remember, love keeps no record of wrongs!

Take A Moment: Your assignment today is to release those who have offended you and choose not to remember their sin from here on out. If you still struggle to do that after reading the verses above, then reflect on one more: “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matt 6:14-15)