Pass it On

"We love each other

because he loved us first."

1 John 4:19 NLT 

"Remember, the Lord forgave you,

so you must forgive others."

Colossians 3:13 NLT

Worship songs are meant to draw us into praise, adoration and reverence for God and His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Many times, the lyrics will hit me in a deep and meaningful way, drawing tears to my eyes as I am faced with the Truth.  One such time happened yesterday as we sang these lyrics by Jordan Kauflin.

I once was lost in darkest night, Yet thought I knew the way,

The sin that promised joy and life, Had led me to the grave,

I had no hope that You would own, A rebel to Your will,

And if You had not love me first, I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race, Indifferent to the cost,

You looked upon my helpless state, And led me to the cross,

And I beheld God's love displayed, You suffered in my place,

You bore the wrath reserved for me, Now all I know is grace.

Hallelujah!  All I have is Christ.   Hallelujah!  Jesus is my life.

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone, And live so all might see

The strength to follow Your commands, Could never come from me

Oh Father, Us my ransomed life, In any way You choose

And let my song forever be, My only boast is You!

Hallelujah!  All I have is Christ.  Hallelujah!  Jesus is my life.*

I truly have no hope apart from Jesus Christ.  No hope for a future.  No hope to love.  No hope to live.  All I have is in Jesus. . . apart from Him, I can do nothing!

Love

One of the basic tenets of Evolution is that life came from muck.  Order was created from chaos.  Something came from nothing.

Science, however, has shown us that there is a tendency for any system to move toward randomness or disorder.  It is impossible for anything to become more organized as time goes on.  Everything has to come from something ordered and then become more chaotic. . .it can't be generated from nothing and travel toward organization.  There must be source.

Likewise, I can't love someone else in my own power. I need a source for that love.  I don't have it in me, especially if that other person is flawed in anyway, making themselves unlovable to me.  Anyone who has lived in a family knows this to be true.  Our loved ones are not always easy to love.  As a matter of fact, I am not always easy to love!

Jesus said to those who did not accept Him that, "I do not accept praise from men, but I know you.  I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts."  (John 5:41-42) Without His love, I have no hope of recognizing Jesus as my Savior, and without Jesus as my Savior, I have no hope of loving anyone else.  

The Apostle John taught that, "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God." (1 John 4:15) With the God of love residing within me, I now have the source of love readily available to pass on to others.   With the God of love residing within me, I am able to follow His command to love my neighbor as myself. (Mark 12:31)  Love comes from God, it cannot be generated from within myself where no love naturally exists. Something cannot come from nothing.    

If I want to love those around me with the love that God has lavished upon me, I must intentionally pass it on to them, sharing the wealth of love He has generously given to me.

Forgiveness

Remember the Hatfields and the McCoys?  They were two families who lived in the West Virginia-Kentucky area during the 1800s and milked a feud for over 30 years.  The dispute began with bad feelings over sides chosen during the Civil War resulting in a murder, and continued throughout the years by generations to come.  Neither family could find it within themselves to forgive the other.

My dad tells stories of similar grudges held against his own family members that lasted for years.  The funny thing was that after several years had passed, the anger and bitterness remained, but the cause of the dispute had long been forgotten!

I, too, am naturally merciless.  It is human nature to hold onto hurts, pain and offenses committed against me.  It is natural for me to want to seek revenge instead of letting it go.  I find it quite easy to hold a grudge.   As English poet Alexander Pope said, "To err is human; to forgive, divine."

My only hope of forgiving others, of letting go of the pain and resulting bitterness, is through Jesus.  He forgave me, so I must pass that forgiveness on to others.

It's like the parable Jesus told of the unforgiving servant who had been forgiven a huge debt by his master, then turned around and refused to forget about a small sum of money someone else owed to him.  The master called him wicked and threw him in jail to be tortured until he could pay back all he owed.  Jesus then went on to say, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."  (Matthew 18:35)

I am now able to forgive because of the forgiveness God has shown me.  In fact, I am commanded to live in forgiveness with others, freely forgiving as God forgives me.  

As Jordan Kauflin wrote to God in All I have is Christ, "The strength to follow Your commands could never come from me."  I am unable to do as God has called me to do under my own steam.  Instead, I can only love because He loved me first, and I am able to forgive because He forgives me.

And because my heart overflows with His love and forgiveness, I want to pass it on. . . 

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can love as God has loved me. . .freely and lavishly!

How am I stingy when it comes to forgiveness?

Where am I holding a grudge against someone?  How is this similar to not forgiving a debt?

* 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

Loving with Abandon

The Word of the Lord came to me:

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:

‘I remember the devotion of your youth,

how as a bride you loved me

and followed me through the desert,

through a land not sown.’”

Jeremiah 2:2

I remember when I first met my husband.  I was a college student and he was a soldier serving at an army post 6 hours away.  I would wake up thinking about him, getting a little thrill in the pit of my stomach at the thought of him.  Every time the phone rang, I hoped it was him.  As I walked to class, I imagined I saw him even though he was miles away. 

Even after we married and raised four children, my heart jumps when I see him and I can’t think of anyone with whom I’d rather spend time.  I am in love with my husband!

Am I in love with Jesus, wanting nothing more than to spend time with Him and please Him with the little things I do throughout the day?  Or am I in love with what He has done for me, thankful that He sacrificed His life so that I can live forever, but not really treasuring Him as my Savior?

Maybe I’m too uptight, but loving Jesus with abandon is hard for me.   Jesus wants all of me: my heart, my mind, my life.  But all too often I focus on what I can do for Him out of a sense of duty, or an expectation of what I think a “good Christian” should do, or out of gratefulness for what He’s done for me.

If I performed little acts of kindness to my husband for these same reasons, I don’t think it would mean as much to him as if I did them out of devotion to him, desiring to please him and bring him pleasure.  So why do I have a hard time abandoning myself in pure devotion to my Savior? 

Fear

I am a fearful creature.  I am hesitant to put myself into a situation where I don’t know the outcome.  Even though only God truly knows how things will turn out, I have deceived myself into believing that I have some semblance of control and I consequently make choices according to what is comfortable or familiar to me.

But this is not how to live a life abandoned to Christ.  When Peter jumped out of the boat to walk toward his beloved Jesus, he did so out of pure devotion without a second thought toward what might be the consequences of his actions.  All he knew was that he saw Jesus and he wanted to go to him.

As long as Peter kept his eyes trained upon the One he loved, he was able to walk on the water.  But as soon as he turned his attention to the waves crashing around him, he lost faith and gave into his fear, sinking down into the depths of the sea.

Loving Jesus means keeping my attention upon Him, not on my circumstances, problems or surroundings.  If I only had eyes for Him, my love for Him would grow.

To love Jesus with abandon, I must turn from my fears and desire Him only.

Misunderstanding Love

As a sinful human living in a fallen world, I don’t really understand God’s love.  Love in my world is conditional, coming and going in direct proportion to my behavior.  Love in my world is a physical love, tied closely to romance or sentiment toward a parent or child.  Love in my world is shallow, based mostly on feelings.

God’s love is different.  His love is not based on my performance but on His character.   It does not come and go with the changing seasons, but as David said in Psalm 138:8, “your love, O Lord, endures forever—“

The love of God is not a physical thing but is His defining feature.   1 Corinthians 13:4-8 lists the qualities of His love as patience and kindness.  His kind of love contains no envy, boasting, pride, rudeness, or seeking of selfish desires.  God’s love is not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, and always celebrates the truth, shunning evil.  God’s love always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres.  God’s love never fails.

God’s love is deep.  The Apostle Paul’s desire for the believers in Ephesus was that they would, “have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19)

Understanding this love gives me insight into how I can love Jesus His way.  Just as He chose to demonstrate His love for me by dying on the cross while I was still deep in my sin,  I can choose to demonstrate my love for Him in a real, tangible way by loving those around me, especially the ones who live a life deep in sin, rendering them unlovable.

Myself

I may be the biggest obstacle to loving Jesus without inhibition.  If I am honest with myself, I am very important to me!  My desires, my comfort and my plans matter to me.  In fact, I could even go so far as to say that they matter more to me than anything else.

To love Jesus supremely as the Lord of my life, I cannot cater to my needs as I tend to.  Instead,  I need to do as Peter advised in 1 Peter 3:15.  He said that in my heart I should, “. . .set apart Christ as Lord.”

If I exchange Jesus for myself as the one who is most important and lord of my life, then I will be able to love Him in the way He designed me to love.

In order to give myself in devotion to my Savior I must first let go of the fear that grips me, understand His kind of love and pass that love on to others, and take myself out of the position as lord of my life and put Jesus in that place.  Then I can love Jesus with abandon!

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I can give Jesus my first, my best and my all.

How do my own selfish desires get in the way of Jesus’ longing to truly reign in my life?

What fears are holding me back from loving Jesus?