What Great Love

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

I John 3:1

How great is this love?! It is something to be marveled and wondered at that an immortal, infinite, perfect and holy God would choose to love us! It’s like a child choosing to love a blade of grass or a jar of dirt. What is there in us that could make God love us? Nothing! That is why this verse says God has ‘lavished’ His love on us. That word for ‘lavished’ can also be translated ‘given’ or ‘bestowed.’ It’s a gift! There is nothing in me that would draw God’s heart towards me. There is plenty in me to draw His wrath but not His love. I am unworthy of that. I am a child of God by grace.

John 1:12 puts it this way, “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” If you have become a Christian, then God has adopted you as His own child. He didn’t have to do that. He could have saved you and taken you to Heaven as His servant. But no! He takes you as His child. This is a great privilege you have been given. The God of the universe has adopted you and called you His own!

One privilege of being a child of God is that you can trust that He will never abandon you. Perhaps you know what it means to be abandoned by a spouse or a parent. Abandonment scars us deeply and causes us to doubt people. If you can’t trust your mother or father or your own spouse, then who can you trust? God. You can trust God. Psalm 27:10 says, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” And Hebrews 13:5 reminds us that “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” No matter what, if you are a believer then God is your Father forever. He will never let you go, and no one can take you out of His hand (John 10:28).

What great love the Father has lavished on us!

Simple Faith

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.

Galatians 5:13-14

There is much about Christian faith and doctrine that can seem complicated to understand and difficult to put into action. This isn't one of those things.

In these verses Paul reminds the Galatian believers that they have been set free from slavery to the Old Testament law which had only the power to condemn them for their inability to meet its standard. Now that they are free from the law they shouldn't use that freedom to indulge their sinful desires. Instead, they should use their freedom to serve one another. They should use their freedom to keep the spirit of the law that they are now enabled to keep only by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit- that is to love their neighbor as themselves. 

In the dog-eat-dog world that we live in, it is all too easy for us to begin focusing only on ourselves. There are days when it is difficult for me to find extra the energy or compassion to serve even my closest family members. When was the last time you served someone else and humbly met their needs at the expense of your own? When did you last love your neighbor as yourself?

Make it a point today to serve someone. Make it a point to show someone else the same love you would show yourself. It's just that simple.

Love Jesus Not Sin

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me."

John 14:23-24

Sin is an offense against God. Any time we disobey Him, disregard His Word, or violate His righteous requirements we sin. No matter how big or how small the infraction, sin is always an attack on God. It is always an offense and is tantamount to treason. It pulls God down off the throne in our hearts and sets us up in His place. Sin is like spitting in God's face. This is why sin separates us from God and incurs His wrath.

As Christians we understand this, yet there are times we still sin. To show how our sin springs from a lack of love as the verses above suggest, allow me to divide all sin into two broad categories: unintentional and intentional sin. 

Unintentional sin occurs on accident. It happens when we mess up or make a mistake. For example, a person sins unintentionally when they lose their temper or when they accidentally curse or when they forget to keep a promise. These sins don't result from a choice of the will but from a defect in character. Yet, they are sin still. Unintentional sins are still dishonoring to God. They are still an offense to His perfect nature. And they spring from a deficiency of love. The more we love Christ, the more attentive we will be to His teaching and to our character. The more we love Him, the more careful we will be to root unintentional sins out of our lives. The Christian who continues to struggle against these sins loves Christ too little.

Intentional sin is different; it happens on purpose. A Christian sins intentionally when they know what they ought to do, they know what Jesus has commanded they do, they know that disobedience will grieve their Lord and separate them from Him and they simply do not care. They consciously choose to sin against God anyway. It's unthinkable that a Christian could do such a thing, but sadly we do. And the only explanation is that in those moments we are choosing sin over Jesus. When we sin intentionally, we acknowledge that we love our sin more than we love Jesus. Satan will try to make you believe otherwise, but this in an inescapable truth of the Christian life. 

If you are choosing sin over Christ, then you do not love Him enough. If you continue to fall into sin unintentionally then you do not yet love Him enough. None of us love Christ enough. Until the day I die it will be appropriate for me to pray, "Lord, help me to love you more." Join me in praying that prayer today. And more than that join me in living it out. Love God more than you love your sin today

Service Springs from Love

John 13 tells the story of Jesus washing His disciples' feet. This is how it starts. 

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

John 13:1

Why does John begin by talking about Jesus' love for His disciples? Because through this story he is going to teach us something very important about service and its relationship to love in Jesus’ life and in our own. Service springs from love and is an expression of love.

Love is the fertile soil that produces service. Why is the young mother willing to get up in the middle of the night to feed her baby? Love! What makes a man willing to wait hand and foot on his wife in her old age? Love! Or even, as we are about to start a new school year, why do our schoolteachers and administrators return each year to jobs where they have to spend their own money on supplies, are mistreated by parents, and disrespected by students? Why? It certainly isn’t the paycheck. It’s love. They love the students; and they love their jobs.

True love is humble, and self-sacrificing. This kind of love always brings you lower to serve the needs of the other person. Only service rooted in this kind of love will last. Why? Because service that stems from a sense of duty will grow cold and die before long. 

So, evaluate yourself. When was the last time you did something truly humbling or selfless to love your spouse or your kids; to serve your friends or your church? If you aren’t drawn to put their needs above your own then you probably don’t love them as you should. If selfishness and self-love have crowded out your love for others, then stoke the flames of your love again. Think of one way you can put their needs ahead of your own today.

Hosea's Love

The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

Hosea 3:1-3

At God's command, the prophet Hosea had begun one of the most surprising and scandalous love stories in all of Scripture by marrying a "promiscuous woman" named Gomer who was likely a prostitute (Hosea 1:2-3). You might think that Gomer would count her blessings to have received such grace and been rescued from such a life. Instead she grew to despise Hosea's love and publicly humiliated the prophet of God by returning to her old life of promiscuity. Apparently, Gomer returned to a life of prostitution.

Now, at God’s command, Hosea must go and get his wife. Can you imagine?! The prophet of God, a holy man, having to purchase his wife back from prostitution?! Hosea humbles himself and spends what little wealth he has to redeem his wife from her own bad decisions. But why would God tell Hosea to marry Gomer in the first place? And why would He tell Hosea to go redeem her and take her to himself again? 

Hosea and Gomer’s marriage was a picture of God’s relationship with His people, Israel. Gomer's betrayal perfectly captured the unthinkable way Israel had betrayed God by whoring herself out to worship Baal, and Hosea's faithful, forgiving love perfectly depicted God's grace for His people. Israel was committing spiritual adultery by worshiping the Baals. Hosea and Gomer’s marriage would shock the people into seeing how poorly they were treating God and how amazing His love and grace toward them was.

Hosea's love is a powerful reminder for us that God forgives the worst of sins... even those we commit after salvation. Israel had been God's covenant people for many years before Hosea’s time. Yet, what was God’s response to their betrayal? He shows them through Hosea that He is willing to forgive them and bring them back to Himself if they will only repent and faithfully serve Him once again. If Hosea could forgive and love adulterous Gomer, if God could forgive idolatrous Israel, then surely He can forgive you and love you. He may punish you but He won’t abandon you. So, don’t think for a second that God can’t or won’t forgive you! Simply repent. Ask Him to forgive you for each and every sin you've committed against Him and then move on. It's covered in the blood of Christ.

Love and Obedience

Sometimes what we need isn't another devotional or sermon to increase our knowledge of God, but rather we need simply to take the time to obey what we already know He's commanded us to do. Jesus is very clear that loving God requires action. He said, "If you love me, you will keep my commands" (John 14:15). Elsewhere Jesus described it like this: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30). The kind of love God expects from us involves our whole body. It isn't just mental assent. It also involves physical action.

The Bible leaves no room for Christians to claim to love God but be unaffected by that love. There is not a single example of a believer in Scripture who had faith and remained unchanged by it. Even the thief on the cross (which is the closest thing we have in Scripture to a "deathbed conversion") was changed by his faith. Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32 tell us that both robbers who were crucified next to Jesus hurled insults at Him, but Luke 23:39-42 says that one robber insulted Jesus while the other defended Him. How do we reconcile this? Is it not obvious that both robbers heaped insults upon the Savior, but then one was convicted of his sins? As he watched Jesus suffer and die he came to see the truth of who Christ really was. He began to look on Him in faith, and his faith changed him. Only then did he begin to defend Jesus. It is out of brotherly love that Luke records only this Christian's latter state and not his first. He isn't correcting Mark or Matthew's depiction of the crucifixion, he is highlighting a detail they left out.

I pray that obedience and acting out our faith will not be a detail we leave out of our Christian lives. The Bible says that "if anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin" (James 4:17). Which of God's commands are you not obeying? Maybe you aren't telling others about Jesus. Maybe you aren't praying. Are you caring for the poor, for widows and for orphans? What about your money? Are you giving back a generous amount to God's church and His kingdom? Whatever God is laying on your heart, do it now. Don't plan to do it later. Take some action right now, no matter how small a first step it may be, to begin living out your love for God by obeying Him.

Jesus, Mary and Judas...and the disciples

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

John 12:1-8

Note three responses to Jesus in this passage. Mary shows Jesus extravagant, sacrificial love. Judas responds to Him only with deceit and greed for personal gain. The rest of the disciples recline at the table and maintain "business as usual" little knowing that the time they have left to honor Jesus before His death is slipping away. 

Mary's act of love is extravagant, almost gratuitous. The perfume was worth a year's wages. It was doubtless the most precious thing she owned. In all likelihood it was her life's savings. What's more she used her hair to wipe Jesus' feet! To grasp the power of that act you must understand two things. First, in that culture a woman's glory was her hair. Second, many of their roads were dirt roads and animals were used for transportation that would often leave droppings behind. This meant that people's feet were especially dirty at this time in history. Mary could have chosen to wipe Jesus' feet with a towel. Even this would have been lowering herself to the place of a servant to tend to His needs. But Mary takes her glory, the most treasured and clean part of her body and uses it as a rag to cleanse his feet. It's hard to imagine how shocking this was to those present. It was truly an act of deep commitment and astounding love for her Savior.

Compare that to Judas. He offers up no worship for Christ. Instead he attempts to deceive Him. His aim is not to exalt Jesus but to profit off Him, to steal from Him. Judas hides his greed behind fake piety. He claims to care for the poor, but his true care is lining his pockets. We see in this story the seed that gives sprout to Judas' later betrayal of Jesus. Judas' god is money. Already he was willing to lie to Jesus and steal from Him in order to get more money. Soon enough he will find himself selling Jesus' life for 30 pieces of silver, an amount that was only worth about four months wages. Even in his betrayal Judas sells Jesus short. 

Lastly, consider the rest of the disciples. In John's gospel they are silent. Other gospel records (Matt. 26:6-13 & Mark 14:3-9) indicate that they agreed with Judas (although apparently from pure motives) that this was a wasteful use of resources. They thought more good could have been done by giving this money to the poor. These men are faithful to Jesus. They serve Him every day. They love Him. Indeed, they have left everything for Him. But today is merely "business as usual" for them. Little do they know that Jesus will soon be taken from them. Before long they will wish to be back in Jesus' presence again but be unable to be with Him. There is no sin in their lack of action, just missed opportunity. 

Don't miss your opportunity today. Sure, today is just a normal Wednesday. But Jesus is still our Savior. He is still risen from the dead. He is still worthy of all praise and every honor we can bestow on Him. So let's pull out all of the stops and bless Jesus in a special way today. Who knows? It could be your last opportunity. So take the step of faith to share the gospel with that coworker. Make a big gift to your church or to a missions organization. Dedicate a large chunk of your precious time today to getting alone with God and worshiping Him. Do whatever God leads you to do, whatever is the natural overflow of your heart; but do it extravagantly and do it from love.    

Repeating Yourself

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.

 Give thanks to the God of gods,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

to him who alone does great wonders,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

to him who by understanding made the heavens,

    for his steadfast love endures forever; (Psalm 136:1-5)

I don't know about you but I hate repeating myself. And now that I have kids I get to do that A LOT. There are only so many times a person can say "Don't touch that!", "Sit up in your chair", "Eat your food", or "Put your pants on" before they start to go crazy.

Thankfully God isn't like me. He doesn't mind repeating Himself for His children's benefit. He understands that we sometimes need to hear things over and over again before we get it. He also understands that sometimes we need to repeat things over and over again ourselves before they sink in. And that's what we find in Psalm 136. 

The phrase "for his steadfast love endures forever" is repeated in every verse of this psalm. That's twenty-six times! Nearly half of the psalm is the same six words repeated over and over again. The phrase is utilized as a type of refrain. Each verse consists of two lines. The first line reminds the people of who God is or of the great things He has done, while the second responds to that truth with the familiar phrase. The first lines function as proof of the second. They prove how good and enduring God's love is for His people!

Remember that the psalms were written to be sung. My hunch is that this song was probably sung responsively, so that a lead singer sang the first lines and the congregation took up the popular refrain in response. Either way we know that when they sang Psalm 136 God's people would have sung about God's love being steadfast and enduring forever twenty-six times. And you thought modern praise songs were repetitive!   

Why all this repetition? What is God trying so hard to tell us? He's telling us at least two things. 

First, He wants us to know what kind of love we can expect from Him. God isn't fickle or unfaithful. We can expect that His love (His goodness, kindness and faithfulness toward us) will never end. It will continue on forever. As Scripture says, "He will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). There is an amazing sense of security that comes from knowing that. Thank God that we need not worry about Him turning His back on us. We can expect an unending stream of good things from Him (James 1:17). Notice that I didn't say an uninterrupted stream of good things. We will still suffer in this world, but we know that God works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).  

Second, God wants us to know that it is well worth it to take time to pause and recount all the ways that He has shown His steadfast love. Not only will this strengthen your confidence that he will be there for you when you need Him in the future, but it will drive you to worship. Doesn't God deserve to be praised for all the good He has done for you? Doesn't He deserve to be thanked? Of course He does! 

So pause for a moment and do this. You don't have to count out twenty-six ways, but maybe you can count at least five ways God has shown His steadfast love for you. Thank Him and praise Him for all He has done and rest easy in the certainty that He will continue to do the same.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Recently I have discovered that I do not excel in being loving. I have known for some time that I wasn't the most compassionate or patient person. These virtues have been earmarked for improvement in my life for a while. But it wasn't until I read Donald S. Whitney's Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health that I realized just how short I fall of embodying the supreme Christian virtue of love. Since Christmas is a time for families, and since often our families suffer the most at the hands of our character flaws, I thought this would be a good time to post a section from Whitney's book covering parts of the chapter entitled "Are You More Loving?". (I also very highly recommend Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. It should probably be on every believer's bookshelf.) I hope this quoted section nourishes and challenges your heart as much as it did mine.  

***

(The rest of this post is quoted from Donald S. Whitney's Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health pages 39-42.)

Love is the badge and character of Christianity. A Christian may advance in many areas including the the ability to witness, teach or even preach..., but these mean little without growth in the most important Christian distinctive- love. 

Some people flatter themselves about how loving they are. They know that nothing means more to them than their children. Holidays are always spent with family. They consider themselves good neighbors and devoted friends. As their family and circle of friends grow, their love grows with it, right?

Too often we wrongly classify as love what the King James Version of the Bible calls “natural affection” (see Romans 1:31 and 2 Timothy 3:3). In normal circumstances, parents love their children, family members love each other, and people love their friends. This is true for Christians and nonChristians alike. God made us in such a way that, even in a fallen world, we naturally love certain people, thus the term natural affection... Many people, therefore, are congratulating themselves for what amounts to merely being human, and they conclude amiss that this innate love testifies of spiritual health. 

Besides natural affection, there is another counterfeit love. Its loving actions are only a veneer for too much self-love. Any benefits it brings to others are secondary to the question, “Does it please me first?” A man will be absolutely convinced that he loves a beautiful woman, and indeed will do almost anything for her. He adores her, thinks of her constantly, and wants nothing more than her. But the truth is, he loves her only for what she does to and for him. She excites, intrigues, and arouses him. He does want her to be happy, but in reality he wants her to find her happiness in bringing pleasure to him. And he continues to love her only to the degree that she continues to please him. He will do nothing for her willingly or without hypocrisy unless it brings pleasure for him to do it anyway. This kind of love is just as common in other relationships as romantic ones. With parents or children, siblings, neighbors, or friends, we can act in loving ways, but either heartlessly or only because it pleases us to do so. We do not measure our growth in Christlikeness by the vicissitudes of this kind of love.

A similar counterfeit is the “I’ll love you if you’ll love me” type of love. This kind of love doesn't originate from a commitment to love, nor from a desire to be like Christ, but simply dispense love as a quip pro quo. This is not Christian love, rather it is the epitome of worldly love. Jesus put it this way: "But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them" (Luke 6:32). Edwards portrayed those who love like this: 

They are full of dear affections to some, and full of bitterness toward others. They are knit to their own party, them that approve of them, love them and admire them; but are fierce against those that oppose and dislike them. Some show great affection for their neighbors,... the children of God abroad; and at the same time are uncomfortable and churlish towards their wives and other near relations at home, and are very negligent of relative duties.

Can anyone think he is growing in love and thus becoming more like Jesus when, just like those who hated Jesus, he only loves with a reciprocal love? The test of Christlikeness is not the greatness of your love toward those who love you, but the bounty of your love toward those who do not.

When Love is Bad

Quick! Stop and make a list of ten things you love. What's on your list?

Now read today's passage.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

I John 2:15-17

Now evaluate your list of loves in light of this challenging command from God. Where is your heart focused? Do you love this world and the things of the world or do you love the things that come from the Father? Well, to answer that question you first need to understand that Scripture often uses the term "world" as a metaphor for all the things, people, actions and attitudes in this life that are set against God in rebellion. The term is sometimes applied in such a way as to include all that finds its origin in this posture of rejection of God and all that is tainted by it. Thus, when the Apostle John says "do not love the world or anything in the world," he is not speaking of the planet Earth, as though we would be safe from this sin if we lived on Mars. Nor is he saying that it is wrong to love physical things in this world like dogs or Dr. Pepper (my current indulgence of choice). Rather, he is telling Christians that we must not love this attitude of opposition to God or the many sinful things that often accompany or spring from it.

The Apostle John taught a lot about the love a Christian should have. And rightly so! The Bible says a lot about it. In a sense John is urging believers to do nothing other than what the book of Proverbs said so long before: "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it" (Prov. 4:23). Jesus also spoke of the importance of loving the right things.  He said that the greatest commandment is for us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). It makes perfect sense, then, that loving rebellion against God and those things which find their source in this rebellion is wholly contemptible to God. Christians must be wary of the seduction of this world. If we are not careful, then little by little, our enemy draws us in with promises of entertainment, threats of missing out on something good, hints of endless pleasure, and hopes of a relaxing escape from the daily grind of life. Before we know it our hearts are captive to sin.

It is a terrible thing when something so noble as love is degraded by having lit upon something so debase as sin. Love is the noblest of all emotions. The Apostle John himself says that God is love and that we know true Christian love only because we have seen it personified in Christ's death for us. This helps explain why loving the right things is the greatest command. We love God first and our neighbors (especially our brothers in Christ) next. Having a heart that is bent towards these things in love not only makes obedience easy but is admirable. In the same way it is bad enough to participate in sin, to willingly reject and mock God, but to actually love these things, to have a heart that longs for them- what could be worse? Nothing.

This brings us back to what challenges me most about this passage, the second half of verse fifteen. "Do not love the world or anything in the world." Can I really say that I do not love anything in the world? Is my heart completely free of love for sinful entertainment, sinful behavior, jokes that make light of sin, sexual misconduct, the glorification of violence and killing. It saddens me to admit that there are still parts of my heart in love with sin. Thankfully there is hope in this passage as well. The command to love rightly presupposes that Christians have the ability to exercise control over what we love (presumably through the Spirit's help within us). So I lift my diseased heart up to the Lord in prayer and pray with King David,

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 51:10, 1-2

How to Spot a False Prophet

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

I John 4:1-3

There seems to be a never-ending stream of talking heads these days. Everyone - from pastors to political analysts, parents to pop stars, and professors to peers - wants to tell us what to believe about God and to what extent that should impact our lives. But how do we know who to trust? How can we tell the ones who are just spinning propaganda apart from the ones who are teaching us the truth about God? I John has some help for us.

A major issue facing the church(es) this letter was written to was a group of false teachers who were opposing the truth about Jesus and trying to lead the church astray. So the Apostle John provides his readers with a number of litmus tests to help us accurately evaluate the trustworthiness of those desiring influence over us. Here is a brief list of questions to ask ourselves about these leaders.

1. Do they walk in the light as God is in the light (i.e. practice righteousness) or do they walk in the darkness (i.e. continue in sin)? (I John 1:5-7, 2:29, 3:3-10, 5:18)
2. Do they honestly and humbly acknowledge their sinfulness? (I John 1:8, 10)
3. Do they keep God's commandments? (I John 2:3-6, 3:24, 5:2-3)
4. Do they love other believers? (I John 2:9-11; 3:10, 13-15; 4:7-8, 11-12, 16, 20-21; 5:1)
5. Do they avoid the love of the world or the things of the world, i.e. the desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and pride in material possessions? (I John 2:15-16)
6. Do they have continued fellowship with the church? (I John 2:19)
7. Do they acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah? (I John 2:22-23, 5:1)
8. Do they give of their resources to meet the needs of other believers? (I John 3:17-18)
9. Do they confess Jesus as the Son of God who came to earth as a real man? (I John 4:2-3, 15; 5:5)
10. Do they speak from God or from the world? Do those who know God listen to them or does the world listen to them? (I John 4:5-6)
11. Do they believe that we receive eternal life through Jesus? (I John 5:10-12)

Be careful who you listen to and who you allow to speak into your life. As the Apostle John reminds us, there are many false prophets out there in the world.

For further reading... check out the links above.

First Love Faith

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands [i.e. Jesus]. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Revelation 2:1-5

A letter from home while a child is away at camp is a life saver. A well-written love letter can completely change a relationship. Yep. There is no doubt about it. Letters can be truly powerful things. So if Jesus were going to sit down and write a letter to you or your church today, what do you think He would say? Would He commend you or challenge you? Chances are He would do both because that's exactly what He did with the church at Ephesus.

First Jesus encourages the believers at Ephesus with all they are doing right. A pretty long list! They are living out their faith in good deeds. They are persevering in the faith through persecution. They're effectively refuting bad doctrine and all without growing weary! What an encouragement that Jesus knows. Jesus sees. He has not forgotten about us or our struggles. He is intimately aware and involved in His church, constantly tending to His lampstand (in this passage a metaphor for the church) to ensure it continues to shine brightly in a dark world. Jesus knows you, your successes, and your struggles.

Second, Jesus confronts His followers with the charge that they have forsaken their first love. The terms used here are the same used of a husband putting his wife away or divorcing her. Jesus is saying the believer's in Ephesus over time has grown cold towards Him and in their hearts have forsaken Him. Have you grown cold in your love for Jesus over time? Does your passion burn as brightly as it ever did? I know that in many ways I have lost that first love type of faith and worship.

Jesus, forgive me for growing cold. Reignite that flame in my heart. Help me to give you "first love" faith and worship. Be glorified in me in every way.

For further reading...

• Revelation 1-3:22- Read the intro to Revelation and the letters to the seven churches.

A Peculiarly Christian Kind of Love

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

1 John 4:7-8

This passage teaches that love is a defining characteristic of Christianity. If a person loves, then she is a Christian. If she does not love, then she has not yet met God. But is the Bible really saying that only Christians love? Does this mean that an unbelieving husband and wife don't love each other at all? More likely, I think, is that this passage teaches there is a unique kind of love that is peculiarly Christian. This is not to say that non believers do not experience or show any kind of love but rather that this particular type of love is the hallmark of the Christian believer and is found only in them. Let's examine briefly what I John has to say about this Christian love.

1. "But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them." (I John 2:5, see also 5:3)- Christian love for God leads us to keep His commands. Jesus taught that the greatest commandment God ever gave mankind was not a "do this" or "don't do that" command but rather was simply to love Him. If we can get that right, then we will succeed in keeping the rest of God's commands, because a person cannot love God and rebel against Him at the same time.
2. "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them." (I John 2:15)- Christian love is faithful. The Bible regularly refers to Christians as the bride of Christ, and we are a faithful bride. Christian love doesn't two-time its heavenly husband by loving the world. No. Christian love only has eyes for Jesus.
3. "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister." (1 John 3:10, see also 3:14 & 4:20-21)- Christian love overflows beyond just loving God and causes us to love other believers as well. We cannot love the Father and hate His children. (I John 5:1). It's simple: if we don't love other Christians, then we aren't Christian. 
4. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters." (1 John 3:16) "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." (1 John 3:17-18, see also 4:9-12)- Now we get into details on what kind of love this is. Christian love finds its origin in the self-sacrificing, self-giving love that God has shown us in His Son Jesus. Christian love puts others ahead of itself. It pours itself out to love people who do not deserve such extravagant sacrifice. Oh how often we miss this point! Especially as we talk about helping the homeless and the poor in America. We often turn the conversation toward ways they might misuse our help and whether or not they deserve our help. We talk as though we are only called to love those who are deserving of our love, as though Jesus only loves those who deserve His love. This is a very subtle form of heresy. The way we treat other people reveals what we believe to be true about what God has done for us. Christian love leads us to sell our possessions to care for other believers. Christian love leads us to lay our lives down in service to those around us - not only in grand gestures, but in the mundane struggles of everyday life as well. We must constantly consider others better than ourselves and put them first.

Examine your life and heart. Is this peculiarly Christian kind of love evident in you? If not, why? Is it because you have not truly been changed by the love of Christ? Or are you a true believer but the cares of the world have grown up around you and begun choking your effectiveness? Either way, repent, ask for forgiveness, and begin to follow Jesus' example in earnest.

For further reading...

• Check out the entire book of I John. It's only five chapters.