What's Love Got To Do With It?

Photo by Loleia

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
                                                                     (Rom 5:1-5 ESV)

I hate to admit it, but to me the Scripture passage above always seemed to start at soaring heights, only to plop down with an ungraceful thud.

I would start out reading words that promised to make all of my life's sufferings worthwhile, promised to make sense of the pain.  Promised to make me dare to hope again...even though for many years I had hated hope with my whole being.

Yes, yes, that's what I want.  I need to know that this agony called life will be worth it all in the end!  So tell me...why won't hope put me to shame?  It always has, you know.  Hope strings you along and then drops you in the dust and grinds your face in the shards of your shattered dreams.  Hope is a cruel trickster, a sadistic torturer who preys on weaklings who are stupid enough to believe its lies.

So tell me...why doesn't hope put me to shame?  

"Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

*Thud.*

With apologies to Tina Turner, what's love got to do with it?  

Want to confuse an Olympic hopeful?  Tell him to keep sweating and agonizing because...what?  He'll get gold and glory?  No, he'll get God's love poured out in his heart.  He'll look at you like you're nuts.  Love is nice, but that's not what he's suffering for.

Romans 5:5 may be a nice sentiment, Lord, but love isn't what I'm suffering for.  You'll need to do better than that if you want to convince me to hope again.

Let those words simmer in your ears.  "Love isn't what I'm suffering for."

Are you sure?  Maybe it's not your goal for your suffering, but could it be His goal for your suffering?

Love is what Jesus suffered for.  True, He suffered for sin...ours, not His.  But He didn't have to do that.  He could have just annihilated us, or tossed us all into damnation without a backward glance.  It was His love for us that brought Him to Bethlehem, to the dusty streets of Israel, to Calvary, to the grave.

And that journey took Him back into glory, as the firstborn from the dead, followed by all those that He purchased for Himself with His own blood.

Either He was a fool, or love is worth suffering for.

Maybe...just maybe...love is the only thing worth suffering for.

As my prayer life has become increasingly focused on aligning my priorities with His, I'm finding this whole messy "love" business is becoming more central.  And because I'm such a self-centered person, love is something I mostly grieve because of its weakness or even absence in my life.  Only occasionally do I get to rejoice because of how strongly love has poured out of me.

Every sin you and I commit is, at the very least, a failure to love.  Unquestionably, sin is always a failure to love the Lord with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, which is the most important commandment.  And most sins also spring from our failure to love our neighbor as ourselves, which Jesus says is the second most important thing we should do.  And each of these failures harms us and harms those around us.  Sometimes the wounds are deep and lasting.

The more I kneel to pray God's priorities, and the more I see the wounds I cause when I choose my own priorities over God's, the more I find myself pleading for God to fill me with love for Himself and for others.

And suddenly Romans 5:1-5 begins to make sense.

"Hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." 

The words of encouragement won't make any sense until your priorities line up with His.  But when they do, you'll find the encouragement runs deep.  (See Ps 37:4 for another example of this truth...that promises depend on priorities.)

"Lord, I am choosing to hope in Your love for me, and in the outpouring of Your Spirit that will change my heart into a loving one, so that I will love both You and my neighbor as I should.  And I am trusting you that this growth in love will make all of life's sufferings worthwhile."

How to Handle a Good Morning

Photo by Nelso47

Um...It was a good morning.

No, seriously, I mean it!  Things went smoothly.  No significant fights over getting ready, no hatred spewed, no ugliness at all.

If you don't know me and my life, that might not sound like such a big deal.  But if you know me, you know what a rare jewel a good school morning is.

I used to handle such things horribly, and even now I usually don't handle those jewels as well as I should, but I want today to be different.  I hope you'll come along as I work my way through this, and maybe you'll be blessed, too.

What's that I said?  I don't usually handle God's good gifts well?  Why would that be?

It's simple, really.  In the past (and to a lesser extent, even now), I have tended to receive good mornings (or any rare blessing) the way a pre-linguistic Helen Keller received things from her caregivers.

Snatch.  Gnaw.  Consume.  Figure out how to make sure you get more.  Try to get control over those who give it.  Hold it tightly.  Give no thought to humble gratitude...but be prepared to dish out severe punishment if more good stuff isn't immediately forthcoming.  This good thing is a little taste of life, and you need it...you need control over it...desperately.

Ironically, the snatching, grasping, desperately clawing recipient gets no real, lasting joy from the gift.  The most she can settle for is an uneasy sense of triumph with no assurance of future blessings at all.

Does any of this sound familiar?  I admit, my imagery was rather stark. No one who has seen "The Miracle Worker" can ever forget the intense, knock-down, drag-out fight scene between Helen and Anne Sullivan.  We don't want to see ourselves in Helen, and most likely we've never behaved exactly as she did (at least not since our tantruming toddler days). But look at my description again.  At its core, at least to some degree, does the above describe how you receive God's blessings?  No?  Walk a little further with me, and you may begin to recognize it a little better.  Even if, like me, the worst of these attitudes is behind you, you might still see hints of them trying to rise up again.  So please indulge the following question:

When you've received a rare blessing... something you desperately desire but have to do without most of the time... do you pray afterwards?  If so, how do you pray afterwards?

Perhaps you don't pray.  Why would that be?

•  Perhaps it's because you already got what you wanted, so what is there to pray about, right?  (Translation:  Prayer isn't about a loving relationship with God, it's about controlling God, getting what you want out of Him.  Therefore it's pointless to pray if you've got "it" already.  To go back to our example above, Helen has been handed enough cake to satisfy her sweet tooth, and once she's gobbled it, she's ready to go play.  The giver is forgotten until something else is needed.)  I've been guilty of this, for sure. 
• Or perhaps it's because you see God as an unpredictably explosive despot, who is best handled by tiptoeing around Him.  Like an abused child, you just want to make sure you keep under His radar, so that maybe He won't hurt you.  I used to see God that way.  It's far from the truth about Him, and I pray that He will lovingly remove such misconceptions from your heart if they're there.

Perhaps you pray, but with a heart that's in the wrong place.

• Perhaps you pray as if you're God's teacher, trying to use Behavior Modification techniques on Him.  "See now, God, how this went?  You finally got it right.  This is how it's supposed to go, and I expect it from now on."  You dish out what you call "praise" not from a humble heart of gratitude, but as an attempt to manipulate and control God.  You see Him as a praise-hungry, grasping soul Himself.  He needs strokes from you, and you need (whatever it is) from Him.  So you work out a trade.  There's nothing even approximating love or respect here.  I know, because I've been there.
• Perhaps you pray fearfully, as one who thinks the gift could be snatched away at any time.  Every "good morning" seems to you like a chance that things could go well from now on, and in fact, they should go well from now on...but God might just play the Grinch and take it all away.  I know this reality far too well.  Just over a week ago, I actually corresponded with a teacher who was gushing over how well things had gone in first period...and almost immediately after responding to that email, I got a call from another teacher telling me that my son had done the worst of all the awful things he's ever done in school.  Disciplinary actions would have to be stronger.  Details would have to go in his permanent record.  I would have to meet with deans and school psychologists yet again.  Medication consults would have to be scheduled.  The timing...so soon after a hopeful email that made my heart glad...it seemed cruel and capricious indeed.  If it had happened a few years ago, that's exactly how I would have seen it.  And I still find little hints of that attitude popping up now and then.

Can you see how such attitudes would completely ruin whatever we received?

So how should you and I handle God's good gifts?

• Recognize the Giver, and receive His gifts accordingly.
• He is our loving, perfect Heavenly Father who does all things well.  Everything He sends to His children is love.  Love Him in return!
• He is the Heavenly Gardener who sends both sunshine and rain, at the right times and the right quantities (even though they might not seem right to me at the time).  Trust Him.
• He's the Great Physician.  He sees how sin has broken us, and He knows how to set the bones so they'll grow straight and strong again.  If the setting process is painful, it's still done in love.  Submit to His care.

• Recognize the gift, and receive it accordingly.
• It is given as a secondary gift.  The primary gift that God gives is Himself.  He is the greatest good.  And He is always there for His children, even when His gifts are not obviously given. So receive each gift as a secondary thing.  Treasure it...but treasure Him more.
• It is given for a particular time.  It will probably not last forever, but it will last as long as God deems best. Do not fear that it will be taken away prematurely.  It may well be taken away before you'd like it to be, but His timing is perfect.  So enjoy the gift thoroughly, even as you hold it loosely.  
• It is an act of His love, not a test of His love.  The proof of His love came at Calvary, when He gave infinitely above and beyond all reasonable doubt of His love.  He gave His life to purchase eternity for you!  (Imagine if your own children doubted your love between every meal, viewed each mealtime as a test of your love, received each meal as proof.  Of course you would be terribly grieved by that kind of distrust.  And if your love should be obvious to your children, shouldn't God's love be obvious to His children? You can trust the love of the one who died for you (See Rom 8:32).

• Recognize the recipients of the gift.  Yes, I said recipients - plural.  Let's go back to my pleasant morning as an example.  It was a gift to me, of course, but it was also a gift to the child in question, his father, his siblings, his teachers, his classmates, and anyone else who could benefit from the good start we all enjoyed.  In fact, the recipients include YOU, the reader of this blog.  This entry wouldn't have happened today without the good morning that made me think these things through.  Only God is wise enough to weave together all of the threads of our lives in ways that make everything work out for the good of everyone who loves Him.  When you realize how many people are involved, it's easier to accept the fact that "The Good" is far more complex than you or I can comprehend.  Expand your view beyond yourself, and then trust God to make it all work out the way it should.

"Thank You, Lord, for this morning.  I know it came from Your loving hand, but I also know that the hard mornings also come from Your loving hand.  I trust You with all of it.  Thank You for the good that You plan to bring out of it all, not just for me, but for all those who are touched by our family, directly or indirectly.  I don't know if the phone is about to ring with bad news, or if things will seemingly "go wrong" in some other way...or if this wonderful peacefulness will last for a good long while.  Whatever you place in my hands, I willingly receive.  And whatever you take from my hands, I willingly relinquish.  In the Name of the One who died for me, Amen!"

Are You Preparing for Terrorism?

Photo credit: 

Public Domain - Wikipedia 

The headline greeted me over breakfast this morning.

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Al-Qaeda Calls for PA*-Style Arson in America

Al-Qaeda’s Inspire magazine calls on readers to “unleash hell”

with arson attacks similar to decades of attacks targeting Israel.
(*PA = "Palestinian Authority")

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Am I ready?  Are you?  Just how does one prepare for an enemy like militant Islam?

The Web is full of advice of all sorts.

There are those who will tell you to stockpile food and weapons.

There are those who will tell you to move to a remote location to protect your family and your worldly wealth.

There are those who will tell you that you should refuse to believe anything negative about the "Religion of Peace," because it's all a bunch of propaganda.  They say you should love your neighbor by refusing to believe even their stated plans to annihilate you.

Paranoia versus rose-colored delusion.

"Hate your neighbor" versus "Ignore your real neighbor and love the imaginary neighbor you'd prefer to believe you have."

Are those the only two choices?

Are you preparing for terrorism?

You'd better be.  But how?

How did Jesus prepare for the onslaught He knew was coming?

We can ask ourselves, “Does this attitude, this approach, this action look like Jesus on the cross?” If our attitude, approach, and action cannot be reasonably compared to the image of the cruciform, we need to abandon it. Caesar may adopt it, it may be practical, it may even be “successful,” but if it’s not Christlike, then it’s not our pattern. Without a radical commitment to the shape of the cruciform, the process of deformation will continue year after year, and our beauty will be lost.

Zahnd, Brian (2012-01-03). Beauty Will Save the World: Rediscovering the allure and mystery of Christianity (pp. 18-19). Strang Communications. Kindle Edition.

What did Jesus do when He knew His own personal "terrorist" enemies would soon kill Him?

He refused to confuse His kingdom with worldly kingdoms, and therefore he rejected worldly tactics, priorities, and goals.

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus answered,  “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?”

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth." (Excerpted from John 18:33-37)

Jesus knew who He was, He knew His purpose, He knew how to achieve it.  And He submitted to His Father all the way to death, "even death on a cross" (Php 2:8).

How many revolutionaries from Jesus' era can you name?  How many who took up arms still have kingdoms?  Which arms changed the world most...arms of warfare, or arms outstretched to receive the nails? Which arms do you believe in? Which arms saved you (if indeed you are saved)? Which can save your neighbor?

Who reigns?  More specifically, who reigns over YOU?  In which kingdom do you live...the kingdom of Satan or the kingdom of God?

Be careful how you answer, because your choice of kingdom and King will determine what goals and priorities you pursue, and what tactics you will use to achieve them.

How did Jesus prepare?

He stayed firmly in the Kingdom of God, in total submission to His Father, in humility, in death to all that the world offers, in love for His friends, and in love for His enemies.  He prayed in agony for deliverance, but chose the Father's will over His own.

He went about doing good to all (Acts 10:38), even though He knew many would turn away from Him (John 6:66).

He washed the feet of Judas (John 13:1-19).

He healed a man in the mob who arrested Him, while rebuking the disciple who attacked the man (John 18:10-11)

He prayed for those who persecuted Him, just as He commanded us to do.

There they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  (Luke 23:34)

But His preparation didn't begin on those last agonizing days.  He'd been preparing all along. Washing Judas' feet was not a one-time, token act done for illustrative purposes.  He loved His enemies all along (though sometimes with a tough love that they probably didn't perceive as such). He lived in humble submission to His Father since before Day One.  He renounced the kingdoms of this world in a dramatic fashion when Satan offered them to Him (Luke 4:5-8), but also in an everyday fashion when He refused a life of ease and comfort (Matt 8:20).

How do we prepare for persecution?

We prepare the same way Jesus did...by trusting, obedient faith.

We love the Father with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  If we don't do it now, we won't do it when persecution comes.

We love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 22:36-39), even if they're our enemies (Matt 5:44-48).  We love them in whatever small ways are available to us now, so that we'll be ready when the "big ways" are required of us.  If we don't do it now, we won't do it when persecution comes.  (If you don't believe that, ask yourself this question:  "What keeps me aloof from the people I see in Muslim garb?"  The answer that probably comes immediately to your mind is, "I don't have any way of knowing if they're the peaceful kind or the militant kind."  Well, what if they are the militant kind?  What if they are?  If you're not committed to obeying Christ in loving your enemy, then you won't be able to love the stranger who "just might be" your enemy.)

We humbly serve (Luke 10:33-37).  If we don't do it now, we won't do it when persecution comes.

We reject all tactics, priorities, and goals that belong in Satan's kingdom, and pursue "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17).  If we don't do it now, we won't do it when persecution comes.

We seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and leave the care of our earthly lives to Him (Matt 6:33).  If we don't do it now, we won't do it when persecution comes.

We take up our cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23).  If we don't do it now, we won't do it when persecution comes.

"Following Jesus means preparing to die—daily. Every day we must deny ourselves the expectation of comfort and safety, and we must courageously face whatever persecution our allegiance to Jesus stirs up, even to the point of death." Sidders, Greg (2011-04-01). The Invitation (p. 57). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition. 

I'm going to prepare for persecution today.  How?  By settling the question of kingdom allegiance in my mind, so that I can say along with Paul, "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Php 1:20-21).

And then, with the kingdom of Christ as my priority, I will leave the question of persecution behind.  Forget about it.  Because either way, whether that Muslim at Sam's Club is peaceful or not, I'm determined that Christ will be honored in my body. To really live for Christ is all about humbly loving, serving, and submitting to Him.

And dying for Him is all about exactly the same thing.

So I'll prepare for persecution (without even thinking about persecution) by loving and serving in whatever ways He calls me to.  

I'll prepare for it (without even thinking about it) by loving my angry teen (and repenting when I fail to love him).  

I'll prepare for it (without even thinking about it) by repenting of my anger toward the driver who cuts me off, and choosing to pray for him instead.  

I'll prepare for it (without even thinking about it) by treasuring Christ above all.  I'll do it all very imperfectly, but even that will turn to His glory as He forgives and restores me.  And a thousand daily acts of loving obedience and service will change who I am.  (And Heaven knows, “who I am” needs a lot of changing!)

I'm eager to get to know a whole multitude of Christians who are learning to love, to smile, to be fearlessly humble, to serve, to fall but repent with joyful gratitude and seek the kingdom first again.

I want to live among the people who are growing to understand what Elisabeth Elliot (widow of martyr Jim Elliot) meant when she said,

"Is the distinction between living for Christ

and dying for Him, after all, so great?"

Are you with me?

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Please note:  I am not advocating a position of complete pacifism.  I do believe that there can be such a thing as a "just war."  I will not publish any comments which seek to create a debate over the concept of "just war."  This post is about how individuals in our day-to-day civilian lives are to live in The Kingdom.  Any dissenting views MUST be civil, and MUST be based on the common ground of submission to Christ.

Sharing in the Father's Love

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I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Jesus, John 17:26

Jesus wanted us to know the very love that God the Father had for Him. Not to know it academically, as if we should all sit back and say, "Oh, I see, God loves Jesus this much."

No, Jesus wants that love to be "in us." He wants us to feel it in our bones, our hearts, our souls. He wants it to so fill us that it controls our every thought and action, just as it did Christ's.

Jesus described it simply as, "The love with which You (the Father) have loved Me (the Son)."

Is this a warm-fuzzy kind of love? The kind that sends us off to a life of ease and prosperity?

Where did the Father's love send Jesus?

You see, Calvary wasn't just about loving us, though of course that's huge. But even through the scourgings, the mockings, the nails, the agonies of heart and soul, the bitter taste of death…even through all of these, the Father was loving the Son. And the Father did not love as a helpless onlooker, the way the women looked on at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40).

God sent Jesus there. In love. God wielded the whip through human hands. God drove the nails. God left Him feeling forsaken. In love. In love. In love.

It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. (Isa 53:10 KJV)

What kind of love is that?

Do we really want to share in it?

Jesus wants us to! He said so when He prayed in the Upper Room, immediately before walking His disciples to Gethsemane where their nightmare, and His, would begin in earnest. And in that same prayer He talked more about His desire for us:

…that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. (John 17:13)

Joy? Can that possibly be compatible with the kind of love that sent Jesus to Calvary?

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 16:25)

Somehow, when we lose our life, we find it…and in finding it, we finally find our joy.

And where will we find our life?

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col 3:3-4)

Somehow, in a way that boggles our fleshly minds, our greatest joy comes from experiencing God's love just as the Son experienced it…even on Calvary's road. Not by experiencing things which parallel Christ's experiences, but by experiencing Christ on that road…and through Him, experiencing the Father.

…that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:26

So how was the Father's love expressed to the Son throughout His life and agony and death? And how do we experience it?

Any thoughts?

Grace that Empathizes

 

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15 NIV)

In His time on Earth, Jesus of course endured lots of temptations.  Hebrews tells us that He was tempted in all points, just as we are.  People rubbed Him the wrong way…no doubt even worse than they do to us, because His holy nature would be far more repulsed by sin than ours is.  There were days in his youth when the drudgery of the carpenter's shop must have been hard to bear, with all the wide world calling to Him.  As a man He doubtless saw the local prostitutes skulking in alleys, and heard their darkly alluring invitations.  Holy nature or not, He still wore human flesh, with all its weaknesses. 

He did not give in to it.  But He knows the pull, the yearnings, the hungers, the pain of unfulfilled desires that we all feel.

Is that the full extent of His sympathy?  Does He understand merely because He was tempted too?  Or is there even more to it than that?

Jesus bore our sins (1 Pet 2:24).  Was that just a legal transaction?  Or did He also bear the sufferings that our sins cause?

You know, I have been tempted to doubt Heb 4:15 on one point.  How could Jesus know my temptation to feel discouraged and quit because of personal failure?  He never failed.

But what if His understanding goes far beyond His personal life experiences?  What if part of the hell of Calvary for Him was the experience of every soul agony you and I ever felt?  Even the discouragement, the failure, the guilt?

Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows (Isa 53:4).

Not just His own sorrows, as similar as they may have been to our own.  He bore our sorrows.

Ours.

Why not?  If the Lord could lay our iniquities on Him, could He not also lay our griefs and sorrows on Him? 

God's Word says He did.  Do you believe Him?

He says that believers are His body.  Is that just a metaphor, or is there some miraculous sense in which He has encompassed all who believe, and has made us a part of Himself? 

How closely has He identified Himself with us?

When you picture Him dying for you, do you see it as a transaction carried out from a distance?  Is it as if He were a philanthropist who heard that a stranger was wearing the chains of slavery, and sent money to have her freed?

Or do you see Him as one who loved so much that He came and married the slave, giving her His Name and completely identifying with her…even, shall we say, becoming one flesh with her, so that she became a part of His body? 

Did Jesus really leave His Father and come down to do that for me?  For you?

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. (Eph 5:31-32)

Do you see Him as a husband who wraps Himself protectively around His wife as the whips lash at her, so that the blows fall on Him too?  Do you see Him wrapping us up in Himself in an embrace so firm that death itself could not break it?  Do you see Him bringing us with Him back out of the grave, resurrected with Him to a new life as part of His own body?

Is that really what it means to be "in Christ?"

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:3)

If He has identified Himself that closely with us who believe, then isn't it true that our sufferings become His, just as His became ours?

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isa 53:5)

Listen to these holy words from the Apostle Paul:

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. (Col 1:24)

How could anything be lacking in Christ's sufferings?  Surely His sufferings were sufficient, weren't they?

Well of course they were.  Christ has done all of the paying for sin, and all of His part of the experiencing of our sorrows.  All that is lacking is our part of the experience.  And why do we have to suffer at all, if He suffered already?  So that we can experience the sweet fellowship with Him that only comes through suffering (Php 3:10), and so that we can comfort others (2 Co 1:3-5).

We may not be able to understand it all, but if we truly see how much He shares our afflictions and bears our burdens, and how much love accompanies all of the suffering that He allows into our lives, surely it will make our hurts more bearable, and our loving Father more precious in our sight.

He asks nothing of us that He has not already borne for us.  Go to Him, heavy-burdened one, and let Him give you rest.

To Hate Sin, Consider God’s Goodness

Part 4 in a series

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Know and consider the wonderful love and mercy of God, and think what he has done for you; and you will hate sin, and be ashamed of it. It is an aggravation which makes sin odious even to common reason and ingenuity, that we should offend a God of infinite goodness, who has filled up our lives with mercy. It will grieve you if you have wronged an extraordinary friend: his love and kindness will come into your thoughts, and make you angry with your own unkindness. Here look over the catalogue of God’s mercies to you, for soul and body. And here observe that Satan, in hiding the love of God from you, and tempting you under the pretence of humility to deny his greatest, special mercy, seeks to destroy your repentance and humiliation, also, by hiding the greatest aggravation of your sin. ~From Richard Baxter (1615-1691), "Directions for Hating Sin."

I had to go look up the word “aggravation” to try to understand how it was used in the quote above. One of its meanings is, “Action that makes a problem or a disease (or its symptoms) worse.” So what Baxter is pointing out is something we all instinctively know…it’s bad for a dog to bite, but it’s worse for him to bite the hand that feeds him. It’s bad to sin no matter what, but it’s worse to sin against purity, innocence, and goodness. The goodness of God makes our sinfulness against Him even worse.

But what if we don’t understand the goodness of the one we’re sinning against?

As I’ve been trying to point out in previous posts, we have to re-think our ideas of purity, innocence, and goodness. In our modern culture, we associate innocence with naiveté. We think of sensitivity as weakness, and paint our heroes with the brush of callousness towards sin. We admire the “hard-bitten” fellows who’ve been around the block a few times. Innocence and purity are nice things for children, but in adults they’re an aberration, freakish and out-of-touch.

We don’t call moral filth “dirty” anymore. We just call it “adult entertainment.” By implication then, those of us who don’t consume filth are childish, inferior, and stunted in our development. In our culture, a call to innocence and purity is a call to regression. It insults the pride of those who think that sin is sophistication.

And so we have ceased to honor the purity and innocence of our Lord. He is viewed as obsolete, and his followers as childish, timid “do-gooders” who can’t cope with the realities that mature adults can handle with ease.

Why do we see it that way?

Because it’s true that, among sinful creatures like ourselves, innocence only accompanies infancy. The longer we live, the more our “eyes are opened” to sin. The kind of innocence we’re familiar with is the kind which cannot survive “hard knocks” in the “real world.”

That’s why, as far as many people are concerned, if God is still innocent, then He is a naive inferior; one whom our culture is tired of humoring. Let Him go entertain Himself with His baby toys if that’s what makes Him happy, but He’d better leave the rest of us alone to enjoy the perks of our adulthood.

And if that’s how we view “innocence” and “purity” in our culture, then how do we view “goodness?” Quite simply, we view it by how it affects us or reflects on us. And we attach the word “goodness” to actions more than to people. Therefore we conclude that it does not matter if our politicians exhibit a degraded moral character, as long as we approve of the laws they pass. We reject moral absolutes, excusing even the grossest perversion by saying, “Whom does it hurt?” Goodness matters only if we, or someone we care about, are the ones adversely affected by its absence. “Too much” goodness is viewed with the same condescension that is aimed toward innocence.

As a culture, we’re proud of our sin. And yet to us, a voice 300 years dead says, “Know and consider the wonderful love and mercy of God, and think what he has done for you; and you will hate sin, and be ashamed of it.”

I hope to God that we have not come so far in our degradation that we’re past feeling such an appeal. Perhaps we could feel the force of those words more strongly if we had clearer thoughts of what God’s attributes really are.

His innocence and purity are not naiveté. He sees the horror of sin far more clearly than you and I can. His innocence exists because, despite all of history’s insults towards Him, all of the evil which has infected and perverted His creation, even all of the temptations which He faced when He wore human flesh, he still remains powerfully uncompromising. There is no darkness in Him. He remains, and always will remain, unutterably Holy.

Humanity’s “eyes were opened” in Eden when we believed the lie and ate of the forbidden fruit. But our eyes were opened only to see how life appears when viewed by warped, depraved souls. Sin is like a psychedelic drug. It enables people to see distortions we could not see before, but it also blinds us to truth, renders us useless, and at the same time convinces us that we’ve entered a higher plane.

When humans “lose our innocence,” it is not because we have seen sin, but because when we are exposed to sin, we feel the dormant sin in our own hearts stirring to life. We are drawn, even by that which horrifies us. We are deceived and lured toward our own destruction. We’ve discovered the part of ourselves that falls for the lie every time. And we tend to congratulate ourselves for making this discovery. We’re not children anymore!

God is undeceived. His goodness, purity, and innocence are not things which shrink away from evil with a horrified shudder, crying “I can’t handle it!” He is not somehow our inferior. Instead, because of His goodness and innocence, he destroys evil with unquenchable fire.

Yes, mercy is part of God’s goodness, and it’s flowing right now with unfathomable generosity. But justice is also a vital part of goodness, and the day is coming when justice will decisively act against sin. Justice and mercy are but two sides of the same “coin” of God’s goodness, and to reject one side is to reject both.

God’s goodness offers merciful forgiveness to sinners now, and God’s goodness will one day withdraw that offer from those who reject it, and will render the goodness of retributive justice in its place. Will you be one who received His mercy by repenting of sin and turning to Him as your life, your joy, your all? Or will you be one who treasured your sinful “sophistication” and despised His goodness?

It will depend on your view of sin, and your view of His goodness. I pray that, in considering His goodness, you will find yourself hating the sin that would separate you from His kindness and mercy.

Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Rom 2:4 (HCSB)

The Proof of God’s Love (Part 2)

A sermon by G. H. Morrison in Glasgow, Scotland, 1920.

(edited for length)

"God commendeth His own love to us," so the text reads. What is the love, then, that is commended so?

Like life, love is of many kinds. There is a love that ennobles and casts a radiance upon life. There is a love that drags the lover down into the mouth of hell. There is a love that many waters cannot quench. There is a love that is disguised lust. What kind of love then is God's love proved to be from His commendation of it?

And first, splendidly visible is this, it is a love that thought no sacrifice too great. The surest test of love is sacrifice. We measure love, as we should measure her twin-brother life, "by loss and not by gain, not by the wine drunk but by the wine poured forth." Look at the mother with her child. She sacrifices ease and sleep, and she would sacrifice life too for her little one, and she thinks nothing of it all, she loves her baby so. Think of the patriot and his country. He counts it joy to drain his dearest veins, he loves his land so well. Recall the scholar at his books. Amusements and sleep, he almost spurns them. His love for learning is so deep he hardly counts them loss. Yes, in the willingness to sacrifice all that is dearest lies the measure of the noblest love.

Turn now to Calvary, turn to the Cross, and by the sight of the crucified Redeemer there, begin to learn the greatness of God's love. Come, who is this that hangs between two thieves with pierced hands and feet? And who is this whose back is wealed with scars, whose face is fouled with spittle? Yes, who is this the passers-by are mocking? See, He is sorrowful even unto death. Hark, He cries, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46)

Wonder, O heavens, and be amazed, O earth; this is none other than God's only begotten Son. Did ever mother, did ever patriot, did ever human lover in the zeal of love make any sacrifice to be compared with that of God, when He gave His only begotten Son to shame and death that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish?

Ah! sir, measuring the love of God by such a test as this, we touch its height and depth and length and breadth, and then do we not cry out with Paul, "It passeth knowledge" (Eph. 3:19).

Again, I look at the love of God that our text speaks of, and now I see it is a love that never sprang from the sight of anything lovable in us. I suppose in this gathering to-day we have many loveless hearts. There are dead souls within this house of God to-day, all whose affections are slain. And yet I am sure of this, that in all this company there is not one heart but once has loved. Father or mother, son or daughter, husband or wife, once, if not now, you loved them. They were your heart's desire, to them your souls were knit.

Well, then, I want you now to recall that love again. I want you to try and trace it to its source. I want you to tell me whence it sprang. Was it the natural outflow of your heart, the welling-over of your nature regardless of the person loved? Or was it not rather some excellence, or worth, or beauty, some charm that made an indefinable appeal, that caught and held the tendrils of your heart? Yes, it was that. It was all you saw, and all you knew, and all you conjured, that drew your love out. You loved and you loved only, because you found those worthy to be loved.

And it is just here that, wide as the poles, God's love stands separated from all the love of men. "God commendeth His love, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." God longs to love me into something lovable. But not for anything lovable in me did He love me first. While I was yet a sinner He loved me. While I hated Him He loved me. While I was fighting against Him in the rebellious years He loved me. If we love Him, it is because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Such causeless love is wonderful, passing the love of women.

Again I turn to the love of God our text speaks of, and now I see it is a love splendid in its righteousness. Some of the saddest tragedies in human life spring from the moral weakness of the deepest love. How many a mother who would have laid her life down for her son, she loved him so, has only helped him down the road to ruin by the immoral weakness of her love. How many a father, to spare his own heart the bitter agony of punishing his child, has let his child grow up unchastened. Such love as that is fatal. Sooner or later it tarnishes the thought of fatherhood in the child's eyes. For in his views of fatherhood the child can find no place now for earnest hatred of the wrong, and passionate devotion to the right; and so the image of fatherhood is robbed of all its powers.

Brethren, I do not hesitate to say, that if out of the page of history you wipe the atoning death on Calvary, you carry that tragedy of weakness into the very heavens. Blot out the Cross and I, a child of heaven, can never be uplifted and inspired by the thought of the Divine Fatherhood again. Yes, I have sinned, and know it. I deserve chastisement, and know it. And shall my Father never whisper a word of punishment? and never breathe His horror at my fall? And will He love me, and be kind to me right through it all without a word of warning? I tell you the moment I would believe that, the glory of the Divine Fatherhood is tarnished for me; God's perfect love of goodness and awful hatred of the wrong are dimmed; and all the impulse and enthusiasm these divine passions bring sink out of my life for ever.

But when I turn to Calvary, and to that awful death I see a love as righteous as it is wonderful. Sin must be punished, although the Well-beloved has to die. And the divine anger at iniquity must be revealed, though the curse fall upon the Son of God. The awful sight of that atoning death assures me of the perfect righteousness of God in the very moment that it assures me of His love. I see the divine hatred of iniquity; I see the divine need that sin be punished; I see the divine sanction of everlasting law in the very glance that commends to me the everlasting love.

And now with renewed trust I cast myself into the arms of that heavenly love. With heart and soul and strength and mind I accept it as it is commended to me upon the Cross. I live rejoicing in the Fatherhood of God. I go to every task and every trial assured of this, that neither height, nor depth, nor life nor death, nor any other creature can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord. (Romans 8:39). Amen.

The Proof of God’s Love (Part 1)

The Proof of God's Love

A sermon by G.H. Morrison in Glasgow, Scotland, 1920

(edited for length)

"God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8.

What is it to “commend?” It is to exhibit, to demonstrate, to prove. This, then, must be our theme to-day, the Cross of Calvary viewed as the unanswerable proof of the love of God. 

There are some attributes of God that need no proof. Some features of the Divine character are so universally conspicuous as to be self-evidencing. Think, for example, of God's power. If we believe in God at all we need no argument to convince us of His power. The mighty forces that engirdle us all cry aloud of that. The chambers of the deep, the chariot of the sun, are stamped with it. The devastating march of winter's storm, and, none the less, the timely calling of all the summer's beauty out of the bare earth, these things, and a thousand other things like these, teach us the power of God. We would not need the Cross if all that had to be proved was the Divine omnipotence.

Or take the wisdom of God. Is any argument needed to assure us in general of that? None. "Day unto day uttereth speech of it, and night unto night showeth forth its glory" (Psa. 19:2). Our bodies, so fearfully and so wonderfully made; our senses, linking us so strangely to the world without; our thought, so swift, so incomprehensible; and all the constancy of Nature, and all the harmony of part with part, and all the obedience of the starry worlds, and all the perfections of the wayside weed; these things, and a multitude of things like these, speak to the thinking mind of the wisdom of God.  That wisdom needs no formal proof. We would not need the Cross if all that had to be proved was the wisdom of God.

The love of God is not self-evident. It is not stamped upon creation like His power. It is not written on the nightly heavens like His wisdom. Nay, on the contrary, if it be a fact, it is a fact against which a thousand other facts are fighting.

Let me mention one or two of these things that have made it hard for men to believe in the love of God. One is the tremendous struggle for existence that is ceaselessly waged among all living things. Man fights with man, and beast with beast. To the seeing eye the world is all a battlefield, and every living creature in it is in arms, and fighting for its life.

Sir, can you wonder that men who have known all that, and nothing more than that, have ceased to believe in the love of God? Can you marvel that he who has no other argument for God's love than what Nature gives him, rejects as mockery the thought of the Divine compassion?

Or think again. There are the problems of human pain and sorrow and bereavement. Is it not very hard to reconcile these darker shadows with the light of heavenly love?  Can God be love, and never move a finger to ease your little child when he is screaming day and night in fearful agony? Ah! sir, you have had such thoughts as that. Confess them. When from your arms your dearest joy is torn away; when those who would not harm a living creature are bowed for years under intolerable pain, and when the wicked or the coarse seem to get all they wish, who has not cried, "Can God be love if He permits all this? How can God say He loves me, and yet deal with me as I could never have the heart to deal with one I loved?"

Brethren, it is such facts as these that call for some unanswerable proof if we are to believe that God is love. And it is that proof which is afforded us in the Crucifixion of Christ Jesus. "God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)

The story of Nature may seem to tell against this truth that every heart hungers to believe. And the experiences of life may often seem to fight against it too. But as we read the story of that atoning death, all doubts are overborne. Nothing but love, love wonderful, love matchless, will explain the Cross.

When we have gazed in faith upon the Cross of Christ, we never can seriously doubt the love of God again. I do not mean that difficulties vanish. I do not say that problems disappear. Much that was dark before remains dark still; but now we bow the head and say we know in part, and with patience wait to be satisfied in the morning. We can be ignorant and dark and even fretful still, but we can never doubt the love of God again.

Love must be proved by deeds and not by words. No mere profession of the lip will ever satisfy the heart that longs to know another's love. Love's argument is service. Love's commendation lies in sacrifice. If you or I by any act suspect that we are hated, it is not any word, however warm, will ever blot that suspicion out. It is only some deed of love, clear, unmistakable, that will have power to do that.

See, then, the wisdom of our God. It is the facts of nature and of life, of history and of experience, that make it so hard to believe His love. He knows it all, and so the proof He offers of His love is a fact too. Facts must be met by facts. And all the dark facts in the world's story, God overwhelms by the great fact of Calvary. Yes, God so loved the world…not that He said or thought, but that He gave. Thanks be to Him for that.

Here is no word. Here is no empty protestation. Here is a deed tremendous, matchless, irresistible, and every opposing argument is silenced.

One other word before I leave this aspect of the case. The Bible does not say, “God commended,” it does not say, “God has commended;” it uses the perpetual present and says, God commendeth. There are some proofs for the being and attributes of God that serve their purpose, and then pass away. There are arguments that appeal to us in childhood, but lose their power in our maturer years. And there are proofs that may convince one generation, and yet be of little value to the next. Not a few evidences, such as that from design, which were very helpful to you, believer of an older school, are well-nigh worthless to your thinking son, imbued with the teaching of the present day.

But there is one argument that stands unshaken through every age and every generation. It is the triumphant argument of the Cross of Christ. Knowledge may widen, thought may deepen, theories may come and go; yet in the very center, unshaken and unshakable, stands Calvary, the lasting commendation of the love of God. To all the sorrowing and to all the doubting, to all the bitter and to all the eager, to every youthful heart, noble and generous, to every weary heart, burdened and dark, to-day and here, as 1900 years ago to all like hearts in Rome, "God commendeth His love, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."

Some Thoughts on The Cross

I don’t have “The Blessing of Hunger, Part 2” ready for you yet, but this is the week in which we especially remember Christ’s suffering and death on our behalf.  In honor of that, I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes about the Cross.

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You have not the making of your own cross, although unbelief is a master carpenter at cross-making; neither are you permitted to choose your own cross, although self-will would fain be lord and master; but your cross is prepared and appointed for you by divine love, and you are cheerfully to accept it.

 

Jesus was a cross-bearer; he leads the way in the path of sorrow.  Surely you could not desire a better guide!  And if he carried a cross, what nobler burden would you desire?

Beloved, the cross is not made of feathers, or lined with velvet, it is heavy and galling to disobedient shoulders; but it is not an iron cross, though your fears have painted it with iron colours, it is a wooden cross, and a man can carry it, for the Man of sorrows tried the load. Take up your cross, and by the power of the Spirit of God you will soon be so in love with it, that like Moses, you would not exchange the reproach of Christ for all the treasures of Egypt. Remember that Jesus carried it, and it will smell sweetly; remember that it will soon be followed by the crown, and the thought of the coming weight of glory will greatly lighten the present heaviness of trouble. The Lord help you to bow your spirit in submission to the divine will ere you fall asleep this night, that waking with to-morrow’s sun, you may go forth to the day’s cross with the holy and submissive spirit which becomes a follower of the Crucified.

Spurgeon

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It is not necessary for any man to make a cross; it is our part simply to take up that which God has laid down for us.  The cross is the constant refusal to gratify our self-life; the perpetual dying to pride and self-indulgence, in order to follow Christ.  When we live only to save ourselves, to build warm nests, to avoid every discomfort and annoyance, to make money entirely for our own use and enjoyment, to invent schemes for our own pleasure, we become the most discontented and miserable of mankind.  How many there are who have given themselves up to a life of selfishness and pleasure-seeking, only to find their capacity for joy has shriveled, and their lives have plunged into gloom and despair.  They have lost their souls!

F. B. Meyer

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You will never fathom the bravery of Christ unless you bear in mind that Christ was sinless. For sin is always coarsening and deadening—"it hardens all within and petrifies the feeling." And it is when we think that Jesus Christ was sinless, and being sinless was exquisitely sensitive, that we come to realize the matchless fortitude that carried Him without a falter to the cross.

G. H. Morrison

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The Extravagant Artist

Image via Wikipedia

What kind of artist makes delicate masterpieces of exquisite, beautiful detail…and then throws them on the ground?

Who makes millions of icy jewels…no two alike…and lets them fall in the farthest reaches of the earth where no human eye will ever see them?

No one would do such a thing…unless he had unlimited resources and an infinite imagination, so that quintillions of priceless gems could be created and destroyed without depleting his treasury at all.

Who would take pleasure in such unseen creations, except the one who sees them all? The one who can thrill to every minuscule, glittering detail of each precious flake, even though the recipients barely can see them at all.

Who could find joy in such giving, except one whose love knows no bounds?

Have you entered the treasury of snow? (Job 38:22)

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