August 6, 2015

"It (always) trusts, always hopes....." I Corinthians 13:7

The great Mark Twain once said, "If a cat sits on a hot stove it won't sit on a hot stove again. But it won't sit on a cold one either!"

All good humor has an element of truth and Twain's statement is absolutely true!

After a brief chuckle, ask yourself, "What is his point in this humorous remark?"

His point is this, if you get burned in life it is much harder to trust after that. If you have been on planet Earth more than a year or two you have been burnt in a relationship or a business deal or in a church.

Once you have had your trust betrayed, how much harder is it to trust again?

Been there and done that? 

Have a few trust issues?

When you lose trust you also lose hope, don't you?

How can you trust again?

How do you have your hope restored?

The good news it there is a love that makes it possible to trust again.

There is a love you can hope in!

Trust me on this!

No, actually, trust Him on this!

You want to trust again, I know you do! Life is too lonely when you can't trust.

The word used for trust in the original has the idea of "trying to trust" or "being willing to trust". If you are willing to trust God He will help you! He will prove Himself to you!

All you have to do is be willing to approach the stove again and He will touch it for you to show you that it is safe! He will let you know which stoves are hot and which ones are safe!

Here's what you need to understand about this portion of Scripture. It not only demonstrates how you are to love but it describes how you are loved! God believes in you even when you struggle to believe in Him! 

So, if you have trust issues trust Him with them!

August 5, 2015

"(love) always trusts, always hopes,,,,,," I Corinthians 13:7

Many wedding ceremonies contain a phrase to this effect, "And to you I pledge you my faith..."

In other words, the bride and groom promise to one another, "You can trust in me! You can put your hope in me!"

There is an undeniable connection between love and trust. 

Can you love someone you don't trust?

Can you pin your hopes in someone you don't trust?

Can you trust someone whom you can't pin your hopes on?

If you answered, "No!", give yourself a Popsicle!"

You cannot love someone you do not trust or don't respect.

So, "love ALWAYS trusts".

Some translations render this "love always believes".

The root word for trust means having a willingness to believe or an eagerness to give the benefit of the doubt.

Trust is something that must be given but it is also something that must be received. The word used here has elements of both! It is willing to give trust because it has received the trust of God. It is certainly easier to trust others when you have learned to trust God! It's nearly impossible to love if you are cynical or suspicious of others.

Here's something you can trust. Whether you give God the benefit of the doubt or not, He has given you the benefit of the doubt! 

"God demonstrated His love for you in this way, while you were yet sinners Christ died for you." Romans 8:28

When you think of God's love and how He loves you think of this, He believes in you! He always gives you the benefit of the doubt!

Will you choose to believe in Him? 

Will you always give Him the benefit of the doubt?

Will you give Him the trust He has earned?

Will you trust Him in your struggles today?

August 4, 2015

"You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;I will counsel you and watch over you.  Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.  Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!" Psalm 32:7-11

Guilt originated in Eden with Adam and Eve. That is because sin began with them and guilt is the result of sin.

One of the truly heart-wrenching scenes in the Bible is that tragic moment when God comes to the garden looking forward to His fellowship with the man and his wife. But they are not there in the usual place. God calls out, "Adam! Adam! Where are you?"

Where was Adam?

Adam was hiding from the God Who created Him in the garden He had created for him. Was this a game of hide and seek?

No. It was far from a game. It was more about shame. Adam knew he had disobeyed God and he was feeling the guilt. He felt the guilt because He was guilty.

So, here we are all these centuries later and the guilt from our sins still causes us to hide from God. Sin and guilt have no place in the presence of God.

This is the primary reason that sin is so bad. Sin causes you to hide FROM God when you were created to hide IN Him.

That is precisely why forgiveness is so good! Forgiveness removes the sin AND the guilt allowing you to hide IN God!

You can choose to remain in your guilt or you can revel in His grace and forgiveness!

Think of all the blessings you will enjoy as you reside in God's grace:

1) "you will protect me from trouble"

2) "surround me with songs of deliverance"

3) "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go"

4) "I will counsel you and watch over you"

5) "the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him"

Wow!

It sure makes a different to hide in God's grace!

What about you? 

Are you hiding in God or are you hiding from Him?

August 3, 2015

"Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin." Psalm 32:5

Forgiveness is like the eraser on the pencil.

Forgiveness is like a mulligan on the first tee.

Forgiveness is the cop letting you off with just a warning.

Forgiveness is a do-over when you have made a major blunder.

Forgiveness lifts the elephant off your chest.

In his great book, "What's So Amazing About Grace", Phillip Yancey tells the story of a prodigal daughter who grows up in Traverse City, Michigan. Disgusted with her old fashioned parents who overreact to her nose ring, the music she listens to, the length of her skirts, she runs away. She ends up in Detroit where she meets a man who drives the biggest car she’s ever seen. The man with the big car – she calls him “Boss” – recognizes that since she’s underage, men would pay premium for her. So she goes to work for him. Things are good for a while. Life is good. But she gets sick for a few days, and it amazes her how quickly the boss turns mean. Before she knows it, she’s out on the street without a penny to her name. She still turns a couple of tricks a night, and all the money goes to support her drug habit.

One night while sleeping on the metal grates of the city, she began to feel less like a woman of the world and more like a little girl. She begins to whimper. “God, why did I leave. My dog back home eats better than I do now.” She knows that more than anything in the world, she wants to go home. Three straight calls home get three straight connections with the answering machine. Finally she leaves a message. “Mom, dad, its me. I was wondering about maybe coming home. I’m catching a bus up your way, and it’ll get there about midnight tomorrow. If you’re not there, I‘ll understand.” During the seven hour bus ride, she’s preparing a speech for her father. And when the bus comes to a stop in the Traverse City station, the driver announces the fifteen-minute stop. Fifteen minutes to decide her life.

She walks into the terminal not knowing what to expect. But not one of the thousand scenes that have played out in her mind prepares her for what she sees. There in the bus terminal in Traverse City, Michigan, stands a group of forty brothers and sisters and great-aunts and uncles and cousins and a grandmother and a great-grandmother to boot. They’re all wearing goofy party hats and blowing noise-makers, and taped across the entire wall of the terminal is a computer-generated banner that reads – Welcome Home!

Out of the crowd of well-wishers breaks her dad. She stares out through the tears quivering in her eyes and begins her memorized speech. He interrupts her. “Hush, child. We’ve got no time for that. No time for apologies. We’ll be late. A big party is waiting for you at home!

That's forgiveness - God-style! He takes your penalty and gives you His peace and throws you a party!

August 2, 2015

"It (love) always protects....."  I Corinthians 13:7

There is one more point I want to make on this topic of love protecting before I move on to love's next virtue.

God's love covers us even before we are believers. It is His grace that draws us to salvation by His activity in our heart and mind. The theological term for this pre-conversion work of God leading to faith is called "prevenient grace" or grace that goes before.

Not one of us who are born again Christ followers would have come to faith without His love covering us even before we were aware of His love.

Prevenient grace covers people in another significant way. Because Jesus died for sinners and rose again on the third day, His sacrificial atonement for sin covered you and while we were still to innocent or immature to understand the difference between right and wrong. Even though we are all born as sinners because of our fallen sinful nature, God does not hold us morally responsible for sin until we can understand what sin is.

So, the take away from that is all young children are covered by grace until they reach that age of moral accountability. While that age may vary from individual to individual it covers all. If an infant or young child should die or be killed that child will go to Heaven by virtue of Christ's atoning sacrifice. Prevenient grace covers each and every child!

In light of the recent horrific revelations about Planned Parenthood's heinous activities involving the dismembering and sale of organs and body parts from aborted babies there is some consolation in knowing that those helpless innocent little souls go directly to Heaven when they are murdered by the abortionist. The prevenient grace of God protects and covers them. 

I'm afraid I can't say the same for the evil abortionists.

In the 42 years since Roe vs. Wade, 60,000,000 precious innocent defenseless children have been brutally murdered before they ever had the chance to draw a breath. This evil grieves my heart more than I can express. But in His great love, mercy and grace, God has provided protection for their souls through the grace of Jesus. So, every one of those 60,000,000 who never got to live on earth will live forever in Heaven!

Love always protects!

Love has you covered!

Love has your back!

When you know and when you don't!

August 1, 2015

"But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.…" Isaiah 53:5-6

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? I cry out by day but you do not answer me, by night, I find no rest. You are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors out their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”  Psalm 22:1-7

Love protects! You always protect what you love, there's no denying that!

We have established that God's affection is your protection! His love puts a covering of Divine protection over everything and everyone He loves!

I referenced the story of Adam and Eve and how God protected them from themselves and their own rebellious spirit. I showed you examples of God's protection of His people in Egypt during the plagues. I referenced how God delivered His people in the Passover through the blood of a lamb on the door posts. And I showed you how He protected His people from Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea! What threatened to destroy them God used to deliver them!

Today I want to show you one heart-breaking example of one time God did not protect someone He loved. That was the time God allowed His beloved Son, Jesus to suffer a cruel persecution and death in order to cover you and me from our sins! The Father turned His back on His own Son and stayed His protective hand to allow His Son to become the Lamb of God Who took away the sins of the world.

God's love for you caused Him to lift His protection from His own Son! God left His Son uncovered in order to cover your sin.

Now do you see what I mean when I say, "His affection is your protection?"

July 31, 2015

The third example of God’s great protection is the dramatic story of the Red Sea. Let me again illustrate God’s protection from a few selected verses:

“Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt. ”Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” Exodus 14:19-31

Let me highlight several phrases from this amazing story:

1) “The pillar of cloud (and fire) moved from before them to behind them……”

God literally had their back!

2) “Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side…”

For their protection God covered His people with light and kept the Egyptians in the darkness.

3) “During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion…..”

The last watch of the night was the hours from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. That was generally considered the time of heightened activity by demonic spirits. But during those hours God had them covered!

4) “God turned their destruction into their deliverance – His affection was their protection!”

When His people were sure Moses had led them into a vulnerable place and God had forsaken them to be destroyed by the Egyptians, God proved His love and faithful by miraculously turning their destruction into their deliverance! They learned what you and I must remember, God’s protection is as sure as His love!

This thought reminds me of a precious promise from another portion of I Corinthians, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” I Corinthians 10:13

His affection IS your protection!