June 15, 2015

"The Lord is the stronghold of my life — of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1b 

Here is some good news from this great 27th Psalm!

Not only does God deliver your from inner and outer darkness, because He is your light and salvation, but he also is the "stronghold" of your life!

That just sounds comforting doesn't it? "Stronghold"!

Exactly, what does that mean?

A "stronghold" usually referred to the concept of a "Strong" tower - a very high, very strong and inaccessible structure nearly impossible to prevail against.

When I think of a "stronghold" I think safety. It is a place to flee when danger threatens. Do you have a safe place to run to?

The Lord is a stronghold, a safe place to run!

When I think of a "stronghold" I think security. A stronghold is a safe place to stay and remain secure against the attacks of the enemy.

The Lord is a stronghold, a secure place to rest!

When I hear the word "stronghold" I think solitude. A stronghold is a quiet place where you can find solitude in your spirit.

The Lord is a stronghold, a silent place to retreat and recover!

Where do you flee for safety? 

Where do you look for security?

Where can you find solitude?

Can you declare with the Psalmist, "The Lord is the stronghold of my life!"

June 14, 2015

"Love is patient. Love is kind." I Corinthians 13:4

Remember that patience in this context means taking grief from others and responding with grace. Patience is absorbing unkindness and giving back kindness.

Who does that?

Let me drop a few names you may recognize:

God - II Peter 3:9

Jesus on the cross - "Father, forgive them....." 

Job - In all his suffering he never cursed God or reacted unkindly to friends

Joseph - Though he was sold by his brothers, falsely imprisoned, and lied to he never reacted unkindly or inappropriately

The Good Samaritan - He bravely rescued a gravely injured Jew who would have never done the save for him!

Moses - Provided faithful and steady leadership to God's people though they rebelled and often grumbled against him.

David - While he was being harassed and hunted down by King Saul, he resisted several chances to retaliate against him.

John - Once called by Jesus "the son of thunder" for his impatience became the Apostle of Love, returning grace for grief.

Noah - For over a century he patiently constructed the Ark while enduring constant ridicule, always returning kindness for unkindness.

Sermon on the Mount - In His first great sermon Jesus taught patience and kindness against the harshness of the Romans. Remember "turn the  other cheek" and "go the second mile"?

Wow! Quite the impressive list!

"But, Brad." you may be thinking, "These are all heroes of the Bible! I'm just an average person! How can I do what they did?"

The truth is, you can do it the very same way they did it, in the power of the Holy Spirit. When your will is one with God's Spirit and He fills you with His fruit you will have patience!

"But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong." Galatians 5:22-23

June 13, 2015

"Love is patient. Love is kind." I Corinthians 13:4

The good news: God loves you with a perfect love!

More good news: God wants to give you His perfect love so He can love others to life through you!

The bad news: It takes patience to make it happen!

Have you struggled with your impatience?

Has your lack of patience cost you in relationships?

Are you impatient with your impatience?

If you identify with any of those statements or if you have lived with an impatient person you know how necessary patience is!

But the issue is, "How do I become a patient person?"

That is THE question isn't it?

There are at least a couple of popular notions about becoming patient that are, in fact, part of the problem.

Some think they can control their impatience if they just give it their full attention. They try things like:

• Counting to 10
• Bite their tongue
• Throw a dollar in a jar
• Pray for patience
• Read the Bible more

One of those gimmicks may work occasionally but what usually happens when you fix your thoughts on something? When it is on your mind all the time it makes it harder to resist it, right?

Once they realize they can't control it they then try to conquer it by getting counseling or anger management training or some other self-help measure.

Attempts to control impatience or conquer it may help over the short-term but they are mis-guided in assuming that impatience is an emotional problem or a personality flaw when it is actually a spiritual problem.Or, more accurately, it is a lack of love because our Scripture text states - "Love is PATIENT".

What you need to understand is impatience isn't something you out grow or patience something you can grow into. Patience is a GIFT of grace given you by God when you stop trying to control it and trust Him to conquer it with HIS love!

When you receive God's love through receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit you receive His Holy character. Patience is one of the fruits of His Spirit, one of the facets of His nature. So is kindness. They are the manifest evidence that His "agape" love is resident in you!

Stop trying to gain it and allow God to give it to you.

June 12, 2015

"Love is patient. Love is kind." I Corinthians 13:4

Two of the best Biblical descriptions of God consist of a total of five words!

They are, "God is love" and the description God gave Himself, "I Am".

I Corinthians 13 gives the detailed description of "God is love." Where ever it says "love" in this chapter you could substitute "God" and it will still work well!

For example, our verse today - "God is patient. God is kind."

And, indeed, God IS patient toward me and kind to me!

His patience is an aspect of His nature and an expression of His grace.

I don't deserve His patience but He extends it to me. That is why it is grace!

Nor do I deserve His kindness but He has extended it to me! That is why it is grace!

Again, you could paraphrase the verse - "Grace is patient. Grace is kind" and it still works!

Likewise, you can take God's self-described moniker and use it here - "I Am Patient" or "I Am Kind". Yes He is!

It becomes even more meaningful when understand the word used for "patience" in thes Testament's writing. The word is "makrothumia" and it literally means "a long wrath". 

You have probably heard of the expression, "he has a short fuse". You know that means a person is quick-tempered. Well, this word literally means "long-fused". 

Another commentator offered the concept of a "high boiling temperature".

There are several Greek words used for patience or perseverance but this one, "makrothumia" refers to patience toward suffering inflicted by a person rather than a circumstance. It means someone who takes the cruelty or pain inflicted by another person and does not retaliate toward that person.

When you couple "patience" with "kindness" it becomes even more gracious! It conveys the idea of someone who absorbs the cruelty and responds with goodness, kindness, helpfulness or compassion.

That sure sounds like grace to me! That is precisely what God did for me!

God, in Christ, absorbed my sin, my evil, my rebellion, and responded with forgiveness and mercy! He was kind to me when I was not deserving of kindness!
"Love (Grace) (God) is patient. Love (Grace) (God) is kind."

Wow! That is the supernatural, unconditional, eternal, "agape" love that God had for me from the very core of His Being! It is Who He is!

God wants me to receive this love. He wants me to live in it and enjoy it. He want to shed it abroad in my heart so others will be drawn to it through me!

He wants to literally "love me to life" so He can love others to life through me!

This is "the more excellent way" Paul refers to in his letter to the Corinthians.

Who wouldn't want to live in love like that?

If it were available and offered freely to you why would you not take it?

June 11, 2015

"Love is patient." I Corinthians 13:4

During my senior year at Indiana Wesleyan University, several of my teammates on the IWU baseball team heard the Kansas City Royals were hosting a tryout in a nearby town.

Each of these guys was good enough to entertain a realistic dream of playing professional ball. Each guy could hit for average, could hit for power, could hit with men on base, and could play his position. So, when they headed for the tryout they went with high hopes!

I was anxious to hear how each of them would fare! 

Later, I found their big league dreams had come a to sudden, rude and unexpected end.

Here's what happened. The scouts lined up the prospects and timed them in the 40 yard dash. If they didn't run the 40 yards under a certain time they were immediately dismissed from the tryout.

They thought they had what it took to play pro baseball. So did I. But despite all their skills, they lacked the required speed. No speed, no chance.

Likewise, in the realm of faith, love is the cut line for believers. If you have love you have a chance but no love, no chance.

With that in mind the question becomes, "What is love?" or,  "How do I know if I have love?"

Paul, writing to the Christians at Corinth clearing lays out the qualities that give evidence of love. The first quality of godly love is patience.

If you have patience, you have godly love. If you don't, you don't.

Like my baseball buddies who thought they had what it took to make it to the next level, Paul candidly writes: "If I speak in the tongues of mean or of angels, but do no have love (patience), I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but I do not have love (patience), I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love (patience), I gain nothing."

Today is a tryout. Your patience will be tested at some point today. How you handle it will reveal whether you have patience or not. 

It you do, you make the cut line for the evidence of God's love. If you don't, you won't.

June 10, 2015

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. Love never fails." I Corinthians 13:4-8

This verse is read at many weddings, even at weddings of nominally religious couples, because it is so beautiful and majestic!

If any couple could live up to the standards of this lofty list of loving virtues they would certainly have an amazing marriage!

For that couple to attain this idealistic standard it would require them to NEVER fail to love each other! To never fail in their love for their partner would require them to ALWAYS be patient, ALWAYS be kind, ALWAYS protect, ALWAYS trust, ALWAYS hope, ALWAYS preserve and NEVER be envious, NEVER boast, NEVER be proud, NEVER dishonor, NEVER be self-seeking, NEVER be easily angered, NEVER hold a grudge and NEVER rejoice in evil!

Who DOES love that way!

God does - ALWAYS!

He loves YOU that much!

He wants you to receive that love so you can benefit from a love that never fails!

And He wants you to allow Him love others like that - THROUGH YOU!

Isn't that GREAT news!

Is that how you love?

June 9, 2015

There are many ideas of what love is and what it should be. A group of professional people posed the question “what is love?” to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds. Below are some of their responses:

                                                                                                                       

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." - Karl - age 5 

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." - Chrissy - age 6 

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."- Terri - age 4 

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK." - Danny - age 7 

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss" - Emily - age 8 

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." - Noelle - age 7 

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." - Clare - age 6 

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." - Mary Ann - age 4 

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." - Lauren - age 4 

"I let my big sister pick on me because my Mom says she only picks on me because she loves me. So I pick on my baby sister because I love her." - Bethany - age 4 

"Love is when mommy sees daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."  - Mark - age 6 

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget,"- Jessica - age 8 

"There are two kinds of love. Our love. God's love. But God makes both kinds of them." - Jenny - age 8 

God's idea of love is the one that counts the most and His idea is the ideal!

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." I Corinthians 13:4-8

This is the perfect love God has toward you!

This is the perfect love God wants you to receive!

This is the love God requires you to have for others!

And it begins with patience!