February 23, 2018

Love God and Love Each Other

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” – Matthew 22:37-39

We are all still reeling from the latest school shooting. Another 17 students and teachers dead. Hundreds, if not thousands, of students traumatized. Let the finger pointing begin.

Why? We ask ourselves that again and again. This is the 18^th school shooting this year, and we aren’t even done with February yet. What has happened to our nation that such horrific violence has entered our schools?

Everyone has an answer. We need tougher gun laws. We need to enforce the gun laws we already have. The FBI didn’t do its job. The mental health system is broken. Agencies need to be more vigilant in reporting unstable behavior. It’s those violent video games kids have these days. Violence is everywhere on television and in movies. Kids don’t understand that death is final. Parents aren’t taking responsibility for discipling their kids. They don’t control their children so children never learn about responsibility and consequences.

The list could go on and on. The truth is every one of those excuses is probably partially true and the whole makes for a broken culture.

How do we fix it? Jesus. Oh, I know. There are those who don’t want to hear that. How could Jesus fix this? Jesus can fix anything and anyone.

And before those conservative Christians start the battle cry, let me quickly add that the beginning should come with the hypocrites keeping their hatred to themselves. I am sickened by the so-called Christians who use the gospel to promote their own political views.

Have you ever seen the movie Woodlawn? It’s the true story of racial strife in Birmingham, AL, and what happens when Jesus shows up. It took one man with a true faith to step forward and allow the Holy Spirit to use him. He could have fueled the flames of unrest. He could have used the violence and discord to further his own agenda. He didn’t. He turned his message to Jesus and that made all the difference.

We are at a crossroads in our nation. The young are rising up and we have a prime opportunity to turn tragedy into a call for genuine faith. I don’t have the answers but Jesus does. He is the only One who can minister to this deep hurt and create a change that brings healing to all of us.

I want to live in a world where our children can attend school without fear of unstable people killing them. I want them to know the peace and security that comes when Jesus is at the helm of all our lives.

Jesus told us what to do. Get rid of the hate and meanness that dot this country. Love God and love each other. Period.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Love God First

“Never cut your bodies in mourning for the dead or mark your skin with tattoos, for I am the LORD.” -- Leviticus 19:28

A few years ago a wonderful young woman began attending a pretty conservative church. She, her husband and their two young children were a delightful family. This woman, unlike her husband, wasn’t raised in church. But she came to love Jesus with incredible passion.

The problem wasn’t the young woman. The problem was the people who surrounded her. They couldn’t get past the tattoos. They looked down on the multiple piercings. To them, the external meant the internal would never be good enough.

She felt their disapproval. She heard the comments. She saw the looks. Eventually she stopped coming to that church. Her marriage to the traditional man fell apart. She’s still a wonderful person and a devout Christian. Just not at that church, in that environment. They lost someone pretty special. I don’t know if they’ll ever open their eyes and their hearts enough to realize it.

All this resurfaced the other day when a another friend mentioned someone who had been blasted by his Christian “friends” because he got a tattoo. She has tattoos and couldn’t believe the outrage. Oh, did I mention that the tattoo was of Jesus?

Yeah, I know what Leviticus says about tattoos. Don’t do it. This same chapter also says not to trim the hair on your temples or the edges of your beards. It says not to wear clothing from two different types of fabric. And it says to stand in the presence of elderly people. Not too many people follow any of those rules but you don’t hear a lot of outrage about it.

I’ve always been amazed at how some Christians pick and choose Scripture to suit them. They take things out of context and ignore the heart of what it says. Just like they ignore the heart of the person they’re condemning.

In the book of Leviticus, God had Moses write down some pretty basic instructions for His people. It was important that God’s people distinguish themselves from the pagans who lived all around them.

We need to do the same today. Not by our judgments but by our love and compassion for others. For example, this same chapter in Leviticus tells us not to exploit foreigners but to treat them like everyone else and love them as yourself. It sure puts the illegal immigrant debate in a different context.

Sometimes it seems impossible to follow all of God’s rules. How do we know which ones He wants us to focus on? That’s easy. Just remember what Jesus said and everything else will fall into place.

“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

-- Matthew 22:37-40

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

What Does Jesus Require?

Jesus replied, “’You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

-- Matthew 22:37-39

If someone expressed an interest in joining your church and wanted to know what was expected of church members, what would you tell them? Pastor Rob asked this question recently. It’s one of those questions that really makes you focus on what’s important.

Many churches get caught up in the qualifications for membership. They don’t really think about what comes after that. They care that someone was dunked instead of sprinkled. They want to make sure the person is without obvious sin. And they want to make sure the person understands John 3:16. That’s understandable.

Then what? Well, most churches want their members to tithe the 10 percent God requires each of us to give back to Him. It helps if the new member is a willing volunteer. Churches always need workers. Most just want new members to do everything the way it has always been done.

What else? Well, churches want its members to be good people. We are all sinners but we want to know that the people filling the pews or folding chairs each Sunday are at least trying to do the right thing. That’s an important indication of true salvation.

What about love? Jesus talked about it. He demonstrated agape love repeatedly. We’re to love God and we do. How could we be a Christian without loving God? We couldn’t.

But what about loving each other? What about loving people we’d rather not be around? What about loving people in a sacrificial way that requires time and effort? Well, that’s when it gets a little dicey. We want to. We do. And surely we want all our church members to give of themselves to each other. But everybody? Even the people who stumble and fall repeatedly?

Nobody ever said following Jesus was easy. He calls us to do things that are sometimes uncomfortable. Things we’d really rather not do. Like loving all people. That’s what being a member of Christ’s church is all about. Love.

So the answer to that first question is simple. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor just as you love yourself. Applying it? Now that’s the hard part. But it’s what Jesus requires of those who are members of His church.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Put Time With God First

“But the guests he had invited ignored them and went about their business, one to his farm, and another to his store.” -- Matthew 22:5

What’s your excuse? What didn’t you have time for today? What did you mean to do but just never get around to doing? Did you pray? Did you read your Bible? Did you study it? Did you wait and listen for God to speak to you? Oh, you didn’t have time.

We all set our priorities each day. We may not have a to-do list. We might not even consciously make decisions about what is most important. But our choices through the day reflect our priorities. So we have time to facebook. We’ve got time for a nice lunch with friends. We’ve got time to take the kids to multiple activities. We have time to play golf or watch the football game or attend a concert.

But do we have time for God? Well? We mean to. We do. We have good intentions. It’s just that somehow God never seems to make it to the priority list. Until we need Him. Then He’s at the top of the list.

That doesn’t seem right or fair. How would we feel about a friend who only made time for us when they needed something from us? We’d feel used. We’d feel rejected. We’d probably reach a point rather quickly where we didn’t want to spend time with them at all. Yet God always takes us back. What an imaginable love that is!

The thing is we’re so busy with the things of life that it’s easy to lose our anchor. We get overwhelmed. We lose our purpose. We climb on the merry-go-round and it keeps speeding up, going faster and faster, when all we really want to do is get off and rest a while.

Because our anchor is God. He’s the One that keeps us upright when everything around us is falling apart. God is the One who reminds us that people matter more than things. God provides rest for our souls when we are so overwhelmed that we seem frozen where we are.

Pastor Rob suggested that we make a point of setting priorities each day. Otherwise, he said, the important things get crowded out by the things that seem most urgent. When spending time with God comes first, we have time for what’s important no matter what else the day brings. And we have strength to make it through. When we reserve time to come to God’s banquet, all the rest of life will fall into place. That’s what Pastor Rob said. Sounds like solid advice to me.