Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “Then neither do I condemn you. Go and leave your life of sin.” John 8:11 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Forgive them”

In recent days we’ve been considering what a powerful thing the love of God is. As we intentionally serve as a conduit for it to flow through us, God impacts the lives of the people we encounter. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Jesus loves the world through us. He shines His light, brings His healing, and administers mercy and kindness through the lives of His followers.

But a lack of forgiveness on our part can restrict the flow of God’s love through us, perhaps cutting off that flow altogether. Forgiveness is powerful. Forgiveness freely given opens the spigot wide for the love of God to flow. Forgiveness withheld can be like a closed spigot that limits or eliminates the flow of God through us to the person before us.

In John 8:1-11 we read that famous scene where the Pharisees brought to Jesus the woman caught in adultery. It reads as if there was a circle of men, and this woman was forcefully thrown to the ground in the middle of them. In righteous anger the Pharisees described her sexual sin and then call for Jesus to pronounce judgment on her. The woman fully expected to be stoned to death in accordance with the law of the Pharisees.

Instead, Jesus spoke words of mercy and forgiveness. He chastised and embarrassed the Pharisees, chasing them away, and then He offered grace and forgiveness to this frightened, cowering young woman. What a powerful scene! What a totally unexpected act of love and grace and forgiveness! Although the text doesn’t tell us what happened after that, the implication is that the woman’s life was changed forever.

As the followers of Christ, we have a power within us that changes lives. We have the love of God in us and flowing through us. When we choose to extend mercy and grace and forgiveness to others, they can then experience God’s love channeled through us.

Or not. We can withhold it as easily as we can give it. But why? Why would we withhold it – because they don’t deserve it? You don’t deserve love and mercy and forgiveness from God either but He doesn’t withhold it from you.

We are to forgive others as God has forgiven us. Jesus is our example. The woman in this scene is just one of countless examples of a life that was changed forever because of forgiveness, mercy, grace, and love.

I encourage you to be the person who forgives instead of condemns.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The love of God is powerful”

Those of you who have read my book “Getting Along without Going Along: Biblical Sexual Ethics in an Age of Controversy and Conflict”, you are familiar with the story of Rosaria Butterfield. Rosaria was a liberal college professor and by her own definition, a radical lesbian feminist. She didn’t just agree with and support the Gay and Lesbian agenda, she was one of the national leaders of the movement.

At one point she met a pastor and his wife who were friendly and kind, and who simply wanted to discuss issues of sexual ethics with her over coffee. She reluctantly agreed to talk to them. Rosaria was quickly impressed with their kind, gentle, and respectful manner. Soon she found herself liking them. She developed a friendship with the couple and ended up meeting with them multiple times as they spent hours discussing their very different perspectives regarding matters of sexuality.

Long story short, over time Rosaria was captured by the love of Christ at work through the pastor and his wife, and she became a Christian. At first, she was committed to simply being a gay but celibate follower of Jesus. But to her amazement she soon discovered that God was changing her sexual desires. She found that her attraction to other females was fading and she actually met a man she was attracted to. In time she married that man and had his children. That man also happened to be a pastor, which means of course that Rosaria was then a pastor’s wife. She went from being a radical leftist lesbian to being a wife and mother, and she has now spent decades in ministry with her husband. You can read her story in her book “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert”.

It was the love of God at work through that pastor and his wife that broke through to Rosaria and changed her heart and her life. That’s because the love of God is such a powerful thing. When channeled to others through the life of a faithful follower of Christ, there’s no limit to the impact it can have. That’s what Paul was describing to his young protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7. As a follower of Christ there’s no need to ever be timid or fearful. You have the Holy Spirit within you. He is imparting to you the powerful love of God, as well as the sound judgment needed to direct that love in a way that will have the greatest impact.

I encourage you to be a conduit for the love of God to flow to others. Be intentional about it. Love people on purpose. Let God work not just in you, but through you, as He brings His love to bear on the people you encounter today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Love on purpose”

I read a story about a woman who was kidnapped and brutally raped. Eventually the man who did that to her was arrested, convicted, and given a long prison sentence. But the memory of the rape haunted the woman. She was emotionally scarred by it. Her hatred for the man who raped her ran deep, to the point that it colored her personality and affected every aspect of her life. She was a sad and bitter person who was defined in her own mind by this event from her past.

But through her long struggle of trying to deal with it, she came to faith in Jesus and soon discovered that she was able to forgive the man. The day even came when she was able to go to the prison and visit the rapist. She sat across a table from him, looked him in the eye and said, “I forgive you for what you did to me. What you did was wrong, and I’m glad you’re being punished for it, but in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you.”

This is how she later described her decision to visit him: “It was the last thing I wanted to do. I was physically sick at the thought of seeing him again. On an emotional level, I was afraid of him. I was repulsed by him. And, I have to be honest, I hated him. But my feelings were not the issue. I knew that what God wanted was my obedience. He wanted me to love that man with my will and with my words, even though in my emotions I couldn’t stand the sight of him.”

It has often been said that love is a verb. It is an action word. In other words, love is often a decision to act rather than an emotion you feel. It’s an action you take to reach out in love, even if you don’t have feelings of love for this person. Paraphrasing a famous quote from C.S. Lewis, “Don’t worry if you actually love a person or not. Just act as if you do, and soon the feelings of love will come.”

This is what Jesus was teaching in John 15:12-13.  He wants us to make a decision and take an action to demonstrate love for others. Such action does not necessarily have to involve actually laying down your life for someone, that’s simply the extreme example Jesus chose to use to make his point. He was illustrating a sacrificial act intentionally taken to show love to another. This is loving people on purpose. It’s making a decision and acting in love whether you actually feel the emotions of love or not.

Love is a verb. It is an action-oriented word. I encourage you love people on purpose.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “Little children, let us not love in word or in speech, but in action and in truth.” 1 John 3:18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It comes full circle”

We only fully experience the love of God in our lives when we share it with others. It’s true. You are intended by God to not just be a recipient of His love, but also to be a conduit of His love. His love must be received by you, embraced by you, and then shared by you. It’s only then that it comes full circle and is fully experienced by you.

Want proof from real-life examples? Consider the Christian who is saved, and therefore is a fully-loved child of God, but who then shows little or none of that love to others. This is a person who probably talks mostly about themselves, who seems to be relatively unaffected by the suffering of others, and who seldom makes much of an effort to help or to bless others. We all know people like that. What kind of life do they typically lead? What kind of personality does such a person usually have? Aren’t those the people we conclude are narcistic and self-absorbed? Don’t they tend to be people who complain a lot and who are easily offended? Does this person really give the appearance of being a happy, peaceful, content child of God who is secure in the love of his or her heavenly Father? The answer of course is “no”, people like that seldom happy and content.

Contrast that person with another: This person seems to focus much more on other people. He or she makes it a point to bless others, and seems to genuinely enjoy doing so. Your impression of this person is of a kind and warm individual who is settled and content, a generally happy person who is easy-going and easy to be with. Not only are they loved, but they are loving to others.

The first person is simply a recipient of God’s love. The other is a conduit of it. The first person receives God’s love and does nothing with it. The other receives it, embraces and enjoys it, and then passes it along to others. It’s the second person who is fully experiencing the love of God. In their life it has come full circle.

We fully experience the love of God in our lives as a real and practical reality when we share it with others. As the Apostle John taught in 1 John 3:18, we must love not just in word and speech, but in action and truth. We’ll think more about this tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “For we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “See beyond the physical”

The spiritual realm is much more real and much more important than the physical realm. As we journey through this world in these physical bodies the physical realm is what we most easily relate to, but that’s essentially that caterpillar existence we’ve thought about in previous devotionals. Our goal is to awaken to our spiritual selves, become progressively more and more spiritually mature, and learn to see the spiritual realities that are before us rather than just the physical.

That’s what the Apostle Paul was describing for us in 2 Corinthians 4:18. This is learned and it is intentional. If we’re not intentional about it, we will by default remain trapped in a physical, worldly perspective of people and events. In his wonderful little Bible study, “The Way of Love” author Ted Dekker offers numerous helpful illustrations that show the difference between the two perspectives. The caterpillar and the butterfly illustration was one, here’s another:

“Imagine that you are a man named Clark Kent who goes to work each day in a business suit, having no idea he is more than Clark Kent. One day a wise sage tells him that “Clark” is only a role he is playing on earth. In reality, he is Superman. If he strips off that costume, he will see who he is, and who he is can fly. Flying high above, his whole perspective of the world is radically different than what he saw on the street. He experiences a whole new way of being in this world.”

That’s us as Christians. We’re not Superman or Superwoman, but we are glorified spiritual beings in physical bodies, and while the physical being is limited to the physical realm, our spiritual selves have the capacity for spiritual understanding. We can indeed learn to see and understand people and events the way Jesus sees them. And that changes everything.

It was C.S. Lewis who once wrote, “There are no ordinary people. You have not spoken to a “mere” mortal …” Lewis was talking about the spiritual reality. He was urging his readers to learn to see people and events with spiritual eyes, with spiritual understanding, because when we do, it changes everything. It changes how we will think about people and events, and it changes how we relate to them.

I encourage you to see beyond the physical.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “For the love of Christ compels us …From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective …” 2 Corinthians 5:14; 16 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Let the love of Christ control and guide you.”

As we continue to grow in our understanding of God’s perfect love and the impact that reality makes in our lives, it changes our perspective (the caterpillar and the butterfly illustration from a previous devotional). That then will change how we see the world around us and how we interact with the people we encounter. God’s love will change how we deal with people and with circumstances, because it will change how we see them, think about them, and feel about them.

In 2 Corinthians 5:14-16 Paul writes that the love of Christ “compels” us. Other translations say it “controls” us. “Compels” communicates the idea of being driven by the love of Christ. “Controls” speaks of being guided by the love of Christ. The Amplified version of the Bible says, “For the love of Christ controls and compels us …” I like that better. As we walk through this world encountering people and situations, we are both driven by, and guided by, the love of Christ.

What does that mean in practical terms? Paul tells us in verse 16: “We do not know anyone from a worldly perspective …” In other words, we don’t think about and attempt to understand people and situations from a worldly perspective. That’s caterpillar thinking. That’s viewing people and circumstances from a lowly perspective as we crawl along the ground. Instead we see them as Christ sees them. Like a butterfly (a transformed caterpillar), the love of Jesus allows us to soar above circumstances and view it all from an elevated perspective.

So, we stop evaluating others from a human perspective and we see them instead as a person Christ died for, as a spirit-being who is going to spend eternity in either heaven or in hell. We recognize that their sins are leaving them confused and lost in darkness, but we can shine the light of Christ to penetrate that darkness. When it’s the love of Christ that controls and drives us it changes everything about how we understand and deal with people and events.

I encourage you to let the love of Christ control and guide you today.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Remember His promises to you.”

Having the knowledge of God’s perfect love for you is good for starters, but in order to be an actual practical help in daily living that knowledge needs to make a vital eighteen-inch journey from your head to your heart. Knowledge by itself isn’t very helpful if it doesn’t have a practical impact in the real world.

One of the best ways for a promise from God to become a heartfelt reality in your life rather than simple head knowledge, is to memorize it, recite it numerous times, meditate upon it, and then recognize the fulfillment of that promise in your life. A great tool to help us quickly identify God’s promises is “The Bible Promise Book: One thousand promises from God’s Word” published by Barbour Books. We give them away free at Oak Hill Baptist Church but you can easily get a copy at Amazon.com.

This little book arranges 1000 promises from God, by category, for quick and easy reference. I encourage you to get a copy, open it to page one, and then put a check mark next to each promise of God that you know has already come true in your life. You’ll be amazed at how many of God’s promises have already been fulfilled in your life. I also encourage you to select promises that are special to you at this time in your life, write it down on an index card, and carry it with you. Memorize that verse and recite it to yourself over and over and over again. As you do that the verse will be embedded deep in your heart. It will quickly go from being simple head knowledge to a heartfelt reality. With respect to the perfect love of God driving fear out of your life (1 John 4:18), here are a couple of other promises from God you can memorize, recite, and meditate on:

“Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” Matthew 6:33 (Read the entire passage 6:25-34)

I encourage you to remember His promises to you. His love for you is perfect and His promises are always true. A heartfelt understanding of that truth will help to drive fear from your life.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears is not complete in love.” 1 John 4:18 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “What do you fear?”

What are the things in life that you fear the most? Almost all of us worry about what other people think of us (you would be surprised to learn how seldom other people actually do think about you. It’s much less than you suspect). Others worry about their income and financial security for the future. Some parents obsess about the safety and well-being of their children. People worry and are fearful about health issues, the economy, terrorism, the outcome of elections, and so much more. Life is full of issues for us to worry about and to be fearful of. But in 1 John 4:18 the apostle tells us that perfect love drives out fear. What could he mean?

Let’s consider some of the things we’ve learned so far this month. First, we’ve learned that God’s love is perfect, and that He loves us with that perfect love. Beyond that, if we only allow it to be so, our lives can be lived out of the reality of God’s perfect love for us. So following John’s train of thought in 1 John 4:18, this must mean that the perfect love of God in our lives should drive out the fears that we have.

That being the case, we no longer fear what other people think of us because the only thing that really matters is what our heavenly Father thinks of us (we are precious to Him and He loves us unconditionally, beyond measure). We now know that we don’t have to be a success in the world’s eyes as long as we are successful in the things that are important to our Father. We also  don’t have to fear health problems, or financial insecurity, or terrorism, or the political situation in our nation, or any other issue, because we know that our God is sovereign (not just over the affairs of the world, but more specifically, over each and every moment of our individual lives). He is large and in-charge. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. Nothing escapes His attention and nothing is out of His control. If you do truly believe that His love for you is perfect, and if you trust Him, then your knowledge of His perfect love should drive away your fears.

Still need more convincing? Tomorrow we will consider some of the many specific promises from God regarding fears we allow to control us, and how it is that His perfect love for us should drive those fears away.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in the world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” John 16:33 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “The war is over”

I want to borrow another story this morning from author Ted Dekker. He writes about a Japanese soldier during World War II who was stranded on a remote island in the Pacific by himself. His fellow soldiers had all been killed in battle and he alone survived, isolated from the world.

He stayed on that island for more than twenty years believing that the war was still raging. When rescuers finally discovered him his first impulse was to fight, to engage them in battle. But imagine his shock when he was told that the war had ended. There were no more battles to be fought. The war had been over for a long time, but his personal experience of the war continued for all that time because of his ignorance of that truth.

In John 19:30, as He hung on the cross and just moments before He gave up His spirit, Jesus declared, “It is finished!” What was finished? The war against sin was finished! Jesus won that war once and for all with His sacrifice on the cross. Satan was defeated. The war was over. We have the victory in Christ. It is finished!

Dekker’s point in telling that story is that many of us act like that Japanese soldier. We apparently don’t realize that the war has been won, so we allow ourselves to be dragged into battles that don’t need to be fought.

The only battle that remains to be engaged in is your personal battle of awakening to the truth that you have victory in Christ. You are now involved in a progressive awakening to who you are in Christ and the impact His victory has in your life. The victory is a gift from God to you and comes as a result of His great love for you.

Remember the story of the caterpillar and the butterfly from yesterday? The caterpillar has tunnel vision and therefore a very limited understanding of the reality of his situation. The butterfly has a greatly expanded perspective and can therefore see the reality of things much more clearly. As we spiritually soar above the circumstances of life, viewing it all from an elevated perspective, we can see that the war has indeed been won and Satan is a defeated foe. We can now live in the reality of the victory we have in Christ.

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in the world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” The love of Jesus did that for you, so embrace the victory, live like the victor that you are.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our theme for this month: “Living a life of love”

Our Bible verse for today: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “It’s time to fly”

From the beginning of this series I’ve been saying that when we learn to accept and fully embrace God’s love for us, and when we learn to love and accept ourselves the way that God loves and accepts us, it will change us. It will change how we think about God, and how we think about ourselves. It will also change how we see and interact with the world around us. It’s time now to begin exploring the practical impact of the love of God for us, in us, and through us.

In his great little Bible study, “The Way of Love” author Ted Dekker offers a wonderful illustration that helps us to understand the transforming impact God’s love can have in our lives. Ted asks us to consider the caterpillar and the butterfly. The caterpillar crawls along the ground, and its understanding of the world around it is limited by its low view of the world. The butterfly however, soars high above the ground and is able to see that same world from a completely different perspective.

The caterpillar and the butterfly are the same creature, just in different stages of development.  They are seeing the same world and the same circumstances, just from very different perspectives. Once the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly and is therefore able to fly high above his world, his entire perspective of that world changes. The difference isn’t found in the circumstances, but in the perspective of those circumstances.

As Christians we’re like the caterpillar or the butterfly. We’re either crawling along on the ground, limited in our perspective and with a very low view of the world and of our circumstances, or we’re like the butterfly – we’ve been transformed, we can fly, and we are therefore able to soar high above the world around us seeing it from a higher, elevated perspective.

It’s God’s love that brings about this transformation in us. As we fully embrace and accept His love for us, as we relax in it and align our sight with His, our will with His, it changes our perspective. We’re learning to fly -and that changes everything.

Spiritually are you like the caterpillar, crawling along on the ground with a low and limited perspective of the world around you and of your circumstances in it? Or are you like the butterfly, soaring high and seeing things from a higher, elevated perspective? To live a life grounded in the love of God we have to learn to see our world and our circumstances with that higher, elevated perspective.

More about this tomorrow.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim