Following Jesus Son of God …

McArthur radio series …

Heads up on an excellent radio series beginning today. Listen to on local radio or go to their site and listen or download mp3.

http://m.gty.org/Broadcast/

Series: The Battle for the Beginning
Today’s Message: Creation: Believe It or Not, Part 1

Why do so many folks — even professing Christians — accept or accommodate evolution? What evidence is there for evolution — and how does that evidence compare with that for biblical creation? See all that’s at stake in the creation-evolution debate in John MacArthur’s study, The Battle for the Beginning.

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• 1 Corinthians 13:4–5 (NIV84)
  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love … It is not rude.

It is patient, kind.  It does not envy or brag.  Is not proud, not self-seeking, not easily angered.  Is forgetful when it comes to being wronged.

Just reading this again and honestly wondering, as I observe how we too often treat each other – Do we really believe this?  Do we attach the significance of how we treat the people around us to our true view of God and his desire for our lives?  How can we think that we honor God by shifting our priorities above his, scribbling over the God-breathed words with the expediency of our self-seeking rationalizations?

We sometimes say, “Well, it’s complicated.”

But it’s not.  I mean, if we believe God, and really believe that his words are our ultimate authority and guide.  Believe all that stuff about his wisdom and knowledge and love and care and sovereignty …

So do we believe it? Or is is it “God said it, I believe it, that settles it!”

Unless …

But it is in fact as simple as it appears on the written page of the holy book.  God says it.  Not rude.  Not proud.  And, yes, our lives are complicated, but do we really believe that ignoring these basic instructions that our all-knowing God gives us to live by will help us see our world and our lives more clearly?

So why don’t our “sin alarms” go off as we plow through life and ignore the words that God gives such high priority?

The directive to love – love God, love neighbor at the top of our list of priorities.

The definition of love – See 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

Important teaching.  Crucial to understanding and honoring God as we live on this Earth.

How about if we just took these one at a time, just the ones in verses 4-5, and live those words for a day.

“Today, I will be rude to no one.”

Write it down on a card and keep it in my pocket.  Send an email to myself or make a reminder in my calendar program.  Whatever method we use determine – I will not justify or rationalize one single, solitary action of rudeness for the entire day.  Follow it up with this – If I am rude, I will not rationalize my actions, but I will confess my sin.  Try it.  Discover who you are, who God is, who you are becoming, make God smile, drink in his peace as one who is walking the path with Jesus.

Tomorrow, who knows, maybe I will live on “kind” for the day, or really push the envelope and embrace “patient” for 24 hours.

Sometimes God sows light in darkness; sometimes he plants joy in sadness.

Sometimes God is just beginning his foray into an area of our lives.  His work isn’t always instantaneous.  Sometimes as he has prepared the soil and has begun the watering and cultivating process, he plants a seed.

My wife began this thought in my mind a few evenings ago from the following text that she had read earlier in the day.

• Psalm 97:11-12 (NASB)
  Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. [12] Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.

Sometimes we have an inkling that God is doing something but we don’t see the effect yet, or the fruit.  Maybe because he has just planted the seed.

Maybe he still has to nurture the soil of our hearts for the light he wants to grow in us to sprout and thrive. So he waits for the right time and then sows a seed of the light, a beginning.

And possibly he sows a seed of gladness in a sad heart.  Maybe that is what this particular breed of joy needs to flourish in God’s garden.

Plants vary.  They thrive or languish depending on the condition of the soil, the amount of sunlight and rain, the attention to cultivation and the extraction of weeds …

Light is sown like seed for the righteous.

Maybe what God wants me to see, to cling to as his forever truth, maybe that seed doesn’t grow in my heart until there is an extended time of cultivation, breaking up the ground, softening the hard clods and fashioning the ground in just the right way, having just the right amount of soil and nutrients surrounding the seed.

I love it when other people swing open a door to God’s truth for me, when I see their love and devotion to Christ yield fruit from their time in reading and receiving his words.  Especially great when my lesson from God comes from my best friend.  🙂

• Another thought that kind of just rode in on the wave …

Sometimes God does this and sometimes God does that.  “Sometimes” is all about God’s sovereignty.  We don’t instruct God.  We can’t guess his plan.  We have a stirring in our hearts as God has planted a seed.  When we plant a garden, we plant specific things.  In fact we sometimes place the seed packets on sticks at the end of a row so we can remember what we planted.

But when God plants things in our gardens, we don’t know sometimes what God is growing.  We want him to make happy soil in our lives and then plant gladness.  We want him to explain everything and expose all the secrets and then plant seeds of light.

But God is God.

What we can know is that he will plant light, he will plant gladness, and we are to be glad and thankful for his work in our lives.

Amen, Lord.  And thank you for planting your good things in one such as me.

GeoTagged, [N39.39743, E87.47171]

I sat in my car and cried …

Wow! What a baby. And then to admit it …

Doesn’t seem very spiritual, not believing, not trusting …

Blah, blah, blah … Spiritually speaking of course.

I didn’t even quote any Bible verses. Tsk, tsk.

But I did pray, and I cried to my Father.

I was very disappointed, even (gasp) disappointed with God.

I had received some very discouraging news and that along with the cumulative effect of some other struggles and the burdens some friends are under, I was pushed past my limit.

So, yes, I sat in my car and cried. And I’m saying it out loud.

It turns out that the news I had received was skewed and was hardly discouraging at all. So great. I can now write of a spiritual victory in this post.

Or not say anything at all.

But I decided that although this particular episode in my life turned for the better I still felt compelled to say this.

It’s okay to cry. In fact sometimes it’s the only honest thing to do. Upward and onward is a lie if you are emotionally spent and spiritually and physically exhausted at the side of the road.

Disappointment comes and sometimes it is too much for us. So maybe sometimes our prayer becomes sitting before God crying. Sometimes it is not only okay but the best approach to God.

Anybody here read the Psalms lately?

And wouldn’t you do that before your earthly father or in the company of your best friend? Does our Father in heaven have less compassion and care in our struggles?

• 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NASB)
  Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, [7] casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

My God is sovereign Lord and loving Father, and I bow before him and sometimes when I do I cry. And he cares and he is big enough to handle my disappointment, even my disappointment with him.

My love runs deep for my Creator and Redeemer!

I’m saying it out loud. 🙂