Attributes of a Holy People

Colossians 3:5-14

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Attributes of a Holy People

               Just as oil and water don’t mix, righteousness and iniquity don’t mix and yet so many of us as believers are still trying to carry our two natures in one vessel.  We can be all sweet and Christian until it doesn’t suit our need or our disposition.  Just as quickly we can pick up that old nature that we supposedly reckoned dead upon the cross and live it out again.  We’ve all been guilty of this. 

               Christ has given us a new identity with His nature, character and being, but each day is a decision on our part to pick up our cross and follow Him or to look back into the world and the death that He died to bring us out of.  Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom and Gomorrah and it didn’t serve her well. 

God doesn’t want us as Christians to just have a pretense of godliness; He wants us to have the in-working of a holy nature that manifests the attributes of who He is.  Thus, Colossians exhorts all of us here to put death, whenever it pops up, crops up or arises in our hearts any of these former things we once practiced and were a part of our lives.  God wants the fullness of what we are to be pressing into the fullness of what He is.  He is now our nature and our identity.  When I see these old nature attributes wanting to come up again I must repent and renounce them, because they are no longer who I am.  As a holy people, God wants us to see ourselves for who He has redeemed us to be, not a mixture of flesh and Spirit.  Every day. just as we dress the outward man, He wants us to dress our inward man with the robes of the righteousness of Christ Jesus.  He wants us to clothe ourselves “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  He wants us to bear with each other. That means we put with the weaknesses, the faults, the irritations, the offenses, the clashes of our personalities and all the other things that make us want to react in ungodly ways toward others.  People are going to push our buttons, but they may be in our lives so that God can do a deeper work in us.  His will is for us to suffer and endure them in love.  Life isn’t going to always be about what we like or what pleases us.  It is about what pleases the Father.  Father isn’t a respecter of persons and He doesn’t want us to be either.  Just because we can’t relate with another member of the body doesn’t mean they aren’t needful and just as essential as you or I.  So, it is important that we grow in our tolerance, forbearance and acceptance of others.  It is important that we forgive and not hold on to grievances, offenses or disappointments we have with others. 

               The binding fiber of all these Christ-like attributes is love.  God wants us to love higher, deeper and wider than our natural love can go.  That is why we are stretched by those that we don’t necessarily like or can relate with. God wants to take us into a love that exceeds our natural boundaries and dimensions.  It is His love and because our identification is with Him, it has to become our love. 

               God is calling forth a mature people.  A people that know who they are, where they live and are positioned and what their purpose is.  When we really know that, then we know it is all about Him and not about us.  It is not about our pleasure, but what pleases Father.  When we truly start living that way then we will experience His good pleasure through us.  People will truly see Christ in us, because we don’t carry prejudice, bigotry, sectarianism, judgement, favoritism and all the things that cause schisms and separations among us. 

               As we saturate our life in God’s Spirit then those natures will separate and as that old nature comes to the surface. we will recognize it, repent of it and get it out of our life.  We are a chosen, holy priesthood of God.  We carry His name and we represent Him in the earth. We want what others see in us to be a true representation of who our Father is.   Because He has been so misrepresented, many have turned away because they saw a form of godliness, but no real substance was being revealed.  All they saw was a pretense.  We want to be the real deal.

Blessings,

#kent

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Without Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If 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 have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Without Love

               You know, it is a great and wonderful thing to have spiritual gifts and abilities.  They can aid us in our relationship with the Lord and the edification of others.  It is wonderful to have the prophetic gift, to have insight and revelation of the mysteries of God.  It is a blessing to have knowledge in Christ and to operate in great faith even in that knowledge.  It is a noble thing to be a humanitarian and philanthropist to help the poor and needy of the world.  What greater gift could you give than to surrender your own life in sacrifice for your faith and convictions?  If we are missing the one key thing, then everything else is meaningless. 

               Love and not just any love, but agape’ love, God’s love is the foundation upon which all else must rest and be supported by.  Without God’s true love in the person and Spirit of Christ Jesus abiding in us, all we have is religion without true substance.  If we have all things, know all things and can do all things, but it is not motivated and moved out of the love of God, then it is vanity and self-works. 

               It is good that Paul goes on here to better define the qualities of this love, because then we see that it goes so much deeper and richer than physical love or even brotherly love.  God is love and what is described in verses 4-8 is a description of His character and the nature that He wants to work in us.  “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.” Our maturity in our faith is not measured by what we know, what we can do or in how much we can give.  It measured by the amount of God’s agape love that is manifested in and through our lives.  When all else has passed away this love will remain.  It is eternal, it is priceless, and it is God.  We cannot be without this love because it is what brings us into all that He is.

Blessings,

#kent

Your Lovingkindness is Better than Life

Psalms 63

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. 9 They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. 10 They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. 11 But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God’s name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Your Lovingkindness is Better than Life

               For us to truly know the Lord and the intimacy of His relationship is the most sustaining power I know.  We can go through some very hard and difficult places and it is the knowing of His presence and love that can sustain us.  His love and assurance is so great that we can come to the place of relinquishing our life if need be for His sake. 

               David had this revelation of God because he had been to the sanctuary. He is not just talking about a building or a physical place, he is talking about that meeting place with God where we begin to get a comprehension and revelation of His love and the truth of who He is in relationship to us.  It is in this place of revelation and comprehension of the love of God for us that the praise and worship flows out of us like water out of a saturated sponge.  His love is so great, so precious and so real that it is better than life itself.

It is usually in the in the valleys and the dry difficult places that we seek Him and come to know Him in faithfulness and loving-kindness.  How many times have there been in our lives when we have been unfaithful, yet He has proved Himself faithful, when we deserved chastisement, but instead He gave us grace and loving-kindness?  Perhaps this is what overwhelms us the most is that He has given us so much more than we could ever deserve or earn.  His loving kindness is better than life itself. 

When we come to the revelation of who we are in Christ, we, like David, find ourselves wrapped in the mantle of the anointing and love of the Lord.  He looked favorably upon us.  We can’t really say why.  It is not because we are so much more than anyone else and we certainly aren’t deserving, but by His grace we have found our way into the sanctuary of His presence.  There His glory, love and awe overwhelms us.  How could we not but praise Him and express the deep thanksgiving for that which He has placed within us.                

Some don’t know what I am really talking about, because you have not been there, but when you do come into His sanctuary, His majesty is so great it is a fearful thing and yet His loving-kindness is so gentle is cradles us like a child in its mother’s arms.  It was this place of fellowship and knowing of God that sustained and encouraged David when King Saul pursued his life. 

Many of us are facing or will face very difficult circumstances in this hour, but if you want real encouragement, peace and joy, even in this place, come into the sanctuary of His presence.  Worship Him in spirit and in truth and the pure out-crying of your heart and spirit will bring you there.  Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you.  You will find the grace to get you through and sustain you through every trial because His loving-kindness is better than life.

Blessings,

#kent

How Sweet, How Hight, How Rich is Your Love?

How Sweet, How High, How Rich is Your Love?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails.

               When we look over God’s definition of Love, how much of us do we see there?  It is not to condemn us, but to show us the way up is the way down.  The way down is in humility and the esteeming of others above ourselves.  How many of us justify our actions and responses to others based on their behavior towards us?  True love of God is not a response; it is an action to respond unselfishly and unconditionally to another.  It truly must be God’s love in us and through us that brings some into the Kingdom.  Even ones we have loved and cared about may have brought us such heartache, disappointment and hurt, that in the natural, it is impossible for us to love them anymore.  We want to wash our hands and be done with them.  Yet in the back of our spirit arises that scripture from Romans 5:8 that tells us, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  If our God were not a God of tremendous and intense love then surely there would be no human race left.  God would have given up on us long ago and gone with a different plan.  How can a God love us so much that He would be willing to sacrifice His own Son to redeem us from our sin and willful disobedience so that we might return and have fellowship again with Him?  Who can comprehend such a love?  He doesn’t want us just to comprehend it, but to put it into practice in our own lives.  The love of God, that “agape” love, is not an attribute of the natural man, but it is the fruit of His Sprit that He longs to see produced in us.  What is flowing out of our lives today, mercy or judgement, longsuffering or impatience, hope and perseverance or giving up?  Sometimes you have to put some people away from you to avoid being injured or destroyed yourself, but never stop loving them, praying for them, forgiving them and believing for them.  It is that love of Christ in you that covers them with mercy and grace, and extends God’s love to them even though they may fully reject Him. 

               God is wanting to work a greater measure of His love in us than most of us have ever known before, but the exchange for that love happens at the cross.  In order to love with His love we must die His death.  It is a laying down of our life for others, not because they deserve it, but because we are the extension of God’s love toward them and for them.  Jesus tells us in John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  After the death and resurrection of Christ, His disciples laid hold of this revelation and their mission became the same as the Master’s, to lay down their lives so that others may know Him, whatever the cost. 

               Do we have that love in us that goes beyond our prejudices that we so often deny, that extends past our comforts and pleasures, that goes even deeper than our limitations can take us?  Only Christ in us can produce that depth and measure of love, but He is taking us deeper than we ever wanted to go and yet at the same time we are going higher than we have ever been before.  The way up is the way down and the highest heaven is often reached through the lowest hell.  Only the love of God in us can take us and preserve us through the extremes of His love. It will never be found in the comforts of our complacency, it can only be found as we get caught up in the radical love of God.  His love will sound our depths, but it will also expand our borders to be what we never thought we could be capable of being.  How deep is the Love of God in us today?  How deep, how wide and how high are you willing to go?

               “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Blessings,

#kent

The Fragrance of Jesus

The Fragrance of Jesus

Psalms 45:6-8

Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom [is] a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments [smell] of myrrh, and aloes, [and] cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.

Have you ever been around someone or in an atmosphere where all around you, you could smell Jesus.  It may not have been a physical fragrance as much as a spiritual one, but there is a fragrance you can sense that is not of this world.  That fragrance brings with it such a presence of God’s love, His peace and His awe.  Occasionally we may be in the company of someone who has that fragrance about them.  It may not be so much what they say as who they are and the spirit that emanates from them. 

As I closed my eyes this morning I imagined an empty elevator where it’s occupants had just exited, but it was like I could see a resident aura or like a lingering shadow of those who had been there.  There was something they had left behind of themselves. 

Have you been around a person that has a certain distinctive fragrance about them and every time you smell that fragrance you think of them?  When you smell their clothes or their pillow or towel.  What ever they have come into contact with retains a fragrance of them. There is a fragrance of Jesus and that is the fragrance I would desire that others would smell on me when I am in their presence.  We would desire that people would not be impressed with us, but with the Spirit and fragrance of Christ that we would give off because we have been in His presence.  Don’t you imagine that the fragrance of Jesus was on the disciples and the ones who spent so much time in His presence?  People are drawn to that aroma, for it is the smell of life and the fragrance of Love. 

The apostle Paul spoke of having that fragrance when he said in 2 Corinthian 2:14-17, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”  There are a good many to whom the fragrance of Christ doesn’t smell good, because they have so long been entrenched in the stench of death because it bring conviction on the death they carry. Others, who have been surrounded by that stench, those in Christ are a fresh fragrance of life and hope.  They are like a breath of fresh air when stepping out of a dark and putrid dungeon. 

               It is my prayer that the fragrance of Jesus would so permeate our beings that people would not only smell His sweetness when we are present, but that that aroma of life would linger on even after we had left. 

               It is springtime with all the fragrant smells of blossoms and the newness of life in the air, but oh there is no smell so sweet as the fragrance of Jesus.  That is the aroma we want to carry with us and leave behind us, His presence, His life, His Spirit and the sweet fragrance of all that He is.

Blessings,

#kent

Arise, My Darling , and Come with Me

Arise, My Darling , and Come with Me

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.  For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over [and] gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing [of birds] is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines [with] the tender grape give a [good] smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

               Do you know the lover in your Lord Jesus?  The one who is passionately in love with you?  He watches you and longs after you.  His affections are ever toward you.  He would know your heart.  Do you love Him?  Are you passionately inflamed with love and desire toward Him?  Do you treasure those quiet times in His presence where the world around you fades away and it is only you and your beloved?  If you haven’t come to know Jesus as your lover you are missing the richest experience of love in your life.  So many of us know about Jesus, we know him in an outward sense.  We may go to church and worship him and occasionally read the Bible, and of course we do pray now and then. 

“To Know” in the biblical sense is to know in intimacy as a husband knows his wife.  Jesus wants us to intimately know Him in the secret place of our spirit.  He desires such union with us that the product of that union is divine life and nature within us.  As His life is alive and flowing through us it will in turn impregnate others with His divine life, love and grace. 

               Some of us have loved our Lord.  We have longed after Him, but He has seemed illusive as He did to the Shulamite maid in the Song of Songs.  She would not be dissuaded but continued to pursue her lover till she would lay hold of Him.  Are we that passionately in love with our Lord where nothing will turn our eye or heart from pursuing Him?  Perhaps these have been the winter seasons of your life.  Spiritually you are languishing as you have gone through the stormy trials of life and have so longed for that closeness with Christ. 

               His word to us today is “Rise up, my love, my fair one and come away”; it is springtime in the spirit and a time of renewal, refreshing and blossoming in His love and presence.  It is a time for fruitfulness and spiritual life to spring forth.  It is a time when He will meet with you in the intimacy of the chambers of your heart.  He will draw close to you as you draw near to Him.  His desire is for those that love Him just for Him.  Even though He is the source of rich blessing and provision our heart is not on what He can do for us or what He can give us.  Our heart is passionately in love with who He is.  There is nothing richer than our fellowship in His presence.  This is why we never cease to praise and adore Him, because He is so worthy, lovely and our heart beats for Him. 

               Christ is coming for a Bride that is passionately in love with Him.  She is the one that will know the deep places in the treasures of His love.  If you are that lover be encouraged that He is coming to take you away in Him.  He will be your all in all and He will meet the needs that no earthly person can.  If you have not known the Lord in this way, you are missing out on the greatest love relationship of your lives.  Come fall in love with Jesus in a way you never have.  Come to know Him as your dearest friend, companion and lover.  Your life will be so much richer than you have ever known.  “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.”

Blessings,

#kent

Spirituality Begins at Home

Luke 2:51-52

And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

Spirituality Begins at Home

               Today’s scripture is a reference to Jesus and the relationship He had with His parents as a child.  We see His subjection unto His parents even as a child when in reality His understanding was, no doubt, way beyond theirs.  Jesus could have easily been proud and arrogant in who He was, but He wasn’t. He was humble.  I am reminded again of a definition I once heard of humility.  Many often relate humility with wimpiness, weakness and lack of strength, but true humility is simply, “true strength under control.”  Jesus didn’t become spiritual when He was baptized and the Holy Spirit came upon Him.  He grew up day by day practicing a spiritual life in daily living.  Our greatest spiritual training and practice is not what we do before others, but what we do at home.  Our ministry should be a byproduct of who we are to our family and household.  Our true spiritual character is revealed in our daily relationships with our wife, children, parents and siblings.  The ways we serve and treat our families is a rue test of our spirituality.  What we are perceived as being in the spiritual community should be a reflection of who we are when nobody else is around.  There is no greater place to practice and perfect our spiritual walk than with the people we rub shoulders with everyday.  We might be in the place headship or in the place of submission, but both require a Christ nature to do well.  Many times we are less tolerant and more critical of the ones we love.  We are familiar with them.  We know their weaknesses and often we fail to respect and honor them as we ought.  Within our home and family, are we as diligent to build up and encourage one another in our strengths as we are to criticize and find fault with their weaknesses? We should already know that we are all cracked pots, we just have our cracks in different places, so the pot should look at its own color well before it calls the kettle black. 

               The true demonstration of our spirituality will be seen in our home, because that is where we are ourselves and all of our pretenses leave.  If we live the Christian life with our family and walk the walk with them, then we should have no trouble when it comes to living it in the world.  I pray that God will help us to grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man by the way we live at home through our daily relationships.  How does our spirituality look in the light of your home life?  It is here that we will get an insight into ourselves and the areas we need to grow more in our spiritual walk with Christ.  True spirituality begins at home.

Blessings,

#kent

Shame and Guilt Anoints Love and Mercy

John 12:1-3

Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Mark 14:3

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

               Guilt and Shame

My choices have filled me with guilt and shame,

Now pursues me mental torment, anguish and pain.

How could God forgive all that I’ve said and done?

Could there truly be complete forgiveness through His Son?

Though His gift is something I could never deserve or earn,

Because of His grace, from darkness to light I’ve now turned.

Washed in the blood of Christ I’m now set free,

Guilt and shame no longer have a hold on me.

Kent Stuck

Shame and Guilt Anoints Love and Mercy

               Mary was a product of God’s grace and love through Jesus.  It becomes evident as we read further in the scripture that Mary was a woman of reproach, looked down upon by many of those who thought themselves far more righteous than she. 

               I saw Mary here as that alabaster jar.  Beautiful stone, but hardened by sin, shame, guilt and rejection.  We can only guess at what might have brought her to this place, but what Mary illustrated for us is that those who are forgiven much, love much.  As I see Mary here breaking this alabaster flask, I see her braking open her very heart.  Out of that formerly hardened heart flows a fragrance so rich, sweet and fragrant that the whole place is filled with it sweet aroma.  Mary doesn’t stop there.  She demonstrates the fruit of true repentance, humility, brokeness, love and adoration.  She pours out upon Jesus not only the sweet fragrance of this perfume, but the deepest expression of worship she could hope to give to Him and show Him.  It wasn’t just about the costliness of the perfume for Jesus, it was about a life, so precious to Him that would be purchased and fully redeemed through Calvary as He became that alabaster container that would be broken and the fragrance of His precious blood would be poured out to anoint all of humanity with the gift of forgiveness from guilt and shame.  “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) 

I’m not guilty any more because the sweet fragrance of His mercy and sacrifice eradicated forever the stench of my guilt and sin.  When we get a real revelation of what that is then we will feel what Mary felt as she anointed Jesus and washed His feet with her hair and tears.  We will become worship poured out on the One who is so worthy of all the praise, glory and adoration that we can pour out upon Him.  We will no doubt be ridiculed and resented by the crowds and the religious without who operate out of pretense, rather than heartfelt worship. They have no real clue of what this love affair is about. 

               Mary gave materially, without reservation, of the most costly possession she owned because it represented the gift of herself, her all, her very heart and soul poured out and given to Him who alone was worthy.  Shame and guilt had come to anoint Love and Mercy, because Love and Mercy no longer regarded or held her guilt and shame against her.  If ever there was a love story this is it.  It is a spiritual love exchange like no other.  Instead of her body, she comes to express the giving of all of her heart and soul.  She shows all of us that higher level of worship where what we do is no longer to earn or please, but to express gratitude and worship to the One who took all of our guilt and shame upon Himself and in exchange, allowed us to become partakers in His righteousness, which alone is acceptable to the Father.

               Are we willing that our lives would be broken open for Him, that all that we are might be dispensed to His glory and honor?  Do we have that heart of immense gratitude, love and worship for all that He has done for us?  Mary was an example to all us how that former guilt and shame can anoint Love and Mercy.  It is loving Him, even as He first loved us, giving Himself for us.  We are the products of the Lord’s grace and mercy.  No greater love should we have, than for Him who withheld nothing, and gave everything for us.  Should our lives, like Mary’s, be any less for Him?

Blessings,

#kent

Follow Peace with all Men

Follow Peace with all Men

Hebrews 12:14

Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

                Often our relationships with others reflect the true condition our soul.  Just as our words are the reflection of our heart, our relationships with people should be the expression and the root of our relationship with our heavenly Father.  So often there is such a contradiction between what we want to think we are our as Christians and how we really treat other people.  Can we say that we are at peace with all of those that we have been in relationship with?  Have we ended up offending, hurting, betraying, backbiting, gossiping or taking advantage of someone we have been relationship with at some level of social interaction?  Have we found people that, for some reason, no longer want to associate with us or have turned against us?   Unfortunately, we aren’t often as pure and godly as we would like to think we are.  Through careless words, deeds or acts of selfishness, we can offend and hurt others without even realizing it.  This is especially true of the ones we say we love; our families, spouses, children or parents.  Loving and close relationships are much like our reputation, we can spend years building them and in one careless moment we can destroy them.  Perhaps some of us have issues like that today.  We may have even acknowledged our offense, repented of it, but maybe the person we have offended won’t allow us to mend that fence.  They may still carry that hurt and offense. 

                It is so important for our spiritual lives and social relational lives to line up with one another.  We say we love and serve God, but do we most often work in our self-interest or the interest of others?  Are we willing to truly live Christ before men and especially toward the irregular people that most push our buttons and whom we have a hard time dealing with? 

                We are all like a bunch of rocks in stream.  As the turbulence of life and trials pass over us we rub against each other with our sharp edges, we offend and hurt each other.   Over time the ruff edges begin to wear off and instead of rough rocks we become smooth stones.  Are you still rough around the edges?  Are you still wearing on and irritating those around you?  It is often ironic how God can turn the tables to allow us to experience from others what we ourselves have been guilty of.  When we judge others, do we first judge ourselves and see how, we too, have been guilty of many of the same offenses?  All of this is a part of growing up and maturing in Christ.  The end of the matter is that if we are truly pursuing holiness with God as the Word says we should, that also reflects on our human relationships and how Christ comes out of us with regards to others.  Our fruits of actions, words and deeds should bear out who we are in Christ; by the way we treat and respond to others.  Colossians 3:17 exhorts us, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”  1John 3:18 likewise encourages and commands us, “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”  Our actions speak louder than our words.  What have we promised our children or our spouse that we never follow through with?  Are we a people whose actions verify their words? 

                Sometimes we create offenses that we can’t fix or make right, ‘but as much as possible live peaceably with all men.’  Roman 12:16-21 leaves us with this instruction about our human relationships, “Be] of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” 

                Let’s be right and make things right as much as possible with others.  Let us really walk in love toward our neighbor and fellow human beings.  May they truly see Christ and not us.  This is pursuing holiness in the fear of God.

Blessings,

#knet

Practical Religion

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26″What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”

28″You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36″Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Practical Religion

                Most of us are quite familiar with the story of the “Good Samaritan”.  The Lord began to convict me this morning that what you know and what you practice can be two totally different things.  When we stand before God we won’t be judged for what we knew, but what we did with what we knew.  This story brings this point home when it talks about how the priest and the Levi both saw the man’s plight, crossed over to the other side of the road and passed him by.  These were representatives of the most knowledgeable, pious and masters in religious and godly matters.  Was their knowledge translated into practical application?  No, they, like many of us don’t have time, don’t want to get involved, don’t want to get our hands dirty or don’t consider it our responsibility.  Yet Jesus demonstrates a man that they despise as a heathen and half-breed coming along and giving of himself, his time and personal resources to care for a man that probably wouldn’t have given him the time of day, because he was a Samaritan and despised by the Jews. 

                True religion is practical religion.  James 1:27 says this, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  Doesn’t it strike us as strange that he doesn’t say it is how many times you go to church or how long you read your bible or pray?  It is in the doing.  Often God imparts much to us, but we are like a stream that has become dammed up.  We don’t allow the life of God to flow through us.  We hoard it up unto ourselves so that we can appear religious and pious.  As a result we stagnate spiritually and really benefit no one else but ourselves. 

                I remember a friend telling me his testimony of how he came to the Lord.  He said he was either building or remodeling his house and he had a friend at work that would talk to him about the Lord.  He said what really made the difference for him is when this friend took his personal vacation to come and help my friend to fix his house.  That practical application told him that this Jesus was more than just mere words and an ideology; He was practical love expressed through this man that sacrificed to help him.  That is how our world will know and embrace Christ, when they see the reality of His love expressed in ways that are not natural or normal.  If actions speak louder than words then Christ is amplified and magnified as we live and walk our talk. 

                There are basically two directions that our faith must express itself.  The first is upward in our personal relationship and obedience to God the Father and our trust in Jesus Christ.  The second is in the expression of what we receive in that vertical relationship and then in stretching out our arms to those around us.  This is what Jesus did when He hung on a cross.  His vertical obedience and relationship with the Father expressed itself in His outstretched arms to all of humanity.  He became the intersection where we could turn the corner on our lives and head in a heavenly direction back to the heart of the Father.  We also find that in our identification with Jesus, we also must lay down our lives for others.  Those others, often might be the people we would least care to serve or love in the natural, but then truly loving your neighbor is a God expression and not just a human one.

                How practical is our religion?  Does it really express who we are in Christ or just what we know about Him?

Blessings,

#kent