Shine a Diamond
January 28, 2015
Shine a Diamond
Romans 14:19
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
We live in a very negative world in a lot of respects. Life is often taking twist and turns that can bring us discouragement and despair. Many around us only know how to speak death. They, like many of us, can become cynical, skeptical and suspicious in a world that is always seeking to exploit us in one manner or another. It is hard for us to be real, even with one another, for fear that someone will take opportunity in our vulnerability and openness to hurt us or will despise and not respect us because of some weakness that we allow them to see in us. As a result we become individual sealed houses, our own little islands in some respects, keeping a certain amount of distance and aloofness so that we won’t be hurt. Certainly we have to be careful about who we share the more intimate parts of our lives with. Jesus gives the warning in Matthew 7:6, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” As it is with the holy and precious things of God, so it is with the matters of our heart. We need to really know the character of those we share our hearts with. If the love of God is truly operating within them, then they understand the grace that not only they have been given, but that which they must extend to others. God wants us to cover one another’s nakedness, not expose it, gossip about it or despise them for it. He wants us to be a people that can truly edify and build up one another. We need to have that place and safety to truly confess our sins and faults to one another without fear of rejection and judgment. James 5:16 tells us, “Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Does that mean we condone whatever sin someone shares or confesses to us? No, we can’t because then we would share complicity with their sin. The reason for sharing our sins or faults with one another is for repentance, support, help in our weaknesses and restoration of our fellowship with God and one another. If we share our faults with one another it shouldn’t be for approval, neither should it be for judgment but our response to another’s faults should be that of humility and love, knowing that we are also weak and vulnerable to sin. Galatians 6:1 teaches us, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” You see we are not one another’s judges, but we are one another’s watchmen. We watch out for one another, because we are of the same body and share the same common faith and purpose, to glorify the Lord. It can be easy for any of us to become distracted and turn aside or grow complacent concerning our faith. This is why it is so important for us as the body of Christ to have personal friendships and relationships with others in the body, not just for fellowship, but also for accountability. We need to be speaking life into one another to build each other up in who we are in Christ. We need to pray for one another and exhort one another, always stirring up faith. A healthy body is one in which individual members and cells are ministering health and blessing into those around them. The words that we speak into one another’s lives should be for building up and not tearing down, even if they must be honest, direct and hard words, the motive behind them should always be love. Sometimes, like Paul, we must tear down to build up, but what are our motives and the end of what we do?
Are you and I the brush that polishes the diamonds of the Lord? Are we causing others to shine in His glory and come forth in the image of who they are in Christ? Remember that the power of death and life are in the tongue. Our actions and our tongue can make or destroy another’s life. Let our lives and our ministry be for building up and not for tearing down, for edifying and not for condemning. You are your brother’s keeper and he is yours. Let us honor and seek to bring forth the Christ in each other. Speak life, hope and blessing into someone today and let it become your lifestyle. Shine a diamond!
Blessings,
#kent
Returning to Our First Love
December 9, 2013
Returning to Our First Love
Revelations 2:4-5
Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Love is a many splendored thing, but it can also be a place of vulnerability, heartache and disappointment. So much depends on the care, attentiveness and tenderness with which we handle the most precious of gifts, one another’s hearts and their love.
That first found love between two lovers those years back, it seemed so rich. You loved one another’s presence and you didn’t want to be apart. Your desire for one another was so strong and you bathed in the love that you had for one another. Oh, that first love, how rich and full and sweet it was.
Little by little small offenses began to enter in. Sometimes unkind remarks were made that wounded your spouse’s soul, neglect, lack of communication, demands of life; so many things can tear at the foundations of your love.
We begin to take for granted that first love, as we become more familiar with the other. Those little things that we didn’t notice or didn’t seem to bother us now become a source of irritation and conflict. Our hearts that were so warm and open begin to close as we often, without even knowing why, transform from that loving unity, to opponents and foes. Little by little we can shut down in our emotions and our love to the point we forgot why we even liked this person, let alone loved them.
We can often wander and drift away from our first love for Christ the same way. Instead of being continually awed and thankful for all that Christ has done and continues to do for us, He becomes common, just another element of our lives and not the substance of them. How blind we all can become to the hardness that can come over our hearts with regards to the ones we love and what we have held so dear. Many of us have lost that which we once cherished more than life itself.
What has changed? Is it them or is it us? Maybe it is like our environment. We love the beauty of the water and streams, the woods and forest, the mountains, oceans and wildlife, but if we have them before us every day we may take them for granted and lessen in our once great appreciation of them. Somewhere in there our motives for gain, for what benefits us and for what we think will better our lives out weighs our appreciation for the other. At the environment’s expense, we begin to deplete our forest, tear up our mountains, pollute our waters and destroy what we once held so dear. It is the same thing that we do to our marriages and our relationships.
We lose sight that our spouse is our teammate that we are dependent upon one another to make life easier and sweeter. Yet we are so blind at how the enemy of our soul comes into to kill, steal and destroy what was the most precious thing in our lives. Our unity is destroyed and our marriages turn from bliss to ashes. Isn’t it because we have bought into the lie? When one of us in our marriage loses we both lose. There are no winners and losers, because we are a team. A house divided against itself cannot stand.
The older my wife and I grow together, the more dependent we are on each other to remember things, to help each other, and to be the strength in the other’s weakness. On the other hand there is the temptation to find more fault with the other’s shortcomings, especially when they have chided you for yours. We have to realize that we are a team. We need each other more than ever. Love cannot become a selfish thing that only looks out for itself. If it has and is becoming that then it has left the boundaries and definition of love. The nature of love is to serve, to give and bless another. Love always exalts the other above itself.
Perhaps it is time for many of us to remember and to return to our first love both in our physical and spiritual relationships. It is time to give the precious gifts of our humility, our forgiveness and our first love. It is time to make a safe place where we can come together, not to find fault or blame, but to find reconciliation and healing for our hearts and our relationships. Isn’t this what God wants for us? I believe He will help in this endeavor if we call upon Him and His love to fill our hearts. Let us cherish and once again hold with such tenderness and sanctity the gift of one another’s hearts and love. In the same way let us recommit to our first love for Christ and find the first passion that so consumed our soul.
Blessings,
kent