True Gracious Love

“‘You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.’ (A lawyer stood up) and said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ Jesus replied and… (told the story of the Good Samaritan.” Luke 10:27, 29, 30

I heard a story yesterday related to the passage above, and I had to pass it on.

It seems there was a young college student, a bit scraggly and even barefooted, who decided to visit the very conservative church across the street from his college. It so happens that this very church had been talking and praying about how to develop an effective college ministry, but as the rather “out-of-place-looking” young man entered the church, people immediately began to stir. He did not look like the properly dressed congregation.

Since he was a little late coming inside, the seats were filled, and as he walked down the long isle, drawing closer and closer to the podium where the pastor stood, not one seat was available. Arriving at the front of the church, knowing the service was already in progress, he quietly folded his legs and sat on the carpet in front of the podium.

As the congregation sat uncomfortably, wondering when “somebody would do something!”, an old deacon with a cane slowly began walking toward the boy from the back of the auditorium. As he approached the young man, some in the congregation were relieved that the uncomfortable situation was being handled. But to their great astonishment, the old deacon dropped his cane, folded his legs, and sat beside the young college student, remaining there to worship with him through the service.

The pastor stood up to speak, quietly saying, “What I am about to preach you will probably never remember; but what you just witnessed, you will never forget.”

In the Scripture passage above, after Jesus had told the story of the wounded man on the side of the road who the two “religious men” would not help, and the Good Samaritan who did stop and minister to him, Jesus said to those listening, “Go and do the same” (Luke 10 :37).

If you find yourself asking God, “Who is my neighbor, Lord?”, and “What does it mean to love him as myself?”; if you find that you may be so busy being “religious” that you don’t have time to stop and truly minister to those around you, think about riveting example of true gracious love shown in both of these stories, and ask God to show you the quiet places of witness you might become in your corner of the world today.

The hand of God

Gate of the Year

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’

And he replied,

‘Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!’”
M.L.Harkins

Isn’t this a wonderful quote?  I understand that the king of England used it to speak to his people at the onset of WWII.  I can’t imagine any more effective words that could be used at the beginning of any endeavor, any year, any life circumstance.

I encourage you this week to challenge yourself spiritually to do whatever it takes to make sure that your hand is in the hand of God.  If there is anything that you hold back from Him, any part of yourself that you have not been willing to surrender, let this be the time that you, by the act of your will, CHOOSE to look to Him with true abandon.  Let Him be to you “better than light and safer than a known way.”

Commit to God today that, this year, you will do whatever it takes to find yourself in a closer relationship with God you have ever known.  If this is your true desire, He will honor it and His Spirit will draw you closer as you spend time with Him in His Word and in prayer.

“Faith sees that the creature was destined to find its rest nowhere but in the Creator, and that in the entire surrender to Him, to His will and His working, it may have perfect rest, daring to cast itself upon God, and have no care.”  Andrew Murray (emphasis mine)

Drifting…

“Lapse from truth and goodness is more often
the result of inattention than of design.” Vincent

At the beginning of the second chapter of Hebrews is a warning:

“We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” Hebrews 2:1

O how easily we “drift away” from truth and righteous living, not because we intended to, but because we simply “let it happen”! In the very definition of the words “drift away,” is the literal meaning, “to slowly deviate from something, suggesting a gradual and almost unnoticed movement past a certain point.”

While we, as Christians, may be on the lookout for the “big” sins and distractions that pull us away from Christ, we sometimes forget about the day-to-day faithfulness that is necessary to our spiritual health. Look at what theologian F.B. Meyer says:

“It is so easy – and so much pleasanter, to drift. Just to lie back, and renounce effort, and let yourself go where the waters will, as they break musically on the sides of the rocking boat. But, ah, how ineffable the remorse, how disastrous the result!”

There will always be some kind of negative consequences to letting yourself drift. So it is important that you keep yourself aware of where those dangers to drift are for you. It may be old habits and associations, pressures, temptations, or your own sinful nature that pulls you away from God.

Knowing ahead of time that the danger of drifting is there, we must be diligent and careful of heart to keep ourselves ever in right relationship with God, so that He might alert us when we begin to drift.

I encourage you this week to take time to ask God if you are drifting! It’s never too late to do something about it if you are, and God is always gracious and ready to help. It is His desire to “keep you from falling” (Jude 24).

May you have an alert awareness of your spiritual condition at all times, and be ever vigilant in keeping yourself sensitive to the Spirit of God, that He might guide you into all truth at all times!

Guard specially Against Heart Hardening

“While it is said, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”  Hebrews 3:15

In my recent study of the 3rd chapter of Hebrews, I am more and more aware of the great temptation before us as Christians to allow our hearts to grow hard to the things of God.  Hardness of heart is a characteristic of non-belivers, and explains their unwillingness and inability to see the evident truths of God.  But it is not just a malady of non-Christians.

We, as believers, can be guilty of allowing circumstances and feelings to cause us to doubt God, doubt His goodness and His sovereign plans, causing UNBELIEF.  We then, if we do not deal with those feelings, can become angry or disheartened with God, setting the stage for despair, doubt, and a hardening of our hearts toward God (and others).

You may be dealing with such a struggle right now.  Maybe something has happened that you don’t understand, or maybe something has turned out differently than you expected.  Or maybe you are faced with something that seems so “un-Godly” that you are sure that God has somehow betrayed you or failed you, or that He is not who He says He is.

Please know that this is a struggle that every Christian has faced on some level at some time in his/her life.  It is a well-used trick of the enemy used to harden your heart toward God, and cause a chasm in your relationship with Him.  You do no have to give in to it!  Your God is a loving and gracious God, who watches over His children day and night.  His care over us is beyond our comprehension, and He is always working for our benefit. 

But God, in His great love and mercy, desires more than anything else, that you come to truly KNOW Him, and He will not cease to pursue you in the midst of any and every circumstance, to draw you closer to Himself.  HIS FIRST PRIORITY FOR YOUR LIFE IS NOT YOUR COMFORT, BUT YOUR RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM!

I pray that you will begin this new year by getting on your knees before God, and asking Him to examine your heart, to show you if there should be any hardening that may have been forming there.  Look below at some of the places you may need to safeguard:

Guard specially Against Heart Hardening:  Hard hearts are unbelieving ones; therefore, beware of ossification of the heart.  Remember that hearts harden gradually, almost unperceived.  Beware of:

• Be constant hearing of truth without obeying it
• The knowing better, yet doing wrong
• The cherishing of unholy things
• The refusal to confess the wrong and to profess the right
• The refusal to take time to be in God’s word, learning about and renewing in your mind the truth of God’s loving character

Look carefully at the things you can do to get yourself back into right relationship:

Guard against an evil heart:  As soon as the heart gets into an evil state – harboring sin, cherishing things which would not be excused in others, permitting unholy thoughts and desires to remain unchecked and unjudged – then beware! For such a heart is no longer able to believe in God.

• Make prayer a priority
• Examine yourself (looking intently for integrity and character of purity)
• Prove (provide evidence, show, verify)  yourself
• Expose (reveal what is hidden) yourself to the searching light of God’s Spirit
• Cultivate an honest and good heart (pursue, improve by care, seek to develop)

“But encourage one another day after day…so that none of you will be hardened by deceitfulness of sin.”  Hebrews 3:13

Typical Christian Life vs Normal Christian Life

“The great work of God in heaven, the chief thought and longing of His heart is, through His Son, to reach your heart and speak to you“
Andrew Murray

What a wonderful thought!  Did you realize that, as a believer, God is always speaking to you?  Did you know that it is His constant desire to always reach your heart, that you might know His mind and His thoughts?  Are you aware that His love for you is so great that He will do anything to keep you close to Himself?  Look at what the writer of Hebrews says:

“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.
But now in these final days, he has spoken to us through His Son.”  Hebrews 1:1-2 NLT

Look below at the chart that describes the two kinds of Christian lives.

Normal Christian Life Should:	Typical Christian Life Means:
Turn your life over to the Lordship of Christ	Profession of faith, then little or no growth
Desire to know Jesus and His Word more	Know about Jesus, His Word, His Ways
Pursue Christ, and all that it means to be committed to live in selfless obedience	Perform the least possible to “get by” and  still get to heaven!
Learn to hope and trust in God alone	One will ultimately come to despair of self
Have your mind set on heavenly things	Focusing on earthly things

Which of these lifestyles describes you?  Are you living out your Christian life just to “get by,” or have you turned your heart completely over to the pursuit of Christ above all else?

No matter how you’ve lived up until this moment.  You can decide today that you no longer want to just “be a Christian” – Rather, you can decide that you want to be a true representative of Jesus Christ, empowered daily by the Holy Spirit to live a life pleasing to God.  It is this kind of believer, and this kind of believing Church that wins the lost world to Christ!

“To have found God and still pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love.”  A.W. Tozer