Green Pastures

On October 21, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Luke 6: 38

Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

If you read yesterday’s Word of the Day, you know that Jesus gives us commands and expects them to be obeyed. You will also remember, though, that he gives them in order to guide us on good paths for our own wellbeing. Today’s verse is an excellent example that very thing.

The first word of today’s verse is the command. Give. Jesus could have stopped right there. He instructs us to give. There is a promise attached to this command, but we should understand first that it is a mandate. It is not a suggestion; it is the Word of the Lord. Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6: 46), so let us not delude ourselves into thinking this is a mere inspiration. James said we should prove ourselves doers of the Word (James 1: 22). This is the doing. Give!

Jesus is not, however, an overbearing task master. He does not stand over us with whip in hand barking out orders. He is the good shepherd leading us to the still waters and green pastures (Psalm 23). We must follow Him, submit to his direction and guidance if we wish to lie down in those green pastures. In today’s verse the green pasture is people giving to you in such volume that you cannot contain it. It is running over. Now, the path to that green pasture, the path Jesus is trying to guide us onto is giving.

How fast do you want you receive your overflow? Jesus said you are the master of the measure. If you give with a teacup, your return will be measured in teacups. If you give by the gallon, your return comes by the gallon. The measure you use will be the measure of the return. Overflow comes faster if you use a gallon jug. The more you give the greater the return.

It’s still a command that we give, and that should stand alone, but Jesus commanded it because he is trying to get blessing to you, and he understands how his Father’s kingdom works. Give and you shall receive, good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. The commandments and the blessing are tied together.  Follow the instructions of your Lord and be blessed.

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Just One Thing

On October 13, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 13: 34 – 35

I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”

What does it mean to be a Christian? What are Christian values? What makes a good Christian? These can be challenging questions, but Jesus simplified them for us.

There really is only one Christian virtue. The rest of our value system flows from it. God is love. Christianity is love. Jesus took God’s nature, His very essence and built his kingdom upon it. The one Christian virtue is love.

Jesus commands one thing of us so the question we should seek to answer in everything we do, everything we say is, “What does love require?” It’s all about love. In your job, in your family, what does love require? This is the same as asking, “What would Jesus do?” Jesus was always motivated by love. He has commanded us to love one another even as he has loved us. What does that mean? It means this virtue which Jesus has called us to is unselfish, even sacrificial.

The theology of Christianity is love. Any other theology is empty. It becomes quite easy to understand and explain Christianity when you realize that love is the pinnacle. It is the pillar upon which Jesus built his ministry and his kingdom. The whole of the law, the prophets; the whole of Judeo-Christian philosophy and theory is tied up in this one commandment. Love one another as Jesus first loved us. Christianity, from God’s perspective, requires us to put the needs of others before our own. It requires us to consider what is best for others, instead of ourselves. It forces us to look through another’s eyes and to walk a mile in their shoes. It demands we not be needy and demanding but rather to be compassionate and considerate. The entirety of Christian philosophy and theology, hundreds of years of debate and thought can be boiled down to this one simple question, “What does love require?”

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Greatest and Worst

On March 12, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Mark 12: 28

One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”

It is interesting that Jesus did not answer according to the question. The inquirer wanted to know which one commandment is the greatest. Jesus answered with two, love God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself. He said the combination of these two are the greatest commandment. It was a bit of a cheap question as if to say, if I decide only to keep one commandment, which should it be. Intellectually, though, it is an interesting question, attempting to discern where God’s thoughts and priorities lie. Alternatively, I have wondered why no one ever asked him, “Which is the worst sin?”

How would you answer that question? How would God? We have a sense, don’t we, that there are little sins, and big ones. Some sins are worse than others. Murder, rape, idolatry, and adultery are biggies. The Apostle Paul gave us a list of “those things that are not proper, people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them,” (Romans 1: 28 – 32). He lumps lying, arrogance and gossiping with murder and haters of God, the latter of which obviously flies in the face of the one Great Commandment.

What do we say then? What are the categories of sin? Where do we draw the lines? Perhaps this is a question best answered each person for himself.

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Love Law

On September 7, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 13: 10

Love does no wrong to a neighbor, love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

If Paul is right and love is the fulfillment of the law, then we ought to know this verse by heart. Interestingly, I don’t really hear this verse bantered around very much. Paul derived this teaching directly from Jesus’ “One Commandment” message. Jesus gave us a new commandment, that we love one another, knowing that it would fulfill all the requirements of the law. Paul synthesizes that idea for us in today’s verse.

Love is a high hurdle. There are people we don’t like but God requires us to love them anyway. What does that really mean? How can you love someone you don’t like? Well, liking them may mean that you want to spend time with them, that you enjoy their company. Love means regardless of their personality or behaviors, you still want all God’s best for them. You pray for their salvation, blessing, etc. You are going to be tested when your prayers succeed though, so be warned. God will bless them because of you even if they don’t do anything worthy of his blessing. That is how He is. You might choke a little when they begin being blessed because you have stood in the gap for them for a long time. It’s okay. Just enjoy knowing your prayers are honored in God’s throne room.

This verse should be a lesson for every avenue of life. It applies to governments and diplomacy. It applies in businesses. It applies in every organization. Love never does any harm to another. There is a better way for you to succeed than to step on another human being or their business. We don’t succeed on the backs of other people. We succeed on eagle’s wings. That is the love principle and I tell you the truth, there is no power in the universe stronger than love.

Keep today’s verse in mind. Memorize it perhaps and let it guide all of your human interactions.

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Do You Love Me?

On February 29, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 15: 17

This I command you, that you love one another.

If you knew me would you still love me? My definition of a friend is “someone who knows you and still likes you”. Sometimes we become acquainted with someone but then when we find a blemish on their armor or find that they have needs as well as strengths, we abandon that friendship.

One of our problems is that we make judgments about people based on these perceived faults. Well, when you began becoming friends with them, did you think they were perfect? There has only been one perfect. So discovering that a person is flawed really shouldn’t be such a big surprise.

Our response to these pronounced judgments is to hide away our true selves. Hence my question, “If you knew the real me, would you still love me?” Well, I know how Jesus answers that question and it is probably why we love him so much. He sees us for who we truly are complete with all of our emotional baggage, scars and our faults and yet loves us anyway. In fact, he knew all of my short comings before he went to the cross and seeing my damage chose to go to the cross anyway. Now that is a friend indeed.

Now Jesus directs us. He has said, “Do not judge” (Matthew 7: 1). Instead he commands us to love one another. I don’t see an easy way around these two imperatives. Do you? We are very good at determining what is good and what is bad but remember, that is the fruit of the tree we were never supposed to eat from (see Genesis 3: 2 – 4). Eating the fruit of that tree is what yielded the curse and it is still producing misfortune and torment in our lives today.

We do not need to agree with each other’s politics or even religious views but we do have to accept one another. We have not been appointed to determine who is good and who is bad, who gets into heaven and who does not. Our job is but to love. Period, end of story. Now, if we could really get a revelation of that, we would transform the world.

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