Where You Lead

Love

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

Every one of us is capable of loving. We know that and we do love. We love our children, our parents, our spouses. We love our neighbor. But do we love as Jesus has loved us?

Jesus laid down his life for us, no doubt the ultimate act of love. He did that even though we are sinners; He loved us regardless of our faults and flaws. Jesus loves us when we are not so lovable.

I know that I do not love others as Jesus loves me. When I am angry or bitter, Jesus keeps loving me. Yet, when I am faced with a bitter or angry person, I respond with anger or bitterness. Sometimes I just walk away. I do not love that person. I do not show kindness or compassion. I do not love as Jesus loves me.

Lovable people are easy; it’s the bitter, angry person that really tests our love. Those are the people that Jesus wants us to love because they need the love of Christ in their lives. As with every command that Jesus has given us, we can’t pick and choose when to follow and when to ignore. We must follow Christ’s commands always. And that means loving everyone, especially those who are so very unlovable.

We are here to serve the Lord and we serve by loving His children. Today, let’s try to love as Jesus loves us: totally, completely, unconditionally.

Serving Whom?

I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.

1 Corinthians 4:3-4

Whose opinion do you value? For whom do you live your life?

We are each responsible for following God’s word and being true to Him. We are not beholden to anyone else. While we are instructed to honor our parents and we vow to love our spouses, these are not the people who will judge us or whose approval we should seek. Only God has the power to judge us. Our only concern should be that we please Him.

I remember once chatting with a friend and caught myself more than once passing judgment on someone we both knew. I realized then that I had stepped over a line and that I really had no right to judge any other person, not having insight into their hearts or minds. At that thought, I corrected myself and said, “I guess I’m lucky that God will judge me, and not my neighbors, huh?” My friend understood.

Let’s all remember today that we need to please only God. Let’s leave the judgments to Him so that we can concentrate on simply following him and doing His work.

Choose Your Path

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:1-2

Remember when you were a kid and your mom told you that you’d be judged by the company that you keep? If you’re a parent with kids of at least school age, you’ve no doubt advised your own children the same. And if you are the parent of a teen then you probably worry about the kids your child calls “friends.”

And yet, how much time do we spend with people who bring us down spiritually or mock those things that we hold dear? Right now, I am fortunate because I spend time with people who lift me in my spiritual journey but it wasn’t always the case. For a while, I associated online with a group of adults who were not uplifting at all. Rather than walking away, I tried to fit in and appease them. It only served to bring me down. I had to walk away.

Even as adults we need to be cautious about those with whom we associate. Anyone we call “friend” should bring us closer to God and encourage our spiritual path, not try to persuade us away from it. We can’t avoid those who disagree and we have no right to pass judgment on the beliefs of others but those who refuse to respect our beliefs and mock us are not friends.

I’m going to be even more careful about those I call friends and I’m going to be especially grateful for the real friends who lift me up and help me in my walk with the Lord.

True Faith

We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

Hebrews 3:14

I know a lot of Christians who proclaim their faith. I have no reason to doubt them. I know a number of people, too, who lost faith when things went horribly wrong in their lives. They felt that God had betrayed them or walked away. They question why God would let such a thing happen.

Keeping faith during good times is easy. We praise God for the wonderful things in our lives and keep honoring Him. Keeping faith when things go wrong is not so easy. We tend to blame God. We may cry out to Him, asking why He has forgotten about us. Or we may turn away, angry.

True faith does not falter. No matter what happens, no matter how awful events seem to be, we must remain faithful to God, keeping our sights on Christ and believing that our Lord will never forsake us. We must continue to trust God and rely on His love.

Be faithful to God; He is always faithful to us.

Giving Back

Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.

Deuteronomy 16:17

Why is this so hard? Why do I resist? I have no problem giving praise and thanks to God. I’ve gotten in the habit of giving God credit for the good things in my life. I give to my family. So why do I resist giving a percentage of my blessings to God?

So many times I’ve worried about finances and prayed for God’s blessings to see me through. And God does just that. I have no problem “giving” those blessings to utility companies, grocery stores or even a book store or the girl at the makeup counter. And yet, I delay giving back to God who gives me so much. I delay until I have nothing left to give Him, and I must pray again for Him to bless me.

I’ve heard that when you receive a paycheck, you should pay yourself first. I disagree. First, we should pay God, who makes it all possible. God blesses us with ability and work and way to provide for ourselves and our families. We should give back to Him first. And from now on, I will.

Who’s Number Two?

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:3-4

When I was in grade school, maybe 6th or 7th grade, I read the book “I Am Third” by Gayle Sayers autobiography focusing on his friendship with Brian Piccolo, both professional football players. Not only did the story of these two wonderful men stay with me, but the thought that God is first, my brother is second and I am third left a huge impact on me.

I work very hard every day to make God first in my life. I pray when I wake up and I pray at night before I fall asleep. I pray throughout the day. I make a point of remember God in just about everything I do. And yet I am selfish. Yes, I am.

I have every intention of putting others first and often I do. I’m a mother, after all, and our nature is to tend to our families. The thing is, I hear a lot about “take care of yourself” or no one else will. Or that there’s nothing wrong with a little “me time.” And I buy into that. Why not? It feels good to take care of myself. It’s wonderful when I spend the time and money on special pampering.

I guess the question is, Does it feel as wonderful as when God takes care of me? Is a pedicure as relaxing as God’s love and comfort? No matter what I do for myself, is any of it better than when God does for me? The answer, of course, is no.

I don’t need to put myself or my needs ahead of my family’s or anyone else’s. God tells me to put Him first, to put others second. God tells me that I am third. I know from experience that when I put myself last, He will take care of me better than I can take care of myself.

I must recommit myself to my family, friends and community. I must remember that the only pampering I need is the loving comfort of God.

Choose Well

How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!

Proverbs 16:16

Seems there’s a theme going on this week, doesn’t it? I think God might be really drilling this lesson into my head. Once again, He reminds us that gold, silver, financial wealth is not the goal. Today He tells us that wisdom and understanding are more important.

Wisdom has nothing to do with intelligence, of course. I tend to see wisdom as something that comes from mistakes or observations of other people’s mistakes. Wisdom, perhaps, goes hand-in-hand with understanding. I remember a quote, not sure who said it, that states “To understand all is to forgive all.”

Naturally, only God understands all, which is why God will forgive all. Yet, we can and should strive to understand and to forgive. To be one who understands God’s word and is open to His wisdom, we open ourselves to forgiveness. In the grand scheme of things, wisdom and understanding will impact who we are so much more than the amount of money we have.

The kind of person we are will remain long after we’ve passed on to eternal life with God. The legacy we leave will be more powerful if it is based on who we are rather than how much wealth we accumulated while here. We can each choose our legacy. I’d rather work to leave a legacy of wisdom and understanding than one of gold and silver. How about you?

Contentment

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5

I didn’t go to my 30th class reunion this year. Why? Because I hadn’t lost enough weight and I didn’t want anyone to see me fat. I was not content with myself.

I think many women place value on themselves in a similar way. We care entirely too much about how well we’ve kept our figure and how few lines mark our faces. I imagine that for men, the measure of success is the accumulation of money and power. As I mentioned a few days ago, it’s the big house, the flashy car, all the symbols of financial wealth that we believe the rest of the world will use to assess our value.

No matter how the world measures success, we should never lose site of God’s measurement – our devotion to Him. God does not care about our bank account, what car we drive or how many extra pounds we’ve put on in the last 30 years. God cares about us so much that he promises to never leave us.

As I strive to focus on God by honoring and adoring Him, I must remember that contentment is not having everything I want, but wanting everything I have. As long as I have God in my life and spend time with Him everyday, as long as God is my top priority, He will bring true contentment to life.

Well Placed Hope

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

It seems that every day, I’m feeling the stress and burden of daily life. Financial woes, troubles with kids and other family members, fears about health and safety all occupy my mind. I find myself hoping for a solution, someone to lead me to the answer or make everything right. I’ve even bought a lottery ticket now and then, hoping that a huge windfall would be the answer to all my problems.

My hope, though, is God. He is my strength and He has the answers to my prayers. No one is going to knock on my door with a check for millions of dollars of prize money; no one is going to swoop up my problems and make them all right. I have to put every bit of my hope in God and rely on his power to pull me through. When I’m down, He will lift me up and when I am too tired to go on He will carry me.

God is my strength and my hope must remain only in Him.

Focused On God

Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

It seems we all hang on to this life, grasping at ways to make it last longer and working to acquire as much as we can while we’re here. We desire more stuff, more fame, more financial success. And yet, none of this matters. Nothing on this earth matters.

It is only God that matters. Satan plants the seed in our minds that we need a bigger house, a flashier car, nicer clothes or even a better body. We find ourselves desiring these things, but we must resist the temptation of pursuing the things that really don’t matter. The only one we need to impress is God and He is not impressed by these things. He is impressed by our hearts and by our devotion to Him.

From this day forth I am going to make a real effort to turn away from those desires that do not bring me closer to God. I will remain focused on God.