Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love. (2 John 1;3)
Thoughts: Jesus truly came in love. He came to bring us truth and He came out of the Father's love to bring us love- and encourage us to love one another.
As our year ends, truth and love are important things to meditate on. What truths did we learn in the last year. How can we be more true to what God made us to be? Do we truly love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The truth helps us confront the falseness- where we have failed God, ourselves, and others. Love gives us hope for the coming year. But truth also gives us a goal to aim for- true north so to speak. Ephesians tells us to speak the truth in love. These two concepts go together and are not in balance apart from each other. The truth is harsh without love. Love is mushy without the truth. Grace, mercy, and peace come from truth and love.
Jesus Christ embodies both. He spoke the truth- even when it hurts. He loved too- even when it hurt. He did not compromise or waver.
Showing posts with label truth and love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label truth and love. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Thursday, July 5, 2012
7/5/12- The Day After Freedom
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Thoughts: Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying after the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, "We must all hang together or we will assuredly all hang separately."
This is also a great principle of the Church. United we stand, divided we fall. Yet there are many who seek to divide the church in order to achieve their own ideal. Our common enemy, evil and sin, is always lurking a the door- like a roaring lion looking to devour those who stray away.
The Church is not a perfect place, nor a place where everyone agrees. We put up with a lot in patience and love in order to further the kingdom of God.
We must also adhere to our constitution- our basic document- the Bible. To stray from this in the name of any ideal means our demise. We have seen this in the Church for the last thirty years in America. It is the truth that sets us free. Ignoring the truth or skirting around the truth does not frees us- but traps us. Covering up the truth and excusing untruths take much more energy than following the truth- keeping our eyes on the northern star- our true north- Jesus.
It is time to be honest with ourselves.
It is time to get honest with Jesus- humbling ourselves before His truth- His person- His love. In humbling ourselves we put up with each other and hang together.
Prayer: Help us, O Lord, to balance a thirst for truth with grace and patience with each other. Help us to know it is your truth that frees us, but it is patience with each other that preserves us.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
5/16/12- Inclusiveness and Sanctification
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
(The Balance in Sanctification)
WSCQ. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace by which our whole person is made new in the
image of God, and we are made more and more able to become dead to sin and alive to
righteousness.
Thoughts: What does holiness mean? "Holy" means "other" or "separate." We are told in the passage today to separate ourselves from love of the world. In our day, many want to say that the only thing that matters is inclusiveness and tolerance. If getting along is our only goal in life, what happens to holiness? Biblical holiness is balanced by Biblical love. Truth and love balance each other out. But if inclusiveness is our main value, truth becomes secondary to including others. If inclusiveness is the only value, is there any reason to stand up to a Hitler? If inclusiveness is our only value, how do we include the intolerant? Certainly prejudice is a sin. It is an important sin we are called to avoid. Jesus spoke of the Samaritan loving the wounded Jew. He healed both the sinner and the saint- the Gentile and the Jew. Jesus saw the self-righteous Pharisee and Sadducee as wrong, but also the sexually indulgent and decadent Herodian. Jesus had a balance that we need to get back. He balanced holding the truth in humility, with a willingness to reach out. Those who value inclusiveness to the neglect of other values need to ask, what do I value as truth- and how do I know truth? When we begin to call what God has said is "evil"- "good"- is not that a sign that we have somehow gone astray? Calvinism reminds us to doubt our self-knowledge our self-righteous thinking. Inclusiveness taken to its ultimate end becomes a runaway self-righteousness in and of itself. Sanctification includes inclusiveness, but it is far more than that. Sanctification is also "holiness" being "other" than the world. Sanctification is defined not by ourselves, but by God. God is inclusive, but He is also "holy other." The definition of sanctification really depends on your definition of God. If God is seen most clearly even defined by Jesus Christ-the Word made flesh- then we should be able to see he calls us to repent into an "other" way of life, but He also reaches out in love. For Him love and holiness balance out.
Prayer: Help me to find your balance, your balance of inclusiveness, unity, and holiness. Keep me from having an ideal that stops my ears to your Word.
WSCQ. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace by which our whole person is made new in the
image of God, and we are made more and more able to become dead to sin and alive to
righteousness.
Thoughts: What does holiness mean? "Holy" means "other" or "separate." We are told in the passage today to separate ourselves from love of the world. In our day, many want to say that the only thing that matters is inclusiveness and tolerance. If getting along is our only goal in life, what happens to holiness? Biblical holiness is balanced by Biblical love. Truth and love balance each other out. But if inclusiveness is our main value, truth becomes secondary to including others. If inclusiveness is the only value, is there any reason to stand up to a Hitler? If inclusiveness is our only value, how do we include the intolerant? Certainly prejudice is a sin. It is an important sin we are called to avoid. Jesus spoke of the Samaritan loving the wounded Jew. He healed both the sinner and the saint- the Gentile and the Jew. Jesus saw the self-righteous Pharisee and Sadducee as wrong, but also the sexually indulgent and decadent Herodian. Jesus had a balance that we need to get back. He balanced holding the truth in humility, with a willingness to reach out. Those who value inclusiveness to the neglect of other values need to ask, what do I value as truth- and how do I know truth? When we begin to call what God has said is "evil"- "good"- is not that a sign that we have somehow gone astray? Calvinism reminds us to doubt our self-knowledge our self-righteous thinking. Inclusiveness taken to its ultimate end becomes a runaway self-righteousness in and of itself. Sanctification includes inclusiveness, but it is far more than that. Sanctification is also "holiness" being "other" than the world. Sanctification is defined not by ourselves, but by God. God is inclusive, but He is also "holy other." The definition of sanctification really depends on your definition of God. If God is seen most clearly even defined by Jesus Christ-the Word made flesh- then we should be able to see he calls us to repent into an "other" way of life, but He also reaches out in love. For Him love and holiness balance out.
Prayer: Help me to find your balance, your balance of inclusiveness, unity, and holiness. Keep me from having an ideal that stops my ears to your Word.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)