Do You Believe That Love Will Stand The Test Of Time?
Good Morning Friends,
Today is Valentine’s Day and it is as good a day as any to explore the
Christian’s call and election to make disciples. We do so today because making disciples is a direct by-product of Jesus’ command to love God and one another as ourselves. It is all about love. For here in this process of making disciples we connect to the power and the purpose of Jesus. Even though we are powerless…even though we have doubted… we can in fellowship and grace still move from vision to victory….we can learn to share a tenderness and passionate devotion with others. Here we take steps on this journey by association with the sacred, sharing whatever faith we have, demonstrating our commitment and delegating Spirit led assignments until we begin to see the reproduction of what has been made manifest in us now in others. The hurdle for each step is unbelief. We have to unlearn what the world has taught us. Here in loving and being loved we receive the faith and reason to believe in a love that lasts. Do You Believe That Love Will Stand The Test Of Time?
Scripture: The father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:24 (NRSV)
His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants in the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
2 Peter 1:3-11 (NRSV)
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Luke 6:38 (NIV)
The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written,” He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
2 Corinthians 9:6-15 (NRSV)
Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
Proverbs 12:19 (NRSV)
For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:29-32 (NRSV)
Message: The real test is to learn how to love like Jesus. Seeking that is how we grow our capacity to love through a commitment. However today we start by getting caught up in a little commercialism and history. The commercialism though is an unintended consequence of the day that has been set aside to honor the patron saint of lovers…the martyr who chose to marry couples in Christian ceremonies defying the orders of Emperor Claudius. Before St. Valentine pagans were picking names at random to match couples. That process has changed somewhat but at the cost of St. Valentine losing his head. I would imagine that St. Valentine would be surprised as to how the customs have changed and in some ways how the desire for immediate gratification without a real relationship remains the same.
Claudius might also be surprised how his efforts to have a big army by curtailing marriages eventually turned out. Now if we look at Christian discipleship in this light, I wonder if we have institutionalized the message but lost the method. Here is the point… unless we replicate Jesus in our lives…unless we employ a love that multiplies those who are called to be Christians, we miss the mark. The power in becoming doers of the Word of God is in the surrender, fellowship, honesty, and grace of the Holy Spirit. Here when we take personal responsibility for character development in ourselves and others we receive the assets necessary to live life abundantly. Here God is faithful to His promises. Here we learn how to receive. Here we grow in Christ-like love and faith. Powerless…we are to give away in love what has been given to us for that is the way we are transformed on the journey. Here we want to be used by Christ for His purposes… But be careful what you ask for. It just might change your life in unexpected ways. It might change you from a consumer into a contributor. There are great benefits of a lifestyle of stewardship that can be described but there are some aspects of it that are indescribable when we totally give ourselves to God. Because of Christ’s nature and because of His purpose and because of the grace by which Holy Spirit is given, the effect on us is sure to make a difference. But there is a consequence of giving and following Jesus. There is a cost of love found only where Jesus already is and that we must eventually be where He expects us to be regardless of the costs. So today we contemplate the costs of a love that is patient and kind and stands the test of time. We look at its intended and unintended consequences. Today we contemplate who Christ is for us today and just who we are obeying. Today we wrestle with the dilemma of moral responsibility. Today we dare to love anyway. Friends, Saint Valentine may have become infamous for defying the Emperor and standing up for marriage, but what really made him a saint was that he received the love of Jesus, reciprocated that love, and recycled it through a life of service. When you and I do that, we can celebrate this day in a new way as a tradition of recognizing a love that lasts more than a lifetime.
Pray that God forgive us of our unbelief. Pray that we bear witness to the miracle of love that He performs daily in our lives. Pray we realize that husbands and wives in love are as Christ and the Church. Pray therefore we desire for the places we live and work and worship to be communities of love. Pray we are able to feel totally and completely loved. Pray we realize that nothing is more important than loving God and loving people. Pray we love each other as God has loved us every moment of every day. Pray we love God with all our hearts, minds and souls as a community of love. Pray we have the blessings of belief shared.
Pray we thank God because God loves us. Pray we understand the importance of family.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 