Is There Love in Your Home?

Many think of love as a good feeling that we get. But the real test of love is not just in how well we can receive it but in how well we can give it. We are not commanded to make sure everyone else loves us but we are commanded to “love one another,”

Where love prevails in a home, jealousy does not.

A family with love is free to be honest with each other and still accept one another.

A husband and father who talks a good talk without real love for his family is nothing and his wife and kids know it. It is just empty clatter.

A wife may act very Spiritual, go to church, and be a real “do-gooder” but if she does not love her family, no one is the better for it.

What a lot of couples really need is to just grow up and quit acting like children. Their kids need to see some maturity in their lives. Adults should know something about handling difficulty. Hardship is not a reason to fly the coop; rather it is a reason to cling to those God has placed in your life. 

Sir, you took a vow, saying; “Until death do us part.” 

Ma’am, you promised, “For better or for worse.” I know, at the time you didn’t know it could get this worse, but where there is love, there is hope.

A child may be very gifted and talented but if that child shows no love for his parents, “it profits him nothing.” I don’t care how brilliant or athletic a kid is if he or she doesn't respect Mom and Dad.

There is no greater agony than that of families that fight. Instead of fighting, have you thought of praying? 

Instead of hanging out at the bars late on Saturday night, have you thought instead of retiring early for the night and getting up early on Sunday morning to prepare for church? 

Instead of clamoring to get your own way, have you considered doing what’s best for the rest of the family?

You would probably go across the ocean to another country and fight for your family. Why not make the necessary sacrifices right where you are that would allow your family to stay together and love one another?

If love dominates the home, individuals will put up with some of the others’ shortcomings. And there will be no place for pride and arrogance.

Individuals in a family with love will not just be interested in their own thing, but in that of the rest of the family. Conversations there will be polite – not self-centered.

When love prevails in a marriage, a wife will not take off and abandon her husband just because “things are not going my way.” Love will prevent a man from leaving his wife for a “younger,” “prettier,” or “sweeter” woman. Love is an allegiance, not an emotion.

Money cannot hold a family together; family pride cannot, but love can. 

Good looks, charm and youthful energy may not last, but love can.

Where is the source of true love? The answer: “God is love” (1 John 4.8,16). There is no true love apart from the Lord in your life. God loved you and gave his Son for your eternal salvation. Trust in him and love will enter in. After that, you must decide what you will do with it.

Please take the time to read 1 Corinthians chapter 13 in the Bible.

May God bless you and your family with the love of God.

Exhorting Daily

Exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today,"
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

God tells us to exhort one another daily. The Greek word translated "exhort" is παρακαλειτε from parakaleo meaning to call to one's side, exhort, entreat, encourage, comfort, or instruct.

Jesus called the Holy Spirit "another Comforter" (parakletos). This means that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are exhorters. 

The word παρακαλειτε is also imperative. God is telling us that it is imperative that we talk to each other regularly, even daily, about the dangers of falling away from the faith. This was a very real problem among the Hebrew believers of the first century A.D. There was great persecution of the believers at this time and a great deal of pressure to abandon the exclusivity of the gospel of Christ and just wander back into Judaism (meaning that the law and sacrifices and the religious activities of Israel were sufficient). It would have been easy to just say, "Well, we all live in a society of diversity and we should just coexist."

Many Christians are feeling that same pressure today. We see a large number of young adults who have abandoned the faith of Christ. I am in constant prayer about how to reach or rereach this generation.

The key must be to reach them before they stray. God's word says it is imperative to exhort one another daily so that the other may not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. How deceitful sin is! We must not succumb to its snares.

We must learn again to love others one on one, taking time to talk to that single individual before he or she approaches the precipice of the danger of falling. When we do, we are more like our Lord.

Who Looks Worse?

I once knew a young lady who thought she had an intruder in the house. She went and got her Daddy’s gun to protect herself. She walked through the house to see if she could find the prowler. Once she turned the corner into a room, clearly there was someone there, also armed. She was about to shoot when she realized that the hideous person was herself … in the mirror. She had almost shot at her own image.

Before we start firing at others, we might need to realize that the flaws we see in others might actually be our own and sometimes in a worse fashion.

Suppose you were looking at someone through a pair of glasses and saw them doing something really wrong. But suppose also that when you pulled your glasses off you realized that you were actually looking into lenses of mirror and that what you thought you saw in others was really something in you?

What bothers you the most, your sins or that of others’? This is an important question if anyone wants to really be right with God.

I hear people complain all of the time because of something someone else did or is doing? I have done the same thing myself. For some reason, sin looks uglier on others than it does on us.

When was the last time you wept over your own evil ways – something you did, something you said or a wrong attitude?

If someone cuts you off in traffic, do you cry aloud, “You idiot?” Have you ever berated yourself for the same? “What’s wrong with me, why do I treat people that way?” Have you ever gotten on your own case for interrupting or ignoring another? Are you very angry with yourself for neglecting the precepts of the bible?

Jesus said we cannot help others with their problems unless we first take care of our own:

“And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” (Matthew 7.3-5)

If we have sin in our lives we must seek to make it right before we get all bothered about what is wrong with others.

Sometimes we can even get more upset over the little errors in others than we do about the big wrongs in our own lives.

And He said, "Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. (Luke 11.46)

Will you join me in this prayer and pledge?

Dear Lord, help me to focus less on the sins and faults of others and more on correcting my own. I know I need to help any brother or sister that is overtaken in any fault, but I cannot see to do that unless I make my heart right with you first. So many times I have criticized others for the very things that I was guilty of myself. Help me not be a hypocrite. I want to be honest with you, with others and with myself – in Jesus’ name, Amen.

What Sets the Christian Faith Apart from All Others?

Everyone has faith in something. When people say they don’t believe in God, they probably believe in themselves instead, which actually sets themselves up in the place of God.

What sets faith in Christ apart from the many faiths of this world?

Is it our unique experience? Having trusted Christ, most all believers have felt a peace that passes understanding. There is nothing quite like knowing that Jesus died for our sins and that all has been forgiven. He removes our guilt of sin and we are free at last to follow him without the dark cloud of judgment hovering above our heads. So, yes, Christians do initially and often experience great peace.

But there may be days when the peace is lacking. Whenever Christians get busy in life and don’t take time to give thanks to him, the peace may be sorely missing. When we find ourselves walking outside of God’s revealed will, choosing to sin, we lack peace then too. When we wrestle in prayer over a son or daughter, we may not feel great peace. Sometimes Christians may experience unexplained depression, thus reducing peace down to almost nothing.

Is it our changed life that makes Christianity unique? Christ does make a big difference in the believer’s life. The bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

What happens though, when a believer in Christ backslides and falls into sin? I know some non-Christians who seem more morally upright than some who call themselves Christians. I am a Christian and have seen some non-Christians conduct themselves better than I did at times. Does this prove the gospel to be untrue? If this were all that our faith is about then, yes, it might cause many to doubt what they’ve been taught from the bible. In fact, many young adults are leaving the faith by the droves right now – partially because they became disenchanted with what they have seen from Christians. A famous man is purported to have said, “I would be a Christian if it were not for Christians.”

There is one very unique thing which truly sets faith in Jesus Christ apart from all other beliefs. This truth, having been verified, is a solid rock upon which all those who are in the faith of Christ can continue to stand. It will never change or be disproven. That thing is the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ resurrection is a fact that was historically testified to by hundreds of eye witnesses. The four gospel writers wrote about the historical veracity of his resurrection. Paul (or Saul) the apostle went from Christianity’s greatest persecutor to its most powerful defender after he encountered the resurrected Jesus. (See Acts chapter 9). Paul was one of the most persecuted individuals ever to live on this earth, all because of his newfound faith in the Lord Jesus.  Yet he continued to boldly exclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In fact, all the disciples and many thousands of early Christians gave their lives for this truth – that Jesus had indeed risen from the grave.

If Jesus had been merely a good man, merely a prophet, merely a founder of a new religion, merely a great teacher, this belief would be no different than any other. But because he is risen indeed, he can indeed save. Because he is risen indeed, he did indeed die for our sins. Because he is risen indeed, he did ascend to heaven and he will indeed come again. And because he is risen indeed, he can give us peace indeed and make us a new creation in him indeed.

Operator, Well Could You Help me Make this Call?

Remember these old pay phones. Remember in the old black and white movies when big news was made, all the news reporters made a mad dash to the nearest pay phone. There were usually a dozen or so pay phones in the nearest hallway.

They hardly have any use anymore because most people nowadays have cell phones with them everywhere they go. Most of the places that had them before have had them removed or the pay phones were destroyed by vandals.

I was pleasantly surprised when I drove up to this one, lifted the receiver and “baaaaaah,” I hear a dial tone. So there is still a phone available to anyone else out there who doesn’t carry a mobile. It will cost you some change but you should be able to use it to call anyone you wish. That’s what I call retro-progress!

God tells us that there is a line that is always open to him too.

For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.  Jeremiah 29.10-14

God is telling his chosen nation that he still loves them, has a good plan for them and will restore them to their land.

Because God loves you and has a perfect plan for your life as he did Israel of old he is saying “Call upon me… pray to me and I will listen." If you seek him with all your heart, you will find him.

And it won’t cost you a dime.

How Can I Know I'm Filled with the Spirit of God?

The Flesh and the Spirit - Part V

How can we know that we are filled with the Holy Spirit and operating by his influence? How might we be aware if we are functioning by the energy of our own flesh?

The Bible gives us lists both of the works of the flesh and of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-22). These will clearly identify for us which we are walking in.

Though these lists are not exhaustive they do seem to encompass the whole realm of both states. Notice the words “and the like” in verse 21. Any expression of fleshly conduct has many cousins that can show up any time.

The “works of the flesh” are plural. The flesh can manifest itself in so many, many ways. For example, once you think you have conquered sexual sin, the flesh may manifest itself through envy. Or if you think you have conquered drunkenness, you may find yourself being drawn back into contentiousness.

The “fruit of the Spirit” is singular but is like a many faceted diamond. I think this means that when God’s Spirit is in control of your life, each of those attributes will be present because that’s what God’s Spirit produces.

I also believe that love is the main thread which holds the garment together. If you have God’s perfect love, you will manifest all of the other things too. However, not one person, that I am aware of, always perfectly portrays the fruit of the Spirit. It is something we must allow God to perform within us daily. We cannot do it ourselves.

Here are the lists:

The Works of the Flesh:                                  The Fruit of the Spirit

Adultery                                                           Love                                

Fornication                                                      Joy

Uncleanness                                                   Peace

Lewdness                                                       Longsuffering

Idolatry                                                            Kindness

Sorcery (can include drug abuse)                   Goodness

Hatred                                                             Faithfulness

Contentions                                                     Gentleness

Jealousies                                                       Self-control

Outbursts of wrath                               

Selfish ambitions (strife)                                 

Dissensions (seditions)                                             

Heresies (sects)                                             

Envy                                                    

Murders                                               

Drunkenness                                        

Revelries                                             

The Apostle Paul also gives us a final statement about both conditions. Concerning the works of the flesh he writes, “…those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” If you continually live your life in living in sexual sins, Spiritual disregard, malice, self-centeredness, unjustified anger, disrespect for human life, alcohol and drug abuse, doing only what feels good to you – all without repentance, it is not possible that you are a Christian.

Concerning the fruit of the Spirit, he writes “Against such there is no law.” This means that when walking in the Spirit, we will not go against what God has already shown in His law (the Ten Commandments). We have already seen that the law cannot enable us to do God’s will but only reveals our inner moral failure. God’s Spirit, however, does empower us to live according to the standards of God as shown by the law. We must give him control of our lives.

If You are Led by the Spirit, You are Not Under the Law

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Gal 5.18)

In Galatians 5.16-17, Paul has been contrasting the flesh and the Spirit. “Flesh,” meaning relying upon and yielding to the desires of self as comes naturally for us all.

The principle of “the Spirit,” means to be under the control of the Holy Spirit of God.

But now, in verse 18, He instead contrasts the law with the Spirit. Although we know that the law is holy [i], to bring ourselves under its domain will only bring either pride or despair to our flesh. In pride we will convince ourselves that we can meet the law’s demands. In despair we will become demoralized that we cannot.

When we think we can make ourselves right with God apart from grace, it is because this is how the flesh thinks. We may rely upon the law’s demand toward us to fully obey God. The flesh will tell us that we can do this but the law reminds us that we cannot,[ii] The Spirit of God shows us that Jesus has met those demands in our behalf.

This is not only true concerning our justification (becoming righteous in our standing before God), but also our sanctification (becoming holy in our thoughts, actions and ways before God).

The law cannot empower the flesh to be righteous and holy; it can only bring to light our failure. Only the Holy Spirit can empower us to do so. That’s why we must rely on and submit to God’s work of grace in us.

Concerning this passage, Charles Spurgeon wrote.

He who looks at his own character and position from a legal point of view, will not only despair when he comes to the end of his reckoning, but if he is a wise man he will despair at the beginning; for if we are to be judged on the basis of the law, no living flesh shall be justified. How blessed to know that we dwell in the domains of grace and not of law! When thinking of my state before God the question is not, “Am I perfect in myself before the law?” but, “Am I perfect in Christ Jesus?” That is a very different matter.[iii]

Later, he writes:

Ah! believer, it is safer always for you to be led by the Spirit into gospel liberty than to wear legal fetters. Judge yourself by what Christ is rather than by what you are. Satan will try to mar your peace by reminding you of your sinfulness and imperfections: you can only meet his accusations by faithfully adhering to the gospel and refusing to wear the yoke of bondage.[iv]

God’s word teaches us that we cannot live up to the requirements of the Ten Commandments or the many other moral demands of the law. We are so far behind that we can never catch up. So let us hitch a ride with the only person who ever met those demands successfully – the Lord Jesus Christ!

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[i]  Ro 7:12 - Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

[ii] Romans 7.18 - For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

[iii] Morning and Evening – Charles Spurgeon

[iv] Ibid.