Love endures all things

Now here's where the rubber meets the road.  Are you up to a real endurance test?   All you have to do is live in relationship with other people without blowing up, leaving, ignoring or avoiding them even when they cause you pain.   To endure means we will be persistent in our love through the hard times as well as the good times.

God demonstrated His endurance in Christ.    Obviously Jesus endured the mocking, the shame, the pain and torture of the cross "for the joy that was set before Him".  Read  Hebrews 12:1&2.   While on earth, He endured all the temptations and heartaches we endure.  He endured living and walking with a group of men who bickered about who was going to be the greatest and totally misunderstood His purpose for being there.  He endured the scrutiny of the Pharasees and the unbelief of people who'd seen His miracles and still couldn't see who He was.

God still endures.  Although it pains Him to see us when we sin and when we fail because we didn't put our trust in Him, still He says  "I will never leave you nor forsake you"  Hebrews 13:5

Love hopes all things

So what is hope.   I certainly hope someone just hands me a million dollars tomorrow or that Congress balances the budget, but that's very likely not going to happen.   Have you ever heard the phrase, "hope for the best, but expect the worst"?  That way you're always right.      

Is this what you think of when you think of hope?   Well, let's be clear.  That is not what the Bible means by using the word "hope". The word for hopes(elpizō) in the Greek has a meaning of expectation of good.   When you love others, you have an expectation of good in their life.  Not because they're good or because of their good circumstances, but because God is good.   As we love and pray for those God has placed in our lives, we look with expectation on what God will do to draw them to Himself.

Of course, unlike us, what Jesus expected would come to be, always came to be, and always comes to be.  Since He knows, His expectations are reality.   In I John 3:2, it tells us that "we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."   Let us live in that great hope and express that hope for others.

Love believes all things

Doesn't that sound rather gullible?  Keep in mind, this love thing has to do with relationships.  How do we fully love someone when we are suspicious of their thoughts and actions?  Are they giving me the straight facts?   What about their motives?   Are they really Christian?   Do they even care?


John 8: 3 - 11 tells a story about a woman caught in adultery.  The Mosaic law demanded that she be stoned to death.  After extending grace to this woman, Jesus told her to go and sin no more.   Jesus believed that to be a possibility.  He believed in the power of God to keep this woman from continuing in adultery.

Jesus believes in us too because He knows the power of His Holy Spirit to change lives.     I believe He wants us to believe in others and believe on their behalf.   That's why we can then forgive many times over, because we believe in the power of God to help those seeking forgiveness to overcome the sin that continues to plague them.

So, to "believe all things" doesn't mean to believe every lie that comes along, but rather to believe in the power of God to change lives.  

Love bears all things

            Did you ever wonder why I Cor 13 uses the words bears all thing and endures all things in the same sentence?   Aren’t they the same?  Well, I did even if you didn’t.   As our house church studied the passage last year, it came to us that the two words express two very different ideas.   “Bears all things” has to do with bearing burdens as Gal. 6:1-3 says.

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who [are] spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

So what is the “law of Christ”?  It is the law of love and as we see, love bears all things.   It has been said that the church is one of the few institutions where we shoot our wounded.   We need to go after the wounded, bear their burdens with them and help them get their lives back in focus with the one who loves them more than they will ever know.

Regarding Jesus, Isaiah 53:4 in the NAV says “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted”

No one who has walked this earth has ever loved like Jesus loved.   Jesus took on our sins, our grief, our sorrows.  Jesus told us

 “"Come to Me, all [you] who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke [is] easy and My burden is light.”  Mathew 11:28-30.

Why is His yoke easy, His burden light?  Because He is yoked with us; bearing our burden with us.

Clearly, Jesus bears all things.  

Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth

Well everyone knows the big news of the day.  Osama Bin Laden is dead and there is rejoicing in the streets.   On 9/11/2001, there were others in this world rejoicing over the loss of many lives here in the US. Top among the celebrators was  the infamous Osama, believing that Allah was blessing them with victory.   I must say, I did not shed a tear at the news of his demise. 

We must ask ourselves,  what does God feel?  What is His perspective?  

Eze 33:11

"Say to them: '[As] I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. ….

I guess if God doesn’t take pleasure in the wicked’s death, neither should I. 

Today’s world has increased its rejoicing in iniquity many fold.   We are told to celebrate diversity in support of all sorts of perversions of what God intended for us.   We accept all religions and sects as equal, even when they go directly against what God has given us and enslave instead of free.  We have replaced love for something we call “tolerance” and in the name of tolerance, we find ourselves rejoicing over the very things that are destroying the objects of God’s love. 

Jesus demonstrated His intolerance of sin while clearly demonstrating His love of the sinner.    For instance with the woman caught in adultery,   He didn’t accuse her, but He did tell her to sin no more.   Truth and Love go together.

Jesus encouraged His disciples to rejoice in the truth as He said  "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."  Luke 10:20.

Did you know that God rejoices over us?   Zeph 3:17 says “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet [you] with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

So, God does not rejoice in iniquity, but He rejoices in the truth.  

Love thinks no evil

Mat 5:21 - 22 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment”

Mat 5:27 – 28: "You have heard that it was said to those of old,  'You shall not commit adultery, But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus made it clear that it matters what we think as much as it matters what we do.  Because we know Jesus was without sin, we know that unlike us, He had complete control over His thought life.  It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us and loving through us that we will have victory over our thought life.  

Love is not provoked

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. Isa 53:7

Falsely accused and humiliated, yet He did nothing to fight back.

Then Pilate said to Him, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?" Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." John 19:10-11

In contrast, when James and John saw that a certain Samaritan village didn’t receive them,

they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village. Luke 9:51 – 56

So we see; Jesus is not provoked.  

Love does not seek its own

Luke 22:39-42: “coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’"

Mat 26:41 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak."

Jesus went to the cross, not because He felt like it. The fact that He was God in the flesh didn’t take away from the pain he was to experience in His flesh. He went to the cross because of his everlasting love for us.  As it is written:

Isa 53:5  “But He [was] wounded for our transgressions, [He was] bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace [was] upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”

            I hope it is as crystal clear to you as it is to me; Jesus wasn’t seeking His own desires or His own good will.  Okay, now I’m going to say something that might rattle some people’s theology.  Remember God is Love and Jesus is that Love demonstrated in His flesh.   I’ve heard it said that whatever God does and asks of us is “for His glory”.   I disagree.  Whatever God does is out of His everlasting Love.   He seeks not His own.

Love is not rude

The definition of rude is ill-mannered: socially incorrect in behavior.  There are numerous behaviors that we can do that people find offensive in the context of our culture.  It is unloving to purposely behave a these offensive manners.   How often do we hear:  well, the Bible doesn’t say we can’t…. or that we should….   In Romans 9:22, Paul said “to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some.”   For instance, it would be rude, or as the KJV puts it unseemly, of me to sit down to a meal of  rice and fish casserole and start grabbing it and sticking it in my mouth using only my fingers, right?   Over the last couple of years we’ve been associated with a family from Bangladesh that does just that because that is what is done in their culture.  You see, that way you can pick the little bones out of the fish before you put it in your mouth.   Now I was taught that you take a napkin and spit the little bones into it.   I can see where that could be considered unseemly to some.  In the context of eating with people from Bangladesh, it would be highly appropriate for me to eat with my fingers.   Love considers those around them and behaves appropriately in that context.    . 

Now, I know what some of you are thinking.   Jesus went against the culture of his time on numerous occasions, didn’t He?  He didn’t even make sure the disciples washed their hands before eating.  That would certainly be unseemly in our society.    What we have to understand, however, is that what Jesus was doing was explicitly disobeying religious laws made up by men and reinforced by the Pharisees.   Laws that they claimed were from God, but in fact were a bondage God never intended for His people.

Jesus grew up in favor with God and man.   Although it could be said that he spoke rudely to the scribes and Pharisees, He was never rude in any way to those who had ears to hear, regardless of their background.   And don’t forget, He knew who was really hearing what He had to say.

Love is not puffed up

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  Phil 2:5-7

If anyone had a right to proudly display who he is, Jesus did.  According to Strong’s concordance, the word in the Greek means “to boast one's self, a self display, employing rhetorical embellishments in extolling one's self excessively”.   On the contrary, Jesus humbled Himself.     

I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone bragging about themselves, their exploits, who they know, etc.,  I don’t feel much like spreading the word to others about how great this person is.   I usually walk away just shaking my head.  The other effect this can have on us is to make us feel a little less of a person.  I’ve never had or taken the opportunity to do those things, meet those special people, or go to those places.  I’m just not good enough, as capable, as smart, etc.   It certainly doesn’t leave me feeling loved.

On the other side, because Jesus humbled Himself, I am all the more motivated to exalt Him, praise Him, and tell others about Him.

Love does not parade itself

Let’s say you are king of a small country.  What if you are a good king to your subjects?  No one in your kingdom goes to bed hungry.   Wouldn't you “deserve” to have them wait on you hand and foot?   And wouldn't you want this goodness publicized far and wide so that even the royalty in other countries praised you?   Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords healed the sick and raised the dead, but on a number of occasions he actually asked the people not to talk about what he’d done.    At the last supper, rather than have His disciples wait on Him, He washed their feet.   Loving people apparently means you’re focused on them and their needs, not on you and how you appear to others.   Jesus doesn't parade Himself, He simply loves. 

Love does not envy

Don’t confuse envy with God’s Jealousy.   As a husband or wife is rightfully jealous when another person is intimately involved with their mate, so is God.  Again this is because of His Love for us.   Now envy says you want what somebody else has.  The devil tried to tempt Jesus with all the kingdoms of the world.   Of course, God could take charge of the entire world and force us to be His subjects, but His Love for us restrains Him.

Love is Kind

I want you to think about how Jesus treated the sinners among us; the woman caught in adultery, the woman at the well, the tax collectors, the publicans.  He also had compassion on the crowds that pressed in on him, the children, the demon possessed, and those with leprosy.    Keep in mind this isn't Jesus doing His own thing, while God the father looks on wondering what’s gotten into that boy.  J  Jesus said he only did what He saw the father doing.   So you see, God the father is kind and God the Son is kind with the message of loving kindness delivered by the Holy Spirit.  

Psa 36:7

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

Love suffers long

                                                       

I know of no better description of love than what Paul wrote in I Cor. 13 starting in the 4^th verse (NKJV).  

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

It is likely you have read or heard these scriptures:  If no where else, maybe at a wedding.   Often these words inflict well deserved guilt on us as we realize how far we fall short.   But that is for a later Blog.   Today, I want you to consider these words in relation to God and His love for us.   Jesus told Philip that if you’ve seen Him, you’ve seen the father (John 14:9) so when we look at Jesus and the love He showed, we are seeing how God loves.

Love suffers long:  Jesus,  the creator of all things,  became as one of us.   In his time here he suffered humiliation, pain, rejection, and more even before going to the cross.   On the cross he carried the weight of our sins.   To see how he suffered long over Jerusalem, read Luke 13:34 .    

Also see my friend, Rick Thomson's blog http://inthefootstepsoftychicus.blogspot.com/2011/04/reflections-on-love-of-god.html to see how God's love is revealed in the Old Testament.

To be continued….

Intro to Blogging for Love

The Bible, particularly in the New Testament, has much to say about love.  Actually, it doesn’t just speak about love, as if love is only some part of what God wants in our lives.  Love is ALL God wants for us.  That’s because God IS Love.   Yes, God is a just God, but the Bible doesn’t say God IS justice.  This is not two characteristics of God balancing each other out.   God’s justice works out of His love, not in conflict with it.

I have started this blog out of a desire to spread the good news of God’s love.  Both His love for us and the love He wants to live through us.  Over the coming weeks, I will be sharing what I believe to be not only the most important message God has to say to His people today, but in reality, it’s the only message God has to say to His people in all generations from Adam to now.