John 19:30 – “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”  NASU

Man has and will always seek to earn his salvation and modify God’s way to fit his desires and ability.  That is the nature of depraved humanity with his bent toward evil since the fall in the Garden of Eden.  I realize that some will argue that man is basically good but the Bible speaks otherwise and thus because we have missed the mark (sinned) we need grace.  Man needs a redeemer to purchase his redemption and rescue him from the clutches of darkness.  Jesus is that redeemer and His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension make the work of salvation complete.  He declares in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” We are told in Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The satisfaction of divine justice is complete.  Mankind was delivered to the devil by Adam in the Garden and the door to God has been opened by Jesus on the Cross.  There is nothing that can be added to that and nothing can be taken away it is the FINISHED WORK.  If it is complete then I ask ‘how complete is complete?’  If it cannot be earned, is not deserved, and can only be received through faith it is A GIFT. 

Many have an ingrained difficulty with the FINISHED WORK of our Lord on the Cross.  It is human pride and deception that goes back to the Garden that causes this problem.  Remember THE LIE that the serpent told?  I know you may ask, ‘which lie?’  While there were many facets of THE LIE it is one.  One of the facets was ‘you shall be as God’ or put another way ‘you shall be God.’  Man at that point descended into darkness that resulted as inherent in his nature a pride that needs to have a sense of deserving.  He wants to earn it so he can believe he deserves it.  His deception allows the devil to manipulate him and pervert the pureness of the gospel and through his attitude, belief, words, and deeds seek to ‘add to’ the message and work of the Cross.

If one could be saved via their works and self-discipline it would not be grace but merit.  Keeping all the rules will make one a Pharisee not a Christian.  Keeping all the rules will turn the heart into a Legalist not a Child of God.  Keeping all the rules will allow one to become self-righteous and judgmental comparing oneself with others rather than measuring oneself by the gospel.  I cannot keep all the rules no matter how hard I might try in my own flesh, it is humanly impossible.  It is only as I receive THE LIFE that comes to me through the FINISHED WORK of Christ can I be saved and manifest Him.  Will I find that I come short from time to time?  Absolutely, as Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14 – “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do:  forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

             I, like the patriarchs of old, am looking for a city whose builder and maker is God.  I am a sojourner passing through this world headed toward that eternal land of promise.  The life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of and in the Son of God.  I am not my own I have been bought with a price and that price is the Blood of Jesus.  He willingly became my substitute so that I could escape the penalty of sin and rebellion.  He became my door to GOD and eternal life.  His work is COMPLETE and if I receive it I am SAVED!  How complete is complete?  COMPLETELY!

            May God be with you as you go through this day!

Jeremiah 33:3 – “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’  NKJV

In the modern Christian world I see a significant decrease in the emphasis of the importance and power of prayer.  I had a man tell me once that prayer was a waste of time because God was going to do what He was going to do whether we pray or not.  If that is completely true then I find the many directives to prayer in the Bible incredibly misleading and almost sadistic and that is not an image I can allow of God or the Bible.  If prayer has no importance there would not be so many references to it and examples of the benefits of it in the Bible.  I have experienced the power and purpose of prayer so if that is your theory you came too late to convince me.

Here we find an incredible INVITATION from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to CALL UPON HIM (Pray).  In the natural you would never go into the presence of a king or potentate without invitation.  That is equally true with God but He has repeatedly issued the INVITATION to pray and as Paul said we can come ‘boldly to the throne of grace…’ WHY?  Because He has extended an open invitation to do so and that is astounding!  God has invited us to come whenever into His presence and ‘ask’.

We not only have an invitation but a PROMISE that He will answer us.  In 1 John 5:14-15 we read, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”   That is beyond amazing it is revolutionary and causes me to wonder why we too infrequently practice it or believe it.  We have been invited into the presence of GOD ALMIGHTY and He has promised to ANSWER us when we call.  If that won’t stir your heart I don’t know what will.

Then He goes even further beyond the invitation and promise to answer and declares that He will REVEAL to us great and mighty things that we do not know.  Imagine that, God is going to let us in on the secrets of life and show us things that we could otherwise not know.  The Bible says that God will do nothing except He reveal it first to His prophets and here we find that He is promising to pull back the curtain of life and allow us to know that which we do not now know.  God wants to give us knowledge, information, and revelation to enable us to walk unimpeded and triumphant in life as we pursue His purposes.

So I would challenge you to renew your commitment and practice of prayer and see what God does in your life.  I believe you will be amazed and quite pleased with the outcome.  May the Lord be with you as you go through this day!

2 Corinthians 4:16 – “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”  NKJV

I recall as a young Christian and minister one of the senior ministers in the area pulled me aside and said, “Son, always remember that from the time you were born you began to die in the natural.  But from the time you were born again you begin to live in the spiritual.  Never forget that while you are heading toward the grave naturally your, are headed toward heaven spiritually.  Never let the natural take priority over the spiritual.”  In the years that have passed I have sometimes had a difficult time acknowledging that I am growing older for in my mind I’m still twenty-something but when I look in the mirror I am reminded of his words.

His words have caused me to continually evaluate life and purpose.  His words have helped keep me focused on the objective in life and prioritize.  His words have helped me fight off the temptation to become despondent when things appeared to have no solution.  His words have inspired me to always LOOK to the author and finisher of my faith.  I do not recall why he pulled me aside but he did and his daughter told me at his funeral that her dad loved me like a son and what she relayed that he saw in me I could not see.  Of course what he really saw was Christ in me not my talent or abilities but a willing and hungry heart.  I wanted to be what God wanted, do what God wanted, and go where God wanted.  It was and is a consuming passion!

LIVING is not just a chronology it is experience.  Unless the Lord comes and takes us home first we will all experience that which we call death or as the New Testament calls SLEEP.  In the process of making the journey from cradle to grave we should LIVE rather than just EXIST as too many do.  For some, when the cold reality shatters their fantasy of natural immortality they become depressed and paralyzed.  That is not and has never been God’s plan.  If we live as pilgrims in this life and citizens of heaven we can face the eventuality of death with a joyous heart and savor each moment in life.  If we are fighting to exist we will miss so much life has to offer and become targets of depression.  God wants us to live while we are dying allowing His Abundant Life to be our life in this present world.

DYING for the child of God is not a terror but can be faced with a calm assurance knowing that it is simply a transition from the natural to the eternal.  For as Paul said, ‘to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.’  I have talked to the Lord and shared what He already knows that I want to live as long as He will allow enjoying my life, His work, my family and friends.  I want to enjoy the experience of seeing His hand touch lives and watch their transformation.  I remember what it was like the night I truly came to know Him and as I see others experience His liberation in salvation or some other bondage I experience what they experience vicariously.  LIFE lived is thrilling!

            May the Lord be with you as you go through this day!

Deuteronomy 2:2-3 – “And the LORD spoke to me, saying, 3 ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north…’” NASU

I have and you probably have found yourself going in circles in life and after a while found it difficult to acknowledge that fact and break out of the cycle.  I remember once fishing with my dad and brother and it was one of only two times I can recall my dad being turned around in the woods even at night.  After we passed a particular bend in the creek and the same Elm tree three times dad acknowledged that we were lost and stopped long enough to reorient himself and led us to the truck.  When you are lost it seems that one tends to make one step shorter than the other and instead of going in a straight line often you will go in a circle as we did.  Nothing is in the right place and the other time we were disoriented an Uncle insisted that the creek was running the wrong direction. Obviously it could not be so it allowed us to reorient ourselves and find our way out.  That is true in the natural and the spiritual. 

Sometimes we need to ‘cease striving’ and ‘listen’ so the Holy Spirit can help us become reoriented and head in the right direction.  In this case Israel was wandering almost aimlessly in the wilderness by God’s plan and now the time had come when God spoke and said, “Enough already it is time to head north to the Promised Land.”   He instructed them how to conduct themselves, where to go and what to expect and reminded them that although they had been in the wilderness forty years they had been taken care of and lacked nothing.  They were learning to TRUST and that would be essential in their taking possession of the Promised Land and their failure to trust would be a key in their downfall in later years.

If you sense that you are simply going in circles and accomplishing nothing, progressing nowhere, and have a sense of emptiness as a result I suggest that you STOP what you are doing and LISTEN.  God will give guidance if your heart is willing to hear and heed what He directs.  Do not seek to manipulate God that will not happen and will only prolong your aimless wandering leaving you empty and dissatisfied.  If you are willing to heed what you hear from the Word and Spirit of God you will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you emerge from your doldrums and enjoy God’s Promise.

            May the Lord be with you as you go through this day!

Psalms 25:4 – “Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths.”  NASU

The age old effort of the devil and his earthly henchmen to dilute the message of the Cross and infiltrate the Church continues and I believe it is important to refocus on some of the tactics so we not miss what is happening.

In the area of education there has been a slow process that has changed or attempted to change the curriculum.  We have observed things like ‘values clarification’ courses which are nothing more than a means whereby they can indoctrinate our children moving them to rejecting the ‘moral absolutes’ of the Bible.

During the administration of Jimmy Carter an Educrat during a discussion on funding for government controlled preschool day-care centers said:  “One of the reasons we need to establish preschool day-care centers for children from three years up is because in spite of the billions of dollars at our disposal and the thirteen years we have the children in our public schools, we are still not able to UNDO THE HARM done to them before they arrive in kindergarten.”  WHAT?  The harm he spoke of was, in part, belief in God, an absolute value system, and respect for the authority of parenthood.

The devil has dispatched ‘change agents’ into most government and many church organizations and in the Department of Education we have seen:

• ED 056-345 – – Humanism: The counselor’s role as a change agent.
• ED 058-664 – – Change Agent Teams Changing Schools: Case Studies.
• ED 054-513 – – Emotional Arousal & Attitude Change During Simulation Games.

Then a document entitled:  “Report to the President’s Commission on School Finance” where the concern expressed was that the majority of youth hold the same values as their parents and that pattern MUST BE ALTERED was the conclusion

Going back years again because I want you to understand this is not a new phenomenon but a tireless one.  The HUMANIST – [Jan/Fegb 1983] – p. 26, Religion for a New Age – “…The battle for humankinds’ future must be waged and won in the Public School Classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a NEW FAITH; a RELIGION OF HUMANITY that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being.  These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of a sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey HUMANIST VALUES in ‘whatever’ subject they teach, ‘regardless’ of the educational level!  The classroom MUST and WILL become an arena of conflict between the old and the new (the rotting corpse of Christianity), and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a new world in which the never realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor’ will be finally achieved.”

            Years ago a court in California ruled that a child could sue its parents and the hospital for having been born!  Also decades ago, the Delaware Attorney General ruled that a doctor who refused to kill two unborn babies with lethal saline injections could be sued for ‘criminal malpractice.’  Our world has not gotten better since then but worse and the perversion of God’s moral laws has escalated not diminished.    If we are going to have God’s blessings upon our world and families we need to return to some of the Old Paths and honor God and His Word.  We need to give our children a heritage that is worthy and worthwhile – A Good Name.  We must realize that the proper teaching and training is our responsibility – Train up a Child in the way he/she should go.  We must become men/women of prayer and intercession – Pray without ceasing.  We must point them to Christ – By example, teaching and testimony.   Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

           May God be with you as you go through your day!

Psalms 25:4 – “Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths.”  NASU

It would take more than an optimist to think that our present world is not a troubled world.  It would take a total denial of facts and become willingly blind to reality.  If we read 1 Timothy 4:1-3 and 2 Timothy 3:15 we cannot miss the prophetic description of our times.  The evidence of our world being a troubled world is everywhere.  For decades there have been voices crying out seeking the attention of our young.  They have made systematic and emphatic efforts to alter the thinking and behavior of the younger generations.  There has been a concerted effort to give credibility to moral decay and situation ethics.  There have been efforts to lull generations to sleep and make light of the subtle tricks of the forces of hell and tragically they have been effective.

Bill Gothard was right when he taught about the progression of moral decay and the acceptance of situation ethics saying, “What we allow in moderation our children will do in excess.”  Those who adhere to the doctrines of Satanism and follow the communistic philosophy and ideology have said, “Let me control the music and influence the education of just one generation and I will control the world.”

We do not hear much about it but Secular Humanism invaded American thinking and has altered the moral fabric of our society.  Let me interject here some clarification of terms:

• Humanitarian – – A person who promotes human well-being.
• Humane – – – A quality marked by compassion, sympathy or consideration of others.
• Secular Humanism – – The doctrine or attitude centered on human interests and values. It teaches that man has the capacity for self-fulfillment and correct ethical conduct without God.  It declares that man is literally his own god.

            This mentality and philosophy has been permeating our political, judicial, educational and even religious world for decades.  Let me call your attention to some of the influential people involved:

• JOHN DEWEY – – Recognized as the ‘Father of Progressive Education’ was also the chief designer of the Humanist Manifesto of 1933.
• CHARLES FRANCIS POTTER – – Who was a signer of the ‘Humanist Manifesto I’ was also president of the National Education Association said: “Education is the most powerful ally of Humanism and every American Public School is a School of Humanism.  What can a Theistic Sunday School meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the Five Day Program of Humanistic Teaching!”
• JAN/FEB ’76 ISSUE OF – THE HUMANIST:  “Something wonderful, free, unheralded and of significance to all humanist is happening in secondary schools.  It is the adolescent literature movement.  Thy may burn “Slaughter House Five” in North Dakota and ban a number of innocuous books in Kanawaha County, but thank God the crazies don’t do all that much reading.  If they did, they’d find that they have already been defeated. Adolescent literature has opened Pandora’s Box… Nothing that is part of contemporary life is taboo in the genre, and any valid piece of writing that helps make the world more knowable to young people serves an important humanistic function.”

             What am I saying?  I am saying that for decades they have slowly and systematically infiltrated ever segment of our society and now we have several generations that have been indoctrinated with the worldview and ideology of the Secular Humanist and Anti-God societies bringing us to the place we are today where the morals of our society have been severely tarnished and our view of God and the Bible altered with politically correctness and tolerance that many no longer believe the gospel message or fear God thus opening the door for evil of every kind to step through that open door.

I may want to pursue this a little more but will pause here and pray that God be with you as you go through your day.  Righteous exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.  God help us to return to our first love and find our roots in His Holiness.  Blessings!

Acts 2:46-47 – “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”  NASU

I cannot tell you how many times I have had preachers and members of congregations tell me that they wanted what the Early Church had.  That sounds wonderful, right?  The conversions and miracles but that’s not all they had.  They and indescribable persecution, unflappable commitment, and untiring dedication and God was with them helping them reap the harvest.  Not to miss the context but I want to focus on these two verses to speak to having what they had.

They were engaged in the Kingdom ‘daily’ and were ‘unified’ in their objective, commitment, and pursuit.  Sadly, today most churches are in competition not co-laborers for the Kingdom.  We have sectarian divisions that become literal wars where different groups wage war on other groups calling them everything but Christian and focus more on debunking or discrediting them than spreading the gospel to the world.  If that breaks my heart and angers me can you imagine how God feels about it?

Examine how they approached the Christian life.  They were daily with singleness of mind in the temple.  They were daily having ‘koinonia’ – FELLOWSHIP breaking bread from house to house with joy and sincerity.  They were daily engaging in praising God together.  As a result there were not church splits, denominational wars their theological differences were discussed with civility and sincerity seeking truth and depending on the Holy Spirit’s guidance.  The result was ‘favor’ among the people and souls were added daily.  Yes, the religious and civil hierarchy wanted to eradicate them but as they endured for the Kingdom of God the church became more a body than body parts fragmented and dysfunctional.  Christ in them shone to all who would hear and they manifested that which was living in them.

They did not consider it unusual or unexpected to face difficulties and hate.  They did not consider it unusual or unexpected for miracles to transpire.  They did not think it unusual or unexpected to see people born again every day.  I suggest that while they preached, taught, shared, and grew, had they conducted corporate gatherings like we it would have been more for ‘reporting’ what had happened rather than a time for ‘preaching’ and a church service.  They were the church rather than just going to church.  A building can never be the church for it is people, living stones, the Body of Christ.

If we want what they had we must become what they were.  The Kingdom of God must become first in our lives not an accessory we add to our otherwise busy lives.  It may be a salve for our consciences to attend services on Sunday and mid-week but that, in itself is not being what they were or doing what they did.  I am not saying not do so but I am saying that is part not the whole.  We need to be ‘assembled’ not just ‘assemble’ for a meeting.  I am convinced that there is coming an hour when THE CHURCH will be what they were and we will see all they saw and more.  We will truly become epistles known and read among men and say with Peter, ‘such as I have, give I to thee.’

            May God be with you as you go through your day!

Proverbs 29:18 – “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is he who keeps the law.”  NASU

It is a firm conviction of my heart that one of the greatest needs in the Body of Christ today individually and collectively is VISION.  Please note I did not say “Have a vision” I said, “Have Vision.”  Vision is not the only ingredient needed but a very significant element in overcoming, defeating defeatism and becoming what God desires us to be.  I am convinced that with VISION comes DETERMINATION and FAITH.  It is through VISION that we become more astute and open to establishing right priorities or putting ‘first things first’ and develop personal accountability.

Sadly, without VISION we will become nothing more than notches in the world’s gun and live in the bondage of the devil’s defeatism.  I believe that Matthew 6:24-34 gives us some real insight into the great difference between the way people live ‘naturally’ and the way Jesus wants and has prepared for us to live – FREE.

As we consider this world we notice some things that easily entrap us raising the questions, “What are we willing to accept?”  “What do we desire?”  The world tends to focus on the negative.  It questions:

• What is wrong, not what is right.
• What is missing, not what is present.
• What is ugly, not what is beautiful.
• What is destructive, not what is constructive.
• What we lack, not what we have.

            Indifference is often the norm rather than abnormal and a significant portion of society and the church community want to ‘just go with the flow’ and not make waves.  Some even say, ‘What difference does it make?’  I do not want to live that way.  I want to rise as high as God will take me and live free partaking of His divine nature.

            CONSIDER – The eagle has eight times as many visual cells per cubic centimeter as the human.  An eagle flying at 600 feet can spot an object the size of a dime in six inches of grass. He can see a three inch fish jumping in a lake five miles away.  He sees what most miss!  For you and me to become all God desires we must have VISION and then must develop DETERMINATION and become totally COMMITTED.

REMEMBER – In Numbers 13 Israel had made their exodus from Egypt.  Under the leadership of Moses they had reached the edge of the Promised Land. The new territory was theirs to claim for God had promised it to them (v.2).  God basically told them, “You will have to invade and fight but the victory is guaranteed.”  In the process God instructed Moses to send out spies into the land for some recognizance.  Moses sent them (vv. 17-20) and as you read those passages you notice Moses DID NOT instruct them to come back advising as to the feasibility of invading the Promised Land.  They were gone forty days and when they returned they brought an impressive sample of the goods of the land but ten of the twelve brought a report that was VISIONLESS and filled with FEAR.  They advised that invasion was impossible.  That is not what their job was but that’s what they did.  The people’s hearts became filled with fear.  Then the report of Joshua and Caleb they focused not on what they saw but what God said.  They saw what the others missed for they had VISION. 

            Vision leaves no room for fear or intimidation but is filled with confidence and we know the story had they did occupy the land and overcome the seeming impossible obstacles.  So I ask, “What Is Your Promise or Canaan?”  What is the challenge you are facing, the giants that make you seem like a grasshopper and causes you to want to surrender?  How can you rise above it?  VISION!  In vision you gain the ability to see God’s PRESENCE, perceive God’s POWER, and focus on God’s PLAN.

May God give you vision and empower you with all you need to fulfill His purposes for your life on this day!  BLESSINGS!

James 1:2-8 – “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”  NKJV

Just a few days ago I was having a conversation with my dear friend Garry Smith and in the course of the conversation we both acknowledged that current political and world conditions are pointing toward a benefit for the Body of Christ.  Please don’t misunderstand I consider what is happening in our world with terrorism, communism, socialism, and in America politically as anything but good but the one good thing that I see coming out of it is that the Body of Christ is being put in a position to have to TRUST GOD AGAIN like bygone eras.  Paul advised us in Romans that ‘all things work TOGETHER for good…’  He did not say all things were good but the finished product was good.  James tells us that when ‘trials’ come to count it all joy, not because trials, tribulations, and troubles are good in themselves but he too was focused on the finished product.

I believe, biblically, that in the dark days of the end times Christians are going to be forced to learn to TRUST GOD AGAIN or perish.  That is going to be true with regard to food, shelter, health, and virtually everything in life or needed to live in the natural.  I’ve had some tell me they do not believe in miracles and then ask me to pray with them for something that would require the miracle working hand of God to come to pass.  If I did not believe pray had any impact on people or events I would not pray, why waste time?  I try not to do things just for the sake of religious ritual but for purpose.

As I see evil men becoming more wicked and evil I also see the Hand of God being extended to whoever will reach out to Him and call upon Him.  In these days we have entered into, which will grow darker, we will see two streams or trends with regard to the church or professing believers.  Some will become shipwrecked in their faith out of fear and frustration allowing the questions to compromise their faith and that is tragic.  Another group will see the dire straits of our nation and world and press in to God taking His word much more literally than they have in the past or for a long time and develop a renewed deeper relationship with Him and see His hand move in their behalf.   The Bible describes a falling away and a harvest in the last days and those of group who press in to God will be a part of the harvest the other group will be as the foolish virgins or Esau and depend on the hand of man rather than the hand of God.

Difficulties in life including political corruption can become tools of God to bring us nearer to Him and propel into a realm spiritually that many have not visited for a long time. God has not changed and all the power He had He has.  He is still the Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent creator of all things and will not change.  He has promised that “if My people, who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14).  The fields are ready for harvest and the only hindrance is us.

            May God be with you as you go through your day!

1 John 3:14-15 – “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.”  NKJV

AGAPE LOVE says, “I love you!  I may not agree with you in all matters, but I will not intentionally hurt you nor will I be party to hurt.”  AGAPE LOVE says, “I accept you and am willing and able to love you just as you are, and let God take care of any changes that need to take place.”

LOVE is a commitment that operates independently of what I feel or do not feel.  It is an act of my will.  I can choose to love and demonstrate love or I can choose not to love and demonstrate that I do not love.  Let me give you what I would call a LOVE COMMITMENT:

“I want you to know that I am committed to you. You will never knowingly or intentionally suffer at my hands.  I will never say or do anything, knowingly to hurt you. I will always, in every circumstance seek to help you and support you.  If you are down and I can lift you up, I will.  Anything that I have that you need, I will be happy to share it with you; and if need be I will give it to you. My commitment will not change and there is nothing you can do about it.  You do not have to respond.  I love you with the love of the Lord as a brother/sister in Christ.”

             ACCEPTANCE is the evidence of love’s action.  AGAPE LOVE means accepting people the way they are for Jesus’ sake. That will require you getting set free from your external hang-ups and remembering that “Life is the basis of fellowship not opinion.” 

As you read the New Testament you realize that Jesus hung around sinners.  Some of us are so isolated that we refuse to do anything remotely similar to what our Lord did.  Jesus did not isolate Himself in the Synagogue.  He mixed and mingled with the sinners and the self-righteous go incredibly upset.  Remember He came to call sinners to repentance and that is not likely to happen if there is not contact with them of contact that makes them feel like sub-human beings.

Have you ever wondered why some people go to bars?  Many, though they may not know it, are looking for someone to love, accept, and listen to them.  They get drunk and pour all their problems out to the bartender or whoever will listen.  Like the song they are “Looking for love in all the wrong places” but many of the churches and church people make them feel so unwanted they dare not go there.  The Bible tells us that we are ‘accepted in the beloved’.  God has forgiven us and accepted us.  He loves everyone and has not given up on them.

FORGIVENESS means I quit playing God.  Ephesians 4:32 – “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave you.”  Forgiveness is releasing another from your own personal judgment.  That means you will not act as their judge any longer.  You will not pronounce a guilty verdict on them.  You will leave that to God.  I can hear as I have many times, “But they are wrong!”  Okay, but they will no longer be under my judgment and condemnation.  I release them!  Remember God said in Romans 12:19, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay says the Lord.”  God can handle it we do not have to.

I can imagine the argument some would have with God if they could or dared.  “God that person hurt me, did you know that Lord?”  “Yes”  “Well, what are you going to do about it?”  “What do you think?”  “Are you going to strike them dead?”  “Probably not…”  “But, Lord…”  “Do you want to play God?  If so, remember this:  The moment you step in to bring judgment on that person, you will come under my judgment for with the same measure you judge you will be judged.”

John 6:37 – “Forgive and you will be forgiven.  Judge not, and you will not be judged.”

Truthfully, most people will not open up unless they feel certain that they will be accepted and/or forgiven.  Therefore they continue to disappoint and fail needing forgiveness.  It is a vicious prison that we have them entrapped in.  But as we learn AGAPE LOVE and how to truly forgive and love people God will send more and more people to us that need healing and wholeness.

My prayer is that God teach all of us AGAPE LOVE and help us make the choice to Love as He loves.  May the Lord be with you as you go through your day!