Hope Shines…

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”        Romans 8:24

Though you may not see, the Son is always behind the clouds.  Just wait.

I got up this early morning from a sleepless night.  I had to be at the Endodontist first thing.  I have a tooth that was crowned a few years ago and it seemed to be giving me trouble.  My dentist said I might need a root canal.  For a week I’ve been thinking something was not right with the crown, but what do I know, I’m not the dentist.  I hate going to the dentist. 

When I walked out of the house it was a gloomy overcast day.  The sun was nowhere to be found.  But, I know it’s still there.  It’s amazing how the look of the weather can affect your outlook of the day.  Depressing looking days have a tendency to depress.  We can forget the sun is always there behind the clouds.

As I sit here writing this the sun is breaking through the clouds.  It was there all the time.  We cannot always see it when we want, but with patience it always comes.

Don’t worry so much when you see the clouds in your life.  Even if it tarries, wait in hope.  Though all we may see is clouds, the Son is always there.  Our hope is in someone greater than what our eyes can see.  Jesus is always there.  Wait on Him, His timing is perfect.

When I was at the Endodontist, he said he believed I needed an adjustment on my crown and a little antibiotic would take care of it instead of a root canal.  It seens to feel much better.  And, it cost me $95 instead of $1000.  What a blessing.

Pray

I hope that in all our celebration or regret over the election, that we would all see our need to pray for President Elect Obama and all those whom we have elected to office as servants with great responsibility under God.  Please pray…..

• For our national Leaders.
• That our national leaders would acknowledge their authority as coming from God.  Pride goes before the fall.  The humble will be exalted.
• That our national leaders would be led by the Spirit of God instead of the will of the people.
• That God would have mercy on us as a nation who has in many ways served herself.
• We would be renewed in hope for our nation.  Those who hope, hope in the Lord.
• We would remember, We are to be a nation under God.

Elect a Savior…

I’m thinking… If we were only as eager for change in our personal lives as we are for change in our nation. Too often we long for the wrong things to satisfy our angst.  While we debate over who has the best policies for change, and honestly, in my opinion I could not really tell who is right.  One is right and one is wrong, but who?  Obama is going to save you more, so he says.  McCain says he will save you more.  I know they can’t both be right.  Why is it so tough to know the truth?  Do they think we are that stupid?  Hmmm.

I’m so glad my personal security is not dependant on who gets elected.  Don’t get me wrong.  I have an opinion and have made my vote.  We are blessed to live in a nation where we can express ourselves and choose.  But, I hate all the venom and division that comes from our election process. 

The truth is we all are looking for someone to make our lives a little better.  Not everyone will admit it, but we all are looking for a savior.  That is exactly what Israel was looking for when Jesus came.  There were many who wanted and believed that Jesus would overthrow the Roman government and ascend to the throne to rule over Israel – to restore the Kingdom to Israel.  We too often look for natural answers to what are really spiritual problems.  To be separated from God (spiritual problem) causes natural (national and personal) problems.  Jesus came to us as a Savior for our spiritual problem which affects our entire existence, both natural and spiritual.  We need to elect Jesus as Savior and Lord of our lives.

We need leaders, but they are under God’s authority.

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except form God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”   Romans 13:1

Whoever gets elected will be under God’s authority even if they do not recognise God’s authority.  You don’t have to operate according to your bosses authority, however, that does not nullify your bosses authority and power.  He’s still the boss.

My security and hope is in the boss.  God is in charge no matter who gets elected.  I’m glad I don’t have to fear or feel insecure or angry if my candidate looses because my hope is in Jesus and His policies are best.

I see things much simplier.  There is one policy change that would fix it all. 

“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”   2 Chronicles 7:14

Love on my mind…

My heart is weighing heavy on me this morning as I pray for some friend.  My meditation today was on two passages of scripture.

“…whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”  John 15:5 (ESV)

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails…”  1 Corinthians 13:7-8 (ESV)

I am concerned about the church and her love walk.  Much of our church activity is based on (if we get honest with ourselves) self-love.  It has more to do with what “I” want and what is in it for “me”.  People love, but with conditions.  They serve, til it’s something they don’t want to do or as long as they have control of what they are doing or others do what they want.  People love as long as they are getting something they want in return.

Before you get bothered about me expecting too much from young or new believers, please understand.  The concerns I have are about those who call themselves mature disciples.  These are leaders and people who have walked with Jesus a long time.  Remember, Jesus had problems with religious people.

Now, in John 15 there are several things Paul said we should be abiding in and one of those was love.  I John 4:8 tell us that “God is love.”  So if we are abiding in Him and in love we should be bearing fruit – the fruit of love.  This is not the kind of love that we see even on the world’s best day.  It’s a love on a much higher level.  God is our standard for love.  This love is so hard that we cannot do it without God’s help.  If we don’t abide in Him, we cannot love.  If we don’t love, we are not abiding in Him.

We have all been abandoned by what we thought was love with people.  This is why love was meant to be first received from God and then given away.  If we look for the love of people to satisfy us before finding our security in God’s love first, we will be left wanting and hurting or become unstable and abusive in our relationships.

How should we love? 

Love bears all things.  The Greek translation for “bear” means to roof over or cover in silence, to endure patiently.  I doesn’t mean you can maul people to death or act like a bear. It also doesn’t mean developing a callous heart but rather a covering of grace.  No matter what comes against you love still remains.  It covers over any situation with love and does so with no expectation for self without saying anything or justifying yourself. 

Love believes all things.  This does not mean that we believe everything we hear about people or situations.  But, it means believing the best about people and situations.  Our love is not dependant on what we know about people or thing but rather on God himself.  Because He is love, we believe all things about Him and therefore respond in love to all things.  If we truly know God we have no choice but to always respond in love to people.  See what I mean by this being impossible without Him.  It’s a higher love.

Love hopes all things.  Hope here means to expect and trust with confidence and pleasure.  This is not an expectation from people but from God as it relates to people and things.  It means we love with an expectation and trust in God that all things are going to be according to His will and purpose.  The hope is in Him so we are to freely give all our love to people even when they are not doing what we think they ought to do.  Dependency on Jesus frees us to fully love.

Love endures all things.  This means love is behind and under all things.  It suffers all things.  God’s love can handle anything.  It has no limits.

Love never fails.  Every where our love fails, it was not God’s love.  We fail to love when we are not abiding in Him.  We fail to love when we seek something for ourselves.

“God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.”  John Piper

If we are satisfied in God, if He is all I need in every situation then He will be glorified in and through me and my life.  If I seek satisfaction in any other thing than Him alone, then I will glorify myself. 

So, How’s your love walk?