The difference between Christians and many, not all, but many other people is that we love the person despite our differences. We may not always like what the people do, what they believe in, or even the people themselves, but we always love them because our God tells us to. It’s not always easy, to be honest it’s usually not easy, but we choose to love anyways. God says to love your neighbor as yourself. He doesn’t say love the nice person across the street but hate the guy down the road who purposely walks his dog to your yard to let them do their business. God says to love everyone. In this modern age where it feels like we as Christians are being persecuted from every side it’s very easy to start to hate the persecutors; but loving them (the hard thing to do) is what sets us apart from them. There’s an old song that says “persecuted not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.” In the midst of everything the Christians all over this world are going through we are still not abandoned, we are still not destroyed, because our God loves us enough to stand by us and lift us up and give us strength; He keeps us going when we can’t go on. Are we perfect and deserving of such love? Absolutely! Not! But God still loves us. Those around us we find hard to handle don’t deserve our love; neither do those who attack us and persecute us and imprison us and beat us and kill us, but because God loves them still we will also love them, even if it’s a forced love it’s love. God hates what those people do to us and we have every right to hate what they do to us too, but He loves the person and that’s the hard part, seeing the hurting soul past the hurtful deeds. Nothing can separate us from God’s love, a love we receive and show. We must give of the love we are given because those people need to be loved too and they need to be shown Jesus very badly. So have a love without chains and love beyond the deeds, love the person because Jesus loves them and never forget He loves you too
Category: Devotional
I love my captor
What a beautiful contradiction we live in as Christians. We who are captive yet free. We are captured by God’s love, held by His grace, set free by His mercy; we are free captives. We are not branded as a possession, but we are marked with a seal as precious goods. A seal that doesn’t say ‘ you are my property’ but instead says ‘you are my beloved.’ We are not held against our wills with chains, but instead we are held safe with strong, comforting hands. We belong to Jesus, yet we are free to leave. Once you’ve known Jesus as your personal savior you will never want life without Him. We are a contradiction, captives who are free. But to be a captive of love, to be held by grace, to be saved by mercy is a capture I never want to avoid or flee from. Capture me my savior and never, ever let me go! There is no place safer than in the hands of Jesus. The world says that our Bibles are books of hate, but they couldn’t be more wrong because our Bibles couldn’t be more full of love. All of us have things we don’t like in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean those things are wrong, they’re just hard to accept. We are all sinners, that’s not a hate statement it’s just a fact. Jesus loves us and came to save the sinner, that’s also in the Bible. Jesus loves us despite our sin, that’s not a statement of hate it has love written in it. We are captured by someone of love, who wrote us a book telling us how much He loves us and giving us examples of His love. If we didn’t have sin we wouldn’t have needed a savior. The devil caused sin to become great, and he took captive many people, he took people right out of the church and caused them to do evil. Filled with sorrow and rage God saw that the only way for these people to become clean was to send a perfect sacrifice. With pain overwhelming His heart God sent His most beloved and only son as that sacrifice. Now we are set free. The devil had made us prisoners, captives under a cruel master, slaves to his every whim; but Jesus made us brothers and sisters, friends, captives of a new nature because we are captives of love. I wouldn’t want to be anything else. My chains are gone, I’ve been set free, yet I choose to stay with my savior, because in Jesus my master is my friend. Choose Jesus, He chose you before you ever existed.
All this from my king
It is for us that Jesus died; it is for us He rose again and it is for us that He prays and He works. Why would a king work for a slave? Because in dying He set us free and we are no longer slaves of this earth. Why would a king die to set a slave free? Because He is a true King and ruler, one who loves His people and does everything for them. He shows us our failure and mistakes so we can fix them before it’s too late and He helps us fix them. Sometime He allows us to fail so we can learn from our failure and fall on Him who rises us up again. He never leaves us and comes to us even from the depth of death He rises again and comes for us. Love is the message we were given and the message we share. Because love is what this world needs and Jesus is love.
At the cross
The flowers in the photo above are called crown of thorns. Which I felt applied well to this weekend.
Crosses were used for executions often during the days of Jesus. Few deaths held as much fear as those planks of wood; it was slow and painful and humiliating, absolute suffering. I imagine being there, among the observers. Standing before the cross, staring up at the dirt and blood coated feet of the man hanging there, my stomach turned with sickness. The scent of sweat and death lingering in the air always and the spot never clear of it. Birds hungry from days in the desert circle above, chattering to one another, or to the people below, no one can tell. Agonizing moans and cries emanate from the accused and their loved ones, mixed with taunts and mockery from those who had nothing better to do than to watch. One man stands out among the other two, His pain seems deeper and His situation more controlled. He wears a crown marking Him a king, His sign reads, “hail, king of the Jews” but what king would hang on a cross? Blood pools beneath Him and His sorrow I can begin to feel. Then He looks at me and I am amazed by what I see. Eyes so filled with pain and sorrow are smiling with love. His being there feels like it holds a great purpose and suddenly the sky grows dark. The birds have scattered in fear and a great crack is heard from somewhere within the village. Looking back to the man I see with a broken heart that He is gone. Until a warm hand slips into mine and I look to see Him standing next to me smiling down with that same love I saw before. He leans over and whispers in my ear,
“You are worth this sacrifice.”
We are worth the sacrifice of suffering and death to the one who gave it all for us. Jesus gave up His kingdom, gave up His dignity, gave up what we would refer to as His pride; He gave up His blood, gave up His flesh and gave up His life, because He deemed us worthy. We are not worthy on our own, but because Jesus decided we are worthy that makes us worthy. He sacrificed because He loves us. He took the keys from the devil, unlocked the gates of hell and set the captives free because suddenly their sins were paid for and forgiven. He rose from the grave as an unmatched sign that He is king and He has conquered death. It may sound crazy, a battle between good and evil where one supreme power controls it all, but the crazy thing is it’s real, it’s happening and we are a part of it. When Jesus comes back I want to be found sitting at the foot of the cross. Where do you want to be found?
The fourth man
Every time we go through a fiery furnace, if we have faith , we will see we are not alone. When we go through troubled times we have to have courage that God will be with us. We will be privy to the world standing astonished at the glory of our God. Our bounds will be broken and we will walk freely, He will break us from all fear and we will be cleansed. God knows what we are going through. Even if we are going through fire God is with us, even if we feel alone we have a friend standing with us. A friend who looks like a son of the gods, because guess what? He IS God’s son.
Leprechauns
Leprechauns are invisible faerys born out of Irish folklore. If you catch one you get to make a wish or get his pot of gold, it depends on the legend you follow. Many times however leprechauns bring misfortune instead of great wealth, they’re jokesters, tricksters, and their fun doesn’t usually bring anyone else fun.
Have you ever tried to find one? Searching the great outdoors for little, invisible, green men. You can search and search but you’ll never find him, they are masters of deceit. Now where little green Irish faerys can be fun and amusing, we know another mischief maker who likes to play nasty tricks while staying out of sight; he’s called the devil, or the chort, or the dark prince, no I’m not talking about Dracula! The real devil, and yes he is real, is not someone to make light of, without Jesus we would be in great danger of him all the time. He likes to make us chase after pots of gold too and when we think we’ve found one he pulls a nasty trick on us and we find ourselves far from God and dwindling in despair. The devil uses all sorts of wicked intentions to get us off track and draw us into his web. Like Frodo in Shelob’s lair we need a loving friend to brave the treacherous climb, sacrifice himself and save us. If it hadn’t been for Sam’s agápi for Frodo the ring would never have been destroyed, if Sam hadn’t been willing to risk sacrificing his own life Frodo’s quest would have ended right there, so close to the goal that they could see it. Jesus saved us from similar webs, webs of desire, deceit, disease and also death. Jesus did sacrifice Himself to save us from the devil who was toying with us, Jesus set us free. If it wasn’t for Jesus our quest of life would end at the first struggle, if it wasn’t for Jesus we would be lost, if it isn’t for Jesus we would be looking at the goal of our struggles and not be able to continue to the prize. Jesus saved, saves and will always save.
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. Don’t search for trouble, search for Jesus, He’s the one you want to hold on to.
Love is?
We all know the song. ‘Wherever you go, whatever you do I’ll be right here waiting for you. Whatever you say, though my heart breaks, I’ll be right here waiting for you.”
That song easily applys as a love song from Jesus. No matter what we do or say, even if it hurts Him He will never stop loving us. How many times do we break His heart? How many times do we make Him cry? He never holds it against us and keeps on loving us. He waits for us to come back to Him and He holds us close against His heart and tells us it’s going to be okay. That’s what true love is. It’s not flowers, it’s not chocolate, it’s forgiveness, and no one knows forgiveness like Jesus. He took our sins upon Himself and made it so we could be forgiven, that’s amazing! We keep falling away and He keeps reaching out to catch us when we call. No matter what He loves us, truly loves us.
Nightmares
Fear ye not and see the salvation of the Lord- Exodus 14:13
How many of us have been in a situation where we were completely and totally terrified? Where, as Victor Hugo puts it, we ‘breathed fear’?
The times when uncertainty overtakes reason, and possibilities, (no matter how irrational), come storming into our minds and filling us with complete fear. We become an embodiment of fear, and thus we become an embodiment of evil. Fear is not of the Lord, fear is of the devil, when we become filled with fear we become filled with the devil.
Is it a sin to fear? I would say no, it is a lack of faith, but fear is a very hard thing to overcome and should not be categorized with other, more controllable emotions. All emotions are part of us but fear is placed in us, it is caused by something. Like hearing a thump in the office when you’ve just watched a really creepy movie, out comes fear. Or when you see a massive spider crawling up your pant leg, fear, (or fascination, some people like spiders). You were fine and then something happened to make you afraid. There are much much bigger fears too. The fear of losing a loved one, the fear of financial insecurity, the fear of dying and so on. Some fears are completely overpowering and take hold of their victim in a life altering manner. Fear always has a cause. The devil loves to see us afraid, it puts us off our gaurd and makes us unstable, then he can really get to work. God warns us about fear because He knows how overwhelming it can be. He tells us not to be afraid,
“easy for you to say, you control all and see all,” we respond,
but don’t forget that Jesus knew fear that few of us can imagine. God almighty, one who sees all and knows all, most powerful being EVER, was so afraid He sweat blood. We must not ever downplay the fear Jesus felt because He is God, His fear was very real. Jesus understands. He knows your fear and He doesn’t judge. He has a nail pierced hand reaching out, He’s saying “walk with me, I will protect you and go through this with you, you are never alone.” We never need to be afraid, we have a right to be afraid, but Jesus makes it unneccsary because we are not alone, we have God with us and legions upon legions of angels ready to fight on our side; with God numbers are never a problem, His army is always greater and always stronger and we always have Him because He always has us. So fear not because Jesus has overcome the world and He can help you overcome the causes of your fear.
Setting your mind
In one of my favorite movies the main character loves the song ‘country roads’ and rewrites the lyrics to it. The new version has a line that says:
Determined to live alone but fearless, my constant longing is to be courageous. Loneliness is bottled up inside, going down this path that I must try.
It’s a beautiful description of who she is. She knows herself and is willing to allow that to be enough for her. She knows her path is lonely but she takes it anyway with determination to contain that feeling and not allow it to control her. She is fearless and longs for even greater courage. These simple lyrics could apply to many of us. We all have a path to travel and we all have struggles along the way; some we can foresee others we can not, it’s how we handle these struggles that define us. Will we take them on like a ship breaking through a squall, heading for the light? Or will we shrink back inside our cabin and hope that it all goes away? Maybe we try to run from the storm, but we know that that never works out, just ask Jonah. However we face our troubles, however we take on our paths, God knows what He’s doing. He saw these squalls even before you were born, and He also saw a way through them. Some people fear asking for courage because they think that it will add turmoil to their lives, but lives will have turmoil whether you ask for courage or not. Isn’t it better to have already built up your courage before the big struggles come? If you haven’t then those times when you feel you’ve hit rock bottom will be harder to overcome. It’s not easy to look down the road ahead, feel the wind grab your hair, feel the hard path beneath your feet and take off your fear like a cloak throwing it over your shoulder, stepping off the threshold of your comfort zone at a run and smiling about it. Those who have done so have had the chance to touch their stars, yours are still waiting for you. When you look at those who have left their fear behind and taken hold of their path you will see a person scarred. Their cloths may seem torn and their skin marred by the hard falls, but you will also see a brilliant smile of triumph on their faces and when they walk by they drip of starlight, because they have touched the heavens. Why? Because they trusted God would lead them and never doubted His perfect, guiding hand. Do you see starlight in your future? Your future as an accountant, a plumber, a teacher, a doctor, an electrician? You don’t have to be an artist to gleam, you just have to give what you are meant to do everything you’ve got and trust that every time you fall a nail pierced hand will be there to help you back up.
Sometimes the beast turns out to be the dream come true.
I love how in Beauty and the Beast Bell’s greatest fear becomes her one true love. How often is this the same for us? I know none of us tend to get lost in a forest and then locked in the dungeon of a dilapidated castle. If you do you may want to consider new hobbies. What I mean is look at your life. How many times has the road ahead of you seamed like a big, scary monster? The chance to sing professionally, the attempt to send your manuscript or art work off to a publisher, sometimes even the struggle to stay put at the job you’re at even when everything in you says there are greater possibilities out there. Any dream, desire, want, need can seem like a looming dragon with fire oozing from it’s scales and the promise of destruction etched into it’s gleaming golden eyes. But look close at those eyes, you will see yourself looking back. You may even see the fear the dragon holds as he looks at you, because he shares your fear. Even though it may seem as if the dragon is your fear in truth he is just your excuse. If you walk toward him you will see him move aside and transform suddenly into a beautiful road leading to your future. Like I said sometimes your future is where you are, doing what you are doing, and sometimes it’s out there behind the horizon, because no matter what your future is it is almost always beyond what you can see. God has this huge, amazing plan for you that may seem like nothing as you live through it; but somehow that plan is doing amazing things for the world wheather you see it or not. You may be the single difference that makes the most important change. Only God knows what you will cause and do while on this earth, you just have to not be afraid of the beast and realize that he is your dream come true.
Carried in the cross 