Tag Archives: loving people

Soap

December 4, 2022 robuck4@aol.com 4 Comments

In the mid 1800s a large number of babies were dying soon after childbirth. During that time Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor, learned something which would change the medical community forever. In his studies he noticed more babies were dying after being delivered by medical students than by midwives. Digging deeper, he realized the students often performed autopsies prior to delivery, contaminating their hands with microbes.

Dr. Semmelweis instigated a regiment of hand washing which substantially dropped the number of infant deaths. Though soap had been around since Biblical times, its total benefit was not known until then. This began the great soap-related hygiene revolution which radically changed the medical field.

It’s amazing how a bit of knowledge about soap could save countless lives.

Is there knowledge we can gain which can have an even larger impact on us?

Yes.

Knowing God’s love for us is even more vital that knowing the benefits of soap during medical procedures. Us knowing God’s love has eternal ramifications.

Following are three reasons knowing God’s love is so essential. To grasp it we need to realize its more than information to be stored in our heads. It must also come alive in our hearts.

May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened. [2]

Perfect Love Drives out Fear and Allows us to Love

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love because He first loved us (I John 4:18-19 NASB).

As I examine my heart, much of my sin is rooted in fear. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of poverty. Fear of unhappiness. Fear of . . .

Fear causes worrying and robs me of essential peace.

In the above verses, John writes about a love which drives out fear, a perfect love, flowing from the heart of God.

While we still fear, we’re yet to be perfected in God’s love. However, to the degree we realize God’s amazing love for us, our fears melt away and peace reigns in our hearts.

As I write, I imagine a life with no fear. Fearless. Oh the freedom! Oh the joy! And it’s not just something to wish for. God’s perfect love is real, the chaser of all fears.

But there’s much more.

God’s love for us is the source of all true love. To the degree we realize His perfect love, we’re able to reflect His love back to Him and to others.

Perfect love not only gives us courage, is also the source of all of our love.

We love because He first loved us.

God’s Love Enables Our Obedience

And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NASB)

Since our love is rooted in God’s love for us, His love enables our obedience. In the above verses, Jesus gives two vital commands which basically summarizes the entire Bible. Our obedience is characterized by love. It’s the overarching filter to govern everything we do. As the ten commandments state, loving God (first four) and loving others (last six) should guide our every word and deed.

So, why is God’s love for us important?

God’s love enables us to love. And loving is how we obey Him.

God’s Love Roots and Grounds Us

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19 NASB)

God’s love for us surpasses our knowledge. It’s beyond our understanding and our intellect. Even so, Paul prays that the superlative dimensions of God’s love might be comprehended or realized in a way which comes alive in our hearts.

Paul is praying that what does not fit in our heads, will dwell in our hearts as God is pleased to illuminate it.

God’s love roots us and grounds us and gives us a vital firm foundation. To the degree God’s surpassing love is illuminated and made real to us, our souls are secured against the storms and trials of life.

Story: There’s a song based on the verses above about the deep, deep love of Jesus. Many years ago, the song was sung at the funeral of Rachel, a little two-year old play mate of my oldest son.

O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus [3]

As the song was sung, I looked over at her parents. I couldn’t comprehend what they were feeling. In my raw state, I wondered how the song could possibly fit since Rachel had died.

Then it hit me. As deep as the pain Rachel’s parents were feeling, God’s love was deeper still. In their pain, they had an opportunity to experience the depth of God’s love in a way they might not have otherwise known.

Since then, my wife and I have experienced some deep relational pain of our own, kind of like the death of a child. But through it all, God’s love is deeper still. We can truly say that we know God’s love more deeply because He’s met us in the depth of our grief and pain.

Conclusion

From Zephaniah 3:17 we learned that God delights to be with us and that we make Him happy.

The Lord your God is in your midst,
A victorious warrior.
He will exult over you with joy,
He will be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

What makes this and other facts about knowing God’s love for us so VITAL is that:

God’s love chases away ALL fear
God’s love and is the source of our love
God’s love enables us to obey Him
God’s Root and grounds our soul, no matter what

Prayer

Lord may my comprehension of Your amazing love for me continue to grow as I soak in its reality. Thank You for chasing away my every fear with Your perfect love. Please remind me quickly when fears arise. Thank you that Your love enables me to love You. May I receive Your love and give it away. Thank You for delighting to be with me. Please help me to grasp Your love more and more. Steady my heart in the firm foundations of Your delight in me. Amen.

[1]https://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/21/tenthings.changedtheworld/index.html

[2] Ephesians 1:18

[3] Written by Samuel Trevor Francis

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Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Novels by the Author:

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time

By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains

God's Everlasting Love, Loved in spite of how we feel

U Can’t Touch This

November 22, 2022 robuck4@aol.com 1 Comment

Stanley Burrell was batboy for the Oakland Athletics from 1973 to 1980. During that time, he was given the nickname “Hammer” because he looked so much like the homerun, king Hammering Hank Aaron.

After his time with the Athletics, Hammer went on to write and perform the first rap song ever nominated for a Grammy Award record of the year. It became the winner for best R&B and best rap solo performance.

The song – U Can’t Touch This. The artist – M.C. Hammer.

I like it. It has an inviting, catchy rhythm. The title is repeated many times during the song.

U Can’t Touch This.

What’s interesting is how these words have helped me get a deeper understanding of some key aspects of God’s love.

You may wonder how the title of a rap song could possibly illuminate God’s love. Let’s take a look.

Everlasting Love

On a vacation in Highlands N.C. a number of years ago, I was struck by the the following verse.

The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness” (Jeremiah 31:3 NASB)

As I rocked on the front porch, staring at the Appalachians, towering above the small mountain town, I dug deeper. I discovered that “Ahabah,” the Hebrew word translated “everlasting love,” describes a quality of love which is beyond corruption. It can’t be changed by anything physical or what goes on in our souls.

With all the recent devastation in the world, the idea of God’s love not changing, no matter what the circumstance, is extraordinary news. It also means neither choices, thoughts or feelings can affect His everlasting love.

The steady embrace of God’s love for us can’t be changed. It remains untouched and unaffected by any external force. You can’t touch God’s love in a way which can change it.

U Can’t Touch This.

As believers, this changes everything about us, especially since we’ve been chosen to be loved by God since before the world began. [1]

And how do we more fully grasp this quality of love which is not only unchangeable, but vast beyond belief?

As we ponder and meditate on the enormity of God’s everlasting love, let’s consider other aspects which add to the quality of His amazing love:

God’s Love Rescued Us

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Romans 5:8-10 NASB)

We were apart from God, facing eternal darkness with no ability to change the situation. In our helpless state, while we were still hostile toward Him, God choose to rescue us. And He did it by sending His Son to die in our stead.

Please don’t allow the familiarity of this great news to cheapen the impact!

We were hostile and helpless, but God, out of His unparalleled love, gave His Son to save us.

And, not only did He save us from God’s wrath by His death, much more will He now preserve and heal us by His indwelling life.

Jesus Loves Us as Much as God Loves Him

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.”[3] Jesus

As much as God loves Jesus, He loves us. How can this really be? It seems unimaginable. Yet, Jesus said it. It is true!

Don’t rush past this. Remain in the truth of Jesus’ abiding love.

But, we can’t assume upon the love and grace of Christ. [4] Though our actions can’t change God’s love for us, we can choose to disobey. As believers, the strap of His love holds, but Jesus desires us to walk in the fellowship of His love and joy. This is done by relying on Him and walking in obedience.

Conclusion

As believers in Christ’s finished work for us on the cross, gazing upon and beginning to grasp the magnitude of God’s love for us is a first step in prioritizing and nurturing our relationship with Him.

God’s love has an eternal quality which keeps it from being affected by anything of this world, seen or unseen.

Even when we were against God, His love for us moved Him to send His own Son to die in our place, rescuing us and making us whole.

As much as God the Father loves Jesus, Jesus loves us and we’re called to walk in the fellowship of His love.

Prayer

Lord, I’ll never fully comprehend the extent of Your love for me. It’s beyond my ability to comprehend. However, because You describe it in Your word, I believe it and want to walk in it. Though I don’t understand Your love, please make it real in my heart that it might shape every moment of my life. Amen.

[1] Ephesians 1:4-5

[2] Romans 8:29

[3] John 15:9

[4] Romans 6:1-2

For Further Reading on God’s Love

Completely Loved

Why is Knowing God’s love Essential?

The Connection between Love and Joy

What Threatens us knowing God’s Love?

Experiencing the Freedom of God’s Love

God’s Love in a Broken World

Being Loved by God is our True Identity

Please Check out the new Cola City Podcast . Discussions that impact the vision of reaching every man, woman, and child in the Midlands of South Carolina.

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.

Novels by the Author:

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time

By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains

Relationship

Discipleship Rhythms: Rules Don’t Rule Us

July 5, 2022 robuck4@aol.com Leave a comment

Why Relationship must Proceed Rules.

At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.”But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8 NASB)

We’ve heard about it in parenting. Rules without relationship leads to rebellion. Life and joy flow from relational connection. Without it, the heart groans.

Story

In the south, we tend to all call ourselves Christian, without really knowing what it means. Growing up, I was no different. On Sunday mornings, my sister, brother and I would cut the volume way down on our 4 channel, rabbit ear bearing television. The plan was to stay quiet enough not to wake Mom. If we made it until Rocky and Bullwinkle came on, we were safe. There wouldn’t be enough time to get dressed and ready for church. Mom didn’t like to be late.

My dislike of church wasn’t helped by the fact that we lived very close to a fundamental Christian college. Some of the kids who lived there attended my elementary school. I judged them for the way they looked and acted. They dressed so prim and proper. And, because they didn’t join in our mischievous ideas of fun, they seemed stuffy and joyless. I felt judged by them. But looking back, I was the one who was doing the judging.

In my eyes, they were a “born again,” “holier than thou” brand of Christianity I wanted no part of. Besides, I “believed” in Jesus. I’d tried to live a good live. I hadn’t murdered anyone or robbed a bank. I figured my slot in heaven was secure, since my good deeds surely outweighed the bad. At least that was my thinking.

While in college, I became convinced that my pursuit of joy in earthly treasures would always leave me empty. My best friend talked to me about giving my life to Jesus. But I didn’t understand why Christ would accept me because of my party lifestyle. My friend said He would. He asked me if I took a shower before I took a bath. He said I didn’t need to clean my life up to come to Jesus.

This kind of grace seemed so foreign. Nevertheless, in 1977, I bent the knee and surrendered, best I knew how, to Jesus Christ as my Lord. I understood that at that point He took up resident in my heart by His Holy Spirit [1], but my life did not change for some time.

I believe my conversion to be genuine, but I really had no idea how to follow Jesus as His disciple. What I saw around me was much like the kids I’d avoided in elementary school; folks trying hard to follow rules they read about in the Bible. If we struggled, we read more scripture and kept striving. I’m sure most of us felt exhausted, but nobody let on.

In 1985, things began to change. Susan and Louis Sutton, a couple in our church, asked my wife and I to be a part of a fellowship group. For about three years, before they began their missionary work in Chad, we did life together with them. During that time, I began to understand how completely different Christianity is from how I was living it.

I’d let following the rules become the most important thing and I’d missed the relationship with Jesus.

Though it took years for the truth to become a heart reality, the Suttons showed us that Christianity, at it’s essence, is about a relationship with Jesus, not following rules. The other stuff, the loving, the holy living, the following Jesus, would flow out of my relationship with Him.

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

We’ve heard the saying putting the cart before the horse. Picture it a moment. The cart is first and the horse is behind it. How are we supposed to get anywhere? Does the horse push the cart?

As ridiculous as this sounds, putting following the rules before our relationship with Jesus is just as ridiculous. Though I knew the truth in my heart, my life long tendency to earn my value by what I did, translated into my Christian life. After all, I had to accomplish good grades to pass in school. I had to perform well in the tryouts to make the little league team. I had to pass the required skills in scouts to move to the next class, etc. Though I knew Jesus’ record of perfection and His substitution for me on the cross is what brought me into God’s Kingdom, I had a hard time truly believing my efforts did not secure my status with God.

This was my experience before we met the Suttons and my perspective began to change.

Rules can never pull the horse. The horse (our relationship with God, paid for by Jesus Christ) empowers our ability to follow Jesus as His disciples.

Righteousness is not because of anything we’ve done, but all because of Christ’s work on our behalf.

As we focus on our relationship with Jesus, not on keeping rules for Him, we begin to follow, out of love for Him, empowered by His Spirit.

Practice the Rhythm

Paul warned the Galatians about adopting a gospel of trying harder.

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-7 NASB)

Galatians 2:21 speaks of how ridiculous it is to try and keep the law to earn our righteousness.

I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly (NASB).

Don’t move quickly past the meaning of this verse. Would we, by striving to follow the rules to earn our right standing, be so foolish? If we do, Christ died and suffered needlessly.

We must be vigilant in our thinking. Does reading the Bible, serving at church, talking about Jesus, make us any closer to God? It’s very subtle. We must keep seeking to live in the flow of the Rivers of Living Water, [2] not in the dry and dusty land of self effort. All our exhausting, self motivated rule keeping is worth nothing. [3]

Prayer

Lord, please show me quickly when I once again lead with rule following as opposed to allowing what I say and do to flow from my relationship with You. You’ve called me to fiercely love all the folks you’ve put in my life, no matter how they treat me. I can’t do that if I cut off the flow of Your love by trying to follow rules in my own strength. I resolve to wait for You, to yield to You and to allow You to love through me.

[1] Ephesians 1:13-14

[2] John 7:37-39

[3] John 15:5

Previous posts in our From Duty to Delight Series:

Discipleship Rhythms: From Duty to Delight

Subscribe below to have the posts delivered to your email. We publish weekly.

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.

Novels by the Author:

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time

By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains

Fears Chased Away, Loved to Love, Rooted and Grounded

Rhythms: UP (Why Knowing God’s Love is Essential, Especially Now)

May 5, 2021 robuck4@aol.com 4 Comments

Why is God’s love absolutely essential right now?

How is God’s love for us tied into how we love?

What is the correlation between God’s love and our fears?

How does God’s love enable our obedience?

What difference does God’s love make when we confront life’s storms?

Review some amazing truths about God’s love

Knowing God’s love for us is essential. And it needs to be more than information, it’s to become a growing realization. May the eyes of our hearts be enlightened. [1]

Perfect Love Drives out Fear and Allows us to Love

As I examine my heart, much of my sin is rooted in fear. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of poverty. Fear of unhappiness. Fear of . . .

Fear causes worrying and robs me of peace, which is essential to my existence.

In the above verses, John writes about a love which drives out fear, a perfect love, flowing from God.

While we still fear, we’re yet to be perfected in God’s love. However, to the degree we realize God’s amazing love, our fears melt away and peace reigns in our hearts.

But there’s much more.

God’s love for us is the source of true love. To the degree we realize His perfect love, we’ll be able to reflect His love back to Him and to others.

We love because He first loved us.

Story: As I ponder the truth concerning God’s perfect love, different nagging fears come to mind, particularly fear of failure and fear of rejection. These fears have sometimes sent me down destructive paths. But more and more the reality of a love which literally casts out fear is growing in my heart.

As I write, I imagine a life with no fear. Fearless. Oh the freedom! Oh the joy! And it’s not just something to wish for. God’s perfect love is real, the chaser of all fears. Perfect love which, not only gives us courage, but is the source of all of our love.

This is something to get very excited about.