What great love is this...

I was listening in for a minute on Wednesday night and I heard a leader ask, "what is love?" I heard some of the answers. Things like "More than like" and "Being nice to someone."

Then, I remember thinking, "Love is wanting what is best for someone so much that you would be willing to allow yourself to be hurt, in other ways harmed, or even killed if it was necessary." I got a stirring in my chest that I don't always feel but more and more do when I think about the safety of any of my three girls (my daughters and my wife)! It is the certainty that I love them with a fierce love and that I would do whatever was necessary to keep them safe.

This morning I read a short story about a mom whose baby was having seizures and she was taking him to the hospital. She remembers holding his little hands and have a feeling that she described...that was much like what I described above. Then, however, she remembered that the Bible teaches us that God loves us with a greater intensity than that!!

...and my mind exploded. See, I have been preaching the Gospel to my daughter without realizing it. Think about it. "MK, if I didn't love you I wouldn't care about your attitude and I wouldn't discipline you. I would simply let you be and do whatever you wanted. However, because I love you, I can't do that."

Translation: God doesn't let us do whatever we want either. He has to discipline His children because that is what a loving parent does.

I've also said things to my wife like, "I know that will hurt her, but at some point we just have to let her do it so that she can learn on her own. She hasn't been trusting us and if we just force her in this area, then she will never learn how to make those decisions on her own."

Translation: Sometimes God lets us do stupid things with the goal of us learning from them so that we will trust Him more since we already knew better but felt obliged to keep pushing anyway. ...and be honest; like children, sometimes learn that lesson and sometimes we don't.

Then there are the harder things. Death of a loved one either when it was their time or before their time. Loss of friends (from betrayal or from distance). Our world seems to fall apart and we wonder, "why?"

As parents, we tell our children that life just happens sometimes. Hopefully we aren't the ones doing the betraying or having to be a long distance away permanently. If we aren't, then we can remind them that while other things change, our family is still a cohesive unit and there is stability in that. It doesn't take the pain away, but it can ease the fear and help ease the pain with the passing of time.

For God, it is more than that....although it is definitely that. There is no greater rock to go through life with. Matthew 7:24-27 is one of my favorite parables. I mean, look at it. Both people build a house on something. The rains fall, the floods come, and the wind blows and beats on the house. Those are the things that are in common. The difference is what the houses are built on and what happens to the houses. Those who hear the words of Jesus and obey them, will be like the one whose house was built on a rock and when all those things happen, the house is still standing. Why? Because the person built a better house? No. Because he was bailing water or boarding up the windows? No. Because of the foundation they had. It's not about us at all. It's about Jesus. He doesn't leave us, abandon us, or betray us. Some of us have gotten that impression over the years, but that impression doesn't change reality.

OK. Lastly, God has to say something that no human parent can say. Which is, "I have plans my child. However, because I know everything and my plans are greater than just time and matter and space, I have plans for you and I have plans that are more than just you. I have plans that can help you grow, but I have plans that aren't about you at all. I love you! Do you trust me?"

So, we have to remember that God's love for us is greater than any human will ever have. Yet, He has plans that are beyond us. So, we trust Him and remember that fierce love that He has for us...that still blows my mind!! :o)


To God be the glory.

Who are you working for??

I have to admit that this is a conglomeration. I have had several things in the last 24 hours that have pushed me in this direction. The title is actually from the Daily Bread e-mail I got this morning which helped me kind of solidify my thoughts.

In Sunday School yesterday we got to talking about ministry and loving the people around us. We talked about how I believe that the opposite of love is not hate, but rather apathy. To not care about what happens to someone is worse than to want ill for them - in my opinion. We talked about how hard it can be when we are stretched so thin and then find someone in need. Someone who could use our help. Someone we want to help. I then told some great young adults that they would never be happy with the results. Because their hearts will want to help everyone, but the only way to help someone new, once you are already stretched thin, is to sacrifice someone or something else. There is no happy answer because something is sacrificed.

We also talked about the fact that God might call us and move us to truly sacrifice ourselves for the people around us. Maybe that person, or those people, are why God has us on earth and He wants us to use ourselves up. To be God's tool for them. To burn bright and hot and then burn out. If that's God's plan then we should never balk at it.

I pointed out that having a spouse and children simply makes this harder because you always feel a mixed loyalty to ministry and my family. STOP. Don't judge yet. I know full well that my family is my ministry, but I also know that God's plan may not be about me....and it may not be about my family. God may call me to burn myself up for someone other than my family and my family may suffer for it. I pray deeply that He doesn't, but I want His plan for my life...not mine. So, if it's about God's glory....then it's about God's glory and not my preferences!!

A few other things kept driving my thinking. Sermon yesterday morning, devotional last night, the cover of a song I heard on Facebook, etc. Finally, I got the Our Daily Bread e-mail this morning and it was talking about a man who spent his whole life working hard to provide for his family. He promised to slow down but never did. He finally came home and was excited to share the news of his newest promotion....but the house was empty. The kids had grown and left home and the wife was off  working in her own career. He had no one to share the success with.

Ecclesiastes 4 talks about how it is a fool who doesn't do any work (vs. 5)...but that it is better to have a little leisure than only work because you strive after wind (vs. 6). It then continues (vs. 7-12) and talks about the importance of relationships and that a life of work, without relationships, makes no sense and is really meaningless.

Here is where I'm at though. Who exactly am I working for? Am I working for myself? For my family? For my church and its people? Am I working to get a great house or buy a nice car? Or, am I working for a God who loves me? Who died for me before I was born and who knows better than any human how to give me good gifts? A God who has an ultimate plan that just happens to involve hard things in life for us so that we can learn and grow?

I have no desire to sacrifice my family in the service of my God. In fact, I truly believe that God won't have me do that because that would damage my testimony and my ministry all on its own. However, just because I don't think He will, doesn't mean He won't. I simply do not know all of god's plans.

What is more important in my life? Who is it, that I truly, honestly, work for?? Who do you work for?

To God be the glory!!