Love the Jesus Way- It Takes Two

November 2, 2012 at 5:46 pm (Spirituality)
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Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 1 Corinthians 13:4

Love involves a number greater than one!

Patience and kindness. Absence of envy, boasting and pride. What do all of these words have in common? Hint- any number greater than 1.

True love involves a relationship with someone. You can’t do it on your own. Jesus taught, demonstrated and pleaded for us to have these relationships with others. He shared most of his important moments with others. The transfiguration took place in the presence of Peter, John and James. When Christ prayed to God in the Garden of Gethsemane he brought the same trio. Will we share our most precious moments and difficult moments with others? Or will we prefer to go it alone?

The choice of words Paul uses to demonstrate love also have something in common with Christ- they mirror the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.” This isn’t accidental. When Christ rose to heaven he knew we still needed His presence. That is why the Holy Spirit was left with us. And love was so precious to Christ that is what the Holy Spirit is full of. And we are free to fill ourselves with the Holy Spirit, thus filling ourselves with love.

The words Paul uses for the fruit of the Holy Spirit and to describe love also have something else in common. The words require ourselves to subjugate ourselves to those we love. To have patience requires us to value the other person’s words and actions above our own. We have to want to listen to our spouse’s day at work. We have to bait the hook for our kids a dozen times before our own hits the water. Jesus had the patience to heal a woman who had bled for a dozen years while he was on his way to save Jarius’ daughter. Would you?

Kindness? Do you wait to open the door for a stranger who is slowly approaching? Will you do the same if it is raining? Will you play with the two year old in the church lobby? You know the kid who wants a second of anyone’s attention as many folks walk past him protecting their time and energy. Or are you the person who volunteers 20 hours a week but can’t come home and take care of your family. Jesus didn’t care who you were-leper, theft, rich man, poor man, family or friends. He showed this kindness to everyone.

Envy, such an ugly word. Boasting– not much better. But how about if we turn things upside down and inside out. What if we boast about others? That once again subjugates our self to others. Can you even imagine being at work and saying, “Fred really deserved that raise, he works so hard?” We pick on others to elevate ourselves. But what if we looked for the good in someone and bragged about it?  And have you tried to brag about someone and be envious at the same time?  I find the combo impossible. In Matthew 20:16 Jesus said “So the last shall be first, and the first last.” That is a statement of love- love the Jesus way.

Pride. More specifically self-pride. But when we are proud of ourselves our feelings and emotions get in the way of logic, wisdom and most important, God’s word. If we are too proud to get off a point in an argument we don’t listen. That invariably leads to others shutting off to you as well. And Jesus talked volumes about not only hearing but actually listening. Love also requires flexibility, the ability to change. None of this happens when we are too proud.

These characteristics of love are also as contagious as negative characteristics can be. That is the nature of relationships. The dad who is patient raises a son who is patient. The patron who is kind at the cash register leaves a whisper that flows through the cashier and on to others through the day. Love really can spread.

So can we engage in loving spiritual relationships full of patience and kindness? Can we rid ourselves of envy, boasting, and pride? Well Jesus certainly did. And if we never completely get there, we can pray and hope to get closer.

Jesus, thank you for the blessing of being in my life. Let me have a fraction of the patience you show in us. Let my heart be so filled with kindness there is room for nothing else. Let me envy nothing, for I already have everything in you. Let me only boast of your love my Lord and Savior, for it is perfect. And humble me before you, letting my pride crumble into grains of sand. Thank you for your awesomeness. Amen.

 

God Bless,

Mark

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God of Supplement (Pieces of God- Part шестая)

August 29, 2011 at 9:40 pm (Uncategorized)
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So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Galatians 5:16-18

I was the beneficiary of 14 straight hours of time with teenage boys at our church lock-in.  Before you worry too much there were some redeeming moments.  I did not get ducked taped in a corner.  It took a little effort, but I did get pizza, subs and beverage for sustenance.  That was a surprise since 16 boys ate and drank four sheet pizzas, 30 subs, 6 bags of chips, 7 cases of pop and three cases of water (Actually that was all gone by about 2AM.)  Third, the boys did clean up with a little gentle prompting.  But the coolest thing of the night was the three adults that talked to the kids about life’s influences, both good and bad.  That was powerful for everyone.  One of the speakers, Allen Swoope, answered a question, impacting me greatly.  He talked about that when negative influences were around, you need to supplement with God.

I have never really thought of God as a fix for a tire that needs air, but it does make sense.  When we are spiritually low, when life is taking the air out of our tire, why not supplement it with God?  In difficult times he is the cure.  Feel all alone?  Turn to God, he already loves you.  Have choices you need to make but it is difficult to choose?  Ask God.  The reason it is sometimes difficult to choose is because God is already trying to steer us toward the right answer.  Needing to go somewhere that reeks in temptations?  Fill up with God ahead of time.

In Galatians 5:22 it talks about the fruit of the spirit.  When Brother Swoope talked that night that was what he was referring to.  Life is full of worldly temptations.  We can either be filled by good or evil.  The choice is ours.  God stands ready to fills us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  But we need to ask God for these quality characteristics.  And as Allen would say, we need to supplement with these characteristics ahead of time, or down the slippery slope we may fall.

WHEN SHOULD WE SUPPLEMENT?  When we are lonely.  When there’s no solution to our problems.  When we prepare to face temptation.  And most importantly when there is nothing going on at all.  Good times are when we are very vulnerable- the devil waiting to pounce.  But that is time to supplement. We can make time, not too stressed out to study the ways of the Lord.  Before the storm is the best time to build the dykes.  And there will be storms, but by supplementing with God we can survive them.

God Bless,

Mark

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Going to the Dogs

June 24, 2011 at 12:20 am (Spirituality)
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A faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time Titus 1:2
 
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
 
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  Genesis 1:26

Happy Birthday Spice

I spoke about the faith of dogs about a week ago.  My point was that dogs are more faithful to us than we are to God.  Spice (Gloria’s dog), the world’s oldest dog at the age of 17, had additional words of wisdom on the subject of God.  Ryelee the wonderdog (My doggie) also had more to say on the subject.  So without further ado, this Blog is going to the dogs. 

SPICE: Being Gloria’s dog isn’t always easy.  Sometimes she wants to take me directions that I don’t want to go in.  But I always go.  Actually Roberta takes me on walks as well.  Some of Roberta’s journeys even require me to sit down and take a break.  Between Gloria and Roberta, I don’t have a clue.  But I get end up home, there’s always a reward for me and a cool house just waiting for me to relax in.

RYELEE: Yep, Mark does the same thing.  He can’t even get up on time sometimes.  But he always seems to know when I really need him.  There’s not a single day when he’s not around.

SPICE: Yeah.  Does your owner go off to study G-O-D?  It seems Gloria really adores Him.  Kind of the same way I feel about Gloria.

RYELEE: That G-O-D person must be pretty fantastic.  Mark’s always running out to talk about Him.  He even reads and talks out loud to G-O-D every day.  G-O-D must be giving our masters’ treats.

SPICE: I haven’t seen them bring any treats in.  Maybe they just are happy to see this G-O-D guy.

RYELEE: I guess that makes sense… I always howl when Mark comes in.

SPICE: I hear that this God guy always forgives too.  Gloria may get a little upset when I “make a mess” but she always forgives me.

RYELEE: Come to think of it I make the same mistakes and Mark still loves me.  I must have dug through the trash a hundred times by now.  Wow that’s crazy that G-O-D does this too!

SPICE: So G-O-D takes care of their needs, always has their backs, and gives them rewards for loyalty. And they love G-O-D.  They have it as good as we do.

RYELEE: Yep.

So do we really have it that good?  It is pretty hard to argue against Ryelee and Spice.  God does always walk with us.  Why is it so hard for us to see that?  When we are happy we forget he’s there.  When times are tough we are too stubborn or afraid to ask for his help.  Yet his light can always bring us home… in our case if we ask.  He reward us our faith and obedience.  Once again, a choice that is ours.  And as a further gift, God gives us joy, underserved but always there.  And God still loves us, even if we screw up again and again.  I guess I have more in common with Ryelee and Spice than I thought.

God Bless,

Mark

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The Gentle Jesus (Fruits of the Spirit- Part 8)

April 19, 2011 at 5:19 pm (docmark's philosophy, Spirituality)
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Who is that bear?

About two weeks ago I had a confrontation with someone who was clearly wrong.  The issue involved kids, and that flips a switch in me.  The “new” calm and collected Mark approached the person with a chest thumping attitude.  I didn’t swear or raise my voice, but clearly I wanted to show that I was in power.  I ended up apologizing to the person later for my attitude.  By using power I actually lost it.  The point I started with was quickly lost.

Gentleness implies harnessed strength.  It is a message Jesus taught.  He didn’t go around raising his voice, bullying people, or reeking supernatural disasters and havoc as part of a lesson.  Many thought he would become the Messiah by flexing his power. Boy, were they disappointed.  Jesus never used an elephant gun to kill an ant.  His way was the kind word, thoughtful prayer, and an outstretched hand.  John 8:7-8 tell a story of the gentle Jesus.  When people wanted to stone an adulteress Jesus said, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”   No angry words, just leaving a ruminating thought in the minds of the crowd.  Jesus then quietly watches the crowd leave.   Jesus stands alone with the adulteress.  Jesus could of blasted her about the sin of adultery, but instead he asks her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She answers “No one, sir.”   Jesus responds, “Then neither do I condemn you.  Go now and leave your life of sin.” Christ made his point without demeaning the woman.  Christ also left her with the message of a new way of life. 

Jesus Heals the Bleeding Woman

A Gentle person also knows how to make everyone feel important, even when He didn’t have time.  Luke 8:40-56 tells such a story. Jesus was on his way with Jarius because his daughter was who touched his cloak.  She was afraid but eventually told Christ it was her.  Jesus didn’t yell dying when he was interrupted by a woman who had been afflicted by bleeding for ten years.  Jesus’ cloak was touched by the bleeding woman.  Jesus felt her presence.  He asked the crowd and say hey I am on my way to heal a dying girl.  Jesus didn’t say Jarius is a synagogue leader who is much more important than you.  Jesus didn’t say, how dare you touch the Messiah without permission.   Christ looks at the woman with compassion in his heart and says, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”   Jarius loses his daughter.  The gentle Jesus brings her back to life, without the crowd, without fanfare.

Jesus Heals the blind man

Gentleness needs to flow to our friends, enemy, and strangers. It needs to be blind, not judging, and willing to serve everyone.  In Luke 18:35-42, a blind beggar shouts to Jesus to cure him.  The crowd around Jesus rebukes the blind beggar, trying to silence him.  The blind man yells more and Jesus asks for him to step forward.  The blind beggar asks Jesus to restore his sight.  Jesus cures the blind man, telling him his faith has healed him.  This simple gentle act for a beggar changes his life for every.  The man no one else wanted to deal with now leaves the life of as beggar and can return to being a productive member of society.

These three stories illustrate gentleness.  They also show that gentleness should not be confused with being weak or meek. To be gentle, we first need to be powerful. Raw power/strength is a dangerous quality that can hurt, paralyze, and cause irreversible damage.  Raw power may be a spot fix for an issue or problem, but long term leaves bitterness, resentment, and wounds that may or may not heal.  The key are some of the other qualities mentioned in the Galatians 5:22, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control.  To be patient we need to master these other qualities.  Gentleness is then possible, and God’s way for us to walk in the light.

God Bless,

Mark

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Cruel or Kind? (Fruits- Part 5)

March 31, 2011 at 7:31 pm (docmark's philosophy, Spirituality)
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Harvey or Jesus?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Ephesians 4:13

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12

Kindness is so simple yet so hard to define.  I even looked up the definition and found that kindness is the act of being kind.  Not a whole lot of insight there.  So I look up kind and found words like benevolence, considerate, and humane.  The historical context of the word places the act of kindness with one’s station in life.  A master is kind to his servant.  A parent is kind to a child.  A human is kind to an animal.

So to be kind involves the recognition and acceptance of people that are easy to ignore.   People who many of us will go out of their way to avoid.  Let me share a story of a guy, let’s call him Harvey.  Harvey lives near some out of town friends of mine.  He rides, on a bike, to my friend’s church every Sunday.   His bike often has many large bags of cans he is scrapping.  The clothes he wears are those of a street man.   Harvey’s problem is the mega-church he goes to is very affluent.  After church 2-5 people of the thousands who attend the church say hello to him.  He often receives an envelope or two with some money.  In the church people ignore Harvey.  My friends’ are the only ones who would say hi to him or sit with him in the crowded church.  They may be the only ones’ who know Harvey does have a job.  Harvey does have a home.  Before you quickly jump on the folks in that church, look in your own backyard first.  They know Harvey’s bike ride is 6 miles, he passes many churches on the way; he is attending the church he loves.  Is your church inclusive?  I know the issue is complicated and pervasive.  Could a man of the street come hear the word of Christ?  How about a man just out of jail?  A disabled person who wants to sing through the sermon?  Many churches now even have their own security or hired security in place.  A sad sign of our times.  But is that security there for safety, or do they also end up screening the congregation?

I have a roadblock toward those with alcohol addiction.  2 weeks ago I was attending a doctor’s appointment at a hospital.  There was a man lying on the curb, moaning incoherently.  Now living where I live, drunks lying on curbs aren’t that uncommon.  I almost left him there, you know, the curb is as good of a place as any to sleep it off on a warm spring day.  A couple of other folks must have agreed, they walked around him to get into the hospital.  I had a little angel on my shoulder remind me I wasn’t making God happy at the moment.  Begrudgingly, I checked on the drunk.  The first thing I noticed was blood; his scalp had been split from falling on the curb.  He was incoherent, but did get oriented enough to tell me his story.  He was there to see a spine surgeon.  While he was walking in, his legs just stopped working, and he had fallen.  I did flag someone else to get help, and he was transported to the emergency room.  I deserve no credit in the story; only out of fear and obedience to God did I show up, not out of kindness.

Does she sing in your church choir?

I go to jail every Wednesday with my friends.  We talk to rapist, murderers, child molesters, and drug abusers every week.  But they need someone to be kind to them.  They need someone to love them, and tell them God loves them.  And I have to tell you the men we see weekly are the most attentive, polite audience you’d ever meet.  They remember our names, they say thank you, and they learn to pray for others above themselves.  Yet they are a group many would avoid.  We are not a society of second chances.

It is tough work to be kind.  I really need to work on it.  It involves removing our prejudices.  It requires us to love what is not easy.  It requires an openness of heart.  It requires gentleness.  It will take me a while to get there.  In the meantime, I’ll try to do the right thing, for God.  And I pray that all of our hearts can grow, because we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.

God Bless,

Mark         

Galatians 5:22 NIV

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