Loving When I Don't Want to Love

One of the most prominent preachers and missionaries of the 20^th Century was a man by the name of Stephen Olford.  In one of his books, The Grace of Giving, Olford tells of a Baptist pastor during the American Revolution by the name of Peter Miller who lived in Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  Also in the same city was a man by the name of Michael Wittman who sought at every viable opportunity to belittle, oppose, and humiliate Pastor Miller.  Michael Wittman was arrested for treason and sentenced to die for his crimes but Pastor Miller could not stand by idle.  Since Miller had a special friendship with President George Washington, he decided to travel by foot the seventy miles to Philadelphia to plead for the life of the Wittman.  Upon hearing Miller’s plea for the life of Wittman, Pres. Washington replied, "I cannot grant you the life of your friend."  Immediately the minister proclaimed "My friend?  He's the bitterest enemy I have."  This response so shocked Washington that he granted the pardon based on Miller walking seventy miles to save the life of an enemy. Afterwards Peter Miller and Michael Wittman returned to Ephrata--no longer enemies but now a friends.

This is the epitome of what Jesus was describing in the Sermon on the Mount.  We read in Matthew 5:43-47,

"You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same?   And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary?  Don't even the Gentiles do the same?”

Jesus is impressing on those listening as He teaches this introductory series that our outward actions must be preempted by an inward change.  He was not listing a set of regulations, but giving a rendering of how one’s heart should appear.  In talking about the passage Warren Wiersbe says that when we follow this model we exhibit three things in our lives.  First, we display spiritual maturity.  We show we have moved from the old nature, which would seek vengeance and restitution to forgiveness and love.  Secondly, we show that we are modeling our life after Jesus Christ, who displayed love toward His enemies, you and me, to win us back into a right relationship with Him.  (Ro. 5:10)  Then third, we will bear witness to a lost world that we are children of God.  In following this command of Jesus, He tells us to love them and pray for them.  This added element, to pray for them, is the avenue to loving them.  When we begin praying for our enemies then God will begin to transform our vengeful hearts to one of love.

In closing let me ask you to take a challenge for the next seven days.  Think of three people who you might consider an enemy or someone who has/is hurt/hurting you or someone close to you.  Instead of fuming over their actions why not take time to pray God’s richest blessings on them.  Don’t pray superficially or vaguely instead pray specifically.  Ask God to pour His greatest blessings on them as if you were asking Him to do it unto you.  While some may think this practice to be antiquated the truth is it is still needed greatly in our world.  The practice I am referring to is the Golden Rule which states, “…Whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them…” (Mt. 7:12)  John said in 1 John 4:8 “… let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Church Family, I do love you!

 

Pastor Ric

 

Doubts and Despair

Last week while I was reading during my devotional time a passage which I had read many times before came to life in a new way.  In fact, there was one phrase in this passage which leapt off of the page as I read it.  The story comes from Mark 9 and follows the time when Jesus and three of the disciples came down from the mountain where they had experienced the transfiguration of Jesus and the appearance of Elijah and Moses.  Several translations state that immediately Jesus and the three disciples were met with a crowd of people along with the remainder of the disciples.  Jesus realized there was an argument taking place between the religious leaders of the day and the disciples.  After inquiring about the reason for the argument Jesus is met by the father of a young boy who had been experiencing seizures.  The father pleads, actually begs with tears, for Jesus to heal his son.  At that point the father chooses an interesting phrase to ask Jesus for help.    He said, “If you can do anything have compassion on us and help us.”  What we see is a father’s desperation for help in a situation beyond his control.  Apparently, the father had exhausted all measures to find a cure for his son.  The father was willing to do anything for his son’s life to be preserved.

Something of great interest takes place in the next few sentences.  The father realizes this is not an ordinary man to whom he is speaking when Jesus replies to him, “If you (Jesus) can?  Everything is possible to the one who believes.”  At that moment we see a change begin to take place in the father.  There is a glimmer of hope being held out to him.  The father recognizes that Jesus not only has the desire but the ability to help his son.  The next phrase is the one which I find so astonishing, “I do believe! help my unbelief.”  I find that this simple statement sums up the life of so many of us.  We do believe!  But we need Jesus to cast out the unbelief in our hearts and minds.  We believe in Jesus but we doubt because of our weakness.  We doubt because of the enemies deception which is so ever-present around us.  We doubt because we don’t see how God would care about someone as insignificant as us. 

When one does a word study of the word help in verse 24 he would find that the verb is an active one that implies a continual action.  In other words the father is asking Jesus to not just help him this one time but keep on helping me so he will not lose his belief/faith.  How many times have I needed this same type of help?  Each day I continue to need Jesus to boost my faith.  Each day I am attacked by the enemy’s arrows of doubt and defeat.  However, I do not have to stay in that position.  Oh Satan would love for me to remain mired in my self-doubt and pity, but God has called us to experience much more than a self-defeated life cast down in despair.  God has called us to a life of victory in Him.  What we must do is respond as this father.  We must come to Jesus with an honest approach saying, “I do believe!  But please help me, and continue helping me, in my times of weakness, my times of unbelief.” 

Maybe you are facing a mountainous obstacle at this time in your life which causes your faith to waiver.  Remember the cry of the father “Help my unbelief.”  Maybe you have exhausted all of your resources trying to deal with a difficult or trying situation.  Remember the words of the father “Help my unbelief.”  Maybe you are mired in the muck of self-doubt, self-defeat, and self-destruction thinking no one, not even Jesus, cares.  Remember the words of the father “Help my unbelief.”  While the enemy has many weapons to assault the children of God, his power is limited and he will not succeed in defeating a child of God who summons the assistance of the victorious Jesus Christ.  Cry out today “Help me in the times of my unbelief.” 

Claiming the Promises of God,

 

Pastor Ric

“Immediately the father of the boy cried out, "I do believe! Help my unbelief." Mark 9:24

My Heart's Desire

Several years ago I had the opportunity for the trip of a lifetime.  Lisa graciously allowed me to do something I have never done—go on a football trip with some of my best friends.  We flew to Green Bay, WI to watch the Packers play the Dolphins on Monday Night Football at Lambeau Field.  There are several things about this trip that were exciting; first, I had never been to a Monday Night Football game.  Second, I had never been to Green Bay.  Third, to get tickets to a Packers’ Game at Lambeau Field are next to impossible.  The reason for this is there are people who have grown up in Green Bay and never gotten a ticket.  The stadium seats around 65,000 in a town of 95,000 with another 105,000 in the surrounding communities.  People keep their season ticket options in their family and will them to the next generation.  The woman seated in front of us was the daughter of a former player for the Packers.  Her father played in the old stadium back in the 1920’s and their tickets had been in their family ever since then.  Green Bay treats their team more like a college setting.  Everywhere you look, you see green and gold.  They live, eat, and breathe Packer football.  They have an insatiable appetite for football, but even greater appetite for this team. 

Another thing I noticed after the game was the amount of empty beer bottles throughout the stadium.  In all my times at sporting events, professional and college, I have never seen so many empty beer bottles in my life.  It literally was a sea of empties.  One would have thought they were at a beer festival.  It was quite evident; they had an insatiable appetite for beer.  In fact, I determined after attending that game that many of the fans had an insatiable appetite for their Packers, their Bratwurst, and their beer. 

This experience made me start thinking about that for which I had an appetite.  What is there that I truly love and long for?  What is the thing which I, as many people put it, “live for?”  Moses addressed this issue in the book of Deuteronomy when he said, “Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart…” (Deut. 8:2)  This is another way of saying God wanted to test the children of Israel to see what the most important thing in their lives was, in who did they put their confidence, trust, and devotion, and what they lived for.  He wanted to know if they would be faithful to obey His every command.

In the next verse of chapter eight Moses continues by saying, “He (God) humbled you by letting you go hungry; then He gave you manna to eat, which you and your fathers had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deut. 8:3)  God wanted the children of Israel to know that the very thing which they must live for is God’s Word, His commands, His directives, and His instructions. 

Often this is a question which people ask me; how do I know God’s will for my life?  How do I know what God is telling me to do?  In order to answer these questions we must consider a tremendous message which I heard Chuck Swindoll offer several years ago.  Swindoll said that as followers of Jesus Christ, in order to know God’s directives, we must do five things in regards to His Words.  We must HEAR it (sermons, Bible lessons, etc…), READ it (taking the Word in for ourselves), STUDY it (analyzing the meaning and application), MEMORIZE it (retaining it in our minds for quick recall), and MEDITATE on it (think it over in our minds on a continual basis). 

When we come to the point where we are practicing these five things effectively in our lives then we are more prone to allow God to be that for which we have an insatiable appetite.  The Word of God is not like a favorite food item which we may tire of if we eat it too much.  In fact, the Word of God is more likely to become something we desire more of the more we consume.  If we desire to have God and His commands as that for which we live then we must continually ingest His Word into our lives.  Why not try to go against the trend in America of the 81% who do not read their Bibles on a daily basis?  This next week set a goal to read His Word every day. 

 

Read It, Live It, Love It---God’s Word,

 

Pastor Ric

Ps. 119:11