Life Project Blog

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

1John 3:18

It’s all well and good for us to talk about love, after all everybody feels better when the conversation is over. Please forgive me if I’m too blunt here but, talk can be a bit too cheap: Love, real true Godly love, requires action.

To be completely clear, I’m not talking about romance.

The example John used in this passage is found in verse 16:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

It’s unlikely we’ll be called upon to die on a cross or anything like that, but if our brother or sister is hurting in some way, we should set our own wants aside and give them a hand, don’t you think? If someone is hungry, we give them food, if they are hurting emotionally, we stand beside them, if they need a shoulder to lean on we stand fast with them, and if they need a hand to pull them up, we pull them up.

In short, we put their interests and needs ahead of our own: That is Godly love.

Remember, Jesus didn’t go to the cross because He wanted to get His name in the news, He did it so that we might have life eternal; I’m sure He could have found something more pleasant to do that day, but no, He put us first instead.

I wonder: How can I put love into action today- how can I let His love in me work in someone else’s life today?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Matthew 5:38-42

I have pointed out many times here in the past that to the ancient Hebrew mind, God’s most notable attribute was restraint. In order for a person to follow Jesus Christ, the attribute he or she must have is restraint. That this is the key ingredient to our relationship with Him is no coincidence. In this paragraph, Jesus is making the same point as He runs through four illustrations of a self-denying restraint that seems radical by worldly standards.

The old Law had provisions for retribution, and the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth principle was intended to ensure that a person’s rights were protected, and that punishment fit the crime. However, history shows that this principle was not always followed in an evenhanded way, and by the time of Jesus, punishments for damaging other people were usually found in the form of monetary fines. From Jesus’ point of view, in the Kingdom these things were not really necessary, for our reliance should be upon God alone for justice.

The first example deals with insults, as a slap to the face would have been considered, as opposed to being a violent attack. Jesus did not respond to the insults hurled at Him; neither should we respond. If an evil person uses a court to take your property; let him have it. If you are compelled into labor, give extra, and always be ready to help those who need it. Far from announcing a series of specific commands or new rules and regulations for us to be legalistic about, Jesus is simply seeking to shift our focus from the physical things of this world, to a deeper and more significant focus on that which is above, and letting God be the judge who will bring about true justice to those who cause harm to others.

Some might suggest that this is a recipe for Christians to be doormats, but I see this as something quite different. I see this as Christians being called to great strength, for through all of this, we are called to rely not on our own ability to strike back, but upon the inner strength of God to overcome evil with good.

I will exalt you, my God the King;
    I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you
    and extol your name for ever and ever.

Psalm 145:1-2

Have you ever just sat back and considered everything God has done in your life? For most of us, we don’t take the time to do this often enough; I know I don’t.  It may be hard to get started, as thoughts about the here and now rush though our minds, as the distractions and demands of everyday life make so much noise that it’s hard to think. Yet as we continue to ponder, as we begin to relax, God’s doings begin to enter our thoughts, and before too long, they push the distractions away.

We might even move on to ponder and reflect upon what God has done in His Creation; the wonder of all of it, its grandeur so magnificent.

When we invest a little time and attention in this way, it isn’t easy to remain silent, is it?

Our God is so amazing, so awesome, so powerful, so loving; how can we think on such things and not enthusiastically give Him praise?

Funny thing about exaltation; once you get started, it’s hard to stop. Imagine what it would be like if we did this every day; don’t you suppose that every day would be as amazing as the things God does in our lives? Oh yes, I bet they would be; can you guess why?

If we began each day reflecting upon all that God is and does in our lives, we would be seeing all that He does each day as we go along, and each day we would be giving Him enthusiastic praise, and when you do that, it’s hard to stop… and each day would then become a day of praise.

“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 5:3132

Jesus’ remarks in these two verses concerning divorce are at once so simple, and so complicated; there has been so much confusion within the Christian community over the centuries. Before we go too far, let’s keep in mind the context in which this falls: Jesus is teaching the people how to live in the Kingdom of Heaven, both as it is in this life and how it will ultimately be when the Kingdom is consummated upon His return. He is linking this new kind of life with that of old Israel by going straight to the old Law and then showing the people what God’s intentions were about their obedience, in contrast to the way they have been taught by the Pharisees and teachers of the law who take the approach of legalism and legal minutia rather than the approach of faith in God.

In the old system, a man could easily divorce his wife by giving her a certificate of divorce: bam, there it is. This was never pleasing to God, and it was never His intention that this be used as a means of simply discarding one woman in favor of the next, for it goes directly to heart of covenant faithfulness, and marriage between a man and wife is a picture of the covenant relationship between Man and God. You will no doubt recall how Israel was portrayed by the prophets as an unfaithful bride.

Notice how Jesus takes exception to this by saying that a man who divorces his wife makes her an adulteress, along with any subsequent husband she may find, except in one case.

The one exception to this rule is what the NIV calls “sexual immorality” which is their translation of the Greek word porneía, meaning two things: Sexual immorality and/or idolatry. Most often, it is translated “fornication”, but it carries with it the implication of idolatry or placing something above or in place of God. What we need to recognize is that the pure and simple physical action here really isn’t the main problem; for the main issue is the fact that one covenant partner is acting in total disregard of their covenant vow to the other. The failure on the part of many teachers over the centuries to include this aspect of the word and context into their teachings has had serious implications in the lives of people, implications that have resulted in chaos, to say the least. I say this because the traditional teaching is that a divorce cannot take place without inappropriate sexual relations between one of the partners and an outsider. The result has been that many women have been forced back into homes where they and their children are subjected to serious violence because the violent person didn’t have an affair. No affair, he just beat his wife and children senseless wherever he felt like it.

I have news for those who teach such things: A man who is beating his wife and/or children is just as much in total disregard of his marriage vows as anyone who is sleeping around, and he is placing the indulgence of his violent tendencies in place of God and His righteousness, making him an idolater. It always amazes me how otherwise rational people freak out when sex is an issue, often overlooking other issues that are really the root of the problem.

However you might read these verses, I’m sure that we can all agree that Jesus is telling us that God does not much like divorce, and that we must be willing to do everything that we can do to maintain our covenant relationships and help our covenant partners do keep their covenant responsibilities, just as God goes the extra mile to help us keep our covenant responsibilities to Him.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:8

There’s an old song I barely recall hearing years ago, and for the record, that song was from way before my time- it’s called “You Always Hurt the One You Love” (I remember hearing it by Spike Jones).

While this might be true in old songs, and all too often in matters of romance, I rather doubt that’s quite what John had in mind when he wrote this sentence, after all, 1 John 4 is the New Testament’s greatest chapter about love.

You always hurt the one you love
The one you shouldn’t hurt at all
You always take the sweetest rose
And crush it till the petals fall

If we are to be made perfect in love as God views love, we will always put other people ahead of ourselves, and if I’m getting the old song’s meaning right, it is dealing with people who put themselves first. If we are completely honest with ourselves, isn’t that the natural human condition?

Love. I love pizza. I love baseball. I love lazy summer days. I love walking through the woods at sunup. I love my children. I love my wife. I love America and apple pie…

Gee whiz, we seem to love just about everything, so why is there such a disconnect in matters of the heart? I love you dearest, but if you say that to me again, there are going to be consequences!

Hmm

Jesus showed us an entirely different kind of love, as He set the example for us to follow. The thing that makes His love so vastly different from our human approach to the subject is that the godly love He showed us has nothing at all to do with how we feel at any given moment; rather, it is all about a commitment to put others ahead of ourselves.

Think of it this way: Jesus set aside the glories of Heaven and came down to this earth as a man on a mission. He undertook a mission that involved hassle, opposition, persecution, heartache and a horrible death because He was absolutely committed to providing us a way to be redeemed, so that we might not only live, but live eternally with Him.

When He was nailed to that terrible cross, whose interests were His priority: His own, or yours?

Jesus was made perfect in love and because of that, He had no fear of death or punishment, and because of what He did, you and I need not fear either, for there is no punishment this world can give us that matters a hill of beans compared to the glories of Heaven that await us.

I don’t know about you, but I find a great deal of encouragement in that fact.