Skip to main content

Of Love and Loss

Okay....so you talked me into a quick post.....but before I begin, let me just say how humbled I am that there is a Russian contingent who faithfully read my blog (wow!). I'm not even sure how they came across it, but I thank God that the words He inspires me to share are being read internationally. And I pray that He would continue to place on my heart those things that He would have said. Amen.

So...here's what's on my heart right now.

What does it really mean to love the Lord? To truly love Him? And can we truly love Him when we allow other things to distract from Him?

If you have ever been in love with another human being (spouse, child, relative, significant other, friend), nothing can keep you from being with them. To quote the great Sam Cooke, "Love will find a way." Personally, I have turned down job offers, I have sacrificed making personal purchases, I have even jeopardized my relationship with God for the love I bore for another human being.

The saddest part about all of that is that I believed that I loved the Lord as Christ commanded (i.e. with all my mind, soul, heart and strength). But I realised (and am still realising) that to really love the Lord like that requires sacrifice.



And the sacrifice must first start with me. I must first put myself on the altar. Not until I do that, can I truly say that I love the Lord. When I (and I'm about to get really transparent here) would rather watch TV than read the Word, I'm not truly loving the Lord. When I procrastinate and postpone my devotion time, I'm not really demonstrating love for the Lord. When I actively ignore the urging of the Holy Spirit (whether He is nudging me to do something or to refrain from doing something), I am not loving the Lord. When I seek to do my own will, with little and less regard for the will of Him who sent me, I am not loving the Lord.

Romans 5:8 (NIV) reads: "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Now that is love. God's love resulted in the gift of His Son who laid down His life. That is the ultimate in love and loss...and yet we, check that, I find it hard to take a little time to spend in devotion to Him...the marvelous part about that is He in His omniscience knew that I would be stubborn and obstinate and He loved me anyway.

What must we give up in order to to demonstrate our love for Him?

Let me lose my life and find it Lord in Thee,
May all self be slain, my friends see only Thee
Though it cost me grief and pain,
Let me find my life again. 
Let me lose my life and find it Lord in Thee 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ride or Die

I love this phrase. There are quite a few subtle variations on the meaning, but it is an urban colloquialism that means loyalty, no matter what. I thank God that I have been blessed with a few people that have that kind of loyalty to me and I to them. It's a rich blessing that have true friends. They are with me and in my corner no matter what (or "regardless of what" as one of them would say). This week we had Vacation Bible School at my church and I was privileged to be a teacher. The first lesson was taken from Daniel chapter three. The very well known story of the three Hebrew boys: Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego. It is a wonderful story of faith, but something jumped out at me so profoundly that it almost knocked me over. We always focus on the deliverance. But the Hebrew boys did not. Their focus was on God and Him alone. They were ride or die for the Lord. Literally. If you read the story, they never once pray for deliverance. They talk about God's a...
2 comments
Read more

Follow The Leader

In 1988, Robert Fulghum wrote a book called "All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten." He also wrote a  poem  by the same name. The title is comical at first until you realise that some of the basic principles for a successful life (e.g. clean up your own mess, don't take things that aren't yours, share everything, etc.) are kindergarten lessons. One of my favorite kindergarten rituals was when we had to line up to go to lunch or recess or anywhere, really. Remember how we used to have to line up in a straight line? The teacher's only instruction was to follow the line leader. And the line leader followed the teacher. If you did that, you wouldn't stray or get lost and you would end up where you were supposed to go. As Christians, all we really need to know for a successful Christian walk is this same principle learned in kindergarten: follow the Leader. Obviously our Leader is Christ. If we follow Him, we won't go astray, we cannot get los...
2 comments
Read more

The Problem With Grace

I'm sure you're all looking at the title of this blog post and wondering how "grace" could be a problem. You're right to wonder. The fact of the matter is that grace in its truest form is not the problem. It's what we do with grace that is the problem. There is a mentality amongst those of us in Christendom (myself included) that the God that we serve is so wonderful and loving and patient that He will forgive us our trespasses and sins whenever we call on Him. While this is true, the onus is still on us to live according to the Scriptures in this present world. Paul says it all in Romans chapter 6. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. And John talks about God's love in 1 John 1 begins 1 John 2 by saying that all that he had written was so that we would NOT sin...but if we sin we have an advocate with the Father which is Jesus Christ. The sad part is that sin can be fun; it can feel good. It can be so ...
6 comments
Read more