Tag Archives: love

Love is the universal language of the world (John 14:23-34), April 1, 2017

Today’s Podcast

Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
We hear about love a lot. We think we see it everywhere. Jesus commands that we love. So what is it, anyway?
Scripture
1. John 14:23-34
2. Jesus: Anyone who loves Me will listen to My voice and obey. The Father will love him, and We will draw close to him and make a dwelling place within him. The one who does not love Me ignores My message, which is not from Me, but from the Father who sent Me.
Devotional
1. I went to everyone’s favorite source of perfect information to find the answer to the question, “What is love?” The Internet, specifically Wikipedia
  1. Love is a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection (“I love my mother”) to pleasure (“I loved that meal”). It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment.[1] Love can also be a virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection—”the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another”.[2] It may also describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans, one’s self or animals.[3]
  2. Ancient Greeks identified four forms of love: kinship or familiarity (in Greek, storge), friendship (philia), sexual and/or romantic desire (eros), and self-emptying or divine love (agape). Modern authors have distinguished further varieties of romantic love. Non-Western traditions have also distinguished variants or symbioses of these states.[4][5] Love has additional religious or spiritual meaning—notably in Abrahamic religions. This diversity of uses and meanings combined with the complexity of the feelings involved makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, compared to other emotional states.
  3. Love in its various forms acts as a major facilitator of interpersonal relationships and, owing to its central psychological importance, is one of the most common themes in the creative arts.[6]
  4. Love may be understood as a function to keep human beings together against menaces and to facilitate the continuation of the species.[7
2. Does that get us any closer to understanding love?
  1. Definition of love is like definition of ice cream
  2. Must experience it to really understand it and even then do you really understand it?
  3. How can you really describe the experience?
  4. Yet when we go through the event, when we eat ice cream for the first time, we know we like it and we want more
  5. When we experience real love, not the mushy fake lust we see advertised, but real love,we know we like it and we need it and we want more
3. How do we get love?
  1. We get it unconditionally from God
  2. Most of us get it unconditionally from mothers and fathers who try to be good parents no matter how flawed they are
  3. Most of us get love, though sometimes misunderstood and again flawed by the image of what love is from the media and the world in our marriages
  4. But the best way to get love? Give love to others – unconditionally
  5. What kind of love? – that one that says, “Love can be a virtue representing human kindness, compassion, and affection—”the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another”.[2] It may also describe compassionate and affectionate actions towards other humans,
  6. That’s the love God shows toward us and asks us to give it to others in return
4. Jesus says if we love Him we will obey Him, His commands usually come in the form of helping others, thinking of others more than we think of ourselves. Doing and giving and lifting others to show them real, genuine love in a world that knows so little about real love today
5. Love is the universal language, but so few know how to speak it today. Go out and teach them through your actions
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Extravagant giving may not be so bad (John 12-7-8), March 16, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Have you ever given someone an extravagant gift and others kind of scolded you about it? We probably all have if you think back through your life. Men can think about that tiny little rock on their fiance’s finger. That’s a lot of money for such a small thing, isn’t it? But is it really extravagant? Jesus got one of those gifts one day and everyone complained.
Scripture
1. John 12:7-8
2. Jesus: Leave her alone. She has observed this custom in anticipation of the day of My burial. The poor are ever present, but I will be leaving.
Devotional
1. When young men get down on their knees and ask for a young lady’s hand in marriage, she usually expects a gold or white gold ring with at least one diamond in it, right? It’s just the way of things, or it least it has been for a long time.
  1. Diamonds are measured in karats
  2. 200 milligrams which is 7/1000’s ounce
  3. Perfect cut and highest quality 1 carat diamond is $17,000
  4. Is that extravagant?
  5. Ask your fiance
2. Jesus and His disciples were eating with Lazarus at his home in Bethany
  1. Martha was working as hostess serving the guests
  2. Mary sat at Jesus feet and poured pure nard
  3. Comes from a plant grows to about 1 meter (3 ft) in height and has pink, bell-shaped flowers. It is found in the Himalayas in Nepal, China, and India at an altitude of about 9,800 to 16,400 ft. Rhizomes (underground stems) can be crushed and distilled into an intensely aromatic amber-colored essential oil, which is very thick in consistency.
  4. Other gospels tell us she broke an alabaster jar to pour out the precious liquid
  5. The alabaster stone from which the jar was carved probably came from the quarries of Alabastron in Egypt, the place from which the stone for the sarcophagus for Seti I and many of the canopic jars came
  6. Each item on its own cost months or maybe even years of labor wages for their purchase
3. Not just Judas, but several of the disciples who were with Jesus complained about the waste
  1. Look at what that money could have bought
  2. Look how many people we could have fed
  3. Look what we could have done for the poor
  4. Look how much ministry we could have done if she had sold that perfume and given the money to us instead of pouring it out on your feet
  5. Jesus, scold her!
4. He didn’t
  1. Sometimes extravagance is the right thing to do
  2. She showed extravagant love through her gift to the One who set her free
  3. We give extravagantly to the one we wish to live with for the rest of our lives
  4. We think nothing of shelling out those months of pay to put the right ring on our bride’s finger
  5. Why should we complain when someone pours out an expression of love for their savior?
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Just how much does God love us? (John 3:16-21), January 23, 2017

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Today’s Podcast

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.
Just how much does God love us? Sometimes we let familiar verses get too familiar. Listen to one today in a different translation to hear again the depth of God’s love for us.
Scripture
1. John 3:16-21
2. For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life. Here’s the point. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge it; instead, He is here to rescue a world headed toward certain destruction.

No one who believes in Him has to fear condemnation, yet condemnation is already the reality for everyone who refuses to believe because they reject the name of the only Son of God. Why does God allow for judgment and condemnation? Because the Light, sent from God, pierced through the world’s darkness to expose ill motives, hatred, gossip, greed, violence, and the like. Still some people preferred the darkness over the light because their actions were dark. Some of humankind hated the light. They scampered hurriedly back into the darkness where vices thrive and wickedness flourishes. Those who abandon deceit and embrace what is true, they will enter into the light where it will be clear that all their deeds come from God.

Devotional
1. So many see God only as someone who wants to put a damper on life.
  1. A list of don’ts
  2. Take the fun out of any party
  3. Looking over our shoulder looking for our sins to zap us
1. Important verse tells us the nature of God
  1. Loves us so much He became one of us
  2. He came not to judge, but to rescue the world from our own self destruction
  3. He came to offer life
2. Then and now acted as light to expose the hidden things that cause that destruction
  1. Crime show detectives looking for evidence use flashlights even in the daylight
  2. Pinpoint the light
  3. Focus attention
  4. Expose ill motives, hatred, gossip greed, violence, and the like
  5. Many hate Him because they see their real self when He exposes their soul
3. Can you imagine a surgeon trying to operate in the dark?
  1. Only by exposing the diseased parts in bright light can they be removed
  2. Exposing sin makes it possible to get rid of it
  3. The Light came so we can be cleaned up
  4. Jesus came to rescue us from certain destruction
4. God loved us so much, He gave His Son, so that anyone who believes in Him for the forgiveness of their sins and obey Him, will not face that certain destruction, but will instead have everlasting life. What a Savior we have.
If you want to learn more about my church, you can find us at SAF.church. If you like the devotional, share it with someone. If you don’t, tell me. I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow for “A Little Walk with God.”

Add some seasoning (Luke 14:34-35) December 5, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Deuteronomy 23-25

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 14:34-35
Jesus: Don’t be like salt that has lost its taste. How can its saltiness be restored? Flavorless salt is absolutely worthless. You can’t even use it as fertilizer, so it’s worth less than manure! Don’t just listen to My words here. Get the deeper meaning.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Sometimes I enjoy cooking. I’ll have to admit, for the first 20 plus years of my marriage, I couldn’t boil water. Carole was such a great cook, I just left it to her and enjoyed eating whatever she put on the table. It probably wasn’t fair, but whenever she was gone and I had to pinch hit in the kitchen, the kids would complain a lot when she got home. They begged her never to leave again. They remind me of some of my fiascos when we get together on special occasions.

But one day Carole said, “All you have to do to cook is be able to read. The recipes tell you exactly what to do.” Well…not exactly. But I did find a few beginner cookbooks that began to teach me what all the special words meant, like the difference between boil and simmer, saute and caramelize. So I started cooking as a hobby. And I’ve come to enjoy it every once in a while. I don’t even make a terrible mess because I have a tendency to stick things in the dishwasher right away and clean as I go to keep Carole from having to clean up behind me.

I’ve learned to use a lot of spices other than salt to flavor food since I took up cooking, but salt is still the go to spice. Salt makes everything better, kind of like bacon. If you don’t think bacon makes things taste better. Well, you just wrong. Sorry. Salt is the same way. It tantalizes the tongue like no other spice. In fact, a large portion of our tongue’s taste buds are geared to seek out that particular flavor. We can measure saltiness with our tongue extremely well.

In Jesus’ day, though, they didn’t make salt the same way we do today. Vendors gathered it up from salt deposits on the Mediterranean Sea or at the Dead Sea and then broke it up into large or small chunks depending on what the buyer was using it for. Because of its crystalline form, you could even grind it up very fine to use the way we do today, but it wasn’t nearly as pure and most often wasn’t the bright white color you see on your table.

The biggest problem with the way salt was sold in Jesus’ day, was that since the vendors sold it in blocks and it wasn’t necessarily white because it had other minerals mixed in with it, if it stayed out in the weather and got damp, the salt would leach out of the block and lose its saltiness. You would lose the salty flavor over time and be left with all the other minerals and no salt without knowing it. You can try it yourself with a salt-lick, those things you see out in dairy or cattle ranches in the summer. Ranchers put them out to keep the cattle’s salt intake up during hot weather. But it they get wet or the weather get really humid for several days or weeks, you’ll find that the animals will no longer be drawn to the salt-lick because it has lost its saltiness.

Jesus’ hearer were much more familiar with salt that loses its flavor that we are. Our store bought salt seldom loses flavor. The packaging we use protects it from the elements and we don’t worry much about losing flavor before it’s gone. But Jesus told us not to miss His deeper meaning in His words. So what does that mean?

I think as Christians He expects us to season the world. We should be out and about in the world and seen in such a way as to add His grace and mercy to the world. We should stand out the same way salt stands out as a flavoring in food. When you salt food, you know it. When a Christian walks into a room, you should know it. Not because we announce it. There are too many today that announce they are Christians but are not and that just gives Jesus a bad name. But others should see our actions, hear our words, experience our love toward others and know we are Christians. When Christ lives in us we should not be able to hide it any more than you can hide the flavor of salt in food.

The world should miss our presence when we are not around. They should recognize the absence of the fruit of the spirit they see in us when we are not around. Our presence at work or school or in line at the grocery store should make a difference in the world as much as salt makes a difference in the taste of food.

So, has your life lost its intense seasoning in the world? Only God’s spirit in you can bring it back. Let Him put a little salt back into your life.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Guys, get it right! (Luke 11:39-41) November 9, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 128-130

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 11:39-41
Jesus: You Pharisees are a walking contradiction. You are so concerned about external things—like someone who washes the outside of a cup and bowl but never cleans the inside, which is what counts! Beneath your fastidious exterior is a mess of extortion and filth.
You guys don’t get it. Did the potter make the outside but not the inside too? If you were full of goodness within, you could overflow with generosity from within, and if you did that, everything would be clean for you.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Obsessive compulsive disorder is a terrible problem for those that have a severe case of it. It can be very debilitating causing you to go through repetitive rituals dozens of times before you can move on to the next item of the day. Maybe it’s as simple as tapping the bed or touching a spot on the vanity or seemingly benign things like lining shoes up in a particular way before you can get on with your life. But sometimes these rituals can take on a life of their own. Sometimes they can become bizarre activities that make no sense to anyone, even the person that goes through them over and over, but just can’t stop until the routine is complete for fear that something bad will happen if they don’t.

That’s the sense I get when I read these verse about the Pharisees and their cleansing rituals. I often think about OCD and the terrible plight of the disorder’s victims when I hear about the rituals the Pharisees demanded the Jews follow in their daily routines. When we look back at the book of Leviticus at some of the cleansing ceremonies that God prescribed for the wandering Israelites in the deserts of the middle east, it’s easy to understand many of them.

Having served in army units that spent a lot of time in the field, I know how important some of those personal and community hygiene rules are. It doesn’t take much for disease to spread through a unit if soldiers aren’t following good hygiene rules. In fact, until recent years, disease accounted for the vast majority of casualties every army around the world suffered in times of war. Even today, there are far more soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan due to illness and injury than from battle injuries.

When you have three million people moving across the desert, living in tents, eating from open cook fires, things can get a little dicey. They didn’t have our current medical knowledge. They didn’t use our current medicines. They didn’t have the same kinds of equipment with which to travel. They needed some practical instruction from God to survive.

But by the time Jesus came to visit us, Rome had some pretty good systems in place. Medicine had progressed significantly. Running water appeared in some houses. They understood the importance of hygiene for the most part even though they didn’t understand germs and viruses and the mechanics of disease communication. But the Pharisees took those Levitical laws and turned them into OCD actions. It seemed like somewhere along the line one of the chief priests really had undiagnosed OCD and just multiplied all the rules by ten and no one had any breathing room about anything. It became impossible to keep up with the rituals.

So Jesus intervened. “You guys don’t get it.” It’s what’s on the inside that counts. If you were generous on the inside it would show by your giving. If your were happy on the inside, you’d be smiling and laughing on the outside. If you cared about people, you would try to lift their burdens instead of adding to them. If you loved God, you would love people.

So what would Jesus say to us if He came to visit? Do our services and our institutions look like we have OCD? Do we get so wrapped up in the routine activities that just have to be done in just the right order and just the right way that we forget why we come to church in the first place? Do we forget that what God wants from us is our worship and that when we gather for fellowship it isn’t the ritual that’s important but the relationships we build with people that supersedes everything else? It’s not what we eat or what we drink or how we wash our hands or how we set the table or whether the silverware matches the plates or the napkins match the tablecloth. None of that matters if we love people and care about the relationship we are building.

The Pharisees took their rituals to an extreme to try to assuage their spiritual conscience. It didn’t do any good. They still didn’t meet God’s standard because what God wanted was their devotion and love for each other. They could give neither as long as they were so focused on getting the ritual right. It’s the same with us. Until we get it right and love God and each other, we, like the Pharisees, will try to substitute our rituals, our activities, for the right stuff. Like Jesus says, “Guys, get it right!”

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Have you asked Him? (Luke 11:11-13) November 3, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Ecclesiastes 3-4

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 11:11-13
Jesus: Some of you are fathers, so ask yourselves this: if your son comes up to you and asks for a fish for dinner, will you give him a snake instead? If your boy wants an egg to eat, will you give him a scorpion? Look, all of you are flawed in so many ways, yet in spite of all your faults, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to all who ask!

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

An autopsy on the young victim showed burns over 15 percent of his body. Lampley and her boyfriend were originally charged with first-degree murder in the tragedy. The prosecutors wanted Newell-Skinner to get 48 years for the tortures she inflicted on her little girl before the child passed away. They didn’t get their wish. John Hogg, the perfect name for one of eight busted for soliciting child prostitutes and enticement. Little Tobi was taken to the hospital with injuries her mom and significant other said were from a tumble down the stairs. The X-ray didn’t pick up the skull fracture, and the doctor okayed the child’s return even though a former babysitter had already reported signs of abuse. Weeks later, the girl was dead. After Fort Bend County Sheriff sat down with Jason Sheats –whose wife, Christy, killed their two daughters before a police officer fatally shot her–he made public what Jason believed may have led to the tragic event. “We asked Mr Sheats for a motive in his own words, and why would Christy kill their two daughters,” the sheriff said at a news conference. “He stated that he felt Christy wanted him to suffer. During this incident, Christy had ample time and opportunity to shoot and kill Mr. Sheats in the home, but she chose not to. Mr Sheats stated Christy knew how much he loved Taylor and Madison, and how much they loved him.” A concerned citizen showed police a shocking video in which a mother verbally and physically abused her toddler son. But no arrests were made and the child was left in the home until after the video went viral on Facebook and YouTube.

These headliners are too real today, aren’t they. We can’t imagine a world in which parents would do these things to their own children. But these are just a few of the dozens that hit the papers every day and those that hit the paper are just a small percentage of the cases that happen across the country every day. We know that in our heads but seldom let it sink into our hearts.

Unfortunately, with the divorce rate above 50% now, most of the children in our society live in broken homes. They know emotional and physical abuse. They know the brokenness in relationships but fail to see the love of our heavenly Father expressed in the genuine unconditional love of their earthly fathers because of the brokenness of their homes.

You see, over and over, God’s word uses marriage and the home as a metaphore for the love of God toward us. But we have so broken those covenants we make to each other that we no longer understand the covenant God makes to us. We assume that since we can slip in and out of relationships at will, that God will too. We assume that since our affections can grow hot and cold based on our current whim or mood, that God’s love can grow hot and cold toward us. But God’s love is perfect. He is the perfect Father.

Jesus uses this example of a father giving good gifts to his children because usually, even in the corrupted world we live in, most fathers are not like those in the news headlines. Most will not purposely harm their children. We don’t love the way God loves and we don’t love unconditionally the way God wants us to and the way He helps us love if we let Him, but most of us don’t purposely hurt our children. We do it because of the sin that we let reign in our hearts instead of letting God reign there.

That’s point Satan has used to blind us. We think everything is okay because we give gifts to our children and try to buy their love with material things, when what we need is to show genuine, unconditional love to them. God’s kind of love. Love that reaches beyond affection and into the realm of sacrificial giving of self for their good. It means giving up some of the things we want for the good of those we love. God did. He gave His best, His Son, for our good.

So Jesus reminds us that we can understand even in all the corruption we see in this world: Look, all of you are flawed in so many ways, yet in spite of all your faults, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to all who ask! Have you asked Him?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

All you need is love (Luke 10:26-28) October 28, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Zephaniah

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 10:26-28
Jesus (answering with a question): What is written in the Hebrew Scriptures? How do you interpret their answer to your question?
Scholar: You shall love—“love the Eternal One your God with everything you have: all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind”—and “love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus: Perfect. Your answer is correct. Follow these commands and you will live.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

A couple of weeks ago we held a community event at our church. We had a pumpkin patch and bounce house for the kids. A petting zoo and hay ride. Some of the members organized games and face painting and we had some gourmet food trucks that provided goodies throughout the day. But the big event was the antique car show. A couple of the local car clubs brought their cars to show off. I was roped into the role of DJ for the day.

Until the pastor asked me to fill in that role, I had almost forgotten the times one of the local stations in the town I went to high school let me run a show for them once a week as part of preparing for extemporaneous speaking competitions, debate, and other speaking contests I participated in during my high school days. It wasn’t much of an audience, but I did get to spin a few records. Well…I plugged in a few 8-tracks and had to make sure the commercials ran on time, grabbed the news and weather off the teletype and made sure I could read through all the typos that appeared in the faded ink on that flimsy yellow paper.

As the DJ in this particular community event, though, I decided to use a fifties theme since we were using the car show as the major draw for the community. So I pushed the top 100 hits from the 50s all afternoon and everyone had a blast listening to those old songs. At least they were polite enough to tell me they enjoyed the music. Based on their expressions and activity, I’m pretty sure their compliments were true.

So, that brings me to today’s verses, they reminded me of a Beatles’ song made popular in the 60s. You probably remember the words to the chorus. They go like this:

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

The Beatles probably weren’t thinking about agape kind of love, God’s unconditional love, but those words are true. We just can’t seem to get them right. We try to put other stuff in there instead of loving God and loving others and think that’s what’s necessary to please God. It’s not. The scholar who came to Jesus seeking information about the greatest commandment got it right. In Matthew, Jesus is said to have summed up the law in those two statements, love God and love your neighbor. He went on to tell us that all the other commands, every other law is built on those two commands.

If you think about it, it’s true. If we love God, we will do nothing that would cause Him harm or pain or displeasure. We would obey Him in every respect. We would worship Him for who He is and give Him our whole self to do with us whatever He chooses. We would never say no to one of His instructions to us if we really love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And what about loving our neighbor? Wouldn’t we do everything we could to advance our neighbor if we loved him? Wouldn’t we always say kind words about him? Wouldn’t we help whenever we could? Wouldn’t we be a listening ear and a helping hand when she needed one? Wouldn’t we be the very best friend we could be if we really loved our neighbor with God’s unconditional love? Wouldn’t we share the story of God’s salvation to our neighbor is our neighbor isn’t a Christian so that he would know God’s grace and saving mercy so that he would not find himself facing judgment without hope? If we really loved our neighbor wouldn’t we do everything we could to introduce her to the Savior so she could know the peace and joy that comes from serving Him?

Isn’t that what love is all about? Isn’t love about giving it away and not about trying to get it from others? At least that’s what Jesus seemed to teach us about God’s love. Yep, the words of the song are right when you talk about the right kind of unconditional agape love that God can put in our hearts. All you need is love. Love is all you need. Sometimes it’s a little hard to find these days, but you can share it. You can plant the seeds of God’s love around you and who knows, you might grow a bumper crop in the neighborhood where you live. Give it a try. It certainly won’t hurt anyone to love them. And it might make a huge difference in their eternity.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Share with your enemies (Luke 6:32-36) October 4, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 2 Chronicles 11-15

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 6:32-36
Jesus: Listen, what’s the big deal if you love people who already love you? Even scoundrels do that much! So what if you do good to those who do good to you? Even scoundrels do that much! So what if you lend to people who are likely to repay you? Even scoundrels lend to scoundrels if they think they’ll be fully repaid.
If you want to be extraordinary—love your enemies! Do good without restraint! Lend with abandon! Don’t expect anything in return! Then you’ll receive the truly great reward—you will be children of the Most High—for God is kind to the ungrateful and those who are wicked. So imitate God and be truly compassionate, the way your Father is.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Don’t you love it when Jesus gives us these nearly impossible tasks to perform? It’s easy to love those that love you back. I like being around those that think the way I do and act the way I do and believe the way I do. I like being around those that I know will accept the things I say without getting riled up, angry, and ready to strike back because of their different beliefs. I like giving to those that appreciate the thoughts that stirred up the gift because of long term relationships and the love and friendship that has developed over time.

But that’s not what Jesus calls us to do, is it? His implication in these verses is pretty clear. Do all those things with people that love you back is no big deal to God. He wants us to get uncomfortable and reach the world. He’s given us the mission the Israelites failed to complete.

Remember the covenant with Abraham? God told him that if he fulfilled his part of the covenant, all the nations would be blessed through him. The problem is that Abraham didn’t keep his part of the covenant. He went to Pharaoh during a couple of famines and told him that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife to keep from getting killed. He didn’t trust God to protect him from the power of Pharaoh. His children and their children did the same. They didn’t trust God to protect them or supply their needs or give them the strength at the right time to deal with the situations they faced from time to time.

By the time Jesus came to earth in the flesh, Israel was well known as a monotheistic society, but they hoarded their faith rather than sharing it. All the nations around them knew they didn’t worship the pantheon of gods they did, but the Jews didn’t share the message of salvation God told them to share. They kept it to themselves and guarded their precious information jealously. So Jesus came to share the message personally. Then after His crucifixion and resurrection, He gave us the mission of sharing His new covenant with all people who will believe that He is the Son of God and came to offer us salvation.

The point Jesus made emphasizes presenting the message to all people. Not just the ones we like. Imagine what our condition would be if Jesus shared the message with only those who He liked and liked Him. He didn’t have many friends while He was with us. Crowds gathered around Him, but in terms of real friends, He had Lazarus, Mary and Martha, most of His twelve disciples, and maybe a few others, but there were not scores of people He could really call friends when He walked the earth with us.

Still Jesus shared the message and not only did He share the message, but He saved His enemies as they discovered the truth of who Hie is. We were all His enemies when He called to us to share His message of grace and mercy and hope. We were anything but friends when our sins put Jesus on the cross, yet He still gave all He had for our salvation. He gave Himself. He died for us as the perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty we should pay for our sins against God.

So when we think about what He’s done for us when we were still His enemies, we can see that Jesus meant what He said when He said to love our enemies and to do good for those that would harm us. Jesus lived by the implications in these verses. He loved those who hated Him. He did good for those who tried to kill Him. He gave expecting nothing in return. In doing so, some who heard His message believed Him and gained eternal life. Some took up the mantel He gave them and shared the message with others and His kingdom is growing.

So the question for us is, will we follow Jesus’ example and love those who hate us and still share His message with them? Will we do good for those who would try to harm us and share the message with them? Will we give expecting nothing in return and share the message with a world that needs Jesus more than they know. When we share His message with that attitude and those actions behind it, people will listen. They will find that you live by a different set of rules. You live by kingdom rules instead of world rules. You live by rules that seem upside down from those they live by. Yet they will either be drawn to the message or hate you all the more.

That’s the reaction the kingdom message brings. But our mission is to share it. With everyone. So what are you waiting for? Get started.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

The kingdom way (Luke 6:27-31) October 3, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Numbers 29-32

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 6:27-31
Jesus: If you’re listening, here’s My message: Keep loving your enemies no matter what they do. Keep doing good to those who hate you. Keep speaking blessings on those who curse you. Keep praying for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other cheek too. If someone steals your coat, offer him your shirt too. If someone begs from you, give to him. If someone robs you of your valuables, don’t demand them back. Think of the kindness you wish others would show you; do the same for them.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We learn that ‘golden rule’ as a kid, but do we really understand what Jesus meant by it? We like to send it out to others as they rail against us or sometimes when our anger starts to boil over and we’re about to levy some pretty harsh punishment against someone for the wrongs they committed against us. At times like those we stop and quote that verse to ease the pain of whatever punishment or action is about to happen.

That’s what most people think about when they read that isolated verse out of context. But that’s what I like about the translation I’ve been sharing with you the last few years. The Voice gets it right, even if you pull that verse out of the rest of the paragraph. Listen to it again.

“Think of the kindness you wish others would show you; do the same for them.”

Now lets go back and put the verse back into the context in which Jesus was talking to those who were listening to His sermon and see what He really means.

Remember the Jews lived in an occupied country. Israel had not enjoyed political self rule as a nation since the Babylonians laid final siege to the city and destroyed it in 587 BC. At this time, they lived under the rule of the Roman Empire. Soldiers walked the streets constantly. They had the authority to press individuals into service for them to carry their loads, give them food or shelter, take whatever implements or utensils they might need. The Roman soldiers had significant leeway from Rome to do as they pleased in the occupied nations.

Fortunately, most of the soldiers were relatively decent human beings and wanted to keep peace. The officers who led them knew that if they went too far, the entire populace might rise up against them and there were not enough soldiers in all of Israel to stop a massive uprising against the garrisons within the sound of their reach. Rome wielded great power against those she conquered, but Rome also knew her power was limited to the fear they could induce and that fear was based on the greatest number of people fearing death at the hands of her soldiers in battle.

Why the short history lesson? Because Jesus was talking to a crowd that understood their predicament with Rome. Most hated the soldiers who came into their homes at their pleasure or ordered them to carry their baggage from town to town or took the food from their tables when food was sometimes scarce. The Jews hated the Romans for what they did and who they were as an occupying force.

Now put that verse back into context. Jesus was talking about doing all these good things for your enemies. Do all these good things for those who hate you as much as you might hate them. Walk the extra mile, turn the other check, give up your coat and cloak to your enemy. Then He adds that haunting verse at the very end of that paragraph.

“Think of the kindness you wish others would show you; do the same for them.”

What would you like someone to do for you today? Would you like someone to take you to lunch? Then find that person who is your enemy and take them to lunch. That’s what Jesus is telling this crowd and us to do.

Would you like someone to get you a new shirt or blouse? Pick out one that you really like, wrap it up and give it to that co-worker that really gets on your nerves every day. That’s what Jesus is telling this crowd and us to do.

Would you like someone to listen to your complaints without interruption? Go to the person who drives you crazy with all their complaints and just listen to them. Don’t interrupt, take notes, let them know you really care about their issues. See where you might help ease their burden because of your past experiences. That’s what Jesus is telling this crowd and us to do.

Is this an easy task? By no means. It takes Jesus living in us to accomplish what He tells us to do here. But what a difference it will make in your piece of the world when you start operating with His rules instead of the world’s. Everyone around you will think you’re crazy. But they thought He was too. Even His brothers and sisters came to get Him because they thought He lost His mind.

So what will you today for someone? Think of the kindness you wish others would show you; then find one of those folks that border on the hate list and do it for them. That’s the kingdom way.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Do some good today (Luke 6:9-10) September 29, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Proverbs 26-27

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 6:9-10
Jesus: Here’s a question for you: On the Sabbath Day, is it lawful to do good or to do harm? Is it lawful to save life or to destroy it?
He turned His gaze to each of them, one at a time. Then He spoke to the man.
Jesus: Stretch your hand out.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Jesus made a habit of doing good. He also made a habit of going to the synagogue or the temple on the Sabbath. He knew the importance of both. He knew we were created to do good for others as a demonstration of the love God pours into our lives individually and collectively. It’s important to show God’s love through actively doing good for others. The Pharisees, though, began to obscure the lines. They didn’t understand the two fit together the way Jesus did. They knew we should do good for others, but not at the expense of the Sabbath rules.

Are we guilty of the same, today? Do we let rules get in the way of doing what’s right? The Pharisees’ traditions about how far you could walk, how much weight you could carry, what kind of activities you could perform, all led to this farce concerning the purpose of the Sabbath. Jesus knew the Sabbath was created for our good. To make sure we rested from our labor and recovered from the toil that came as part of the curse on humanity for the sin of Adam’s race. We needed that day of rest and a reminder that God gives us our both our purpose and our ability to carry out that purpose.

The scribes and Pharisees, those who should have known best, perverted the Sabbath and made it something God never intended it to be. They made it a burden just to make it through the day without violating one of the many rules the religious rulers set in place. There were so many, it was impossible to keep up with them and many of them didn’t make sense even to God. Like allowing a person to get his ox out of a ditch on the Sabbath, but not allowing that same person to take a meal to a sick friend on the Sabbath. How does that make sense? Isn’t it more effort to get the ox out of the ditch? And aren’t people more important than oxen?

Do we do what the scribes and Pharisees did and pervert God’s intent for our setting aside time to remember Him? Do we forget that our purpose is to worship Him and demonstrate His love for us by doing good for others? Do we focus on rules instead of doing good and get those roles reversed? Do we get so hung up on our petty traditions that we forget that people are the most important thing around us?

It’s a lesson that’s so easy to forget. I think that’s why the gospels included this story. I’m not sure Jesus intended to heal anyone that day. I’m not sure He expected to face down the Pharisees once again on that Sabbath day, but then again, He’s God, so He might have known all about it. In any event, Jesus saw the opportunity to help a man in need. He saw the chance to do good for someone and He took it. Why? Because doing good for others is how we can best demonstrate God’s love.

Did Jesus break the Sabbath? Not so sure He did. Paul and the writer of Hebrews say Jesus was sinless. If that’s so, then His actions on the Sabbath certainly did’t constitute sin. And if His actions on that Sabbath day were in violation of the fourth commandment to keep the Sabbath holy, then it would have been a sin, right? So what the Pharisees saw as wrong in their perverted sense of what it meant to keep the Sabbath and what God intended for us in keeping the Sabbath are obviously in opposition to each other.

So which pattern should we follow? The rules and regulations that burden us and make us look pious to those around us or those that Jesus showed us, doing good for others? I think the answer is clear. Does that mean we should go out and work to make a living on the Sabbath? There are some that must work on the day that some hold as the Sabbath. Firefighters, police, healthcare workers, and a host of others don’t have a choice as they provide essential services to our community. But many of us do have a choice and should set aside a regular day to stop and remember God and recover from our routine labor.

Jesus said it best, the Sabbath was made for us, not the other way around. It was made as a time for us to not just consider God and His love, but to demonstrate it to a world that needs it so much. Is it right to do good on the Sabbath or harm? It’s a pretty easy answer. Go do some good for someone today and everyday.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.