LOVING PEOPLE - REALLY LOVING THEM

Reading: Luke 10:25-28

One of the great scandals of contemporary Christianity is what Craig Groeschel calls “Christian Atheism.” This is where we say we believe something and then live like we do not believe it. The lawyer of Luke 10:25-28 stands up and asks the quintessential question of a seeker, “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” At the end of the chain of discussion Jesus leads the man to the answer. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ In fact, Jesus punctuates it with, “Do this and you shall live.”

Even non-Christians know, and many practice, the latter half of that commandment. We call it the Golden Rule.

But for many persons, including many Christians, there is more intellectual assent than real life application. We know we should practice it, and we do … up to a point.

Up to the point when….

Demonstrating that love requires us to sacrifice a significant amount of time.

Loving them requires us to wade into the mess in which they find themselves living where we might get messy, too.

Loving them calls us to sacrifice something precious rather than what is convenient or superfluous.

Loving them demands us to see them as persons for whom Christ died rather than simply objects of our good works.

Loving them is met with rejection or contempt.

I am reminded that God loved a world where people were His enemies.

He loved a world that killed his prophets and dishonored His holiness.

He loved a world where people keep asking, no, demanding His help and then squandering the blessing.

He loved a world that He knew would crucify Jesus.

Love, genuine God-inspired and empowered love is unconditional and incarnational and sacrificial.

Any less is not really love. It is a counterfeit.

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

Originally posted at EASTER PEOPLE

GENERIC BRANDS

Reading: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." - Psalm 34:8

I am a diabetic.  As such I must watch my diet - by its content and its portion size.  I also a cereal lover. My favorite cereal, Honeynut Cheerios, is acceptable on my diet if I don't overdo it. They are not always, however, particularly inexpensive.

I am also a man on a budget. Dianne and I are trying to pay down some debts and also fund a mission trip this summer, so we are watching our pennies.  The other day I was doing the grocery shopping.

When I came to the cereal aisle, my eyes fell upon the store's generic brand of my cereal--Honey oat something or other. The carbs, sugar and calories were similar.  The price was almost two dollars less per box. I bought the generic.

Some generics are reasonable substitutes for the name brand.  But some are not.  "Honey oat whatevers" were not. In fact, I took a second look at the first bite to see if I had accidentally gotten a piece of the cardboard box into my cereal bowl.  Even with cold milk and my eyes closed, this stuff did not taste good. The penny-pincher in me will probably finish them; but I will not buy them again.

The real deal, once you have enjoyed it, cannot be matched by the generic.

A lot of us live spiritually in reverse.  We have only ever partaken of a generic faith rather than a genuine relationship with Christ. It doesn't cost as much and we don't know the difference.  We live on the cardboard substance of what should rich and flavorful.

It may be okay to consume generics for your pocketbook's sake, and generics may be nutritious if not passable as breakfast cereal. But for the feeding our soul and the nourishment of our lives nothing can ever be as good as the name brand - and the name is Jesus.

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn

FORWARD PROGRESS

Reading: Philippians 3.12-16

The New Year has begun.

Did you spend any time reflecting on the past year and assessing your goals for the year to come?

Did you make any resolutions?

How many have you already broken?

I had a friend who intentionally avoided that exercise.  He said, "Every time I do it, it's just deja vu all over again. I always seem to be making the same resolutions with the same old outcomes."

I had another friend who went to the other extreme. His resolutions were revolutions.  If he ever kept them, his life would be radically altered.  The problem is that his intentions were to give intentionality merely lip service. He rarely had a game plan or a strategy. Nothing really changed.

Paul, sitting in an unlikely place - prison, made a resolution. It's recorded in Philippians 3.12-14.

^"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

But he also had a strategy.  It went something like this:

A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF THE PRESENT

A REMEMBERING OF OUR PURPOSE

A RELEASING OF THE PAST

A REFUSAL TO RETREAT

A RESOLVE TO PRESS ON

Forward progress leading to obtaining the prize. A great outcome of a worthy New Year's Resolution for any Christ follower. Is that what you are planning for in 2011?

(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn. All rights reserved.

This devotional is a summary of a message I will preach at the Church of God of Landisville on Sunday, January 9, 2011.