All You Need Is Love?

 “All you need is love.” So sang the Beatles.“What the world needs now is love, sweet love.” Maybe you are too young to remember that one. I used to know every word of so many songs that were on the radio. Maybe you know a few, too!  Popular songs are full of a desire for love, a recognition of the need for love. It’s true: Individuals need love; the world needs love. But, as many songs declare, finding love is illusive. We know we need it, but don't really know how to get it. And, if observation is accurate, we spend more energy trying to figure out how to get love than how to give it.

Yes, love is central to life, but love isn’t primarily something we are supposed to get. It’s something we are supposed to give. Jesus gave his disciples a command to love one another. He said that the world would know those who belong to Him by the way they love each other. (John 13:34-35) That’s a command to love. Not a command to search for love. The command to give love is the primary directive. Yet, it’s been twisted into the main thing everyone is searching for. What if we turned our focus to giving love rather than getting it? In the current culture wouldn’t that immediately establish us as different? In a world where everyone is looking for love (“in all the wrong places”, as a popular country song once said), what if the identifying factor of Christians was that we gave love away rather than seeking it for ourselves?

How does that happen? We have to know that we are already loved.That deep seated need for love has already been met. “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son...”(John 3:16) “This is how we know what love is. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us...” (1 John 4:10) “We love because He loved us.” (1 John 4:19) The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that God’s motivation in reaching out to the world by sending Jesus was love for all humanity. He demonstrated His love by sending Jesus to die for us. (Romans 5:8) What if we stopped looking to feel loved and recognized that the love we are looking for has already been demonstrated? What if you took God at His word and believed that He really does love you? How would that change the way you see life?

If you and I really believed that we were loved by God it would change our approach to everything. We would come from a position of having that “love tank” filled. We would come from a place of being satisfied, not empty and searching. If I will allow the love of God to satisfy my need for love then I will find myself filled to the brim and overflowing with His love and ready to give it away. The world is dying of thirst for the only love that can satisfy and when you and I are filled with God’s love for us then we can’t help but let it splash out. Sociologists recognize love as one of the basic needs of people. I remember learning that in school, don’t you? It’s God who has designed us that way and that need is meant to be met by Him first. Those who belong to Him, you and I, are meant to stand in for Him and allow people to taste His love through us so that they will search for true fulfillment in Him. You and I are called to represent God by loving people in His name. What a high calling! What a great honor! What a tremendous responsibility.

Beloved, you and I are not equipped to love others in Jesus’ name until we become fully convinced that He loves us. Only then can we fully receive His love so that we will be filled instead of always searching. We will overflow with His love by the power of the Holy Spirit.No person will ever completely fill our need for love. God has also designed us to need human love. There is no denying that. You  and I need our family and friends to love us. But, you know as well as I, that their love is imperfect and often disappointing. You know how it feels when stinging words or a cold shoulder come from the person you are closest to. The deepest hurts come from those close enough to get near our vulnerable places. It’s an undeniable fact that those we love most will let us down. They won’t be able to give us the love we so desperately need. Only God can satisfy that place. He’s shaped every heart with a home that only His love can reside in..

So, here’s the challenge: Reccieve God’s love for you. Let Him fully convince you that you are loved.Then, let that love transform the way you respond to the world. Let it fill you with all the life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:19 NLT) And finally, give that love away to everyone you meet. God’s love. Sacrificial. Doing what is best for the other person. Not the sloppy, do-whatever-makes-you-happy idea that the world calls love. God’s love always tells the truth and always leads people to Himself.

All you really need is love. God’s love. And once you receive it, all you need to do is keep taking it in and giving it away.

Key thought: My ability to give love starts with knowing that I am loved by God.

A Scripture to consider: “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A YES challenge: Do you struggle to believe that God really loves you as an individual? Take some time to meditate on Scripture and allow that truth to begin to become a part of you. Why not start with our Scripture to consider? Write it on an index card or post-it note. Set a daily reminder in your phone. Let God use His word to surround you with His love and let it change you.

Prayer: Father, I know that You love the world, but I struggle to believe that You really love ME. Help me to receive your love and let it change me so that I can give that love away to everyone I meet. As I experience Your love help me to love others in Your name. Amen.

Repost: Love the People Jesus Loves

 Since I’ve been on vacation I had decided to find an earlier post to share again. This is from February 2017. It’s worth a second look!

Sharon was my first pastor's wife and the first woman I looked up to as a mentor. I wanted to be just like her! Sharon was a Georgia peach, a Southern belle who hadn't let years of living in New York State steal her Southern charm or her Southern drawl. But most important, Sharon loved her Jesus.

She was an excellent Bible teacher. The women of our church were more blessed than they realized as they sat under Sharon's wisdom and insight. (The men never got to benefit from Sharon's teaching as this church did not allow women in the Sunday pulpit.) From what I understand, there were times when Sharon used almost no notes as she taught. Her impact came from sharing what was obviously so real to her. It wasn't just knowledge. It was her life. It's taken me years to be able to articulate that. I still want to be just like her.

There is one thing Sharon said in a teaching that I have never forgotten. She said, "Love the people Jesus loves." Love the people Jesus loves? Who does Jesus love? Well....you know...EVERYONE! That's a fact that we often quote, but the illustration Sharon used was about God moving them from their home in Georgia to New York and then calling them to start a church in this unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar brand of people. "Love the people Jesus loves."

Who does Jesus love?That annoying co-worker. Your bratty neighbor's kid. The lady in church who sings too loud and wears too much perfume. The grocery clerk who is so busy talking to his co-worker that he barely pays attention to you and almost overcharges you. That person driving ON YOUR TAIL with their headlights in your rearview.

Who does Jesus love? The drug addict in your neighborhood. The homosexual couple across the street. The young lady with tattoos and multiple piercings and a foul mouth. Need I go on?

Love the people Jesus loves. When I said YES to Jesus, I said yes to loving the people He loves and that is an amazing part of this adventure. Because when I love the people Jesus loves I get to witness transformed lives. Sometimes the life that is most transformed...is mine.

Key thought: Love the people Jesus loves.

A Scripture to consider: 1 John 4:19-21

"We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."

A YES challenge: Who is God calling you to love today?

Prayer: Dear Lord, this is hard. Loving the people You love is something that I can't do in my own power. I need You to help me. I need You to put your love in my heart. The fruit of Your Spirit is love. Fill me with Your Spirit today so that I can join You in the loving. Help me to love others in Your name. Help me to love the people You love. Amen.

Reflections: Three Things I’ve Learned Along the Way

Today is my birthday. Since I usually post my blog on Saturdays today happens to be August 25th, the day I was born in 1962. Go ahead, do the math! I am old enough now that I can say I’ve been around the block a few times and there are a few things that I’ve learned through the passage of time. All those sunrises and sunsets. Thunderstorms and snowfalls. All that grass mowing and leaf raking. All those hellos and goodbyes. We learn so much just from living through so much.

I can also say that I have walked with Jesus for close to forty years. I’ve learned a few things there, too. It was in February of 1978 that a high school friend gave me a little tract that asked the question “Would you like a personal relationship with Jesus  Christ as your Lord and Savior?” It had never occurred to me that I could have a personal relationship with Jesus and I knew my answers was “Yes.” So, I prayed the prayer, signed and dated the tract on the line provided and put it in my wallet for safekeeping. (I am sorry to say, that somewhere along the line I lost track of that little important memento.) But the real transformation of my life started a few years later. In January of 1983 while I was in college I reached a crisis point. Overwhelmed with life I found myself kneeling by the bed in my rented room on Oak Street in Geneseo, NY, desperately praying, “God, I can’t do it by myself anymore. I need you to help me!” And He did. And He has.

So, what have I learned in all these years of church-going, small groups, ministry studies and personal devotions? I am going to winnow it down to three things.

1. Love is a choice.When asked what the greatest commandment was Jesus replied “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew‬ ‭22:37-40‬ ‭NIV‬) He made it clear that the most important thing in life and in Christianity is love. Love God. Love people. Part of our problem today is that our culture has reduced love to a feeling of romance. Butterflies in the stomach. A rush of adrenaline. A tingling attraction. A sense of connection. If that was the kind of love Jesus was talking about, it would all be based on feelings. And you can’t make feelings happen. We can’t be commanded to feel. The Great Commandment has to be something that I can do without being motivated by a feeling. It has to be something that I choose to obey. Feelings may follow, but it has to start with my choice.

In more than thirty years of marriage I have learned that I may not always feel love for my spouse, but I love him all the same. When he annoys me or disappoints me, as is invariably going to happen with human interaction of any kind,  the love feelings might hide for a while, but I have been commanded to love him. So, I can and I do. Love has to start at home, with the people I spend the most time with. The people who can hurt me most. Love is choosing to do what is best for the other person, even if it might be inconvenient or challenging for me. It’s at home where I get the most chance to practice that kind of love.

But that kind of love, the love that does what is best for others, doesn’t stop at home. Jesus commanded me to love my neighbor and then illustrated who my neighbor is through the story of the Good Samaritan. Jews and Samaritans hated each other in Jesus’ day. By making the Samaritan the hero of the story, he challenged the Jews He was speaking to, and you and me, to love everyone who comes into our path. Even the person we like least. That can’t be based on a feeling.

Like any choice God commands of us, if I choose to love because He asks it of me, knowing that it is beyond my ability, I can trust that He will help me to do it. And He has.

2. It’s not about what you do. It’s about who you are.There’s no denying that we live in a celebrity worshipping culture. People grab for their fifteen minutes of fame so that they can feel important. Some even plan stunts just so that they will get that attention. The strange thing is that once the spotlight has turned on them for that brief moment they not only feel more important, people treat them like they are more important. Young people today often list being famous among their ambitions. Just being famous. Not being famous for anything in particular. Not accomplishing some major feat. They see fame as a goal in itself and a validation of their existence.

Because of Tom’s work in radio and television we have had the opportunity to meet some famous people, even to have dinner with some. It doesn’t take long to realize that people are people whether their names are well-known are not. On a small level, a very small level, Tom and I have experienced a measure of fame. Through Tom being on local radio and television, even Christian radio and television, many people in our region came to know our names. It has been crazy to watch how some people have responded to seeing us in person after hearing about us from a distance. They treated us, Tom especially, like we were important people. They stared with awe and had trouble talking. Tom has always been great at just treating people like friends. For some of those star-struck people, even that wasn’t enough to take the stars out of their eyes.

Here’s the thing, we know who we are with all our faults, failures and weaknesses. In our younger days, we both had that same ambition to be famous. Achieving it, even on a small level, takes the mystery out of it. There is no satisfaction in it. Well-known accomplishments carry no weight. People forget what you do. God doesn’t applaud our worldly successes. Jeremiah 9:24 says, “but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord." What matters most is not being known or accomplishing tasks worthy of recognition. What matters most is being someone who understands what is truly important and living that out. I’d rather be known as someone who loves like Jesus than to just be known.

3. It’s not about knowing more. It’s about knowing Him. I love learning. I was a good student because I could retain the information long enough to answer all the questions correctly on a test. I have always enjoyed gathering information, but I didnt take too much interest in applying it. When I first started following Jesus I approached Christianity the same way. I gathered information and could give the right answers, but I wasn’t paying as much attention to living out what I knew. I learned more and more about the Bible, but it was in seeking to develop a relationship with Christ that I came to understand that just knowledge wasn’t enough. I needed to live what I learned.

In order to become a pastor I had to achieve a certain level of Bible education. I’ve realized that none of that knowledge means a thing unless I live it and teach others to do the same. None of that education has value unless it transforms my life and leads me to a deeper knowledge of God and His love, not just for the world or for others, but for me personally. That is something I am still struggling to absorb. God loves me and wants His love for me to guide how I live. Ephesians 3:19 describes a love that is meant to fill me with life and power through receiving it. “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:19‬ ‭NLT)‬‬ Wow!

Beloved, thanks for taking this journey of reflection with me. I hope that I can encourage you to love the way Jesus commanded. When you choose to love He will give you the ability. Let Him love through you. You can rest in the fact that you don't need to achieve anything to become someone God values. You don’t need to strive to know more in order to know Him. Just let Him love you. When you do, your life will be transformed and you will experience satisfaction and contentment. It really isn’t about knowing more or doing more. It’s about loving Him, loving others and being loved by Him. Be blessed, dear friend!

Key thought: Live what you learn.

A Scripture to consider: “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3:19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A YES challenge: It may not be your birthday, but take some time to reflect. If you could distill what you have learned from life to three things what would they be? Write them down so that you can review them in the future. Find someone to share your reflections with. How are you living what you have learned?

Prayer: Father, I thank You for this life with all it’s challenges and joys. My greatest satisfaction is in knowing You and learning to be the person You have designed me to be. There is nothing I want more than to grow in knowing Your love and sharing it with others. Amen.

Can I Get a Witness?

 Have you ever been called as a witness during a trial? Jury duty is a required task for citizens of the U.S., but many of us will never have the experience of sitting in the witness chair. I have never served as a witness in a trial, but I have served on a jury. I listened to witnesses detail facts and describe circumstances. They were charged to testify to truth, what really happened in the case under scrutiny. They took an oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” The whole truth. Nothing but the truth.

Called to testify to THE Truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) :As believers in Jesus Christ we are called on to testify to the truth, the whole truth. Nothing but THE Truth. Why is it that we so often struggle to testify with our words and actions. We know that we are not our own, we are bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:19) Yet so often we behave in our own interest, protecting ourselves, our reputations. When it comes to the gospel, we don’t tell the whole truth. We may tell a partial truth. Our lives are often a poor reflection of the Truth we are called to represent. You’ve been there and so have I. I am short with a clerk at the grocery store. I snap at a family member. I dont help someone who needs it when I am right there and have the ability. I am silent in a conversation that needs godly input. I fall short at times when I should shine. I want to testify to truth, but I don’t.

You and I are called to be ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20). An ambassador has a temporary home in a land that is not their own. An ambassador is commissioned to represent his country, not himself. An ambassador is the personal representative of the sovereign or head of state. She has the power to act with the full authority of her government and to do business on behalf of her nation. An ambassodor stands in the place of the one by whom she was sent. That’s our monumental task: To stand in the place of our Sovreign and do business for Him while we are in this land that is not our home. We have been given the “ministry of reconciliation.” God wants to use us to bring people to Himself. He wants your life and mine to speak for Him. As ambassadors for Christ, whose reputation are we to build up? Whose mission are we to propel forward? Whose purposes are we to accomplish? Whose authority do we carry?

The truth is that even though I really want to represent Christ well, I fail. You know what I mean. You’ve been there, too. My character flaws get in the way of really demonstrating who Jesus is and acting on His behalf. My fear or pride color my responses to people. I end up protecting me instead of representing Him. I don’t have the courage to say what I know He would want me to say. Sound familiar? What I want most is to represent Him well. I want to carry out my “ministry of reconciliation.” How can I hope to succeed? I don’t seem to posess the ability. Yet, I am not my own.

I am not my own and because of that I have been given something that is not my own so that I can fulfill my mission as an ambassador.I have been given power to be a witness, a representative, to testify. I have been given the essence of the One I represent to live within me, so that when I let Him live through me I demonstrate what He is like. I am able to live the Truth. I am empowered to live the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth. When I let Him, the Spirit of Christ Himself, lead the way then I become the representative that I need to be.

Power to represent Christ can look like bold declarations and powerful demonstrations, but it also looks like loving persuasion and faithful service. Ultimately, the power to represent Christ well is the power to live unselfishly with Christ-like character. In order to live that way, you and I need the Holy Spirit to live through us.

The early believers fully understood this.What power did they receive? Power to to preach boldly (Acts 2), to do signs and wonders (Acts 3),  to be a martyr (Acts 7), to release the Holy Spirit (Acts 8), to lead people to belief (Acts 10) , to overcome personal sin (1 Corinthians 10:13), to endure suffering (1 Peter 4:12-14), to heal (Acts 19:11-12), to love (1 John 4:16), to pray (Romans 8: 26), to hope (Romans. 15:13), to guard the precious truth (2 Timothy 1:14). Those first century followers of Christ understood both their mission as ambassadors and their need for the empowering of the Holy Spirit in order to accomplish it. Perhaps part of the reason we fail is because we do not fully understand either.. 

You and I have access to the same power that the early believers experienced and learned to live by.The same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. (Ephesians 1:19-20). We can’t be effective ambassadors in our own power, but we have been given all that we need so that we can accomplish our mission, to testify to THE Truth. Can I get a witness?

Key thought: The power to represent Christ well comes from the Holy Spirit.

A Scripture to consider: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭1:8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A YES challenge: How well does your life give witness to the Truth of the gospel? Take some time to be honest with God about where you fall short and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with His power in those areas.

Prayer: Lord, Jesus, my greatest desire is to live for You, to represent You well, to testify to the tuth, Your truth. I so often fail to do this well and sometimes I forget that that is may main purpose for life on earth. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit on a daily basis so that I can be the ambassador that You want me to be. I love You, Lord. Amen.

The Change Everyone Wants

 Change. We all resist it. I know I do. Even the person who thrives on thrills will cringe when someone tries to make them do something they dont want to do. We like to be the commander of our own destiny and we dont want someone else to tell us it’s time to go or to stay. We try to retain control of our own lives. It’s a fact that we may as well admit. I guess I’ll raise my hand first.

Yet, at the same time, isn’t change something we all crave? You and I both know the self-talk that turns on after we make a mistake or mishandle a situation. Our internal scolder starts low and then grows louder like a stereo turned up to the highest volume. We wish that we were different, that we had handled it better. We want to succeed next time. We want to change. That’s the kind of change that everyone wants but no one seems able to make happen. We find ourselves making the same mistakes and mishandling the same people. We try, but are unable to truly love the people we most want to love. We’re caught in a never-ending cycle of failure. Not necessarily the kind of failure everyone else recognizes, but, when we are honest with ourselves, we know it and we want to be different. We want to change.

As believers, we often talk about the power of the Holy Spirit.What most people mean when they talk about the power of the Holy Spirit is usually some miraculous manifestation. We want to see “mighty works.” We want to see the supernatural, stupefying, stupendous. Sometimes I wonder if we reallly want to see the Holy Spirit or if we are looking for a magic show. “Be amazed as the Holy Spirit performs this powerful visible act!” Like the people who followed Jesus just to see Him multiply bread again, do we seek after the external works of the Holy Spirit rather than His internal work in our lives? There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is still at work today in miraculous manifestations of the power of God. I firmly believe that He is moving  in miraculous ways and wants to continue to do so. But are we missing a work of the Holy Spirit that is just as amazing? Are we missing the work of the Holy Spirit as He takes broken, self-centered, unloving, failing lives and transforms them into victorious reflections of Jesus?

When the miraculous occurs the Holy Spirit has one goal: to glorify Jesus (John 16:14).That is the Holy Spirit’s primary function. New Testament instances of the miraculous caused people to marvel and give God glory. Is that what happens today? Sometimes. But too often, the miracle itself is glorified and the person who prayed for the miracle gets more attention than God Himself. People look at the external change and rejoice. They stop at the seen, but the Holy Spirit is unseen and works in the unseen as well.

The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus by taking what is His and delivering it to us. How miraculous is that?!

God wants to do miracles through you and through me. The Holy Spirit that worked through first century believers like John and Peter and Paul is the same Holy Spirit in 21st century believers. What they were able to do, we are able to do. Those things are the work of the Holy Spirit, but if Jesus is not glorified as a result then it is not His goal we are working to accomplish. As He works through you and me, His goal is still that Jesus be glorified. He wants to empower us to perform the miraculous by giving to us the same power that belongs to Christ, but He also wants to glorify Jesus by taking of His character and giving it to us. When we exhibit the evidence of the Spirit’s fruit in our lives, the character of Christ, then we bring glory to Jesus.

When we allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ then we experience the change that we seek in our deepest heart. The transformation of any human being’s selfish character to reflect the loving character of Christ is nothing short of miraculous. Isn’t that the change we most long for? Isn’t that the change that will most satisfy us? We ask God to change our circumstances with miracles, but new situations arise that cause us to call on Him again. Those changes don’t bring rest and satisfaction. When we give the Holy Spirit room to work in our character, we experience the change that we seek most. We allow Him to take what belongs to Jesus and give it to us, then we respond more like Jesus and we bring Him glory. That’s the source of true satisfaction. That’s a mighty demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power. Are you ready for a miracle?

Key thought: The most miraculous work of the Holy Spirit is a changed life.

A Scripture to consider:  “As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.” 2 Corinthians NLT

A YES challenge: Where do you most want to change? Ask the Holy Spirit to transform you to reflect the Lord’s glory in that part of your character.

Prayer: Lord, You know me better than I know myself. You know where I most struggle to retain control and you know where I most need to change. I just can’t do it on my own. I need you Holy Spirit to change me from within. Let my goal be to glorify Jesus just as it is Yours. Amen.

Guarantee of Glory

 Buying and selling our house was one of the most stressful events of our lives, but also among the most exciting.We had searched for a home within our budget that didn’t need a lot of work. Many of the homes in our price range were what might be called “fixer-uppers.” We are not fixer-uppers! Finally, we found what would become our home for the next fourteen years. It was a well-loved, well-taken care of home that needed some updating, but not major work. After walking through it we talked with our kids in the backyard to see what they thought. We found out later that our little conference is what made the sellers choose our offer over more money. They had loved their home for 40 years and wanted to know that it would continue to serve a family well. We talked with our realtor and put a down payment, a binder, on the house. The sellers told their realtor to cancel a scheduled open house. They had decided to sell the house to us and were not seeking any other offers.

The practice of a down payment before a purchase is actually an ancient one.Some historians even trace it back to Jewish business practices and cite biblical examples such as taking off a sandal to confirm the transaction that Boaz would marry Ruth and acquire her dead husband’s property (Ruth 4:6-7). This ancient practice existed for protection. A down payment protects the seller by demonatrating that the buyer is serious enough about purchase to offer something up front. It also protects the buyer because acceptance of the down payment by the seller indicates that no other offers will be accepted. This was the case when we purchased our house. As is the current practice, we also signed a contract following the down payment that sealed the deal. If we had broken the  contract the down payment would have been returned. An incomplete deal would mean disappointment, but not financial loss. 

That down payment was actually not our first. We had previously found a charming house in a location closer to our apartment. The house had a tree trunk for support in the middle of the basement and had been built before the Civil War! I had the romantic idea that living in an old house would be fun. Part of the contemporary purchase process is an egineer’s inspection. On the day of the inspection we brought a friend who worked in construction so that his expert eyes might help us see any concerns. Building integrity was way outside our realm of experience. As that inspection walkthrough continued we began to recognize that this old house, although beautiful and well-taken care of, contained some unique challenges that we were unprepared to handle. For instance, there were two electrical panels in the basement (which by the way now seemed creepy rather than charming. Who cares about a Civil War tree-trunk?). One panel looked old and rusted, like it might have been the original panel from when electricity had been added to the house in the early twentieth century! Did it work? What kind of problems might we have? And what about our young children? What if they discovered something dangerous before we did and were hurt?

After the inspection, we decided this was not the house for us. We informed our realtor and our down payment was returned. She felt badly that we were out the money we had payed for the inspection, but we told her "you always pay for education" and we had learned a lot! The sellers were disappointed, but there was no financial harm done to anyone. The down payment process protected all of us.

The whole process of purchasing that house was a positive experience. We were often in touch with the sellers and purchased some of the furniture they wanted to leave behind. They gave us tips on how to deal with some of the small issues that were part of the house’s “personality.” They gave us history on the neighborhood and why the pine tree in the front yard still had Christmas lights at the very top. By the time we moved into the house, we felt like we knew it and the neighborhood pretty well. We were ready to settle in and enjoy life there.

We have a down payment from God. The Scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a downpayment, a deposit, “guaranteeing what is to come.” Just as our downpayment guaranteed that we intended to buy our house, the Holy Spirit guarantees that God intends to take us home to heaven. The Spirit guarantees that God’s promises are true. He is the guarantee that God has "purchased us to be his own people." (Ephesians 1:14) Any time we experience God”s presence in a worship service or simply looking up at the millions of stars in a clear night sky, we are tasting that downpayment. We are experiencing that deposit.  When the sellers accepted our downpayment they accepted us as the future owners of their home. They began to teach us about the home so that we would be more comfortable living there. They began to give us a taste of what was to come. That doesn’t always happen for home buyers but that always happens when someone becomes a believer in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit comes into and alongside us and begins to prepare us to live in our future home, heaven. He teaches us how we will need to live there and helps us to get to know the One we will live with forever. He prepares us, so that when we finally move in we are ready to enjoy life there forever.

Live with your eye toward your new home. Once we put down our binder on that home, life in our apartment became different. It was all about getting ready to move. We didn’t settle in, we pulled up any roots we had put down. We got rid of things we didn’t need and saved the things we wanted to take with us. The sellers did the same. They got that home ready for us to move into. We got ready to live there. Now that you have received your downpayment, the Holy Spirit, this life becomes different. It becomes about getting ready for your new home. It’s not time to settle in and put down roots in earthly life. It’s time to get rid of what you don’t need in your future home, the attitudes and mindsets, the behaviors and habits, the desire for things that don’t last, that you can’t take with you. God is preparing a place for you. Jesus promised it! (John 14:1) Don’t you want to be ready?

You’ve received a guarantee from God. A guarantee! Heaven will happen. Eternity is real. And He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us get ready for it. We were not made for earth, but for heaven, not for time, but for eternity. The Holy Spirt is a binder, a guarantee that eternity is mine and yours. Let’s live now in preparation for then.

Key thought: The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of Glory. 

A Scripture to consider:

“The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A YES Challenge: Are you living now in preparation for then? What changes do you need to make so that you can begin to get ready for your new home?

Prayer: Father, thank You for the Holy Spirit, my guarantee that You are real and Your promises are true. Help me to change my perspective, not to setttle in and cling to this earthly life, but to live letting go and preparing for my heavenly home. Help me to rely on the Holy Spirit to get me ready. Amen.

The Truth Guide

 I am an information gatherer. It”s part of the way I am wired. I love learning new things and, although I don’t always retain all the details, the process of finding facts is a challenge I delight in. I guess that’s why I really enjoyed my years working in a middle school library. Causal conversation often led to research. A question was raised simply in passing, but “Let’s find out,” became the answer. We had the tools to resolve our questions in the stacks or at our fingertips. It was a kind of game and one I fully enjoyed. I have always enjoyed the quest for knowledge.

The Internet has made it much easier to find facts in a hurry, but it has also made it more difficult to determine the actual from the advertised, and information from opinion.The students who came to our library are children of the Information Age. They saw the Internet as the ultimate storehouse of knowledge and a sort of information vending machine. Put in a question and out comes your answer. However,  as they began to use it for project research they soon found that the amount of information they received was overwhelming and not always helpful. Our job was to guide them in asking the right questions in the search bar and then help them learn to evaluate their search results. Often the guidance was as simple as “Look at the source.” If the website was a reputable source, then the information could be considered for their project.

Isn’t it like that with truth these days? People define truth based on their own perceptions and opinions. Truth is often determined by majority consensus rather than by facts and reality. Instead of a quest for facts that ground belief people interpret facts through the filter of their own beliefs built on ever-changing factors. Truth as a term has become muddied in the midst of our subjective culture. Truth these days is not a standard to adhere to, but is in the eye of the beholder. Each person has their own truth, so to speak, and each person’s “truth” is expected to be met with the same weight of respect even when they are totally contradicting each other. But if truth is true, isn’t it true all the time?

Maybe the question “What is truth?” isn’t really a new idea. When the Lord Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate He said that He had come to testify to the truth. Pilate’s response, “What is truth?“ (John 18:37-38) It appears that Pilate didn’t believe in one truth either. I imagine that, even in that ancient culture, Pilate was not alone. Jesus’ commitment to God’s truth cost Him His life. He was willing to testify to the truth of God’s love for sinful man by dying on the cross. With so many “truths” available to modern humanity how do we know our truth is the one worth dying for?

Even believers can fall prey to interpreting the Bible through the filter of perception and consensus rather than with informed minds searching for truly Spirit-led conclusions.We can fall prey to creating our own Biblical “truth” that is nothing like what our God or those whom He used to write His Word intended. So how do we know, reallly know, what is true when it comes to the Bible?

Have you ever heard the saying"All truth is God’s truth”? John Calvin wrote, “All truth is most precious, so all men confess it to be so. And yet, since Gold alone is the source of all good, you must not doubt, that whatever truth you anywhere meet with, proceeds from Him, unless you would be doubly ungrateful to him:”  Going back even further in time, Augustine of Hippo wrote, “A person who is a good and true Christian should realize that truth belongs to his Lord, wherever it is found, gathering and acknowledging it even in pagan literature, but rejecting superstitious vanities...” These fathers of the faith believed that there is truth that is unchanging and solid, even in the secular world, and were confident that the Christian could and should discern it wherever it is found. But how do I know what is true? There is a way and God Himself has provided it.

Jesus declared Himslef to be “the way, the truth and the life” and that no could reach Father God except through HIm (John 14:6) If all truth is God’s truth and Jesus is the truth, then whatever truth we find in whatever source would have to agree with what Jesus said. In addition, it must be something that can lead us to Father God. Any truth that is really based on solid fact and reality must lead back to God. God’s goal is to transform us into His image, to reflect His character, (Romans 8:29). Truth must be evaluated through it’s ability to build godly people. Pastor Rick Warren has pointed out, “Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:17, ‘Use the truth to make them complete. You Word is truth.’” Whatever truth we find “even in pagan literature” must agree with God’s Word.

But there is an additional way that God has given us in order to discern truth. He has given us His Holy Spirit. In John 16 verses 12 and 13 Jesus told His disciples “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.“ This is actually the second time Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit helping believers to know what is true. In John 14:17 He says, “The Spirit will show you what is true.” (CEV)  Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ Himself, so that we can know what is true, what He calls true.

When I struggle to discern what is true in the world, but also within the many circles of Christian thought that exist in our multi-truthed culture, I ask the Holy Spirit to show me what is true. I am confident that He will do it. That is what Jesus sent Him for! It’s important that I remain humble enough to admit that I may come to wrong conclusions. (I really like to be right, don’t you?) But I know that ultimately the Holy Spirit will show me, and all committed believers, what is true. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (NLT) That’s a truth worth waiting for. Don’t you think?

Key Thought: When I struggle to know what is true the Holy Spirit will guide me.

A Scripture to consider: The Spirit will show you what is true. John 14:17 CEV

A YES challenge: Is there something you are struggling to understand? Have you discerned what is true? Take some time to journal about it and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what is true. Write down what He shows you.

Prayer: Father God, there are so many “truths” out there today, even in Christianity. It can be overwhelming. Thank You for sending Jesus, the Truth, into the world to demonstrate Your love. Thank You, Jesus, for testifying to God’s truth and sending us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, Your truth. Help me to rely on the Holy Spirit rather than my own understanding when it comes to discerning truth. Help me to rely on Your Word and Your character as I navigate the truth challenges ahead. I need You, Holy Spirit to show me what is true. Amen.