Keeping Your Love for God Alive

While I was visiting my cousins Frankie and Jim as a young teenager, Jim asked me what it meant to love God. That he asked me such a profound question surprised me and left me feeling inadequate to answer. I can't remember what I said, but I pray that the Holy Spirit helped Jim understand and accept God’s love.

In Mark 12:30 Jesus told a religious leader to love God with all of his heart, soul, strength, and mind. Loving God with your complete being is a lifetime developmental process, but the Holy Spirit teaches and helps us yield to that invitation.

Plato, the Greek philosopher four centuries before Christ, wrote, “We believe the soul is immortal and capable of enduring all extremes of good and evil, so we constantly pursue righteousness and wisdom.” Proverbs 22:5 adds, "In the path of the wicked are thorns and snares, but he that guards his soul stays far from them." So permit your soul to be saturated with God’s love. 

 

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Jesus replied: If anyone loves me, they will obey me. Then my Father will love them, and we will come to them and live in them.

~John 14:23 Contemporary English Version

 

We put our hope in the Lord, he is our protector and our help. We are glad because of him; we trust in his holy name. May your constant love be with us, Lord, as we put our hope in you.

~Psalm 33:20-22 Good News Bible

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Golden Opportunities: Hard Choices - Part 1

The Jewish Rabbi Hillel was humorously challenged to teach the whole law while standing on one foot. Here’s his response: "What you do not like done to you, do not do to others. This is the entire law." The Golden Rule is based on "Love your neighbor as yourself." Can you love yourself, as this commandment intends?

Self-love includes the soul's desire for the essential enrichment that God provides. Loving your neighbor means believing he or she is worthy of the best that God makes available. One thing is for sure, bitterness, hate, anger and too much pride are incompatible with loving oneself as God intended.

Doing to others as you would have them do to you requires vigilance devoted to monitoring your attitudes, motives and actions. A desire to love God with your entire being must come first. Then be aware of opportunities that come your way, and deliberately choose to practice kindness, patience and goodness. These comprise the Golden Rule. God will reward your commitment to do so.  

Golden Rule: Golden Opportunities - Part 2

In what areas of everyday life should the Golden Rule apply? "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is one of the toughest principles of life to put into practice. Our conscience teaches us it is right, and our intellect teaches us it is necessary for peace within ourselves and peace with other human beings.

          Jesus anchors the Golden Rule to a love for God. 1 John 4:20 reminds us, "If anyone says 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother cannot love God." For most of us, we hear this truth and it sounds right, but in reality, we have trouble applying it.

          What does the Golden Rule require from you? First, take it seriously. Next, do a thorough self-examination. Realize that God loves you unconditionally even with all your hidden secrets. Even when you were still in a depraved, sinful state, Jesus died on the cross for your redemption. Ask God for opportunities to practice the principles of the Golden Rule.  

Golden Rule: Golden Opportunities - Part 1

During her early childhood years, my granddaughter would make up some really funny stories. Occasionally her mother would ask, "Now is that what actually happened?" My daughter's purpose in questioning her was to teach the value of being truthful.

Most parents want their children to acquire a strong measure of independence. Gradually granting children independence enables them to stand apart from their peers enough to make decisions based on the values they were taught. Children need to know that strong, healthy values anchored in love for Christ Jesus are a mainstay in an ever-changing world.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" must be taught over and over until it sticks. It should be taught with gentleness and love for God in your heart and attitude. It's also critically important to help children recognize and understand their weaknesses and to teach them how to receive forgiveness from you and God. Healthy values stick forever.  

The Foundation for our Values: Jesus' Commands - Part 1

Avoiding strife and conflict seems impossible when we live in a world of turmoil. Although I grew up in small farming communities, some people kept struggles and strife alive by dishing out their unhappiness upon others. Strife is usually embedded in discontent, indicating the absence of inner peace.

Inner peace and serenity are embedded in values that determine thoughts and behavior. Strife occurs when values are separated from Jesus’ command for us to love others as we love ourselves. When you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you have the ability to love yourself and others as sons and daughters of God.

Loving yourself as God intended makes it possible to love others as God's creations. Because Jesus died to save each person, we all are equal in that respect. Strife is defeated by inner peace which God provides, as Isaiah 26:3 indicates. "You (God) will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed (fixed) on you because he trusts in you." 

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You are invited to listen as I will be the guest on "Vital Issues in the Christian Home" this week on Thursday morning, February 23 from 10:30-11:30 Central Standard Time on KHCB radio at 105.7 FM in the Houston area. To stream it live or for a listing of sister stations in TX, OK, LA, and FL, you may click on the KHCB link in the "About Me" section of this page.

God's Gifts: Love, Hope, Freedom - Part 1

As we experience life each day we often encounter people who profess to be something they're not.  Duplicity portrays unfaithfulness or perhaps living two separate live styles. Webster defines duplicity as deliberate deceptiveness in behavior or speech. The word duplicity derives from the Latin word duplex, meaning twofold.

How does duplicity affect integrity? For integrity to be strong and able to guide us toward honesty and truth, it must be integrated with knowledge of God's word and committed to practicing what it teaches. "Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." A person's integrity is rendered ineffective by duplicity.

Life is complicated as Jeremiah 17:9 acknowledges. "Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing so deceitful." Choosing to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind is the antidote that saves and strengthens integrity. This choice empowers us to make significant changes that reflects God's love for each of us.