Tag Archives: love

August 22
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“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  (Matthew 5:48, NIV)

God expects His children — every one of them — to be as He is.

If it is otherwise, either God is wrong for expecting something of us that we are incapable of achieving; or we do not have His “DNA” and God is lying when He claims paternity.

Today’s scripture verse follows Jesus’ command — with explicit examples — to love our enemies.  It is difficult to love our enemies because love is very personal.  We crave it only from those who matter to us; and we give it only to those we deem worthy.

To love as God loves is the litmus test of our progress toward divine perfection.  Succeed at this one thing, and everything else we do falls into place.  Fail at this one thing, and nothing else we do (no matter how spiritual or sacrificial) matters.

The Gospel of John reminds us that “God so loved the world (the same “world” that would abuse and murder His only begotten Son) that God, nevertheless, gave. . .”  (John 3:16).

When a person accepts the way of Jesus, the Spirit of God is seal of God’s paternity.  The Spirit is the power to be perfect as our Father is perfect.  The Spirit is the strength to love.

It is not easy but, with God, it is possible — and expected.  – Luther

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August 12
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“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.”  (Psalm 103:13-14, NIV)

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “compassion” as “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.”

To begin to see ourselves as God see us is the first step toward a new frontier of compassion toward others.  To regard ourselves as something other than “dust” — that is, as transitory and humble — is to ignore the lessons of history, the evidence of biology, and the propositions of theology.

We may be able to fool ourselves as to our true make-up because everything seems to be going our way (something the scriptures refer to as “the pride of life”).  However, if we see ourselves as God sees us, we come not only to realize what we are not, but to the realization of Who God is.  It is in such a place that we apprehend the “fear” (also translated as the “reverence”) of the Lord.

The psalmist says that it is upon such people that the Lord’s compassion rests.  God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, as His “sympathetic consciousness” of our distress.  The cross of Jesus is His sole and solitary plan to alleviate that distress.  The resurrection of Jesus is God’s guarantee.  – Luther

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February 13
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St. Valentine’s Day

“We love him, because he first loved us.”  (1 John 4:19, KJV)

There will be chatter aplenty tomorrow on the topic of love, and rightfully so: It’s Valentine’s Day!

The scriptures tell us that we were always loved.  Loved before we had achieved anything.  Loved before we had become anything.  Loved before we had done anything.

The scriptures tell us that we were always loved with the purest love: God, because God is love.  He loves us on our bad days and our good days; and, as Paul related in the book of Romans, chapter 8: There is nothing that can ever separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus.

The devil wants us to doubt the love of God.  Somehow, that fact got me to thinking of a story by Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), who wrote a story titled, “The Ugly Duckling.”  (Click here to read the story.)  As you recall — or re-read — this wonderful childhood tale, did you see this important fact: The ugly duckling always was a swan!

Others may not see you as a swan, but God does.  Others may not treat you as a swan, but God does.  Others may tell you what you are not (and they may be right); but instead listen to what God says you are — and Whose you are.

He loved us at the beginning — and He loved us first.  He will love us at the end.  He will love us always.

Happy Valentine’s Day!  – Luther

NOTE: Because this year, both Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday fall on the same date, I am posting the VD note today.  Tomorrow, the Ash Wednesday note will be posted.

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