Category Archives: Love

Measuring Your Love-Level

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mood ringsDo you remember mood rings? They were popular a long time ago. They changed color according to the mood of the wearer. (It was actually according to body temperature, but sellers tried to pass it off as a mood change, and they made a lot of money.)

What if someone made “love of God” rings that indicated the level of love the wearer feels for God? And what if everyone had to wear them? If black was the color that indicated no love for God, and white was the color that indicated overflowing love for God, I imagine that a lot of people we see on the streets would have varying shades of grey—and some of those people would even be Christians.

Is it possible to measure a person’s love for God? The writer of 1 John seemed to think so. He said in 1 Jn. 4:20-21: For whoever does not love their brother & 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 & sister. The level of a person’s love for God is in direct proportion to his level of love for other people.

I was driving down road recently when I saw a car in the oncoming lane suddenly stop in the middle of the road. The driver got out and walked in front of his parked car where he leaned over to look at something. He had a towel in his hand, & using the towel like a glove, he reached down & picked up a little featherless baby bird & carried it over to the nearby bushes, where it had fallen from its nest. If he hadn’t stopped to rescue the baby bird, it would have probably been run over & flattened like a pancake. But this man went out of his way & took great pains to carefully handle the bird & return it to a place of safety in the nearby bushes.

I thought, “What a wonderful illustration of how we should treat people!” All our interpersonal relationships should come with a label that says: Handle With Care. Paul told the brethren in 1 Thess. 2:7-8: As apostles of Christ…we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. Mothers treat their little children with kindness and compassion, with tenderness and care.

Think of Jesus’ relationship with his apostles. Think of their many weaknesses and how often they disappointed Jesus. If he wanted to, Jesus could have spent every waking moment telling the apostles what was wrong with them—but he didn’t. Instead of constantly rebuking, he was constantly loving and forgiving. He was constantly tender & kind. One of his closest apostles would later say in 1 Pt. 4:8: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Jesus handled his disciples with care—because he loved them.

If you really want to evaluate your love-level, try measuring it against 1 Cor. 13:4-8 which says: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

41 things married people ought to know

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My longtime friend Jim Martin is a minister of the gospel in Waco TX, and writes what is, according to recent stats, the #9 “Church of Christ blog”. Jim began a series of articles yesterday titled 41 Things Married People Ought to Know. In part 1 he lists the first 10, including these 5:

  1. Married people are called to move away from self-centeredness and toward self-lessness.
  2. Jesus can be disruptive to a marriage and family.
  3. Married people can become very lazy with one another.
  4. Every marriage has some kind of atmosphere.
  5. Something is very wrong when a married couple claims a commitment to Jesus and belongs to a church, but they have never allowed Jesus to have any kind of practical impact on their marriage.

Each of these has some bit of explanation as to why it’s on the list, so I encourage you to read the article on Jim’s blog A Place for the God-Hungry, where you can see what else is in the first 10. You’ll want to check back to see what the other 31 are too!

Will God always honor man’s repentance?

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30Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. (1 Kings 16:30-33)

20Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. 21‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel-slave or free. 22I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ 23“And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ 24“Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country.”…27When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. 28Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” (1 Kings 21:20-29)

Have you ever felt like such a sinner, like you’ve made so many fall-on-your-face blunders that you’re beyond hope and God will never forgive you?

Ok, let me ask you this — is your life so bad that you could compete with someone who “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of [the kings] before him”? Unless your name is Jeffrey Dahmer, I’d be willing to bet your life can’t even come close to that of Ahab’s on the scale of “badness”. (Oh, and Jeffrey Dahmer? I fully expect to see him in heaven. If you want to learn about his conversion story, write me and I’ll tell you about it.)

Ahab doesn’t even come close to comparing with King David, but the way he reacted after hearing Elijah’s curse was reminiscent of David’s reaction after Nathan’s confrontation (2 Samuel 12:1-9). Make no mistake; this was real repentance. Ahab was not simply putting on a show to get Elijah to change his curse to a blessing.

So does this mean we can expect to see King Ahab in heaven? Sorry, not my call — nor yours.

Nor is it the point of this post.

The point is God noticed and God honored Ahab’s repentance. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). He waited patiently for Ahab to repent. He waits patiently for you too, but He will not wait forever. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3), when neither you nor I expect it.

God is waiting; what are you waiting for?

Maranatha.