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In God We Trust?

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2 John 5-6 And now I beg you, lady (Cyria), not as if I were issuing a new charge (injunction or command), but [simply recalling to your mind] the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6 And what this love consists in is this: that we live and walk in accordance with and guided by His commandments (His orders, ordinances, precepts, teaching). This is the commandment, as you have heard from the beginning, that you continue to walk in love [guided by it and following it].

It sounds so simple to obey the command to love. But in reality it’s easy to love the people we like or that love and like us. The difficult people not so much. I’ve been pastoring for over 30 years and I have had the “blessing” of being on the receiving end of all of the above. Practicing this command hasn’t gotten any easier but I can say that the Lord has given me some tools to help cope with the pain that comes from rejection, hurt, criticism and pain. What are some of those tools?

  1. Become like Jesus. That’s a simple but profound truth. It’s been said you can’t become an overcomer till you have been given something to overcome. The same is true of becoming like Jesus. If I am going to “become” then I will need to face the challenges that do not look or sound like Jesus. When I am challenged I am learning to see that as an opportunity to become like Jesus. In other words, I lean into the pain. John 4 states that Jesus had need to go to Samaria. Samaritans hated Jews. Thus you can infer from this passage that Jesus had need to be rejected. He knew He would grow through it.
  2. Pray to see the person or difficult situation as Jesus sees them (or it). In the Book of Genesis God goes looking for Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. Adam tells the Lord that he had hidden himself because he was afraid; and I was naked. The Lord wisely asks, Who told you that you were naked? The enemy, the accuser of the brothers, is in the full-time business of reminding all of us that we are naked. God on the other hand covers our sins, nakedness, shame, and guilt.
  3. Release the person from your expectations. One of the weirdest passages in the Bible is found in John 2:24: But Jesus [for His part] did not trust Himself to them, because He knew all [men];…How can Jesus, Who loves all people perfectly, not trust them? 1 Corinthian 13:7 states that Love always trusts. I asked the Lord about this and He gave me a great answer. He reminded me of my children when they were toddlers. He asked, Robert did you love your children when they were toddlers? I said, Absolutely Lord! He asked, Would you have trusted them to drive your car? I answered, Absolutely not! He asked, Did you love your children less because you didn’t trust them to drive the car? His point was made. Jesus loves, and He always trusts – yet He has realistic expectations of what we are and are not capable of doing and being.

Chuck Swindoll author of, Make Up Your Mind, writes that: In the 1960s a teacher was given a roster showing the actual I.Q. test scores of the students of one class, and for another class a roster in which the I.Q. column had been (mistakenly) filled in with the students’ locker numbers. The teacher assumed that the locker numbers were the actual I.Q.s of the students when the rosters were posted at the beginning of the semester. After a year it was discovered that in the first class the students with high actual I.Q. scores had performed better than those with low ones. But in the second class the students with higher locker numbers scored significantly higher than those with lower locker numbers!

When we shift our focus, and expectations from others onto Jesus, He empowers us to do all the above. Which really is all about trust. Who do you trust? Isn’t it funny that we have trouble trusting Jesus and others? Yet, we trust ourselves – more than them – to protect us from being harmed or hurt. We say we Love Him. If love always trusts then our focus will need to shift from us – onto Him.

What Are You Dying For?

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Once John Maxwell’s leadership word for the day was Warrior.  He said that a warrior is best defined as the character, William Wallace from ‘Braveheart’. Wallace had a cause that he was so committed to that he was willing to die for it. In essence that is a warrior. His life’s cause earned him the title of Braveheart. Franklin Roosevelt once stated: Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear. We see this courage on display as Jesus lived His life on earth. We see it demonstrated in what He was willing to live and die for.

In the first temptation of Christ it is revealed what He was willing to live for. In the second temptation what He would die for: Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on a turret (pinnacle, gable) of the temple sanctuary. And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him, On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, test thoroughly, or try exceedingly the Lord your God.

1 John 4:18 states: There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection].

Jesus had heard the Father thunder, This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased!” Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. God His Father had drawn near and Love led Jesus on though the fasting, the wilderness, the hunger and thirsting. Love led Jesus through His earthly life and ministry, and Love led Him to the Garden of blood soaked, sweat and tearful prayers. Love led Jesus through the darkness of man’s questionings, beatings, and trumped up charges. Love led Jesus through the scourge of the soldiers whip, the splintered, crucifixion tree, and the nails that pierced His hands and feet; thorns that pierced His brow. And as death closed His eyes, with its cruel grip, Love warmed His heart on Resurrection morn. This is the Love that found us and the same Love that calls to us. This ascent, His Ascent, is for those warriors who shake off the self-centered, proud-filled, fears for something else and Someone Else – more important than fear. Love calls us Home and Love calls us higher. Are you hearing the call of Love? The call to Love?

C.S. Lewis wrote in his book The Last Battle: I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now….Come further up, come farther in!”