Happy Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is a Hallmark holiday, a day to celebrate the people we love – especially those we call lovers.  For some, this will be the first Valentine’s Day they have celebrated together; for my husband and me, this will be our 39^th time to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

The love we share with others is very special and comes in various forms: we love our spouses, we love our children, we love our parents, we love other family members, and we love our friends.  Each type of love looks slightly different, but all forms of real love have the same source: God’s love for us (1 John 4:19).

We are able to love others because God first loved us.  He is the one who showed us what love is all about when he sent his Son as a sacrifice for us.  He also gave us a complete description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, which all of us fail to live up to (to some degree) in our love relationships.  Nearly 40 years ago, a song was written for a wedding that paraphrased these verses and helps us to understand what love should look like on a daily basis:

Love is patient, love is kind

Love isn’t jealous, full of pride

Love thinks of others first before it’s satisfied

Love is an action, brought from feeling deep inside

Love forgives the other’s wrong

Love doesn’t hold a grudge for long

Love doesn’t look for ways to even up the score

Love takes a chance on pain to help the other more

Love defends its own from loss

Love trusts no matter what the cost

Love always hopes, though it seems all hope is gone

Love perseveres until life’s battle has been won.

In 2017, love is a frivolous word that seems to have lost most of its meaning.  We use it to describe things like our companionship with our pets and our preference for certain foods.  We also use it for political and social gain, trying to shame or ostracize others that we believe are not properly exhibiting our broader definition of the word.

But God has not only outlined the qualities that describe real love, he also makes it clear what love should lead to: “. . . let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).  Real love isn’t about what we say or how we feel about those we claim to love; it has its basis in what God says about them and manifests itself in what we do for them.  Real love is action.  And every person deserves love because all are created in the image of God and loved by him first.

 

As we celebrate with our loved ones this Valentine’s Day, let’s focus not only on “warm fuzzy feelings” but also on the true characteristics of love as God intended it and modeled it for us.  Then let’s spend the next year reminding ourselves how to truly love everyone that he puts in our path and asks us to love.  We love, because he first loved us. 

The Joy of Shared Faith

This past week was blessed for me, and I was reminded of God’s goodness again in many ways.  As James 1:17 tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation of shadow due to change.”  How thankful we can be that God can be counted on regardless of what changes happen around us.

I began the week with two meaningful encounters with brothers and sisters from our current church.  At our weekly small group meeting, we had the privilege to pray in a focused way for two members of the group about different issues they were facing.  We could feel God’s presence as we joined together to ask for his guidance and strength.  A couple days later, I met with my weekly study cohort to learn more about who God is and discuss what that means in our lives.  Our discussions over God's Word are always interesting and rich.

On Thursday, I had lunch with a friend from our most recent (previous) church, and we shared stories from each of our trips to Israel as she showed me pictures from her Fall journey.  She is old enough to be my mother, but we share a common love for truth that binds us together. 

On Saturday, my husband and I had the privilege of visiting with many friends from another previous church as we all gathered to honor the memory of a dear friend and celebrate her homegoing to heaven.  We have history that goes back 30-40 years or more with most of the people we talked to at the service.  Although life and distance have separated us, we still have a bond because of our shared history and our shared faith. 

As we drove to and from our current home, we were treated to God’s gift of spectacular views of surrounding mountains covered in snow as well as the beauty of water and trees that makes up our Pacific Northwest.  I commented to my husband how gracious God was to create such a beautiful world for us when he knew before he created it that humans would not be good stewards and that he would eventually need to create a new earth to last for eternity.  (Can you even imagine how wonderful that earth will be?!)

Today marks one year since other dear friends helped to move us from one city to another and we started our new life in a new place.  I will always remember and be grateful for their giving spirits and the joy of sharing life with these people.  Wherever we have lived and worshipped, God has indeed been good.

Most of my weeks are not as full as this past one – and they don’t usually include people from three different churches and memories from 40+ years!  But today I am thankful for all of the special brothers and sisters in Christ that I have shared life with so far; and I am reminded of what Psalm 133:1 says: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”  God indeed is good . . . all the time.

Thoughts on a New President

God’s sovereignty has always been a mainstay of my walk with him, and I’ve written about it many times before.  Knowing that someone infinitely wiser than me (or any of the other people in the world) is in control of everything has brought me rest and peace for most of my life.  But, in light of last Friday’s inauguration of a new president, I have been reminded once again of the importance of God’s sovereignty. 

Please don’t misunderstand: this has nothing to do with politics!  Regardless of who won our recent presidential election, what I’m writing today would still be on my heart.  You see, if we truly trust God and rest in who He is (and not who our leader is), we should be able to experience the removal of anxiety in every situation.  I have seen this happen in my personal life through various trials and difficult things, and it is equally true when we talk about our nation and its future.

I believe it was God who gave me two beautiful reminders of this last week.  The night before the inauguration, I suddenly remembered while watching the evening news that the presidential oath ends with the words “so help me, God”.  It isn’t my responsibility to worry about what any particular American president chooses to do or say while in office; he or she will be held responsible by God in the end . . . and God’s justice can be counted on to also be righteous.

On Friday morning, I woke up with a song in my mind – one I hadn’t sung in many years.  I’ve shared it before, but here’s how this children’s song goes:

God’s on his throne – no need to worry

God’s on his throne – so I can rest

God’s on his throne – and I can trust Him

Almighty King – God’s on his throne!

With these two thoughts from God in my mind, I looked up a couple of well-known Scriptures to help me continue to focus on God’s sovereignty in regards to world leaders:

Romans 13:1b – “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”

Psalm 75:7 – “it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.”

Daniel 2:20-22 – “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.  He changes times and seasons, he removes kings and sets up kings, he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.”

The passage in Romans goes on to say that “the authorities are ministers of God”.  Regardless of whether a leader acknowledges God or not, God is still in control.  None of us can do or say anything that is not allowed by God.  As we saw in the Old Testament, sometimes what God allows is designed to bring blessing; and sometimes it is designed to bring judgment.  It remains to be seen what God’s purposes are at this point in time for our nation.  But either way our responsibility as Christians is still the same – to trust who God is and rest in his unchanging sovereignty.

Politics has a way of making us forget this.  But no human leader will bring complete healing or restoration to a post-Christian nation; salvation belongs to God alone (Revelation 19:1).  Praying for God’s will and purposes for our country, and resting in his sovereignty and the promise of his presence regardless of what lies ahead . . .