Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."  Matthew 22: 37-40

Have you noticed lately where much of the church has shifted it's focus?  With reference to this concept of tolerance and acceptance, especially within our culture, I hear so often that "Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself."  Even nonbelievers know this scripture and consistently use it against believers to push acceptance of what we call "sin."  Very often they add "He even told you to love your enemies" (Matt. 5: 44) in order to drive the point.  

And I don't disagree with them.  This is absolutely true.  Jesus said all of those things.  Jesus not only emphasized the commandments that people knew all too well, but even made them more difficult (for example, not only should I not commit adultery, but I shouldn't even look at other women lustfully or I've already committed adultery in my heart - Matt. 5: 28).  But as we focus on loving our neighbors and our enemies, we can often look past the first and greatest commandment, to love God with everything that we are.  

There is a reason God made this the first commandment to the Israelites (Exodus 20) and Jesus listed it first to the Pharisees here.  Without God, there is nothing.  He is meant to be first in everything that we do.  And out of Him everything else will flow.  Jesus told us to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all [provisions] shall be added to you" (Matt 6: 33).  He is our source for everything that we need, so if we don't put Him at the top, we begin to miss out on the most important aspects of who we are and what we can do.

This also applies in regards to love.  We are called to "love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4: 7-8).  God IS love.  Not only does He love me, shown through His sacrifice of His Son for my stinking sinful soul, but He is the source of love.  There is no love without Him.  If I don't first love God with everything, then I can't love the people I like, let alone the people I don't.  When I love Him and seek Him, He fills me with His love (Himself) so that I can then spill it out on others.

Unfortunately, love sometimes comes in the form of conviction and correction.  I never understood this aspect of love until I had a son of my own.  When he is committing an act that will inevitably bring harm to himself or others around him, it becomes necessary for me to intercede to prevent damaging behavior.  God's love does the same thing for us and our sin to prevent us from living a life of pain and sorrow.  A life away from Him.  

Love accepts and tolerates everyone, but it cannot, in it's holy nature, accept and tolerate sins that exist to destroy us.  If I am able to accept your life in sin and allow you to die away from a loving God, then I do not love you.  Someone once said to me that if I loved him like a Christian was supposed to love, then I would stop talking about sin and God around him.  That he was offended by all that Christian stuff.  But if I truly believe what I know to be true, that Jesus saves us from our sin and makes us new to live the life God designed us to live, then he should be offended if I didn't tell him about it.  If I kept it all to myself and didn't try to help him change to be the best form of himself, then I didn't love him at all.  My God is love.

Father, I pray that in our culture of acceptance and tolerance, we would seek You first in everything that we do.  As we draw into You, overflow us with Your love so that it spills out of us onto everyone around us, and then use that love for Your Holy Spirit to gain access to anyone that doesn't know you and change them into who You designed them to be.  Thank you, Father, for showing and teaching us to love through Your Word.  In Jesus' name, Amen!

"And the Lord said, 'Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?  Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.  Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.' "  Luke 12: 42-44

I've heard this parable at least a hundred times in my life, and most of the time it is tied to the responsibility of some monetary item, such as tithing or doing good with physical blessings God has placed in my life.  Being a faithful steward with the things God has given me.  But so many of the things of God cannot be qualified with a monetary value.  Isn't God asking me to be a faithful steward with those things as well?

In the parable, Jesus' example of delegated responsibility is portion of food.  That seems like a simple task for the steward, but if you think about it, food might be the most important item in the master's house.  It is what sustains the entire house.  If the steward gives too little food, the servants will be weak and not finish their work.  Too much food, and the storehouse could run out and everyone starve before the master's return.  The food ration is also a great source of authority, which could be mismanaged and cause the steward to fail.  If the steward begins to idolize the power, he will begin to mistreat the other servants and take advantage of his situation (verse 45).  So it would seem the master has a greater expectation of the steward than simply a relegation of edibles.

Everything I have can be counted as belonging to my Master, God Almighty.  Not just my house, my money, my car, my monetary things; but also my family, my friends, my job, my skills/talents, my marriage, my son and even my relationship with Him.  I am to be a faithful steward of everything in my life, making sure that every decision I make regarding those things is in alignment with the delegation given to me by my Master, so that I am fulfilling His will when He returns.

Furthermore, I am to be a faithful steward of His Word.  Before I give an interpretation of scripture, especially to an unbeliever, even if I feel like I received it from the Holy Spirit, it is my responsibility to make sure that it aligns with the rest of God's Holy Word.  God does not contradict Himself, and even the enemy knows the Word of God (he tempted Jesus with scripture in the wilderness - Luke 4), but he uses God's Word to manipulate and twist the truth.  To become a more faithful steward, I need to make time to study the Word in order to discern God's truth from the lies to build a solid foundation for myself and those around me.

Perhaps most importantly, I am to be a faithful steward of my title in Christ.  "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain" (Exodus 20: 7) is a commandment often attributed to language and the things we say.  Not that it doesn't offer some relevance to our vocabulary, but I would argue that it's more about ambassadorship.  When I call myself a Christian, or claim to believe in God, I am immediately a representative of the Most Holy.  If I am arrogant, selfish or in any other way not representing God as He is, then I am taking God's name in vain.  Now don't get me wrong, I know it is impossible for me, a sinful human, to perfectly represent a perfect God, but I am predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8: 29).  So I can use the tools He has provided me to grow in grace in order to be a more faithful steward of the title I have been given through Jesus and His sacrifice.

Father, thank You for everything I have in my life, including Your road map to life, Your Word.  Help me to continue to become a more faithful steward of it all, making everything in my life come together for Your purposes.  Help me to wear the name of Jesus proudly and represent Him as He is, not as I am.  In Jesus' glorious name, Amen!

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."  Romans 8: 28-29

We've probably all heard the first part of this passage.  Romans 8:28 is often quoted when something difficult or seemingly impossible comes to fruition that seems good or fit to God's righteous plan.  And in a way, I think that is a viable interpretation, as long as the definition of "good" matches with God (see the previous post).  But I personally think that it actually means something deeper if you look at the context.  

Romans, at least the first 8 chapters, is perhaps the most complete look at Christian doctrine as a bigger picture.  Chapters 1 through 3 are a comprehensive diagnosis of our chronic condition, sin.  Chapters 4 and 5 describe the only way we can be freed from the death caused by that chronic condition, salvation by grace through faith, not by works, thanks only to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  And chapters 6 through 8 breakdown how we continuously grow in that grace, being sanctified (or permanently changed) as we cling to Him.

When we choose to receive our salvation by grace through faith, it is finished.  We are free of the penalty of sin, which is death, but we're not magically changed into perfection.  Salvation is simply the moment when our trust in Christ the King affords us the forgiveness He paid for on the cross.  Our spirit is invigorated, awakened from a worldly slumber as it joins forces with the Holy Spirit of God.  It's a one time event that lasts for eternity.

But the process of growth in the grace of God is continuous for as long as we live.  As we grow and develop a more intimate relationship with the Spirit, all of the goodness of God works together for our good, conforming us to the image of Christ (making us more like Him).  My soul (my mind, will and emotions) begins to reflect the image of God already formed in my spirit through salvation.  As my soul changes, it begins to project outwardly through my body, making Christ visible through me.  All things working together for my good, so that I may reflect His good, which, as I pointed out in the previous post, is the only true good.

Father, thank You for saving me, freeing me from the death my flesh had afforded me at birth.  I am truly grateful for Your gift.  Now continue to mold and shape me into the image of Christ, so that I can complete Your will in my life, fulfilling the only good that exists in this world, Your good.  Praise You for Your grace.  In Jesus' name, Amen.