Are You For Real?

Why is the Law of Love so important? Fulfilling the Law of Love is how we abide in Christ!

Love is the most basic building block of our relationship with Christ. Jesus tells us that, if we fulfill the Law of Love (i.e., love God and love your neighbor), we will satisfy all the law and abide in Christ! Look at the following passages:

Rom 13:10,  Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

John 15:10a,   If you keep My commandments [law], you will abide in My love.

As we live a life of love and respect for God and our neighbor, we will fulfill every commandment in God’s Word, as a by product. For example, if we love and respect our neighbor, we will not kill him, steal from him, allow him to go hungry, etc. If we love and respect God, we will not use His name in vain, allow other things to come before Him in our life, etc.

Honoring the Law of Love is how we ‘abide’ in Christ.

1Jn 2:10,  Whoever loves his brother lives [abides] in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.

1Jn 3:17,  But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

It is very important that we honor the Law of Love, because if we aren’t abiding in Christ, we will be among those who are gathered together and thrown into the Lake of Fire:

John 15:6,  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

Pearl of Wisdom: In the last days, there will be a strong temptation to let our love grow cold, in other words there will be a strong temptation to be selfish, or self centered.

Mat 24:12-13,  And because lawlessness [wickedness] will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

James 1:12,  Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

The Law of Love is SO important because it will be rewarded with the Crown of Life.

What is the Law of Love? Simply stated, it is this: Love God and love your neighbor. Christ informed us that ALL the law hangs on this principle. Paul refers to it as the Law of Christ in his letter to the Galatians. It is the essence of Jesus’ teaching in Mat 22:36-40.

I’ve been learning a lot about the Law of Love, recently, and I’ve been thinking about how it is God’s command and His delight for us to share His blessings. Last week, I heard a minster say that because we are receiving God’s blessings, a river of blessings should be flowing out of us. What a perfect way of describing the Law of Love!

Through Scripture and ministers and conversations with godly friends, the theme of ‘love your neighbor’ has come up time and again, lately. If you are walking with the Lord, I’m sure you know how God, often, teaches in themes. So when I recognize a theme surfacing, I start paying attention because I know I’m about to learn a very special lesson.

Selfishness Is the Opposite of the Law of Love

When I read Jeremiah 22:15-16 a few days ago, it really caught my attention. I’ve been back to look at it several times, knowing that God meant for me to understand something deeper.

“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 22:15-16 NIV)

I was particularly captivated by these details … The king’s father had food and drink and everything was going well for him, but still he cared for the poor and needy. Then the Lord, in making a point to the son, asked him, “Isn’t that what it means to know me?” God was teaching the son about his sin of being self-centered.

Later, while reading in Ezekiel, I came to a verse that gave me the ‘clunk’ you get when a solid truth falls into place like the last piece of a puzzle coming together.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. (Ezekiel 16:49-50 NIV)

Arrogant … Overfed … Unconcerned … suddenly, I got it! They ate and drank and lived well and forgot the Law of Love … it’s exactly the same as the sin of the king in the Jeremiah passage. And look at the horrors the sin of selfishness eventually led to in Sodom; it caused them to do detestable things before the Lord!

Pearl of Wisdom: The sin of selfishness has a powerful momentum which carries us far away from the Lord.

Living by the Law of Love is how we abide in Christ, and it is the way to safeguard us from the horrible end of a self-centered life.

“I asked her what she prayed for, because I could tell she was a woman of deep faith. She said that she prayed to God that He would not forget her and her three children on that remote mountain – that He would help her carry this burden and that He would send help. And as I held her hand and prayed for her, God revealed to me a profound truth – that I was the answer to Octaviana’s prayer. Eight thousand miles from my home in Seattle, fourteen thousand feet up in the Andes Mountains, she had cried out to God for help, and He had sent me. God has sent me to help her, He had sent me to comfort her in her suffering, and He had sent me to be Christ’s love to her. She had prayed and I was God’s answer, I would be God’s miracle in her life …

I promised her that I would not forget her. I promised her that I would help. I promised her that I would be the answer to her prayers. May God help me keep those promises.”

~Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us?

These are the notes Richard made after a visit he had with a widow and her fatherless children living in extreme poverty. He had heard God’s voice, and he followed through with loving kindness and obedience as the Lord directed him about how to minister to this woman and her family.

Stearns’ newly released book has challenged me to take a deeper look at what it means to fulfill the law of Christ, as mentioned in Galatians 6.

What is the Law of Christ?

Love God and love your neighbor … ALL the law hangs on this.  (Mat 22:36-40)

This is what determines if it is a good work or a dead work. If we are doing it out of love for God or our neighbor, then it is a good work …. if it isn’t out of love for God or our neighbor, then it is a dead work. I don’t think it matters WHAT the work is. Look at the following passage:

Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:22-23 NKJV)

Those were outwardly good works, but apparently they were doing them for reasons other than loving God or loving their neighbor … and God knows the heart, so He judged their actions accordingly.

But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? (1 John 3:17)

If I understand him correctly, Stearns suggests that this verse from 1 John shows us how to use our wealth … but I disagree. I think it shows us how to love. Wealth is just a ‘delivery truck’ for love in this scenario, but there are a lot of other delivery trucks. Look at Tabitha (Acts 9:36-41). She sewed for the widows and the poor, and Scripture called that a ‘good work’. And 1 Timothy gives a list of things that are considered ‘good works’ such as:

• Bringing up children (providing for their needs and training them in the way of the Lord)
• Showing hospitality
• Washing the feet of the saints (today we might say serving other believers humbly)
• Helping those who are in trouble or afflicted

All these good works are delivery trucks God wants us to use to show His love toward our fellow man. In this way, we become a light in the darkness, because the world does things out of the darkness of ’self love’. So it is important to remember that even the good works mentioned in this paragraph can be ‘dead works’ if they are done for any selfish reason.

My prayer is that the Lord will speak to us as clearly as He spoke to Richard Stearns that day in the Andes Mountains, and that we will follow through with loving kindness that delivers God’s Love and the Hope of salvation to those in our own circle of influence.

Keeping it real,

Choosing a respectable career field is an important decision, one that will have a profound effect on your life, the life of your family, and even your society. It will also consume much of your time on this earth. If we start work at the age of 22, and we are privileged to live to the age of 70, we will spend approximately 200,000 hours of our life at our workplace … that’s the equivalent of nearly 23 years of our life! Quite an investment, wouldn’t you agree? But more important than what we are, is WHO we are … THAT is with us full time for a lifetime.

Who we are affects how we spend our time on the job and away from the job. How we invest our free time and our spare money is a true reflection of our character and our belief system. Perhaps our education enables us to be a chemical engineer, a graphics artist, or a nurse … but WHO we are enables us to minster both on and off the job.

How do you spend your free time? Your spare money? What does this say about who YOU are?

I have been reading The Hole in Our Gospel: What does God expect of Us?by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. Ministering to the needs of the poor is his passion, and while I don’t completely agree with his view on a couple issues, I have to say that I have been challenged by his heart for serving the Lord. I have had to take a hard look at the reality of who I am, as evidenced by how I am spending my time and resources, and to be honest … I’ve realized that I am going to have to stand up from my comfortable place of ministry and take a few steps of obedience in ministering to those in need.

Stearns has an insight and a voice that most preachers will never have, because it is a look into the Word from a perspective they’ve never seen … the perspective of one who has seen the power of the gospel at work in the lives of those who live in extreem poverty and disease, many of them are only hours from death. They have no hope physically or spiritually. Stearns shares his insight by telling true stories of the positive things that happen when we minister Life and Hope to those who are completely without.

This is a soul searching book that seeks to answer the age old question, “What does God expect of us?” In my opinion, Stearns does a very good job of helping us find that answer.

Keeping it real,

From his home underneath the pier at Gulf State Park on the beautiful beach of Alabama’s coast, Andy’s perspective was anything but beautiful. He had just finished crying the kind of tears that a man doesn’t want anybody else to know about … the kind of tears that express deep sorrow and hopelessness. He had lost sight of what life had to offer, and what he had to offer to the world. In Andy’s mind, he had received nothing, and he had nothing to give. But that day, someone had heard his sobbing. He introduced himself as ‘Jones,’ and asked if Andy could spare one of the Coke’s he had stolen from the fridge of an unattended beach house. He took the Coke and settled himself in the sand outside Andy’s home under the pier. It was time to invest a little wisdom in this young man’s life, and Jones had a way to talking so that people listened.

Jones had a different perspective from most people. He could see potential even in the most bleak situations, and he had a way of cracking the door open just wide enough so that others could get a glimpse of that potential too. That was his gift, and that was what he came to share with Andy that day … a glimpse of what life COULD be.

The Noticer is an inspirational book which would be great to read in short bursts, because each chapter details a separate encounter with the mysterious drifter named Jones. This lovable character has a knack for showing up at the most opportune time to offer insight to neighbors who are disheartened or desperate. There was little or no mention of God or His wisdom, so I missed that aspect in the lives of Andrew’s characters, however the story line was creative and clean and the advice was insightful and practical.

A couple years ago, my family and I enjoyed listening to the audio version of another Andrews’ book called The Traveler’s Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success while we were on a camping trip. Using the lives of historical personalities like Lincoln, Anne Frank, and Truman, Andy Andrews weaves together an interesting storyline which offers the same kind of practical advice as he does in the The Noticer. Both of these books are well suited for family reading, because they open the door to conversations about important life lessons and character traits.

The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective.

This is my personal review of The Noticer, written by Andy Andrews, and published by Thomas Nelson.

I enjoy reviewing books as a member of Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program.

Keeping it real,