"From Love"

The Christian life involves the ongoing process of the Holy Spirit's indwelling unselfishness more and more controlling our thoughts, attitudes, words, and deeds. "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor" (Ephesians 5:2).

Our Heavenly Father ever works to conform us to the image of the Christ who "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many" (Romans 8:29; Matthew 20:28). The journey begins when we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at the time of our new birth. All the love we will ever need, both for personal fulfillment and outward ministry to others, resides in His indwelling presence.

"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).

This gift fulfills our Lord's prayer to His Father recorded in John 17. "I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:26). Believers never need to ask for the love whereby we put the self-centeredness of our flesh to death. God calls us rather to believe that through Christ, His love is present to motivate and enable self sacrificial giving of ourselves, our time, our attention, our devotion, and our commitment to the benefit of others. Certainly we don't always feel love, either in the sense of God's love for us, or our love for others. Deep within our hearts, however, we know our belovedness to our Lord, and we also delight in expressing His love to others (Romans 7:22). Regardless of contrary emotion, thought, and physical sensation, we must believe this to be the truth of our Christ-inhabited spirits. To the degree that we exercise faith in the indwelling Word, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, and the written Word, the Bible, we will more and more walk in accordance with the love God has lavishly "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit."

Christians live from love rather than for love. Remembering this blessed truth of grace will go far in revealing the self sacrificial character of the Lord Jesus that dwells in our redeemed spirits. As the Apostle Paul declared to Philemon regarding the dynamic means by which the potential of love becomes actual in us...

"I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."

(Philemon 1:4-6)

"The Peace Of Our Hearts"

(A repeat from 2003)

Other human beings can be the agency by which heartache is brought to our doorstep -- sometimes repeatedly. Our response to God, however, determines whether such pain will control us.

Scripture commands that we "rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). This would not be possible if the actions or inactions of other human beings were the determining factor of our inner experience of peace. Our response to the Lord Jesus Christ forms our heart's spiritual atmosphere as we fulfill God's conditions of walking in peace. Trusting and submitting to Him, or failure to do so, always determines the controlling sensibilities of our hearts.


"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).


The Apostle Paul's promise is unequivocal. We must decisively choose to believe that rightly relating to God can assure peace within regardless of anything people may do to us. "In God have I put my trust. I will not be afraid of what man can do unto me" (Psalm 56:11). He is the keeper of our hearts, and the peace of our hearts. This is not an easy truth to believe because everything in a fallen world tells us otherwise, and our own flesh reminds us of how often we have been hurt by others. Our initial human response to the wrongs of others will also tempt us to believe that people are the arbiters of our peace. Nevertheless, the truth is that nothing and no one can thwart the tranquility of the Lord Jesus in those who "by prayer and thanksgiving let their requests be made known unto God".


True peace always rests upon the bedrock of what Christ has done and is doing rather than what people have done and are doing. "He is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14). This is the plainly declared Word of our Lord who cannot lie. Let us therefore give thanks and let us believe that peace is always the fruit of trusting and submissive faith in our God rather than what people may or may not do.


"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee."(Isaiah 26:3)

Through the Keyhole

"Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (I Corinthians 8:1-2).


God is an infinite being. His truth is also immeasurable. Accordingly, whatever knowledge of His person and truth to which we have attained is a mere glimmer of light shining through the keyhole of eternal reality.


Certainly we can know enough to enter into a genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus, and to thereafter live a consistent life of increasing godliness. We can also be confident in our convictions. However, "nothing yet as we ought to know" must form and inform our awareness that life with the Lord Jesus ushers us to an ocean without shore, a vista without horizon, and a heart whose goodness is immeasurable. "The love of Christ, which passeth knowledge" is how the Apostle Paul termed the glory, and regardless of how far we have journeyed, the infinity of the Divine beckons us to venture ever onward (Ephesians 3:19).


I seek to avoid Christian communicators who do not give strong indication that this sensibility graces their understanding and attitude. Cocksure confidence is not at all the same as humble assurance, and the difference is palpable. Of course, I also avoid those uncertain of the centrality of the Lord Jesus, the Bible, and God's calling to love, trust, obey, and communicate Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. But neither do I want to be influenced by those overly sure of themselves and proud of their own understanding. It's a rare and beautiful thing when we find someone who navigates the narrow path of assurance and humility, and then communicates with both a humble and confident heart. When we hear such a voice, we do well to listen and heed.


"Nothing yet as we ought to know." Genuine knowledge and understanding of God and His truth imprints upon our souls this spiritual axiom. The more we see of Him, the more we realize how little we have actually known of His infinite greatness and goodness. May our Heavenly Father raise up a vast company of preachers, teachers, and writers who give evidence to both a deep and abiding assurance in Christ, and the humble awareness that the Light shining through the keyhole is but a glimmer of the infinitely luminous love of God.


"How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"
(Romans 10:15)