Tag: relationships

The Heart of the Matter

Matthew 21-22

matt 22

Thursday, May 4

 

Is it possible to love someone without liking them?  I have heard many people say that it is possible.  I suspect they believe that love is more of an action than a feeling, and since they are willing to act in a loving way to someone they don’t like, they believe it is possible to love someone without liking them.  That thinking never sat real well with me through the years, but I couldn’t really come up with a solid reason of why that was so.  Then one day it hit me as I was reading the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:36-40.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”  Jesus listed three different ways that we are to love someone, with our heart, soul, and mind.

I believe that loving someone with our mind has to do with our thoughts and intentions.  True, an intention that is never acted on is pretty worthless, but I would say if you had the intention, you love that person more than someone who didn’t even have the intention.  If you desire to send someone a card to get them through a rough time, you are loving them with your mind even if the card is never sent.

If you love someone with your soul, I believe you are loving them with your life or your actions.  You actually send the card.  So in a way, I agree that it is possible to love someone without liking them because it would be a true act of love to send the card even if you didn’t like the person.

However, if you love someone without liking them, you would be missing the third part of love that Jesus referred to, the heart of the matter.  He said we need to love God with all of our heart.  I believe this has to do with the feelings or “liking” part of love.  Moreover, if we are to love God with our hearts, we should love people the same way if we are to love them in a complete way.  So yes, if you love someone, you should also like them.  If you don’t like them, you are missing one of the ways to love someone.

But what about the jerks out there that are soooo hard to love?  They may have wronged you and not felt any remorse.  They might hate your guts still today.  How is it possible to like these people?  Suppose a brother killed a sister.  Do you think the mother would still have feelings for her son?  I think it is very likely that the mother would still love the son dearly even though she would be distraught at what he did.  And that is the key; you don’t have to like someone’s actions to like the person.  It is possible to still like someone without liking what they did to you.

I want to go one step further with this.  If you are having trouble liking someone, I would strongly suggest that you need to forgive them.  If you have hard feelings toward someone, you are holding something against them, which means you have not forgiven them.  If you do not forgive them, God will not forgive you.  I encourage you to think about all of the relationships you have (school, work, family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, people you go to church with, etc.) and identify anyone that you have hard feelings about.  If you are having trouble liking them, you need to forgive them…today.

-Rick McClain

(Photo Credit: http://www.bibleverseimages.com/love-bible-verse-7.htm)

The Resolution that Stuck

IMG_0027

Daniel 1-2 

The book of Daniel is probably my favorite of the books we call the Prophets. It is filled with exciting stories (like the fiery furnace and lion’s den), captivating prophecies, and one of the best biblical examples of a godly man.

In the first two chapters of Daniel we begin to learn a lot about his character. The first story in Daniel begins in 1:8, which says “Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine.” Daniel was a part of a group chosen by king Nebuchadnezzar to be groomed to serve in his palace. Daniel, along with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were chosen from the tribe of Judah. The group was assigned to eat food that apparently was against the food laws outlined in law given to Moses. Instead of doing the easy and safe thing, Daniel made a resolution not to defile himself with the decadent, tasty food. After some reluctance, the official in charge of Daniel agreed to let him and his friends eat his own diet. 

At the beginning of every year, people make resolutions to start doing something good (like work out more or read Bible more) or give up something bad for them (like fried foods or too much TV). What seemly happens every year though, is that after a few weeks or, if you’ve done well, a few months, you give up on your resolution and start back on what you were doing before. Keeping resolutions is hard, but Daniel kept his. Not only that, but he and his friends looked better after ten days of vegetables and water than the other guys on the diet of choice foods and wine.

Daniel’s resolution stuck and for this he was rewarded. God gave he and his three friends knowledge and understanding and Daniel the ability to interpret visions and dreams. They found favor with the king and entered his service. This led to the second story in this great book, the interpretation of the king’s dream.

What will be a constant theme through the first half of this book is Daniel’s devotion to God. This is what led him to resolve himself not to eat the defiled food and, even when faced with opposition, to keep that resolution. This devotion will keep him praying even when it’s illegal.

Daniel was devoted to God above all us. We should be, too. It won’t be easy. We may face opposition. We may be thrown to the lions. But in end, it will be well worth the struggles. As the great songwriter Bob Dylan said, “you gotta serve somebody.” Why not let it be the God who will set up a kingdom that will never end? (Daniel 2:44) Resolve yourself to be devoted to the God who won’t let you down.

– Joel Fletcher

How Much Does Your Heart Weigh?

Proverbs 20-22

proverbs-21-2

Friday, January 27
 
Still watching that tongue of yours?  This week have you ever stopped and changed what you were going to say – or decided it shouldn’t be said at all?  Are you feeling wiser and wiser every day you are more aware of what comes out of your mouth?  Keep it up!  Today’s reading continues to sprinkle in verses about our mouth.  It is a theme repeated over and over again throughout the Proverbs.  It seems how we use our mouth really is important to Solomon, the God who inspired his writings, and the path to wisdom.  Proverbs 21:23 says, “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.”  Wisdom brings great reward . . . but foolishness does not.  “A man who strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead.”  (21:16)
 
 “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.” (21:2)   “ALL a man’s ways SEEM RIGHT to HIM.”  That explains a lot, doesn’t it?  No wonder relationships get a little sticky sometimes – all of my ways seem right to me, while all of your ways seem right to you.  Thankfully, the Lord does know what is right and knows our motives and heart.   We can pray that God will help us see ourselves clearly, truthfully – as He sees us.  I can pray that He will show me where and when I am wrong and off-track so I can make the adjustments necessary in myself.  Together we can pray that when our hearts are weighed they will not be found lacking.  And then we do the work we can to keep our hearts pure, devoted to Him,  and full of love for others.
 
 
And, for some quick lessons  . . .
 
On Drinking – “Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.”  (20:1)   – Don’t you think watching your words and actions and working to be Godly is challenging enough when you are sober?  Have you ever seen a good drunk Christian following God?  Watch what you are allowing to influence you.   Proverbs has several verses warning of the dangers of drinking.
 
On Revenge – “Do not say, ‘I’ll pay you back for this wrong!’ Wait for the Lord and he will deliver you.” (20:22)   — How wonderful to have something we can take off our busy ‘to do list’.  Life is too full to waste our time plotting and planning revenge.  Move on and leave it to God. 
 
On Drippy Faucets –  “A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.”  (19:13)  Ok, that verse actually came from yesterday’s reading, but too good to pass up, and closely related to two of today’s proverbs: “Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife” (21:9) and “Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.” (21:19).  Not sure I can add anything to those eloquent words.  I guess it is just a reminder to me, and wives everywhere, as well as those aspiring to wifedom to ‘can the quarreling’ so our husbands don’t pitch a tent on the corner of the roof or hightail it to the desert.

Still so many great proverbs we aren’t going to have time to touch on.  Feel free to leave a comment on any of your favorite proverbs on our wordpress site!!  We would love to hear from you and learn from you.

God Bless You as You Seek to be Wise,

Marcia Railton 

 

 

 

Our Provider

Psalms 19-24: God is our provider.

sheep

There are so many nuggets of truth in these Psalms that I couldn’t touch on here. Today, when I sat down to open my Bible and try to sift through it all to find what I wanted to write about, I happened upon a very familiar scripture. Psalms 23 is a Psalm that many people know, even those who aren’t Christians. Even through this Psalm, which contemplates death, shadow, and sorrow, the hope that it communicates draws people to it and to God. As I read through this Psalm in the context of those that surround it I was struck.

In Psalm 21 and 22, we see David crying out in praise and pain to God for his provision. In both emotional states, David knew that God was his provider, his savior. God was the person who could save him from his enemies. In Psalm 22, even when David could not see God acting in that moment, he prayed and praised God from the faith that didn’t come from the physical evidence around him.

What does provision mean? When we talk about provision, a word which literally means ‘something, like food or drink, that is supplied, especially for a journey,’ we think about the material thing that we are eating or drinking. But, David says that the LORD is his provision. I recently got a new puppy (and if you are my friend on Facebook you’ve probably seen plenty of pictures of him). This dog lives inside and does not have access to food or water, unless I provide those things for him. So, even though the food or drink is the literal provision, I am his provider. I am the one that sustains him. God is the same. He does grant us the things that we need, but most importantly, God is the one sustaining us. Without him, we have nothing, just like without me, my puppy would not have what it needed. When we rely on God to be our provider, we can say with assurance, as David does, “The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.”

As we think through these psalms, let’s remember to look to the LORD, our shepherd, in both the difficult times and the good, because he is our provision.

– Cayce Ballard

img_5227
Meet Finnegan! 

 

Photo Credit: http://www.globalmeatnews.com/var/plain_site/storage/images/publications/food-beverage-nutrition/globalmeatnews.com/industry-markets/future-of-eu-sheep-discussed/10353815-1-eng-GB/Future-of-EU-sheep-discussed.jpg

The Company You Keep (Judges 16-18)

Wednesday, October 5

judges-16-pic

Shelby Upton

Samson and Delilah is a well known Bible story. He was a Nazarite, his strength lay with that vow and uncut hair, Delilah betrays him and cuts off his hair.  The end.  But this story is much sadder and contains much deeper betrayal than that sparknotes version.
We don’t get much back story on their relationship but he was in love with her. The one person who should never have betrayed him sold him out to the Philistine leaders to discover his weakness. We know that Samson was clever–from his riddles and also telling Delilah multiple ways that would not take his strength. In Judges 16 however it says that due to her nagging day after day she wore him out and he told her the truth of his strength.
It was all over after that. It says that his strength and God had left him when his hair was cut off and his vow was broken.  After the Philistines gouged out his eyes God does return his strength for one last act of vengeance that resulted in his death and the death of a multitude of Philistines by pulling down the pillars of the temple.
When I look over this story I am heart broken for Samson. I truly see that he chose the wrong path and bad company over and over again.  Delilah was not someone to be trusted let alone a woman who would strengthen him as a judge and support his Nazarite vow.  She performed the act that broke his vow and caused God to leave Samson! This is a very extreme case of bad company but in our own lives we are influenced by and become like the people we are around. Bad company can wear us down just like Delilah wore Samson down.  We shouldn’t shut ourselves off from influencing others for good but the closest company we keep needs to be supporting our relationship with God and spurring us on towards righteousness.
Do you feel a divide between you and God? Take a look at the friendships around you, your significant other–what can you say for the company you have been keeping and how they have or have not been helping you grow in your relationship with God.