All You Need is Love

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Love of God; love of self; love of others; to quote the old song: “All you need is love.” The scripture says that God is love. It makes sense, then, that all we really need is God. But, does saying one has God make it so?

  In our moments of clarity, we all know that’s not how it works. To have a God, whatever you imagine him to be, is to be subject to God’s rule. God, by definition, is the ultimate sovereign; the final authority---alpha and omega. A god shaped to our specifications and subject to our definitions of morality is a creation, not a god. One who is the supplier of wants and needs; who comes only when we call and make no demands is a servant not a god.

A life of subservience is not the role most people choose to play. Nevertheless, it is the only role open to us if we are to have God. There is one throne to the soul; he who sits on it rules and receives worship. Christ will not take the throne by force. He will not share it. He will not sit upon it because He sat with our grandmother. Love must invite Christ to the throne. Love able to do that holds self in balance and flows to others.

“I am the LORD thy God…Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

Mercy Wins

When the Pharisees found Jesus’ disciples picking and eating corn on the Sabbath, they were quick to point out the error of His unlearned followers. Jesus’ response to their criticism was, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice…” He was sure that the Pharisees, though students of God’s law, would not understand. He was right.

God does not want our sacrifices. He does not want little parts of us offered at the directives of men. He is not overly impressed with an hour or two offered to Him on Sunday or the contents of our wallet. God wants our entire being surrendered to His mercy and grace; nothing else will do.

It is easy to be discouraged by our society of relentless nitpickers who build themselves up by looking for faults in others. God looks beyond our faults; beyond our preconceptions; and beyond our failings. He looks to our needs; has mercy on us as we are and lifts us up into His Kingdom.

Follow Me

Jesus commanded the word of God with authority, but He led by example. He didn’t ordered people to obey God; He said: “Follow me.” He asked no one to do anything He did not do Himself. When He sent the disciples out to preach the kingdom, He used His ministry as the pattern they were to follow. Peter said Jesus lived to leave us an example that we should follow in His steps. This was a radical departure from the leaders with which His hearers were familiar.  

“Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, saying, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men…”

From the top on down we are a nation of people who “say and do not.” We say we are a nation of laws based on the Constitution. Not only do we not obey the law, we take pleasure in those who openly violate it. Having turned a blind eye to the rule of law, it is not surprising that we have forgotten what manner of nation we are. By his actions, our President has forsaken the Constitution. He encourages people to ignore the laws they don’t like and forbids law enforcement from intervention. But the blame is only partly his. We the people have allowed it. We have allowed owners to be deprived of their businesses because they do not, believe, speak or think as the government thinks they should. We have agreed to be punished for not making government mandated purchases. States tremble at the threat of losing federal funds and sell their people into bondage to Washington. Seniors panic at the possibility their government check will be reduced. This is not the legacy we inherited from our fathers.     

          “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

          If we feel unsafe and unhappy, we have only ourselves to blame; we have consented to it. It is time for people to stand up—alone if need be---and say, “Enough.” Until our elected leaders obey the law, there is no earthly reason for any man to obey. Christ compels us to go an extra mile; to be doers and not hearers. We are not to forget who we are. We are more than conquerors. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  

Narrow Strait

          A friend of mine recently commented that she was having a difficult time reconciling her Christian faith’s directive to submit to government with the direction America is heading. She’s not alone. I’ve wrestled with this same conflict for months. I believe America is headed for violence. I hear people talk about political polarization as if it were simply a misunderstanding. Liberals and conservatives aren’t speaking different languages; they are from different planets. Early in our history North and South failed to recognize the same alienation and 600,000 men died. Imagine what we can do now that we are no longer using muzzle-loaders.

          The scripture teaches, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free, and not using your liberty as a cloke of maliciousness, but as servants of God. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.”

          There is no distinction made between a government we agree with and one with which we disagree; nor a distinction between a nation where we have a voice and one in which we do not. The Bible assures us that there are both good and evil kings. However, there is no directive to honor one but not the other. In fact, the opposite may be true. Jesus taught that, “ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father in heaven…”

          The biblical remedy is to come out from among them and be separate. We must obey the law, but we need not be complicit in sin. We need not support a government that ignores the law that it may chase after corruption. Practically speaking, what can we do?

Be vocal in opposition. Christianity has no “Thumper” clause. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” has no roots in the scripture. Jesus never hesitated to speak because His comments might offend. Warn, without forced compliance; this is as it should be.

Be different from the world. Dare to shun pierced eyelids and tattoos. Have the intestinal fortitude to “hang out” with bible thumpers. Sure, Jesus went to dinner with sinners. However, the conversation around the table was: “Come unto me; go and sin no more; and repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Don’t be afraid to be called a racist, homophobe---testify!

Do you want to strike a blow for Christianity? Start keeping the Sabbath. Go home for dinner after church. Have friends over and talk about the scripture. Meditate on God. Take a nap and actually rest. Keeping your wallet away from Applebee’s and Wal-Mart every Sunday will change the world.

In short, start a revolution of revival and restoration of the beliefs we hold dear. Put on a long-sleeved shirt and tie or a full length skirt and cause a stir among the pierced eyelid crowd. Refuse to get a tattoo. Sing from a songbook. You know; get radical and act like you’re saved.         

  

Sitting---just sitting

Content to Sit

     Elijah ran off into the wilderness and plopped down under the juniper tree to
“wallow in the mullygrubs.” Well, that’s how I heard it. I think the modern version goes something like: Elijah allowed a negative mind set to keep him from realizing he was a child of God and proclaiming the victory he was entitled to receive. Modernists are busy folks. They are always in a hurry to rush on to the next blessing. They view being discouraged or down-hearted as wasted time.

     However, you heard it; Elijah usually doesn’t come across as a champion of faith. I’m not sure what Elijah’s detractors wanted him do. As we seen, he didn’t have directions from God. In such a case, sitting a spell should not be frowned upon. Elijah’s mistake was not in running and hiding. That strategy worked before and there was no reason to doubt it would work again. Elijah’s mistake was in his failure to be content in hiding. God had everything under control. Elijah was safe; Ahab and Jezebel weren’t going anywhere; he could afford to wait for a word from God.
     Instead, Elijah chose to complain that this whole episode with Ahab did not turn out as he expected. In all fairness to Elijah, being a prophet is hard work and he wasn’t the only one ever to voice complaint at relaying God’s message. I’ve felt Elijah’s pain; you may have as well. The lesson we all need to learn is to let the peace of God replace our complaints while we wait for God to turn things around.

     Contentment is the outward sign of a heart filled with the faith-born peace of
God. Paul told the church at Philippi, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

     Contentment is a delicate balance. It holds equal measures of prayer and thanksgiving; joy and sadness; weakness and strength, in such a way that we are not lost in either. Elijah’s lifeline was not rock steady. It was filled with ups and downs; just like real life. We can be up and down and still be content. God is leading us over mountains and through valleys. Contentment means being happy that He is leading and unconcerned with the gradient of the road.

     Elijah and his critics look on the whole episode as Elijah being run out of town. He might just as easily be seen like the Marines at Chosin, not as retreating, but advancing in another direction.

     Contentment focuses on what God is doing rather than our feelings about what’s happening. When we are focused on God, our goal is to please Him. Pleasing God is the only course that ends with contentment. Elijah clearly did not please himself. He didn’t please the masses and, as for the king and queen; he just made them mad.

     If your sole purpose is to please someone other than God, you are going to be unhappy. God doesn’t please His people all the time. You will not be more successful at it than Him. The good news is that God is easier to please than people.

     Elijah’s complain was akin to saying, “I did everything you asked and look how
it turned out. I hope you’re satisfied.” It may help to know pleasing God is not the same as satisfying God. I’m not playing with semantics. To satisfy God is the live up to the measure: “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” It’s a tall order. Paul said he had not attained it. God will not be satisfied with you until you are as holy as He is in every way. On the other hand, God is pleased with every act of obedience no matter how small. We have no indication that God was anything but pleased with Elijah’s performance on Mt. Carmel. Was He satisfied that Elijah was completely holy—no, not by a long way. Knowing he had pleased God might have made Elijah a happier man. He might have enjoyed sitting under a tree and basking in God’s favor. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he gave God the chance to tell him.

     To see at me now it's hard to believe that I swam competitively in school. The 200m freestyle was one of my races. I swan it at every meet and did well. However, I was never satisfied with a single race. There was always something I felt I could have done better. I could have got off the block sooner; I could have gone out faster; I could have made tighter turns; there was always something to improve. Despite the needed improvements, I am pleased with my swimming career. The same can be said for my Christian experience. I’m not satisfied; I'm not perfect; I can certainly do better.

     Nevertheless, there's contentment in knowing God is pleased when I try my best.