Busyness Isn’t the Answer

If we have placed Christ first and we’re earnest in that, expect the Enemy to try and disrupt that focus. One of the easiest ways is to get us busy. Think about it. If you’re busy, things that are important with respect to our relationship with Christ will start to slide. It’ll be little by little. We won’t notice at first. Only after things get a good deal further along may we catch on to where we’ve gotten to.

If you want a visual analogy, think about a child you see all the time versus a child you see only once in a while. In the first case, the child is growing and changing, but you probably don’t notice until one day you suddenly do. In the latter case, the change is more noticeable because you’re last mind picture of that child was very different, even if it was only a few months ago.

But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”  – Luke 10:40-42, ESV

Mary was consumed with Christ. Martha, on the other hand, was consumed with busyness. And when Martha approached Jesus about how Mary wasn’t involved in Martha’s busyness, she expected support from Jesus. She didn’t get it. Instead, she received a gentle rebuke about how she had choose poorly. Martha had let her busyness get in the way. If folks who were in the physical presence of Jesus could be so affected, then more so we who believe but do not see!

The way to deal with this type of stealthy attack is to be vigilant with respect to our time and our priorities. Our time with our Savior must be protected and treasured. We need to regularly look at our priorities and ensure we’re keeping them appropriately or make a point of adjusting them when we see they are starting to slip. We also should surround ourselves with other believers who can keep an eye on us and who are willing to speak up when they see that we are slipping.

Don’t let busyness take over in this new year. Instead, maintain your priorities and your relationship with Christ by actively guarding both. Take joy in that relationship. Find purpose in it. Be a Mary and not a Martha. If you’re not a Mary, when things get crazy and hectic (and they will), you may find a gentle rebuke instead of a reaffirmation of what you’re doing when you finally make the time to see our Savior in prayer.

Grasping for God

Imagine that something disastrous has happened and you have slid off the edge of a cliff. You’re clear of the edge and there’s no chance of grabbing on any longer. You look down and see the floor of the canyon below. There’s no chance of survival. You will die. Suddenly, there’s a shout from above, “Grab my wrist!” as you feel a steely grip wrap around your own wrist. Do you choose to do nothing or do grasp that wrist with all the strength you have left?

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,  - John 1:12, ESV

The word “receive” here is better translated “grasp after,” “cling to,” or “grab hold of.” If you understand that, it completely changes the way we look at this verse. John’s intent is to make us realize that as Christians and followers of Jesus Christ we are to be clinging to Him as if our life depended on it. This fits perfectly with verse 4 when Jesus is described as life (zoe) which means spiritual life. Our spiritual/eternal life depends on how tightly we cling to God, how desperately we grasp after Him.

If we are this desperate, if Christ pervades our every thought, if He is the principal focus of our lives, that He gives us the right to become children of God. There is no earthly title that compares with being adopted by Almighty God. However, it is only granted to those who are pursuing Jesus with such vigor and purpose. What John was trying to tell us is we can’t live our faith halfway. We want to be His? Then we have to give it everything. We have to treat our lives as if we were falling off that cliff and Jesus reached down and grabbed us.

When you consider your own walk, what is your effort level? Don’t read me wrong, your works don’t save you. Only grace through Jesus Christ does. However, our response to His gift of grace should be to treat Him as our all-consuming passion. Scripture tells us that when we do so, then all the other aspects of life will be taken care of. So throwing yourself fully into your relationship with Jesus Christ won’t mean neglecting what’s important. It will mean that some non-important things will go by the wayside but that’s okay, because none of that matters for eternity. And it’s eternity that should be our focus.

Don’t Be Seduced By the “Shiny”

As a geek, I will admit that I used to be fascinated with the latest gadget news. I still follow several technical sites that get excited at the newest and most awesome. For instance, I read about a hardware manufacturer’s new Windows 8 tablet this morning. For the writer, this was the new “shiny” with respect to tablets. I felt like drool was dripping off my computer screen and onto the keyboard. It’s not just technology. We see this in fashion. We see this in firearms. We see this in knives. We see this in college football prospects. We see this in cars. We see it in all areas of life. We are too often focused on what looks good, what the newest, that we don’t check it’s substance. The research shows that we are often wrong on our first impressions yet we still stick by them. How bad can we get? How about this?

  And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.  – 1 Samuel 9:2, ESV

Saul was the new shiny. He was taller than anyone else. He was the best looking guy around. Certainly he was better looking and a more kingly figure than old Samuel and Samuel’s wicked sons. The people wanted a king. Samuel tried to warn them. They still wanted a king. So God was going to give them exactly what they thought they wanted: a guy that looked like a king when you first saw him. That was Saul. You could go point-by-point on how he was a better candidate, just like the write-up on the latest version of a popular smartphone. People loved him when they looked at him. And if you know your Bible history, he did have some good points. However, this new shiny was a very tarnished man indeed.

We can easily be seduced by looks or appearances, especially if we don’t take time to dig deeper. This is true whether we’re talking about a new phone, a new house, a new car, a new job, or a new potential mate. How many times do we have to hear about a husband ditching his wife and kids for a new, younger, supposedly prettier woman? Now it’s not so uncommon to hear the situation in reverse, whn the woman wants to call it quits. Or what about bouncing from job to job looking for that pay increase, meanwhile burning bridges all along the way? It could be a $50,000 car you don’t really need when you’ve got other financial issues, or the $300,000 house you can’t actually afford the mortgage on. It looks so good we just have to have it. He or she is just, wow, that we’re willing to short circuit common sense to be with that person.

We’ve all been guilty of this, whether it’s a tech gadget or a job or a significant other. The key is to take a step back and look at it with God’s perspective. Wait, we’re not God. How is that possible? We have the Holy Spirit. We have a promise from Him that He’ll give us wisdom if we just ask. Maybe I can’t see like God. However, I can ask God what He sees. When you feel your emotions wind up and your heart start thumping for the new shiny, that’s the time to pause. That’s the time when you really need to calm yourself and seek His face. Otherwise, the new shiny will have a strong power over you. It may win you over on pure emotional appeal. And likely if it does, you’ll walk into a mistake.

On the other hand, if you pause and ask God and you sense that He’s saying it’s okay, then go for it, so long as you know it’s not in violation of the Scriptures (in which case, you can conclude that what you sensed wasn’t really God). There’s nothing wrong marrying a physically beautiful/handsome spouse if that’s the person God has prepared for you. There’s nothing wrong with getting a new smartphone if other priorities aren’t compromised. There isn’t even anything wrong with that shiny sports car or dream house, again, if other priorities aren’t compromised. The catch is that we should make such decisions calmly and with the guidance of our Lord, not on our emotion. Watch out for the shiny. Don’t let it seduce you.

Our Prosperity Is Due to His Providence

A lot of people work hard. A lot of people work very hard. Often times, hard work is a requirement for prosperity, especially in a land like the United States. However, working hard, in and of itself, doesn’t guarantee prosperity. There are plenty of single parents in our nation working two jobs and sleeping very little who are merely trying to keep food on the table and the rent paid. You can’t tell them that working hard leads to prosperity because they are working hard, harder than the vast majority of folks who are “prosperous.” At their current rate, they will never see “prosperity.”

  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’  – Deuteronomy 8:17, ESV

This is a warning Moses gave to the Israelites. It is a warning we should heed today. We too often want to take primary credit for our “own” accomplishments. We want to believe we are the leading reason for our successes. The truth of the matter is that if God decides not to grant us success, we aren’t going to have it. If you doubt this, let me refer you to Pharaoh and the Egyptian army who pursued the Israelites to the Red Sea. Let me also refer you to Jacob, whose flocks grew and who thought initially that it was due to the color of the strips of wood that he used. In one case God chose to stifle success and in the other He chose to grant it. As Christians we should never forget that any success or prosperity we experience is ultimately due to the providence of Almighty God.

When we start to understand and believe this, it changes the way we look at the world. It alters the way we think about money, about possessions, about vacations, and about “stuff.” When we start to comprehend that what we have is due to God, then it becomes easier to part with those things, to give them up. Why would we want to give them up? We would want to give them up for the furthering of His Kingdom, the accomplishment of His will, and the calling we have as Christians to glorify God first. This isn’t to say that we can’t enjoy what we have. Often times God tells His people to enjoy, but to remember where it came from. He also tells them to be good stewards of it and to be obedient to Him first. In other words, there’s nothing wrong with taking that cruise as long as God isn’t pinging you to do something else with the money and you aren’t being disobedient in some other way. However, if he is telling you that you need to put that money towards backpacks for school kids, as a friend of mine recently campaigned to do, then the money had better go to the backpacks. Wealth, in and of itself, isn’t a sin. It’s the love of that wealth, the abuse of that wealth, and the worship of that wealth that are. If you are looking at God to make you “healthy, wealthy, and wise,” as some preach, I would point you to the passages which point that wealth isn’t the mark of God’s favor, but suffering for His name’s sake. That may not be a popular message but it’s the only sound biblical one.

Put your prosperity into proper perspective. Don’t let any success you have get in the way of your relationship with God. Instead, let any accomplishment or achievement be an opportunity to praise God for His providence (so long as that achievement or accomplishment occurred in a non-sinful way… if there was sin involved, repentance is the only correct choice). When you suffer a setback or a hit, let that situation be an opportunity to praise God for remaining with you and still providing for your needs. All our paths should lead back to God. All of efforts should point back to Him. All of our desires should be centered in Him. Remember that our prosperity is ultimately due to His providence and detach yourself from your successes, your money, and your things. Instead, find your wealth in your relationship with Jesus. It’s the only thing that lasts.

Cling to the Eternal

Church buildings serve a purpose. They exist to provide for services by the Church. Whether this is related to making disciples or reaching the lost, that’s their role. They don’t exist to one day be a tourist destination, though if that happens, it happens. They certainly aren’t supposed to be a monument to the congregation that attends there. Homes also serve a purpose. They provide shelter for the family who dwells there. They may also serve as a classroom or an entertainment hub, but at the end of the day their purpose is also limited. Cars serve a purpose, too. They are designed to get us from one point to another as safely and as quickly as is possible. Finally, jobs serve a purpose as well. They provide the material resources to glorify God and provide for our own needs. They serve as a ready mission field for us. All of these are of limited purpose and limited duration. They aren’t to dominate our lives. As recent natural disasters have shown us, they could be gone in a split second. And in that brief moment, all of our work, effort, and resources will have been proven to be for naught if our efforts were for the purposes of that physical object or social position.

In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense. In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.  – Isaiah 17:7-9, ESV

The full warning from Isaiah was that Israel would be brought low as a nation (17:4-6) because it had forgotten God (17:10-11). The verses I quoted describe the people in that day, when they stopped looking at their own creations, their false altars, their mighty cities, and the works of their hands because those things had been shown to be of no real value. Israel would be conquered and those things which once were the focus of the people there would be like dust. This is because God would deliver judgment since they had forgotten about Him, because they had put their things and their works before Him.

We can be so guilty of doing the same thing. There are plenty of tales of church congregations that focus on their buildings, on their land, on their pulpits, on their gyms which are often called “Life Centers.” They focus on these to the detriment of reaching the lost around them and being a mission-minded church trying to reach the lost throughout the world. None of these things, in the proper focus, are wrong. If they are kept in the proper focus, they are resources to use to build to Kingdom.

Other folks focus on their homes, on their cars, on their entertainment systems, and so many other material things that have no eternal value. And still others focus on nebulous things like jobs and positions and political capital and the like which won’t stand the test of time. All of these things have a particular purpose. Within their purposes they are fine. The problem comes when we take something outside of the purpose for which God intended. The real issue comes when we focus on these perishing things and take our eyes and our focus off the living God.

If we do that, we put ourselves in the same situation that the Israelites did. We build up something other than God’s glory and one day we’ll have to face the fact that God will wipe it all away. Even if we manage to make it through this lifetime without seeing the destruction of those ephemeral things we allow to consume our time more than they should, we are reminded that there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1). The monuments we build here, whether physical or not, won’t last. They will be bulldozed over for that which is eternal. We need to be ever mindful of this as we tackle our days, as we plan our time, as we judge where to spend our finances. Let us focus on the timeless, the one and only Living God and what He commands and puts into motion. Let our energies, efforts, and resources be devoted to His Kingdom, for then we build towards that which will last forever. Let us stop being myopic with the resources God has entrusted to us as stewards and instead use them wisely for that which never fades away. Let us cling to the eternal.

Bravery Is Still a Virtue

Doing what’s right usually isn’t easy. Too many times it’s met with skepticism or even outright opposition. For instance, in parts of the world today, standing up for your faith in Jesus Christ is dangerous. It can get you killed. Even in places where Christianity is supposed to be legal and protected, refusing to renounce one’s faith can be met with violence. I remember a few years ago when a pastor friend shared about an Egyptian preacher, in a city where Christianity was permitted, was captured by those opposed to his message of salvation through Jesus Christ. They roughed him up, they insulted him, and then they poured boiling oil on his feet as “punishment” for “teaching falsehood.” Yet folks like this pastor persevere. They don’t give in. They know the dangers and they still stay true to their faith.

Others put themselves in harm’s way to serve others. They may serve as doctors or nurses. They may be part of food relief agencies. They could be there to help dig wells and provide clean water. The fact of the matter is they know where they are going is dangerous and they still go. People need help. The Gospel needs to be taken, both in word and in deed. This all requires bravery. It requires getting out of the comfort zone. It demands standing up at personal risk. And that’s just the way God would have it.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:6-7, ESV

Timothy was called to be a preacher and an elder. Paul was encouraging him to pursue his calling and to fan it into a great flame. Paul didn’t want Timothy to think small. We’re not talking a candle in the dark. Some are called to that and in their circumstances, it takes great courage to be a candle surrounded by oppressive and dangerous darkness. But Timothy had greater opportunity. Paul wanted him to be a roaring fire. That meant taking on great challenges for the Gospel. It meant being ready to step up and take the hits because it was the right thing to do. And so Paul gives Timothy a charge by reminding him that we were not given a spirit of fear. God doesn’t want us cowering. God gave Timothy and us a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control. Yes, those last two are important. Reckless or unloving power is not godly. Paul was saying that if God calls us to it, God will provide what we need, we just have to be brave and take up the challenge.

In God’s eyes, bravery is still a virtue. I know in our world today it’s about protecting oneself, covering up, making sure we’re safe, and not standing out. Paul was telling Timothy that was the wrong attitude. That’s an attitude of fear. Instead, Paul was challenging Timothy to live up to everything God wanted him to be. He was asking Timothy to be brave. That same charge extends to us today. We can look at all the reasons not to do something, but if God wants us to do it, we must find the courage to plunge ahead. There is Kingdom work to be done. There is a Gospel to be shared. There are brothers and sisters in faith to welcome and develop. However, all of these things require us to be brave.

What’s holding you back? In what areas, with respect to God’s call on your life, are you being timid? Have you been afraid to ask God what He would have you do? Don’t be any longer. Paul lived a full, earthly life in preparation for the one to come. He faced countless trials and tribulations but didn’t back down. Even faced with a sure death for his faith, he was still looking forward to being able to share that faith and finish strong. He wanted to be brave. God honored that. If you want to be brave and live up to God’s calling, He will honor that, too. That’s why He gave us a spirit of power, love, and self-control. He wants us to answer that calling in a way that glorifies Him. All it takes is for us to step up and want it. How badly do you want it?

Doing the Ordinary Things Better

Over the weekend I finished up an audiobook of Tony Dungy’s Quiet Strength. One of the secrets to his success (and he admits it learned it from legendary coach, Chuck Noll) is to emphasize doing the ordinary things better than anyone else. In Dungy’s view, that’s how great teams win. That’s how the Steelers of the 70s won and that’s how his teams did so well in both Tampa Bay and Indianapolis. The concept is a biblical one, an idea we see Paul speaking of over and over again in different ways to different people. The book of Colossians has this idea very clearly:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.  – Colossians 1:9-10, ESV

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. – Colossians 1:21-23, ESV

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.  – Colossians 2:18-19, ESV

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  – Colossians 3:17, ESV

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.  – Colossians 3:23-24, ESV

See the pattern? It’s a simple one: do the things you know how to do, do them well (as unto the Lord), and don’t be led astray by folks saying that there’s some shortcut, some magical, mystical way to do things better. In sports and in life plenty of people are looking for shortcuts. The truth about most shortcuts is that they aren’t. This is the warning Paul was trying to give the church in Colosse. Stay the course, do what you know is right and holy, and do it the best of your ability. In other words, do the ordinary things better, because that’s the real secret to a victorious life in Jesus Christ.

How are you doing with the ordinary things? How is your prayer life? How is your Bible reading? Are you meeting regularly with other Christians for the purpose of fellowship? How is your giving and acts of service? Are you making Sunday school and worship service? These are the “little things,” but they pay big dividends when we do them well. What do I mean by do them well? I mean when we do them with the right hearts, to honor and glorify God and draw closer to Him, as well as when we do them consistently. We’d all love to be used mightily by God but truth be told, most often it’s in the little ways that God is able to do so. After all, how can you reach out to that family at church if you’re never there? How can you lift up your brother with cancer if you don’t consistently pray? We must do the ordinary things better.

Get Out of the Way of the Gospel

If you are a Christian, the Bible makes it clear that our number one purpose is to exalt God. This supersedes everything else. Getting a fair shake, having our say, receiving our full rights, even being safe and sound are all supposed to take a backseat to bringing glory to God. Unfortunately, too often we don’t live this way. Too often what we want and what we care about is more important than God. We don’t say it, but our actions show it. For instance, instead of gently ministering to someone who has wronged us, we want to see them get their due. Now, we aren’t going to seek revenge, for that wouldn’t be Christian, but we sure hope misfortune visits them. Ever thought this way? If you are human, you have. The problem with this line of thinking is it gets in the way of the Gospel.

  Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ  - 1 Corinthians 9:12b, ESV

Paul was writing of the fact that he and his companions didn’t exercise certain rights when he was among the Corinthians because it would have gotten in the way of the Gospel of Christ. I want you to stop right there for a moment. When was the last time as a Church we asked the question, “Would what we are about to do get in the way of sharing the Gospel?” When was the last time your local congregation asked this? What about yourself? Can’t remember? Unfortunately, neither can I. We can be so full of ourselves that we forget the great importance of the Gospel and our mission as Christians to share it in a way that others around us understand it. Note that I didn’t say anything about forcing it down other people’s throats. I also didn’t say anything about the typical political hot button topics that seem to inflame us here in the West. I said the Gospel. When was the last time we thought about its priority in the scale of all the things we were doing, caring about, and arguing over? I can hear the crickets. They’re in my backyard, too.

It doesn’t matter what side of the predestination/freewill fence you sit on (or even if you’re sitting on the fence itself), because we have been given a command by Jesus to go and make disciples. As John Piper – a very staunch predestination pastor – put it, even if you are on the predestination side it’s not your role to play God and determine who you will and won’t share the Gospel with. Leave that to God and go share. The Gospel is to be the forefront of who we are and what we do. Yes, we encourage and affirm and edify the saints. Yes, we take care of the orphans and widows in our midst. Yes, we provide for the poor around us and serve those who need our help, regardless of religion or creed. But we do all things for the sake of the Gospel. Caring and ministering give us the opportunity to share. Even if we don’t get a chance to use actual words, we share through our actions. We are different because our God has changed us. We are to be a living testimony to the power of God to transform a sinner into a saint. And by being this living testimony we will hopefully be able to explain ourselves to those who want to know why we are different.

As you move into the weekend, do a self-examination. What habits or things about you get in the way of the Gospel? What pet peeves or personal causes turn people away from you such that they would not be willing to hear the Gospel from your lips? What can you do to correct these situations? What’s stopping you? Lift these issues and their remedies up in prayer. Let us be known for living out the Gospel fully, for sharing it freely and lovingly, and for exalting Christ before ourselves. Let us get out of the way of what’s the most important set of news we can share with the world around us: that Jesus Christ died on the Cross to save sinners like you, me, and everyone else who would want to be free from their sins.

In Times of Trouble, Remember the Reward

One of the things that troubles me greatly about how the Gospel is often preached is that folks are led to believe that simply by yielding their lives to Jesus, all of their problems will go away. I am quite taken aback at how the Gospel presentation is often made where a person’s life will suddenly be so much better because Jesus is now their Lord. Of course, folks who present the Gospel in this way are lying to those they are sharing with. Let’s not mince words, because that’s what it is. When we read the Scriptures we find that accepting Jesus Christ as Lord usually doesn’t result in an easier life. Life doesn’t get easier. If we’re faithful, it’s probably harder, from a worldly perspective. It’s just that our perspective changes. We understand that hording toys and money in this world doesn’t do any good. We learn that suffering because we are Christian is a sign of favor in Christ’s eyes. And we can move forward making the hard decisions simply because we know they are the right decisions. The thing to remember is that while this life may very well be harder, there is a reward to come that is exceedingly above anything we could imagine or think.

Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”  – Genesis 41:50-52, ESV

In Joseph’s case, his rewards came while he was still alive. He was able to have two sons after he was freed from prison and he named them according to the favor God had shown him. Joseph’s case isn’t the case for everyone. For instance, the new covert who is killed by his family upon telling them what he has done didn’t get the chance to experience a tangible reward in this life. But as a Christian, we’re not supposed to be looking for reward in this life. We’re counting on the reward in the next. Therefore, when times of trouble come, and they will, we must remember what it is we’re striving for. It will make those tempestuous days worth it. It will keep us pushing forward. It will allow us to make great sacrifices for the sake of the Kingdom.

That’s the part of Christianity that a lot of the Western Church has lost. We’re not striving for material gains in this world. We’re working for the reward in the next. Materials are a means to an end: to further the Kingdom of God. If we’re “using” Christian principles as a means to get “healthy, wealthy, and wise,” then we’re missing the point. If you’re going through a tough time now, remember the reward. Remember that heaven is the promise and there are treasures there for you. If you aren’t going through a hard time at the moment, file this away. After all, they will come, sooner or later. Let us live authentically, realizing that life is short and that the gains in this world are nothing if they are not for the Kingdom. As a result, any amount of suffering or hardship for the sake of Christ will be well worth it and well rewarded.

Love Generously, Part I

True love is selfless. Too many relationships described as loving today are anything but, for the people involved are actually focused on themselves and how the people they are “in love with” or “love” cause them to feel. “I love her because she makes me feel good about me.” “I love him because he’s so goofy.” (That implies he brings her amusement.) “We love our uncle because he spoils us.” That’s not the way love is supposed to be at all. Let me give you a picture of love:

  His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.  – Job 1:4-5, ESV

Job was concerned about the spiritual state of his children. Whether or not he knew of any issues, he still spent the time and energy to offer sacrifices to God on his children’s behalf. Verse 5 ends with the comment that Job did this continually. It wasn’t a one time thing. It was an all the time thing. That’s true love. And when you consider that making a burnt offering likely consisted of the sacrifice of some of his livestock or flocks, this wasn’t an inexpensive offering, either. It cost Job something to perform this. Job loved his children so much, that even if he had no reason to assume they needed intercession, he went ahead and did it anyway. That’s not just love, but that’s love executed in a very generous way.

The interesting thing about this action by a loving father is that it flies in the face of what the world says about love today. Job’s actions weren’t performed to make his children feel better about themselves. He didn’t shower them (in this act) with things. As a matter of fact, there was no direct, tangible benefit to Job’s offering sacrifices on behalf of his children. Loving generously isn’t about stuff. And it’s not about doing things just to make the other person feel better. Loving generously is considering what the other person might need and meeting it in abundance. When Job looked on his children, he knew they needed a right relationship with God. Now we can debate the effectiveness of Job’s actions, but that’s not the point. What is the point is Job focused on what is the most important aspect of our lives: our relationship with God (or lack thereof). And it is obvious that he took the steps to do everything in his power to help their relationships.

Take a step back this week and really look at what love is. Often cited is 1 Corinthians 13 and it is the basis of our understanding of what love is. Paul gives specific examples of what it is and what it isn’t. Weigh what you’ve considered to be loving and unloving actions against that standard. Then think about the folks closest to you. Think about how to show real love, the way God defines it, towards them. The ones we’re closest to will often respond positively to genuine acts of love. Seek to do generous things. Maybe it’s going over and sitting with your mom for an afternoon while she reminds you of all your foibles of childhood, meanwhile clenching your teeth and reminding yourself that what she really needs is company, and you’re doing your part. Or maybe it’s calling up a best friend that you’ve been tense with lately and being the first to apologize and do so profusely… to the point where they say, “Stop! Enough! Okay, I forgive you!” Whatever it is, seek to start with those closest to you and then expand outwards. We want to live generously because God has loved us so generously. His is the example and the standard we should be shooting for.