Love Doesn’t Take Credit

Matthew 6:1 Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.

Bragging rights. We often think we have them. We brag about our inventions, play toys, cars, homes, trophies, families, kids, job titles, tech devices, etc. The list is endless. Bragging makes us feel important and boosts self esteem. Our motives for performing good acts can also be questionable. We may do first because we want to brag later. Being proud of what we have and have done is honorable as long as our confidence doesn’t lead to pride and conceit. The best avenue is recognizing God owns it all and has only entrusted it to us for a period of time. He should receive the credit for whatever good comes from how we use what we have-possessions and talents. Rewards received from God in heaven will far outweigh any we receive on earth, but we can’t have it both ways. 
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Loving The Unlovable

Matthew 5:44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! (NLT)

Loving my enemies is not the natural thing for me to do. In wartime, we kill our enemies. In peacetime, we hate them, gossip about them, undermine them and avoid them. Either way, the result is the same. We kill opportunities to love them. But why must I love them? They don’t love me, and given the chance they will kill me in the same ways. Loving only those who love me doesn’t give me any bragging rights. Even my enemies love those who love them back. When I love the unlovable, I demonstrate God’s type of love. Even while I was a sinner, he sent Christ to die for my sins. And he continues to love me through all my foibles. Loving the unlovable puts us in good company.
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Love Doesn’t Retaliate

Matthew 5:39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. (NLT)

My parents didn’t slap me nor has anyone else, but if I was offering the other cheek probably wouldn’t immediately enter my mind. Raising a fist or uttering an unkind word might. Planning how I could get back at them might also. Our nature prevents us from accepting criticism or injury without desiring retaliation. According to Jesus, the above responses are wrong. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is not the proper mindset. And he modeled what he taught. Instead of fighting back, he let himself be maligned, beaten, and crucified. Rather than taking the law into our own hands-or even appealing to the law for assistance, we can love and pray for our enemies. It’s not easy, but it allows good to overcome evil without resorting to violence.
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Love Keeps Its Word

Matthew 5:37 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one. (NLT)

“He’s as good as his word” was once an important characterization because one’s word was about all a person had. “I promise to repay or be faithful” was all that was needed. No contracts or prenuptial agreements. Now we sign a mound of forms and initial them as proof we signed them when buying homes, cars, furniture, appliances and anything else we don’t have sufficient cash for. While this is the world we live in, our word remains vital. It reflects our character which is molded through integrity. Doing and saying the right thing is critical. Even more essential is faithfulness to what we say.
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Love Is Pure

Matthew 5:28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (NLT)

“We’ve decided we’re going to move in together. If it works out we’ll get married,” the young couple told the minister. “How could you do this to me,” the betrayed wife asked her husband. He went looking for greener pastures but found them littered with thorns. His apology didn’t remove her pain. Half of marriages end in divorce. Many couples choose living together instead of marriage. But purity before and after marriage is commanded by Jesus and necessary for healthy relationships. Betrayal breaks trust which is built by time and experience and is extremely difficult to regain when broken. Faithfulness to God expresses itself in faithfulness to our loved ones.

Love’s Intensity

Matthew 5:23-24 So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. (NLT)

Does conflict affect worshipping God? Obviously it does. And it’s not only if I have something against another person but also if they have something against me. Even if I’ve done nothing to instigate their “something against me” it affects my interaction with God-at least if I’m aware of the something. Instead of waiting for them to come begging my forgiveness, I should confess my regret over the infraction and attempt to correct it. Only when the horizontal is rectified will the vertical be effective, enjoyable and peaceful. Is your intensity to love and serve God strong enough to swallow the pride that often keeps us from resolving conflict?
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Love Lights

Matthew 5:15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. (NLT)

I’ve been in caves where guides turned off lights and complete darkness engulfed us. I was always glad when they flipped the switch on, especially after they related how living in darkness would cause one to go blind. And I could only imagine how difficult it would be to find my way out with no light. Our personal lights are not activated by flipping a switch, pressing a button or striking a match. They are lit when we ask Christ to forgive our sins. Afterwards, we should share the light with others, but when we hide it we destroy its purpose. Sin, embarrassment, fear, busyness and pride can all extinguish our lights.

Love Flavors

Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? (NLT)

I’m not a saltaholic but I do love what it does to my food. I can’t imagine eating without it though I suppose I could adjust as many others have should it be required to preserve my health.  And there are some foods-such as grits and French fries, which I simply couldn’t imagine enjoying without it. Salt flavors food. If it doesn’t it fails in its purpose. Followers of Jesus have the opportunity to do what salt is intended to do-flavor. By our example and through our words, attitudes and actions, we can make the world taste a little better. But if we are not frugal with the very same we will realize a less than desirable life experience and contribute to others as well. Is the world better because you are alive?

Love Holds Accountable

Matthew 5:19 So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. (NLT)

Accountability partners are wonderful assets to our life’s journey. Odd that so few of us have them. Perhaps we fear someone looking over our shoulder and confronting us when we go astray. They hold us to a higher standard of living and sometime we are prone to choose the low road. Our greatest accountability partner is God. Regardless of whether anyone on earth holds us accountable, he does. When we ignore or break his commands and teach others to do the same-whether actively or passively, our seat at the Kingdom’s table moves farther toward the back. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a back seat Kingdom dweller. Let God’s watching spur you to a higher standard of living.
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Love Doesn’t Change

Matthew 4:3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” (NLT)

Following high school, I worked for a gentleman who loved change. Even when no change was needed, we had to change something. He obviously didn’t believe in the adage; “If it’s not broke don’t fix it.” So we constantly changed procedures and moved items around just to satisfy him. Satan enjoys change. He wanted Jesus to change the stones into bread to satisfy his hunger. He wanted him to jump from the Temple’s highest point and see if angels would catch him. Satan even wanted Jesus to fall down and worship him. Jesus refused to change; not because change is necessarily bad but all these enticements would have been. God’s love for us never changes. We cannot make him love us more. Neither can we do anything to make him love us less. Satan’s offers of change will always lead to our detriment, but any change God encourages will be for our good.
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Love’s Unlimited Resources

When I was a teenager, I was invincible-or so I thought. Now that I’ve reached midlife I’ve concluded I am not now nor was I then. Imagining I was had its advantages. It unleashed a power fueled by an attitude that led me to launch out on ventures a more mature mindset might have questioned or even avoided. Immaturity is funny that way. But with God, I really do have unlimited resources. 

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit (Ephesians 3:16 NLT).

God’s power is unmatched, and by his Spirit living in us we can do anything he asks. Adverse circumstances become opportunities to demonstrate God’s unlimited ability to others.

Love Tells The Truth

1 John 1:8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. (NLT)

Truth can be made relative by believing truth is what truth is to me whether anyone else thinks so or not. But it shouldn’t be. Truth is truth whether I think it is or not. But how do I know what’s truth and what’s not? God’s Word. And one tidbit of truth we often don’t want to hear is that we sin. Saying we don’t doesn’t change the truth that we do. And since God is the Almighty and final judge, his word is what counts. When we recognize the truth that we do sin, God can help us overcome our tendency to give into sin, but if we ignore the truth we are helpless. Be glad God loves us enough to speak the truth.
(photo courtesty of Arvind Balaraman at www.freedigitalphotos.net)

Love’s Fragrance

II Corinthians 2:15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. (NLT)

The warm fall scents are delightful: warm apple pie, apple and cinnamon, apple spice. When cool temperatures arrive, we scoop up the candles with the aromas we love and place them throughout the house. As the wicks burn and the wax melts, our house smells of mountain orchards and freshly baked pies. I once pondered how I smelled to God until it sunk in that I had nothing to do with the odor. Christ did. When connected to him by faith, God enjoys our aroma through him, and his is always delectable. We may be smelling faults, failures and disappointments, but God is enjoying the finished product.