Knowledge. It is dangerous, and yet beneficial. Knowledge is the most fertile soil in which pride can grow. Unless we know (intimately, not cognitively) God, and His love for us, all knowledge will do is breed arrogance. (1 Corinthians 8:1)
One of the larger problems that the American church is facing is how we use knowledge. Don't get me wrong, I think every Christian has a duty to know as much Scripture, doctrine, and theology as possible. However, that knowledge must be tempered with love. It is not our knowledge that causes issues, but rather how we wield it. Scripture is a sword that we are to take up against the real enemy, that is satan, yet we typically prefer to use it a club to bludgeon our brothers and sisters and even worse, the lost.
Now Scripture definitely has a purpose for encouraging and correcting our brothers and sisters,( II Timothy 3:16-17) and for reaching the lost. However, we should not use Scripture as a means of proving our points or winning our arguments. I see far to many "christians" that think they are the only people who can understand the Bible properly (and I am guilty of this at times) But I am beginning to learn that God has revealed Himself to all people through His word, and He is far more concerned with what He has written than He is with what I think about it.
It is time. Time to stop this non-sense. Time to stop sitting and debating trivial things like Armenian vs. Calvinism, whether or not it is ok to drink alcohol, should a Christian get a tattoo, and other such things. The ultra "conservative" Christians need to learn to show grace to those who disagree with them and the ultra "liberal" Christians could learn to give up some things to avoid causing their fellow Christians to stumble. It's time to take our knowledge of the Scripture, temper it with His love, and unite around His gospel. There is a real enemy present (Ephesians 6:12) and he likes nothing better than seeing Christians up in arms against each other instead of united in arms against him. There is an entire world out there that is lost and bound for eternal separation from the love of God in hell and either we don't believe in hell or we just don't care enough about them to share with them the good news of Christ.
So, it's time. Let us not be known as hypocrites and self-righteous people, but rather let us go in both knowledge and love to a lost and dying world, and let us wield Scripture as a sword against one foe, not each other.
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another"
(John 13:35)
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
What is Love?
Love, a word we use so often, and yet I wonder if we know what love truly is. This is a question that I have been asking myself for years, but for too long I was looking in the wrong places, I was looking for a set of rules that showed what love is. The definition of love is not found in a list, it is found in a person, Jesus Christ. Now that sounds extremely cliche, and overly simple and I admit it is not nearly as simple as that, while at the same time it really is just that simple. See I was looking for love in a definition of a word, but love is defined in the actions of Christ, in His life and His death. So often we associate love with an emotion, and to some extent it is, but it is so much more than that, it is far greater than a good feeling, or the butterflies in your stomach, it is a choice. We think that love is being willing to die for someone when true love is being willing to live for them. True love doesn't make a one time sacrifice, true love makes a daily sacrifice, considering the person you are loving and their needs above your own. Love does not have to consider others, love gets to consider others, it is a privilege, not a duty.
True love gives everything expecting nothing in return. Christ lived a perfect life, and died a horrific death, not because we could give Him anything back, but because He loved us. We cannot give Him anything, any good we have is from Him and as such the love He displayed in His life and death was purely out of love because we can bring Him nothing. In the same way our love should be because of His love. We are incapable of truly loving others until we have first experienced His love, His love is the ocean, we are the rivers and streams that can only carry love to the world if we are being filled with His love. We cannot love our neighbor if we do not first experience His love, and then love Him back, it is only connected to Him that we can begin to love in the truest sense of the word, for in being connected to Him we begin to become like Him, and He is love.
Now I said that true love is considering the needs of others above your own, and that is true, but true love is not being consumed with others, true love is being consumed with Christ. Love does not mean that I go out of my way to avoid offending you, love means that I care enough about you to speak the truth, hopefully in a non-offensive way, but the Gospel is offensive and is the most loving thing I can share with anyone I encounter. Far be it from me to ever be offensive in myself, I pray that the only thing that has the potential to be offensive would be the Truth of Christ, not the "truth" of my own making.
So what is love? "Love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it's own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Cor. 13:4-7) This list is not a list for the sake of having boxes to check off, this list is a list of the attributes of God. God is patient and kind, God does not envy or boast, He is not arrogant or rude. He does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful; He does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things He is love, love is not God, and God is not defined by love, but rather love is defined by who He is.
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35)
True love gives everything expecting nothing in return. Christ lived a perfect life, and died a horrific death, not because we could give Him anything back, but because He loved us. We cannot give Him anything, any good we have is from Him and as such the love He displayed in His life and death was purely out of love because we can bring Him nothing. In the same way our love should be because of His love. We are incapable of truly loving others until we have first experienced His love, His love is the ocean, we are the rivers and streams that can only carry love to the world if we are being filled with His love. We cannot love our neighbor if we do not first experience His love, and then love Him back, it is only connected to Him that we can begin to love in the truest sense of the word, for in being connected to Him we begin to become like Him, and He is love.
Now I said that true love is considering the needs of others above your own, and that is true, but true love is not being consumed with others, true love is being consumed with Christ. Love does not mean that I go out of my way to avoid offending you, love means that I care enough about you to speak the truth, hopefully in a non-offensive way, but the Gospel is offensive and is the most loving thing I can share with anyone I encounter. Far be it from me to ever be offensive in myself, I pray that the only thing that has the potential to be offensive would be the Truth of Christ, not the "truth" of my own making.
So what is love? "Love is patient and kind, love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it's own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (1 Cor. 13:4-7) This list is not a list for the sake of having boxes to check off, this list is a list of the attributes of God. God is patient and kind, God does not envy or boast, He is not arrogant or rude. He does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful; He does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things He is love, love is not God, and God is not defined by love, but rather love is defined by who He is.
"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35)
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