Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is special at our house, for a couple of reasons.  First, it is my husband's birthday. And second, it is the day that we adopted our dog, Charlie.  I like to describe Charlie as having been a "Wal-Mart special".

It happened on Valentine's Day afternoon, four years ago.  Younger Son and I had gone to the Wal-Mart shopping center on an errand.  As we pulled into the parking lot he pointed out people milling around an old pick-up truck with a sign on it:  "Free Puppies".  He asked if we could stop and look. Our former dog, Max, had died a few months earlier.  Max had been quite the "handful", and I was not eager to get another dog.  I said, "Maybe on the way out."  After completing our errand, we headed home.  I asked, "Do you want to just stop and look?"  "I guess so," was the reply.

There were several puppies in the kennels, but I was drawn to just one.  As I gathered this Aussie shepherd/blue tick coon hound mix in my arms, I knew I never wanted to let him go.  On the ride home, I've never seen a more terrified dog.  He was drooling from anxiety (a habit he continued for several months).  Hubster was stunned to receive a puppy as a birthday present!  Younger Son had told me at the pick-up truck, "I bear absolutely no responsibility for this!"  Well, Charlie has become a tremendous blessing to all of us.  He is dearly loved.

This family story reminds me of my place in God's family.

4But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"…
Galatians 4:4-6

This is love!  Don't you see how adoption is at the heart of it?  We did not first love God, but He first loved us.  We were "mutts".  We were not His "natural-born" sons/daughters, or His "only-begotten" sons/daughters. We are His through adoption.  Hallelujah!  This is the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who Is The Best Valentine.

But God demonstrated His own love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

There is a rather erotic movie which opened recently.  It is the sequel to an even more sickening movie of similar name which premiered right around Valentine's Day two years ago.  In fact, both of these movies are an insult to true love.

But, God does not merely illustrate or typify love - - - He IS love, in all its beauty, in all its glory. His love poured out on us truly is "the greatest love of all".   You may be facing a lonely Valentine's Day. In fact, the holiday may itself be repugnant because of all the emphasis on romantic love when you are not "there" right now.

Regardless of your present circumstances, on this Valentine's Day, you can reach out and experience God's love.  It is never-ending and always available.  Don't turn away.  Whether you would be reaching out to Him for the first time today for eternal salvation or whether you are already a disciple of Jesus Christ and needing a reminder....He is there for you.

https://youtu.be/Fla6EO07I3E

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dear Father, thank you for the gift of Your Son, Who is Love personified.  Today, I celebrate Your love, which is incomparable.  No one can ever or will ever love me like You do.  To be loved, adopted, cherished, made new by the God of all the Universe is both inconceivable and unfathomable.  I don't pretend to understand what caused you to do what you did for me.  My love for You is paltry in comparison.  Give me a Valentine's heart - - a Christ-like heart. Help me to love more like You do, precious Savior! It is in Your name, Lord Jesus, I pray, amen.

Confounded by the Foolish

Good morning,

Today's main text is 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.  Here it is in the NKJV:

26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."

It is imperative that, as Christians, we pursue humility.  How is that done though, exactly?  It is an illusive target because, once you think you have it, you've lost it!  I mean, once you say, "Oh, I am so humble!", then really you are just boasting and are full of sinful pride.  It is a conundrum.

On the one hand, if you are like me, you can't figure out why in creation God would have chosen you anyhow.  "Of all people," I sometimes think...."why did He choose me?"  It is unfathomable.  God is often counterintuitive, that is, He does things that don't seem to make sense in the visible world.

Grace is one of those counterintuitive things.  Grace makes no logical sense.  "Grace begins where pride ends," said Tullian Tchividjian.1  Why on earth would God send His most beloved Son to rescue a bunch of creatures wallowing in our sin, like a bunch of pigs in the mud? (Romans 5:8) Further, why would He call us His children and elevate us to a status co-equal with that same "only begotten" Son? (Romans 8:17)

The answer is: to please Himself and to bring Himself glory.  If there is a tiny little part of you that whispers, "That's a little arrogant, don't you think?", then you need to call it out for the satanism that it is.  Brothers and Sisters, when we see Him face-to-face, we are going to fall down on our own faces so fast we'll hardly realize how we got there.  In that day, there will be NO question as to who is God and who is not.  When we try to claim some of His glory for ourselves in our day-to-day walk, we have then lost some sight of who He is.  He is due ALL glory, and honor, and praise.

John the Baptist understood this.  When his ministry began to wane, as Jesus' ministry began to surge, John said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) Yes!  That should be the mantra of each of us. When we focus on that, we will gain humility.

In considering the foolish things of the world to confound (amaze, astonish, confuse) the mighty, I think of the story of Barak and Deborah.  You can read it in Judges 4:12-16 and 5:19-23.  In that day, a woman warrior was very rare.  Yet, Barak told Deborah that he would not attempt to fight the forces of Sisera if she did not go along.  Listen to her reply (Judges 4:9) - - -

9 She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” 

God used the "foolish" things of the world to confound the mighty!   The battle strategy was to lead the superior army of Sisera into a swampy area, which caused their chariots to bog down.  Then, God sent a heavy rainstorm, which made their bowstrings wet and lessened the effectiveness of their archers.  The Israelites who excelled at slingshots and hand-to-hand combat then moved in and defeated the Canaanite army.

Why do you think He chose David to slay Goliath?  Why did He not choose a more "mighty" warrior?  Because the glory is His!  The words David spoke make me shiver (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

Do you think it was David that killed the giant?  A slingshot that brought him down?  I submit to you that it was the Name that is above every name, the Name of the God of Angel Armies that won the day.  He "does not save with sword and spear".  That battle was the Lord's and the glory was His too.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit, may we get a clearer picture of who You are today.  All our spiritual battles are Yours, whose Name is above all others.  Please "increase" in us, even as we "decrease".  And, please do this so that all the victories will be Yours, so that all the glory will be Yours, forever and ever.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:
One-Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World, by Tullian Tchividjian, 2013.