Why Love is So Important

1. Jesus taught that "the great and first commandment" is to love God completely, totally, and unreservedly-- with all one's heart, with all one's soul, and with all one's mind (Matthew 22:37-38; Mark 12:28-34). The sum of all God's commandments and all religious service is love for God.
   
   
2. Jesus declared the second commandment is like the first: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). Jesus makes love for God and neighbor inseparable companions.
   
   
3. True discipleship requires denying self and loving him above all other (Matthew 10:37-38).
   
   
4. Jesus left his followers a new commandment: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you.. By this all people will know that you are my disciples" (John 13:34). To neglect the new commandment would render the Christian life as "nothing" -- as not Christian.
   
   
5. John, the beloved disciple of Christ, declared that "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16)
   
   
6. Paul called love the "more excellent way" of living. Love is the chief virtue that should govern all we do and say in the Christian life (1 Corinthians 12:31).
   
   

From Love or Die: Christ's Wake-Up Call to the Church by Alexander Strauch

Belief and Behavior

What we believe about God-- who He is and what He is like-- will determine our behavior. If we believe God is sovereign, holy, and involved in creation, we will live obedient, surrendered lives. If we believe God is not sovereign, or he is holy is only some areas, or if he is not really involved in creation, we will live pretty much how we want to live.

Our beliefs always determine our behavior. But our behavior reveals what we really believe.

Read Through the Bible in a Year

Every year, I strongly encourage my church family to read through the Bible in a year. It is not that I particularly care if they or I read through the Bible in a set amount of time. I am much more interested that we 1) read the Bible daily and 2) read the Bible thoroughly.

The Christian needs to hear God through is word daily as much as we need to eat daily. You may skip a few days, but before too long you are weak and sickly. A daily diet of regular intake of Scripture is a key to Spiritual health.

It is also important to read the whole Bible-- not just parts we like or don't like. Leviticus is just as inspired as John. Ezekiel is as import as Romans. All Scripture-- every book, every page, every line-- is inspired by God and is useful for our Spiritual development and growth. By having a plan to read through the Bible in a year (or half year or ninety days or two years or whatever), you work your way through parts you normally would not choose to spend time in. I think you will be surprised how rich and rewarding the neglected parts of Scripture can be.

The plan I am recommended to the LMBC family is the M'Cheyne Daily Reading Calendar (it is available in the ESV online here or you can order a hard copy of the calendar here). It has four passages (usually four chapters) divided into personal readings and family readings. I like the plan because it encourages family worship time in addition to private devotions (although you can read the whole day's reading alone if need be). This plan will take you through the Old Testament once, Psalms twice, and the New Testament twice. The reading can be completed in about twenty minutes a day.

I'll send a free copy of the calendar to anyone who asks for one in the comments section, or if you come by the church, you can pick one up.

If you have never read through the Bible cover to cover, you ought to. If you don't read the Bible daily, yous should make the commitment and do it. You will not regret it.

Win Great Books

One of my favorite blogs is giving away a stack of books for Christmas. Go to trevinwax.com for details.

People not Expereinces, Relationships not Events

Looking back over my entry from yesterday, it dawned on me that I wrote more about the events and experiences I had rather than the relationships and people. Granted, the events and experiences are filled with others, but it is possible to miss what makes an event and experience so important.

For example, have you noticed that watching a comedy like The Office is so much funnier when you watch it with someone than when you watch it all alone? Sarah and I watch this show every week and even own the show on DVD (I think she has watched every season we own about 5 times during the course of ironing clothes). We watch it and always laugh. But what makes the office so funny to me is sharing the experience of watching it with her. We laugh together, we quote lines to each other, we muse about the episodes together.

My life has been rich and full because of the people I've shared my experiences with. Experience and events are merely the backdrop of life. Third grade is so prominent in my mind because of the relationships I had with Mrs. Simmons, Brian Cundiff, Jeremy Engel, and others. College at Ouachita was such a powerful experience in my life because of the people that populated my life at that time. Mark, Brian, Jaycob, Andi, Shannon, Pam, Cristina, Jimmy, the Watsons, the Runyans, the Garlins, the Poes, the Calhouns, and so many more.

My life is rich and full today because of the relationships I have. My incredibly awesome wife Sarah, my amazingly fun and funny kids Abby and Matthew, my family, church family, and friends. They all make my life what it is.

Of course my most important relationship is with the One True Triune God. God is my Father, Christ is my Savior, the Holy Spirit is my ever-present Helper. I am who I am because of my relationship with Him.

Experiences and events are the staging of life. Relationships, good and bad, are what life is made of. To ignore the relationships and focus only on the events is like going to Hamlet or MacBeth, looking at the stage props and walking about before a single charater enters the stage. If you do that, you've missed the whole point. And to focus just on the events and not the people in life is to miss the whole point of life.

33 Years

Today is my birthday. I began my journey in this life 33 years ago at Washington Regional Hospital in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

33 years has gone by fast. I have a lot of memories today.

I remember my first day of kindergarten.

I remember telling my parents I needed to talk to them alone after church, going into their room, getting down on my knees next to their bed and praying for salvation.

I remember Mrs. Simmons' third grade class and making a construction paper telephone one rainy school day.

I remember Laurie Vaughn who told the principal I was cussing on the school bus when I told her she was going to hell if she didn't 'get saved.'

I remember going fishing with grandpa and grandma. I remember being at the hospital the night grandpa died. The morning of his funeral we ate at McDonalds. It was Christmas Eve.

I remember the night I knew I wanted to commit my life to full-time vocational ministry.

I remember the last fight my parents had and a few days later a deputy sheriff sitting in the driveway of our trailerhouse to serve my dad papers.

I remembering wrecking my mom's 1987 Honda Accord she dearly loved.

I remember driving by myself and staying with some friends in Sheridan, Arkansas so I could check out Ouachita Baptist University.

I remember the very last day of high school having a small water gun I used to squirt Jason Martin with confiscated by the principle- one of my most openly rebellious and definant acts I ever committed as a high school student.

I remember packing up my car and my mom's car and loading up me, mom, my brother and sister to move to Arkadelphia.

I remember the first time I went to the MBSF Center in Arkadelphia. I remember playing some intense foosball games there.

I remember playing cards at the Quad in Arkadelphia.

I remember walking the railroad trussell looking for the Gurdon Light.

I remember my first real youth ministry job and how lousy I was.

I remember late nights at the DeGray Dam Spillway.

I remember my junior year of college meeting Sarah in the Garrison Center at Henderson State University.

I remember deciding to give up on ever having a serious girlfriend, right before I started dating Sarah.

I remember the day I met her parents, sister and her future husband... and the story Amanda told about a $10 refund from the registrar.

I remember Reunion Tower in Dallas where I asked Sarah to marry me.

I remember looking at her as she walked down the aisle on January 2, 1999 and being totally stunned and wowed. For the record, I still am.

I remember sitting in the middle of OBU campus the day before graduation just to soak it in before I left for the last time.

I remember moving to Texas, trusting God by faith.

I remember becoming the interim pastor of Longview Missionary Baptist Church and the sermon I preached that first Sunday- Depending on God.

I remember coming home on a Wednesday night and Sarah telling me we were going to have a baby. I remember the delivery and seeing my baby girl for the first time.

I remember the day of my seminary graduation and the family and friends who were there with me.

I remember going to the hosptial and waiting for what seemed like forever before they called me into the delivery room where my son was to be delivered.

I remember so many good, wonderful, blessed, happy, joyous things.

I am grateful to God for 33 years.

I will remember today. Today was a good birthday. It started with Sarah screaming "The oven is on fire!" And it was- the heating coil shorted out and was arcing. It looked like a fuse slowly burning. This is my first birthday to have fireworks and firetrucks. We took some family pictures that turned out great. I was able to minister to and pray with several church members. I spent a little time studying Scripture. We had birthday dinner at Carino's where I had Italian Chili and Chicken Scaloppini. We went to Lifeway where I spend a gift card and then to Target for some Christmas shopping. We then made it home for birthday cake. It has been a very good day.

I don't know how many more years I have left on this earth. For whatever God gives me, I will be grateful. I pray that I will devote and use my life for His Glory and His Kingdom work. May he be pleased to use me as He sees fit.

I am so thankful for how He has blessed me and shown kindness to me. I deserve none of it and deserve nothing more. But, knowing the Lord like I do, I know He will continually bless. And for that, I am continually and eternally thankful to Him.

Reading the Classics: CS Lewis' Mere Christianity- Book One

Mere Christianity is a collection of talks Lewis gave over the radio in London during the Second World War. The larger book is divided into four sections or books. Book One is plainly titled "Right and Wrong as a Clue to the Meaning of the Universe." It has five chapters. I'll briefly comment on each one.

Chapter 1: The Law of Human Nature
Lewis argues that everyone in the world has a sense of right and wrong. There is general agreement on what is good and what is bad. He then makes the point that we do not follow this sense of right and wrong (he calls it a Law of Nature and later calls it Moral Law and other things).

As I read this chapter, I thought of Romans 2:14-16 which reminds us that though there may be those who do not have God's written law and know it explicitly, because we are created in the image of God, His law is pressed into our consciences. A very good place to begin an argument for basic Christianity-- no one can argue that there is a fundamental right and wrong, no matter how hard they try. If they do, simply violate or do violence toward them, and they will immediately cry out for justice. Moral relativists are moral relativists only so long as relativism works for them and not against them.

Chapter 2: Some Objections
Moral relativists will object to any notion of a universal right and wrong. This chapter deals with that objection.

Chapter 3: The Reality of the Law
Lewis makes a very good point that while all people instinctively know the law of moral behavior, no one keeps it perfectly. I think this is a great jumping off point to show that all people are corrupt and, in theological terms, depraved. And because we don't keep it perfectly and yet it still remains, Lewis argues the Moral Law is something that exists outside of us-- it is not something we create. In other words, the reality of right and wrong, good and evil is transcendent above us.

Chapter 4: What Lies Behind the Law
Lewis argues there are two views for the origin of the universe. The first is the materialist view which says that everything has simply existed and everything has happened through evolutionary processes. The other view is the religious view that holds something caused and directed creation. This fits perfectly with the truth in Hebrews 11:1-3. Whichever view you hold, either a materialist view or a religious view, you are taking by faith. And since the Moral Law really exists, it points to a religious view of the origin of all things. SOMETHING (or SOMEONE) has made us and has impressed in our consciences a sense of what is really right and what is really wrong.

Lewis is quick to point out, probably to help unbelievers from ignoring the rest of what he had to say, that this belief in SOMETHING or SOMEONE is not the same thing as believing in the Christian God. I think this is a really outstanding point. Many people are religious. They know there is something or someone out there. But they don't know what or who it is. They have some vague notion and call it "God." They believe in a "god" but not THE GOD of Scripture. There is a huge difference. This explains why so many people claim to believe in God and even in Jesus, but their lives do not reflect such belief.

At the end of this chapter, Lewis offers a note that there is a middle view between materialism and religion. He calls it Life-Force Philosophy or Creative Evolution or Emergent Evolution. I'm not sure, but this view could be similar to Deism. Lewis writes,

"One reason why many people find Creative Evolution so attractive is that it gives one much of the emotional comfort of believing in God and none of the less pleasant consequences... The Life-Force is a sort of tame God. You can switch it on when you want, but it will not bother you."

This is the "god" most people worship. They want a god to make them feel good, a god who will fix things, but never a god they must give an account to. This is the wimpy no-god of many religious secularists.

Chapter 5: We Have a Cause to be Uneasy
Despite the desire to have a tame god, the reality is, if God really exists and if God really pressed into our consciences the Moral Law, then we have much to fear. Again, Lewis writes:

The Moral Law does not give us any grounds for thinking that God is 'good' in the sense of being indulgent, or soft, or sympathetic. There is nothing indulgent about the Moral Law. It is as hard as nails. It tells you to do the straight thing and it does not seem to care how painful, or dangerous, or difficult it is to do. If God is like the Moral Law, then He is not soft.

He goes on to write,

If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts in the long run are hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We cannot do without it, and we cannot do with it. God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies.

Lewis has spent five chapters building and laying the foundation to get to this point. He argues that instinctively we know there is a god because we know there is good and evil and the Moral Law. And we know we are in trouble because we don't keep the moral law. We now know we have a serious problem and Christianity is now poised to show us what needs to happen.

These section is properly called "pre-evangelism." Lewis has not yet outlined Biblical revelation or the Christian Gospel. But he has shown us that:

1) There is a God, even though He has not yet shown us who that God is.

2) We know there is a God because we know there is a Moral Law.

3) No one perfectly keeps the moral law and so therefore we are all in some kind of trouble.

I'm looking forward to Book Two-- What Christians Believe. But for now, I think Lewis provides a helpful way of doing "pre-evangelism." One of the biggest problems in evangelistic work is "getting people lost." If people do not know or understand there is a problem, why would they look for a solution. The Christian Gospel begins with repentance and forgiveness. Until we help people understand why this is important, they never will repent nor will they seek forgiveness.

Our Amazing God

"God's power can bring life out of death, something out of nothing; resurrection and creation are easy to him."
~ Thomas Manton, from a sermon on Romans 4:18-20

5 Favorite Board Games

For something fun and frivolous, here are my five favorite board games:

1. Risk and Risk 2210 AD -- Awesome strategy games that make for hours of fun. Unfortunately, Sarah hates Risk, so I don't get to play very often. So, let me know if you want to play!

2. Checkers -- Yes, the simple, classic game. I played checkers with my grandparents all the time. I love it.

3. Pente -- My sister gave this game to me several years ago. It is a lot of fun and I like playing it.

4. Trivial Pursuit -- Because I am a nerd and love the trivial. Except Arts and Entertainment. I hate those questions.

5. Yatzee and Farkel -- Technically not board games, but still a lot of fun. Luck and strategy play a part in these dice games.

EDIT: How could I forget Monopoly? It's like Risk, but with money.

Sin and Pleasing God

I'm reading R.C. Sproul's book Pleasing God and finding it very encouraging and helpful.

Here are two quotes I especially appreciate:

As an accuser of God's people, Satan can disguise himself as the Holy Spirit and bury us in a quagmire of moral confusion. He can make us feel good when we should feel guilty and make us feel guilt when we should be at peace. (p. 103)

........

We please God when we resist temptation and do not sin. Certainly part of our maturing in the Lord is to do this more and more. But we do sin, again and again, and as we grow in the Lord we become even more conscious of how many ways we can find to sin against God and others. But part of our growth is becoming more and more sure of God's acceptance of us. He does not save us because of our spotless lives, but because we are clothed in Christ's righteous garments. Our awareness of our sin is painful indeed, but it is a sweet pain that drives us into the arms of the loving Father. We please Him when we do not leave His side, as Satan the tempter would have us do. We also please Him when we return to Him, something Satan the accuser does his best to prevent. When Satan whispers to the believe, "You, with all your sin, can't be pleasing to God," the believer replies, "Ah, but I am. To God be the glory." (p. 110)