Skip to main content

A Morning View From the Wood Stove

In our world there is a constant battle of selfishness going on. It is everywhere. Self seeking, self promoting and self fulfillment. Politics, religion, families and personal life are not exempt from this selfishness. How about how we lead? What are the motives? Do we make decisions built around selfish motives? Are friendships built around selfish gain or selfless sacrifice? Is your family divided over selfishness?
Love is a word used often in our culture. Poetry is written all about love. The topic of love dominates Classical, Pop, Rock and Roll, Country and all music. Love is popular, yet is love really understood? Love is a beautiful emotion, you know, I wouldn't say emotion. Love is a beautiful characteristic of who we are created to be. Perhaps love is the core of who we are and God built the rest of our humanness around the Soul Spirit of such love.
Growing up I was surrounded by the word love. I was taught God is love. In the front of the church I attended, above the baptistry, the words "Love Never Fails" were written on the wall. We seek love in all we do. The Greek language explains love so much better than the English language does. There are 6 words to describe love. Please take time to research and understand them. The point as I write is it becomes so easy to live into simple shallow love and use words for selfish gain. It also becomes so easy to avoid and reject love because of the risk involved. In our creation, redemption and search for perfection we should be able to be the full creation of love we are intended to become. Love for selfish gain is shallow and deeply harmful. Selfless love is who we are created to be.
John Wesley believed we could become perfect in love in this life. If Jesus invites us to seek perfection, perfect love is possible. He didn't mean we would be free from mistakes, temptation or failure. Love is risky and can deeply hurt and yet there is nothing greater than authentic deep love for another.
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” - 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 NLT
Peace,
PB

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Morning View From the Porch at Lakeside

I typically am not a big breakfast eater. Every year at Lakeside for Annual Conference there is a group of men who invite me to breakfast at The Patio. Every year I go one time and enjoy talking and joking with this group and every year I order the same breakfast, a plain toasted bagel with cream cheese and a glass of water. It is tradition, you know! I often get asked why I do not order something different? My answer is, "if something is good and satisfies my hunger, why should I order something different? Besides, I like a plain toasted bagel with cream cheese!"  I wonder why some people have a salvation experience with Jesus Christ but wander away from the most amazing relationship possible with the Creator of all? They seem to have a taste for many different flavors of seeking to fulfill their Spirit hole in their lives. Often people bounce from one religious experience to another without a deep connection and commitment. They order something different from the menu each ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Morning View By the Patio

When I was a young boy we lived in the country and I had to become very creative in how I played. Much of the time I was alone and hd to create imaginary situations so that there were "others" around me. I would also "become" someone else and emulate everything they did. I would know them, study them and learn all I possibly could about them and then become them. One of the people I "became" was Wilt the "Stilt" Chamberlain. At the time he was a famous Los Angeles Laker NBA star. I always wanted to become Wilt. I practiced his famous hook shot, watched him play on TV and learned all of his moves. I had some of the most amazing NBA battles all alone in my uneven gravel driveway. In my mind I was Wilt the "Stilt" Chamberlain. There were a few drawbacks in becoming Wilt. First, my skin pigment was as white as could be. Wilt was African American and I was never going to become Wilt. Second, Wilt was over 7 feet tall. At my peak of vertica...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Morning View From the Patio

I have been gently encouraged by someone who was nudged by the Lord to make a list for the next week of positive characteristics which make me who I am.   Today I begin with compassion. I truly strive to be compassionate with everyone I encounter. I desire to reach out and care when others are struggling. Even if I encounter someone who has hurt me in the past or I may not connect with, I try to put aside differences and find a way to share compassion with them. After all, Jesus was compassionate all the way to death. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Peace, PB
Post a Comment
Read more