We
know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone
who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a
murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
This
is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we
ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a
brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be
in that person? Dear children, let us
not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
1
John 3:14-18
Here we return to the heart of the matter. When Jesus truly lives in us real
transformation takes place. We take on
the heart and mind of Jesus. We become
more like Him. We are conformed to His
very image. Jesus laid down his life for
us, and we are called to lay down our lives for others.
But, the transformation does not result
from the strength of our will, our determination or even our self-discipline. It is Jesus whose exposes us to his refining
fire, slowly and methodically separating the impurities and leaving behind
hearts of pure gold and pure silver. It
is Jesus himself who changes us.
In a very real sense, when we answer the
call to serve him, our love for other people becomes the proxy for our love for
Jesus. “Whatever you did for the least
of these …” must ring through our ears – like that song that we never seem to
be able to get out of our head.
I remember well the moment that Jesus
called me into His service. Bishop Jack DeHart
was praying for me in front of the church.
God’s presence was so real in that moment, and I can remember praying
that God would use me – and specifically that he would bring me into his
army. I don’t know why I used those
words. Perhaps I was thinking of the
words from a hymn from my childhood … “onward Christian soldiers.” Perhaps the Spirit of God was reminding me
that He is Adonai Tzva’ot – the Lord
of armies.
It would not be until years later that I
became “officially” involved in “ministry.”
More accurately, it would not be until years later that ministry found
me. I had no desire or even thought of
ever being on staff at a church. But that
day was still the turning point.
That day my life was changed forever … even if I didn’t realize
in that moment how profoundly it had and would change in in the future.
I hope that all of us who truly follow
Jesus have had those kinds of moments in our lives. In fact, I actually think that most of us
have had many of those moments. That
Sunday or church camp or whatever, when you were thinking business as usual but
God showed up in a way that was anything but usual. That moment when he was so overwhelming that
you wanted to devote everything in your life to him.
Just think about what that moment was like
for Isaiah!
In
the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a
throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him
were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces,
with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were
calling to one another:
“Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At
the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was
filled with smoke.
“Woe
to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among
a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Then
one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken
with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and
said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin
atoned for.”
Then
I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for
us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Isaiah 6:1-8
How do we know that those are experiences
are real? And how do we know that Jesus
is really in us? What is the litmus
test? I would say it starts with our love
for others. We begin to love in a way
that is so much more than the words coming out of our mouths. It is love that expresses itself in action and
in truth. It is patient and kind. It
does not envy or boast, and it is not proud. It does not dishonor others and, in sharp
contrast to our world today, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, and it keeps no
record of wrongs – it is forgiving and merciful. “It always protects, always
trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.” It never fails.
And, by the way, I for one am grateful
that love is always patient. I thank God
that he is patient with me.
I am grateful that he waited so long for me to be ready, when it would
have been so much easier to give up on me long ago.
As we continue on this journey together, I
do think it important to celebrate the change God has already made in our lives
– instead of either wallowing in our guilt from the past or being overwhelmed
by the thought of how much further we have to go. (Although either of those is probably better
than complacency or thinking we have already arrived!!)
Let’s praise God for what he has already
done, and look forward with hopeful expectation to the work he has yet to do in
each of us!
I
want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and
participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and
so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all
this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that
for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters,
I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward
the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ
Jesus.
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