Love without Compromise - week 4 : Happy Valentine's Day

Good morning and Happy Valentine's Day!

John 13 : "They will know you are my disciples if you love one another".

For the last few weeks we have been talking about love.  Specifically, "love without compromise".  How God loves us without compromise, how we need to love Him without compromise and love others without compromise, and how love without compromise is so "not of this world".

This topic is so close to the heart of God, because God IS love.  His message is love.  His son died for love and we will be saved if we believe - because He loves us.  And today, Valentine's Day is a day that celebrates love.

Now my husband, as romantic as he is, says that Valentine's Day was made up by the greeting card companies to sell more cards.  And, if that's true, then maybe all Valentine's Day is is a worldly holiday that, let's face it - isn't even really a holiday because nobody gets the day off for Valentine's Day.  But, even if this is true about the origin of Valentine's Day, it wouldn't be what it is if no one cared about love.  I think it's a good thing that we have a day to celebrate love... except that the way the world sees love is so different than what real love is.  Valentine's Day is mostly recognized by flowers and chocolates, romantic lingerie maybe, a nice night out together - all good things, but these things do not nearly live up to the depth and the width of what riches real love holds.

I like how Paul in Ephesians 3:14-19 puts it:
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

But, in the Message translation, it is even more clear:
My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength—that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

This is what real love is.  Something you can root yourself in.  Something you can stand on without fear of it crumbling beneath your feet.  This kind of love surpasses knowledge.

The logo of Valentine's Day is the heart.

The shape of the heart is a symbol of the organ in our body which pumps life-giving blood to the rest of our body.  It is quite miraculous how the heart keeps going on its own.  The heart is also where we talk about feelings coming from, where our love resides, where we care and where our passions lie.  These things all take place in our heart.  

And the Bible has a lot to say about our hearts.  But so does the world.  How many times have you heard, "Follow your heart"?  In fact, it was the title of this year's Disney on Ice show.  It is the anthem that tells us that we should do what our heart tells us.  And this is totally accepted by society.  However, the Bible tells us differently.  The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?"  

So if the heart is so deceitful, then why would we ever want to follow it?  We recognize that there is a difference between brain and heart.  They are connected, but it seems that brain operates without emotion.  The feeling part comes from the heart.  It also seems as though thoughts and ideas in the mind can change, but once something gets into your heart, it is much more difficult to change.

On Thursday when we had a snow day, the girls and I picked an appropriate movie, and we watched "Frozen".  If you've never seen the movie, it is about two sisters, and it is about love.  There are a lot of great things about this movie.  But probably my favorite part is when the king and queen bring their daughters to the grandaddy troll to heal Anna, and he tells them, "The heart is not so easily changed, but the head can be persuaded."  Thank you for your wisdom, Papa Troll.  And what does Elsa realize in the end of the movie??  "Only love can thaw a frozen heart".

I believe one of the most important scriptures in the Bible is Proverbs 4:23 which says, "Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."  We have to be careful what we let into our hearts.  We have to protect our hearts from becoming hard.  Once our hearts are hard, we can no longer let God - or people in.  And all that comes from our heart will be influenced by the hurt and hardness that we have let in.  So, we need to guard our hearts from being changed by the world, and let Jesus in so that He rules in our lives.  Because once Jesus gets to your heart, there's no getting Him out.

“The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear.“ Psalm 27:1,3

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped.” Psalm 28:7

Heavenly Father,
We praise you and we love you.  We thank you for all the blessings we have in this life, and we look forward to the day when we can live fully embraced by you in Heaven.  Thank you for Valentine's Day and the opportunity to celebrate love together.  Thank you for these women of the chapel, and our teachers and these great Bible studies we get to be involved in.  Help us to protect our hearts and remain rooted in you.  Lord, change us from the inside out and transform us into the people that you have designed us to be.  Help us to put on the full armor of God - and especially the breastplate of righteousness, so that our hearts will be protected by our faith and obedience to you.  Please bless us to be a light to the world that so desperately needs you.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Love without Compromise - week 3

God has loved us and does love us and will love us with a fatherly love that is so perfect we can't even fully comprehend it because we do not know how to love perfectly in this flesh.  He has made us His own children, His beloved.

Yes, sometimes in His infinite wisdom He sees fit to let us suffer, but this is not to punish us.  It is not because He is cruel.  Our Lord and Father in Heaven knows what we need and He desires for us to grow closer to Him, for us to know His love, for us to recognize His voice.  He sees the big picture and sometimes what looks like a harsh restriction or a painful loss is actually a protection, a redirection, that can put our feet back on the right path toward goodness and wholeness.

Has anyone ever desired anything so badly and felt that God was withholding it from them?  Has there ever been a goal that you've worked tirelessly for and then right as it is in your grasp, it slips through your fingertips?  Has anyone felt the loss of a relationship or dreams they have held on to?  Have you ever been blindsided by a tragedy in your life that you never saw coming?  Have you ever doubted God in these times or resisted His goodness and His protection?

I was out at the commissary yesterday with my three girls, and there were no "car carts" available so I had a regular cart, and I put the two-year-old in the seat part, and my six-year-old and four-year-old walked through the store with me.  On the way back to the car, I was getting the girls situated and putting groceries into the trunk, when my four-year-old changed her course from heading to her side of the car, to walking out into the parking lot.  And as I watched her wander into the open street, I saw a Cadillac on its way toward her.  So out of my love and desire to protect her, I grabbed her by the arm of her jacket and pulled her back into me between the cars where she was safe.  Immediately, she pulled away from me, trying to continue her course for destruction.  I of course, did not let her go, but pulled harder and firmly grasped her so that she could not pull away.  I told her she could not go into the parking lot and that a car was coming, and she insisted angrily with me that she was not headed for the parking lot (although clearly she was) and that there were no cars coming that she could see.  And in that moment, I was ok with her being mad at me.  I could see the big picture and she couldn't.  Out of my love for her and my ability to see what could happen if she continued in that direction, I used the power I had to protect her and re-direct her to me, to where she was safe from harm.

If I can see that as a mother, that I am willing for my child to be angry with me so that I can protect her, even when she doesn't see the problem, then I can only imagine what it must be like from God's perspective when He looks on us and the predicaments we can get ourselves in.  It might not be on purpose, and we may believe whatever we are doing is the good thing, the right thing, but we also might not see the car coming.  God sees it all.  He knows all.  He sees where we are headed and He is willing and able to use any means necessary to get us on the right path back to Him where we are safe.  He's even willing to risk us being mad at Him.

This is love without compromise.  This is the love of God that the world doesn't understand.  This is perfect, fatherly love that is holding on to us even when we are pulling away.  This fatherly love that is willing to withhold good things to get us to the great things.  Our Father knows that pain and suffering are important tools to grow His children and that discipline is not done out of harshness and punishment, but out of love and wisdom.  Our Lord does not want us to suffer forever, but sometimes its our suffering in this life that will bring us to a place where we can trust God more, that we are willing to let go of some things, and be more free to love God and love others.

And when we understand How God loves us, how He is not afraid if we get angry with Him because He cares for us so much, we can learn to love others with a similar love.  We can be better mothers when we see that telling our children, "no" once in a while is not a bad thing, and discipline teaches them that we love them because we do not allow them to grow into disobedient, disrespectful adults.  We can be better friends because we might find the courage to have a difficult talk with someone - at the risk of them becoming angry or offended, but we care about their well-being more than how they feel about us in that moment.  And we can realize that God never gives up on us, so we should never give up on Him.  When we truly realize that it is our sin - all of our sins - that put Jesus on the cross, and He still willingly died for all of us - that there are people who will never choose Him, that spit in His face daily, but He still died for them as well.  That is a love without compromise.  Who am I to question God when He tells me no?  Who am I to doubt His love and care and protection for me when He pulls me away from something I'm after?  Don't I know that His uncompromising love is perfect and good?  Don't I know that He is the God that has thoughts nothing like my thoughts and ways far above my ways?  Don't I believe that His plans for me are beyond what I can see and that He knows better?

And, can I love others like this?  Can I put their needs before my own?  Can I risk them being mad at me to help re-direct them to where it is safe?  Can I put down my own wants and desires to just be there for someone who needs me?  Can I choose love over sin?  Mercy over judgement?  Can I give all I have to help others?  Can I lay down my life for my friends?  For my neighbors?  My co-workers?  My husband?  My kids?  Can I lay down my life for the one who laid down His life for me?  Can I love without compromise?

Read: 1 John 5

Heavenly Father,
Lord our God you are amazing.  You are wonderful and awesome.  Nothing compares to you.  When we look to you, all of the troubles of this Earth melt away because you are good and you are love and you are not of this world.  We are thankful that you have loved us with an everlasting love.  We thank you that your mercy is sufficient for us, that in our weakness, your strength is perfected and your ways prevail, and no matter what we do to try to pull away from you, you are holding on to us.  Your word says that you will be with us until the end, and we ask that you help us to always remember that you are with us.  Help us to look for your wonderful face in times of tragedy, in times of pain, and help us to also look to you and rejoice in times of gladness.  Father grow us in our faith so that we do not despair when things don't go how we would like, but we are encouraged because we know you have a better plan.  Help us to believe in your uncompromising love and make us fit to show that kind of love to those around us.  Make us fearless, remind us that we have the Lord of Heaven's armies covering us in His mighty wings.  Help us to love you without compromise, help us to love others without compromise.  Keep us away from anything that might take your place in our hearts.  Be among us today as we study your word and fellowship with one another.  Keep us filled with your Holy Spirit, and bless us to be Holy and righteous before you.  Thank you for this group of women, and for the chapel and this ministry.  I pray that you would take what is done here and multiply it beyond what we can see.  Thank you for loving us without compromise.  In Jesus' Holy name we pray, Amen.