Resound

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

If you could boil your life down to one thing, what would it be? What is the repeated, prolonged echo that fills your life?

My hope for you today, because this is the will of God, is that this one thing in your life is love. Strip everything else away, all other motivations, all other callings, all other attitudes, and I hope that we would find love in each one of us today.

You might wonder why love is so important. Well, it’s because everything we do, no matter how wonderful or good, is worthless if it doesn’t come from love in our hearts.

That’s quite a challenge for us as we approach the topic of marriage, isn’t it? I mean, look at an average day and tell me, is everything you do for even one day toward your spouse motivated by love?

Well, what does that look like, Bob? I can tell you, because 1 Corinthians 13 tells us. I encourage you to read it in full, but let me boil it down by saying this-the opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is selfishness.

Love is a choice we make to pursue another person, to seek their benefit above our own. This choice requires us to shape our actions and guard our heart with our spouse in mind, considering them to be of more consequence than ourselves.

Chances are good, however, that this has not always been our experience, either with our spouses or with other people in our lives. All of us come into our marriages as damaged goods, so to speak, to one degree or another. This is why it is vital for us to remember one of love’s most important keys-forgiveness.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean that what’s happened in the past was right or that those who have hurt us are off the hook, but it does mean it’s out of your heart. It releases us from the past so that we can freely enter a good future.

What future is that, you ask? Isaiah 60:1,7 tells us, Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you…and I will glorify the house of My glory.

Your future and the future of your marriage is that God wants to glorify you and make you the example marriage on your block, so that everyone will wonder what you have figured out that they need.

All this will happen, but only when we make our lives about love. What is your life about today?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You are the God of love and I am Your child. I choose to forgive those who have hurt me and ask that You would heal my heart so that I can freely love as You created me to do.

Amen

Re-Tooled

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27

What do you need to be a good leader in your home? In case you’ve ever asked this question, the Bible gives us some very clear qualities, and all of them are based in the character of God Himself.

The first quality of a good household leader is Biblical love. This love is way different from the Cupid love that is running rampant in our society. Here are the differences:

Cupid love is based on emotions. You don’t choose love; you just get shot with it. You see the girl across the room and she looks back at you and-WHAM!-you love each other. Then you get into a relationship with each other and go through the ups and downs, falling in and out of love, feeling betrayed over and over as you ride the waves of emotion.

Biblical love is a choice to commit. It is a covenant promise to seek the benefit of the other person before your own, to lay your life down to make your spouse’s life all God made it to be. It is not void of emotion (and is in fact very emotional), but it weathers the emotional ups and downs because it is founded on something far greater-a choice made before God.

The second quality of a good household leader is that you lead by the Word of God. The guidebook and roadmap for your family had better be the Bible.

A lot of men complain about their wives having all sorts of problems. I don’t know if you realize this, but look at our verses today-Jesus washes His bride with the pure water of the Word so that He can present to Himself a glorious bride. It is your job to wash your wife in the Word, leading her into godliness so that you can present yourself with a glorious bride. This is not giving you permission to accuse her of all her faults, but instead to gently lead her into godliness.

Maybe you say that your wife knows the Word better than you do. That might be true, but that only means it’s time for you to learn. Nothing excuses you from the place of leadership to which God has called you and for which He will hold you accountable.

These are God’s qualities for household leadership. Will you learn them?

Prayer Father God,

You are the best example of household leadership there could ever be! Please help me to grow in love and in Your Word, so that I can lead my family into all You call us to be. Especially in my marriage, God, please help me to lead with confidence according to Your will.

Amen

Recommitment

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because he has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.’ … And He began to say to them, Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’ Luke 4:18-19,21

Have you ever put the wrong foot forward? You might say that Jesus did, at least if you look at the way He introduced His ministry.

Our verses for today tell us what Jesus said when He announced His ministry to His hometown of Nazareth. He went on from there to talk about times when God sent His prophets to gentiles because no one would receive them in Israel. The people responded by chasing Jesus out of town to throw Him off a cliff, only to have Him walk right through them and continue in ministry.

You can easily imagine an older man sitting next to Jesus giving Him an elbow, saying, You’d better keep your mouth shut, young man. You don’t understand what you’re saying!

But we all know that would be bad advice, wouldn’t it? There is a lot of bad advice out there when it comes to marriage, but God has some good advice for us today that will help us. First, you don’t have to be married to be faithful to your marriage. Begin today to pray for your spouse, whether you’re already married or not, and set yourself to remain pure for them in heart and body. Remember, the price you pay for your purity is the value of what you give your spouse-don’t cheapen it by giving yourself away early or letting yourself stray from your vows. Second, who you are right now is what you bring to your marriage. Jesus didn’t try to disguise who He was to be accepted in His hometown church; He was genuine. We need to be genuine, too. Marriage does not change us. Transitions in life change us. Change changes us.

But we need to let Jesus change us into who He created us to be.

Third, look to Jesus for the things He proclaimed in these verses. All of us need some-

thing here, and any of these things keeps us from the life and marriage God desires for us. Follow this advice and it will make not only your marriage stronger, but your life better.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for the incredible things You do for us! Please come and do what You spoke in my life so that I can be the best person and spouse, living the best life, just as You created me to be.

Amen

Weighing What We Say

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1

How many times have you said something like, Oh, I shouldn’t have said that. That was not the right thing to say. Saying that actually made things so much worse. I was an idiot for saying that.

Have you ever felt that way before?

Or you’re like this, Why did I hit send? Can I unwind that? Can I rewind? Can I delete hitting send? I shouldn’t have hit send so quickly.

Do we fully consider the weight of our words? Do we weigh what we say? Honestly, you know what? I think oftentimes we say before we weigh, but it should be the reverse, right?

You know what? Instead of saying it and then weighing it, what would be much better would be to weigh it before we say it-really considering the weight of our words.

And I think weight certainly could be spelled both ways. There is a weight that comes attached to the words that flow out of your mouth. But maybe what we need to do is wait before we speak, to just wait on the Lord and pray over what our lips end up pronouncing.

Granted, we’ve all said things that we regret, okay? In fact, our verses today come from a letter in the Bible written to repair some broken relationships that existed between the Apostle Paul and the church in Corinth. And that rift in the relationship took place because of some wrong words that were used.

Let me just give you the formula on this deal: Wrong words that flow from wrong intentions are always going to result in a wrong outcome.

And that’s happened. It’s happened to you and me and Paul and Corinth. That’s why Paul writes.

Yet here’s the good news: Right words-in fact, we’ll quote a great verse here-Words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in settings of silver (Proverbs 25:11).

This is a really cool deal. It’s what can happen when we choose the right words. Right words that flow from the right intentions will always produce the right outcome. It will get what’s broken back on track. It will fix it.

If you’ve used some wrong words, it’s not too late. Weigh what you say and use some right words so that what has been broken can begin being fixed.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You for helping me to understand how powerful my words are! Now please cleanse my heart and help me to weigh what I say, to speak words fitly spoken, so that my words always produce the right outcomes.

Amen

Getting Plowed

Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow…He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Mark 4:3,9

Have you checked your heart lately? It could be that your heart isn’t in as good of condition as you think it is.

I am not talking about your cardiovascular health. I am talking about whether your heart is in the right condition for God to be able to speak to you!

Jesus compared our hearts to four different types of soil, and if we are not careful then we can find that our hearts have become unfruitful for the work of God’s kingdom.

What is often overlooked in this parable, however, is the sower. Did you ever notice that there is only one sower? The sower is the Holy Spirit. And though He uses knuckleheaded people to get the message out, it is important to recognize that it is the Holy Spirit trying to teach us God’s Word.

Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth. A pastor does the best job he can, but ultimately, he is only a tool of the Holy Spirit to help lead the body of Christ into all truth.

Our job is to listen. Have you been sitting in the pew, listening to the pastor preaching, when all of a sudden something he says strikes a chord deep inside you? In that moment, did you feel like something needed to change in your life? If so, then it wasn’t the pastor speaking to you; it was the Holy Spirit.

We need to have ears that hear. The key is believing that while some human is talking up front, the God of the Universe may butt in and sow seed into our heart.

Will the Sower find good soil in your heart? The answer depends on whether you are willing to hear.

Prayer Holy Spirit,

Thank You for leading me into all truth! Help me to hear Your promptings and to keep my heart prepared to receive the seed You sow.

Amen

Being Wise in Foolish Times

Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice?…She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors:…Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold; for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her. Proverbs 8:1-3,10-11

Can you hear her? Of course you can; she’s everywhere. The real question is whether you’re listening.

So many of us, especially in the last few years, have faced moments when we needed wisdom. Trying times force us to make difficult decisions, and in that moment it doesn’t matter how much you know because right then what matters is what we do with what we know.

What do I do? I need direction. I need advice. I need help. I need counsel. These are the words of someone who needs wisdom. Should I move? Should I take that job? Which college should I go to? Is buying that house the right decision right now? Is this person really the one I should marry? Should we send our kids to public school, private school, or homeschool?

And a lot of us, when we’re asking these kinds of questions, we want the answer to be quick, easy, and painless. So for all of us in this journey of life, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that wisdom is simple to understand and eager to help you. The bad news is that you will have to reprioritize your life to find her or her words won’t make any sense to you.

If you desire wisdom more than anything else, she’ll speak to you and teach you under-

standing. But if you think you can just pop into her storefront, grab your pat answer, and ditch her until your next need, then forget it. Wisdom knows the value of what she has and who she is. She is not going to give herself away to someone who doesn’t value her the same way she does.

In other words, wisdom wants to help you, but if you think gold, silver, precious stones, fancy clothes, great cars, and all this world has to offer are better than her, then you won’t understand a word she says.

Instead, choose to fear God above all else, more than what might happen if you don’t take that new job, buy that new house, or end up at the wrong college. Then, because you fear Him, seek His wisdom and will in everything you do. Then, finally, you will understand wisdom and have all the counsel you need for every decision.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I really need wisdom, so I thank You that You are all the wisdom I need! I choose to seek You first and value wisdom above anything I could find in this world. Please teach me to understand her voice as she daily speaks into my life!

Amen

Preparing for the End

Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation. But this I say: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:5-6

There are certain cardinal don’ts of the Christmas season. Don’t shout. Don’t cry. Don’t pout. Why? Because Santa Claus is coming to town!

While the Christmas season is behind us, Someone else will soon be coming to town, and His name is Jesus. And just as with Christmas, there are a few important don’ts for us to observe while we await His coming.

First, don’t freak out. Just look at the last few years-the Arab Spring, the Japan earthquake and tsunami, the ups and downs of the world economy-they have been filled with upheaval. With all this going on, people around us are going to feel anxiety about the future, but we shouldn’t. We should have peace because we have Jesus. And when people ask us why we’re so calm, Jesus is the answer.

Don’t be deceived. In the last days, which we are in, there is going to be a great falling away. This means that people who used to call themselves Christians decide to stop believing in Jesus. It means that many Christians are going to be deceived by a lie that steals them from the truth. Don’t let it be you.

Don’t let anyone steal your identity in the Lord. In the end, the anti-Christ will call himself God, exalting himself above everything that’s worshiped, but not for long. Jesus will come and destroy him with the breath of His mouth! Make sure you’re on the right side of that battle. Stay firm in the Lord.

Don’t be stubborn, don’t be stupid. Don’t be one of those people who hear the truth of God’s love for you and refuse to receive it. I mean, you have to be deceived by something to hear about love like God has for you and reject it. His love is so big, so deep, so penetrating, so transforming; I really am afraid for those who reject this love.

And that gets us to the bottom line today-God’s love. Let God’s love give you peace. Let God’s love hold you in His truth. Let God’s love define who you are in Him. Receive His love now, today, and every day for the rest of your life until Jesus comes to town.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for loving me! I want to receive Your love today and always! I believe Your love for me and invite You to lead me in Your love every day for the rest of my life.

Amen