LOVE

February is the month we celebrate those we love. Lovers, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, best friends.....you name it, if we love it we celebrate it this month. Candy, flowers, chocolate, jewlery, cards, fancy dinners and the list goes on. What part of the celebration that we obsess over do we find the characteristic of love as listed in the Love Chapter, I Corinthians 13?

The very first complete sentence in this chapter is "Love is patient." Not love is patient if or love is patient when. Simply, Love is patient. Period. No excuses or prerequisits. How well do you follow this simple statement? I know, for myself, that I don't follow it as well as I should. That's for sure. And that counts for every loved aspect of my life. Daughter, husband, dogs, friends, family, you name it.

Why would that be the first statement on the list? Before selfishness, envy, jealousy and so on. Amazing isn't it? Or maybe it's not very amazing at all. God knew the nature of the beast He created and knew that above all else we would need to be so very careful, sensitive, understanding and PATIENT! It really will make you stop and think for a moment when you are about to loose your cool and you think.....this person is driving me CRAZY! Take a deep breath, look to the Lord and be still in your heart while you let Christ take over.

Sunrise and Sunset

I am thinking about the night before Christ rose from the dead and the Resurrection Day. I wonder if the sunset of that evening prior to His resurrection is clipped in a scrapbook by God. What did the sky look like that evening? Was there a glorious mixture of purples for royalty, reds for the shed blood and sleek white clouds to show the upcoming pure cleansing which would then prevail from that day forward? Were the birds quiet that evening and the olive trees still against the sky? What did the sea of Galilee look like that evening? Were the tides low and the waves quiet ripples or were the seas crashing against the shore line in eager anticipation to feel Christs feet on their shores again?

And what of the sunrise on that glorious morning? The women had gone down to the tomb very early in the morning. ( Luke 24 ) I wonder if the sun had even come over the horizon yet. What time of the day did Christ rise from the dead? Was He out of the tomb as soon as the days had changed from one to the next or did He wait for a glimpse of daylight and the symphony of renewal that the Creation would pulse with upon His resurrection? How brightly did the sun shine that morning than it ever did before? The birds must have been singing, the insects and butterflies flitting around, the squirrels chittering, the fish leaping and the trees waving. No one must have noticed the change in nature that day as they tried to understand that Christ had done just what He had said He was going to do....Risen from the dead!

Review the story again with a new outlook. Put yourself in the shoes of the believers of that time and consider what you may have thought. This is a story that needs consideration every day of our Christian walks. Reminding us that He is the reason we have hope and joy!

Thank you Jesus for the new life you have given me and the day to celebrate each year your Resurrection!!

For body and Soul

We had an interesting study at our Wednesday night service. We talked about contamination of the spirit. It is one of those things that you know can happen but you don’t really think about it in depth until someone comes along and stops your thoughts and wakes you up. So we talked briefly about what kind of things contaminate the spirit. If you contaminate your body you contaminate your spirit. I find it interesting that we don’t tend to want to admit that. There are many things that contaminate our bodies. Drinking, smoking, drugs, eating foods that aren’t good for us, drinking soda and sugary beverages and then we see the emergence of habits that create poor situations. Gambling, watching shows on TV that question Christian morals and values, sitting on the computer rather than some form of exercise, hatred, jealousy, envy, discontentment, etc. There are so many things we could look at. Some are mild and some more severe, to be sure. What are you contaminating your spirit with?
Contamination doesn’t affect just your body or your spirit. It affects all the people you come in contact with. You alone in the Body of Christ are not alone. The things you battle every day effect the rest of the Body you come in contact with. You may not see it that way but it does. Perhaps you feel alone in your daily battles. Feeling alone is a powerful emotion, however, if you are part of the body of Christ and allow heartache and loneliness to dominate your thoughts, then you are contaminating yourself, which, as part of the Body of Christ, contaminates the rest of the body. You have rendered yourself damaged or perhaps even useless at this point. If your finger gets gangrene, it can’t be used like it used to be used. The body continues on with its regular processes and daily rituals but perhaps just not as well as it did before. It may be a small thing that you have a problem with and you think it doesn’t affect anyone but you. However, in the long run, someone has seen you as an example or has looked at you and you weren’t even conscious that they were and you have inadvertently effected their view of you and the Body of Christ. So, as a contaminated member of the \body of Christ you have withdrawn your talents and abilities or at least limited them. It may be as small as someone saw you outside of church and that is their impression now of you and your church family.
We talked about being imitators of God. How truly important that is. Take a look in Colossians 3:1-14. These verses are describing the things that will contaminate the spirit and then at the end of the verses it says what to put on to protect you and make yourself stronger. “…and have put on the new self, which is renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator…..Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against each other.”
For the much more difficult habits we all have that affect our physical beings, and then in turn also our spirits, we return once again to the art of submission. True relinquishing of our old selves to our new selves. Romans 8:9-12 It is amazing what Christ did for us. It would seem easy for us to switch our lives from old to new. It’s not that hard to live the old way, is it? Realizing that it is a battle everyday to live a righteous life. Joining life on the good side. No one ever said it was supposed to be easy, but I will tell you this. The faster you learn to give it all to Him, the easier you will sleep at night and the easier it will be to overcome your trials. “….but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master…” What a wonderful thought.

Are you going to make the Body stronger? What battle will you choose to fight?