Lay It All Down

It was really nice to follow the anxious uncertainty of Tuesday night’s election with the peace of prayer and worship on Wednesday night. We sang all the anxiety, fear, offense and anger out of our souls with lyrics like, “I'm gonna see a victory for the battle belongs to You Lord,” “Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the power, Yours is the glory forever, Amen,” and “All is for Your glory, all is for Your name, that in all things You may have the first place, that in all things You may have preeminence.”

We laid down the stress we’ve been carrying this year. We laid down our verbal defenses, and the argumentative ammunition we have stockpiled against those who are on the other side. We laid them down because Jesus came and asked us to. He asked us to disarm—to let go of all that we were holding onto with tightly closed fists. He asked us to do this so that He could fill our hands with His love. He wanted us to get rid of our anxiety and anger so that He could fill those places with His compassion and grace. He wanted us to put down our defenses so His love could come in and then go out from us to others. We went to the Father’s house and He both comforted us and reminded us of His command to love one another. 

This doesn’t mean we can’t disagree with others. There is definitely right and wrong. There is Biblical and non-Biblical. There is good fruit and bad fruit. There are good ideas and philosophies, and harmful ideas and philosophies. But above it all, Jesus loved us and gave His life for us when we were totally caught up in harmful ideas and philosophies. We were at enmity with God, we were controlled by the devil and his deceitful schemes, and we were prideful and self-absorbed, hurting God and others without even caring. While we were still sinners, God rescued us, and He is remaking us into His image. Now He commands us to love and give our lives to the people who are caught up in those same old things. 

In order to help us get the love of Jesus into our souls, we sang lyrics like, “You gave your life, I’ll surrender mine. So take this heart, won’t you purify. I’ll raise my voice, I can’t help but sing of the sweetness of your love and your gracious offering.” And then, to finish the night, we thought of the people who have opposed us or hurt us or offended us. We thought of our nation and leaders. We thought of the rich and poor, black, white, and brown. We thought of the people who don’t know Jesus that He is asking us to share His love with, and we sang this over them: “The Lord bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace. May His favor be upon you and a thousand generations, and your family and your children and their children, and their children. Amen!”

I pray those same words over all of the Living Streams family. We need each other so desperately during this time. Our world needs for us to be united in Christ’s love and armed with His compassion and grace, and the truth that sets people free forevermore.

Please stay connected to Jesus, the True Vine, so we all can bear much good fruit in this time of great need. 

David

The Greatest is Love

Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas is here in Phoenix. The traffic has picked up around all the shops and the weather has dipped, leaving morning frost on the rooftops and windshields. By midday we enjoy sunny and 75º, and all the winter lawns are looking nice and green.

At my house, my wife is in full gift mode–which she is in most of the year–but now she does it with a joyous fervor. Our house has three Christmas trees up, paper snowflakes everywhere, and we are not allowed to go near certain rooms because one of our presents could be there. There also is a constant stream of holiday baking shows and Hallmark movies on our television. 

But with all this hustle, bustle and fun, we are having some good times with our kids, setting everything aside and learning about the Joy, Peace, Hope, and Love that Jesus brought with His advent. The Advent video series at thebibleproject.com has been very helpful. We had a great night the other night sitting in our tv room for a couple of hours without turning the tv on. We talked and played and quizzed. (For some reason my kids love it when I quiz them on geography. Weird kids.)

The last three Sundays at our church, we have focused on Joy, Peace, and Hope.

• We have seen how the Bible teaches that God is overflowing with Joy. “In His presence there is fullness (overflowing) joy.”

• We have read about Jesus being the Prince of Peace. “The greatness of His peace has no end, (overflowing).”

• And we have looked at some Biblical words to teach us what hope really is and how God is the God of Hope. “I pray that God, the source of hope, (overflowing) will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

Now, there is one that remains. It is the greatest of them all, and every other virtue finds its roots in Love. Just as with the other three, God is overflowing with love.

The best word we have in our shallow human language to describe the community of the trinity is love. “The fruit of the (trinitarian) Spirit is love.” The fierce and overflowing love that God has for the world is what caused Him to sacrificially give the one He loved most, so that we could know and enjoy His love in a personal and everlasting way. 

Today, and each day between now and Christmas, I would like for you to do three things:

1. Sit still for twenty minutes, away from the distraction of your phone, and ask God to tell you how He feels about you. Expect Him to speak in a still, small voice. Expect your wounded heart to have trouble receiving and believing what He says. Then, write it down, or tell someone about it to seal it in your heart and mind. 

2. Look though your contact list on your phone and find someone that you know needs to hear about the love of Jesus and invite them to church this Sunday.

3. Pray for me, that despite my shallow mind and feeble words, I will be able to communicate the wondrous love of God in a way that is easy to understand and impossible to run from. 

Jesus loves you!

David