Sermon Illustrations on Love — page 5

Great Love for Brethren and the Lost

Mark 4:26

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

| My Source:

| BEACON, Bellview church of Christ

| Volume XXVIII, #5, February 1, 1999

| Originally, SPIRITUAL SWORD, July 1979

|------------------------------

| Author: Wendell Winkler

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

GREAT LOVE FOR THE BRETHREN AND THE LOST --

by Wendell Winkler

God wants His church to grow. Such is apparent from the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32), the parable of the leaven (Matthew 13:33), and from the parable of spontaneous growth (Mark 4:26-29). Furthermore, such is evident from the figures of speech employed by the Lord to portray the true nature of His church. For example, the church is likened to a body (Ephesians 1:22-23). A body is a growing organism. It is a grow or die proposition. Then, Daniel prophesied that the kingdom would begin as a small stone and grow until it filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:31). However, it is growth that the Lord desires; not flamboyant mushrooming produced by shallow sensationalism, shallow emotionalism, and denominational gimmickry. The example and pattern for our growth is the New Testament, the Jerusalem church. It grew; and, oh how it grew (Acts 2:42, Acts 2:47; Acts 5:14; Acts 6:7)! When a religious body is not concerned with Bible authority, anything and everything can go; but, we are a people concerned with Bible authority! Accordingly, again we affirm that the New Testament church is the pattern and stimulus for our growth today; rather than some high-flying, emotionally charged denomination or religious cult.

Among the many factors contributing to the remarkable growth of the first century church was the fact that (1) they were united in love (Acts 4:31-33), and (2) they really loved the lost, resulting in their being evangelistically zealous (Acts 5:42; Acts 8:1-4). Now, let us observe these two factors separately.

PART ONE: Great Love for the Brethren

I. The Necessity of Brotherly Love.

01. It is a badge of discipleship (John 13:35).

02. It is a command (John 15:12; John 13:34; 1 John 4:21).

03. It is supreme (1 Peter 4:8).

04. It is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:8-10).

05. It must be practiced to prevent stumbling (1 John 2:10).

06. We must practice it to be in the light (1 John 2:9,1 John 2:11).

07. It is a mark of divine sonship (1 John 3:10).

08. It is a mark of conversion and spiritual life (1 John 3:14).

09. Without it we are murderers (John 3:15).

10. We must practice it to be of God, to be born of God, and to know God (1 John 4:7-8).

11. We should love one another because God loved us (1 John 4:11).

12. We must love one another for God to dwell in us and His love to be perfected in us (1 John 4:12).

13. We cannot love God without it (1 John 4:20; 1 John 5:1-2).

II. The Nature of Brotherly Love…

01. We must love one another as the Lord loved us (John 13:34; John 15:12). He loved us enough to give His life (John 3:16).

02. We are to love one another as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39).

03. We are to love one another fervently (1 Peter 1:22; 4:8).

04. We are to love one another genuinely (1 Peter 1:22-23).

05. We are to love one another with a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22-23). Our hearts are to be pure from envy, malice, hatred, animosity, jealousy, ill will, etc.

06. We are to love one another in deed and not in word only (1 John 3:17-18).

07. An analysis of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 will help us to understand the action of our love toward our brethren.

PART TWO: Great Love for the Lost

I. Examples of Those Who Possess a Great Love for the Lost…

01. God and Christ. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

02. Paul. So deep and abiding was his love for the lost that he penned: “I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren” (Romans 9:1-3).

03. Jeremiah. Being so passionately concerned for his lost brethren, Jeremiah exclaimed, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jeremiah 9:1).

II. What Will We Obtain When We Possess A Great Love for the Lost?

01. We will seek opportunities. A courting couple will seek every opportunity to be together. Why? Because they love one another. In like manner, when we really love the lost, we will seek every opportunity possible to reach them with the gospel of Christ.

02. We will see the lost and not the cost. Why will a mother and father sacrifice every material possession they have in the interest of a very sick child, seeking medical aid from every location and physician of whom they hear, and from whom they receive one ray of encouraging hope? It is because of their great and undying love for their child. In like manner, when we really love the lost we will not spend so much time in business meetings talking about the cost. Rather, we will be discussing ways and means by which we can motivate each other to be more liberal in giving, as well as devising scriptural methods by which we can effectively reach the lost.

03. We will pray. It is no marvel that we read the Lord’s lengthy prayer in John 17, when we have already when we have already read in chapter 13 and verse 1 that “he loved them unto the end.” However, his prayer for them was not so many empty words. Instead, He went to the cross in their behalf. Accordingly, let us pray for the lost; and then be willing to make every sacrifice possible to see that they come to know the Lord.

04. We will give. Loving the lost as He did, God gave (John 3:16)! When a child of God is having friction with his contribution, it is because he has friction in his consecration toward saving a lost and dying world.

CONCLUSION:

Let us really work at the job of duplicating in the twentieth century church the first century church in their love for one another and in their love for the lost. Such will result in each of us living a very meaningful and fulfilled Christian life, as well as a world teetering on the brink of spiritual destruction hearing the saving gospel of a loving Lord.

I Just Wanted You To Say It First

Once while on a drive, my wife and I had an terrible argument. After many miles of silence with my wife driving I glanced over to the fuel indicator with was close to empty. I could not resist breaking the ice with a jab about her forgetting to fill up the tank. I leaned over and said "Low fuel, Karen." She turned to me with tears in her eyes as she pulled over and stopped, hugged my neck and said, "Oh, I love you too, Lawrence. I just wanted you to say it first."

Dr.Lawrence James Ellison, Fairbanks,AK

*

(untitled)

"Whom you would change you must first love."

Martin Luther King, Jr. (Quoted by Richard Neuhaus, The Naked Public Square, pg. 237)

Love Finds A Way

Romans 12:10

Alvin Straight, age seventy-three, lived in Laurens, Iowa. His brother, age eighty, lived several hundred miles away in Blue River, Wisconsin. According to the Associated Press, Alvin's brother had suffered a stroke, and Alvin wanted to see him, but he had a transportation problem. He didn't have a driver's license because his eyesight was bad and he apparently had an aversion to taking a plane, train, or bus.

But Alvin didn't let that stop him. In 1994 he climbed aboard his 1966 John Deere tractor lawn mower and drove it all the way to Blue River, Wisconsin.

Love and devotion finds a way.

Brotherly love, Commitment, Persistence, Sacrifice

Rom. 12:10; 2 Tim. 1:16-18

Contemporary Illustrations For Preachers, Teachers, & Writers

Editor Craig Brian Larson, Baker Books, p. 47.

[see #17300 for a more complete illustration from this story]

(untitled)

Matthew 25:37

LOVE

(FOR ONE ANOTHER)

Tony Campolo tells a true story of a Jewish boy who suffered under the Nazis in World War II. He was living in a small Polish village when he and all the other Jews of the vicinity were rounded up by Nazi SS troops and sentenced to death. This boy joined his neighbors in digging a shallow ditch for their graves, then faced the firing squad with his parents. Sprayed with machine-gun fire, bodies fell into the ditch and the Nazis covered the crumpled bodies with dirt. But none of the bullets hit the little boy. He was splattered with the blood of his parents and when they fell into the ditch, he pretended to be dead and fell on top of them. The grave was so shallow that the thin covering of dirt did not prevent air from getting through to him so that he could breathe.

Several hours later, when darkness fell, he clawed his way out of the grave. With blood and dirt caked to his little body, he made his way to the nearest house and begged for help. Recognizing him as one of the Jewish boys marked for death, he was turned away at house after house as people feared getting into trouble with the SS troops. Then something inside seemed to guide him to say something that was very strange for a Jewish boy to say. When the next family responded to his timid knocking in the still of the night, they heard him cry, "Don't you recognize me? I am the Jesus you say you love." After a poignant pause, the woman who stood in the doorway swept him into her arms and kissed him. From that day on, the members of that family loved and cared for that boy as though he was one of their own.

Jesus was once asked, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you…" Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Mt. 25:37-40).

When we help people, we are in essence helping Jesus!

The Tale Of The Tardy Oxcart

Charles R. Swindoll, Word, pp. 6-7.

(untitled)

LOVE

(SAYING I LOVE YOU)

I (Doris Sanford) was deep in thought at my office, preparing a lecture to be given that evening at a college across town, when the phone rang. A woman I had never met introduced herself and said that she was the mother of a seven-year-old and that she was dying. She said that her therapist had advised her that discussing her pending death with her son would be too traumatic for him, but somehow that didn't feel right to her.

Knowing that I worked with grieving children, she asked my advice. I told her that our heart is often smarter than our brain and that I thought she knew what would be best for her son. I also invited her to attend the lecture that night since I was speaking about how children cope with death. She said she would be there.

I wondered later if I would recognize her at the lecture, but my question was answered when I saw a frail woman being half carried into the room by two adults. I talked about the fact that children usually sense the truth long before they are told and that they often wait until they feel adults are ready to talk about it before sharing their concerns and questions. I said that children usually can handle truth better than denial, even though the denial is intended to protect them from pain. I said that respecting children meant including them in the family sadness, not shutting them out.

She had heard enough. At the break, she hobbled to the podium and through her tears she said, "I knew it in my heart. I just knew I should tell him." She said that she would tell him that night.

The next morning I received another phone call from her. She could hardly talk but I managed to hear the story through her choked voice. She awakened him when they got home the night before and quietly said, "Derek, I have something to tell you." He quickly interrupted her saying, "Oh, Mommy, is it now that you are going to tell me that you are dying?" She held him close and they both sobbed while she said, "Yes."

After a few minutes the little boy wanted down. He said that he had something for her that he had been saving. In the back of one of his drawers was a dirty pencil box. Inside the box was a letter written in simple scrawl. It said, "Good-bye, Mom. I will always love you."

How long he had been waiting to hear the truth, I don't know. I do know that two days later Mom died. In her casket was placed a dirty pencil box with the letter inside.

(untitled)

LOVE

(SAYING I LOVE YOU)

Carol's husband was killed in an accident last year. Jim, only 52, was driving home from work. The other driver was a teenager with a very high blood-alcohol level. Jim died instantly. The teenager was in the emergency room for less than two hours.

There were other ironic twists: It was Carol's fiftieth birthday, and Jim had two plane tickets to Hawaii in his pocket. He was going to surprise her. Instead, he was killed by a drunk driver.

"How have you survived this?" I finally asked Carol, a year later.

Her eyes welled up with tears. I thought I had said the wrong thing, but she gently took my hand and said, "It's all right, I want to tell you. The day I married Jim, I promised I would never let him leave the house in the morning without telling him I loved him. He made the same promise. It got to be a joke between us, and as babies came along it got to be a hard promise to keep. I remember running down the driveway, saying 'I love you' through teeth clenched when I was mad, or driving to the office to put a note in his car. It was a funny challenge.

"We made a lot of memories trying to say 'I love' before noon every day of our married life."

The morning Jim died, he left a birthday card in the kitchen and slipped out to the car. I heard the engine starting. Oh, no, you don't buster, I thought. I raced out and banged on the car window until he rolled it down. "Here on my fiftieth birthday, Mr. James E. Garret, I, Carol Garret, want to go on record as saying I love you."

"That's how I've survived. Knowing that the last words I said to Jim were, 'I love you!'"

Kingdom Eyes

Luke 12:27

A friend of F.W. Boreham once described the English writer as a man who always seemed to sport a “halo of wonder.” And indeed, in his exuberance for life, a much-loved signature of this much-loved author was the fresh flower he wore in his buttonhole as he went about each day.

But Dr. Boreham often told of a particular day when he had forgotten the flower. He realized this mistake on his tram into the city when an elderly woman climbed on board with a large bouquet. As she made her way to a seat, all of the winter-weary eyes turned to the bouquet of golden wattle she carried. A few stops later she stood up to depart, on her way plucking a handful of the flowers for a young boy sitting nearby. He took them without a word of thanks, and as the tram began to move away, she watched as he tossed them on the floor. Dr. Boreham was horrified. “Don't you want them?” he asked the boy. “No,” the boy murmured contemptuously, “What's the good?” So Boreham rescued the flowers and wore them proudly in his buttonhole.

That afternoon everyone he met spoke of those flowers. “The wattle's out!” said one. “Like the breath of spring!” said another. And with each expression of delight, he recalled the expression of despair in the face of the elderly woman as the tram drove away. When Dr. Boreham told this story at a gathering, he would always conclude, “Though love's labor often seems lost, it has results that would surprise you. Lift up your hearts!” [1]

The wisdom in his words is timeless, but perhaps peering through that halo of wonder, Boreham would ask us to see more. You see, long after the woman's eyes had turned away despairingly, goodness was yet on the move. Likewise, the Christian aims to see what is sometimes unseen. We believe that the battle has already been won, that Christ is victorious and that the Kingdom of God is present and coming. We believe that God is on the move.

But this is not always easy to see. In fact, turn on the news and it often seems that only the bad news is getting louder. If truth be told, it is sometimes hard not to take the tone of the boy who tossed aside the small glimpse of spring: “What's the good?” What's the good of straining to see goodness when the ugliness is so overwhelming?

It is of infinite good if it is reality! And reality is what Christ calls us to see. Indeed, our vision of an active and real Kingdom may be overwhelmed by present and certain evil and it can just as easily be overwhelmed by the busyness of life. But dare we forget, even overwhelmed to the point of death, Jesus proclaimed the sovereignty of a Holy Father on the move.

Truly, we see our surroundings most clearly when we are focused on the reality of the Father. As A.W. Tozer once penned, “Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.” Indeed, the Kingdom of God is at hand. Lift up your eyes! Lift up your hearts!

____________

1. F.W. Boreham, The Last Milestone (London: Epworth Press, 1961), 14.

____________

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #16398]

Life's Decisions

Matthew 6:20

A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said, "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."

"Is the man of the house home?" they asked.

"No," she said. "He's out."

"Then we cannot come in," they replied.

In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. He said, "Go tell them I am home and invite them in." The woman went out and invited the men in.

"We don't go into a house together," they replied.

"Why is that?" she wanted to know.

One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success. And I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice," he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth." His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?" Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will be filled with love." "Let us heed our daughter-in-law's advice," said the husband to his wife. "Go out and invite Love to be our guest."

The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest." Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love. Why are you coming in?"

The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever he goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also wealth and success."

WHICH ONE WOULD YOU HAVE CHOSEN?

Matthew 6:20

Submitted by:

Pastor J. Michael Walls

jmichaelwalls@juno.com

The Great Chief's Act of Love

There was once a chief of a great island tribe in the South Pacific. The chief was a just and honest man, always looking to better the lives of his people. One day a member of the tribe came to the chief complaining that someone had stolen some of his tools and food. This outraged the chief. This had never happened in his village before. His people had enjoyed such prosperity that no one in the tribe was needy. There was no excuse for thievery. He demanded that the culprit make himself known. Everyone feared the great chief and no one came forward and admitted to the crime. This angered the chief even more. The chief made a declaration that if anyone was caught stealing in his village they would be tied to the tree in the center of the village and whipped 100 times by the village's mightiest warrior.

It would be a terrible fate for anyone. This punishment was so severe that it could be fatal to some. It would be, at the very least, a debilitating event for anyone unfortunate enough to receive this sentence. It was the chief's hope that his threat would prevent anyone from stealing again. He did not want to sentence anyone in his tribe but more than that he didn't want his people to live in fear of a thief.

A few days later some angry villagers came to the chief's home with the lawbreaker. They had caught the thief in the act. To the shock of the chief and everyone else in the tribe, the criminal was the chief's own elderly mother. Her head fell in shame when her son asked her if it was true. Her silence confirmed the truth. Everyone in the tribe debated if the chief would go through with sentencing his mother. His frail mother would surely not survive the harsh punishment. The chief told everyone to go home. He would make an announcement tomorrow in the center of the village.

Everyone gathered in the center of the village early the next day to see what the chief would do. A handful of villagers thought the chief may go through with the punishment since he was just, not showing favoritism to any with regard to keeping the law. Most, however, believed that even though the chief was a good man, he would find a way to prevent the punishment from being delivered for his mother's sake. The chiefs somber arrival made it plain to all that he was deeply grieved by the passing events of the last several days. The law needed to be fulfilled.

The chief, in a loud, ominous voice, directed some warriors to bind his mother to the tree in the center of the village and to await his command before proceeding with the punishment. As onlookers gasped at what was about to take place the mighty warriors quickly bound the frail arms of the chief's mother to the tree. Her back would receive the full force of the torturous whipping.

When the warriors had finished securing the chief's mother and the one to deliver the punishment was in place a thick silence fell on the crowd. Everyone waited for the chief's command to begin the whipping. Then something happened that astonished everyone, even the close advisors of the chief. The great chief stepped down from his place of honor, removed his cloak, walked to his mother and wrapped his muscular frame around his mother's body and ordered the warrior to commence with the punishment. In this way he saved his mother and fulfilled the law.

In an even greater sacrifice, the Lord Jesus took the full brunt of the wrath of God, suffered for our sins on the cross, and fulfilled the law.

The Greatest Thing

1. The greatest thing in all my life is knowing You.

The greatest thing in all my life is knowing You.

I want to know You more.

The greatest thing in all my life is knowing You.

2. The greatest thing in all my life is loving You.

The greatest thing in all my life is loving You.

I want to love You more.

The greatest thing in all my life is loving You.

3. The greatest thing in all my life is serving You.

The greatest thing in all my life is serving You.

I want to serve You more.

The greatest thing in all my life is serving You.

*

They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love

John 13:35

1. We are one in the Spirit,

we are one in the Lord,

We are one in the Spirit,

we are one in the Lord,

And we pray that all unity may

one day be restored:

Chorus

And they'll know we are Christians

by our love, by our love,

Yes, they'll know we are

Christians by our love.

2. We will walk with each other,

we will walk hand in hand,

We will walk with each other,

we will walk hand in hand,

And together we'll spread the news that

God is in our land:

3. We will work with each other,

we will work side by side,

We will work with each other,

we will work side by side,

And we'll guard each man's dignity and

save each man's pride:

4. All praise to the Father,

from whom all things come,

And all praise to Christ Jesus,

His only Son,

And all praise to the Spirit,

who makes us one:

[Tune “St Brendan’s”]

*

When All Thy Mercies

1. When all Thy mercies O my God

My rising soul surveys

Transported with the view, I'm lost

In wonder, love and praise.

2. Unnumbered comforts to my soul

Thy tender care bestowed,

Before my infant heart conceived

From Whom those comforts flowed.

3. When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou

With health renewed my face;

And, when in sin and sorrows bowed,

Revived my soul with grace.

4. Though ev'ry period of my life

Thy goodness I'll pursue,

And after death, in distant worlds,

The glorious theme renew.

[Tune “Belmont”]

*

(untitled)

JESUS

(LOVE OF)

I hurried into the local department store to grab some last minute Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to myself, "I am going to be in here forever."

Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I kinda wished that I could just sleep through Christmas. But I hurried the best I could, and finally made my way to the toy department. Once again I kind of mumbled to myself at the prices of all these toys, and wondered if the grandkids would even play with them.

I found myself in the doll aisle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a little boy about 5 holding a lovely doll. He kept touching her hair and he held her so gently. I could not seem to help myself. I just kept looking over at the little boy and wondered who the doll was for. I watched him turn to his aunt and say, "Are you sure I don't have enough money?" She replied a bit impatiently, "You know that you don't have enough money for it." The aunt told the little boy not to go anywhere that she had to go get some other things and would be back in a few minutes. And then she left the aisle.

The boy continued to hold the doll. After a bit, I ask the boy who the doll was for. He said, "It's the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas. She just knew that Santa would bring it." I told him that maybe Santa was going to bring it. He said "No, Santa can't go where my sister is, I have to give the doll to my Momma to take to her. I asked him where his sister was. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and said "She has gone to be with Jesus. My Daddy says that Momma is going to have to go to be with her."

My heart nearly stopped beating. Then the boy looked at me again and said, "I told my Daddy to tell Momma not to go yet. I told him to tell her to wait till I got back from the store." Then he asked me if I wanted to see his picture. I told him I would love to. He pulled out some pictures he'd had taken at the front of the store. He said "I want my Momma to take this with her so she don't ever forget me. I love my Momma so very much and I wish she did not have to leave me. But Daddy says she needs to be with my sister."

I saw that the little boy had lowered his head and had grown so very quiet. While he was not looking I reached into my purse and pulled out a hand full of bills. I asked the little boy, "Shall we count that money one more time?" He grew excited and said, "Yes, I just know it has to be enough," so I slipped my money in with his and we began to count it. And of course it was plenty for the doll. He softly said, "Thank you Jesus for giving me enough money." Then the boy said, "I just asked Jesus to give me enough money to buy this doll so Momma can take it with her to give to my sister. And he heard my prayer. I wanted to ask him for enough to buy my Momma a white rose, but I didn't, but he gave me enough to buy the doll and a rose for my Momma. She loves white roses so very, very much."

In a few minutes the aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away. I could not keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished my shopping in a totally different spirit than when I had started. And I kept remembering a story I had seen in the newspaper several days earlier. In the story, a family was deciding on whether to remove the life support. Now surely this little boy did not belong with that story. Two days later I read in the paper where the family had disconnected the life support and the young woman had died.

I could not forget the little boy and just kept wondering if the two were somehow connected. Later that day, I could not help myself. I went out and bought some white roses and took them to the funeral home where the young woman was. In the casket, the young mother was holding a lovely white rose, the beautiful doll, and the picture of the little boy in the store. I left there in tears, my life changed forever.

The love that little boy had for his little sister and his mother was overwhelming. It is the same kind of love that Jesus has for you and me.

Written By V. A. Bailey

Looking For Love (in All the Virtual Places): Hyperdating

After breaking up with his girlfriend, Wei-Li Tjong, a young New York attorney, set out to meet someone new. Instead of relying on introductions by friends or his professional contacts, Tjong did what increasing numbers of people his age are doing: He placed an Internet personal ad.

Tjong's experience was chronicled in a recent article in THE NEW YORK TIMES. His personal ad was posted, along with what he admits was a flattering photo, at one of the many Websites devoted to matchmaking.

Within two months, Tjong went out with more than seventy women -- sometimes more than one a night. By his estimate, a third of these had "gone home with him," a euphemism for sex.

Tjong's experience is hardly unique. One online dating site boasts more than 3 million ads. As the first generation of Americans who have grown up with e-mail and the Internet comes of age, those numbers can only go up.

The spread of what the TIMES calls "hyperdating" is, according to Robert Rosenwein of Lehigh University, redefining our ideas about intimacy. Traditional dating was, in Rosenwein's words, "a very long process where you disclose things over time." Hyperdating speeds things up considerably, to say the least.

Rosenwein's assessment is right on the mark, but the ability to do instant couple-matching and mating raises important questions. If the article is correct about the way that technology is shaping people's expectations, then we're trading something very important for the convenience provided by technology.

For starters, notice how many of the girls Tjong hooked up with -- and, yes, sadly that's the right phrase -- had sex with him on their first and only date. Hyperdating may claim to be about relationships, but judging by the facts, it's largely about casual, meaningless sex.

Even more troubling is how unromantic this kind of experience is. In the hyperdating world, people are commodities. It requires strategic planning, a flair for marketing, and cold calculation to stand out in the sea of personal ads.

This is dehumanizing -- self as commodity -- and not that different from the way that we market consumer goods. It has nothing to do with building lasting relationships. And it certainly has nothing to do with intimacy. Hyperdating lacks the patience required to truly know a person.

Because of this, hyperdating is a pale imitation of true romantic love, which, as C. S. Lewis wrote, is a foretaste of the love of God. In THE FOUR LOVES, Lewis wrote that, in romantic love, we place the other person's interest at the center of our being. We love that one special person as we love ourselves.

But to do that requires an investment of ourselves, including our time, and that leaves us vulnerable. But as Lewis put it, "The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell" -- or, in this case, the hyperdating scene.

It's not because the desire for companionship is wrong, but because the way in which it is pursued robs it of intimacy -- the very thing that makes companionship and dating desirable in the first place.

For further reading:

C. S. Lewis, THE FOUR LOVES (Harvest Books, December 1971).

Warren St. John, "Young, Single and Dating at Hyperspeed," THE NEW YORK TIMES, 21 April 2002.

_________________________

Submit To Love

Colossians 3:18

Sermon in Colossians series. Colossians 3:18-19

SUBMIT TO LOVE

==============

I. Is Afghanistan our model?

A. Famous National Geographic cover photo of young Afghan girl.

B. Controversial passage.

C. What does the Bible say?

II. Wives, submit!

A. Traditional part of marriage vow.

B. Meaning of subjection.

1) Not a synonym for servile and menial bondage.

2) God has ordered us so human relationships need authority.

C. Subordination in Christian relationships.

D. Human subjection should mirror our subjection to God.

III. Husbands, love.

A. Distinctly Christian teaching.

B. A practical test.

C. How are you serving Jesus?

*

I Love You - At the Finish Line

Titus 2:4

My regular routine doesn't allow me as much exercise as I'd like. So when we get a few days away, I enjoy picking up the pace a little with some biking or hiking that I don't usually get to do. Of course, I can usually feel that I haven't been doing it enough. The next morning I'm hurting in places I didn't even know I had places. I remember one time we were away at the shore, and I did this sunrise jog on the beach. I felt so healthy - and so beat. I was pounding back on the sand, all tired and sweaty and out of breath, thinking about walking the rest of the way. Suddenly, I saw my wife Karen in the distance. And suddenly my motivation was back! I picked up my pace like an Olympian. Now I had almost reached her when I saw what she had written in huge letters in the sand, "I love you, Ron." Oh! What a happy ending to a long, hard run!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "'I Love You' At The Finish Line."

Actually that's a happy ending for any man ... on any day. So there's something real special about today's word for today from the Word of God, Titus 2:4-5. Paul is speaking about the older women when he says, "They can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God."

Now, Paul is describing here two generations of loving wives, with the veterans teaching the rookies about that kind of love. Women whose husbands know they are really loved, end up reaping what the Proverbs 31 woman did. "Her husband", it says, "has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life ... Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband, also, and he praises her."

The first instruction from the older women to the younger women is to be about how to "love their husbands." Now that day when I was running on the beach is a picture of many days in the life of a man close to you - your husband, or your father, your brother. He reaches the end of his day tired from the run. And few things mean more to a man than to know he'll find an "I love you" at the finish line.

A man can handle almost any stress, any disappointment, if he's sure he'll be safe and appreciated and loved when he gets home. Because all's well that ends well. There are many men who are loved by their wife, but they don't feel loved by her because she is not loving him in his language of love. And if you don't feel loved, it's the same for you as if you aren't loved.

So, tell him you love him - tell him often, even if it's not your style. Touch him. Do the little things that reassure and restore him: that favorite meal, a card, a note, a compliment, a love letter. And as much as possible, try to provide some peace at the end of his race.

Now loving your man like this may be hard for you because you've run a long run today, too. I would encourage you to pray the kind of prayer I've had to pray so often to be the man my wife needs, "Lord, please give me Your strength to put him first when I feel like being first myself." To do that is to do what Jesus would do. In fact, it's what He did over and over. By the way, it is equally important that a wife be welcomed by a man who is putting her needs first. This kind of sacrificing love is a blessed two-way street.

When the man in your life has been pushing hard, you as a woman have a tremendous opportunity to show your love for him, to build your relationship with him, to keep him going when he feels like giving up. As a woman who goes out of her way to make him feel loved, you may well be the deciding factor in whether or not he even makes it across the finish line. That "I love you" in the sand never means more than at the finish line after a long day's run.

________________

*

The Measure of Love

John 3:16

The Measure Of Love

Read: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. --John 3:16

Love delights to give. Tell me how much you give and I will tell you how much you love. Giving is the acid test of loving.

The greatness of God's love for us is demonstrated by His priceless gift to us. How much did God love a lost world? So much that He gave His only Son (Jn. 3:16). In Ephesians 5:25 we read, "Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her." Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Just as God's loving and giving are inseparable, so too our giving is an expression of our love. This goes much deeper than just putting something in the offering plate on Sunday. It begins with giving ourselves to the Lord each day of the week.

In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul commended the churches in Macedonia for their generous giving (vv.1-4). Their liberality was the result of their dedication to Christ, for Paul said that "they first gave themselves to the Lord" (v.5). When we do that, He then has all of us, including our possessions.

How much do you love? The answer can be seen in how much you love to give. --M. R. De Haan, M.D.

Grant us, then, the grace for giving

With a spirit large and free,

That our life and all our living

We may consecrate to Thee. --Murray

You can give without loving but you can't love without giving.

(untitled)

Love/Forgiveness

On Christmas Eve our bookkeeper always brings cookies her mother has baked to the office. I would probably give my staff Christmas Eve off, but then I wouldn't get the cookies, so we always work that morning. Thy are my favorite cookies of the year. The cookies came this year, and for whatever reason, she had made a bundt cake too. It was a fine looking bundt cake - as light as a feather. I carried it home on one finger. And I couldn't help it. I cut it with a butter knife, but it didn't fall apart. And I ate one piece, and then another, and then part of a third. After dinner I had a little more, and I told my wife to have a little piece.

We enjoyed Christmas Eve with our children, and very late the children went to bed. My wife and I put the presents around the Christmas tree. I took the cookies and put them in Tupperware, and put the bundt cake on top of the cookies. Then I carefully slid them all to the back of the counter and we went to bed.

Christmas morning my wife woke up early and went downstairs. Later she came into the bedroom and said "Paul, I have some bad news. Our dog, Lilly, ate the bundt cake. The entire thing. Crumbs and all. I banished her to the backyard." I went downstairs and saw the dog all huddled against the kitchen door, shivering. I thought "Sure you're shivering. You're entire circulation is focused on your belly, trying to digest an entire bundt cake. Tough!" I went back upstairs.

My children heard all the commotion and came downstairs. They wanted to open their presents, but first, there was a dog to be warmed. They brought the dog inside and took her up to Jana's room. They wrapped her all up in a blanket and loved and hugged on her. I looked in the room and all you could see was this Golden Retriever's head sticking out of the blanket, with a doggie grin. And I thought "She ate the Christmas bundt cake, and they're giving her all the love they have to give."

Every last one of us has eaten the Christmas bundt cake, over and over again. And we'll keep on eating it throughout our lives. But the good news is that our heavenly father loves us anyway, and he brings us inside, and he warms us with all the love he has to give. And on that kind of love, you can build an entire life. Submitted by Paul Williams, (see Preaching Tip for the Month at end of document)

Brian's Song

As the movie Brian's Song poignantly depicted, the friendship between Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo deepened into one of the best relationships in the history of sports.

Then, during the 1969 season, Piccolo was cut down with cancer. He fought to play the season out, but he was in hospitals more than he was in games. Gale Sayers flew to be beside him as often as possible.

They had planned for their wives, to sit together at the Professional Football Writers annual dinner in New York, where Sayers was to be given the George S. Halas Award as the most courageous player in pro football. But instead Pick was confined to his bed at home. As he stood to receive the award, tears sprang to Sayer's eyes. The ordinarily laconic black athlete had this to say as he took the trophy:

"You flatter me by giving me this award, but I tell you here and now that I accept it for Brian Piccolo. Brian Piccolo is the man of courage who should receive the George S. Halas Award. I love Brian Piccolo and I'd like you to love him. Tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him too."

TS -- "I love Brian Piccolo." How often do we hear men say words such as those? But how much more enriched our lives could be if we dared our affection as Sayers did that night in New York. Aristotle said, "Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."

Thanks For Caring

A construction crew was building a high-rise across the street from a hospital. One day when four of them were on the third floor they looked over and saw a little girl watching them out of a third story window in the hospital. She waved and they waved back. The next morning when they came to work the little girl held a hand written sign, which said, “My name is Lisa? What's your names?” The next morning one of the fellows had brought a piece of poster board and a magic marker from home. The guys wrote, “Hi Lisa, our names are Bill, Terry, Bob and Brad. How old are you?”

The next morning they came to work and found Lisa waiting for them in the window with this written message. “I'm 7. How old are you all?” For several days the fellows looked forward to the notes from Lisa and then on the fifth morning the window was empty, no Lisa and no message. At break time one of the fellows went to the telephone and called the hospital asking for the nurse's station on the third floor. He asked if they could tell him anything about a little 7-year old girl name Lisa who was on their floor in a room that faced the construction site, explaining about the notes they had shared with her for several days. One of the nurses answered that Lisa had taken a turn for the worse and had been transferred into the Intensive Care Unit. At lunch the fellows called a florist and had flowers sent to Lisa with a card wishing her well. The next morning when the fellows arrived at work they found a message in the third story hospital window. “Lisa has passed away. Thanks for caring.”

God Is Present By Love Alone

God is present by Love alone. By Love alone He is great and glorious. By Love alone He liveth and feeleth in other persons. By Love alone He enjoyeth all the creatures, by Love alone He is pleasing to Himself, by Love alone He is rich and blessed. The Soul is shrivelled up and buried in a grave that does not love. But that which does love wisely and truly is the joy and end of all the world, the King of Heaven, and the Friend of God.

... Thomas Traherne

What Did Jesus Do?

Romans 5

W.D.J.D.

Read: Romans 5

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. --Romans 5:8

Have you seen the W.W.J.D. bracelets? They remind us to ask "What Would Jesus Do?" A few years ago, a Holland, Michigan, youth group was reading the classic In His Steps by Charles Sheldon. One person came up with the idea of making W.W.J.D. bracelets to remind believers of the key question in that book: What would Jesus do in any given situation? Those bracelets have prompted thousands to pause and ponder that question.

As I think about the importance of this question in living a God-pleasing life, I wonder how many people need to ask a more basic question: W.D.J.D.--What Did Jesus Do?

Before contemplating the W.W.J.D. questions of life, we must first understand what Jesus did. He died on the cross to provide a sacrifice for us. Although innocent of any wrongdoing, He was crucified, taking upon Himself the punishment for our sin. He provided the only way to establish a relationship with a holy God.

What did Jesus do? He gave His life to give us life. Even if we were to live perfectly by the maxim W.W.J.D., we could never be good enough to reach heaven without Jesus' sacrifice. For that, we have to depend on what Jesus did.

Have you put your faith in what Jesus did? --JDB

To follow Christ in all we do

Can be a worthy goal

If first we've put our trust in Him

To save our sinful soul. --Sper

If you've never met Christ, you can't follow Him.

Creating World Peace At Home

Upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa said:

"What can you do to promote world peace?

Go home and love your family."

Cited in BITS & PIECES

*

Amorous burglar dials himself to jail

An amorous Hungarian burglar dialed himself into the arms of the law when he called his girlfriend using the telephone in the Belgian soccer club cafeteria he was robbing. The burglary, in which the robber stole food, drink, a radio, compact discs and even the telephone, happened late last month at the Lint soccer club in northern Belgium, Belga news agency said. It was only when the telephone bill arrived earlier this month that officials spotted the $110 call to Hungary. Authorities traced the call to a girl who had a young Hungarian boyfriend in Brussels. When confronted by police he admitted his crime.

The Seven Wonders of the World

A group of Geography students studied the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of that section, the students were asked to list what they considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement, the following got the most votes:

1. Egypt's Great Pyramids,

2. Taj Mahal,

3. Golden Gate Bridge [originally the Grand Canyon, but it is not human]

4. Panama Canal,

5. Empire State Building,

6. St. Peter's Basilica,

7. China's Great Wall.

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl, hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list.

The quiet girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many."

The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are:

1. to touch

2. to taste

3. to see

4. to hear

She hesitated a little, and then

5. to run

6. to laugh

7. and to love

It is far too easy for us to look at the exploits of man and refer to them as "wonders" while we overlook all God has done, regarding them as merely "ordinary."

A Parent's Hardest Job

Genesis 2:24

One of my daughter's favorite books as a little girl was "Misty of Chincoteague." Now, Chincoteague is an island off the eastern shore of Virginia, and it's best known for its beautiful, wild, white ponies, like Misty. At one point in the book, Misty and her mother, Phantom, are in a horse pen on this farm. And the two children who live there are distressed because they see Phantom kicking her colt Misty. They yell at her to stop. Well, enter Grandma, with the wisdom of the years. She says to the children, "Kids, Phantom isn't trying to hurt her foal. She's actually loving her in the hardest way there is. She knows the time has come for Misty to be on her own, and she's trying to get her ready for it." That's pretty good horse sense, huh?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "A Parent's Hardest Job."

It's always good to know your goal - if you're flying an airplane, if you're running with a football, if you're raising a child. And a parent's ultimate objective is described to the first parents, Adam and Eve, in our word for today from the Word of God, Genesis 2:24. Now, talking about the concept of family that He has just created, here's what God says: "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother (did you get that? Leave his father and mother) and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

There's that hard word, "leave." Ultimately, your son or daughter is supposed to leave you. Which tells us that our children are not ours to keep. And our mission from God: to prepare our children to leave us - to live without us, not to make them tied to us, always dependent on us. Apparently, horses know they have to do it. Although I'm not sure you should employ the same method like Misty's mom did, like kicking your child! I think you should have the same goal.

This process of preparing our children to live without us actually starts very young. You don't come every time they cry or call. You don't solve every problem for them. You teach them how to solve that kind of problem; you teach them a problem-solving process. You don't give them an endless supply of money - you give them ways to earn money and then you show them how to plan their spending. And when they're out, they're out - just like you and me, huh?

As your children grow older, you don't make every decision. You teach them how to make it; how to evaluate the plusses and minuses; you give them good questions to ask - and you let them make some mistakes. Getting a child ready to stand on his or her own means giving something better than a rule for every occasion, which, of course, is impossible. You teach them a personal set of principles that will cover every moral choice in life. You don't just load them up with right answers - you teach them how to ask good questions. A second-hand faith will never survive. You need to help them find their own first-hand, personal relationship with Jesus Christ in their own way.

Everything in us as parents wants to protect them from every hurt or every mistake ... we want to hold on, something to tie our identity to theirs. But that's not how our Creator meant for it to be. We are assigned by God to nudge our children slowly but surely toward the gate of personal responsibility by giving them greater and greater opportunities to exercise it. If you carry out your divine assignment well, your son or daughter will one day rise up and call you "blessed" because you succeeded in a parent's hardest and most important job - you loved them enough to get them ready to leave.

________________

*

note: not sure if this is A true story, I have seen it make the "rounds"

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She now lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond.

The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding. Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting - 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel."

So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen. I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened: "A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured. Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat.... She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes."

"The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I were split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. 'I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?'"

"The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. 'I don't know what this is about, son,' she answered, 'but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!'

It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive.

"Tell me whom you love," Houssaye wrote, "and I will tell you who you are."

************

On Tending Flames

1 John 4:16

Passion is a fire to be tended. It is kept by vigilant care for the flame, not by an endless stream of lightning bolts from heaven. This is true of passion for a mate and passion for God. In both, love demands passion — for what is a marriage that has seen years of passion drought? It is a dry thing. And what is a relationship with God that is wanting in passion? It too whispers of the desert.

Jesus makes it very clear that God does not desire a desert life for us, or a desert life with us. Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, Jesus said. Can you feel the throbbing heart of God desiring us? That is what Jesus' words speak of. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us,” writes John. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16)

Love is a commitment, true. Love is a choice, yes. But love must also be a passion, for a love bereft of passion is a strange love indeed.

God desires our love, so He must be our passion. But how do we start the flame? And how, for that matter, do we tend it? In one sense we do neither. Scriptures teach that we love God because He first loved us. God breathes His love into our hearts, and we respond. Of course, most do not continually feel God's love, and this is where faith is required. But at most we can only beg God to make our hearts soft to Him. We cannot produce the flame. And as for tending it, this too involves God's work, for who among us can make a love for God out of the stony materials of our hearts?

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, Jesus says. Or in other words, God desires we consistently open ourselves up to Him, humbly beseeching that He ignite our hearts. If you have known this flame you know there is no sweeter thing. The passion itself is a treasure for in it God comes close to us. But also by it, all other things become sweeter. Relationships. Work. Creation. Passionate love for God overspills into everything.

Dear friend, let us seek first with all our mind, heart, soul, and strength the One who first loved us. And let us keep our breasts warm with a flame wholly for God.

____________

*

I Do Not Make Use of My Mercies

J. H. Evans said, "I believe that God often permits me to be chastened by my sin, because I do not make use of my mercies." We often lose our mercies by loving them too well, as the ball of snow is melted by the heat of the hand that holds it, or a rose is spoiled by pressing it too tightly. Theophilus Gale very well said, "Whatsoever I thankfully receive, as a token of God's love to me, I part with contentedly as a token of my love to Him."

A Good Teacher and A Great Teacher

Matthew 8:19

"Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go" (Matthew 8:19).

A number of years ago a Johns Hopkins University professor asked his graduate students to locate 200 boys, ages 12-16 and research their family backgrounds. The assignment was then to predict their future.

The students were sent to the slum area of the city to find the boys.

The conclusion reached by the graduate students was that 90 percent of those researched would spend time in jail. The final chapter of this study would not completed until 25 years later.

When the 200 original students were sought after, some 25 years later, John Hopkins sent the researchers into the slum area again. Some of the group still remained in the slums, others had moved away, a few had died. In all they were able to locate 180 of the original 200.

What they found amazed them. Only four had ever been to jail (remember the prediction had been 90 percent of 200)! What caused this figure to be so low when all indications pointed to a larger number? When the researchers began to ask this question they found that they were getting the same answer, "Well, there was this teacher...." Pressed further, the researchers found that the teacher in all cases was one and the same. The boys had all been influenced by the same teacher.

The graduate students traced down the teacher, now living in a retirement home, and inquired about her remarkable influence over a group of boys who were headed for a life of crime. She really could not think of any reason why she would have this kind of influence. She did mention that "I truly loved my students."

(untitled)

Let us imitate the barber who one week noticed that there was a good increase in his business. When he tried to find out why, he discovered that his competitor, another barber in the village, was ill. When the week ended, he took all that he had made above his average earnings and carried it to his competitor with his Christian love and sympathy.

No Burden

An American missionary who was walking down the streets of a Chinese city was greatly interested in the children, many of whom were carrying smaller children upon their backs and managing at the same time to play their games. "It is too bad," the American sympathetically said to one little fellow, "that you have to carry such a heavy burden!" "He is no burden," came the quick reply; "He is my brother." "Well, you are chivalrous to say so!" said the man, and he gave the boy some money. When the missionary returned home he said to his family, "A little Chinese boy has taught me the fullest meaning of the words, 'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.'" He recounted his interview and added, "If a little Chinese boy can carry and care for his brother and refuse to consider him a burden, surely we ought not to think it a burden to carry our brother, the weak and the needy ones, who look to us for help. Let us rejoice as we carry one, and say, by our actions, 'He is no burden; he is my brother.'"

The Time To Trust

When nothing whereon to lean remains, When strongholds crumble to dust; When nothing is sure but that God still reigns, That is just the time to trust.

The Valuable Picture

When a certain wealthy man died, his will could not be found. Since his wife and only son had preceded him in death, his possessions were sold at auction. Everything was disposed of except a picture of the son. Nobody seemed to want it until an elderly woman approached and pleaded with the auctioneer to let her have it for the few dollars in her possession. When he gave her the picture, she hugged it to her heart, for she had been the son's nurse in his infancy and boyhood days. Attached to the back of the painting she discovered an envelope addressed to an attorney. Taking it to him, she was astonished to hear him exclaim, "Woman, you have a fortune! This is the man's will, and in it he has left a large sum of money to anyone who loved his son enough to buy the picture."

I Have Learned ...

John 13:1

I have learned

==============

I've learned

that you cannot make someone love you.

All you can do is be someone who can be loved.

The rest is up to them

I've learned

that no matter how much I care,

some people just don't care back.

I've learned

that it takes years to build up trust

and only seconds to destroy it.

I've learned

that it's not what you have in your life

but who you have in your life that counts.

I've learned

that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes.

After that, you'd better know something.

I've learned

that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do.

but to the best you can do.

I've learned

that it's not what happens to people that's important.

It's what they do about it.

I've learned

that you can do something in an instant

that will give you heart ache for life. I've learned

that no matter how thin you slice it,

there are always two sides.

I've Learned

that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

*

Appreciative Love (part 1)

During one of my travels a few years ago, a colleague and I found ourselves at Cape Point in South Africa. We stood at the tip of the triangle at Land’s End gazing at that vast open body of water which had tested the best of the early explorers and which reached as far as the eye could see. From one side surged the Atlantic Ocean and from the other, the Indian Ocean. As the two oceans met, swirling with an awesome force, we looked literally into the wild blue yonder. I will never forget that moment. The sight was breathtaking. As we watched the magnificence in silence, there was an overwhelming desire to respond in some way. But how do you do that?

In his book, "The Four Loves," C.S. Lewis makes a brilliant case for a love that longs to express gratitude, or what he calls Appreciative Love. Here is how he underscores what appreciative love is.

Need-love cries to God from our poverty; Gift-love longs to serve, or even suffer for, God; Appreciative love says: "We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory." Need-love says of a woman, "I cannot live without her"; Gift-love longs to bring her happiness, comfort... But Appreciative love gazes and holds its breath and is silent, rejoices that such a wonder should exist even if not for him, will not be wholly dejected by losing her, would rather have it so than never to have seen her at all.(1)

That is it, my friend. Appreciative love endures because it is rooted in the very source of our being, not merely in behaving. Gratitude is indispensable to the highest form of love, and I believe it is the cornerstone of the answer for loneliness. Appreciative love springs forth out of gratitude to God for the very cause of my being. It is a love that bends the heart and the will in worship, and it fills the loneliness or the "beyond" in our lives. I have often wondered if that is why atheism is so barren-it has nobody to thank. A thankless life loses gratitude and wonder.

If you ever find yourself in a place like Cape Point, you certainly do not have to stop to hug a mountain, nor leave a gift at the bottom of a rock configuration. But you can pause and say thank you to the one who made it and love him with all of your heart.

_____________

1. C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960), 192.)

_________________________

*

In Moments Like These

In moments like these,

I sing out a song,

I sing out a love song to Jesus.

In moments like these,

I lift up my hands,

I lift up my hands to the Lord.

Singing I love You, Lord.

I love You.

*

Lord, You Are So Precious To Me

1. Lord, you are so precious to me;

Lord, you are so precious to me;

And I love You; yes, I love You

Because You first loved me.

2. Lord, you are so gracious to me;

Lord, you are so gracious to me;

And I love You; yes, I love You

Because You first loved me.

*

Love Divine

1. Love divine, all loves excelling,

Joy of heav'n, to earth come down;

Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,

All Thy faithful mercies crown,

Jesus, Thou art all compassion,

Pure, unbounded love Thou art,

Visit us with Thy salvation,

Enter ev'ry trembling heart.

2. Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit

Into ev'ry troubled breast!

Let us all in Thee inherit,

Let us find that promised rest.

Take away our bent to sinning,

Alpha and Omega be;

End of faith, as its beginning,

Set our hearts at liberty.

3. Come, Almighty to deliver,

Let us all Thy liFe receive;

Suddenly return, and never,

Nevermore Thy temples leave.

Thee we would be always blessing,

Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,

Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,

Glory in Thy perfect love.

4. Finish, then, Thy new creation,

Pure and spotless let us be;

Let us see Thy great salvation

Perfectly restored in Thee:

Changed from glory into glory,

Till in heav'n we take our place,

Till we cast our crowns before Thee,

Lost in wonder, love and praise!

[Tune: Beecher or Hyfrydol]

*

Love Is Like Magic (poem)

Love is like magic

And it always will be

For love still remains

life’s sweet mystery

Love works in ways

That are wondrous and strange

And there’s nothing in life

That love cannot change

Love can transform

The most commonplace

Into beauty and splendor

And sweetness and grace

Love is unselfish.

Understanding and kind

For it sees with it’s heart

And not with its mind

Love gives and forgives

There is nothing too much

For Love to heal

With its magic touch

Love is the language

That every heart speaks

For love is the one thing

That every heart seeks

There Is Joy In the Lord

There is joy in the Lord

There is love in His Spirit,

There is hope in the knowledge of Him.

1, 3 There’s a fountain that flows

Like a river from heaven

Abounding in love to my soul.

Chorus (verses 1, 2)

All blessing and honour are His,

All glory and power are His,

Let all wisdom and strength

be the Lord’s in this place.

Let all glory be given to Him

2. There’s a fountain I know

Ev’ry time I am near it

My heart overflows to the Lord

He Loved Me (poem)

Father, how could You have loved,

a terrible wretch like me,

He answered softly,

because I knew what you could be

I told the world,

I would do great honorable things,

but deep down inside me,

You know I followed other schemes

I wore the mask of Christianity,

for all the world to see,

but I never felt Your guidance,

beyond the church house scene

As I look back across my life,

You were always put in second place,

Because there was a demon inside me,

that pulled me from Your grace

Lord I am so ashamed,

as I stand here before Your throne,

I am guilty, lost, and lonely,

and not worthy of Your home

He turned with His loving smile,

and held opened His arms to me,

Child you turned out wonderfully,

just like I knew you would be

Don’t let your failures destroy your joy in God, He found you in the pits of hell with all your sins, and He loved you anyway. Christ saw in you what we cannot yet see, that tiny small light which the world cannot destroy, and will grow brighter with each new day. So don’t get discouraged over past failures, and truly understand that Christ fell in love with you, long before you fell in love with Him.