In step

Keeping Fit for Jesus!

For reading & meditation - 1 Timothy 4

"... physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things ..." (v. 8)

We spend one last day meditating on the ways by which we can overcome stress in our lives. This final principle is: engage in as much physical exercise as is necessary. One laboratory experiment took ten underexercised rats, and subjected them repeatedly to a variety of stresses: shock, pain, shrill noises, and flashing lights. After a month, every one of them had died through the incessant strain. Another group of rats was given a good deal of exercise until they were in peak physical condition.

They were then subjected to the same battery of stresses and strains. After a month, not one had died. More and more Christians are waking up to the fact that God has given us bodies that are designed to move, and the more they are exercised, the more effectively they function.

Studies on how exercise helps to reduce stress are quite conclusive. Exercise gets rid of harmful chemicals in our bodies, provides a form of abreaction (letting off steam), builds up stamina, counteracts the biochemical effects of stress, and reduces the risk of psychological illness.

The Bible rarely mentions the need for physical exercise, because people living at that time usually walked everywhere and therefore needed little admonition on the subject. In our world of advanced technology, however, common sense tells us that our bodies need to be exercised, and we should not neglect it.

It may not be a spectacular idea, but often God comes to us along some very dusty and lowly roads. We must not despise His coming just because He comes to us along a lowly road.

Prayer:
Lord, help me not to despise this call of Yours to exercise my body. Forgive me that I am such a poor tenant of Your property. From today I determine to do better. For Your own Name's sake. Amen

Transformed!

For reading & meditation - Psalms 32

"Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered." (v. 1)

We come now to speak of all those who have been broken, or are on the verge of being broken, by the memory of some deeply grievous sin. I am not thinking so much of those who have committed sin and have not come to Christ for forgiveness, but of those who, though they have been forgiven by God, are unable to forgive themselves.

A man came to me recently at the end of a meeting at which I had spoken, and told me the details of a particularly horrendous sin in which he had been involved. He said, "I know God has forgiven me, but the memory of what I have done is constantly with me. It is quietly driving me insane."

This brought to mind a story I heard many years ago of a father who taught his son to drive a nail into a board every time he did something wrong, and then to pull out the nail after he had confessed the wrong and had been forgiven.

Every time this happened, the boy would say triumphantly, "Hurray! The nails are gone!" "Yes," his father would say, "but always remember that the marks made by the nails are still in the wood."

The message I want you to get hold of and build into your life is this: the Carpenter of Nazareth can not only pull out the nails, but can also varnish and beautify the wood so that the marks become, not a contradiction, but a contribution.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, You who once were known as a carpenter's son, take the stains and blemishes of my past and work through them so that they contribute, rather than contradict. For Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.

Grace - Greater Than All Our Sin!

For reading & meditation - Romans 5:12-21

"... where sin abounded, grace did much more abound ..." (v. 20, KJV)

We are meditating on how to recover from the brokenness caused by the memory of some deeply grievous sin. By that we mean a sin which God has forgiven but which, for some reason, still burns in our memories.

The first principle is this: realize that God can do more with sin than just forgive it. I heard an elderly minister make that statement many years ago, when I was a young Christian, and at first I resisted it.

I said to myself: "How can God use sin? Surely it is His one intolerance?" Then, after pondering for a while, I saw what he meant. God uses our sin to motivate our will toward greater spiritual achievement, to quicken our compassion toward sinners and to show God's tender heart for the fallen.

We must be careful, of course, that we do not fall into the error which Paul refers to in Romans 6:1-2: "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid" (KJV). If we sin in order that God may use it, then our motives are all wrong and we fall foul of the eternal purposes.

If, however, we commit sin, but then take it to God in confession - really take it to Him - then He will not only forgive it, but make something of it. Is this too difficult for you to conceive?

Then I point you to the cross. The cross was the foulest deed mankind ever committed, yet God used it to become the fulcrum of His redemption. It was our lowest point - but it was God's zenith. Hallelujah.

Prayer:
O Father, I am so relieved to know that You take even my sins and make them contribute to Your purposes. Grace turns all my bad into good, all my good into better and all my better into the best. Hallelujah!

Why Do I Do These Things?

For reading & meditation - 1 John 1:1-10

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (v. 9)

We continue meditating on the principles that enable us to recover from the brokenness caused by the memory of some grievous sin. A second principle is this: Understand the major reason why you tend to brood on the past. People who brood on the past, and keep the memory of their sin alive, do so for several reasons.

Let's take them one by one: (1) They are not sure that God has forgiven them. If you have this kind of doubt, it is really a denial. It is taking a verse, like the one before us today, and flinging it back into God's face, saying "I don't believe it." If you don't accept God's forgiveness, you will try to make your own atonement in feelings of guilt. Once you confess your sin, then, as far as God is concerned, that's the end of it. Believe that - and act upon it. It's the gospel truth!

(2) They are in the grip of spiritual pride. You should be asking yourself, at some deep level of your mental and emotional life: How could I have ever done a thing like that? What this really amounts to is that you have too high an opinion of yourself. And that's about as bad as too low an opinion of yourself.

(3) They have not forgiven themselves. It might help to stand in front of a mirror with your Bible open at the verse at the top of this page, reassure yourself that God has forgiven you, and say to yourself, by name: "---------, God has forgiven you - now I forgive you too!"

Prayer:
Gracious Father, although I understand many things, I fail so often to understand myself. Teach me more of what goes on deep inside me, so that, being more self-aware, I may become more God-aware. For Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.

Remembering to Forget

For reading & meditation - Philippians 3

"... forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal ..." (vv. 13-14, RSV)

One more principle in relation to recovering from the brokenness caused by the memory of some dark sin: Forget it by reversing the process of remembering.

Puzzled? Let me explain. Memory works like this: one revives an image of some past event, holds it in the mind for a certain length of time, and then this process is repeated until it is locked into the memory for good. Now begin to reverse that process.

The matter has been forgiven by God, so don't let your mind focus on it. When it rises to the surface by itself, as it will, turn the mind away from it immediately.

Have in your mind a few interesting themes "on call." Think of another and more profitable theme. I know a Christian man, involved in one of the deepest sins imaginable, who has learned to blot out unwanted memories the moment they rise to the surface by focusing his thoughts on the cross.

It does not matter what the substitute image is so long as it is wholesome and can thrust the unwanted memory from your attention. Another thing you can do when the memory of your sin returns - even if it is only for a moment - is to turn your mind to prayer.

Don't pray about the sin itself - that will keep it in the memory - but pray that God will build into you love, forgiveness, peace, and poise. Images that are consciously rejected will rise less and less in your mind. When they do occur, they will occur only as fact; the emotions will no longer register a sense of burning shame.

Prayer:
O my Father, how can I cease thanking You for the answers You give - they are so right. Everything within me says so. Now help me to put the things I am learning into practice. Amen.

The End of the Beginning

For reading & meditation - 2 Corinthians 2:12

"... thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ ..." (2:14)

Although this is the end of the theme of "Strong at the broken places," I pray that, for many of you, it will be the beginning of a new approach to handling your weaknesses. How thankful I am that, in the early years of my Christian life, God impressed into my spirit the truth that my weaknesses could be turned into strengths. With just a few years of Christian experience behind me, I stumbled and fell. The temptation was to wallow in self-pity.

But by God's grace, I got up, brushed myself off, and said, "Devil, you won that round, but I'll work on that problem until it is no longer a weakness, but a strength." I did work on it, and today I can testify that the weakness which caused me to stumble has indeed become a strength. I say that humbly, recognizing that the strength I have is not my own, but His.

Today is a new day. How will you face it? Are you ready to face your weaknesses in the assurance that, no matter how life breaks you, you can draw out from each experience a lesson that will live on inside you and help you to find victory in a future situation?

Just as a broken bone, when it is healed, becomes stronger at that place than it was before it was broken, so you can become stronger by your very weaknesses.

Thus when you stumble, you stumble forward; when you fall, you fall on your knees and get up a stronger person. When we are Christians, everything is "grist to our mill."

Prayer:
O Father, I sense today that this is not the end, but the end of the beginning. From now on, I shall face the future knowing that, however life breaks me, in You I can become strong at the broken places. All honor and glory to Your peerless and precious Name. Amen.

Coming Back from Doubt

For reading & meditation - John 20:19-31

""Thomas said to him, 'My Lord and my God!'"" (v. 28)

We consider another important place where some Christians are broken - the area of deep and disturbing doubts. Some men and women have received Christ as their Savior and Lord, but yet are afflicted with paralyzing doubts. Some of these people go through deep agony of soul as they wrestle inwardly with doubt, ending up spiritually exhausted.

Someone like this told me that she was a scientist and had serious doubts about certain parts of the Scriptures. ""I'm afraid that one day I will wake up,"" she said, ""and discover that science has disproved large chunks of Scripture."" I could sympathize with her problem, but really her doubts were quite unfounded. Real science will never disprove Scripture, only confirm it. Half-baked science may appear to discredit the truth of God's Word, but real science can only validate it.

I suppose the classic example of doubt is found in the disciple Thomas. We call him ""doubting Thomas"" - an unfair label if ever there was one. It's sad how we pick out a negative in a person and label him for that one thing.

Thomas had his moment of doubt, but he came back from that place of weakness to become strong at the broken place. How strong? Let history judge. A well-authenticated tradition has it that Thomas went to India and founded a church there.

Even today there are Christians in India who call themselves by his name - the St. Thomas Christians. They are some of the finest Christians I have ever met. Thomas had his doubts allayed in one glorious moment of illumination - and then he went places. So can you!

Prayer:
O my Father, just as You took Thomas and changed him from a doubter to a man of amazing faith and achievement - do the same for me. For Your own dear Name's sake I ask it. Amen.

Turning tests into testimonies

For reading & meditation - Luke 21

"It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony." (v. 13, NASB)

We look now at the third step in the process of dealing with unmerited suffering: don't spend too much time trying to understand the reason for suffering - focus rather on how you can deal with it. Notice, Jesus spent very little time trying to explain human suffering, much less explain it away. Had He undertaken to explain it, then His gospel would have become a philosophy - in which case it would not have been a gospel.

A philosophy undertakes to explain everything, and then leaves everything as it was. Jesus undertook to explain little, but He changed everything He touched. He did not come to bring a philosophy, but a fact. What was that fact? The fact was His own method of meeting suffering and transforming it into something higher.

Out of this fact, we put together our philosophy - a system of principles and procedures by which we live out our life in this world. Notice that fact comes first, and then the philosophy about the fact. The good news is not merely "good news"; it is the fact of sin and suffering being met and overcome, and a way of life blazed out through them.

The fourth step is this: remind yourself that in God's universe, He allows only what He can use. In the passage before us today, Jesus gives the nine sources from which suffering comes upon us: confused religionists (false Christs), wars and conflicts in society, calamities in nature, and so on.

Then He says this: "It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony." In other words, you are not to escape trouble, nor merely bear it as the will of God - you are to use it.

Prayer:
Blessed Lord Jesus, You who used Your suffering to beautify everything You did, teach me the art of turning every test into a testimony and every tragedy into a triumph. For Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.

Gold and Silver...

For reading & meditation - Mark 1:14-28

"After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God." (v.14)

Yesterday we looked at the final answer to dealing with unmerited suffering: reminding ourselves that in God's universe, He only allows what He can use. Look again at the words of our text for today: "After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God."

After the finest and truest of prophets had been put in prison and his preaching silenced by a wicked and unjust king, Jesus came preaching the good news about God. How could there be good news about the God who had allowed such a thing to happen? But that is exactly what Jesus did proclaim - and proclaimed unashamedly.

And why? Because Jesus knew that everything God allowed, He would use. By His action, He rejected the idea that a man like John should be exempt from suffering, and that God isn't good when He permits such things to happen. Can you see now why God allows us to go through suffering?

He does it so that, in the fires of affliction, we learn the secret of an alchemy which transmutes the base metal of injustice, and consequent suffering into the gold of character and the silver of God's purposes. In one place in the New Testament, Jesus refers to being "perfected" by His death on the cross (Luke 13:32, AV).

Just think of it: the worst thing that can happen to a man - crucifixion - turns out to be the best that can happen to Him - perfection. This is the attitude we must cultivate if we are not only to face, but use suffering.

Prayer:
O my Father, how can I ever sufficiently thank You for showing me this way of life? Nothing stops it - permanently. When men and circumstances concentrate on doing their worst - You bring out of it Your best. I see, I follow, and I am unafraid. Amen.

Never Soar as High Again?

For reading & meditation - 1 Peter 1:3-9

""These have come so that your faith ... may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."" (v. 7)

We turn now to examine some of the ways in which our lives become fractured, and what we can do to become ""strong at the broken places."" We begin by looking at the brokenness which comes about through failure. Probably someone reading these words is caught up in a vortex of gloom due to a failure. You may be feeling like the man who said to me: ""I am stunned by my failure.

My life is shattered into smithereens. I read somewhere that 'the bird with the broken wing will never soar as high again.' Does that mean I can never rise to the heights in God which once I knew?"" I reminded him of Simon Peter - a man with one of the worst track records in the New Testament. He was prejudiced, bigoted, stubborn, and spiritually insensitive.

Again and again he got his wires crossed, such as the time when he attempted to divert Christ from going to His death in Jerusalem (Matt. 16:22), or his insistence that they should stay on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:4). Then, on the eve of Christ's crucifixion, he denied and even cursed his Lord. I can imagine Satan whispering in his ear: ""Now you're finished. Burned out. A failure.

You'll be forgotten ... replaced."" But by God's grace, Peter rose from failure to success. He became ""strong at the broken places."" Because he refused to live in the shadow of his bad track record, his two letters are enshrined forever in the Scriptures.

Failures, you see, are only temporary tests to prepare us for more permanent triumphs.

Prayer:
O Father, I see so clearly that no failure is a failure if it succeeds in driving me to Your side. All things serve me - when I serve You. Amen.

How Do You Respond?

|For reading & meditation - Hebrews 12:4-15

"Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives, for if he does there can ... spring up in him a bitter spirit ..."" (v. 15, J. B. Phillips)

Today we must examine an issue that may be extremely challenging to us Christians, but we must face it nevertheless. Why is it that many non-Christians, though broken by life, succeed in becoming ""strong at the broken places,"" while many Christians go through similar experiences and come out crippled and bitter?

A few years ago I watched a television program in the United States in which a famous Jew, Victor Frankl, talked about his experiences in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany.

When he was brought before the Gestapo, they stripped him naked and then, noticing that he was still wearing his gold wedding ring, one of the soldiers said, ""Give it to me."" As he removed his ring, this thought went through his mind: ""They can take my ring, but there is one thing nobody can take from me - my freedom to choose how I will respond to what happens to me.""

On the strength of that, he not only survived the Holocaust, but also developed his whole psychiatric system called Logotherapy, which states that ""when you find meaning in everything, then you can face anything.""

Frankl, a non-Christian, survived the horrors of the Holocaust because he was sustained by an inner conviction that he would come through it, and be able to use the suffering to good effect. His system of Logotherapy is now being used to help thousands who have mental and emotional problems.

If a non-Christian, bereft of redemptive grace, can respond to life in this way, then how much more those of us who claim to be His children?

Prayer:
O Father, whenever You corner me like this, You know my tendency to wriggle and try to get off the hook. Help me to face this issue and take my medicine, however bitter it tastes. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

Are Christians Exempt?

For reading & meditation - Matthew 5:38-48

""... He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."" (v. 45)

We are meditating on the theme, ""Strong at the broken places,"" and we are discovering that although life deals blows to us all, those who meet life with the right responses and the right inner attitudes are those who turn their weaknesses into strengths.

I know some Christians who believe that they ought to be exempt from the cruel blows of life. A young man who was stunned after failing his examination said, ""I cannot understand. I prayed very hard before the examination, and I lived an exemplary life for the Lord.

Why, oh why, should He fail me at this important moment?"" Later he confessed to a friend, ""As a result of God letting me down, my faith in Him has been shattered."" I can sympathize with the young man's feelings, of course, but I cannot agree with his conclusions.

Suppose prayer alone could enable us to pass examinations - what would happen? Prior to examination time, classrooms would be deserted, and everyone would flock to the churches for prayer and meditation. Not a bad situation, you might think. But what would happen to the minds of young people if prayer alone brought success?

They would become blunted by lack of study. I suspect the young man I have just referred to was depending more on prayer than on diligent and painstaking study. Now prayer and study make a good combination, but prayer without study never helped anyone pass an examination.

Christians are not exempt from the natural laws that govern the universe. We may through prayer be able to overcome them, but we are not able to avoid them.

Prayer:
Father, thank You for reminding me that even though I am a Christian, I am still governed by natural laws that apply equally to everyone. I cannot be exempt, but through You I can overcome. I am so grateful. Amen.

The "Inner-Stances"

For reading & meditation - 2 Corinthians 4

""We are handicapped on all sides ... we may be knocked down but we are never knocked out!"" (vv. 8-9, J. B. Phillips)

Why is it that while the same things can happen to us all, they may not have the same effect upon us all? The same thing happening to two different people may have entirely different effects. Why should this be so? It depends not so much on the circumstances, but on the ""inner-stances"" - or, in other words, our inner attitudes.

As someone has said, ""What life does to us in the long run depends on what life finds in us."" Life's blows can make some people querulous and bitter, others they sweeten and refine; the same events, but with opposite effects. The Gospels tell us that there were three crosses set up on Calvary on the first Good Friday.

The same event happened to three different people, but look at the different results. One thief complained and blamed Jesus for not saving Himself and them; the other thief recognized his own unworthiness, repented of it and found an open door to Paradise.

Jesus, of course, saw it as the climax of His earthly achievements and made it the fulcrum on which He moved the world. What counts, therefore, is not so much what happens to us, but what we do with it. The same sunshine falling on two different plants can cause one to wither and die, while the other will blossom and flourish.

And why? It all depends on the response the plants make. Although, of course, they both need water, one plant is more suited to hot sunshine than the other, and therefore responds with more life and growth, while the other shrivels up and dies.

Prayer:
Gracious heavenly Father, write this precept upon my heart so that I shall never forget it: it's not so much what happens to me, but what I do with it that is important. Thank You, Father. Amen

Two Men - Different Reactions

For reading & meditation - 2 Corinthians 12:1-10

""... 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'"" (v. 9)

We must spend another day examining this very important issue of why it is that some non-Christians seem to respond better to life's problems than many Christians. Just recently I heard of two different people whose business ventures collapsed. One was a Christian and the other an agnostic.

The agnostic responded to the situation by saying, ""I cannot determine what happens to me, but I can determine what it will do to me. It will make me better and more useful."" He struck out in another direction, and his new venture prospered to such a degree that he won an award.

The Christian responded to the collapse of his business by saying, ""Life is unjust. What's the point of trying? I shall withdraw from the cutthroat world of business and concentrate on my garden.""

He had to undergo some in-depth counseling before he was on his feet again, and after six months he felt strong enough to rebuild a new and now prosperous business. What can explain the different reactions of these two men?

We could explain it in terms of temperament, upbringing, and so on, but there is one thing that must not be overlooked - the Christian had access to the grace of God which, if utilized, should have enabled him to view the situation even more positively than the non-Christian. As a counselor, I understand why people respond wrongly to life's situations.

However, my understanding of it does not prevent me from recognizing that the true biblical response to life's problems is to take full advantage of the grace of God and turn every setback into a springboard.

Prayer:
Gracious Father, help me to respond to everything in the way a Christian should. Help me to see that not only do You lift the standard high, but You also supply the strength for me to attain it. For Jesus' sake. Amen.

Doing What Is Right

For reading & meditation - Philippians 2:15-16

""... continue to work out your salvation ... for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."" (vv. 12-13)

We ended yesterday by saying that the biblical response to all of life's problems is to take advantage of the unfailing grace of God, and turn our setbacks into springboards. I know that some will respond to that statement by saying, ""It sounds good in theory, but it's hard to put it into practice.

What about the hurts that some people carry inside them, that make it difficult or sometimes impossible for them to make use of God's grace to turn their problems into possibilities?"" I do understand and sympathize with the wounds that people have, which sometimes militate against their desire to respond to life in a biblical way.

I know from firsthand experience the arguments that people can put forward to avoid doing what God asks in His Word. However, I must take my stand, and so must you, on the authority of Scripture, and affirm that God never asks us to do what we are incapable of doing.

Much of evangelical Christianity, I am afraid, is man-centered. We need a return to a God-centered position which does exactly what God asks, whether we feel like it or not. I freely confess that there are times when I don't feel like obeying God.

I know, however, what is right - that God has redeemed me and that I belong to Him - and I do what He wants me to whether I feel like it or not. What controls you in your Christian life - your feelings or what you know God asks and expects you to do? Your answer will reveal just who is in the driver's seat!

Prayer:
Gracious and loving heavenly Father, teach me the art of responding to life, not with my feelings but with a clear mind and a clear resolve. Help me to do what is right - whether I feel like it or not. For Jesus' sake. Amen..

The "harvest of the Spirit"

Galatians 5:13-26

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (vv.22-23)

We begin today a detailed study of the fruit of the Spirit -- the nine ingredients which go to make up Christian character. These nine qualities are the natural outcome of the Holy Spirit's indwelling -- not a manufactured one.

When Paul speaks of the manifestations of the flesh, he describes them as "works," but when speaking of the manifestations of the Spirit, he describes them as "fruit." "Works" suggests something that is an effort: "fruit" suggests something that is effortless.

Some translations use the term "harvest of the Spirit" rather than "fruit of the Spirit," pointing to the finished product, the outcome. Most people, myself included, prefer the word "fruit" to "harvest," but there is a special truth locked up in the word "harvest" that we must not miss.

You see, it is what we finally reap as the result of an attitude or course of action that is important. What happens along the way, such as good feelings, are part of the Spirit's purpose but not the greatest part. It is the end result that matters.

And what is that end result? It is a quality of being. Jesus once said: "Love your enemies, do good ... and your reward will be great ... you will be sons of the Highest" (Luke 6:35, NKJV). Note the phrase, "you will be."

The reward is more than just having -- it is being. Remember, the goodness or badness of an act is determined, not just by what it does to others but by what it does to you.

So having the Holy Spirit within us is not just being the recipient of pleasurable emotions -- it is being a better person.

Prayer:
O God my Father, help me right here at the beginning to get my focus right and yearn, not so much for better feelings, but to be a better person. In Christ's Name I ask it. Amen.

The primacy of love

1 Corinthians 13"

... the greatest of these is love." (v.13)

The fruit of the Spirit is just one aspect of the Spirit-filled life.

It is an over-simplification, but the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian moves in two important directions -- to produce purity and to produce power. The power aspect can be seen in a study of the gifts of the Spirit and the purity aspect in a study of the fruit of the Spirit.

Both are of equal importance. So be assured that in emphasising the fruit of the Spirit, I am not intending to divert attention from the gifts of the Spirit and their miraculous nature.

Having the Spirit within results in many things but, as we saw yesterday, one of the most important results is a quality of being -- a quality of being which has nine characteristics. The first of these is "love." This emphasis on the primacy of love fits in with Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 13 -- "the greatest of these is love."

If one examines the chapter in which these words are found, it will be discovered that every fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5 is involved in this supernatural love. Indeed either directly, or by synonyms, each of them is mentioned. All the fruit depends on the first. Note the connection: love suffers long -- long-suffering.

Love is kind. Love does not envy -- goodness. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up -- meekness or gentleness.

Love seeks not its own, is not easily provoked -- self-control. Love rejoices in the truth -- joy. Love bears all things, hopes all things -- faithfulness. Having love, we have all the fruit of the Spirit. Without it we are nothing.

Prayer: Gracious Father, I see that whatever else I possess, if I do not possess love I am nothing. Help me to keep all my channels open to You, so that love -- Your love -- may grow in me. Amen.

Mature -- only in love

Ephesians 4:7-16

"... speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him ..." (v.15)

We are seeing that love is the first outcome of the Spirit within, and if this is lacking, everything is lacking.

The first indication of the fact that we are growing spiritually is that we are growing in love. If we grow in love, then we grow -- period. Without growing in love, we cannot grow in God, for His essential nature is love.

Our passage today, in the Moffatt translation, tells us that we are to "hold by the truth, and by our love to grow up wholly into Him." There is only one way to grow up wholly into Him, and that is "by our love." We remain immature if we are immature in love. If the love is ingrown and focused on itself then the result is an immature personality. If the love is selectively applied to certain groups, again the result is an immature personality.

We are mature to the extent that we can love. Indeed all other growth, without growth in love, is what someone has described as "sucker love -- growth that bears no fruit."

J. B. Phillips' translation of 1 Corinthians 8:1 puts it this way: "While knowledge may make a man look big, it is only love that can make him grow to his full stature."

There is a great emphasis on getting knowledge in today's Church. A lecturer in a leading British theological college recently wrote: "Know the facts of the faith and that will redeem you."

I know many Christians who are good at giving facts in relation to the faith but not so good at giving love. Knowledge looks big, but it is just big barrenness unless love is behind it.

Prayer:
O Father, I sense that You are bringing me to the very crux of things. Hold me to it, for unless I grow in love then I do not grow in You. Help me, dear Father. Amen.

What compels you?

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

"For Christ's love compels us ..." (v.14)

What exactly does Scripture mean when it uses the word "love"? In English, the word "love" has a variety of meanings. It is used for the mighty passion that moves in the heart of God but it is used also to describe such things as the flutterings of the adolescent heart in spring, an extramarital affair, or a homosexual relationship. The one word "love" has to be spread over a multiplicity of diverse meanings.

The Greek language is much richer in this respect. It has four words for love. One is eros, meaning love between the sexes. Another is philia, meaning affectionate human love. Then there is the word storge, meaning family love.

The most powerful word for love, however, is agape, which means unconditional love -- the love that surges in the heart of God. When Paul says, "the fruit of the Spirit is love," the word he uses for love is agape.

He means that the love we are expected to experience and demonstrate when we are indwelt by the Spirit is not just love in general, but love of a specific kind -- the love which we see exemplified in Jesus.

In the text before us today, Paul says: "For Christ's love compels us." This cuts deep. It is possible to be compelled by the love of achievement, of success, of a cause, of a fight. What compels you -- the love of a cause or the love of Christ?

The enemies of the early Christians complained that "these followers of Jesus love each other even before they are acquainted." They did. They couldn't help it, for the very nature of the faith they had embraced was love.

Prayer:
Father, as I look into my heart in these few moments to see what controls me, help me to come out with the same answer as the apostle Paul -- "the love of Christ." Pour Your love in so that I may pour it out to others. In Jesus' Name. Amen

Love cannot fail

John 13

"Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love." (v.1)

The love which flows in our hearts when we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit is not a general love but a specific one -- the love of Christ. This love dulls the edge of disappointment and enables us to be invulnerable to many things, not least a lack of appreciation.

The poet was thinking of this high degree of love when he wrote: Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! It is an ever fixed mark,That looks on tempests and is never shaken.

Let's follow this thought through a little more deeply. The nine ingredients of the fruit of the Spirit were all exemplified in Jesus' life on earth, and it is the present purpose of the Holy Spirit to engraft them into us as we abide in Christ and maintain a close, day-by-day relationship with Him.

When we do this, the very first evidence will be that of agape love. This is not a give-and-take kind of love, a love that is reciprocal; it is a love that descends from above and is showered on the deserving and the undeserving, the agreeable and the disagreeable.

Christians who dwell deeply in God find that they are changed from people who just love occasionally, when it is convenient, to people whose controlling purpose is love.

Love becomes the organizing motive and power in their lives. Such love "never fails," for it always finds a way of expressing itself -- and when it expresses itself, it is itself the success.

Prayer:
O Father, I see that in expressing love, I become more loving even if the other person doesn't accept my love. I cannot fail in love even if love seems to fail in accomplishing the desired end. I am so thankful. Amen.