Love never fails

Love is eternal. Paul reminds us that only three things of this present world will remain to inherit the world to come, “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) Most of what we see around us is temporary and will perish along with the present heavens and earth. The Bible is explicit that this present creation will not last but will one day come to an end and will be replaced with a new creation that is permanent and eternal. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.” (Revelation 21:1)

In contrast to the eternal nature of love, Paul lists some things that are merely temporal. “But if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.” (1 Corinthians 13:8) Prophesy, tongues, and knowledge will all one day ceases. These “gifts of the Spirit” or “emanations of the Spirit” are not eternal; they are given for a specific period of time for the edification of the Body of Christ. One day, when we stand in the very presence of God, there will no longer be any need for prophesy, teaching, pasturing, evangelism, and other ministries and spiritual services. What I find interesting is how much energy is spent by the Christian church today on things that are not eternal. There are many conferences on finding and developing your spiritual gifts. There is also an abundance of books, tapes, and seminars on becoming and growing as a leader. While spiritual gifts and leaders are important, they are not most important. We can focus on the work of the kingdom and forget to give ourselves to things that are truly eternal. This was the problem with the Laodicean church. They had works and service, but they had left behind their love for God. Paul warns us about focusing on temporal gifts while neglecting eternal love.

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

Spiritual gifts are vital to the maturing of the Body of Christ, but they are fruitless unless combined with love. If we fail at love then our lives will amount to nothing more than a series of meaningless successes and failures bearing no fruit unto eternity. This is why Paul said, “Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:1) Notice that we are to “pursue” love and “desire” gifts, not the other way around. Let us pursue love while eagerly desiring spiritual gifts, and let us always remember that “the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

David Robison

Love hopes all things

No one ever got married believing that their life would be miserable. All newlywed couples start out their married life with hopes and dreams of a life full of love, joy, and unfettered companionship, but, inevitably, difficult times come and the character and nature of their love for each other is tested. For many couples, the disappointment and disillusionment that is breed in these times of difficulty is too much to overcome and, for many, the marriage falls apart. Upwards of one third of new marriages in the United States will end in divorce. While the reasons for divorce are varied and often complex, for most couples going through a divorce, the loss of hope by one or both partners certainly contributes to their decision to end the relationship.

A former pastor of mine once said that all relationships go through three distinct stages: the honeymoon stage, the reality stage, and the redemptive stage. In the beginning, everything is great. You are so much “in love” that nothing bothers you and you cannot imagine ever having an argument or a disagreement. Then, as time goes on, you come to notice that the other person really does have faults and the little things that once seemed “cute” now start to get on your nerves. You become more irritable and even the littlest things often spark heated arguments. It is at this stage when many relationships fall apart, but if you can press beyond this point and love each other with a godly love, then you will experience a deeper relationship that few ever find. One of the keys to making it through the “reality” stage to the “redemptive” stage is hope.

Love does not always get what it wants when it wants it. Hope is the ability to wait for what we want. “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:24-25) But this waiting is not passive or inactive, but hope actually empowers us to continue laboring for good in our relationships while we wait for what we desire. “Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.” (1 Corinthians 9:10) If we loose hope, we give up, but if we hope all things, then we will continue in doing good even when we don’t see the object of our hope.

Another reason hope is so important in any relationship is because it is a precursor to faith. “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, ‘So shall thy seed be.’” (Romans 4:18 KJV) Abraham’s reality stood in stark contrast to the promise of God. God had promised him a son, but Abraham was pushing 100 years in age and Sarah was nearly 90. When faced with the improbability of the promise of God, it was Abraham’s hope in the promise that gave him courage to believe. Without hope, there is no reason to believe. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Love hopes all good things for its relationships and, in hope, it believes.

So where do we find hope when our reason for hope seems dim? Consider the following scriptures.

“Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Ephesians 2:12) Paul makes it clear, without Christ, all our hope is false hope. It is only when we are reconciled back to God and enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ that we will find a hope that is not dependent upon us, our circumstances, or someone else. In Christ we have a hope that is backed up by the power and authority of God Himself.

“For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4) While God is the God of all hope, it is important that we know the things that we might hope for. The scriptures are full of the promises of God. By reading them, we understand what is ours by our rebirth into God’s family. We understand what it means to be children of God. We learn of the nature and character of God. And our eyes are opened to all that God wants and has for us in this life and the life to come. As we read the scriptures we can then begin to hope for what they offer.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) As we learn to draw near to God, He fills us with His joy and peace. It is hard for a heart that is full of sadness and torment to hope, but when we experience the joy and peace that comes from God, hope is a natural response. Hope is not something we can muster up in our own strength, but is the result of the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts. It is not enough to know God, but we need to experience Him in the person of the Holy Spirit. As we experience God, our hope will increase.

David Robison

Love believes all things

Faith is one of the three human character traits, according to 1 Corinthians 13:13, which will remain forever. “But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.” When we normally think of faith we think of faith in God and, when Paul says that “Love believes all things” he is certainly speaking of our faith in God. But in this verse, Paul is speaking about our faith in God pertaining to other people more than our faith in God relating to ourselves.

In believing all things, love makes a conscience choice to walk by faith in God rather than by what is seen. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) Life is full of unforeseen challenges, disappointments, and even offenses from other people. If we live our lives limited only by what we can see, our lives will be as unstable as a ship floating helplessly on a storm tossed sea. Every day our circumstances confront us with reasons to doubt God, to doubt each other, and to doubt the value of our relationships.

Love takes courage and that courage does not come from examining our circumstances. Sometimes they will encourage us but other times they will discourage us to the point of despair. The courage that love requires comes only when we learn to view our circumstances and relationships through the eyes of faith. Only when we learn to see as God sees will we have courage to continue to love even through the times of discouragement and disappointment. So what should we choose to believe regarding other people? The Bible is a ready source of promises. Here are but a few.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) God loves all people. Even the most unlovely of people are loved by God. We judge people from their outward appearance and behavior but God looks at their heart. God is able to find something lovely about all people and all people are precious to God. Love chooses to agree with God and believe that all people are worthy of love. Love believes that, even when we cannot find something to love in someone else, they are still precious to God and worthy of our love. We love, not because we judge other worthy of our love, but because God has already judged them worthy of love.

“They were even more astonished and said to Him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:26-27) No one is beyond God’s saving power or beyond His healing touch. Even the hardest heart can be soften and converted by the goodness and the power of God. No one is beyond hope. “For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.” (Ecclesiastes 9:4) Love chooses to believe there is no one, nor any circumstance, that is beyond God’s redeeming touch. Love continues to believe the best, to believe that any person and all circumstances can be redeemed.

“And He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’” (Revelation 21:5) God did not create the world and then abandon it to its own devices. Rather, God is still actively involved in the everyday happenings of His creation and His people. It is easy to become discouraged when we face circumstances that seem resilient to change. It is easy to succumb to hopelessness when faced with long term difficulties that seem like they will never improve. The truth, however, is that even when things seem to be at their worst, God is still working. Consider Joseph whom his brothers sold into slavery. Joseph’s life went from bad to worst. First slavery and then imprisonment, yet what Joseph could not see was that God was working to prepare him for the place of second-in-command of all of Egypt. God was preparing him for greatness. If we look with natural eyes we may get discourages, but if we look with eyes of faith we will see that God is still at work. Love chooses to believe and to not give up just because things look difficult and change impossible.

“For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:8) Faced with a difficult situation, love realizes that we cannot just sit around and wait for change. Love chooses to sow into difficult situations that we might later reap change. Problems in a relationship do not grow overnight nor does change happed instantly. Change is a process and involves sowing and reaping. Love chooses to continue to sow godly things into its relationships even when the immediate result is more hurt and difficulty. Love believes that if it sows spiritual things it will eventually reap spiritual things. If it sows the love of God into a relationship, it will eventually reap the love of God from that relationship. Love sees the long term picture and chooses to sow in the present that it may reap in the future.

“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” (1 Peter 2:6) No one wants to be made a fool of. You have heard the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” But God has given us a special promise, if we walk in faith with Him, we will never be put to shame. This applies in our relationship with God and also in our relationship with other people. If we love in faith, we will not be put to shame or made a fool of. There is a risk in loving people. People are not always predictable, they can bless you but they can also hurt you and break your heart. But God promises that if we extend the love of God to other people, no matter what happens in the relationship, if we love by faith, we will not be put to shame. Another translation of this verse is that those who trust in the Lord will not be “disappointed”. Let us live by faith and love by faith. Let us choose to believe all of God’s promises as we extend the love of God to others. And as we do, we can trust that we will never be disappointed or shamed by our trust in God.

David Robison

Love bears all things

There is a story of a man who, on his wedding day, was asked by the minister, “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health?” His response was ‘Yes, no, yes, no, no, and yes.” Needless to say, that was not what his bride-to-be wanted to hear. Marriage is not a multiple choice proposition, it is all or nothing, and so is love. Love is not something we fall in to one day and then fall out of the next. When Paul said that “Love bears all things” he was speaking of love’s enduring and unchanging nature.

If you look to the media and entertainment industries for an understanding of Love, they will tell you that love is a response based upon our attraction for another person. But God has a different perspective on love. The God kind of love that we are to emulate is more of a choice than a response. Love, at its very core, is a decision to treat someone else with the character attributes that are distinctly god-like. Love is a decision to be patient, kind, selfless, humble, respectful, longsuffering, and forgiving towards another person. This kind of love is not conditional on the other person reciprocating love towards us, it is not conditional on their positive behavior and attitude towards us, but it is unconditional as a matter of our own choosing. Speaking of God’s love towards us, Paul writes, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8) God did not love us because we were worthy. In fact He loved us when we were still sinners and enemies of His kingdom. Rather God loved us because He chose to love us. It is comforting to know that God’s love for us is not conditional on us keeping the law. We all fall and sin in many ways but this does not diminish God’s love for us. He chose to love us and, even in our worst of times, His love for us is just as strong as it is when we are at our best. This is what the Lord spoke so many years ago. “The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.’” (Jeremiah 31:3)

So should our love be one to another. We should never hold out our love as a conditional offering to those who must measure up to our standard of acceptance. We should not base our love on how someone else is treats us. We should choose to love with the love of God and then love through all time, for better or worse, for richer and for poorer, and in sickness and in health.

David Robison

Love rejoices in the truth

Every parent wants their child to grow up to be successful. Unfortunately, our society has so many ideas of what it means to be successful. So how do we know if we have grown up to be successful? There is a movement in our schools that believes that success comes when we learn to develop a healthy sense of self esteem. Schools across the country are implementing programs to teach children the value of self esteem. Some schools are even teaching the children songs that extol their value, songs that have been referred to as the “me” songs. For others, success lies in good grades, acceptance at a good college, and eventually becoming financially successful in a good carrier. For them, “rising to the top” is the panicle of success. Other children find success in being popular and having lots of friends. Grades and learning are secondary to being liked and being a part of the “in crowd”. And for other parents, all that matters is that their kids are the best at what ever they do. They push their kids to be better and to strive to be the best at whatever sport or activity they are involved in. But is any of this a real good measure of success? In writing to Gaius, his brother in the faith, the Apostle John wrote,

“For I was very glad when brethren came and testified to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth. I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” (3 John 3-4)

Paul wrote that “love rejoices in the truth.” There is nothing more important, or more foundational, than that we build our lives upon a lifestyle of living in the truth. We can have all the self-esteem we want, have great paying jobs, be the best and anything and every thing we try, but if we lack truth in our lives, we have accomplished nothing. I would rather raise my kids to walk in the truth than to have children who are successful by the world’s standard yet lack the morality that is consistent with God’s word and who lack the ability to make ethical choices that are consistent with God’s righteous decrees.

The word Paul uses for “rejoices” caries the idea of congratulating someone. My number two son just graduated from High School with honors and, while I am very proud of him for his accomplishments, I congratulate him the most for becoming a man who walks in the truth. Love rejoices and congratulates others when its sees them walking in the truth. In life, it is easy to become critical of others when they fall short of our goals for their lives. Our children are not as smart as we had hoped or our wife does not keep the house as we had hoped she would. Often we judge others based on images of success that we have receive from the media and the entertainment industry. We see the pretty and perfect people on TV and then wonder why our spouse and children are not as pretty and perfect as they are. However, when we judge people by worldly standards we are judging with shallow motives. If we would look deeper we might see the substance of greater value, something of lasting value, a life and a heart that has been made pure by the power of God. Let us learn to look deeper into each other’s lives. Let us learn to look with the eyes of love. Let us begin to congratulate others for the evidence of true success in their lives. Let us learn to rejoice when we see others “walking in the truth.”

David Robison

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness: Part 5

Embracing unrighteousness in our culture

Here in America, our country is in the midst of a fierce cultural war. The moral and cultural standards upon which our country was build are daily coming under attack. Each day, there are more and more factions seeking to bring change in our culture, seeking to alter the culture to fit their particular view of how we should behave, both individually and corporately as a society. For example, there is a concerted push to change the traditional definition of marriage from one man and one woman to include any two (or more) consenting adults, even adults of the same sex. Another example is the effort to replace personal responsibility and self-sufficiency with dependency on the government. There are those in our culture who see government as the solution to all our problems. If there is a problem, then government must do something about it. If I loose my job, then it’s the government’s responsibility to do something and either get me a job or to provide for me while I’m unemployed. If I have needs, it’s not my responsibility to better myself but the government’s role to provide for me and to somehow better my life. A final example of this cultural war is the advancement of relativism. There are those in our society who are espousing a philosophy that there are no absolutes, that everything is relevant. There is nothing of which you can say that it is right or wrong. Right and wrong are determined by a person’s own private morals and the situation at hand. What may be wrong in one situation, or for one person, may not be wrong in another situation or for another person. The absolutes of the Judeo-Christian ethics are being replaced with individual morals that are conditional on the present circumstances.

In this midst of this Cultural Revolution, great confusion has arisen over how love should respond to such pressures to change. There are many who misunderstand the nature and the character of love. For many, they believe that 1 Corinthians 13:7-8 should be rewritten to say “Love accepts all things, love accommodates all things, and love embraces all things. Love never judges.” But is this a realistic and true expression of love?

When the children of Israel were about to receive their inheritance in the land of Canaan, God was very clear about how they should behave relative to how the people who formerly occupied their land used to behave. “Beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.” (Deuteronomy 12:30-31, 18:9) Culture is important and our moral and ethical inheritance is not to be rejected just to make others fit in or feel more comfortable in their sin and unrighteousness. We hear a lot about the importance of “tolerance” but often what is really desired is “accommodation”. There is nothing wrong with being tolerant of people who are different than us, but it is wrong to compromise our morals and ethics to accommodate another’s sin. So what is the loving response to those who are different from us, to those who desire to be part of our society and culture? This is what God commanded those of the new nation of Israel, “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God. There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the LORD your God.” (Lev 19:33-34, 24:22) Love responds to those who are different by receiving them into our culture, by allowing them to become a part of who we are, by sharing with them the benefits and blessings of our country, society, and culture. Love does not feel compelled to change our standards or morals just to make others feel more comfortable, but love does warmly receive all who desire to embrace them and are willing to live in a culture that is defined by them. Love stands with open arms and invites all to come and enjoy the blessings we have found.

David Robison

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness: Part 4

Living with unrighteousness in the church

Israel’s history in the Promised Land was often a checkered history at best. It was a history peppered with times of compromise, sin, and apostasy. To be sure, there were times that could be described as glorious and that were full of the purpose and potential of God, but there were also the dark times where unrighteousness reigned. From time to time, reformers would come and, because of their message, the culture would shift, if only temporarily, towards God and His laws. But far too often, their work would stop short of a total cultural revolution. Over and over the scriptures would record the following words, “However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places.” (1 Kings 22:43) It took the work of such reformers as Hezekiah and Josiah to actually go up to the high places and tear them down. “Then he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba; and he broke down the high places of the gates which were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the city gate.” (2 Kings 23:8)

Most churches are good at rooting out overt sin from their congregation. Few churches are like the church at Corinth that allowed open and overt sin, such as the inset that was going on, to continue unchallenged in their mists. But for many churches, the high places still remain. The high places were places where people would go to sacrifice to god, sometimes even to Jehovah, but their sacrifices were contrary to the laws of God. God had required that His people come to the altar at Jerusalem to offer their sacrifice and not to offer their sacrifices under “every green tree”. High places, at first glance, look holy and religious. After all, they were going there to offer sacrifices to Jehovah, but they were an offence before God. How do we know if something in our church has become a “high place”? Here are three characteristics of a high place.

1. Worship at a high place is worship that is contrary to the word of God. No matter what we are doing, no matter how holy and religious it sounds, if it is contrary to God’s word, it’s a high place. The writer of Hebrews calls them “dead works”. (Hebrews 9.14) The only solution for dead works is “repentance from dead works and of faith toward God” (Hebrews 6:1)


2. Worship at a high place is a worship of convenience. May times they sought the high places because they were close and the journey to Jerusalem was long. It was “convenient” for them to worship at the high place rather than to travel to Jerusalem. Unfortunately Christianity is not a life of convenience but a life of obedience. “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)


3. Worship at a high place is a worship that is devoid of the presence of God. We can try to convince ourselves that God is present in our worship, but confessing it does not make it so. I have been in churches where they say, “Isn’t the presence of God here today?” but, honestly, if He was there He must have been hiding. It is true that God is always with us, but there are times when His presence is with us in a manifest and tangible sense. Speaking of Jesus, the scriptures say, “Unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” (Gen 49:10 KJV) When we come to worship, if it is not to come before Him and enter into His presence, then it offers little to both man and God.

The church at Laodicea was a church that had found it comfortable to live with the compromises of the high places, yet God rebuked her saying, “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” (Revelation 3:18-19) Love does not tolerate compromise. Love is willing to tell us what we need to hear, not just what we want to hear. Love knows that compromise will always lead to a snare, but love also knows that the truth will always set us free.

More to come… David Robison

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness: Part 3

Tolerating sin in our families

Raising a family is hard work, especially in these fast-paced times we live in. Everyone is in a hurry and there seems to be little time left over for building in the lives of our children, our spouses, and our families as a whole. While most parents would aspire to build a strong family, many parents are so spent that they feel they lack the time and energy needed for the task. Many times, it just seems easier to “let things slide” or to ignore relational conflicts hoping that they will just go away. While we may be tempted to coexist with sin, moral failure, and character flaws within our families, love motivates us to confront them and to find ways to deal with them. Ignoring problems in our families always leads to trouble. Here are just two examples from the scriptures.

David had many sons and daughters; among them were his son Amnon and his daughter Tamar. They were both children of David but from different mothers. Amnon “loved” his half-sister Tamar, so he laid a trap for her. He pretended to be sick and when she came to serve him he overpowered her and raped her. After lying with her he despised her more than he had previously “loved” her so he sent her away in humiliation and disgrace. “Now when King David heard of all these matters, he was very angry.” (2 Samuel 13:21) David was angry but he did nothing! Sin and offense had entered the family yet David did nothing to confront or deal with it. For two years this issue festered until finally David’s son, and Tamar’s brother, Absalom took action and killed Amnon. David’s lack of response was partially to blame for Absalom’s act of murder and it sowed the seeds of Absalom’s later rebellion against him and his kingdom.

Saul also had a son, Jonathan. It happed one day that as they were pressing hard after the philistines that King Saul gave an order, “Cursed be the man who eats food before evening, and until I have avenged myself on my enemies." (1 Samuel 14:24) Unfortunately, his son Jonathan was not there to hear his command. So when he entered the forest he found some honey and ate from it. When it was told Jonathan that his father had commanded that no one should eat until the philistines were destroyed, he responded with contempt to his father’s command. “My father has troubled the land. See now, how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if only the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now the slaughter among the Philistines has not been great.” (1 Samuel 14:29-30) Later that day Saul sought the Lord for direction in the battle, yet God was silent. So they cast lots to see who had sinned and the lot fell to Jonathan. Saul asked Jonathon what he had done and Jonathon replied, “I indeed tasted a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, I must die!” (1 Samuel 14:43) While Saul was set to kill his son, the people objected and Saul relented of his decision. The will of the people saved Jonathan yet this episode ends with the following words, “Then Saul went up from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.” (1 Samuel 14:46) Jonathan was spared but the philistines got away. When King Saul agreed to ignore the sin of his son he lost his authority to lead. The enemies were on the run, Israel was winning the war, but Saul’s compromise brought an early end to the campaign. The victory that could have been the Lord’s was lost and Israel returned home without having accomplished all that they could have.


Tolerating sin, and the seeds of sin, in our families always leads to disaster. Parenting takes love, yet love takes courage. As a parent, love is less concerned with being like by our children and more concerned with seeing them formed into the image of Christ. A loving parent is less concerned with what others think and what the world says than they are with raising children who know God and who know how to live according to His ways. “He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.” (Proverbs 13:24) Love is willing to confront the issues that need to be confronted. Love understands that momentary discomfort and discipline are sometimes necessary to produce the life long fruit of righteousness. It’s not easy to have to inflict pain on our children, and it’s hurtful when they express their anger towards us for our punishing of them, but Love looks to the reward, love looks to the life that will be formed by godly discipline, training, and instruction.

More to come… David Robison

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness: Part 2

Living with our own sins

One of the primary areas where we are content to live in harmony with unrighteousness is in the area of our own sins. We are quick to judge the sins of others and are often harsh in our renouncement of our own brethren when they sin, but we are equally quick to excuse our own sins and to rebuff anyone who tries to address areas of sin in our personal life. We are like the man who is skilled at finding the specks in his brother’s eye yet all the time fails to see the log that is in our own eye (Matthew 7:3). Paul, in writing to the Corinthian church, spoke of this same condition that was apparent in the church. “I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.” (2 Corinthians 12:21)

Jesus invites us to come “just as I am” but He doesn’t want us to stay “just as I am”. When we come to Jesus we all come dirty. We are all filthy with the stain of our own sins. We also come with habits, practices, and ideas that were not formed by the Word of God but rather were formed by our association with the world. We come as sinners and it is sinners that Jesus came to save (1 Timothy 1:15). Once saved, however, Jesus begins to work a work of sanctification in our lives; to clean us up from the inside out. It is this process of sanctification that Jesus asks us to partner with Him in the work. The Holy Spirit does the work, but we must yield to His leading and teaching in our lives. This is why Paul said that we should, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)

We can no longer tolerate sin in our own lives. We must be willing to confront it and repent of our sin that we might find forgiveness and a changed life by the power of the Holy Spirit. “I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you.” (Ex 23:27-28) The Holy Spirit is at work in our lives, exposing areas of sin that we might “drive them out.” He doesn’t ask us to deal with all our issues all at once, but when He does bring an area of sin to the forefront, we must deal with it and drive it from our lives.

More to come… David Robison

Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness: Part 1

“And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.” (1 Peter 1:8) This is not the kind of rejoicing that Paul is talking about when he teaches us that love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.” (1 Corinthians 13:6) No one jumps up and down with joy over unrighteousness, and few are every that excited over the truth as well. The type of rejoicing that Paul is referring to in this scripture is a peaceful, happy disposition or a feeling of well being. It is a sense that you are well-off and content with life and its circumstances.

As Christians, we know that we are to denounce unrighteousness, but its presence is all around us. So to live a peaceful and comfortable life, we are often willing to tolerate the unrighteousness around us. We accept a peaceful coexistence with unrighteous and live in a kind of spiritual détente with the forces of darkness. We try to live godly in our own lives, and we love to hear our preachers preach against evil in our churches, but we stop short of actually confronting the evil that is in our world. We live and let live to the point where we are willing to compromise everything so that we might not “rock the boat”.

We have become like Lot who “moved his tents as far as Sodom.” (Genesis 13:12) Sodom was exceeding wicked and Peter tells us that Lot’s soul was oppressed by what he saw around him. “For by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds.” (2 Peter 2:8) Yet Lot, for all his tormented soul suffered, never confronted the wickedness of that city. Lot was righteous, but his righteousness had no effect on the city around him or its inhabitance. In fact, when Lot finally stood up to warn them of the coming judgment from the hand of God, the laughed him to scorn for, “he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting.” (Genesis 19:14)

We have become like the church at Corinth which was rich in the gifts of the Spirit, yet also rich in sin. “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife.” (1 Corinthians 5:1) This sin was a stain upon the church and an offence before God. Such a situation calls for action, yet the spiritual leaders of the church were silent. In fact, they seemed content to let “sleeping dogs lie” as long as they could have their anointed, powerful, Holy Ghost meetings.

Love does not live at peace with unrighteousness. Love cares too much for other people to “wink at sin” or to look the other way when iniquity enters the camp. Love cares enough to confront sin, even to “expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11) It reminds me of the time when President Ronald Regan stood before the Berlin wall and uttered those now famous words, “Mr. Gorbachove, Tear down this wall!” For years, the Soviet Union and the United States eked out a sort of peace between the two countries, neither willing to take a bold move or to “rock the boat”. Yet it was Regan who was willing to take on that “evil empire”, calling on them to dismantle their stronghold on the countries of the Eastern Block, and calling for the repudiation of communism. Regan was willing to take them on and, in the end, saw the demise of communism.

In the same way we too must be bold, not to take on communism, but to stand up against unrighteousness, iniquity, and injustice. To not just believe that unrighteousness is wrong, but to live a life that demonstrates what truth is, to show the world another way of living, and to campaign against wickedness by our own good deeds. Love takes a stand!

In the next few posts we will look at some ways that love can confront unrighteousness and help to establish the truth.

More to come… David Robison

Love does not keep a record of wrongs: Part 3

Walking in forgiveness

Some have asked me, “How can I forgive and forget?” Well, for starters, it is a blessed thing that God commands us to do only one of the two. God never commands us to forget but He does command us to forgive. Forgiveness has little to do with forgetting. Forgiveness is the releasing of a debt. Whether or not you choose to remember that debt is up to you, but either way we are still commanded to forgive. Yet, because we are made in God’s image, it is possible to forget a forgiven debt. God has promised not only to forgive us but to also remove and forget our sins. “‘They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:34)

The reason we have so much trouble forgetting is that we are often not ready to let go of our hurts. We tend our hurts with such care that we actually keep them alive much longer then God would have. God is waiting and ready to heal our hurts but we are not ready or willing to give them over to Him. Far too often we allow ourselves the luxury of replaying our hurts over and over in our minds. Every time we see the person who hurt us, or whenever something triggers the remembrance of a hurt, we remember in full the entire situation. We replay the entire event in our mind, complete with the emotions, hurt, and anger we felt. We remind ourselves of how unjustly we were treated and of the judgment that the other person deserves because of their ill treatment of us. With each rehearsal of the hurt, its influences over us become stronger and it becomes more ingrained within our soul. With each rehearsal it becomes harder and harder to let go.

What we need to understand is that, while forgiving is a decision, forgetting is a process. Forgetting does not happen all at once, it is a process that we walk out with God. The key to forgetting is found in one of the definitions of the Hebrew word for “forget”. To “forget” is to “neglect”. When we are drawn back to remember a past hurt, a hurt for which we have already forgiven the other person, we must choose not to entertain the remembrance. We must remind ourselves, and God, that we have already forgiven the other persons; that we have already released them from their debt they owed us because of their sin against us. We must not allow ourselves the “pleasure” of rehearsing the hurt, but rather we should replace a pattern of rehearsal with a new godly pattern. “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28) Instead of replaying in our mind how the other person hurt us, we need to develop a new habit of blessing, praying, and doing good to the other person.

Here is the plan for forgetting. The next time you remember how someone hurt you, pray for them and ask God to blessing them. When you have an opportunity, do something good for them. In this way you will be neglecting the memory and, over time, it and its hurt will begin to fade. King Solomon reminds us that “whether a tree falls toward the south or toward the north, wherever the tree falls, there it lies.” (Ecclesiastes 11:3) If you have ever seen a freshly fallen tree, it still looks very much alive, albeit in a horizontal position. Its leaves are still green and you can still smell its fragrance, but overtime death takes hold. Its leaves brown and its branches become brittle. When we forgive, it is like falling the tree of offence committed by another. If we keep watering the fallen tree, it will live on longer, but if we simple neglect the fallen tree, it will wither and eventually decay to nothing. The same is true of our hurts. Immediately after forgiving, the hurts still seem very much alive, but if we commit to neglecting them, overtime, they will fade and their hurt will lesson until it is entirely forgotten.

David Robison

Love does not keep a record of wrongs: Part 2

Kingdom Economics:

Forgiveness, in its most foundational meaning, is a financial term. Forgiveness simply means the removing of a debt. Even today, when a financial institution reduces or cancels a debt, they refer to it as the forgiveness of the debt. To help us understand the forgiveness of sins, Jesus drew a parallel to the forgiveness of a financial debt. Jesus tells the story of a poor man who was hopefully in debt to the king. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.” (Matthew 18:23-24) Exactly how much ten thousand talents would be today is unclear, but Bible teacher J Vernon McGee estimated that it would be about twelve million dollars in today’s currency. Unable to pay, the king sentenced the man to be sold. “But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.” (Matthew 18:25) Pleasing for his life, the man begs for more time. “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’” (Matthew 18:26) Having pity on the man, the king responds with mercy and canceled the entire debt that the man owed. “And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.” (Matthew 18:27)

When we sin against God or against our fellow man, because of our sin, we own them a debt. The price for our sin against God is our life. “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) Because of our sins against God, we bear the sentence of death. Where there is sin, there must also be the shedding of blood. To satisfy the righteous judgment of God toward us, Jesus died in our place. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) And because of His substitutionary death on our behalf, God is able to extend to us His complete and unconditional forgiveness. The debt we owed God due to our sin has been completely wiped away. We who were sinners have been made right before God.

In the same way that our heavenly Father forgives us, so we too must forgive those who sin against us. We must be willing to cancel their debt, to release them, and to set them free. The sum of what they own us because of their sins against us may be great, but it still pales in comparison to the debt we owned God. As we have been forgiven, so we must for them.

When we understand forgiveness from a financial aspect, one thing become immediately apparent. Forgiveness has nothing to do with our emotions. Forgiveness is a decision of our will. We may still be hurting or even angry over their sin, but we can still choose to forgive then. We may not even “feel” like forgiving, but feelings have little to do with forgiveness, we can still forgive regardless of how we feel.

Someone once said that “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” While it may be good poetry, it’s bad theology. In every relationship there will always be things that we must ask forgiveness for. Love means never having to hold on to a sin or a hurt. Love allows us to release one another for the hurtful things we have done. Love allows us to keep short accounts of others’ sins. When things come between us, love forgives, releases, and moves on.

More to come… David Robison

Love does not keep a record of wrongs: Part 1

Love may not keep a record of wrongs but God’s accounts are always accurate, up to date, and in great detail. God sees everything we do, and all our words and deeds are recorded in books before the living God. Everything we do and say is recorded, and one day, we will be called to give an account for everything that is written in those books. Paul reminds us that, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10) If God is love then how can we reconcile His detailed accounting of our lives with the truth that love does not keep a record of wrongs? The answer is that God keeps two sets of books.

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:12-15)

Notice that there are the “books” and there is also another “book”. In the “books” are written an accounting of our words and deeds, but in the “book”, is written the names of those have been forgiven by the Lamb of God. In the end, it only matters what is written in the one “book”. We have all sinned; we all have plenty written about us in the “books” that we are ashamed of. If we were to be judged by the “books” we would all be damned to hell and to an eternity apart from the presence of God, but our eternal state is not determined by the “books”. Whether we receive eternal judgment or eternal life is determined solely by whether our names have been entered into the one “book”, the Lamb’s book of life. This is why the scriptures say, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” (Romans 4:7-8)

We too have two sets of books. One is a compilation of everything others have said about us and done to us. We also have a second book, a book that lists those whom we have freely chosen to forgive. When others sin against us, love chooses to write their name in our book of the forgiven. We cannot erase what they have done but we can choose to forgive them. I have had some say, “I’m not ready to forgive,” but most often what they are really saying is that they are not ready to give up their claim on the other person. They were wronged and the one who wronged them owes them. Their anger and their desire for vengeance are greater than their willingness to forgive. Unfortunately, the anger they choose to hold on to ends up only hurting themselves, and their unforgiveness towards them only serves to build a wall between themselves and God. If we are not ready to forgive, it is because we have chosen not to forgive. Love chooses to forgive. Love chooses to close the book in which we have written all their misdeeds against us and to forgive them and write their name in the book of our forgiveness. God has done this for us; we can do it for others.

More to come… David Robison

Love is not Provoked: Part 3

Heresy and Heretics

Many of the people who risked the dangerous journey from England to the New World did so for the hope of securing religious freedom. Many who had been persecuted by the state church in England fled to the new colonies in search of a freedom to worship as they believed. Many of these people had been branded as heretics in England, but in America, they could worship in peace and according to their faith. Ironically, however, many of the early colonies, formed by those who had been heretics in England, passed their own laws to punish those they judged as heretics. In many colonies, heresy was punishable by death. It is ironic that those who came seeking religious freedom ended up denying that same freedom to those who worshiped differently from themselves. It was Virginia that was the first colony to enact laws guaranteeing the freedom of religion for all its citizens.

No one likes a heretic. However, we often think of heresy as being limited to issues of religion, yet the definition of a heretic is simply one who dissents. A heretic is simply one who dissents or disagrees with our “doctrine” or our beliefs concerning what is right and true. Often our love is challenged by those who disagree with us. When faced with dissention, it is easy for us to repay with anger. We can be easily provoked by those who challenge and disagree with us. This happened in the father/son relationship between King Saul and his son Jonathan. Jonathan had formed a friendship with David, whom his father saw as a challenger and an enemy. It was during a festival of the new moon. David was absent and when asked, Jonathan made an excuse for him to his father. King Saul reacted with anger. “Then Saul's anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, ‘You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for he must surely die.’” (1 Samuel 20:30-31) Jonathan sought to further defend David, causing his father to increase in his anger. “Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down; so Jonathan knew that his father had decided to put David to death.” (1 Samuel 20:33)

What had caused King Saul to become so angry, even to the point of trying to take the life of his own son? It was because Saul had become so convinced that he was justified in his judgment of David that it was an affront to him personally that his son would disagree with him. When we are passionate about something it is easy to get offended when someone disagrees with us. They are as heretics to us; dissenters from what we “know” to be true. Sometimes our passions are for noble things, like the Word of God, other times our passions are the result of a more base desire, such as revenge for an offence. I have known people who are so angry, and self-justified in their anger, with someone who wronged them that they also became equally angry with anyone who challenges the justification for their anger. We are angry with someone and cannot accept anyone else who is not. This was King Saul’s problem. He distrusted David, he considered him his enemy, and he could not tolerate anyone, even his own son, who disagreed with him.

Love is willing to let others have their own opinions and feelings. Love does not insist that others feel the same way about certain people as we do. Love is willing to consider that maybe we are wrong, maybe others have a different perspective that we can benefit from. Love is willing to put anger on hold and to give others a hearing, to consider what they have to say, and to value them as a person.

David Robison

Love is not Provoked: Part 2

Rejection

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem to die. Along the journey He neared a city of Samaria and sent his disciples ahead to make arrangements for them to spend the night. “But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:53) James and John, the “sons of thunder” were incensed and asked with anger, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (Luke 9:54) But Jesus rebuked them saying, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:55-56)

Why were the disciples so quickly provoked to anger? It was because of the rejection the felt from the Samaritans. The Samaritans not only rejected Jesus but James and John understood that they were rejecting them as well. It was this sense of rejection that provoked them to anger. Being provoked to anger by rejection is a common problem that goes as far back as Cain and Able. Cain and Able were commanded by God to bring an offering, yet “the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.” (Genesis 4:4-5) Cain’s response was predictable. “So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.” (Genesis 4:5)

We all will face rejection from time to time and, when we are rejected, we may be tempted to respond with anger, but Jesus showed us a better way. Speaking of His own life and death, Jesus said that the Son of Man must first “suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” (Luke 17:25) Yet His response was not anger but forgiveness. As He hung dying on the cross, dying a death to pay the penalty for all our sins, He uttered these words, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Jesus was rejected by His own, yet He still chose to die a death that would pave the way for all mankind to be reconciled back to the Father. It was His love for mankind that enabled Him to respond with forgiveness in the site of their rejection.

There is a secret to loving others in spite of their rejection. We must understand that Jesus never called us to be loved by all people but rather to love all people. Our life is not about being loved by others but rather showing the love of God to those around us. We need to settle it in our hearts that there will be some who will not appreciate us, who will not love and accept us, and who will reject us. However, there is one in heaven who will always love us and “will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb 13:5-6) Love is not about what you get but about what you give. We can love others, even the unlovely and the unlovable, because He has first loved us. If we have the God who is love living in us, then we can love others with that same love. It is this kind of revelation that will help us not to be so quickly provoked by the actions, attitudes, and words of others.

David Robison

Love is not Provoked: Part 1

While we have discussed this topic in other postings, specifically those in reference to “Love is Patient”, I would like to highlight some ways in which we are easily provoked and in which our love is often tested.

Failed Expectations

Naaman was the captain of the army of Aram. Naaman was a mighty and valiant warrior but he was also a leper. Naaman’s wife had a Hebrew slave, a little girl taken captive in battle with Israel. This girl told Naaman’s wife of the prophet Elisha. “I wish that my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:3) Naaman’s wife told Naaman, who in turn told the king of Aram. It pleased the king of Aram to send his servant to the prophet Elisha that he might heal him. The king of Aram wrote a letter to the King of Israel saying, “And now as this letter comes to you, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:6) This greeting frightened the King of Israel, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man is sending word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?” (2 Kings 5:7) Yet, upon hearing of the request, Elisha agreed to receive Naaman that he might be healed. Finally Naaman arrived with his men, his horses, his chariots, and his gifts for the prophet, but Elisha refused to come out of his house. Instead, “Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.’” (2 Kings 5:10) Naaman was incensed, “‘Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?’ So he turned and went away in a rage.” (2 Kings 5:12) As he turned to go, his servant reasoned with him, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” (2 Kings 5:13) In the end, Naaman obeyed the prophet and was cleansed of his leprosy. It says that his skin was renewed “like the flesh of a little child.” (2 Kings 5:14)

Why did Naaman explode with anger at the prophet’s command? It was because of his preconceived expectations. “But Naaman was furious and went away and said, ‘Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’” (2 Kings 5:11) Naaman had an expectation of how the prophet would heal him. He was expecting a grand display of authority and power, yet all he got a simple command “go and wash.” The prophet himself did not even show up but sent his servant. Naaman was a great man and he was expecting a great healing. When his expectations were not fulfilled he was furious and was ready to leave in a rage.

Our unmeet expectations are often a source of anger for us. When we hold tightly to our expectations of how things should be done, how others should act, and how we should be treated, we set ourselves up for failure. Our expectations can be a kind of shackle by which we hold others captive, with the punishment for failing to meet our expectations being our anger. Love seeks to free others from our expectations. Love desires to see others fulfill God’s desires for them rather than them being conformed to our expectations. When we free others of our expectations we not only free them to fulfill God’s will for their life but we also free ourselves to enjoy God. We are no longer dependent upon our expectations being met to be happy but we are free to experience the joy of the Lord, even if things do not work out they way we had planned.

More to come… David Robison

Love does not seek its own

We have discussed this topic in previous posts yet it bears repeating. Love does not seek its own. The command in the scriptures is quite clear. We are commanded to consider the needs and interests of others before our.

“Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.” (1 Corinthians 10:24)

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)

This was certainly the kind of life lived by Jesus. Jesus lived His life not for Himself but for those whom He came to server. Speaking of Himself, Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) Jesus did not gain personally from His ministry on the Earth, in fact it cost Him everything. Jesus sacrificed not only His life for us but also His relationship with the Father when, for a brief but excruciating moment, His Father turned away from Him while He hung on the cross. Jesus did not have to die for us but He chose to. What could motivate the pure and spotless Son of God to lay His life down for us? The writer of Hebrews tells us that it was, “for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) His joy was seeing many sons and daughters brought into glory though His sacrifice. Jesus’ life of sacrifice is a clear demonstration of the love of God for us and for the whole world.

While, in previous posts, we have looked at some ways we can seek our own, there is one more that is worth mentioning. Speaking of Timothy, Paul says, “But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:19-21) With the early expansion of the church, many went out as ministers of the Gospel, yet Paul observed that, for many of them, their motives were not pure. They did not go out seeking to advance the Kingdom of God and the interests of Jesus Christ, rather they went out seeking to satisfy their own interests. They were motivated more by their own desires and interests than those of Jesus. In writing to the church at Galatia, Paul warns them of some who had come to “minister” in their midst. “They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out so that you will seek them.” (Galatians 4:17) They did not come to help the believers draw closer to Christ but rather to make a name for themselves. They wanted the love and affection of the believers for themselves rather than for Christ.

Timothy was one of the exceptions. Timothy had no hidden agendas. Timothy’s ministry and care for the Philippians was not a guise to gain an advantage over them. Timothy cared for them with the love and care of Jesus. His selfless sacrifice on the behalf of the Philippian church was a testimony to the love of Christ that dwelt within him. Timothy provides a standard by which we can judge our own ministry and service.

Living for others is not only the way of love but it is also the way of living an abundant life. Jesus taught us, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” (John 12:24-25) If we want to live life and live it well, if we want to show the love of Christ to all around us, then we must first die to ourselves. We must die and burry our life into the kingdom of God. Only then will it sprout and grow and yield the fruit of the Spirit which is, above all else, Love.

David Robison

Love does not Act Unseemly: Part 4

Social Rudeness

The church at Corinth, like many churches, had a diversity of people. Among them were the very rich and the very poor. Jesus told us that the poor would always be with us, implying that so would the rich. The problem at Corinth was not the disparity between the rich and the poor but the way the rich were flaunting their abundance to the shame of the poor. Paul writes to the church to correct them of their behavior.

“Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.” (1 Corinthians 11:20-22)

Apparently, when they came together to share the Lord’s Supper, the rich would bring their food and eat it before those who had nothing. Paul chastises them for despising the church and shaming the poor. Paul rebukes them for their actions that were not in keeping with, or motivated by, love. Love would not act in a way as to bring shame on others, yet this was the very thing that the rich among them were doing. Paul also warned them that, not only had he judged them, but God had judged them as well. It was because of the judgment of God than many of them had become sick and some had even died.

“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.” (1 Corinthians 11:27-30)

This verse is often applied to our need to examine ourselves in reference to our own personal sin prior to partaking of the Table of the Lord. But Paul was speaking specifically of those who had “not judge the body rightly.” Another translator translates this verse as, “not discerning the body of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 11:29 YLT) Those who were stuffing themselves and drinking themselves drunk were not discerning that even the poor among them were part of the Body of Christ. In bringing shame upon the poor they were also bringing shame upon the Body of Christ. When we despise and treat our brothers and sisters with contempt we are despising and treating with contempt the very Body of our Lord, and it was for this very reason that so many in the church had become sick and even died.

Paul concludes his rebuke with some very simple guidelines. “So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment.” (1 Corinthians 11:33-34) In essence, Paul was counseling them to be considerate of others and to put the interests of others before themselves. Jesus put it this way, “You shall love your neighbor as your self.” (Matthew 22:39) In other words, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” (Luke 6:31)

Rudeness does not care about the feelings of others. Rudeness does not care how our actions affect other people. Rudeness cares only for itself. But love genuinely cares for others. Love understands how the rude actions of others affect ourselves and seeks not to do the same to others. Love treats others with the same kindness and consideration that we would appreciate. Love recognizes that we have a lot in common with others; we are all part of the human race, we are all sinners, and we are all in need of the love of God. More than that, we are all created in God’s own image. When we treat others with love and respect, we are showing love and respect to the one who created us. When we love others, we are also loving God.

David Robison

Love does not act Unseemly: Part 3

Relational Rudeness

Love does not behave in a way to uncover the sins or weaknesses of another. A beautiful example of this is when Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant. Mary was betrothed to marry Joseph, but before they were married Mary was found to be with child. By right, Joseph could have brought her before the elders and had her publicly humiliated and even stoned, but instead Joseph sought to deal with the matter privately. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.” (Matthew 1:18-19) Out of love, Joseph decided not to expose Mary to public humiliation but rather to handle it in a way that would cover her sin. “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)

Love covers sin and, even in the most extreme cases where sin must be exposed to the church, love does so in a final effort to bring about the redemption and restoration of the sinner. When sin enters a relationship, it should be handled within that relationship without the involvement of others unless absolutely necessary. Consider how Jesus taught us to handle the sins others. “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” (Matthew 18:15-17) When offended or wronged, love does not run around telling everyone they meat how they were wronged. Instead, love tries to resolve the issue, one on one, keeping the involvement of others to a minimum. When we expose another’s sin, it is gossip. Gossip, not only poisons the hearer, but ruins even the closest of relationships. “He who conceals a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.” (Proverbs 17:9)

One other form of relational rudeness is when we expose the weakness of another and open them t0 riducule and shame. “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” (Romans 15:1-2) This weakness that Paul is referring to is a weakness of faith. Not everyone is at the same place in the Spirit as we are. We are all growing in the Lord at our own pace and along our own path assigned to us by the Lord. When love sees the weakness of others its desire is to build them up, to edify them. Love does not ridicule or belittle them, love does not think less of them, but love reaches out to build them up and to help them grow. “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.” (Romans 14:1) When we pass judgment we are not acting in love. When we give in to the temptation to “share” our judgments of others, we are acting contrary to love. Love covers and love protects.

More to come… David Robison

Love does not act Unseemly: Part 2

Sexual Rudeness

Our culture has blurred the line between love and sex. To many, sex is the highest expression of love. We see this throughout the media and entertainment industry. Love is pictured as a fire that grows between two people and it climaxes with the two having sex; with or without the benefit of marriage. While the significance of sex between two loving individuals united by the bonds of marriage cannot be overstated, sex does not equal love.

God not only fashioned us for sex, He also created sex to be a tremendous uniting force between a man and a woman who are joined by marriage. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen 2:24) A husband is to leave his home and cleave to his wife and, through sexual intimacy, they are to grow together as one flesh. God created sex yet in His wisdom He has given it to be experienced only by those who have entered into a covenant of marriage. “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4) Throughout the scriptures God has condemned sex outside of marriage. Fornication, adultery, incest, homosexuality, and bestiality are all condemned by God. What we need to understand is that love does not behave in these ways. For example, if we are involved in an adulterous relationship, our passions may be the result of lust but they are not the result of love. Love does not express itself through improper and inappropriate sexual conduct, contact, and advancements. These things are the fruit of lust, not of love.

Some may say that there is no harm when sexual relations are entered into by two consenting adults, yet someone is always hurt by illicit sex. “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:18-19) When we sin sexually, not only do we sin against ourselves and our body but we also sin against God. Someone waling in love would not do this to themselves, to another person, or to their God and creator.

So how do we know if we have crossed the line sexually? Paul instructs Timothy, “Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.” (1 Timothy 5:1-2) Here is the test: are you treating other people (other than your spouse) as your mothers and sisters and you fathers and brothers? Men, is your behavior with another woman consistent with how you would behave with your sister? Women, do you relate to other men as you would to your brother? These boundaries will not only help us to stay pure sexually but also help us in living out love to one another.

More to come… David Robison