“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” [Matthew 1:21]
This is the time for preparation. When you hear the word “preparation,” what is it that you think about? Do you think about all the tasks you have to prepare for, such as cooking a Thanksgiving meal, or preparing for a work-related presentation? How do you think about your tasks? Do you prepare your mind for the day by starting it out in prayer and time with God, or do you jump into tasks head-on and try and control them yourself?
What does it mean to prepare you heart for the Lord? Do you prepare you heart for the taking of the bread and wine? Do you pause and ask God to prepare you heart, examining yourself and asking God to take away the wrongs (the sins) you have done towards him, others, and even yourself.
When we prepare our hearts we deny ourselves and ask that God take the lead.
86% of the population claims to be Christian, but half do not know who preached the Sermon on the Mount. A quarter of that group could not give an answer as to why they celebrate Easter.
This statistic was heart-wrenching. But…
The Sermon on the Mount and the Easter celebration are Biblical events that most Christians should be able to explain. However, it’s also easy to get caught up in knowledge as the priority of our faith. Christians should know certain Biblical stories, but knowledge isn’t what it’s all about.
As Christians we can’t know everything. As Oswald Chambers expresses in My Utmost for His Highest: “Today [Jesus] is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion—a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!” Does your heart shout this? Does your heart want to express this more than anything in your life?
Jesus quotes Isaiah, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” [Matthew 15:8]
Prepare you hearts. This Christmas season, develop your relationship with the person of Christ, and get to know who he really is and what he has truly done for you.
“For the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” Matthew 12:34 Let our hearts overflow with the love of Christ. That Love, the Love we have in him, let us share that love with all our neighbors.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Is your Love Loud-
David Crowder, in one of his songs, speaks about love:
Hear our songs, to You
When we dance feel us move; to You
When we laugh fill our smiles with You
We love You, Lord , We love You, We love you
And our love is big, Our love is loud
Fill this place with this love now
And our love is big, Our love is loud
Fill our lungs, To sing it now
Our God is near, Our God is near
When you walk is your love loud? When you talk is your love loud? Do you believe God is near? Is God your love?
God is love. This verse found in the latter half of 1 John 4: 8 describes what God is. John explains, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God;” followed with the concluding verse, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Is it hard to care about misplaced items; while loving God with your whole heart? Is it hard to fill the voids in your life; while loving God with your whole heart?
The truth is, it is extremely hard doing anything without loving God with our whole heart! Everything comes from God. He is the root. If we love, we see love—we know love—we can love through him who has created love.
We know love: “this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” [1 John 10-12]
The song, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” explains exactly that “They’ll know we are Christians by our love!” But, who are “they.” Perhaps the song expresses the message to non-Christians? Or, also our brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you known as a Christian because of your love or because of the label?
We get upset when things are misplaced. We get upset when we have trouble trying to understand our teen. But, if we come to God (who is love) we can learn to love others through the frustrations in our lives. If he is placed first – we are changed.
He wants all of you. He deeply-desperately loves you.
Like the wise preacher once said, “Love others until you do
Hear our songs, to You
When we dance feel us move; to You
When we laugh fill our smiles with You
We love You, Lord , We love You, We love you
And our love is big, Our love is loud
Fill this place with this love now
And our love is big, Our love is loud
Fill our lungs, To sing it now
Our God is near, Our God is near
When you walk is your love loud? When you talk is your love loud? Do you believe God is near? Is God your love?
God is love. This verse found in the latter half of 1 John 4: 8 describes what God is. John explains, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God;” followed with the concluding verse, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Is it hard to care about misplaced items; while loving God with your whole heart? Is it hard to fill the voids in your life; while loving God with your whole heart?
The truth is, it is extremely hard doing anything without loving God with our whole heart! Everything comes from God. He is the root. If we love, we see love—we know love—we can love through him who has created love.
We know love: “this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” [1 John 10-12]
The song, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” explains exactly that “They’ll know we are Christians by our love!” But, who are “they.” Perhaps the song expresses the message to non-Christians? Or, also our brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you known as a Christian because of your love or because of the label?
We get upset when things are misplaced. We get upset when we have trouble trying to understand our teen. But, if we come to God (who is love) we can learn to love others through the frustrations in our lives. If he is placed first – we are changed.
He wants all of you. He deeply-desperately loves you.
Like the wise preacher once said, “Love others until you do
We do - therefore - We are
In Batman Begins, Katie Holmes says, “It’s not who you are that defines you, it’s what you do.” One might say, “I am a Christian that is who I am.” And this is true, but what does a Christian do? Are Christians to accept Christ, thus concluding their life? Are Christians to accept Christ and then do as we were before? Paul says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The followers of Christ who truly loved him, acted out in service to him—helping others. They shared their gifts and talents. They came together as the body of Christ, to worship and adore him and to share this with others. They heal, comfort and express Christ unending love to all. While Stephan was being stoned to death he stood and as he was about to die he fell to his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” What is it that Stephan did for him to be stoned? What is it that we are doing?
I admire the commercial that starts off with someone picking up a doll for a girl that had dropped onto the street. A man reaches down and puts it back in the stroller. Someone off in the distance sees this and later he holds elevator doors open for a lady as they are about to close. Later this lady catches a man’s chair in her office as he was about to fall backwards and the man who was about to fall in his chair helps someone, and so on and so on to when it comes back around.
How is it that we serve Christ? When you truly love someone you do things for them; you show them your love. When we truly love Christ we do things for him. Whether it’s in a smile, a kind word, or catching a co-worker’s chair as they are about to fall backwards—we serve, we care, and we watch out for each other. We do; therefore we are.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is by grace we will be able to hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant…..and then some.”
The followers of Christ who truly loved him, acted out in service to him—helping others. They shared their gifts and talents. They came together as the body of Christ, to worship and adore him and to share this with others. They heal, comfort and express Christ unending love to all. While Stephan was being stoned to death he stood and as he was about to die he fell to his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” What is it that Stephan did for him to be stoned? What is it that we are doing?
I admire the commercial that starts off with someone picking up a doll for a girl that had dropped onto the street. A man reaches down and puts it back in the stroller. Someone off in the distance sees this and later he holds elevator doors open for a lady as they are about to close. Later this lady catches a man’s chair in her office as he was about to fall backwards and the man who was about to fall in his chair helps someone, and so on and so on to when it comes back around.
How is it that we serve Christ? When you truly love someone you do things for them; you show them your love. When we truly love Christ we do things for him. Whether it’s in a smile, a kind word, or catching a co-worker’s chair as they are about to fall backwards—we serve, we care, and we watch out for each other. We do; therefore we are.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is by grace we will be able to hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant…..and then some.”
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