December 11

“The new life comes only when we begin to see that love, as it is made plain in Christ, is not ‘what can God do for us?’ but, ‘what can I do for God?’  It is in His life poured out on the Cross that we see the transforming love that cannot stop giving.  The love that lifts and does not expect to be thanked.  The love that gives more when it is receiving nothing.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 11/22

This is a wonderful picture of Grace: ”the love that gives more when it is receiving nothing.”  It’s as though that kind of love receives its energy from the void.  It’s like what happens when the seal is broken on a bottle in which all the air had been previously sucked out--the vacuum that had been created immediately sucks in the air that’s been hanging around on the outside.  God’s kind of love is Grace.  It surrounds us all the time, but because of the blockage in our heart (fear) we’ve created a vacuum--an empty space walled off from the rest of ourselves and others.  Christ came and made a way for us to open up our hearts--first to Him.  This is easier for some than others because pride (the ego) constantly fights against it.  But then, even after Christ has broken the seal on the vacuum and His love has come rushing in, too often we hoard it, and hoarded love quickly begins to close off that opening.   Many times we will think we never received Christ to begin with and attempt to accept Him all over again--but this is impossible because He’s already there.  Instead we need to see that we are still giving our ego a home.  It really must be sent packing!

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other....” Matthew 6:24a

December 3

“It is a severe rebuke upon us that God makes us so many allowances and we make so few to our neighbor, as if charity had nothing to do with religion or love with faith....What we love we’ll hear, what we love we’ll trust, and what we love we’ll serve, ay, and suffer for too.”  William Penn (1644-1718), Daily Readings from Quaker Writings, 11/10

Love is the hallmark of a Christian, yet we do not make it a priority.  We think we do because we make a point of doing good, but that is not the same thing.  I had an encounter with someone yesterday who has a way of pushing my ego button with their ego.  I always automatically respond in kind.  This morning I realized I started it with something I said.  I couldn’t see that at the time.  Now I can see the reason it started is because like attracts like.  This other person’s ego reaction was just mirroring my own ego.  I couldn’t see that yesterday either.  Then as I read William Penn’s words, scripture came flooding in:  “Let love be genuine.”  I suddenly realized I had been trying to show love to this person and not actually loving them.  I understand why I cannot sustain that kind of love.  That kind of love can only come from God.  That is why we have to “let” it.  If I try just to show love, I will always fail because that kind of love is always looking for a return on its investment.   It’s that simple.

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good...outdo one another in showing honor.  Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.  Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer....Bless those who persecute you...Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep....do not be haughty...Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.”  Romans 12:9-17

November 3

“We long for human love to bring us peace.  At times it brings great peace and great joy.  But only the love of God brings peace and joy in all things and under all circumstances.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 10/14

This message is not really taught to children.  We tell them about God’s love, but I suspect we spend more time telling them how to behave according to God’s law.  I know I did not emphasize God’s love to my children.  That’s because I didn’t understand it myself. As a Sunday School teacher I taught about God which invariably addressed this fact--God is love.  We sang the little song “God is so Good”, and I told them stories of how God cared for His people, but I know I never told them that only God can love us the way we need to be loved.  I now finally understand this myself.  In fact, I’ve finally realized that the last bastion is love of oneself.  It’s when you finally realize that you don’t even love yourself as much as God does that you are finally able to rely only on God’s love (1 John 4:19).  If we are honest with ourselves I think we’d all have to admit that we come into this world believing that it’s our right to be loved.  We then set out to get that love in any way we can.  Because we are so greatly influenced by the world we go about it in the wrong way until someone either tells us that only God can love us the way we need to be loved or when we hit rock bottom and have no where to look but up.  Unfortunately, not everyone lands on his or her back.  Those who don’t never do see God.

“Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6, 7

October 9

“The greatest truth in all of Scripture is this:  God is love.  Understanding this in its full dimensions will set you free to enjoy all that is yours as a Christian.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 9/25

“Understanding this in its full dimensions” means we have to have a right understanding of what love is.  Just as we must understand what love is, we must understand what it is not.  It is not getting our own way and it is not having all the bumps in the road smoothed out before we get there.  If we don’t root out all the wrong beliefs about love, they will lie in wait ready to jump out in front of us to make us miserable at a time we most need to experience true love.  True love looks out for what is best for us.  This is why only God can truly love us because only He can know what is best for us.  He created us with the end in mind.  He knows what we need best to reach that end.  What it comes down to is letting God love us.  This means we must accept all that He allows into our lives believing He has a plan.  This is why it is so helpful to have an inkling of the “why” behind things.  But when we don’t, we mustn’t think God doesn’t have a “why”.  He does.  We must trust His love.  This is the only way we can receive His blessings in all things.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.  So faith, hope, love abide, these three but the greatest of these is love.”  1 Corinthians 13:12, 13

October 1

“God says it is good to love our enemies, yet we might decide our task is to hold them responsible for their actions.  It is so important to hold ourselves accountable to God’s Word.  God does not need us to find exceptions for His commands.  He requires our obedience.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 9/19

We are often told to take the whole Bible in account when we seek God’s Will.  So how is it we so easily make exceptions for His command to love our enemy?  Throughout scripture we hear time and again the importance of love and forgiveness.  Surely we must take the scripture to love our enemy seriously.  To love one’s enemy begins with the very next person who opposes you.  This includes those who disagree with you as well as those who do not treat you fairly.  It might be the person who rushes in and takes the parking space you are about to turn into.  It’s the person who spreads lies about you so they can get the promotion.  It’s even the person who never thanks you for all that you’ve sacrificed for them.  But there’s another enemy that we don’t often acknowledge and that is ourselves.  We can be our own worst enemy at times.  It’s in loving ourselves in the way that God intends that we can begin to share the love that God pours into us.  To have a pure heart means that it cannot hold any hatred, not even toward ourselves.

“But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those wo curse you, pray for those who abuse you....And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.”  Luke  6:27, 28, 31 

August 29

“As you respond to God’s invitations, don’t be caught by surprise when adversaries try to thwart what you are doing.  If you concentrate on your opponents, you will be sidetracked from God’s activity.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 8/28

We could easily read this and think of some great “project” God has called us to.  It would be fairly easy to enter into the task with our eyes wide open, on the lookout for any opposition lying in wait to sidetrack us.  But what about the little day-to-day things that are taken for granted like “love your neighbor” especially when your closest neighbor is someone right in your household.  It is often very easy to make excuses to ourselves why we can’t love the people closest to us.  Is this not the greatest activity God has given us?  I think back to when my children were very young and often “thwarted” my attempts to be a “good mother”.  I’m ashamed to say I did not respond in love.  I was often angry.  In my mind being a good mother meant making sure my children cooperated so that I could do my job of teaching them all the things they needed to learn while running an efficient household.  I feel the greatest thing I can teach them now is that love isn't something you earn.  God has shown this kind of love for me by laying down His life for me when I didn't deserve it.  He is continually showing me grace despite the fact I continue to fall short daily in loving Him.  If I would wake up to this, I know I wouldn’t get sidetracked from God’s greatest activity--sharing His love.

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God;” 1 John 3:1a

August 13

“Jesus did not say that the world will know Him by our miracles, by our grand testimonies, or by our vast Bible knowledge.  The world will know Him by the love that Christians show to one another.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 8/13

Ouch!  What made Blackaby’s devotional today personal was his statement, “We expect more of Christians, and we feel betrayed when they fail us.....We must set aside the self-centered attitude that leads to impatience and criticism of others.”  I can fool myself into thinking I love my fellow Christians until one of them disappointments me.  Why do I need other Christians to have less faults than I have?  Am I afraid that if they aren’t perfect how can I ever be?  Aren’t I looking at flesh rather than Christ when I do this?  And why can’t I set aside this habit--this self-centered attitude?  As I ask these questions I’m wondering if the fact that my earthly father’s poor example is the driving force behind my need for others to prove to me that following Christ wholeheartedly is possible.  Yes, it’s very encouraging to look to the saints who have gone before and seen their success, but I mustn’t base my own Christian journey on what others have or have not done.  I’m not to compare myself to anyone but Christ.  I need to keep my eyes only on Christ and my heart open to my brothers and sisters in Christ.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  John 13:34, 35

July 24

“One of the Christian’s greatest deterrents from sin is the life of another Christian.  Some Christians maintain that it is none of their business....They are convinced that they are being judgmental....but the inaction prevents them from being an effective intercessor.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 7/24

If all Christians believed this, the Church would be a lot healthier!  But not for the reason you may think.  There are plenty of churches that do “police” their congregants.   They set up all sorts of rules and regulations.  They may even have as a regular part of their service a time of confession or a time of confronting for those who will not confess!  This is not what God had in mind when He told us to hold other believers accountable.  I believe the emphasis is on the rest of the verse.....we are to confront others with love.  God knows that we will quite naturally tell others their faults sooner or later.  We may let the sins of others go for a time, but just wait until their sin begins to affect us!  No one needs to tell us to confront the sinner then!  However, those who do not want to get involved are just as unloving because they prevent God from bringing grace into the sinner’s life.  So we must confront, but we must be careful to confront others with love lest we, too, fall into sins such as resentment and impatience or covetousness and self-centeredness.  The health of our churches depends on each of us examining our own lives.  

“My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”  James 5:19, 20 

July 19

“There is no freedom without love and no love without freedom....Making love our aim is quite simply, giving God the freedom to act as He would act.”  Eugenia Price, Make Love Your Aim, Preface

I’ve been exploring for sometime what freedom in Christ is all about.  Eugenia has pointed out that freedom and love are “two sides of the same coin”.  I had come to this conclusion just before I found her book “waiting” for me on a sidewalk bookcase in front of the used book store I frequent, but instead of “love” I called it by another name--giving.  On the way to the bookstore I was listening to a Christian radio program on gift ideas.  It pricked my heart.  I realized that while I give of my money I give nothing of myself outside of my family anymore.  After seeing Eugenia’s book (all the books were just $1.74!) I decided to keep looking for more bargains.  I found another Eugenia Price book!  Now I was really encouraged so I continued browsing through the other racks.  There I found a book entitled “Giving Yourself Away” waiting for me.  I immediately realized that God had answered an unformed prayer---He’d given me the desire of my heart, which was to break it open and give of myself.  He’d caught my attention with the name of a favorite author so that I would find this other book to help me start the process of giving.  Giving and loving are one and the same just as loving and freedom can’t be separated.  You can never fully experience freedom from self unless you are able to give self away. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

July 8

“It has been said that we never really love anyone until we can do without them for their good.  Measured by this test, how few there are who really love.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 7/8

At first I did not understand how “doing without someone” could be for their own good until I thought about my children.  In doing so I thought about how my own mother got hysterical when I told her I wanted to move out.  Even though I was going to leave home in six months to get married I felt I needed to be on my own.  I couldn’t understand her reaction especially since I’d be gone in a few months anyway.  Being the obedient daughter that I was I stayed.  Now that I have grown sons I need to remind myself of this episode so that I don’t make the same mistake.  It’s such a fine line between loving selfishly and loving someone for their good.  Encouraging my boys to step out on their own even if it means I will no longer have their company is genuinely loving them.  To encourage them to follow God’s leading in their careers even though it means their living across the country or even across the world is genuinely loving them.  I think any relationship we have needs to be examined.  Are we demanding too much of that person’s attention?  Everyone needs room to explore and to grow outside of their immediate environment.

“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

June 26

“Impatience is lack of love in us.  And only by waiting upon God, can we know love.  Love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God, as we are willing to open our hearts to God’s touch.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 6/26

Eugenia’s statement baffles me.  At first glance I cannot comprehend how lack of patience is the same thing as lack of love.  But then she illustrates her point by explaining how each year we wait for the leaves to turn their brilliant fall colors, but the truth is, the color is always there.  We just can’t see them until the leaves stop making so much chlorophyll.  It’s the manufacturing of this green substance that hides the colors from us.  As I think about this I realize that because I’ve been reconciled with God and His Holy Spirit now lives in me, my heart is like those leaves.  When I am impatient I am not trusting my life to God.  And if I am not trusting God I am not loving Him.  Just as I must wait for the beautiful colors to be revealed each year in the leaves, I must be patient and trust God to reveal all that is beautiful in my heart.  He has already placed all the possibilities for my life there.  Now, I must work out my salvation by patiently waiting on Him to act on my behalf.  It’s in responding to His love that my beauty is uncovered for the world to see and enjoy.

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  Philippians 2:12, 13

June 18

“I can well understand how Paul could say so confidently that he counted all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ (Phil. 3:8).  When once the soul has come to this knowledge, all fear and doubt, and even perplexity are at an end, and perfect peace must of necessity reign undisturbed.  No one can possibly have come to know Christ as He really is without entering into absolute rest.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 6/18

I broke from my usual routine of going to the grocery store while my son was at his guitar lesson and went to the craft shop to look for artificial lemons.  What I found instead was a better understanding of what love is.  As I walked through the store I met up with a little girl who had been in my Sunday School class and who I had not seen for three years.   I had grown to love her in the two years she was in my class.  When she recognized me her eyes lit up. Her mother and I chatted a few moments and then I was on my way.  This morning as I thought about this chance encounter I realized God was showing me something about love that I had not understood before.  He used this little 9-year-old girl to show me that the love I saw in her eyes was a reflection of the love I had for her.  Because I had loved her so much she couldn’t help but love me back.  What I then realized was if you do not experience love in your heart you will never feel loved.  This is the love you have for others that God places there when your heart is filled with God Himself.  This is that absolute rest that Hannah speaks of.

“We love, because he first loved  us.” 1 John 4:19

April 19

“ ‘Oh, Mother, I do not see how you can love such a naughty little girl as I am,’ And I replied, ‘Ah, darling, you cannot understand.  I do not love you for what you are, but I love you for what I am.  I am your mother, and I love you because of my mother-heart of love.’ ”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 4/18

I chose this to write about today because I feel it holds a secret that needs to be discovered by me.  I know that God loves me because He is love and can’t help but love me.  This is why Hannah used this conversation with her daughter to illustrate how God loves us despite our failings.  But I feel there’s something in this concerning my ability to love other people.  Like Hannah, I too can’t help but love my children because I am their mother.  But I’m not everybody’s mother and therefore can’t rely on my “mother’s heart” to love them.  Perhaps this is another way to understand that apart from Christ I am nothing.  I can’t love other people because I’m not their mother.  I can’t love other people because I’m not God.  I can’t even love myself!  So, I really must leave it to God to love them and me.  When the Bible says to love your neighbor as yourself I feel it is saying the love I receive from God because He first loved me is the love I’m to share with my neighbor.  It’s not that I love myself.  It’s that I am loved and therefore become a conduit of Love Itself--God.

“We love, because he first loved us.  If any one says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother who he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from him that he who loves God should love his brother also.”  1 John 4:19-21

March 31

“Just as you believed at first that He delivered you from the guilt of sin because He said it so, now believe that He delivers you from the power of sin because He says it.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 3/31

Today I am still dealing with the repercussions of the sin I spoke of yesterday--that of having taken on a burden that God had not placed on me.  I am discovering, after much soul searching, just what this bad feeling is that I’m still experiencing toward this person.  At first I called it “protection from being hurt”--a defense mechanism I learned early in life.  But this violates the law of love, which is to love even my enemy--not from behind a wall, but, instead, to minister to them.  Once I acknowledged this as sin and asked God to deliver me from it, what was uncovered was another sin--retaliation.  Like a stain in the carpet that went unnoticed until the clutter was picked up off the floor, my sin of revenge, long-hidden, acting as a diversionary tactic, was causing me to cling to my seemingly innocent need to protect myself.  No wonder I was having trouble trusting God to protect me.  That was not what I was truly seeking.  It was revenge I desired.   That is what I really need to be delivered from.

“Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.’  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  Romans 12:17-21

February 15

“God is love.  His very nature is perfect love, but because of sin love does not always come freely and naturally to His children....Are you struggling to love someone?” H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 2/15

The more I only go to God for my love needs the more I understand why I struggle to love others at times.  It is so amazingly simple I don’t understand why it’s not abundantly clear to everyone (including me).  It must be the power of sin that keeps this knowledge from us.  For what I’ve discovered is I cannot love another as long as I’m expecting something in return.  I think a major problem in marriages is that we confuse “relationship” and “love”.  In order to have a good relationship there are things that must take place on both sides.  It’s like any partnership.  The very nature of a partnership is that each person in it has responsibilities that must be carried out in order for it to work properly.  Separate from all of this, however, is love.  Carrying out your responsibilities has nothing to do with love, but the first thing a woman will do is equate her husband’s timeliness in doing his chores with how much he loves her.  A husband, on the other hand, probably equates his wife’s carrying out of her “conjugal responsibilities” with how much she loves him.  We wouldn’t do this if we only sought to get love from God.  Our partner, then, becomes the benefactor of our love relationship with God.  There is no longer any effort needed to love others because the way they treat us is no longer a factor.  Just like a new mother doesn’t need anything from her newborn infant to love it with her whole heart--even when it’s getting her up twice a night--we don’t need anything from others in order to love them and care for them.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t work out a schedule for that child that will allow us to get some sleep.  In a marriage it means each partner needs to be responsible for their end of the relationship and things may need to be negotiated to make that happen.  Love should never become an issue.  If it is, we must look at our relationship with God and see what’s wrong there.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory He may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God.”  Ephesians 3:14-19

February 11

“Obedience without love is legalism.  Obedience for its own sake can be nothing more than perfectionism, which leads to pride.....God looks beyond godly habits, beyond your moral lifestyle, and beyond your church involvement and focuses His penetrating gaze upon your heart.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 2/11

I’ve always put those “gazing balls” you see in many gardens in the same category as pink flamingos:  gauche.  In recent years, however, they’ve become quite popular and therefore totally mainstream. Blackaby’s word picture of God gazing into my heart puts me into His Garden.  I can see myself amongst all the flowers and shrubbery, happily enjoying all the delightful fragrances and beautiful colors and enchanting textures.  I can only imagine what it was like for Adam and Eve in God’s first garden.  Everything was natural and flowed from God’s heart directly to his Creation.  But God knew that in order to purify our hearts He would need to give us the freedom to love Him back. He did not want us to obey him just for the sake of obedience.  He knew the dangers of this and we have proven Him right when we lose sight of His love and attempt to make up for our lack of love with obedience.  We are told time and again that God wants a love relationship with us.  Perhaps I’ll get one of those gazing balls for my garden this Spring and place it amongst my flowers and shrubbery.  It’ll be my reminder that God is constantly gazing into my heart to see if it belongs to Him because He loves me and wants me to love Him back.

“We love, because He first loved us.”  1 John 4:19