August 2018
Yes, There is Good News! By Bill Rollins
One time when Jesus was being tested by those pesky Pharisees one whom of asked Him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” This episode is found in Matthew 22:36-38. “Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This was not just something Jesus came up with off the top of His head. No, He was quoting from the book of Deuteronomy (Deut 6:4), one of the first five books of the Bible sometimes known, from the Hebrew word for law, as Torah.
In the previous article I mentioned that God “wants us to come and know Him and to visit Him, and so to learn to love Him.” What does it take to “learn to love” someone?
Unfortunately, in our society, we have somehow been taught that love is as easy as “falling off a log.”
Two young adults are attracted to each other, and they falsely assume that they are in love. We mistake the feeling of attraction for the reality of love. Love is so much more.
Have you ever realized that when Jesus was asked “Which is the greatest commandment,” and he answered, “To love ...” He was establishing the love we must have for God as a requirement? Can you command anyone to love you? Can you command an emotional response from another human being? God is the Creator. He knows our make-up, and knows that we have an emotional side and an intellectual side. And yet He commands us to love Him. In fact, He tells us that this is the greatest commandment.
Two articles ago, I mentioned that we are capable of loving on several different levels. One of those levels is that of a parent to a child. This is one level of love that does not have to be taught.
When a mother gives birth and first holds the child in her arms, there is a tremendous outpouring of love for the baby. That is a natural occurrence. It is this type of love that God has for us. His love is that for a child. In fact, we are sometimes called, “The children of God.”
But we, the babes that He loves, must learn to love Him with all our heart, strength, and life (or soul). God is so far above us that we really cannot understand all that the nature of God entails. Our five senses - those things that God has given us to interact with and learn from in the world around us - will never begin to allow us to comprehend how to love an infinite being. So He teaches us to love Him. Jesus tells us we are to call God, “Father.” This allows us to begin to grasp the relationship we are to have - we have all had a father.
But perhaps I get ahead of myself. Perhaps we should go back to the beginning and see with what gentleness He instructs us to love Him. (to be continued)
Put It Somewhere Safe by Cynthia Saladin
Have you ever found yourself picking up and putting away stuff and thought, “I’ll put this here so it’ll be safe?” Then later, you remember putting it away; you just don’t remember where that “safe” place was. Consequently, you spend [read: waste] hours looking for that thing you knew you would need - the original thought which caused you to put it in a safe place.
I recently looked for something important on and off for three weeks. I looked in places where the thing couldn’t possibly be, simply because I’d already looked everywhere else - twice! I thought I’d lost my mind! Where in the world did I think that
thing would be “safe” anyway!?! My family was sure I’d lost my mind.
Incidentally, you know the best way to find the thing you can’t find is to buy a new one! Then suddenly you either remember where you put the original one or you stumble on it when you’re looking for something else that’s in a safe place.
All of this search for the lost thing reminded me of how grateful I am that I am safe in God’s care. The apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12, KJV).
Philippians 1:6 (ESV) says it this say: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
I am comforted by the knowledge that my errors, my mistakes, my sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ when I repent. Just because I have messed up again, I don’t have to worry that God won’t forgive me. As long as I am not arrogantly, intentionally sinning, 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ESV).
How precious we each are to God! How much He loves us! To give us His Son! To provide a way for us to be reconciled to Him! To show the way of sanctification that we might be changed into the image of Jesus Christ! Oh praise God that I’m safe in His care!
And that thing I put in that “safe” place? I found it right where I thought I’d put it in the first place - I just overlooked it when I first began searching. Oh how fallible and distracted I can be at times. I have a long way to go to be made into the image of my Elder Brother! Praise God that He is faithful and more than able to finish the work He began in me!!
Parting Thoughts - Quotes from Winston Churchill
*You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.
*A nation that forgets its past has no future.
*One man with conviction will overwhelm a hundred who have only opinions.
*The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
*A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Yes, There is Good News! By Bill Rollins
One time when Jesus was being tested by those pesky Pharisees one whom of asked Him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” This episode is found in Matthew 22:36-38. “Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This was not just something Jesus came up with off the top of His head. No, He was quoting from the book of Deuteronomy (Deut 6:4), one of the first five books of the Bible sometimes known, from the Hebrew word for law, as Torah.
In the previous article I mentioned that God “wants us to come and know Him and to visit Him, and so to learn to love Him.” What does it take to “learn to love” someone?
Unfortunately, in our society, we have somehow been taught that love is as easy as “falling off a log.”
Two young adults are attracted to each other, and they falsely assume that they are in love. We mistake the feeling of attraction for the reality of love. Love is so much more.
Have you ever realized that when Jesus was asked “Which is the greatest commandment,” and he answered, “To love ...” He was establishing the love we must have for God as a requirement? Can you command anyone to love you? Can you command an emotional response from another human being? God is the Creator. He knows our make-up, and knows that we have an emotional side and an intellectual side. And yet He commands us to love Him. In fact, He tells us that this is the greatest commandment.
Two articles ago, I mentioned that we are capable of loving on several different levels. One of those levels is that of a parent to a child. This is one level of love that does not have to be taught.
When a mother gives birth and first holds the child in her arms, there is a tremendous outpouring of love for the baby. That is a natural occurrence. It is this type of love that God has for us. His love is that for a child. In fact, we are sometimes called, “The children of God.”
But we, the babes that He loves, must learn to love Him with all our heart, strength, and life (or soul). God is so far above us that we really cannot understand all that the nature of God entails. Our five senses - those things that God has given us to interact with and learn from in the world around us - will never begin to allow us to comprehend how to love an infinite being. So He teaches us to love Him. Jesus tells us we are to call God, “Father.” This allows us to begin to grasp the relationship we are to have - we have all had a father.
But perhaps I get ahead of myself. Perhaps we should go back to the beginning and see with what gentleness He instructs us to love Him. (to be continued)
Put It Somewhere Safe by Cynthia Saladin
Have you ever found yourself picking up and putting away stuff and thought, “I’ll put this here so it’ll be safe?” Then later, you remember putting it away; you just don’t remember where that “safe” place was. Consequently, you spend [read: waste] hours looking for that thing you knew you would need - the original thought which caused you to put it in a safe place.
I recently looked for something important on and off for three weeks. I looked in places where the thing couldn’t possibly be, simply because I’d already looked everywhere else - twice! I thought I’d lost my mind! Where in the world did I think that
thing would be “safe” anyway!?! My family was sure I’d lost my mind.
Incidentally, you know the best way to find the thing you can’t find is to buy a new one! Then suddenly you either remember where you put the original one or you stumble on it when you’re looking for something else that’s in a safe place.
All of this search for the lost thing reminded me of how grateful I am that I am safe in God’s care. The apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12, KJV).
Philippians 1:6 (ESV) says it this say: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
I am comforted by the knowledge that my errors, my mistakes, my sins are forgiven in Jesus Christ when I repent. Just because I have messed up again, I don’t have to worry that God won’t forgive me. As long as I am not arrogantly, intentionally sinning, 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (ESV).
How precious we each are to God! How much He loves us! To give us His Son! To provide a way for us to be reconciled to Him! To show the way of sanctification that we might be changed into the image of Jesus Christ! Oh praise God that I’m safe in His care!
And that thing I put in that “safe” place? I found it right where I thought I’d put it in the first place - I just overlooked it when I first began searching. Oh how fallible and distracted I can be at times. I have a long way to go to be made into the image of my Elder Brother! Praise God that He is faithful and more than able to finish the work He began in me!!
Parting Thoughts - Quotes from Winston Churchill
*You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.
*A nation that forgets its past has no future.
*One man with conviction will overwhelm a hundred who have only opinions.
*The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
*A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.