Tag Archives: Love of God

An Outrageous Love!

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When we are truly in love with Jesus, there are no feelings within that can compare to the depth of love we hold for our Savior, Lord, and God. A genuine love for God requires every ounce of our being; there is no room for another. Nor is there a love like that between The Groom and His bride, between The Deliverer and the delivered, or between The Redeemer and His redeemed. A true love for Him consumes us. It compels us to “love the LORD our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength” (Mk 12.30).

Those who have never opened their hearts to receive this perfect love cannot fathom its depths. In fact, they think us foolish for demonstrating our devotion with lives surrendered to bringing Him glory regardless of the cost. They cannot comprehend the simplicity of thought that denies one’s self the temporal desires of this life in order to pursue the immeasurable, limitless, infinite pleasures which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2.9).

However, those who have tasted the fruit of this sweet love gladly abandon their former worldly passions. They are no longer enticed by such bitter fruit, but are constantly satisfied and filled with a pure, unmerited, sacrificial love. A love with no pain, separation, or ending. They have gladly abandoned everything this world has to offer and counted it as loss that they might give themselves wholly to their one true love—JESUS!

It is curious that there are those who view such a love relationship with our God as foolish or strange. In his post “Oh, to Know Jesus!” Jon Bloom describes this relationship in simple terms that all can understand.

Bloom writes,

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (Philippians 3:8).

One thing is for sure: Christianity is not for stoics. The Bible is the most wild, romantic book ever written. The New Testament is no cool, reasoned analysis of Jesus’s system of thought. It is a passionate book written by people who were ravished by Jesus, who felt and said ardent things like Philippians 3:8.

You know what the world calls statements like Paul’s? Religious extremism. Fanaticism. You “count everything as loss”? Sounds dangerous. Have you thought about seeing a therapist?

But the world is full of such talk when it comes to romantic love. We expect lovers’ language to be obsessive and imbalanced. Listen to the way the poet John Keats speaks to his beloved Fanny Brawne:

You have ravish’d me away by a Power I cannot resist: and yet I could resist till I saw you; and even since I have seen you I have endeavoured often “to reason against the reasons of my Love.” I can do that no more — the pain would be too great — My Love is selfish — I cannot breathe without you.

Keats’s overwhelming passion gave him a profound insight (in the same letter):

I have been astonished that men could die martyrs for their religion — I have shuddered at it — I shudder no more. I could be martyred for my religion. Love is my religion and I could die for that. I could die for you.

Paul is no fundamentalist extremist driven by fear or anger to force his creed on others. He’s a man in love. Keats idolized Fanny. Paul worshiped his Lord.

Christians are people in love with Jesus. He’s not our worldview; he’s our Bridegroom. We pour over the Word and pray to commune with our Beloved. Theology is only worth studying to help us know him! Preaching, teaching and evangelism is not our vocation or obligation but a longing that others know him too. “For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

Our love for Him is an outrageous love in the eyes of the world. It is a love that demands all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is not possible to express this love with mere words. No, it must be demonstrated through the works of genuine faith. It is a life designed to bring glory, honor, praise, and worship to our beloved. This love may cost us our goals, dreams, desires, or even our very life. Nevertheless, we gladly relinquish these ephemeral flowers, which are here today and gone tomorrow, in exchange for eternal love which has been poured out for us upon Calvary. It was there that Jesus’ love paid the dowry to remove any and all obstacles which would prevent us from being betrothed unto Him.

In a relationship that demands so much, one might ask, “What is in it for you?” Our Beloved gives us everything we need for life and breath and meaning. In Him we have light in the darkest of nights, warmth on the coldest of days, hope in midst of hopelessness, strength when we are too weak to stand, vision for eyes shrouded in darkness, love for the unlovely, forgiveness for the most egregious of sinners, rest for the weary, food for the hungry, and oh so much more. He is our Redeemer, our Sacrifice, our Propitiation, our Hope, our Light, and our Love, the God of all creation, and our personal Lord and Savior. Is it any wonder that we “count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus [our] Lord, for whom [we] have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that [we] may gain Christ” (Philippians 3.8).

I Love You, Do You Love Me?

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In 1976, I was in the sixth grade at Billy Mitchell Elementary School.  Sitting across the room from me was this really cute blonde. To make sure she knew of my feelings, I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote her a note: “I Love You, Do You Love Me?” Then I drew two squares and wrote the words “Yes or No please check one” underneath.   I folded the paper up and with all the secrecy of an international spy I had my friends in the class pass the note all the way around the room to my hopeful sweetheart.

My heart raced as she opened the note and read it. My curiosity grew as she took out a pencil, checked one of the boxes, smiled at me, and then started the note on its long journey back. With the exception of a few glances at the teacher to make sure she didn’t see the note, I never took my eyes off the eminent correspondence. As the answer to my question finally reached me, my hands were shaking, my heart was pounding, and I was sweating like I had just come off the playground at recess. I was a nervous wreck! In fact, I was almost too apprehensive to read her response.

Why was I so unnerved? I had been brave in sharing my feelings with someone, but now a tidal wave of fear of rejection was cascading over me. It was like I had taken my heart out of my chest, placed it into her hands, and hoped that she would reciprocate my affections. I didn’t want my heart to be rejected.

God did the same thing when He created humanity to have a love relationship with Him; however, they rejected His love to fulfill their own desires. They found greater pleasure in creation than they did in their relationship with the Creator. This rejection separated the creation from the Creator. He gave them His law to show their need for a Savior, but they turned the law into a measuring stick to show how righteous and holy they were.  They compared themselves to others who were not measuring up in obedience to the rules. Once again they had missed God’s intended purpose—a relationship with Him.

God sent His Son Jesus, in the form of man, from heaven to earth. He tried to show them just how much He loved, cherished, and desired a relationship with them. He healed the sick, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and taught them about Himself through the life of Jesus. He literally took out His heart and presented it to them and said, “I Love You, Do You Love Me, Yes or No?” Not only did they reject His love, they took His heart, beat it, spit upon it, and nailed it to a cross until it was dead.

Little did they know that this was God’s master plan since before the creation of the world. His Son would die a ransom for sin for all who would believe in Him. After three days, He arose from the dead thus making a way for the forgiveness of all humanity.  Now He is sending a love letter to you, “Do You Love Me?” What will be your reply, “Yes” or “No”?

Will you choose to accept the love of God or will you reject it? Choose today— your eternal destiny depends on your decision.

America’s View of Southern Baptists

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I have been a Southern Baptist since my first day in church when I was enrolled in “Cradle Roll.”  I have had many opportunities to attend churches of other denominations.  I have spent a great deal of my life searching the Scriptures to ensure what I was being taught is truth. So you will understand if I tell you I have a special place in my heart for the Southern Baptist Convention.

This week I read an article about “America’s View of Southern Baptist” that was especially surprising. It talks about how people are turned off from attending a church when they see it is affiliated with the SBC.  Most of those who felt this way were those who are not currently attending a church anywhere. How does this happen? How can a group of individuals who pool their time, money, and lives together have such an effect on those for whom they are trying to reach? If the church is to continue to fulfill it commission given by Jesus we must resolve this issue immediately!

In my personal opinion, this has happened because individual churches are seen as a denominational church and not a community church.  I love being a part of the SBC; however, as a pastor my aim is to constantly keep the spiritual needs of our community in front of the church members. We are to be salt and light to the world. Our world just so happens to be in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is easy for the people in the community to see us as just another Southern Baptist Church if we have the mentality of opening the doors and waiting for people to come in and see how special we are. This was never what Jesus intended. Christians are to go out and engage the community one individual at a time. We are to share that they are so special to God that He sent Jesus to die for them that they might spend eternity with Him.

Please understand, this has nothing to do with whether you need the word “Baptist” or “SBC” on your church sign. What I am saying is this, our communities need to know that we are reaching out to them with the love of Christ. We are not a denomination. We are the bride of Christ. We are the body of Christ. We are to be the heart, hands, and voice of Christ to those who are hurting. As Christians, we are to leave our homes every day knowing that God is going to use us to reach out to others that they might have an opportunity to believe in Jesus Christ.

Come on, Christians—let’s demonstrate to the world that we are not just a denomination or a church building. Let’s show them we are people so filled with gratitude for what Jesus has done for us we want to share it with everyone! Let’s change the opinion of those who don’t know us by getting to know them!

If you would like to read “America’s View of Southern Baptist” please click here.