Love is not God

The Bible clearly says that God is love, but what that means needs to be rightly understood. Because God is love, but love is not God. Love is not all that God is. Rather, God defines what love is. Instead of us deciding what love is. If you start with what people think love is, rather than what God says love is, you’ll wind up with an ungodly idea of love that will sacrifice truth in the name of tolerance. And it will value humanity more than God.

People want to excuse all sorts of ungodly behavior by saying that “love is love.” But love is not someone allowing you to do what you want to do; love is someone helping you to do what you should do. And God’s loving grace is not a license to do what you want to do; it’s the liberty to do what God wants you to do. And that’s how you love God. 

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

The Presence of God

The presence of God isn’t about feeling God in your physical senses, it’s about knowing God in your spirit. And the Bible describes it as a love beyond knowledge (Ephesians 3:19), a joy inexpressible and filled with glory (1 Peter 1:8), and a peace that surpasses your understanding (Philippians 4:7). That is a living experience, not just in certain moments of life, but for the movement of life.

So, I’m not talking about chasing a feeling. I’m talking about making sure God is the focus of your life, with everything revolving around him, instead of everything revolving around you.

Let me ask you a question. What if God took everything away, but gave you a deeper relationship with him? Because when you lose your heath, wealth, power, influence, possessions, position, prestige, reputation, respect, or loved ones, this makes you come face to face with what you really think about God. And your desire for his presence.   

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

Hanging with the Proud Crowd

I’m sure you’ve heard that if you want to be a winner, you’ve got to separate from the losers. You’ll have to disassociate with the less affluent, educated, successful, or influential. You have to hang with your own crowd. But Romans 12:16 says – Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. This means don’t act as if certain people, tasks, or types of work are beneath you.

Jesus didn’t stay aloof and away from what some people think are the losers in life. He wasn’t interested in hanging with the proud crowd. Instead, he hung around the misfits and the outcasts. He went to the disenfranchised, the lepers and the lowly. And Jesus wasn’t too good to get his hands dirty. He stooped down to wash feet. And he suffered the humility of hanging on a cross. To save us from ourselves and our sin.  

So, the next time you think something, or someone is below your dignity, think of Jesus. And thank God he wasn’t like that.   

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©

It Isn’t Right

A lot of people are haunted by guilty feelings. Even when you do good now, it doesn’t erase the bad you did then. 

But people say Jesus will pay for your sins. But you still did the bad stuff. And you still feel guilty. And no legitimate court would let someone else pay the death penalty for the guilty person. So, isn’t the whole idea of Christianity wrong to begin with?

No, it isn’t. You see, Jesus is God, and all those bad things you do are ultimately rebellion against him. So, the ultimate penalty you owe is to him. Therefore, Jesus can pay for your sins on the cross and justice be rightly served. It’s not like a human judge letting a guilty person go free while someone else who wasn’t even involved pays the penalty. Instead, God himself paid the penalty for sins against himself by giving himself. 

Let those guilty feelings remind you of your godly hope. Because it’s not that true Christianity is wrong. It’s that a lesser idea about Christianity isn’t right.