But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.”
To My Sweet Daughters,
"And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” I have spent so much time in the Scriptures in the verses that speak to love and have come to the conclusion that love truly is the answer to all things. God is love and if we put on His love and surrender to His Spirit whose love is shed abroad in our hearts our relationship with Him and with those around us will be, as much as depends on us, peaceable and pure. For those that Peter was writing to who were facing persecution putting on love was especially important so as not to let Satan gain any foothold and stir up divisions and discord.
The word fervent in this verse means to be stretched to the limit...stretched like a rubber band to its breaking point. THAT is a lot of love. It is the kind of love that is self-sacrificing and puts others needs and spiritual good ahead of our own...despite...and this is so important...how we are treated. Christ is our perfect example here. (Read Isaiah 50, Isaiah 52 and 53, read the gospel accounts of His suffering and death.) We are to put on love even when we are being treated unkindly, ungraciously, or even with hostility. We are to have mercy with the faults of others and be patient and not retaliate even when we are being mistreated. That girls is a very tall order and obviously cannot be done in our own strength. It is loving others with His supernatural love and remembering why....because the end of all things is at hand. Show others Christ...Show them His love....bring them to Him who can save them from an eternity without Him. In the end it is all that matters.
Anything done without self giving love is empty and vain. Anything done in the love that God pours out in our hearts for us will not fail. It will bring about the purpose that He intended for it. God's love is everlasting and permanent. His love outlasts all failures. Even if I do the wrong thing but I do it in Him my love it will have an effect for good.
Just to be clear here is the Scriptural definition of love. This is from John MacArthur's commentary on First Corinthians 13:4-7.
"Positively, love is patient with people and gracious to them with generosity. Negatively love never envies, or brags, or is arrogant, since that is the opposite of selfless service to others. It is never rude or overbearing, love never wants its own way, is not irritated or angered in personal offense, and finds no pleasure in someone else's sin, even the sin of an enemy. On the positive side again, love is devoted to the truth in everything. With regard to "all things" within God's righteous and gracious will, love protects, believes, hopes, and endures what others reject. Love outlasts all failures. Love is divine...it is from Him.
Love will cover a multitude of sins is quoted from Proverbs 10:12 which says, "Hatred stirs up strife but love will cover all sins." God's love covered our sins even when we were still His enemies. Romans 5:8 says this: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We are to be forgiving to those Christ has placed in our lives as He was and is. We are especially called to overlook sins and offenses against us and always be ready to forgive them when they occur. We are not to keep the pot boiling returning evil for evil, but instead we are to love our enemies and do good to those who spitefully use us. Why? Because our job is to be about His business...we are to reflect Him in all we do. This life is not about us. It is about Him...it is His story. For us to get in the way with our own offenses is wrong. There are people dying without Christ. We are to be looking to shine His light not to justify ourselves. Christ is the just and the justifier. Commit yourself to Him. who judges righteously. Let Him fight your battles for you.....You hold your peace.
Love does not dismiss sin and these verses do not preclude the discipline of a sinning church member. (see Matthew 18:15-18 and 1 Cor 5) If someone we love is sinning, we are grieved for them because we know they are hurting not only themselves but others also. James 5:20 speaks to this also.
"Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
As much as depends on us, we are to live peaceably. The sins of others should not be broadcast about. They should not be gossiped about or told in detail to others so that they can "pray with more knowledge." When we love another, we cover his faults. We turn our eyes away or throw a blanket on them so to speak. We pray for those involved and remember what Jesus said in the gospel of Luke.
" Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
Love suffers long and is kind...it bears all things. Our God is the God who sees...their sins are not hidden from Him." They will be brought to light in His timing. Your job is to cover them in love and to remember that evil is overcome by good. A Christ follower should be KNOWN by the love he has for His God and the love he shows to his brethren.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”--John 13:34-35
Love
Mom
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Do we have a God or do we have a GOD??!! by Anna
."I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a... god that cannot save. “Tell and bring forth your case; Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from the ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me.“Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”--Isaiah 45:18-22
Okay, hands up if every time you read this you feel like shouting to the world that this LORD is the one you serve. This awe-inspiring, Kingly, give-you-goose-bumps LORD is the one we have the utmost privilege of being allowed to serve. (Yes, I know, weak adjectives. But give me a break; the Bible happens to be the only book in the world capable of rendering me speechless. There you go; that’s the biggest adjective you can get from me.) Reading this a few days ago, I was suddenly and powerfully moved to do a completely undignified dance/jig across our den floor in my sneakers and holding a rather large Bible above my head. (Whether or not I did is none of your business.)
But seriously! Read it over again. See how thrilling it is? It’s a call to arms. It’s a call to abandon humanity’s various false gods, from carved wooden idols of times past and to the modern idols of today. It’s a ringing battle cry. It’s a challenge that none can answer. It’s a declaration exponentially more goose-bump-giving (I know, I know, but it’s all I’ve got!) than the Declaration of Independence. (And trust me, I’ve read the Declaration. That’s some moving stuff.) And, last but certainly not least, it’s a Father’s heartfelt plea for His beloved children to return to Him and be saved. And it manages all those pleas and calls simultaneously, in a few indescribably wonderful verses.
Do we have a God or do we have a GOD??!!
The Branch of the LORD...
Chapter 3 in Isaiah picks up where Chapter 2 left off except it is clear that it is Judah and Jerusalem which God has in view when speaking in regard to the coming judgment. God's people had fallen into a pattern of continual sin. They had rejected their God who had brought them up as a loving Father...cared for them and provided for all there needs and instead were trusting in things that did not profit and would lead them into death. (man, gold, silver, horses, chariots, themselves, the work of their own hands) As you read the first several verses it seems that God Himself is weakening them and preparing them for judgment. He gave them children to be their princes and babes to rule over them. Think for a moment what it would mean to have children or a baby ruling over you. An infant is self-centered, self-focused, cannot control its own body functions and absolutely cannot guide anyone down a right path. Disorder, confusion and chaos result when God does not have first place in a society. There was a leadership vacuum because no one wanted to take charge when things were so bad.
Hope comes in verses 10 and 11 when God says it would be well with the righteous...they would get their reward and as for the wicked it would be ill with them and they would receive the reward of his hands.
Verse 8 speaks to exactly what happened. "For Jerusalem has stumbled and and Judah has fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord. Their word and deed were against their Lord. Isaiah goes on to say that they were provoking the eyes of His glory and that the look on their faces witnessed against them. He also says that they did not hide their sin but declared it openly and have brought judgment on themselves. Rather than being ashamed of their sin they flaunted it...they were proud of themselves for what they were doing.
Isaiah goes on in verses 13 to condemn the oppression of the poor and then speaks specifically to the women of the land who he says were haughty and walking in pride. They had become ensnared by wealth, fashion and status and no longer valued spiritual things. They were living on substitutes that were empty and would have no meaning in the day of judgment. His words to them at the end of chapter 3 are very pointed.
"And so it shall be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; Instead of a sash, a rope; Instead of well-set hair, baldness; Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty.
Your men shall fall by the sword, And your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn, And she being desolate shall sit on the ground."--Isaiah 3:24-26
Chapter 4 speaks to a better day coming. This day is in direct contrast to the day of judgment. It is the day that Jesus, "the Branch of the Lord" returns. He shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth excellent and appealing. The Lord will come in glory and rule on the earth. Isaiah's words are beautiful.
"In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of Israel who have escaped. And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain."
If Jesus dwells in your heart, you can have this today...right now. Why wait??? Bring Jesus, beautiful and glorious into your life. He will wash you clean and His presence will dwell within your heart. He will be your shade in the daytime from the heat. He will be your refuge and your shelter from the storm and rain. Jesus is your recourse...accept the refuge that He affords. Matthew 11:28-30 speaks to this perfectly.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Love
Mom
Hope comes in verses 10 and 11 when God says it would be well with the righteous...they would get their reward and as for the wicked it would be ill with them and they would receive the reward of his hands.
Verse 8 speaks to exactly what happened. "For Jerusalem has stumbled and and Judah has fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord. Their word and deed were against their Lord. Isaiah goes on to say that they were provoking the eyes of His glory and that the look on their faces witnessed against them. He also says that they did not hide their sin but declared it openly and have brought judgment on themselves. Rather than being ashamed of their sin they flaunted it...they were proud of themselves for what they were doing.
Isaiah goes on in verses 13 to condemn the oppression of the poor and then speaks specifically to the women of the land who he says were haughty and walking in pride. They had become ensnared by wealth, fashion and status and no longer valued spiritual things. They were living on substitutes that were empty and would have no meaning in the day of judgment. His words to them at the end of chapter 3 are very pointed.
"And so it shall be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; Instead of a sash, a rope; Instead of well-set hair, baldness; Instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty.
Your men shall fall by the sword, And your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn, And she being desolate shall sit on the ground."--Isaiah 3:24-26
Chapter 4 speaks to a better day coming. This day is in direct contrast to the day of judgment. It is the day that Jesus, "the Branch of the Lord" returns. He shall be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth excellent and appealing. The Lord will come in glory and rule on the earth. Isaiah's words are beautiful.
"In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious; And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing For those of Israel who have escaped. And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain."
If Jesus dwells in your heart, you can have this today...right now. Why wait??? Bring Jesus, beautiful and glorious into your life. He will wash you clean and His presence will dwell within your heart. He will be your shade in the daytime from the heat. He will be your refuge and your shelter from the storm and rain. Jesus is your recourse...accept the refuge that He affords. Matthew 11:28-30 speaks to this perfectly.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Love
Mom
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