How to inherit eternal life, part 6: loving God with our soul

And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE." (Luke 10:25-28 NASB)

In the previous post, we looked at loving the Lord with all our heart. (You can click on the link to read it.) Today, we consider loving the Lord with all our soul. 

The word translated as "soul" is psychē, and is used here to indicate "the seat of the feelings, desires, and affections". (BLB) The soul is the part of us that is eternal and cannot be destroyed. To love God with all our feelings, our desires, and our affections is not a whimsical kind of love. It requires the kind of "taking every thought captive" that Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians 10:5. We cannot love God with feelings that are sinful, with desires that are perverse, with affections that are ungodly. Loving God requires us to take ungodly thoughts, feelings, desires, affections captive and sacrifice our desires to His. 

When we read the words of the Psalmist, we assume God will give us what we want. Look again at those words.

Delight yourself in the Lord; 

And He will give you the desires of your heart. 

Psalm 37:4 NASB

The promise is not that God will give us whatever we desire. The promise is that He will give us new desires. He will give us His desires as our own, and when He does, that seat of desire, our soul, can love Him more fully, more completely. In fact, in this place deep in our hearts, we  cannot love as we ought unless the Lord Himself places His desires in our hearts. That placing happens when we take delight in Him. As we love, He equips us to love more. 

Perhaps that sounds as if we are impotent bystanders, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is a constant work of submission to wrestle the seat of our feelings, desires, and affections into submission to God, but when we forge ahead in that work which must be done, we find a love that is greater and more complete than any other. 

We are not to be ruled by feelings; instead, we are to act our way into new feelings. Do we feel cranky and irritable? Perhaps. Instead of acting out on that irritability, however, we must, with God's help, choose love instead. By responding in love rather than reacting in irritability, we love God with our feelings. 

When we want the things of the world, we must relinquish our desire for what tantalizes and choose the things of God instead. By relinquishing our desires, we love God with our desires. It is the same with affections. Do our relationships, our affection for the things of this world help us love God more or draw us away? We must choose to place our affections on "things above", loving the things God loves, the people God loves. In loving what God loves, in loving those whom God loves, we love Him with "all our soul". This loving those whom God loves may be the hardest part, but it is worth it! When we love the unlovely, we love as God has loved us, for who could be more unlovely that we ourselves? 

Oh dear ones, all this relinquishing and submitting sounds like a dreadful job and a devastating loss, but it brings the sweetest joy imaginable. Let us not forget that it is in loving God with every fiber of our being, Christ said, that we live, both now and in eternity. It is a radical, unpopular love, but therein is life. Love Him, friends, love Him with all the feelings, desires, and affections in your heart and you will find joy immeasurable and hope overflowing.

Sending the Seventy:part 4

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.

Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. (Luke 10:1, 3 NASB)

Jesus told the seventy disciples that he was sending them out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Of course, he was speaking metaphorically, so it will help us  understand the metaphor to look at the difference between lambs and wolves. First, a lamb is a young sheep. It's still a baby and not yet fully matured. It still has growing to do. Sheep in general, and lambs in particular, are not capable of caring for themselves. They need a shepherd and for these particular lambs, that Shepherd was the Lord, Jesus Christ. Lambs graze as they go. They need clean water and green pastures. 

Wolves, on the other hand, are beautiful creatures, but they are carnivorous. They hunt and kill their prey. A lamb, alone and without its shepherd, is an easy mark for a wolf. When "wolf" is used as a metaphor for man, it usually refers to a greedy, cruel, destructive person, always on the prowl for more prey to devour. 

These "faith lambs" were heading into "wolf territory", Jesus told them. They would find themselves in the midst of people who were not lambs. They were not innocent and dependent upon the Good Shepherd. Some of those people would try to devour their faith and destroy their testimony if they could. The journey might be hard. The journey might be dangerous. Go anyway. Speak anyway. Try anyway. 

Our Lord, who knew that death and destruction awaited Him here, came anyway. He came to earth as God wrapped in a little baby to save us from our sin. In fact, there is far too much "wolf" in all of us and He came to change wolves into lambs. How incredible is that? The first thing that must happen to be a "sent one" is to allow our Divine One to change our own wolf to a lamb. When we are purified, cleansed, changed to become like a little lamb, willing to be led where He goes, willing to be fed where He provides, it is only then that we can be useful on the journey. The innocence of the lamb draws the wolf, but oh how amazing it is when the innocence of the lamb draws the wolf straight to Jesus! 

Dear ones, what about the wolf in us? Have we submitted it to Jesus, allowing that divine work of transformation to make a lamb of the wolf within? Are we willing to go, then, where the wolves dwell to draw them to Jesus? It won't be easy. In fact, we are promised that the way will be hard and the work will be dangerous, but it will be worth it, and we will not be alone. Are you willing to be a harvester? Will you be a lamb? 

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The new book, The Waiting: When the Answer to Your Prayer is Delayed and Your Hope is Gone, as well as The Clay Papers and The Road to Bethlehem (an advent devotional guide) are now available at http://www.leannahollis.com/online-store/ Get your copy today.  

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Here's the link to last night's post: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-fat-goat.html

Dirty Feet

All the rain today has reduced the driveway to a giant mud slide. Maggie and Mamie wanted to go with me to the barn this evening to feed the livestock, so I attached their leashes and we headed out. Maggie very carefully picked her steps in the circle drive and across the cattle gap. She slowed her pace considerably as we proceeded up the road. We were several yards away from the barn when Maggie stopped and refused to take another step. There was no way to avoid the mud and Maggie HATES to get her feet muddy. She looked at me with those big brown eyes and said, "Pick me up, Mom. I don't want to get dirty!" Of course, I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to the barn. 

Mamie doesn't care a bit if she gets muddy. The more mud, the better she likes it. She didn't want to be picked up. She wanted to plunge on through. Needless to say, she was very muddy when she got to the other side.

The Wonder Dogs have two very different styles when it comes to getting mud and dirt on them. Mamie is all in.  She never falters. Mud? Who cares about mud? Not Mamie! Maggie is cautious and wants to be carried to keep her clean. Maggie's is an attitude from which we could all learn. When there is the danger of soiling our lives with the dirt of this world, how do we respond? Do we, like Mamie, plunge ahead and hope for the best? Are we, like Maggie, cautious and eager to keep our hearts clean and pure? When we encounter the sin and grime of this world, we would do well to stop, call to our Heavenly Father, and wait for Him to carry us through, clean and safe, to the other side. 

"So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart." 2 Timothy 2:22 ESV

Pretense of Zeal

When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."] And they went on to another village. (Luke 9:54-56 NASB)

The Samaritan village where Jesus intended to lodge for the night had refused Him accommodations, and James and John had offered to call down fire from heaven to destroy the town. It is commendable that they had such confidence in the power Jesus had given them, but they had misunderstood the example of Elijah. Had they looked to the example of Christ, they would have seen that never once did He ever call down judgement upon those who rejected Him. It is imperative that we not take an example in Scripture and use it to justify wrong-doing.

It was a good thing that the two disciples asked for Jesus' permission first before acting. He rebuked them for their desire for destruction. They did not know what spirit was acting in them in this desire, He said. Mathew Henry said it well when he wrote, "You are not aware what an evil spirit and disposition you are of, how much there is of pride, and passion, and personal revenge, covered under this pretence of zeal for your Master." 

That is so profound that it bears repeating. We don't see how much pride, passion, and personal revenge are covered by a pretence of zeal for the things of God. How often do we speak and act, ostensibly to protect the cause of Christ, in such a way that we end up causing more harm than good? It is so important to be aware of our motives behind the "righteous indignation" from which we want to act. 

Motive. Why we do what we do is critical, for one day, we will be held accountable for our actions. There is a school of thought that says, "Oh, the blood of Jesus will cover that," as if His redemptive gift relieves us of personal responsibility. May it never be that we treat the precious lifeblood of our Savior so casually. 

Dear ones, we must consider our words and actions carefully, choosing only those that are right and good. I speak as one who is entirely too impetuous with my words, and as one who has considerable progress yet to be made in this area. 

The contrast Jesus made between the spirit of the disciples and His Spirit, His desire, was stark. The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them, He said. If that saving of men is the reason why our Lord came, it should be the motivating force behind our words and actions as well. Let us, then, be careful to think before we speak and pray before we act so that we can glorify our Father who is in Heaven rather than our own pretence of zeal. May our actions and words bring healing and not harm, redemption and not revenge. Let's point the way to Jesus in everything we do. 

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The new book, The Waiting: When the Answer to Your Prayer is Delayed and Your Hope is Gone, as well as The Clay Papers and The Road to Bethlehem (an advent devotional guide) are now available at http://www.leannahollis.com/online-store/ Get your copy today. 

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Link to last night's post: http://leannahollis.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-problem-with-trees.html

Fire from Heaven

But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" (Luke 9:53-54 NASB)

As we have seen over the last few days, Jesus was heading to Jerusalem, where crucfixion, death, and resurrection awaited Him. Because of the distance, he planned to break up the walking journey by spending the night in one of the nearby villages. He sent messengers to arrange for accommodations in the Samaritan village, but when they heard that He was heading toward Jerusalem, they refused Him because of their serious dispute with the Jews over the place of worship. 

James and John were not happy about the refusal of accommodations. (Of course, if there were no accommodations for Jesus, there were none for the disciples, either.) These two "Sons of Thunder" wanted to retaliate, and to strike "while the iron was hot". Their suggestion was that they command fire down from heaven to consume the village. When we look at this verse, our first thought is usually, "What?? What in the world are they thinking?" It appears that they were imagining themselves as the prophet Elijah, who commanded fire down from heaven and destroyed two groups of soldiers. 

Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. (2 Kings 1:10 NASB)

There was a difference in the two circumstances, although perhaps the two disciples felt that they were defending God's honor. In Elijah's case, King Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who tried to kill Elijah for years and who were both extremely wicked and had led the nation of Israel into idolatry, had died. Their son, Ahaziah, ascended to the throne. Scripture tells us that Ahaziah was worse that Ahab, Jezebel, and Jeroboam. In a way, he was triple-wickedness and was leading Israel into even more evil than his father. He had severe injuries when he fell through a lattice and wanted to know if he would survive. Although Elijah, well known as a prophet and man of God, was available for consultation, the king sent messengers to inquire of an idol. 

God sent Elijah to meet the messengers and tell them that the king would die. When they returned, he sent a captain with fifty soldiers to Elijah. Ahaziah was not planning to hold a religious pow wow with the prophet. There was killing on his mind. When the first band of soldiers arrived, intent on arresting Elijah, he called down fire from heaven and they were all consumed. A second group of soldiers was sent, and Elijah did the same thing again. Fire from heaven consumed them. When a third group came, the captain begged for mercy and promised to protect Elijah, who accompanied him to the king. 

Although his method was dramatic and drastic, Elijah had defended himself from an attack by a band of soldiers bent on his destruction. He had spent years in hiding when Ahab and Jezebel sought to assassinate him. All the murderous attacks were for no other reason than a dislike of the truth Elijah spoke. He had no illusions about the reason Ahaziah had sent soldiers for him. He knew it was another plot against his life. 

The Samaritans had rejected Jesus and inconvenienced Him, ultimately depriving themselves of their Messiah. They were not trying to assassinate Him. Why, then, did James and John want to call down fire on them? We will not know for certain this side of heaven, but it was an extreme response to a refusal of lodging. 

What is odd is that these two men had been with Jesus throughout His ministry. They had heard Him teaching about turning the other cheek, loving your enemies, praying for those who persecute you. How could they reconcile their impetuous desire for retaliation and destruction with the truth Jesus had taught them? They could not, and they did not try. They, like many of us, spoke first and, if they thought at all, it was later. 

Perhaps you never do this, but sometimes I have a strong reaction to a perceived slight. I haven't asked to rain down fire on someone, but my first reaction has not always been loving and forgiving. What about you? 

If James and John had stopped to consider what rejecting Jesus meant for the Samaritan village, perhaps they would have wept with grief rather than boil with anger. When we look at circumstances, rejection, and slights from others with the perspective of Jesus, they tend to look quite different, don't they? Our response should be in line with His response, as well.  How did Jesus respond? Pray. Forgive. Love. 

I saw a needlework piece recently with these words:

"When others hate, oppose, ignore, 

Help me, dear Lord, to love them more. 

Those are good words for us when responding to the slights and rejections of others. Let's act like Jesus would act. Pray, forgive, love. No matter what.