Devotional Thoughts for God’s Family – 1

Introduction: Have you ever attempted to put a dresser together. You buy the crazy thing online or in a store and it shows up in that heavy flat box. And you are given an Allen wrench to assemble the whole thing. By the time you are done, you are missing a thumb nail and your fingers are bleeding…knuckles too!

Assembly required.

Holding the directions (Bible) and the Allen wrench (love), we assemble.

Placing parts together and sliding the drawers, tilting the dresser up right to get a better idea of how to proceed. Flipping the directions and seeing it is in 7 foreign languages. “Why is it so difficult?”

It would be easier if someone else built this or even better, I want to purchase a fully assembled dresser.

Your life requires assembly. The Father wants you to focus on the directions. Read them, step one and two, this nut, bolt and screw, hold this and tighten that, build the dresser. Tilt this side and then lay this flat. The dresser is your life in the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God in your life.

Jesus, is our picture of a fully assembled dresser. All the characteristics of love we read about in this passage are about Him. You might think that this passage is referring to heaven as what we see vaguely, and it is not. Jesus is the one that we see vaguely. And I want to see more, face to face.

Every day that you pick up the awkward Allen wrench and apply it to the wood, everyday that you insert love into your life, trying to build to the specifications of the manufacturer, Jesus, the vagueness diminishes a little bit.

No one has mastered this, no one has garnered the title of expert, we are building and helping others build the kingdom of God. Jesus is our master carpenter, He is the manufacturer.  

This passage is a wonderful, beautiful, picture of what we are becoming, please read through it a few times and get a sense of how profoundly loving Jesus is. After that, take a moment and imagine the kind of place heaven will be, led by Jesus.

BTW – there are some really tight spots to get the Allen wrench into – at times frustrating, actually. Can you think of any place in your life where it doesn’t seem as though love fits? It would be a good thing to hold onto those moments as we walk through 1 Corinthians 13.

I suspect that by the time we are through with this, you will have a firmer grip and more nimble fingers to wield the Allen wrench of building. That’s my hope for me too.      

Perfected in love. All the while growing in an appreciation for who God is.

Devotional thoughts for God’s Family – 2

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Here is the clear and consistent message you will find as we journey through this chapter. Love is the most important take away, love is to be sought after, and God wants you to understand love. Nothing can be built or functional in God’s kingdom without love.

1 John 4:8 (ESV): Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Since God is love, to love is to become like God. No wonder the Lord wants us to love more. I am so glad 1 Corinthians 13 is available to us, aren’t you?

Paul makes an astonishing assertion, we can actually do the things of God without love and it amounts to nothing. It seems Paul goes further than “amounts to nothing” – he even says it’s annoying!

So true! Have you ever accidentally tipped the container that holds the silverware over into the sink? All of the spoons, forks and knives banging around in the sink makes this horrible noise that finds its way right into the center of your head. So piercing and loud – ahhhh!

Paul is telling us that when we talk to others and even when we pray in the spirit, we can be that annoying.

Here is an especially loud and lively piece of silverware banging around in your sink:

How often when you open your mouth do you start your sentences with “I”? I think, I want, I should, I bet, I am…my day, my inconvenience, my trouble, my sorrows, my hopes, my dreams…my life.

Of course you are not that kind of person. Of course you are interested in what is going on in other’s lives. And when you pray you are focusing on other’s needs – right?

Paul’s opening salvo is straight to the heart of our way of life. We are a “me” centered culture aren’t we?

Take this challenge if you dare, try to make it through one day without using the word “I”. The deeper truth is that you would focus on others, the first step in truly loving others is to recognize just how often you are “me” focused.

Here’s the thing that we are learning in the chapter – the only person on earth who deserved to be “me” focused is Jesus. And what we find is that He was actually the least “me” focused person who ever lived on earth. So, how do we get there? How do we become more like Him? That’s our journey.

Dear Lord, can You teach ME how to be more like You. This passage is so important for MY growth as a believer. Your mind and heart are to be sought after and that is what I want. I want to be like You. Help ME dear Lord. Change ME dear Lord…clang, clang, bang, bang – OH! The pain in my ears!

God, you are everything! Pour out Your Spirit! Lord, my loved ones and friends need You. Change them, make them more, fill their hearts with more love. Change the region, the church, the community with out poured love and kindness. Let Your Holy Spirit invade everyone’s life! Let the wind of change blow most holy Lord!

For the stout hearted: Take the “i” challenge – try not to say the word “I” in your conversation and especially not in your prayers for 1 day. See what happens to your love!      

Devotional thoughts for God’s Family – 3

2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

Prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, and faith? These are stout gifts. Yet, they amount to nothing and let’s not miss the message, I can have them but without love, I am nothing.

Paul is driving home how important love is – get the feeling of being loved out of your head! Get the warm fuzzy feeling of snuggling and sunsets with your sweetie out of your mind, because that is not at all what Paul is talking about.

Again, like a diamond that has many facets to it, the warm fuzzy love is one facet, but we live and exalt that kind of love so high, we lose sight of the deeper and more important love. The kind of love I am referring to and more importantly what the Apostle Paul is referring to is a…

Get this please! Mechanical, premeditated, calculated love. Not based on feeling, based on a prior decision to love. Does Jesus have warm fuzzies for you? Yes! That’s on the surface of a deeper, will driven love that is totally premeditated.

John 15:13 (ESV): Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

When you read that verse do you think of pushing someone away from an oncoming train at the ultimate cost of life, this one time great act of sacrifice for another?

Let me give you a different picture: Today I wake and choose to live like I did yesterday in the face of temptation. I am going to live righteously so my wife and children can see who Jesus is. I lay down my anger, I lay down injustice, I lay down what I want and deserve to get, to love others more than myself. (If it were only this true for me)

My train comes every morning when my feet hit the floor? Who wins today? Who gets attention today? Who deserves me today?

Well, when is it going to be my turn? When do people turn and love me? Pastor, that is completely unfair! (I feel a country song coming on – for those of you who need more this morning – picture Willie Nelson singing this and you will get the idea) “Love ain’t fair, darlin.”

Love is a decision you made yesterday about today. Love is a decision you make today about tomorrow. It is less a feeling and more a commitment. When the warm fuzzy is there, it is sublime – what about when the feeling isn’t there? What do you do then? What do you fall back upon?

I will tell you what this world does and don’t you be like this world…anymore!

This world says I deserve to feel loved! So, I am going to terminate whatever I am in to go find love. True satisfaction, I mean the good stuff that brings deep satisfaction, comes from loving – not being loved. So many are on the hunt to be loved.

Its seems wrong to call love mechanical, calculated, premeditated doesn’t it? Yet, we know that God is love from yesterday’s devotional, and we know He doesn’t change. He is consistent, unswerving, the same yesterday, today and forever. We know that He made an unchanging commitment to give you the opportunity to be saved before you were born. And His Son Jesus, our Savior and God, lived a perfect life, completely, totally committed to loving others, even dying on a cross for others.

Before Jesus came to earth the cost was already calculated and committed to.

Ok, to be loved is wonderful and so needed. But to operate in the kingdom of God focused on yourself, simply waiting for the next opportunity to get… Our world is filled with churches like this. Don’t be one! You can even have great anointing and gifting and completely miss what love is and thereby be worthless for the kingdom.

Make the kind of decision that Jesus made. Premeditated, calculated, bold. I choose to love before my feet hit the floor rather than jumping out of bed ready to get.

Lord, the deeper I look into who You are the more that is seen of how loving You really are. Oh, that the world could see Your love. Lord, my friends and family need to see Your love. Please make known to them who You are. Please reveal Your love. Please save them and bless them in the mighty name of Jesus. Help all around me, see who You are as You transform our minds and hearts together. Change our thinking and living in regard to what love really is. Thank You Lord.

 Devotional thoughts for God’s Family – 4

3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

We usually think of giving to another person as an act of love. Paul seems to think that we can actually be generous by other people’s perspective and truly not be loving, and thereby get nothing out of it. Wouldn’t it make sense that if I was giving away all I have, or sacrificing my body, that I was making a great sacrifice for others? And wouldn’t that be selfless and loving?

Not if I did that act of generosity so others could see me. There is a fine but firm line between loving others for people to see to benefit them and loving others for people to see to benefit myself.

How about two examples, if you came to me and said that you wanted to make a large donation to the building program (which you can do any time you wish) and said that you wondered if we might be willing to make a fun competition out of it to see who might match the gift. It might be known then that you are acting in a loving way, but not for your personal gain. It would be for the gain of the ministry.

On the other hand, if you came to me and asked to make an announcement to the congregation that you are going to make a large donation to the building program and you would like to have your beautiful mug (that’s your face) plastered on the wall in honor of your gift. Ummmm, no.

Can you see the difference between the two? Sometimes our acts of love are in front of people, nothing wrong with that. Jesus, did many of the acts of love we know today in front of people to help people see who He was. Open acts of love are wonderful when the motive of the love is upright.

James 4:3 (ESV): You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.        

This verse seems like it doesn’t apply, but it does. Pastor James is speaking to the motives of our decisions. God doesn’t give to you because you do not want it for the right reason. And on the other side of the coin, you do not get the reward of acting in a loving manner because you were only doing it for yourself to begin with.

I once heard a little saying about a person’s character. You can truly tell about a person’s character by watching how they give to two different kinds of people, those who can pay them back and those who can’t.

Our bodies being burned isn’t something that we are accustomed to in our day and age. Yet, there is an amazing slow burn that occurs week after week in the life of amazing volunteers in the Body of Christ. Week after week, leaders help others along in the path of spiritual formation, and there is a lot that is burned: vacation time, money, relaxation, study time, prayers. I watch as thousands of people burn up their life for Jesus regularly and it is amazing to see.

Please be careful to do all that you are doing for the right reasons. We serve others so that others can catch the DNA of Jesus and join the team. We don’t serve so that others will respect and honor us. And we don’t serve so that people will marvel at the anointing that God has given to us. We don’t serve so people will esteem the gift we have been given by God. We don’t serve so we have a group of people we can tell what to do (power). And we don’t serve to make of for bad things we have done. And as a staff we do not serve for money, we are paid and so thankful for that, but that is not why we serve. We serve because we love God and we love others, quite simple really.

Lord, we thank You today for showing to all of us what true love really is. Your love is the purest love we could ever know. Lord, I am prone to manipulative acts that I call love. Lord, make my motives pure. Help my brothers and sisters to walk in the purity of Your love. Let all of us see who You really are and walk in ways that looks just like you. How this world needs to see You, and You have changed our hearts to be a light for them all. Thank You Lord.

Devotional thoughts for God’s Family – 5

 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.

Let’s remember that God is love. So, as we read this seemingly unattainable list of characteristics of how we ought to be living, really we are reading the fathomable qualities of God. I say fathomable because they are presented to us by the Holy Spirit is He winded Paul to write. In that inspiration, it is understood that we pursue these qualities of love and display them in our lives.

If you say they are the unfathomable qualities of God why would you want to understand them? How could you reach them and why would you try? They are attainable in the measure of our faith and pursuit of relationship with God. Your heart desires to be like Him. These qualities are more than like Jesus, these are Jesus. Remember, God is love.

Our Father in heaven is patient and kind, He does not envy and He does not boast. He is not arrogant or rude.

Lord, right now You are melting my heart. I hate every sin I have ever committed against You. I am so grateful for the kindness and the mercy You have shown to me. Knowing Your heart and demeanor, I simply want to live a righteous life so that Your heart is pleased. The highest achievement I could ever know is to please You.

You are the perfect One. With power to create a universe in Your finger tips, yet so gentle and kind. You can rain fire down from heaven and consume a city and play with a child and look in our heart and be content with what You have made. You are patient to wait and watch what we will become.

You hold our lives in Your hand and protect us, shielding us from ourselves at times. You make me emotional when I think about the love that You are. One day we will stand before you in silence for a long long time as we stare, trying to understand You, in awe and wonder. I believe that our hope through eternity will be to get closer to You, Father.

Friends, There are pieces of God that You see that He wants You to attain. Become more like God, not in knowledge or power – pursue love – pursue this verse, make a commitment that your life will look like this verse.   

Hate whatever is in your life that stands in the way of becoming like God who is full of love. Be willing and eager to uproot anything and everything that stands in the way of loving others more. Trust that this is God’s objective for you. Work with Him as He works on You. Agree with Him in what He is doing in You. Trust God in the circumstances you are in because they are being used by the Father to chip away at the selfish desires you hold on to.

Receive the loving hand of the Lord upon your life right now, you will be so glad that you did. Your loving Father in heaven is ready to work in you more than you ever thought possible. Surrender to Him Christian! Submit to him lost one! Come back to him wayward child! He loves you so much.

Devotional thoughts for God’s Family – 6

5 It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful

One fantastic blessing that I see in good parenting, grand parenting, pastoring, leading is when parents work at saying “yes” more than saying “no” to their children. You are thinking, but they do so much wrong, how can I possibly say “yes” more? LOL

You are thinking that you might say to your kids, “Yes! You did that wrong!” That’s not what I am talking about. I mean, evaluate what really is behind saying “no” to your kids as often as you do. In conversations with parents, usually the “no” isn’t about right and wrong, its more about personal preference, making a task shorter, or the burden that you feel attending to a specific situation that you would like to be done with.

There are right ways of doing things that include safety, righteousness, and other non-negotiables. These are taught and affirmed in the life of our kids. However we as parents, sometimes, make rules and demands, and say “no” when we don’t have to. Recently, I was teaching Sierra how to change the battery in her car.  We talked about the importance of being careful of the positive terminal because it can spark pretty badly if you short it to ground. Safety is very important. What wrench she used, where she placed the tools, all those things were up to her.

She put the tools in one spot that if she bumped it with her elbow, she would be down under her car looking for her tools. It was her decision. I could have belted out a “no”, but it was completely unnecessary. I showed her what I would do and then the decision was hers.

As I watched her, I enjoyed greatly the choices she was making to get the job done. There was some heavy lifting that I stepped in to do, but other than that, she is equipped now.

Love doesn’t try to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible so I can get back to the sofa. That isn’t love, I am not sure what that is.

God, enjoys the decisions that you make. He enjoys the process you are in, He enjoys the tools you choose and the way you get things done. He does not want to control you, look over your shoulder and scold you because you missed a bolt or dropped something.

Love doesn’t insist on its own way. That might sound like, “What would you like to do?” “What would you like for dinner this evening?” “Here is the remote, what would you like to watch?” (I know I have been pushing it and the last one, I went over the edge)

If you find your stomach in knots or bored out of your head by giving an agenda away, doing something different than what you planned, maybe you have some control issues and the best thing for that, is to give control away.

Take time to watch others and the enjoyment they have in doing things a certain way, different than you. Join them, the way they join you as you do things a certain way. (Karen, except for the remote – I can only handle the Hallmark channel for a couple of days at Christmas) LOL

Lord, it is remarkable how interested You are in our lives. Even though You know everything, it is important to You to be with us. I wish I could see more of You as You are present. I look forward to the day when I can see you face-to-face. Thank You again for helping mankind see what love is. Without You we would all be in such a bad place, instead You have made for us a home, how blessed we are to be loved by you.

Devotional thoughts for God’s Family – 7

6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

Be careful what you call truth. Sometimes we take our personal convictions and raise them to the level of biblical absolutes – that does no one any good at all. I am glad that you have personal convictions. But, they are yours.

I once road a motor cycle without a helmet to the office to get something and happened to see a normally kind and gregarious young man. He proceeded to call me names, one of which was stupid. And after that he wouldn’t speak to me. He had a very strong personal conviction due to loss in his life surrounding an auto accident.

I am sure you can surmise that this young man had some tender areas due to loss. But that happens sometimes in all of us as we go through tough times and passionately redefine truth to make sense of life.

Rejoicing in the truth, isn’t being happy when others see things the way that you do, especially when you are super passionate about an issue. Rejoicing in the truth is seeing through the eyes of Jesus (having the mind of Christ) and watching as His initiatives are accomplished. This requires knowing Jesus and believing without doubting that you can hear and execute His initiatives.

Please let me labor on this point a moment longer, I have seen such discord and division in families and the church from this very thing. When you define truth based on your level of passion in regards to something that may not be biblical at all, it isn’t love. And you are headed toward discord, division and hate.

A person might even see themselves as the “convictor of holy things” like this young man that confronted me about a motor cycle helmet. My passion gives me permission to crusade for this cause. Passion and crusades are fine, don’t call it right, or biblical truth, if it isn’t.

Sadly I have even watched marriages dissolve for this very reason. A person becomes filled with passion regarding what God revealed to them (which wasn’t God at all). The marriage fails as that person shoots out to find the happiness that “God” wants them to have. I have heard a person tell me that while they were married to one person, God revealed their true soul mate and they are released from the first marriage to pursue the adulterous relationship.

Love does not rejoice in wrong doing. Love never benefits from wrong doing. Love benefits when we do the right thing and love benefits when we do the right thing about the wrong things we do.

Maybe you are wondering if you have any places in your life where you are passionate but misguided in your passion. The key is to have the mind of Christ. In pursuing the dismantling of misguided passion, and I do mean pursuing, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you the mind of Christ in the matter. And you must dismantle the passion so that you will not be deceived, rejoicing in wrong doing when you think it is right.

Philippians 2:1–5 is a powerful remedy to being passionately wrong and pushing your agenda on others.

Lord, love is gentle and kind. Love doesn’t rejoice in wrong doing. Love rejoices in the truth. How easy it is for me to be deceived into thinking that others need to be like me. How far from the truth that is God. Others need to be like You, please make me like You and less like me. God, I rejoice because You are truth, and the more that I learn about You the more people will be blessed.

Blessings,

Pastor D