Love one another

1 John 3:11

For this is the message you heard from the beginning:  We should love one another.

With Valentine’s Day having just passed and heading off to a wedding this weekend, what better topic to talk about than love? 

In today’s age, we are often told that we need to be more accepting of different life styles.  I struggle with this because that is not what the Bible says.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, nowhere in the Bible are we told to accept life styles that are clearly wrong in the Bible.  What we are told however, is that we are to love one another.  When you love someone, you want what is best for that person.  At the same time, you want to protect that person from danger.  Ultimately though, you cannot stop someone from doing something, however you can show them love.

I want to urge you today to love one another, not necessarily be accepting of everything though.  Share Christ’s love today with those who you don’t necessarily agree with all of their life style choices.  Do not condemn them, rather love them.

Our Journey to Adoption, Part X - Opportunities while Waiting

After keeping James and Sarah over spring break last year, we were even more eager to expedite the process of having them placed in our home. After our additional rounds of background checks and interviews cleared, the adoption agency worked with us to get our adoption application filed with the State. We were told that could take some time for the State to approve us as the adoptive family, but once they did approve, the kids would need to transfer homes immediately and then there would still be a 6 month trial period. 

Not knowing when we would be approved, the adoption agency asked the current foster family if they would agree to transfer the foster placement ahead of time so that we could all plan for a set day. Surprisingly they agreed, and June 18^th was set as the official transfer day (the day before Father’s Day). To help with the transition, we gradually increased our length of respite care for the 6 weeks leading up to June 18^th.  After each extra-long weekend with the kids, it got harder and harder to say goodbye and return them to their current foster family.

As we tried to patiently wait for June 18^th, God gave us opportunities to use our last few weeks without permanent children to spend time with extended family out of state. We visited my 92 year old grandfather in Texas, Joe’s family in Ohio, and I visited my sister and her husband and new baby in Virginia. (It ended up being my last visit with my grandfather, as he passed in July.)  

Similarly, as we wait for our day of transfer to Heaven, God has things for us to do. We aren’t to get impatient or frustrated or give up and sit around doing nothing while we wait.

John 14:1-4, 12, 15 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.” …  ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father…¹⁵ “If you love me, keep my commands. 

Are you anxiously anticipating Heaven? Joining Jesus in Heaven will be the most exciting day ever! As we wait, how are you and I wisely using our time here on earth in preparation for that day? 

Alice

Tues Devo: The way out

Hello,

Raising little kids is fun! And interesting! And challenging….

As they start to become able to reason and understand decisions and consequences you begin to hear their rationale for why they did the wrong thing. The connections made between their environment at the time (including the actions of others) and the choices they make are both unique – and said with a great deal of conviction. One of the toughest lessons to work with them on I have found is that they really do have a choice about their actions/decisions – no matter what is going on around them.

Truth is, that pull of what is going on around them is neither new…..nor will it go away. While that may be slightly depressing - there is good news! The good news is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (NASB)

There is a choice – we can make the right choice. Take heart, look to Him and choose wisely!

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Spiritual feedings

1 Peter 2:1-3

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,  now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

When a woman has a child, you hear it preached everywhere that breast milk is the best thing they can feed that child.  Not every mother has the ability to do this however when we think about the reasons why this is best, it does make scene.  This milk is pure. 

So as Christians, the best source of feeding for us too is that which comes straight from the Lord.  To me, this means we need to be in the word.  While attending Bible Studies and reading devotions form different sources is great, the most pure feeding we can get is that from God.  Time in his word and time in prayer with him. 

How are you doing today on your spiritual feedings?  

Thursday Devotional - Born and Adopted Twice

Several weeks ago James announced he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart! Excitedly, Joe and I stopped and talked with him about what that meant! James knows who God is, knows he can talk to Him at any time and loves to pray. He also knows that Jesus died on the cross, but we weren’t sure he had a good grasp yet on what sin is and why Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins. So, we talked about sin and asked several questions about his understanding. Suddenly, he looked up at our elephant lamp and started asking questions about the elephant. That was the end of our sin conversation, at least for the moment!

We’ve had several more conversations with James and Sarah about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins, what sin is, that Jesus isn’t still dead, that followers of Jesus want to obey Him, but we still sin and need to ask forgiveness for our specific daily sins, etc. 

Well, Monday at dinner Sarah looked outside at the darkness and said she was scared. I asked what she could do about being scared and she said “go to church.” James then interjected and told her she could talk to God and Jesus. I confirmed “Yes!”

Then, James stopped eating and said he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. Unprompted, he said “Jesus, will you come into my heart?” [pause] “Jesus said yes!” We then talked through what having Jesus (through the Holy Spirit) in our hearts means - He forgives our sins and helps us love and obey Him. James was able to tell me what some of his recent sins were. At some point in the conversation I asked James what he wanted Jesus to do for him (to test the genuineness of his faith) and he said “forgive my sins!” So, I said he could also pray and ask Jesus to forgive his sins and help him love and obey God. He immediately and voluntarily prayed on his own in his own words about all that!!!

I hugged James and told him he was a child of God! After dinner was over, James got down and hopped to the bathroom to wash his hands, chanting “I’m a child of God! I’m a child of God!” Yes, I believe James’ faith is genuine. He has been born again and adopted into God’s family!

John 3:3  In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

John 3:14-15  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Ephesians 1:5-8      ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us, with all wisdom and understanding.

James has been born and adopted twice!  

Alice

Net Value

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.  1 Peter 1:17-20

Coming from an accounting background, I understand the concept of ‘Net Worth.’  You take your assets, and subtract your liabilities to come up with your net worth.  For many of us, we tend to look at net worth in a more humanistic way.  We ask ourselves, “How much value do I bring to society?  To those closest to me?  To myself?”  Many of us have no problem seeing how much ‘worth’ they have.  Others struggle.  I would consider myself the latter, but there is a catch.  You see as a follower of Christ, I understand that I have infinite net worth even though I myself at times feel at a deficit.  It is that gap between the infinite value of Christ on your side and your own self-worth where you find that word ‘humility.’  You are humbled when you realize the distance between your own feeling of worth and God’s value He has for you.  I realize just how much God has given me.  I once wanted all these material things; a nice house, a car, and other things.  All those wants, and yet, I was a broken man who consistently fell short of Christ’s glory and still do.  And yet, He loved me enough to bless me with all of these things and a wonderful wife who I describe as God knowing what I needed before I even knew it.  Then when I gave my life to Him, I truly understood all He had done for me.  I do not say these things to either brag or boast for I am in no position to do either.  However, I witness this praying it enlightens you as to the many blessings God has given that perhaps you might take for granted.

We are infinitely worthy because our Heavenly Father values us so.  When we gave our lives to Christ, there were angels rejoicing, and we are reminded He has watched over us each and every day of our lives.  He nurtured by protecting us from harm and teaching us lessons unbeknownst to us.  We grew in our faith, and learned to appreciate how an awesome God would come to love people like us.  I do not have a magical answer as to why He loves us so.  In fact, I still at times wonder why He loves me.  What I do know is that He has come to my rescue and moved me out of Harm’s way so often that if I were not spiritually aware, I would have thought of myself as the luckiest man alive.

God always tips the scale in our favor when we reach out to Him.  Tipping the scale does not necessarily mean we get what we want.  It does mean that He always looks out for our interest and what may seem to be disapproval or indifference to our prayers is actually God setting the stage for that which you truly want and need.  That is why He is a God of abundance.  He gives us unlimited power through Him, and it is that which we can claim with confidence we are incredibly valuable to God.  So let us never forget to be humble both in acknowledging where we are and understanding how worthy He is.  How can you greater align your own value and God’s value?  What can you do to instill God’s value into others?  My prayer is that we acknowledge our shortcoming to embrace the worthiness of ourselves through Christ Jesus, and thus, enjoy our ‘net worth’ to God.  Amen.

Tues Devo: Wisdom

Psalm 4:1-7 “Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, and give attention that you may gain understanding, for I give you sound teaching; Do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, Tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, Then he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; Keep my commandments and live; Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. “Do not forsake her, and she will guard you; Love her, and she will watch over you. “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; and with all your acquiring, get understanding.” (NASB)

Hello,

As my wife and I work to raise our 3 kids this passage certainly strikes home. We give instruction frequently. We repeat it, we explain it, we give examples…and repeat it again. Sometimes this is tiring and frustrating, but we keep going. We keep going because we know of the long term benefits of it. We keep going because new situations are new opportunities to learn.

Then the challenging part hits……..the same here holds true of us and God the Father. He wants us to gather wisdom and understanding. He makes sure we have every opportunity to know and remember His instruction.

So, the next time you start to get frustrated at someone else not getting the wisdom and having to repeat it…..think for just a moment about you and God. What instruction has He given that you are struggling with?

Have a blessed day,

Will Hill

Becoming like a child

Luke 18:15-17

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Today I wanted my devotion to be about children as today is my son’s 4^th birthday. 

The Bible tells us that not only are we to bring children to Christ, but that we are to receive the kingdom of God like a little child in order to enter.  So what does that mean?  If I use my son as an example, I think it becomes clear.  A child does not always obey their parents perfectly.  As a parent, I get frustrated when my son does not listen to me.  I’m sure the same is true with our Heavenly Father when we do not listen to him. 

That being said, if I am out and about with my son and scene danger, I can tell him firmly that he needs to listen to me and he’s going to.  A parent will watch out for their child and the child feels safe with the parent and does not question them.  Our Heavenly Father is also watching out for us.  If we become like a child, we are not going to question what He has told us.

Children are certainly not perfect and God does not expect us to be perfect.  He does want what is best for us though and wants us to love and obey him.

Our Journey to Adoption, Part IX - Blessings from the Impossible

As I mentioned last week, slowly the other possible homes for James and Sarah fell through and left us and the current foster family. The current foster family didn’t take their names off the list, in case we fell through. They also made it seem like they were waiting to decide if we cared enough about the kids. If they didn’t feel like we cared enough, then they were going to adopt. It certainly made us feel manipulated for continuous weekend respite care, not to mention extra scrutiny.

After much pressure, even though it was the heat of tax season, we also agreed to keep the kids for part of Spring break so that the foster family could go on a family vacation geared for their older children. However, a few days before Spring break, the other family that was going to take the kids for the other half of the week called and cancelled. We were then pressured that if we really cared about the kids we would agree to keep them longer than originally planned! I felt like we were already going way out of our way and had already taken off some work time at a very busy time of year.

After prayer and talking to my boss about a creative work schedule, we agreed to keep the kids. It was quite a tiring week, but we really bonded with them! It helped to be all together for more than just a weekend!!! God used what seemed like unrealistic expectations to bring blessings. I shouldn’t be surprised, as God can bring blessings from any impossible situation, including death!  

John 11:38-43           ³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
What are you facing that seems overwhelming, stressful, or impossible? Will you take it to God and then be willing to creatively participate in the solution? The greatest blessings often come out of the most difficult situations.

Alice

Never Fails

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 (NIV)

There is a war coming. Outside, it may appear that the war is with a religion.  That may be true, but my heart tells me something much less obvious.  The greater and perhaps more important war is not outside the church.  It is from within.  It is a battle for its soul.  There are those who believe the church has been lost for a long time.  I was one who believed that it was the answer to all of our problems, and this is something I still believe.  Bill Hybels has said that the local church is the hope of the world.  If that is true, then hope may indeed be fleeting.  We are not being that shining light as a beacon on a hill.  We have become too occupied with telling our outside world to conform or suffer God’s wrath.  Those both inside and outside the church have said we have not spread the gospel enough.  My concern?  It is none of those.  My concern is that we are not the loving people God would want us to be.  We are focused on greater understanding of the word and not living it.

If you doubt there is a war, you only need to breathe in what is happening in society today. There are those who firmly believe we need to build walls, and others who believe we need to open our arms wide open.  Some believe we need to protect our borders, and others believe we need to open them to those who may be persecuted.  I could continue to go up and down the list of ideas for each side.  I have prayed for understanding that God guide my steps and words today.  As I did, He helped me realize something.  There is only one sure thing that He has shown me throughout my life that holds true still today.  Love never fails.

It was love that drove Martin Luther King Jr. to peacefully march to stand through abuse, jail, and threats to his life to lead an entire race to have equality. In the closing of his final speech which foretold of his eventual death, he said these words:

Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter to with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life–longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain.  And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land.  I may not get there with you.  But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Forty years after his speech and subsequent death, an African American became President. It did not signify the end of discrimination or bigotry, but it meant that a person like me no longer had to be silent ever again.

It was love that changed my life’s trajectory. A man saw a skinny black teenager and felt he did not belong.  However after watching his grit and determination against all odds, the man’s view changed.  He said to this child, “Before I knew you, I would have nothing to do with you.  After watching you and getting to know you, I would be honored to have you in my home anytime you choose to come here.”  That moment changed both of their lives forever.

Finally, it was love shown even in the face of hate. A church in South Carolina has nine of its parishioners killed by a white supremacist.  At the hearing where he is arraigned, the grieving families speak of anger and pain.  However to the surprise of the world, they also show forgiveness.  Nadine Collier, daughter of one of the victims says to the killer, “I forgive you . . . I will never be able to hold (my mother) again, but I forgive you . . . If God forgives you, I forgive you.”  I went to that church later that year.  The moment I stepped in there, one understood right away why they could say those words with sincerity and conviction.

You see even in the face of hatred, love wins every time. It always has in my life.  If it has not in yours, then I challenge you because as a pastor taught me, The Bible is the greatest love story of all because it is about God’s love for you.  Through sin, He lost us, but through Jesus Christ, He said He wants us back.  Jeremiah 31:3 says, “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.  With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”  So to those of you who will biblical or spiritually challenge me that we need to protect ourselves and our borders or ban refugees, I’m sorry to disappoint you.  I cannot nor will not be on your side.  You see?  Love never failed me or my people before.  I will not stand against it now.  It does not mean I will not pray for the President and it does not mean I do not wish him well.  It simply means my God has taught me to love even at the risk of my life, and I will love my brother even if he or she does not know my God.  My prayer is that each of you looks at yourselves and answer, “Does Jesus’ love ever fail?”  Do I love as Jesus loves me?  Amen.