CALLED TO BE GODLY

In the book I Samuel Chapter 8, we see a familiar story. The prophet Samuel had ruled the nation of Israel as a judge. He was God’s representative to the people of Israel. He was the visible representative of an invisible God. He was the one who relayed God’s mind and heart to the people of Israel. In Chapter of I Samuel, the people gather together in something of a coup. They tell Samuel that they no longer want him to rule over them but that they want a king like the other nations round about them. One could say that a mitigating factor in all this was the fact that both of Samuel’s sons, one of whom could be expected to take over from him, were totally unfit for the job. Samuel took the decision hard and he went to God. He wondered why the people were rejecting him. But God told him that it wasn’t really a rejection of Samuel as it appeared on the face of things but it was actually a rejection of God. The nation of Israel didn’t want to be different from the nations around them by being ruled by a righteous and holy God. They didn’t like different. They wanted same.

I read this article (http://www.esgetology.com/2014/06/04/baccalaureate-vespers-2014/) a few weeks ago thanks to Mollie Hemingway (@MZHemingway). I really enjoyed the article not just because it spoke the truth, but I realised it spoke present truth. The story of Samuel and the Israelites is familiar because it is a story that is sadly still been played out today in Christianity. A few years ago, a lot of preachers kept saying that the Church was growing worldlier while it seemed the world was becoming more like the Church (but not like Christ). Today it is no more a saying but a fact. Christ likened the Church to a city on a hill, to salt but we have abandoned that role. We don’t want to be different. We want to be the same with the world around us. We don’t want to stand out, be different. We are scared, afraid that people will look at us and point and laugh in ridicule. We don’t want that. We want to be like the people around us. We just can’t stand to be different. So we neglect the Holy Spirit and instead of relying on Him to show Jesus to us, we rely on our own finite, depraved minds.

When Jesus was leaving after his resurrection, he promised he was going to send the Holy Spirit to us. According to Jesus, one of the things the Holy Spirit would do was that he would point us in the direction of Jesus. He would not speak of himself but he would speak of Jesus. However we have chosen to neglect him and his work in order to fit it. We have exchanged the Spirit of God for the spirit of the world. How do I know this? We have exchanged what we know to be godly with what seems to be reasonable. We have rationalised with our fallen minds the laws of God and scorned his grace in order to follow our own agenda. An agenda set for us by the spirit of the age. We have forsaken truth in order to be popular, in order to be seen to be on the side of men. While God has promised to never leave nor forsake us, we have forsaken him at the first sign of resistance.

Every day God is calling out to us through his Holy Spirit, asking us to come back. The more he calls us, the more we ignore him even as we chase after reasonable and the adulation of men. Jesus promised us troubles, tribulation, trials and tests if we followed him. It seems we are just not cut out for all that so we have taken the easy way out. We have decided not to be led by the invisible God by the reality of our five senses. I believe the call of God is always counter to the spirit of the age no matter that you dress it in the robe of reasonableness. I have looked at this world and all it has to offer. And I have made up my mind. I will not be led by the spirit of this age or this world. I have chosen to follow God and all that is godly. I have taken up a commission in the army of the Lord of hosts and there will be no desertion. I will live for him, I will be different. I will endure the scorn and ridicule of men. I will endure insults, abuse and if necessary death for the sake of him who loved me and gave himself for me. That is my solemn promise.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

     

Musings on Love (Part II)

II Samuel 13:14-15    Howbeit he would not hearken to her voice: but being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her. Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone.

Love is a verb so said Dc Talk. I agree. Like I said in my last post, love is all about doing. Love is not something that should be said alone, it must be shown. However, many women seem to be looking for the words alone without taking any thought about whether it is being shown. It’s been said that women react to what they hear and that’s why a lot of men now use those three words, “I Love You” as some sort of magic wand to get their way.

The story is told in the Bible in II Samuel 13 of Amnon, one of King David’s children. He developed this passionate and intense “love” for his half-sister, Tamar. This passion was so great and intense that he developed a ploy to get her to come to his room. He pretended he was sick and got Tamar to come to his room to serve him. He then tried to get her to sleep with him. She protested, asking to instead ask their father David for her hand in marriage. But of course Amnon wasn’t interested in that kind of commitment. All he was interested in was scratching an itch. He proceeded to rape her and after he had slaked his lust, he grew to hate her as passionately as he thought he loved her. In the end, she committed suicide from the ensuing shame and he ended up being killed by Absalom, her brother. The story is a cautionary tale on what love is NOT.

I would really like us to be real here. We’ve all seen one Hollywood film or the other where the young, handsome boy wants to have sex with the beautiful girl. She’s reluctant at first but then he tells her if she loves him, she’ll sleep with him. The girl thinks she is so she agrees. And the audience goes “Awwww” at young love. I think we should back up here. There are so many things wrong there. First of all, love does not demand, nor does it seek to get. Love gives without demanding anything in return. Love expects to be loved in return but will never demand it. God loves us and expects us to love him but he doesn’t demand our love. He gave us Jesus, grace, joy, peace and an awesome life package in the covenant he made with us. Jesus said if we loved him we would keep his commandments but he doesn’t beat on us on the head when we don’t obey. Instead he gives us more grace.

The second thing is that love is not a feeling or an emotion. A feeling or emotion arises based on certain circumstances. A person might feel they are in love when someone pays them attention, makes them laugh, agrees with them, lets them have their way, tells them they’re always right. Any set of circumstances can lead to the “feeling” of love. Love is not a feeling. Its foundation is not a feeling. Love is a decision. God knew each and every one of us before we were born and yet he still loved us and set Jesus ahead to die for us. He told Jeremiah that before he was born, he knew him. That tells me that love is a decision. Love is about knowing what you know about someone and still loving them. If love is a decision, then it follows that love is a choice. If love is a choice, hate is also a choice. As I have said earlier, love is not an emotion. So then, it means that love is a decision, a choice to continue to do the things expected of love. Which is why I do not believe in love at first sight. There might be attraction at first sight but not love. Which is why I also do not believe that love can “die”. I believe that what happens is that people refuse to continue choosing to do the things that love requires of them. In essence, love is work.  

Love is not sex. Today’s culture has made sex synonymous with love. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I stated above, there are certain circumstances that might making a person feel he or she is in love with someone of the opposite sex. When you have those circumstances and then you add sex to it, you get a combustible mixture. God created sex and I believe he did it to engender closeness and feeling of goodwill among married people among other uses. However, outside of marriage, it takes on the feeling of just wanting to scratch an itch that comes along very often. In that case, anybody or anything would do. Love does not use to slake a thirst.

What then is love? I believe that love is a deep, abiding and intense desire that seeks the best of and for the person loved and doing all within our power to make sure that desire comes to pass and is fulfilled. Even when rebuffed or not acknowledged, it continues on. Love is not based on present circumstances, emotion or needs but a vision of what the beloved person can be or become with love. That’s why love builds, edifies, encourages, provides, sustains and ultimately lays down everything for the sake of the beloved if needed. Anything else short of this will not do.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal