For the past month I’ve been pondering what to write about. Usually I know well in advance, and my thoughts have clear direction. However, this entire month I struggled with what God wanted me to say—what He was trying to teach me. I would land on a subject only to change my mind soon after. Spiritually, I felt pulled in a thousand different directions, which was probably because my heart has been heavy. It wasn’t until last night that I received my breakthrough.

One ten in the morning. I decide to take the emotional plunge and wade through what’s been ailing my heart—what’s been keeping me from the joy I find in Jesus everyday. I think about the last couple of weeks. Though I had been showered with amazing preaching, though I was fed the word of God and wrapped in praise and worship, I still ended up at the altar, crying my eyes out. And though I should have been rejoicing, I found myself heavy and couldn’t understand why. Ah, the ever-present question of why. Why? Why, God? But instead of asking why, I decide to think about what. What? The memories come flooding to me. Tears fill my eyes, as the weight in my heart grows.

I ask God, when I am able to speak, “Lord, what do I do? I realize now it’s been me all along carrying this weight. I’m letting it go. I’m giving it to you. I’m letting you take control again. But, Jesus, what do I do? What happens when I try and try, but no matter what I do, nothing changes? What do I do when I’ve tried to maintain relationships with people but they fall apart? What do I do when someone hurts me by hurting You? What do I do when differences can’t be reconciled? I know You’re in control, and I trust You. I won’t worry, but is there anything humanly possible that I can do? Search my heart, Lord, is there something that I missed? Is there something I need to say? Is there something I should do? What do I do?”

I feel the Lord’s arms wrap around me as He warmly tells me, “You love them.”

“That’s it?”

“You love them.”

“Really?”

“Really. Love each and every one like I do. And remember how much I love you. You might find the weight lighter. Never did I say that I expected you to be perfect. That’s My job.”

God’s Love. Could it really be that simple? I wipe the tears from my eyes. I think about every situation that weighs on me. I add God’s love to the equation. Suddenly, every issue fades to gray. My heart begins to feel lighter. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.”

If any of you are like me, we all go through times when everything in our lives seems to fall apart. We all go through rumble strips—periods where God will bring you through a trial to teach you. Note that I said bring you. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in all of our problems that we forget that God will bring us through. We get so busy that we forget that He is always with us; we are never alone. In the meantime, what can we do? We can love. Even when we feel that we’ve been wronged and that people should love us, we can still love others. In Matthew 7:12 Jesus clearly states, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Similarly Luke 10:27 says, “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” And again this concept is stated in Luke 6:31.

Never should we find an excuse not to love our neighbors. It sounds so simple, but it’s something we forget to do sometimes. The important thing is, it’s not about us—it’s about Jesus. It’s about His sacrifice, His love, His commandments. God truly loves us, so what reason do we have not to love others? Do you have enemies? Love them. Do you have friends? Love them. Do you have co-workers? Love them. We are commanded by God to love. The more you let God take control, the more you love, and the more you do unto others as you would have them do unto you—the more true, God-given joy you will feel.

So it’s simple: how many people have you loved today?

One man had been watching the entire ordeal. He ran down the street the opposite way of Jesus. As he ran He thought, “if this Jesus can heal others, why couldn’t he heal my friend back home?” He grabbed one of his friends who was heading toward Jesus. “Come help me get my friend so we can bring him to Jesus as well!” As they dashed down the road together, more and more people were arriving. How would they get to Jesus now!? As they ran inside their friend looked at them like crazy people. “What are you two doing?” You see, this man was lame and bed ridden for the rest of his life. His friends didn’t care about this, however. They grabbed his bed and ran out the door as fast as their feet could carry them. As they neared the house where Jesus was speaking they were obviously getting very weary, but there was also a need to push through the crowd. They just couldn’t make it through. Then they saw stairs leading to the roof.

As they scraped away at the roof tiles, blood flowing from their hands, all they could think about was getting their friend to Jesus. When they were finally finished they lowered him slowly, landing right in front of Jesus. I can just imagine the man’s reaction to this — I would have been terrified! But Jesus, in all His love, looked down at him and said “thy sins are forgiven thee… Arise, take up thy bed, and go your way to your house.”

This story always seemed to amaze me, but this time as I read it something struck home. So many times I’ve heard that we have to be the ones to push through to Jesus — which is completely true — but sometimes we have to be carried. Sometimes our brother or sister or friend has to be the one to lift us up and lower us down in front of Jesus when we are “spiritually paralyzed.” Our friends can be the ones to lift us up in prayer. They can stand in the gap, or intercede, on our behalf. If I am too weak, I know I’d love for one of my friends to come along and bring me to Jesus. When I am strong enough, I’ll push through on my own. But if I’m not, then I know that I need a friend to carry me to Jesus. It’s just like the song says, “I will carry you to Jesus.”

So I challenge you: if one of your friends is spiritually paralyzed, don’t be afraid to carry them to Jesus. You might be the one who keeps them from becoming spiritually dead.

Psalm 147:4 says “He counts the stars and calls them all by name.” The human eye cannot perceive or even begin to fathom the intensity and magnitude of the universe. It is a wonder that God knows exactly the number of stars in the universe, but that’s not all — He also knows them by name. As scripture illuminates the characteristics and attributes of God, we find that He cares about everything He created. He named the uncountable multitude of stars, and it makes me stand in awe to think that He cares even more meticulously for us.

A verse earlier the psalmist states that God will heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds. A phrase fills my mind as I read those two verses together: He cares. It’s so easy to forget that God, our infinite creator, cares about what we care about. What hurts us, breaks us, and concerns us… concerns Him. I think we put God in a box sometimes. We limit Him on what He really can do or what He’s really like, because we don’t think He applies to us or is meant for us. The truth is: God is meant for us and He cares about us very much.

His love is deeper than the deepest ocean or the depths of the earth. He knows every one of us by name, He created us, and all He desires is for us to cast everything on Him and trust Him with our very lives — to trust Him with our hurts and with our joy. For Him to be the center of everything we live for. He wants to be the core of our lives. When all else fails or we feel alone, He is always there. That’s another attribute of His: He is patient. He lets us do what we want, but when we want Him we don’t have to search to the ends of the earth. He’s already there, waiting for us to choose Him. He cares about the very workings of our minds, He cares about every aspect of our life. We can run to God because God is the only one who will fulfill our longing. His love surpasses anything we can find. Do not put God in a box, do not limit Him on how much He can be a part of your life. He created the whole universe — the stars, galaxies, and moons — and yet He cares about us.

“Yes, I do.”
“Seriously? Wow, that’s a lot.”
“Hey man, I love it. I love every second of it.”
“Every Sunday, wow…”

The love and passion that I hold for my church and my relationship with God left my friend awestruck. However, love is only half of the story. While my love for God and the church is important, there is another driving factor in my walk with God: Commitment. Without both, our walk with God will not succeed. As we journey down the straight and narrow, the devil is trying to pull us off our holy path. He doesn’t particularly care which side he pulls us off of. Cold hearted commitment which lacks the energy of love is just as dangerous as passionate love with no commitment. God is desirous of a holy Bride who is both stubbornly committed and feverishly in love.

Was my statistics friend correct? Is going to church every Sunday a lot? Is that too big of a commitment? As I divulged earlier, I am a stats student. So let’s do a simple math equation. Say that your church has a two-hour service. Say that it takes you a half hour to get to church and a half hour to drive home. That brings us to a total of three hours. The average American watches four hours of TV a day. Personally, I do not watch much TV at all. However, there are plenty of things I do for three hours a day, and on Sundays, church is one of them.

Three hours a week is certainly not ridiculous, but our greatest example, Jesus, gave much more than that small fraction of his life. Jesus was “daily with you in the temple teaching.” Jesus wasn’t just a Sabbath saint. He was passionate about church. Today He is still “daily in the temple” teaching us, but are we there to hear Him? Maybe church isn’t available every day. But, when someone comes to meet God, you can count on Him being there. He is a church junky. He loves it. On the other hand, He is committed to it. I cannot remember the last church or house service where God has not blessed me. That alone is more than enough reason to both love and commit to it.

Our sacrifices are often not as demanding as we think. Our small offering of time does not compare with the price paid by many who gave their lives for His kingdom. As one preacher says, “In the day of judgment you will stand next to people whose life’s blood ran down the streets of their cities.” Commitment will lead you to do these things for God. Love will lead you to do them with Him. You must have both to be a part of the Bride fit for The King.

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Unity is a successive step, an extension of the Mosaic Law. Jesus stated both simply: the law of Moses teaches us to (1) love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and (2) love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37,39). He stated the principle of unity as ‘one-ness’ with each other. He implies identification, communication, and mutual support with these phrases. If God’s laws can be distilled to principles of love, then unity must be a side effect, for it displays the effects of an atmosphere of brotherly love.

If the above argument has not convinced you that unity is an important part of being an effective Christ-follower, I encourage you to search out every Biblical mention of unity’s opposite: division. You will find that there is no place in the house of God for divisive attitudes or actions. There is plenty of room for discussion and even disagreements without being divisive about it. Without unity a group of people will scatter to the wind; with unity that same group can remain when all else has fallen. We will revisit the effects of unity in later articles.

The New Free Thinkers also think that unity is important to a successful spiritual life — so much so that we are sponsoring a series of prayer meetings in the Northeast United States to encourage church youth groups (and others) to get in unity with each other. This project, called Unitiative, will endeavor connect groups of Christian young people to God and to other young people who share their desire to live for God. To find a meeting near you, or to volunteer to host a meeting, visit:

JoinTheUnitiative.com

He taught about the love that God has for us, and how John had this revelation. That is why the apostle John was called “John the Beloved”. John, unlike any of the other disciples, saw Jesus all the way to the cross and saw his friend — his master, his God — die for him. It was a gruesome death unfit for any human, let alone the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Through the agony and suffering he watched his savior endure, John learned how much Jesus loved him. He would be forever changed by the knowledge that Jesus loved him enough to endure it all for him, to pay the ultimate price, to be the sacrifice to end all others. Jesus bled and died to relinquish the hold that sin had upon our lives: He gave His all that I might be free!

As I stand back and consider the impact that this unprecedented act has upon my life, it reminds me how insignificant my petty arguments are with my brothers and sisters. If Jesus could have held every sin against me and yet chose to forgive, how much more should I forgive my brothers? As it says in John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Then Jesus said in Matt 22:39, “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”  From these scriptures we see that we cannot love God if we do not love our neighbor — but we cannot love our neighbor if we don’t love ourselves.

Bro. Urshan said it this way: “We cannot love God if we don’t love others, and we cannot love others if we don’t love ourself”, so we must love ourselves, but not with a selfish love. We must not allow what we see in ourselves, our faults, failures and shortcomings to mitigate what God wants to do through us.

We can find encouragement in the fact that Jesus loves us despite our failures, and He knows us better than we know ourselves anyway. Personally, I am going to let God heal me of the things which prevent me from loving myself, and learn how to love myself unselfishly in the process that He has for me. I challenge you to do the same! Remember, He loves you!

He loves you. He loves you!

Apply this idea to your life. What changes when you know and are convinced that God loves you?