Saturday Morning Post #9: LOVE

 THE QUESTION we’ve been pondering concerns the children of light. Seeking to catch a glimpse of what they “look like,” we considered the fruit produced by a soul living in the light of God’s presence – goodness, righteousness and truth. Widening the angle of our lens we see today that love is another inescapable feature of the landscape in God’s presence. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”* So, “How does that look?”

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”**

LET ME TELL YOU a little secret – getting the picture didn’t come easily for me. If you’ve read my pages “About Bunky” and “From Grief to Glory” you know Michael, my husband, died as the result of a massive brain tumor a few years ago. The impact of that loss caused me to refocus.

 BEFORE I LOST Michael my whole world revolved around the life we shared together – around the love we had for one another. Aside from faith in God, my marriage was my greatest priority and pleasure. I didn’t have a very happy home life as a child. The missing component was “unconditional love;” the kind of love lavished upon me by my husband. It seemed as though everything I needed in life was found in that relationship. The downside of such marital ecstasy was a subtle short-sightedness and self-centeredness when it came to other relationships.

WHEN MICHAEL DIED I was forced to come up for air, so to speak, and realize there was a whole world of other people out there. Unlike me, most were not enjoying the good life. Many had broken hearts because they had already lost loved ones. Some were suffering from broken relationships, others suffered with broken bodies – permanently disabled in accidents or weakened by disease; while some had lost their incomes, homes, or dignity. With my eyes focused on my own happiness, I failed to notice others who hurt. Now I see them everywhere and, because I’ve actually felt the pain of grief in my own heart, I care for them. I know what it feels like to have your “good life” taken away. God has given me a compassion for people I never felt when I was busy focusing on my own happiness.

CHRIST GAVE THIS COMMAND, "Love one another...  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."***  In other words it is our love, expressed in acts of compassion, which will show the world how the children of light look!

*1 John 4:16

**1 John 3:16-18
***John 13:34-35

Saturday Morning Post #8: FRUIT & LIGHT

ECHO, the Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, is an international Christian ministry offering sustainable farming solutions to missionaries and community development workers helping poor farmers globally. Their home base and demonstration farm is just about fifteen minutes from my home on Little Farm Road and before retiring I served as the “Tours & Talks Coordinator” for the organization.

THE FARM is divided into five sections, each showcasing sustainable farming techniques under unique conditions: hot humid lowlands; tropical highlands; monsoon; semiarid; tropical rainforest; and rooftop gardening for city dwellers. Giving farm tours was a fun kind of job which included introducing visitors to exotic edible plants, trees and small animals useful to families on small farms living in the tropics. It was a sort of “show and tell.” Visitors were often surprised to learn that soil is not necessary to grow crops. Truth is all you really need is “light, air, water and nutrients.” I was reminded of that bit of trivia as I read the verses for this morning’s Post challenging us to “live as children of light.”

“LIVE AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”*

A BIT OF A STRETCH perhaps, but here is where I was reminded of my ECHO tour days. Light serves as a “productive” force. Consider the effect of light on plant growth and the bearing of fruit in the tropics. Those expanded hours of intense sunlight make for a bountiful harvest. In the spiritual realm, those who live in God’s light should produce the fruit of moral and ethical character in abundance. Notice the contrast between those inhabiting the darkness and the light. The verse says the deeds of those living in darkness are fruitless. Wouldn’t that be true in the realm of nature as well? Tropical plants simply will not produce the desired fruit without proper light!

“CHILDREN OF LIGHT,” What do they look like?” That’s a question we’ll ponder for the next few weeks; but, today’s verse says they bear the fruit of goodness, righteousness and truth. So how do they look? “Goodness” appears as something conforming to the moral order of the universe. It’s useful, beneficial and praiseworthy in character. “Righteousness” acts in accord with divine or moral law and is free from guilt or sin. “Truth” is the state of being in agreement with fact or reality, manifesting itself in sincerity of action, character and utterance.

IN OTHER WORDS: A person who obeys the Word of God (righteousness) and speaks the truth in love (truthfulness) is praiseworthy in character (goodness). There we have our first snapshot of the children of light!

*Ephesians 5:8-11

Saturday Morning Post #7: CHANGE OF KINGDOMS

SPEAKING OF LIGHT, Isaiah prophesied, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”* He spoke those words during one of the darkest periods in Israel’s history, predicting the coming of Messiah. More than seven hundred years later Jesus Christ announced, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”**

TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY life, it would follow, should offer us a much enlighten age, but it ain’t necessarily so! Only last month I received a Newsletter from missionaries serving in Latin America which included the following report:

“There is a growing and popular interest, especially in Mexico, in the cult to the image of death. In some places they have even built sanctuaries to worship death. As the movement grows, its adherents rationalize their cult saying that, since death is something you cannot avoid, it is only reasonable and safe to worship it and have it on your side. While it is true that the worshiping of ‘Holy Death’ is popular primarily among people outside the law, its practice is growing among professional and business people.”

DARKNESS depicts all that is wicked, evil, and false; while light represents all that is good, holy and true. Those of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke were sinners to be sure, but it’s more than a case of bad behavior. Darkness is where they lived – it was their dwelling place. Scripture calls it the “dominion of darkness”; not referring to a territory but rather to the authority, rule or sovereign power of a king. “The people walking in darkness…”, then and now, are held captive by Satan, the King of Darkness.

ETERNAL GRATITUDE and perpetual praises with joyful thanksgiving should flow from the hearts and lips of the redeemed “to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of Light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins!”***

AMEN & AMEN, for once we all dwelt in the Kingdom of Darkness, but now by faith and the grace of God we have been transported into the Kingdom of Light!

*Isaiah 9:2

**John 8:12
***Colossians 1:12-14



Saturday Morning Post #6: ETERNAL LIFE

OUR DAYS ON EARTH seem to be governed by the “clock” and the “calendar.” Let’s be honest – doesn’t it feel as though we’re constantly in a race against time?  Eternal life, who wouldn’t want that? Well, I suppose some of us are not enjoying the kind of experience we’d hope to be having long term.  But eternal life as promised in Scripture will not only be infinite in duration, it will be infinitely pleasurable as well.

CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD who is eternal, our souls cry out for permanence. The great human tragedy is that man’s choice to sin resulted in our mortality. Not only did sin bring about physical death, breaking our relationship with God, we died spiritually as well.

CHRIST INTERCEDED on our behalf with infinite pity, mercy and grace.  Offering his life in exchange for ours on the cross, he paid the penalty for sin and secured our redemption.   By this glorious sacrificial act he has made it possible for us to be born again.

THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE has been freely given to all who believe. Life never-ending is ours as we draw the first believing breath. Nevertheless, it is impossible to experience all the blessings of eternal life as long as we remain on earth. Entering heaven will inaugurate a fuller experience of our eternal life. This was the reason the Apostle Paul could assert that “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain!”* He knew the best was yet to come.

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE what that might look like. I know the constraints of time, as well as the presence of sin with its dreadful consequences, will be removed. I know that “…we shall be like (Jesus), for we shall see him as he is.”** I know we will at last catch sight of his glory and with one glimpse all thought of self will be forever eclipsed by such a manifestation!

ONCE UPON A TIME I could almost see it from earth. Standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon one crisp December morning, the clear blue sky overhead hosting a giant fireball which brought warmth to my soul as its rays kissed my body from head to toe; I found myself losing all sense of self-consciousness while being completely enthralled by the handiwork of the Maker of Heaven and Earth – the I AM! Such a moment of self-forgetfulness and God-consciousness is the impetus for a season of true worship! Such will be the bliss of heaven!

*Philippians 1:21

**1 John 3:2

Saturday Morning Post #5: SO YOU WANNA BE A ROCK STAR

SEE YOUR NAME in lights; get your fifteen minutes of fame? Famous, what does it look like?

MY TRUSTY MERRIAM-WEBSTER’S states to be “famous” implies little more than the fact of being, sometimes briefly, widely and popularly known. The "sometimes briefly" is probably more often than not -- in other words, Rock Stars come and go. One of fame's synonyms carries a bit more weight. “Renowned” is defined as a state of being widely acclaimed and highly honored – having glory. And, just look at a few of the words that pop up when checking out the word glory in your Thesaurus: magnificence, splendor, beauty, wonder, grandeur, brilliance, praise, laurels, triumph, success – and on it goes.

THAT’S THE KIND OF FAME I’d like to enjoy, not for fifteen minutes, but for eternity. But, how does the ordinary soul experience lasting glory? The Apostle Paul sheds light on the subject as he unveils another of God’s mysteries in his letter to the Colossians. He reveals the divine truth that Christ in you (is) the hope of glory.* Indeed, he is your only hope of lasting fame.

GLORY, LIKE LIGHT, is one of those multifaceted concepts. Woven throughout Scripture like a golden thread it shines differently as you unfold the tapestry. Preeminently it appears in the form of “the weighty importance and shining majesty which accompany God's presence.” The verb means “to give honor.” The honor which people give to one another recognizes the position of the honored person in the human community. Scripture makes reference, for example, to the “glory” of King Solomon because of the abundance of his wisdom and wealth.

JESUS CHRIST encompasses the whole gamut of “glories.” Our finite minds can conceive of but a few.

THE CROSS WORK of Christ displays the magnificence of his glory. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus… who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”** In this single act, Christ accomplished our eternal redemption through his humiliation; and, his own glorification as evidenced by his resurrection and exaltation. 

WHAT AMAZING GRACE that Christ shares his glory with those who believe in him. Shortly before his arrest we find him praying for us. Listen, “Father… I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.”*** 

“CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY” –your only hope of lasting fame!  Any humiliation we may suffer in our present circumstances is far outweighed by the prospect of future glory, the subject of next week's Post.

*Colossians 1:27

**Hebrews 12:2

***John 17: 22