Tag: true love

I Am Not Innocent

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I Am Not Innocent

I am not deserving of this life. I am guilty of a great many sins, and I am guilty of failing and falling every single day. I cannot help but realize how lost I am in this life. I am a ship blown by the wind tossed upon the sea with no hope to make it to the sunrise. I am no better then a murderer on death row. I am no better then a man 2000 years ago that was set free. One simple act, an easy idea to understand, and yet the depth of the subject, the depth of the meaning surrounding that single most compassionate act in the history of mankind, JESUS CHRIST took my place. When the crowd gathered in front of Pilate and called for the savior of mankind to be crucified, Pilate offered an alternative, a man known to be a rebel, known to be a murderer, known to be a thief, and when the choice came, the crowed double downed and called for Barabbas to be released instead of Christ. How can we stand by and think to ourselves how much injustice there is in this act. The sovereign of the universe made a choice to do something that was beautiful and scandalous at the same time. In this life we’d never want to watch an innocent man be put to death in the place of a known criminal. The thing with this verse however, is we are always Barabbas. We are always the sinner and we don’t deserve salvation. We cannot work enough, do enough, be good enough to ever earn our way into Heaven. Jesus sat in front of Pilate silent, and through actions alone, sent the message that He would willingly take the place of all known sinners. Barabbas is a symbol for every single one of us. All sin is created equal at the foot of the cross. We look through our human, earthly eyes and we see ourselves better then someone else because of our own sense of morality. The thing is though, coveting what you cannot have is just as sinful as murder.

Matthew 27:17-2117 “Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy. 19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him.” 20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. 21 The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!”

 We are never going to be better then Barabbas. We will always have sin in our life, but we have hope knowing that in that moment Jesus said not just to Barabbas by his actions, but to the world that He would willingly take our place to allow his blood to trickle down the cross touching the earth as a sacrifice to break the chains of sin, to break the bondage that held us in a hopeless world. I know I will never be able to do enough, work hard enough, and love enough, to earn a place before the Father. I know that there is only one way, Jesus Christ, the truth the way, the life. Jesus had the power to walk away, to let a guilty man go to the cross for his action, but in the greatest symbol to show us the mercy and grace of God, Jesus knowingly, willfully, and would always do it again, give his on life, give his own blood for all of our sins. No, I am not an innocent man, and knowing how guilty I am, I can love deeper in the knowledge that God loves each and every one of us.

 

 

How Can We Love If We Don’t Know What Love Is?

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How Can We Love If We Don’t Know What Love Is?

Have you ever been in love? Have you ever been so in love you’d lay down your very life to protect theirs? Love is a wonderful and a dangerous thing all at the same time. Love can cause us to do things of great beauty and it can also cause people to do crazy dangerous things that would be considered sinful. I was recently listening to a song by Michael Bolton called When A Man Loves A Woman and it talks about how far a man would go.

When A Man Loves A Woman By: Michael Bolton

When a man loves a woman

Can’t keep his mind on nothin’ else

He’d trade the world

For a good thing he’s found

If she is bad, he can’t see it

She can do no wrong

Turn his back on his best friend

If he puts her down

When a man loves a woman

Spend his very last dime

Trying to hold on to what he needs

He’d give up all his comforts

And sleep out in the rain

If she said that’s the way

It ought to be

Scripture goes into great lengths about what love is. I have lived this life and have seen true horrors. I have had many run ins with death and it has given me a perspective and a personal position you don’t see very often with most people. As I have come close to death many times I have grasped onto those in my life and I’ve held on tightly. I treasure my friends and I would feel a deep loss when one would decide to move on. I have watched as many friends have walked away, and worse, women I have loved. I have held on tightly and when it’s ended, I have often felt as if I’d lost a piece of myself. I grew up searching for love. I grew up hoping to find someone to love and want me in their life. I have often been the one left behind for one reason or another, but I am the one picking up the pieces of a broken heart. I have always thought I held love in my heart to the T of what we are taught love to be. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”

What does all this mean? When we love one another we must let go of our pride, our need to be the center of attention. We must learn it’s not a feeling. Love is an emotional charge at first, but as it grows, it must become more. Love must be more then a feeling because if we base our life on only feelings we’d be in trouble. We would be making decisions without reason. Love however is something we do. Loving someone is an action we must participate in every day. Love is how we treat people every single day. When we truly break down every sentence in 1 Corinthians we must truly let that sink in. We must truly allow ourselves to realize that love isn’t about self. John 15:13“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” As a soldier I would have given my life for any one of my brothers or sisters in arms. As a husband I was willing to give my life for my wife, not once but twice. I always thought about their safety before my own. I’m not a perfect man, but I always wanted their happiness to be a priority for me. I was willing to give up my own pride, my own dreams, my own desires to satisfy the needs of the woman I loved. I knew what love was for me, and I have always maintained my position on love. I’ve been devastated by those whom I’ve loved most dear in this life, but I remain hopeful for the future that one day I might fight someone to love me that much.

In this life people will come and go, but we must learn how precious life is, and make the very best of the time we have. We must learn how to give our hearts to those we have in our life, and trust that even if people never reciprocate our feelings that God always will. People are fickle creatures and some will use you as long as there’s something in it for them, and if someone better is perceived to come along, they may leave. I will say that’s a lie straight from the pit of Hell, and if people are that willing to sacrifice life, sacrifice you in such a way, that’s not love. Love is meant to be stronger then anything, but when in the hands of people who sin, people who are selfish, love can be corrupted by the Devil.

I want to point out one part of the marriage relationship knowing it’s only half of the equation. Ephesians 5:25“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” In the last couple years I’ve seen marriage after marriage fall, and while it comes back to a fundamental failure in loving one another, I will say that we are in sad shape as a human race. We cannot expect anyone to respect us if we don’t respect ourselves. The failure is a widespread epidemic and it needs to be dealt with. As a man I want to touch base on a man’s roll in the relationship. Men, we need to stop focusing on ourselves and realize that we are both the provider, and the leader of our household. We are to lead our home by a position of strength and by example. We must realize that our place is to protect the home at all cost up to ones own life, and that doesn’t mean just from physical threats. Our place is to protect the home from spiritual warfare also. We must show our children how to treat others. We must show our children how to be men, or how men should treat a lady. We should show them how to be friends, show them how to be responsible, and how to live in Christ.

Something I learned a little while back was how damaging the lack of a fathers love could be for a child. As a father we are responsible for loving our wives and children and we are responsible for what they see in their youth. In 2 Samuel we see David have an affair as King. We see him take Bathsheba into his bedchambers knowing she was married to one of his most trusted advisors. We see her get pregnant and instead of coming forward with his sin he plots to make the baby look like Uriah’s. When that plan fails, David then plots to have Uriah murdered. And if plotting wasn’t bad enough, Uriah was moved into a position in the war, on a mission where he would surely die, and he did. David did all this and although we don’t see it in the narrative, we see the actions of David’s oldest child later on down the road. Yesterday I discussed Amnon and how he lusted after his half sister. This was a forbidden relationship by many different laws of the time. When she would not give him what he wanted willingly, he took it by force. In doing this he not only destroyed her life, but threw her out of his chambers with the markings of trash. Who would he have learned that kind of behavior from then his very own dad, the King. The sins of the father are seen reborn in the children.

Love is certainly not an easy thing to do all the time, but we must. Love is hard and takes constant effort, but when we love the way we should, we can see the change in our lives with how others perceive us. Love is the greatest thing we have and it’s in that love we receive grace from God when we never deserve it. It’s in that love we see the sacrifice made by Jesus for us on Calvary’s Cross. We can never do enough to earn our own way into Heaven, but it’s by the Love of God and the grace and ransom paid by God’s only Son Jesus Christ, that we see the true meaning of love. How do we live our lives? How do we treat those in our circle of influence? Do we love them, or do we treat them with a casual indifference?

We only get one chance in this world to make positive connections with people. Sure we may not get along with everyone we meet, but we are still obligated to show love and respect to one another. We must learn and have a solid understanding of what true love really is. If we are to have respect for the word we need to understand how we ought to behave. Love is not a word we should toss around lightly. It’s something that demands respect of the word and those whom we tell we love, demand respect for them. Don’t confuse love for lust, and don’t be swayed by the world idea that you can fall out of love. If it was real love, and it was taken care of like love should be, there should be no way to fall out of love. Divorce should not be as rampant as it is. If we would love the right way from the start many marriages would never happen to begin with, and people would find their true compatibility with a higher rate of success. Love is not a children’s recess word, it’s something special, something sacred, and we need to stop downplaying its true meaning. Love truly does concur all.

 

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Christmas Day

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Christmas Day

It’s Christmas day and our Savior was born. A baby boy lay in a manger to live a life we could understand and relate to. A man he would become to save us all from our very real sin. We honor him today and we praise Hallelujah. A sweet baby boy that would save us, give us the greatest hope we would ever need, salvation. A fate we never deserved, one we could never repay, but that’s what true love is. True love is something given freely without expectations of anything coming in return. True love endures all things, hardships, sickness, bad times, and everything else. We never deserved the gift we were given on this day so many, many years ago, but here we are, celebrating the greatest event that would ever take place in human history.

Families may drive you crazy, friends may loose their way, people are people who are flawed and sometimes weak. No mater what happens in this world, one thing is incontrovertible, love must overpower the darkness. On that night 2000 years ago the silence broken by a newborn’s cries would bring the biggest gift of love we’d ever have. No matter the hurt or pain you feel, let love be the guiding light tonight. Like the star of Bethlehem many years ago, let Christ be the light that shines brightly on this day. No matter the issues we have forgiveness is so important for us to find peace.

Christmas is a celebration of peace, not from war, but peace in knowing that tomorrow is no longer hopeless. Faith is not always easy, and love can be just as hard sometimes, but no matter the challenges one might face, the end of the day, Love is the only hope we have. Loving your neighbor, loving your enemies, and above all, loving yourself is what we need to learn to do. Love God above all things, and your pure of heart towards God will be returned in full always. Set aside your differences, your struggles, for today is a day of renewed peace, and of good will towards all.

Merry CHRISTmas to all this day, may you find love, give love, and experience joy on this day. Keep the faith and the light alive. Live and love, and never loose hope. Today that child broke the chains of darkness so we could live with our head held high, and a hope that would never die. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Set a Star and Sail Away

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Set a Star and Sail Away

Sometimes people will say things that are painful when they get angry. Sometimes we allow our own insecurities to take over and dictate our thoughts even to the point of how we feel of ourselves. Projecting is a part of life from time to time, but that never excused someone from saying things just to hurt someone else. I cannot hide from the truth, and I won’t. I will not allow someone to drag me down to their level. I had a moment of weakness in September and I did something horrible that affected my entire life. I have never intended harm on anyone else, and even when I was treated horribly I maintained respect and love. But I am not going to gravel for peoples attention. I am not going to give and fight for something that should be inherently given. If you care about someone you make sure they know it. If you love someone that person should be a part of your thoughts and prayers. If I am not desirable to someone as a potential love interest then I can do better. I refuse to be beaten down any longer. I refuse to settle because my fears tell me too. I refuse to believe I am sub standard because others have treated me as such. I refuse to not seek for that person who will complete me. I know that for every person God has someone out there for you, so why have I allowed in my life people to degrade me and disrespect me. I myself have failed but within that failure has never been a point where I was willing to abandon those I care about. I refuse to allow anyone to hurt me like this again and I refuse to settle for someone who doesn’t share the same beliefs and interest as myself. This post is directed towards myself and my own inability to reach for what I deserve. I have interests, and dreams, and goals, and I have yet to find someone who shares those with me. Not anymore. I will not settle just so I am not alone. If someone cares for me for who I am I hope they might speak up. Make themselves known. I for one have kept quiet too often in my life and let opportunities slip by me. Well I am not doing that anymore. The fear of abandonment and the fear of rejection will no longer dictate my path. Anyone who drags me down will be cut from my life. I will not allow anyone to sink my ship. I am who I am and if you don’t like it, you can get off my bridge. I am in command of this vessel and I choose the course, I choose the crew that will help me along my way. God is my star and I will set sail by that light. Don’t like it, too bad.

 

Heaven The House That God Built

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Heaven The House That God Built

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The undeniable truth, that we were formless before the beginning. Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” We have hope because we know Heaven is a real place. We know that no matter how much pain or suffering we endure, it’ll all be worth it in the end. We’ve seen the words to the end of days and we know that in that time the truth will be revealed.

Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” How nice it sounds to with without pain, to see life in the fullness of all it can be in perfection. We were delivered from a life of eternal damnation and although this life is difficult, and even though we endure so much pain and suffering, that seems a small price to pay for eternal love.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus bled and suffered before dying on the cross for all of our sins. Christ paid the price for our sins, but in turn if a little suffering along our path is what we have to pay, what we must carry along our way, it seems small in comparison.

While the promise of Heaven is as real as the oxygen we breathe, not all will join us in paradise, Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” We will watch as what we had on earth will pass away and be no more. It’s in that sacrifice we shall thrive. 2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” It takes faith in Christ and love in our hearts to be able to reach eternal bliss. We must believe in Christ with our whole hearts. We must fight the sin nature and live a life according to the scripture. Matthew 7:13-14 “13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” No everyone we know and love will be with us in Heaven. All we can do is pray and hope in their heart of hearts they know Christ and they follow to know the joys of Heaven one day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love Unconditional

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Love Unconditional

I’ve been putting a lot of thought into the word love. What does it mean to love something? When we think of love we think of our parents, siblings, closest friends, but we also think of our favorite show, our favorite food, our favorite pass time activity. The truth is in our society today the word just gets tossed around flippantly. The truth is, I think love is something that when we loose the object of our affection it breaks us apart inside. When we are dating in school we often throw the word around love and sure I don’t want to downplay those emotions, but the proof is in the pudding, often times that’s just puppy love and something we get over pretty quick once it’s gone. True love however is something a little more difficult to come by. The Bible has a pretty air tight description of love, and when we look at our lives, and we compare it to this, the comparisons are often going to leave you realizing, maybe it’s not love after all. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” Now I know what you’re thinking, yes I am talking about love, and yes so is 1 Corinthians. “Charity is the epitome of perfection in the Christian life. It is the “greatest” of the three abiding virtues” (http://www.learnthebible.org/charity-or-love.html) If we look at the definition of love, and compare it to what we say to others, are we actually in line with scripture, or just a word we use because we don’t know anything better to say?

Lets make it easier to understand a little. When you look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[a] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” How often in our own lives do we drudge up mistakes our partner made 2 years ago? How often do we hold a grudge, and for how long? How often do we love but only so long as we are worldly happy? There is so much in our lives today that draw us away from love. So much today that we don’t understand, but if we go to Scripture, if we study, we can finally unravel the strongest of lies, and the strongest of truths. John 15:13 “13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus, Jesus laid down His perfect life as a perfect blemish less, sinless man that chose to be tortured, ridiculed, and murdered for us, for every single last one of us that in no way by our daily actions deserve such grace and mercy. The truth is, that’s LOVE. When we think about that kind of love, makes what we say about love look silly. How often do we see now in our world today divorce is a cancer on our society, and it runs unchecked destroying homes left and right. We see marriage as expendable, as an option that so long it benefits me, so long as I am getting something out of it, I’ll stay married. THE QUESTION I ASK TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU, WHAT ARE YOU GIVING IN YOUR MARRIAGE? If we look a little deeper we see what the definition of love is, we see what is says in John, but what about husbands and wives? Ephesians 5:25 “25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,” Yes that means you are supposed to love your wives so much that you sacrifice unconditionally to her. You sacrifice yourself to give her everything she needs. Note I said need, not want. The difference between need and want is an entirely separate blog.

Husbands, need to sacrifice worldly things, worldly desires, worldly distractions for his wife. Ephesians 5:22-24 “22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.” Many people look at this section of scripture and scoff, and I really question why that is. I get the feminist movement, and women can do anything a man can do and all that stuff, and that’s great, but the truth is, women and men aren’t the same. We are wired differently in the brains, we have different strengths and weaknesses, and this isn’t talking about slavery this is talking about letting go of ones worldly self. Letting go of the fleshy desires, and allowing yourself to be completely taken in by your husband. As the husband loves the wife as he died for us, so shall the husband die for his wife. Think about this, when we get married, we often think of it as the old ball in chain, the tying of the knot, the end or death of an era. Well, in some parts yes, that’s exactly what it is. But if we look at death as a bad thing, a negative thing, sure we will be going into that marriage under negative premise and then that’s where the problems start to set in. Death is a glorious thing, a wonderful thing, because as a Christian we believe that death of us is the gateway to an eternal life of perfection and love. If we are to truly love our wives, love our husbands we must allow the old part of us to die off. Think of love and marriage like a butterfly. The caterpillar is you before you get married. The marriage is the cocoon. When you emerge married that fuzzy old caterpillar is gone, fundamentally changed into a beautiful creature no longer bound to crawl around, but to soar, to fly, to be a wonder of nature.

How wonderful it would be if we actually saw marriage that way. How wonderful it would be if we as a people were able to see ourselves and combining our selves into one body and actually selflessly giving up our selves and wanting only to please our partner. To those who are struggling in your marriages, I offer this, in all things God can heal, and with work, and saying it a hundred times, a thousand times, I forgive you, forgive the wrongs your partner has done. Remember the way you felt the day you got married and realize if both of you, if both the Husband and the Wife learn to forgive, learn to accept, learn to change because marriage is a fundamental change. You are no longer you, you become y’all. When we loose sight of the togetherness, the us in the marriage and we start to focus on the me, start to focus on the what does Arrow Preacher want, we loose sight of the (what) can I do for my spouse? What can I do to bring happiness to my beloved today? Human greed is one of the strongest sins to pull us back into the world, but two are stronger then one. Pouring of sand of two different colors into a jar that sand can never be completely separated. There’s reason sand if often used in marriage ceremonies. It’s a constant visual reminder that once together, you shall never break apart, bonded into one entity, one jar, and as rope is stronger when woven together, so shall you be stronger when you come to realize the true definition of love, the true understanding of what Scripture is talking about, and let go of your worldly sins, those desires that draw you away from your spouse. The Devil wants to break up marriage because he’s been doing it since the beginning. Marriage was the plan, for man to not be alone, and he knows that separated the divide and concur makes for an easier target. Don’t take the bait. Don’t allow Satan to ruin your union. Fight back, and fight for each other.