I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10)
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
The Path to Death
The 'thief' implies that something is being taken from us without our consent and it involves some sort of deception. Temptation, as Ortberg notes, starts close to home with our desires and how we are wired and then tries to pull us slightly off course. We, like sheep, go astray. We wonder off, rather than deliberately turning our backs on God.
An example of a temptation that is based upon how someone is wired, for instance, is if someone has high expectations, there may be a temptation towards self-righteousness and/or towards contempt for those who do not live up to their expectations. Whereas, someone who is wired to be highly artistic and spontaneous, may be tempted to towards compulsive actions. [1]
Ortberg notes that we are more likely to be drawn off course by temptation when we are dissatisfied with our lives. [2] When we feel unfulfilled, we are more likely to seek fulfillment for ourselves. Because of this, when we are at a weak point in our lives, it is the worst time to make significant choices. Charles Stanley at one time taught “H.A.L.T.” (stop and don't make critical decisions when we are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired).
As we move toward temptations, they eventually hook us. And Ortberg writes, “You'd know once you're hooked that it's just a matter of time before the enemy reels you in.” [3]
Sin leads us away from God as we are hooked into it. As we keep going, we start 'blowing a lot of red lights' as my pastor would say. God gives us warnings and we ignore them. Ortberg writes, “If I want to walk down the wrong road, I must silence God's divine voice within me.” [4]
We cannot hold onto anything that leads us away from God. John Ortberg notes that if people love life, they will be opposed to whatever can destroy it. [5] A friend once spoke to me, what matters at any given point is what direction a person is facing. Jesus leads us to life and Satan leads us to death -they are opposing of each other.
The prodigal son turned away from his relationship with his father as he looked to something else to fill him. Rather than remaining in His father's love, he chose his inheritance. He then went and squandered all that he had been given trying to be filled by it. As he ended up completely empty, he turned and came back to his waiting father. Any time we choose anything above our relationship with God in our heart, we are in idolatry and we are turning away from God.
When we walk towards idols, we are also turning our back and walking away from God. Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.”
When someone is double-minded, James 1:8 says they are unstable in all their ways. Double minded literally means double-souled. One soul faces towards God and the other in another direction. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary)
In 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah confronted the people for being double-minded. He said to them, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
David with Bathsheba is an example of someone who was tempted and then led away from God by his own desires (2 Samuel 11-12). It started with David in a place of discontentment. He saw Bathsheba, bathing and it ended with him murdering her husband, Uriah (one of David's thirty mighty men). When Nathan came to rebuke David, his heart was so hard towards God that he did not even realize he had sinned. Nathan told him a story that changed his paradigm and helped David to see he had been wrong. When David realized he was wrong, he repented.
Sinning, giving into temptation, and idolatry quenches the spirit within us. When the prodigal son finally realized where he was at, he was a long way off from his father. When our relationship with God lacks zeal and passion, it may be a sign that our hearts are far from him and we need to repent, turnaround and come home.
Revelation 2:4-5 says, "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place-unless you repent."
And Revelation 3:16, 19 says, "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. ... be zealous and repent."
Repenting, as Ortberg notes, is never despair of our sin. He writes, “it is always done in hope.” Condemnation does not bring us life but rather death. Ortberg writes, “Repenting is a gift God gives us for our own sake, not his. Repenting does not increase God's desire to be with us. It increases our capacity to be with him.” [6]
“My hope is in you, show me your way... Don't let my enemy triumph over me” sings in the background.
When we repent, we receive the forgiveness God freely gives us. We do not need to pay for our sin because the price was already paid on the cross. When we repent, our behavior changes because our heart changes.
David prayed when he repented of his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51:7-10, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice... Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
“Your love is the same yesterday, today, and forever” sings
“Though you turn away, I tell you still, don't you know I've always loved you, and I always will” sings.
When we sin and fall into temptation or find ourselves in idolatry, we should ask ourselves why. What causes us to fall? How are we wired that makes this a temptation? Is this a recurring sin? And if so, what causes us to keep falling into it?
One article notes, “Whenever there is failure you must always ask the “Why” question so you can determine a resolution to the problem. Samuel asked the king, “Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?” (1 Sam. 15:19)... Jesus asked this same question of the disciples when they failed... After the resurrection Jesus asked: “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38)... Therefore, answering the why question is imperative if you want long term success in your is walk. The Scripture declares that the only people who don’t know why they stumble are those who don’t know God. David explained this truth when he taught: “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Prov. 4:19).” [7]
We have the Bright Morning Star residing on the inside of us to give us light. Jesus says in John 11:9-10, “Anyone who walks in daylight doesn't stumble because there's plenty of light from the sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can't see where he's going.”
What I hear God speak to me through all this is that I need to repent for idolatry. It deeply grieves my heart that I would fall into idolatry. To turn to idolatry means that I am turning away from God. And I didn't even realize it. At the same time, I feel totally humiliated about it.
So what is the temptation for me and why do I fall into it?
To idolize is “to regard with blind admiration.” I used to struggle with this with my previous pastor at times. One of the first times we connected, God used her to heal me from a severe depression. My life was never the same. God used her tremendously in my life for healing and prophetically to encourage me. However, at times, what I did was somehow apply God working through her, to her. The result was that she could do no wrong in my eyes. I idolized her. I chose to listen to her voice over God and it caused me to stumble.
I continue to fall into this same deception at times. When I see God working powerfully through people, there is a temptation for me to attribute this to what the person is doing through God (giving them the credit) rather than what God is doing through them (giving God the credit).
I over admire the person and I over attribute godly characteristics to them. I think it must be because of their godly character that God is working powerfully through them (something they did). I think that God working through them powerfully affirms their character. Yet there have been times I have seen God work powerfully through someone who completely lacks character.
It seems that where I am most susceptible to falling into this relates to the prophetic. Probably because I can see so clearly the prophetic when it flows through people because of the way I am wired. There is always a strong temptation when God moves through me prophetically to think it must be because I am doing something right. And when He doesn't, to think I have done something wrong.
This comes back to the works mentality I have struggled with for years. I think that God working through others powerfully, specifically prophetically, must be because something that they have done right to earn or achieve this. I attribute it to works rather than thinking that it is God working in them and with them, despite their weaknesses and failures, in the areas He has gifted them.
For some reason, I seem weakest towards temptations when I am going through relationship loss. Relationship loss has a significant impact on me in creating discontentment. During these times, I am more prone to look to fill the emptiness and void I feel due to the loss of relationship.
Lately I have been going through letting go of relationship loss with old friends from my previous church. We struggle to connect now that I no longer attend church there. And when we do connect, it is not the same. There is still friction around the change in loyalties that doesn't seem to be working out or going away.
I am also going through a loss with a friend I have mentored for many years. She is settling into the church and Christian community God has for her. As she has connected and become much more involved, there is significantly less time for us to connect. She has given up most of the activities we used to do together.
"Why do I do the things that I do when I want to do what is right... Change my heart, renew my mind, to walk with you in the new life” sings in the background.
Lord, forgive me. The last thing I want to do is turn away from You or grieve your Holy Spirit. Help me not to fall into idolatry again. Please set me totally free me from a work's mentallity. I am so grateful for your grace and mercy.
The Path to Life
Opposite of a life of sin that leads to death, Zoe life is vibrant and shines forth as a light that others can see and follow:
Obedience does not come from working hard at fulfilling the commandments of God and trying not to sin. Obedience comes from a place of receiving God's love. A little earlier in John 15:4 Jesus says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
The younger brother in the parable of the lost son, while remaining at home, also failed to receive what he was freely given. Instead of receiving his father's love, he chose the works of obedience to earn it. The result that he was bitter and resentful when his brother came home. Both sons missed the true inheritence that was freely available to both of them all along - remaining in the father's love.
"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.'" (Luke 16:31)
As we abide in the love of Christ, we thrive spiritually and we naturally obey, following the path towards life. In John 15:7, Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” What we wish will be done because our desires and will are in alignment with God.
James says in 4:3, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
“Receive the Son who makes us free, and you will be, free indeed!” sings.
When we are fully present to Him and aware of His love And it is in this place of abiding in God's love, that we are set free from sin. Jesus says in John 8:31-32 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Ortberg quotes Paul who says, “were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” He notes, “what marks God's kingdom is when people serve each other.” [10]
Being in line with God's will and obeying his commands means loving others. As we receive God's love and remain in it, we will bear fruit, giving His love away freely to others. Jesus says in John 15:8, “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
And in John 15:12-17, Jesus says, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command...You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit -fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”
As John Ortberg notes, “we flourish when we are connected with God and people...” And as 1 John 3:14 says, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” [11]
“The river of God fills our mouth with laughter...And we rejoice for river is here” sings in the background.
It is the joy we receive from God as we remain in His love gives us energy to love. Ortberg writes, “'The joy of the Lord is your strength.' We know we love joy, but we often forget the power of joy. Joy gives us strength to resist temptation. It brings us the ability to persevere. Joy is the Velcro that makes relationships stick. Joy gives us energy to love. A person who brings joy to us is an oasis in a desert land.” [12]
“Let the river flow.... Holy Spirit come, move in power. Let the river flow” sings.
Love grows, as Ortberg notes, when we serve people. He writes, “People who give life to us are people who notice us. They know what we love and fear. When we work to truly notice someone else, love for them grows. When we work to truly observe another person, in that self-forgetfulness our own soul flourishes.” [13]
As he goes on to note, The Spirit of God is at work in us all the time prompting us to express love to others. We just need to pay attention and respond to these promptings of love. He notes, “Every moment is an opportunity to practice a gesture of love.” [14]
In the world's eyes, gaining wealth and having a job that provides power and recognition is succeeding at life. Being poor financially and having an invisible job nobody sees is failing. However, in God's eyes, failing to love is failing at life and loving other's well is succeeding at life. God is love, and to be like Him at all means loving others well.
Orbterg writes, “I have never known anyone who succeeded at love yet failed at life. We all need love to live. He goes on to write, “Every day, everyone you know faces life with eternity of the line, and life has a way of beating people down. Every life needs a cheering section. Every life needs a shoulder to lean on once in a while. Every life needs a prayer to lift them up to God. Every life needs a hugger to wrap some arms around them sometimes. Every life needs a voice saying, “Don't give up.” [15]
Over and over, we can clearly see that when people do not have love, they languish. Little orphan babies who are not picked up or cared for, often die. One article writes, “about 1/3 of babies placed in the barest orphanages can actually die as a result (one very early study found this death rate). Half of the rest -- at least double the rate seen in the general population -- will suffer from mental illness. Each month spent in an orphanage in early life reduces IQ and increases risk of behavioral and psychological problems--and this has been proved by the highest level of scientific proof we have, a randomized controlled trial. But how could simply being in an orphanage kill a baby? Basically, they die from lack of love. When an infant falls below the threshold of physical affection needed to stimulate the production of growth hormone and the immune system, his body starts shutting down.” [16]
Ortberg writes, “When I am loved, I belong to someone and they belong to me... Belonging. This is God's gift to us.” And where this is to start, as Ortberg notes, is in our family. He writes, “When you were born, God gave you a boat -your life- designed to be an adventure for all your days on the earth. God also created a doc -your family- that could be the place of safety and security to give you the courage to sail.” [17]
The love that parents give to their children gives them the wings they need to fly later in life. However, love is not meant to stop there. An ancient proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Children need to know they are loved and secure in their homes and that they have a place of belonging in society.
People need love to flourish. And people belonging to each other and loving each other well is at the center of God's heart. We are our brother's keeper. When families and communities love children into all that God has for them, society as a whole gains and flourishes.
When it is as God designed, as Ortberg notes, “Children, the new generation, will learn that they are prized and belong before they have ever done a single thing to earn it. The old generation will learn that when they give, they will receive. When they give the most, they receive the most.” [18]
Lord, I long to see all that is in Your heart come to pass. Let Your kingdom come. Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Teach us to love others to life. Turn hearts toward each other. Help us to love the younger generation into all that You have for them.
1-6. Ortberg, John. The Me I Want to Be. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2010.
7. What Causes You To Stumble And Fall? Located at: http://calvaryag.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=161:dealing-with-addictions-24-what-causes-you-to-stumble-and-fall&catid=15:topical-studies Last Accessed: 6/16/10
8-9. Zoe-Life. Located at: http://www.wordbasedcounseling.org/Articles/Zoe_Life.htm Last Accessed: 6/16/10
10-15. Ortberg, John. The Me I Want to Be. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2010.
16. Szalavitz, Maia. How Orphanages Kill Babies. Located at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-szalavitz/how-orphanages-kill-babie_b_549608.html. Last Accessed: 6/16/10
17-18. Ortberg, John. The Me I Want to Be. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2010.
The Path to Death
The 'thief' implies that something is being taken from us without our consent and it involves some sort of deception. Temptation, as Ortberg notes, starts close to home with our desires and how we are wired and then tries to pull us slightly off course. We, like sheep, go astray. We wonder off, rather than deliberately turning our backs on God.
An example of a temptation that is based upon how someone is wired, for instance, is if someone has high expectations, there may be a temptation towards self-righteousness and/or towards contempt for those who do not live up to their expectations. Whereas, someone who is wired to be highly artistic and spontaneous, may be tempted to towards compulsive actions. [1]
Ortberg notes that we are more likely to be drawn off course by temptation when we are dissatisfied with our lives. [2] When we feel unfulfilled, we are more likely to seek fulfillment for ourselves. Because of this, when we are at a weak point in our lives, it is the worst time to make significant choices. Charles Stanley at one time taught “H.A.L.T.” (stop and don't make critical decisions when we are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired).
As we move toward temptations, they eventually hook us. And Ortberg writes, “You'd know once you're hooked that it's just a matter of time before the enemy reels you in.” [3]
Sin leads us away from God as we are hooked into it. As we keep going, we start 'blowing a lot of red lights' as my pastor would say. God gives us warnings and we ignore them. Ortberg writes, “If I want to walk down the wrong road, I must silence God's divine voice within me.” [4]
We cannot hold onto anything that leads us away from God. John Ortberg notes that if people love life, they will be opposed to whatever can destroy it. [5] A friend once spoke to me, what matters at any given point is what direction a person is facing. Jesus leads us to life and Satan leads us to death -they are opposing of each other.
The prodigal son turned away from his relationship with his father as he looked to something else to fill him. Rather than remaining in His father's love, he chose his inheritance. He then went and squandered all that he had been given trying to be filled by it. As he ended up completely empty, he turned and came back to his waiting father. Any time we choose anything above our relationship with God in our heart, we are in idolatry and we are turning away from God.
When we walk towards idols, we are also turning our back and walking away from God. Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.”
When someone is double-minded, James 1:8 says they are unstable in all their ways. Double minded literally means double-souled. One soul faces towards God and the other in another direction. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary)
In 1 Kings 18:21, Elijah confronted the people for being double-minded. He said to them, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
David with Bathsheba is an example of someone who was tempted and then led away from God by his own desires (2 Samuel 11-12). It started with David in a place of discontentment. He saw Bathsheba, bathing and it ended with him murdering her husband, Uriah (one of David's thirty mighty men). When Nathan came to rebuke David, his heart was so hard towards God that he did not even realize he had sinned. Nathan told him a story that changed his paradigm and helped David to see he had been wrong. When David realized he was wrong, he repented.
Sinning, giving into temptation, and idolatry quenches the spirit within us. When the prodigal son finally realized where he was at, he was a long way off from his father. When our relationship with God lacks zeal and passion, it may be a sign that our hearts are far from him and we need to repent, turnaround and come home.
Revelation 2:4-5 says, "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place-unless you repent."
And Revelation 3:16, 19 says, "So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. ... be zealous and repent."
Repenting, as Ortberg notes, is never despair of our sin. He writes, “it is always done in hope.” Condemnation does not bring us life but rather death. Ortberg writes, “Repenting is a gift God gives us for our own sake, not his. Repenting does not increase God's desire to be with us. It increases our capacity to be with him.” [6]
“My hope is in you, show me your way... Don't let my enemy triumph over me” sings in the background.
When we repent, we receive the forgiveness God freely gives us. We do not need to pay for our sin because the price was already paid on the cross. When we repent, our behavior changes because our heart changes.
David prayed when he repented of his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51:7-10, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice... Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
“Your love is the same yesterday, today, and forever” sings
“Though you turn away, I tell you still, don't you know I've always loved you, and I always will” sings.
When we sin and fall into temptation or find ourselves in idolatry, we should ask ourselves why. What causes us to fall? How are we wired that makes this a temptation? Is this a recurring sin? And if so, what causes us to keep falling into it?
One article notes, “Whenever there is failure you must always ask the “Why” question so you can determine a resolution to the problem. Samuel asked the king, “Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?” (1 Sam. 15:19)... Jesus asked this same question of the disciples when they failed... After the resurrection Jesus asked: “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38)... Therefore, answering the why question is imperative if you want long term success in your is walk. The Scripture declares that the only people who don’t know why they stumble are those who don’t know God. David explained this truth when he taught: “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Prov. 4:19).” [7]
We have the Bright Morning Star residing on the inside of us to give us light. Jesus says in John 11:9-10, “Anyone who walks in daylight doesn't stumble because there's plenty of light from the sun. Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can't see where he's going.”
What I hear God speak to me through all this is that I need to repent for idolatry. It deeply grieves my heart that I would fall into idolatry. To turn to idolatry means that I am turning away from God. And I didn't even realize it. At the same time, I feel totally humiliated about it.
So what is the temptation for me and why do I fall into it?
To idolize is “to regard with blind admiration.” I used to struggle with this with my previous pastor at times. One of the first times we connected, God used her to heal me from a severe depression. My life was never the same. God used her tremendously in my life for healing and prophetically to encourage me. However, at times, what I did was somehow apply God working through her, to her. The result was that she could do no wrong in my eyes. I idolized her. I chose to listen to her voice over God and it caused me to stumble.
I continue to fall into this same deception at times. When I see God working powerfully through people, there is a temptation for me to attribute this to what the person is doing through God (giving them the credit) rather than what God is doing through them (giving God the credit).
I over admire the person and I over attribute godly characteristics to them. I think it must be because of their godly character that God is working powerfully through them (something they did). I think that God working through them powerfully affirms their character. Yet there have been times I have seen God work powerfully through someone who completely lacks character.
It seems that where I am most susceptible to falling into this relates to the prophetic. Probably because I can see so clearly the prophetic when it flows through people because of the way I am wired. There is always a strong temptation when God moves through me prophetically to think it must be because I am doing something right. And when He doesn't, to think I have done something wrong.
This comes back to the works mentality I have struggled with for years. I think that God working through others powerfully, specifically prophetically, must be because something that they have done right to earn or achieve this. I attribute it to works rather than thinking that it is God working in them and with them, despite their weaknesses and failures, in the areas He has gifted them.
For some reason, I seem weakest towards temptations when I am going through relationship loss. Relationship loss has a significant impact on me in creating discontentment. During these times, I am more prone to look to fill the emptiness and void I feel due to the loss of relationship.
Lately I have been going through letting go of relationship loss with old friends from my previous church. We struggle to connect now that I no longer attend church there. And when we do connect, it is not the same. There is still friction around the change in loyalties that doesn't seem to be working out or going away.
I am also going through a loss with a friend I have mentored for many years. She is settling into the church and Christian community God has for her. As she has connected and become much more involved, there is significantly less time for us to connect. She has given up most of the activities we used to do together.
"Why do I do the things that I do when I want to do what is right... Change my heart, renew my mind, to walk with you in the new life” sings in the background.
Lord, forgive me. The last thing I want to do is turn away from You or grieve your Holy Spirit. Help me not to fall into idolatry again. Please set me totally free me from a work's mentallity. I am so grateful for your grace and mercy.
The Path to Life
Opposite of a life of sin that leads to death, Zoe life is vibrant and shines forth as a light that others can see and follow:
“In him was life, and that life was the light of all the people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”Zoe life is the very life of God, imparted by the Father to the Son: [8]
This life is imparted to us through Jesus through the Holy Spirit as we are born again [9]:“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
"And the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us" (I John 1:2).
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)Just as sin quenches the life of the spirit, obedience causes this spirit life within us to thrive. Jesus says in John 15:10-11, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Obedience does not come from working hard at fulfilling the commandments of God and trying not to sin. Obedience comes from a place of receiving God's love. A little earlier in John 15:4 Jesus says, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
The younger brother in the parable of the lost son, while remaining at home, also failed to receive what he was freely given. Instead of receiving his father's love, he chose the works of obedience to earn it. The result that he was bitter and resentful when his brother came home. Both sons missed the true inheritence that was freely available to both of them all along - remaining in the father's love.
"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.'" (Luke 16:31)
As we abide in the love of Christ, we thrive spiritually and we naturally obey, following the path towards life. In John 15:7, Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” What we wish will be done because our desires and will are in alignment with God.
James says in 4:3, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
“Receive the Son who makes us free, and you will be, free indeed!” sings.
When we are fully present to Him and aware of His love And it is in this place of abiding in God's love, that we are set free from sin. Jesus says in John 8:31-32 “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Ortberg quotes Paul who says, “were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” He notes, “what marks God's kingdom is when people serve each other.” [10]
Being in line with God's will and obeying his commands means loving others. As we receive God's love and remain in it, we will bear fruit, giving His love away freely to others. Jesus says in John 15:8, “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
And in John 15:12-17, Jesus says, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command...You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit -fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”
As John Ortberg notes, “we flourish when we are connected with God and people...” And as 1 John 3:14 says, “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.” [11]
“The river of God fills our mouth with laughter...And we rejoice for river is here” sings in the background.
It is the joy we receive from God as we remain in His love gives us energy to love. Ortberg writes, “'The joy of the Lord is your strength.' We know we love joy, but we often forget the power of joy. Joy gives us strength to resist temptation. It brings us the ability to persevere. Joy is the Velcro that makes relationships stick. Joy gives us energy to love. A person who brings joy to us is an oasis in a desert land.” [12]
“Let the river flow.... Holy Spirit come, move in power. Let the river flow” sings.
Love grows, as Ortberg notes, when we serve people. He writes, “People who give life to us are people who notice us. They know what we love and fear. When we work to truly notice someone else, love for them grows. When we work to truly observe another person, in that self-forgetfulness our own soul flourishes.” [13]
As he goes on to note, The Spirit of God is at work in us all the time prompting us to express love to others. We just need to pay attention and respond to these promptings of love. He notes, “Every moment is an opportunity to practice a gesture of love.” [14]
In the world's eyes, gaining wealth and having a job that provides power and recognition is succeeding at life. Being poor financially and having an invisible job nobody sees is failing. However, in God's eyes, failing to love is failing at life and loving other's well is succeeding at life. God is love, and to be like Him at all means loving others well.
Orbterg writes, “I have never known anyone who succeeded at love yet failed at life. We all need love to live. He goes on to write, “Every day, everyone you know faces life with eternity of the line, and life has a way of beating people down. Every life needs a cheering section. Every life needs a shoulder to lean on once in a while. Every life needs a prayer to lift them up to God. Every life needs a hugger to wrap some arms around them sometimes. Every life needs a voice saying, “Don't give up.” [15]
Over and over, we can clearly see that when people do not have love, they languish. Little orphan babies who are not picked up or cared for, often die. One article writes, “about 1/3 of babies placed in the barest orphanages can actually die as a result (one very early study found this death rate). Half of the rest -- at least double the rate seen in the general population -- will suffer from mental illness. Each month spent in an orphanage in early life reduces IQ and increases risk of behavioral and psychological problems--and this has been proved by the highest level of scientific proof we have, a randomized controlled trial. But how could simply being in an orphanage kill a baby? Basically, they die from lack of love. When an infant falls below the threshold of physical affection needed to stimulate the production of growth hormone and the immune system, his body starts shutting down.” [16]
Ortberg writes, “When I am loved, I belong to someone and they belong to me... Belonging. This is God's gift to us.” And where this is to start, as Ortberg notes, is in our family. He writes, “When you were born, God gave you a boat -your life- designed to be an adventure for all your days on the earth. God also created a doc -your family- that could be the place of safety and security to give you the courage to sail.” [17]
The love that parents give to their children gives them the wings they need to fly later in life. However, love is not meant to stop there. An ancient proverb says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Children need to know they are loved and secure in their homes and that they have a place of belonging in society.
People need love to flourish. And people belonging to each other and loving each other well is at the center of God's heart. We are our brother's keeper. When families and communities love children into all that God has for them, society as a whole gains and flourishes.
When it is as God designed, as Ortberg notes, “Children, the new generation, will learn that they are prized and belong before they have ever done a single thing to earn it. The old generation will learn that when they give, they will receive. When they give the most, they receive the most.” [18]
Lord, I long to see all that is in Your heart come to pass. Let Your kingdom come. Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Teach us to love others to life. Turn hearts toward each other. Help us to love the younger generation into all that You have for them.
1-6. Ortberg, John. The Me I Want to Be. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2010.
7. What Causes You To Stumble And Fall? Located at: http://calvaryag.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=161:dealing-with-addictions-24-what-causes-you-to-stumble-and-fall&catid=15:topical-studies Last Accessed: 6/16/10
8-9. Zoe-Life. Located at: http://www.wordbasedcounseling.org/Articles/Zoe_Life.htm Last Accessed: 6/16/10
10-15. Ortberg, John. The Me I Want to Be. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2010.
16. Szalavitz, Maia. How Orphanages Kill Babies. Located at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maia-szalavitz/how-orphanages-kill-babie_b_549608.html. Last Accessed: 6/16/10
17-18. Ortberg, John. The Me I Want to Be. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 2010.
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