Puppy love. Romantic love. Family love. Real love. Do you remember the stages of life when love was one thing, and now that you look back you realize, well, maybe that wasn’t love. Or maybe it was Love 1.0, and now you’re at Love 7.7.  Are you at the stage where you can see just how you and love have matured, and how love has a completely different meaning now?

As I watch my kids, I know that they are going to through those stages as well. I know that they will have their heartbroken at some point by someone with whom they thought they were “in love.” As much as I wish they didn’t have to (because as you remember, that kind of “love” is a rollercoaster when you’re young), I also realize it is part of their maturing. They have to learn. They need to mature and see what real love is.

DC Talk, back in the day, had a song called Love is a Verb. The song basically told us that love isn’t something that you fall into, it isn’t something that hits us, but that to love, we have to do something. We serve because we love. We sacrifice because we love. Love is those acts we perform to show our devotion, affection, and dedication to that person.

I want to say something that some of you may not agree with here. To truly love, we must love God first. We have to be Christians to truly love. We have to experience the type of love God has for us. In 1 John 4:8, John writes, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” Here’s something else about that verse. If we claim to know God, but we don’t show our love to our family, to our kids, to our friends, to our coworkers, to others, then we don’t know God like we thought we did. If we did, then we would know that God shows his love to us. He shows us through mercy and grace, through sacrifice. He doesn’t give us what we deserve. I don’t know about you, but I thank God for that!

1 John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” What an amazing love!

Let’s look just a little deeper and close with these thoughts from John. In 1 John 5:1-3, we get a little bit of a wake up call.

“¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ²This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³This is love for God: to obey his commands.”

Did you catch that? How do we know that we are loving others? By loving God and doing what He has told us to do! God has never told us to be selfish in love. Jesus never said that if we wanted to see God then we had to live in a bubble. We are never told to stay in our hedge of protection and not show our love to the world. In fact, we are called to be the light to the world. People should know we are Christians by our love!

So, as you look back today, ask yourself if your view of love has changed. How has it matured. Do you have a love for Christ that allows you to love and show love the way He intended it?

Then ask, what is love?

God is love.

Category: Stand Up
No Comments »

My wife sent me a text the other day while she was in Home Depot. She was telling me about a conversation, a game, that Caeden was trying to get Crewe to play. He told Crewe, “You be Jesus, and I’ll be God.”

Now, I’m not sure which was funnier, the way he says Jesus (Jee-Jus), or the role he was wanting to play! They are always talking about it though. I hear them, while coloring at the table, say, “Jesus is God, God is Jesus.” It’s like they are teaching and trying to grasp it at the same time. I’m like that sometimes.

It got me thinking though. When was the last time I checked to see if I was getting closer to God? If my goal is to become more like Christ, how am I doing? What do I need to do to get there? What do I need to change? Surely, if my boys can figure it out in Home Depot, I can come up with something!

Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” What a great starting point. Paul gives a list of where to start by describing characteristics of Christ. So, let’s focus on this one today.

Don’t be selfish. Check. What does that look like? It means what is mine, is not mine. It means that what I have is given to me from God, who expects me to, in turn, use it for others. Many may read this and think, “I live paycheck to paycheck. How can I give what I don’t have?” Well, the answer may not lie in your paycheck. God asks that we give of our treasure, time, and talents. What God gives me; the talents I have, the time I am blessed with, and the money I’m given are all things that I can look at and give. Hey, I’m talking to myself here.

Here’s a tough one. “Be humble. Think of others as better than yourselves.” It is hard for me to put others ahead of myself. It is hard for me to see the needs of those around me. So, I started changing my prayer. I ask the Holy Spirit to make me sensitive to the needs of those around me. I don’t want to live in a Colby-bubble. I want to go out there and be the man God wants me to be. I need to learn to find ways to help those around me.

So help me. I’m open to ideas. What do you or your family do to instill this in your kids, yourselves, your family? How do you keep from living in a bubble? Or, maybe you’re like me, and you have been in that bubble, but you have an idea of how to break out of it. What would you do? How would you change it? How do you plan to be more like Christ? Surely, if our kids can figure it out, then there’s got to be a way for us to do the same.

Is it really that easy?

Category: Uncategorized
No Comments »