Love

Yesterday I read a very interesting forwarded email. It was the results of a survey that went and asked kids aged 4-8 what love is. These were some of the responses:

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with someone you hate."

"Love is when Mummy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says that he is hansomer than Robert Redford."

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even though you left him alone all day."

So what is love in your eyes? In the bible Jesus commands us to love our enemies. What does He mean by love? How can we love someone despite the fact that they are our enemy?

The definition of love:

1.	a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.

2.	a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

3.	a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

4.	a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.

5.	affectionate concern for the well-being of others: the love of one's neighbor.

6.	strong predilection, enthusiasm, or liking for anything: her love of books.

7.	the object or thing so liked: The theater was her great love.

8.	the benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God.

Which one stands out the most as what true love is? If all of them, you have it pretty accurate.
So how could a person show love to an enemy?
Jesus also said that if an enemy kidnaps you and demands that you walk with him for a mile, walk with him for two. And if he demands your coat, give him another garment as well. That is love. By doing things even when they make you uncomfortable, or doing things even though you do not want to. You are showing a person love. This is where the phrase "actions speak louder than words" comes in.
Just doing simple things could make an impact on anyone, even the old nasty dude across the street who always yells at you and your family. Maybe helping him clean his yard, or getting your family to be extra polite to him could show him love.
A lot of people find that what turns their head more than showers of saying "I love you." and emotional things is when someone does something so simple, like picking up the hat they dropped, or holding a door open. I know that those things often show me just as much love as someone telling me that they love me.

So what will you be willing to do this next week? It's really hard, I know, sometimes to show an enemy that you love them, but that's what makes it more meaningful to someone.
Just remember that as you go into this next week. I pray that we can work on this together.

Talk to you bloggers later :)

I am going to set up a scenario.

Two women both own a store. One child steals a bag of chips from each of them, and both women run him out of their businesses. A few days later the child goes back to the stores, to apologize and pay for the chips, because he wishes to repent of what he did. In one store the woman simply yells at him that she'd never like to see him again and runs him out of the store again. So, tentatively, the boy goes to the next store, with the same purpose in mind. The store owner asks him if he needs help and the boy, so full of remorse and fear bursts into tears. Through his sobs, he explains that he didn't want to steal the chips, it was peer pressure, and he wanted to make restitution for his actions. The woman is awed at the child's courage and tells him so, as well as forgiving him for what he did. He hands the woman the money, and slowly walks out the door, with a peaceful look of satisfaction upon his face.

Which woman would you want to be?

Jesus said to help the sinners of the world...what good could you be doing by rejecting the child who stole your son's bike, or threw rocks at your horses? Often we need to look beyond what the sinner is doing, and just ask them if they need help. No I'm not saying that we can just ignore those things, a person should by all means make restitution for their actions. But the bottom line is are you willing to forgive those actions and give a person another chance? Are you willing to find out the reasons for their actions and try to help? Just saying "You know that Jesus loves you." could start to change a person's life. This next week, try to remember that, when the neighbor's kids steal tomatoes from your garden, or the woman across the street tosses a cigarette butt into your driveway.

Mistakes, Mistakes, Mistakes

Every day in the media we are witnessing more people making failing attempts at fulfilling their lives. We call these lapses in judgment, 'mistakes'. Everyone makes mistakes; from the writer to the little kids down the street. As Christians we believe that God forgives these sins and takes them upon Himself when we admit that we have done wrong and ask for His forgiveness. But many of us seem to forget that ALL sins will be forgiven. It is very disturbing how much we enlarge the mistakes made by the celebrities of our world, but do nothing about it. We are called to go into all the world and preach the gospel and teach God's perfect love; so why aren't we reaching out to, for example, Jessica Simpson and Brittney Spears? Yes, these people have done a lot of wrong things, both of them letting themselves get hurt over and over, and for what? To feel fulfilled for a fleeting moment that is always followed by suffering! Passing through a grocery store or gas station without seeing the multiple magazines that declare the horrible lives of the people on their covers is IMPOSSIBLE!!! Every photo you see of those people is screaming the need for Jesus!
If we are called to reach out to all the world, why are we ignoring and shunning these people? Because of their mistakes? Because of their lifestyles? Because of the cliques and crowds they hang out with? Are those reasons not to reach out to these people? Even the most insignificant show of kindness, consideration, or maybe just asking "what's up?" could make a difference in someone's life.
No, I am not saying that we should ignore the starving children in Africa and Haiti and all over the world; I am only saying that instead of judging people like Vanessa Hudgens, Brittney Spears (just to name a few), we need to start reaching out to them. These people need Jesus just as much as the deprived children of the world, and they are deprived as well.

Bible References:

Luke 6:37-38 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it wall be measured to you.

Luke 7:38-50 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-that she is a sinner."
Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell yo."
"Tell me, teacher,"he said.
"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. now which of them will love him more?"
Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
"You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. you did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. There fore, I tell you, her m any sins have been forgiven-for she loved much. but he who has been forgiven little loves little."
Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is thsi who even forgives sings?"
Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Luke 19:1-10 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached teh spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner'"
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."