God, Be My Valentine

Valentine's Day is all about love, but too many times it has nothing to do with love at all.  Today in Maryland early morning commuters had to deal with icy road conditions which resulted in multiple accidents and road closures.  The day of love started off as a day of head aches, fender benders, and late arrivals. 

What does it mean to truly love someone else?  We have all kinds of images on television, in movies, in romantic novels, and advertisements.  It's all so exciting, and lovely, and sweet, and wonderful. Love is all of those things, and much more. 

What so many people often forget is that love is also very difficult at times.  To forgive someone is to love them, and forgiving someone is not easy.  Love is also doing what needs to be done even when we do not feel like it, or put the concerns or needs of someone else before our own.  Love is much more than butterflies in our stomachs, and romantic dinners and roses, it's about dealing with the grind of daily life with grace and mercy for others. 

In his first letter to the church in Corinth Paul wrote about what true love really is.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 13

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The thing that we must remember today, and each day of the year, is that no matter who we are, where we are, or what we have done, God loves us.  His love is so great there is no place on the Earth it cannot reach.  There is nothing so terrible that anyone could do that if we turn to God, that he will receive us and restore us.  He loves us beyond measure and he loved us first. 

Paul had a grasp of how much God loves us and below we see his prayer for the believers in his letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:14-19

New International Version (NIV)

A Prayer for the Ephesians

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family^[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

I love the prayer above, put it is incomplete without verses 20 and 21.  In these two verses Paul sums it up nicely.  He lets all those who read this letter know that not only does God love us without measure, but he will do for us more than we could ever imagine.  This means that God knows our hearts and desires, and wants to bless us.  Too many times because we do not receive the love God has for us we miss so many of his blessings.

 

Ephesians 3:20-21

New International Version (NIV)

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

One last verse about God's love.  I learned this verse a very long time ago.  It means just as much to me today, as it did when I learned it.

John 3:16

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

The Voice

The Voice is a television show that is aired on NBC.  It is one of a number of shows that try to find that next big singing star.  It competes with the original show "American Idol" and then there is "The XFactor" all giving deserving talented people a chance at stardom.  Those of us who have been around a while will remember "Star Search" which I admit I watched and loved, but it was not limited to people who sang. 

Personally, I am not a fan of any of these current reality shows, but will watch a few minutes of them from time to time.  I often wonder how many sing sensations does the world need.  I usually change the channel because so many times the person who is performing cannot sing at all and is yelling.

I have to admit that I like The Voice better than all the other current reality shows. Why?  It is the format.  The person comes out and sings and the judges have their backs turned towards them.  This means that the judges make their judgement solely on the quality of the participants voice.  Their looks, the age, their race, their gender play no factor into the decision of a judge to hit a button and have their chair turn and face the performer.  Once a judge or judges turn their chair while the person is performing, the individual is invited to be on that judge's team.  If more than one judge hit their button then the judges have tell the performer why being on their team is in their best interest.  Singers who finish their song without a judge hitting their buttons are not selected to be on any one's team and that is the end to their dream of stardom.

The voice is a very special gift, and being able to hear someone else's voice in love is another.  I remembered that recently about a week ago.  In this modern age of text messages, e-mails, Facebook and Twitter, I no longer speak to many of my friends.  We meet on Facebook, or send tweets to each other.  We seldom pick up the phone and actually talk to each other, and the same is true with work.  I was assisting a teacher with a technical difficulty and had submitted an e-mail to the technology department.  A while later my office phone rang and it was a fellow worker from the technology department calling me about the e-mail I had sent.  He wanted to speak to me to make certain we had the support we needed.  He provided instructions, which I later followed through on and the problem was resolved.  I e-mailed him back letting him know that the computer system was now operating  properly.  Then as I closed my e-mail I typed, "It was nice to hear your voice."  It was at that moment that I realized even though I have communicated with this person for years, I very seldom see him or talk to him, and had not heard his voice in over a year.  It just struck me that in that brief conversation we had over the phone about a computer program, the whole experience was so much richer than an e-mail.

There are things you learn about a person when you hear their voice, something that does not transmit in an e-mail, or text message.  The human voice moves us, it touches us, it makes us happy, or makes us cry, there's just something about the "voice."  I think that's why the American TV watching public can support three singing reality shows at once, and if you include "America's Got Talent" then there are four. Thankfully they do not all air at the same time.

In the book of John, Jesus is taking part in Jewish  celebration when  some of his fellow Jews do not believe he is the Messiah as he claims and challenge him.  They want proof that he is who he says that he is.  Jesus had the power within him to do great miracles that would put them all in their place, but that was not his way. He did things very simplistically and low key as often as possible.  He says to them they do not believe him, even when he does great works because they are not his sheep and do not listen to him.  They do not listen or recognize his voice. 

To know God, and to know his voice is to submit ourselves to his will.  If we have to have things our way, then we will never hear God's voice.  If we can be moved and changed by the voice of a talented singer or speaker, how much more can God's voice bless us?  His voice is perfect every time.  He knows exactly what to say to us, how to say it to us, and when.  The problem is so many of us do not hear it.  We are never sit  still or are quiet enough to hear what God is speaking to our hearts through prayer, his Word, and those that love him.

Take the time needed to hear from God.

Bible Verses

Psalm 46:10

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

John 10:22-30

New International Version (NIV)

Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims

²² Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. ²⁴ The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
²⁵ Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”