The Lions of Samaria.

I found a great site online. Brian Hardin reads from the Bible every day. It is so relaxing to put on the earphones and listen as he reads. His site is called Daily Audio Bible: http://dailyaudiobible.com/

The other day, Brian was reading from 2 Kings 17. The king of Assyria had captured Israel and taken the people away. Then he filled the land of Samaria with other people:

"The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. It was reported to the king of Assyria: “The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.”

Then the king of Assyria gave this order: “Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.” So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord." 2 Kings 17:24-28

All this seemed strange to me until I thought about it. In ancient times people thought each land had a god they had to respect. God used this custom to bring his teachings to these people who had come from many different lands. 

"They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought." verse 33.

All through the years Samaritans did this. They worshiped God and also idols. But they had the books of Moses with them to study. One day, about 700 years later, Jesus walked into a town of Samaria. He met a woman there who had studied the books of Moses and she said to him, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” John 4:25

Jesus answered her, "I, the one speaking to you, I am he." verse 26.

Jesus knew this woman was ready to accept him. She had already accepted his Father.

How many Samaritans over the years had learned about and worshiped God because he made sure they heard of him? Perhaps thousands. I am always struck how God tried to take his message to all the nations of the world in the Old Testament. Sometimes his ways seem harsh: letting lions kill people. But, salvation is a matter of life and death and the King of Assyria probably wouldn't have listened to anything less than that.

I am just amazed by God's humility and how he will do so much to save us from ourselves and evil. He will even be worshiped alongside other idols, if the people don't know any better, and will teach those people and send the Holy Spirit to those people. I thank God he loves us all so much.

What Does God Want?

Jesus said, "But don't be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval."

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”  
John 6:25-27

https://www.flickr.com/people/50249715@N06

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.  Mark 12:28-31

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?  Micah 6:8

Two of my granddaughters.

Kindness and love for each other; a gift from God.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Love Fulfills the Law.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22,23

Excerpt from the book, "Secret Power," by Dwight L. Moody

The fruit of the Spirit, as you find it in Galatians, begins with love.

There are nine graces spoken of in the sixth chapter, and of the nine different graces Paul puts love at the head of the list; love is the first thing—the first in that precious cluster of fruit. Some one has put it in this way: that all the other eight can be put in the word love.

Joy is love exulting; peace is love in repose; long suffering is love on trial;
gentleness is love in society; goodness is love in action;
faith is love on the battlefield; meekness is love at school; and temperance is love in training.

So it is love all the way; love at the top; love at the bottom, and all the way along down these graces; and if we only just brought forth the fruit of the Spirit, what a world we would have; there would be no need of any policemen; a man could leave his overcoat around without some one stealing it; men would not have any desire to do evil.

Says Paul, “Against such there is no law;” you don’t need any law. A man who is full of the Spirit don’t need to be put under law; don’t need any policemen to watch him. We could dismiss all our policemen; the lawyers would have to give up practicing law, and the courts would not have any business.

"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”  Mark 12:30,31

Find Sympathy and Love From God.

Dwight L. Moody
From the book, "Wondrous Love."

There is a story told in connection with our war of a mother who received a dispatch that her boy was mortally wounded. She went down to the front, as she knew that those soldiers told to watch the sick and wounded could not watch her boy as she would. So she went to the doctor, and said, “Would you like me to take care of my boy?”

The doctor said, “We have just let him go to sleep, and if you go to him the surprise will be so great it might be dangerous to him. He is in a very critical state. I will break the news to him gradually.” “But,” said the mother, “he may never wake up. I should so dearly like to see him.” Oh, how she longed to see him! and finally the doctor said, “You can see him, but if you wake him up and he dies, it will be your fault.” “Well,” she said, “I will not wake him up if I may only go by his dying cot and see him.”

Well, she went to the side of the cot. Her eyes had longed to see him; and as she gazed upon him she could not keep her hand off that pallid forehead, and she laid it gently there. There was love and sympathy in that hand, and the moment the slumbering boy felt it, he said, “Oh, mother, have you come?” He knew there was sympathy and affection in the touch of that hand. And if you, oh, sinner, will let Jesus reach out His hand and touch your heart, you, too, will find there is sympathy and love in it. That every lost soul here may be saved, and come to the arms of our blessed Saviour, is the prayer of my heart.

Psalm 36 - God is This Big.

Psalm 36 - What it teaches me:

"Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

You, Lord, preserve both people and animals."

Love, faithfulness, righteousness and justice. Beautiful and majestic words for a beautiful God.

"How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights."

God's love is priceless. It is a treasure of pure gold hidden in the ground that someone finds and sells all he has to buy that piece of ground. That is what Jesus said. God's love and friendship is worth more than all we have and all we are.

For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light.  Verses 6-9

Life eternal can only be found in God. He is a fountain of life that spilled over on to the world when Jesus was here. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

In the Bible, darkness represents evil. It is only by the light that comes from God we can see good and be good. In His light, we see light. 

Psalm 26 - Test Me, God?

Psalm 26: How I see it.

David writes: 

Vindicate me, Lord,

for I have led a blameless life;

I have trusted in the Lord

and have not faltered.

I myself have not led a blameless life. I have faltered and sinned. I'm not sure what David means here, but I would think he means he has worshiped the Lord all his life. He has never left God and worshiped other gods. 

Test me, Lord, and try me,

examine my heart and my mind;for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love

and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

I am too scared to actually ask God to test and try me. Anyway, I don't have to ask because God does it all the time. The way this modern world runs, our patience is tested continually. Most of us have schedules to keep; if we get up late in the morning are we upset or angry? Do we yell at the kids or other drivers on the road? Do we snap at people at our jobs? Patience and love are daily tests for everyone.

David also says he doesn't hang around with wicked people. He goes to church and tells others about God's wonderful works. He does not commit evil deeds such as murder or taking bribes. He asks God not to let his soul be with people who do such things. He wants to live in God's house forever.

Yes, I want my soul to be in heaven in God's house too. It is an exciting thought to finally see God in person and all the angels and all the beauty that will be there. May we all meet together there one day.

The Greatest Thing.

The Greatest Thing in the World. (Abridged)

by Drummond (1851-1857)

Everyone has asked himself the great question of antiquity as of the modern world: What is the summum bonum - the supreme good? You have life before you. Once only you can live it. What is the noblest object of desire, the supreme gift to covet?

We have been accustomed to be told the greatest thing in the religious world is faith. Well, we are wrong. If we have been told that, we may miss the mark. 

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^b but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" 

1 Corinthians 13.

"The greatest of these is love." It is not an oversight. Paul was speaking of faith just a moment before. He says, "If I have all faith, so I can remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing." So far from forgetting, he deliberately contrasts them. "Now abides faith, hope, and love," and without a moment's hesitation the decision falls, "The greatest of these is love."

And it is not prejudice. A man is apt to recommend to others his own strong point. Love was not Paul's strong point...the hand that wrote, "The greatest of these is love," when we meet it first, is stained with blood.

Nor is this letter to the Corinthians peculiar in singling out love as the supreme good. The masterpieces of Christianity are agreed about it. Peter says, "Above all things have fervent love among yourselves." Above all things.

And John goes further, "God is love." And you remember the profound remark which Paul makes elsewhere. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Did you ever think what he meant by that? In those days men were working their passage to heaven by keeping the ten commandments, and the hundred and ten other commandments they had manufactured out of them. Christ said, I will show you a more simple way. If you do one thing, you will do these hundred and ten things without ever thinking about them. If you love, you will unconsciously fulfill the whole law.

You can readily see for yourselves how that must be so. Take any of the commandments. "You shall have no other gods before me." If a man loves God, you will not require to tell him that. Love is the fulfilling of that law...If he loved man, you would never think of telling him to honor his mother and father. He could not do anything else. It would be preposterous to tell him not to kill. You would only insult him if you suggested he should not steal - how could he steal from those he loved...In this way, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." It is the rule for fulfilling all rules, the new commandment for keeping all the old commandments, Christ's one secret of the Christian life.

Kisses From God.

(Angela Corrigan kisses her daughter goodbye before leaving for Iraq.)

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine..." Song of Solomon 1:2

Would we like to be hugged and kissed by God? I surely would! It is an act of the deepest affection that God has given to the universe.

Kissing is a common practice in the Bible. 

Jesus said to the Pharisee, "You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet." Luke 7:45

Peter said, "Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ." 1Peter 5:14

Paul said, "Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss." 1 Thessalonians 5:26

We don't do much kissing in our society. We save that for spouses and perhaps our parents and children. But it is different in the middle east.

 "Cheek kissing in the Arab world is relatively common, between friends and relatives. Cheek kissing between males is very common. However, cheek kissing between a male and female is usually considered inappropriate, unless within the same family; e.g. brother and sister, or if they are a married couple.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheek_kissing

Pulpit Commentary says:

...the meaning is simply that of affection. The great majority of Christian commentators have regarded the words as expressive of desire towards God. 

 The comparison with wine may be taken either as denoting sweetness or exhilarating effects.

The bride is surrounded by her admiring companions and attendants. They are congratulating her on the king's love. She speaks as from the midst of the company of ladies. 

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says:
...of his mouth—marking the tenderest affection. For a king to permit his hands, or even garment, to be kissed, was counted a great honor; but that he should himself kiss another with his mouth is the greatest honor.

It is a great honor to be loved by God so much that we may be kissed by Him. As a big family in heaven, I'm sure we will be hugging and kissing all the time!

The Song of Solomon.

photo by Jonathan Thorne

I remember years ago when I read the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) in the Bible, I couldn't understand why God put this story or poem in the Old Testament. I asked God why, and it seemed he said to me, "This is how I want you to love me - as a woman infatuated with her fiancee. As a woman and man, when they first fall in love feel overcome by love - that is the love we are to have with God."

This book then became beautiful to me. I was just reading some studies on Song of Songs and thought I would share them with you. This one comes from Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary.

God is love, and Christ is the embodiment of the love of God. As the other books of Scripture present severally their own aspects of divine truth, so Canticles furnishes the believer with language of holy love, wherewith his heart can commune with his Lord; and it portrays the intensity of Christ's love...

 "Shulamith" (So 6:13), the bride, is thus an appropriate name, Daughter of Peace being the feminine of Solomon, equivalent to the Prince of Peace. 

She by turns is a vinedresser, shepherdess, midnight inquirer, and prince's consort and daughter, and He a suppliant drenched with night dews, and a king in His palace, in harmony with the various relations of the Church and Christ. 

...the fervor of the love between Christ and us. The image of a bride, a bridegroom, and a marriage, to represent this spiritual union, has the sanction of Scripture throughout; 

Love to Christ is the strongest, as it is the purest, of human passions, and therefore needs the strongest language to express it: to the pure in heart the phraseology, drawn from the rich imagery of Oriental poetry, will not only appear not indelicate or exaggerated, but even below the reality.

But the allegory is a continued metaphor, in which the circumstances are palpably often purely imagery, while the thing signified is altogether real.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
http://biblehub.com/songs/1-1.htm

The Power of Love.

I was watching T.D. Jakes on TV today and he gave a sermon about the cross. He said it would be better not to study the "what" of the cross, but the "why" of the cross.

"For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not die but have eternal life." John 3:16

God so loved...

God so loved you...

God so loved me...

Jesus didn't stay on the cross because he was nailed there. He stayed for love.

When he was being arrested he said, "Don't you realize I could ask my father for thousands of angels to protect us and He would send them instantly?" Matthew 26:53

Jakes said,  "Love is the ultimate power in the universe." It took the power of love for Jesus to stay on the cross. If we want power, then we must love others as God loves us. Love is real power and God will fill us with it if we ask Him.

The Greatest Commandment.

And one of the teachers of the law came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that Jesus answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”   Mark 12:28-31

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

May God fill us with this love.

Love for Those Who Attack Us.

"And this is my prayer; that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ." 
Philippians 1:9-10

I was reading today about the attack on our embassy and now riots in the Muslim world because of a movie one man made. I think to myself, "They are judging all of us by what one man has done." Then I thought, "It was easy for me to judge all Muslims by what a few did on September 11.

Our minds seem to generalize everything. My sister told me that is a defense mechanism - we find out a lion can kill so we believe all lions will kill - which is true. With people it is different. We are not to judge and condemn people; we are commanded to love them even when they do evil. Perhaps this is the hardest lesson to learn from God.

New International Version (©1984)
"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." Luke 6:35

Augustine

"Love, and then do what you please." Saint Augustine.

I take this to mean that if we have God's love in our heart we will be pleased to do good. "God is love," the Bible says. Love only does what is good.

Human love is not perfect however. I know I indulged my children sometimes because I loved them. I have loved men who mistreated me. I love chocolate, even though it makes me sick.

Love. It's a complicated thing. God's love is so far above and beyond human love; all we can do is pray he will fill us with it every day.

Someone once called Jesus "good". Jesus said, "No one is good but God alone."(Mark 10:18) He was trying to tell this man that in ourselves there is nothing good. Not truly, purely good. Without God we can love, but not perfectly - not in the right way. Our selfishness always gets in the way.

If we want true love in our hearts - it must come from God.

Assuming the Worst.

I was reading an article by Tim Schroeder, a pastor at the Trinity Baptist Church here in Kelowna. He said he and his wife were dining out and noticed the woman at the next table kept staring at them. The restaurant was crowded and the Schroeders thought she was listening to them and felt a little upset.

As the evening wore on, they realized the elderly lady had Alzheimer's disease. They spoke with her husband and he told them he was trying to give his wife a nice evening out. The pastor said he felt bad for what he had thought about the woman. He wrote, " I couldn't help but think about how easy it had been to misread the situation and draw wrong conclusions about reality."

I think we are all guilty of assuming wrong motives to people. I have done it many times in my life. But I was thinking today that if we look at people with love we wouldn't think about wrong motives they may have towards us. We would only be thinking about how we could be loving to them and share the love of God with them. I pray for that in my own life.

I would like to give a link to Mr. Shroeder, but I read this in the Daily Courier and they didn't have the article online.

Study Love.

I once read about a church in medieval days that was breaking apart because of disagreements between it's members. The church held a meeting to decide what to do. The pastor told the congregation he would like them to study the subject of love together for one year. When the year was over, then they could make a decision on what to do. His congregation agreed to this. They did study love for one year and were still studying it 100 years later. The church stayed together because of love.

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive anything you have against one another. Forgive, as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14

Love is Fulfilling the Law.

"Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

For this, 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,' and any other commandment, is summed up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." Romans13:8-10

Paul goes on to say:

"Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed.

The night is almost gone; and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."
Verses 11-12.

Love or Need?

I was struck by something I read today. This is a quote from Our Daily Journey with God, by Mark Whittmer.

"When we love others more than God, we inevitably ask more from them than what they can deliver. Our neediness will eventually suffocate them and our relationship." From http://ourdailyjourney.org

This made so much sense to me. When I didn't believe God loved me, I was always searching for perfect love from a man. Of course, no man can give "perfect" love. No human being can. Only God has perfect love, and until we accept and believe His love we will be looking for love from imperfect people who can never fulfill our desires.

This is the great need in every life, to be loved just as we are. This is the emptiness we feel when we are alone and have time to reflect. This is the God who can fill that emptiness with himself.

A Heart to Obey.

In Deuteronomy 30:11-14 God is speaking to his people as they were moving into the land God had given them. He told them to remember his commandments and then went on to say:

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it."

He was trying to encourage the people to believe that he would help them if they wanted to obey him. He does the same thing today. He gives us a new heart that loves what he loves. Verse 6 says:

"The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live."

Choose.

"Today, I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call upon heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your children might live." Deut. 30:19

God loves us. He wants us to choose him, for he is the way to an eternal life of happiness. He wants us to choose him, for he is the way to a deep, abiding love. Outside of God is darkness and hate. Inside of God is light and love. He longs for us to join him. Please join him.

The Bible

Jesus said, "You search the scriptures, because you believe that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." John 5:39-40

The men Jesus was talking to were experts on the Old Testament. They were the scribes, Saducees and Pharisees. They seemed to think that by obeying the letter of the laws, they would be saved. Jesus told them this was not true. In concentrating on the rules they had missed out on the intent of God.

"You are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law - justice, mercy and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things." Matthew 23:23

We must all be careful of doing this. We should do what Jesus said and lift up justice, mercy and faith. Jesus also said that love was the greatest commandment. As we read the Bible, let us remember that.