Quote from Forum Archives on June 22, 2000, 9:50 am

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

Here is part two of the message that my friend, Larry Davies,
started last week. It concerns our feelings, attitudes, actions,
and responses. Larry continues to build on what it means to
love, what God means by love, as opposed to what we think of when
we see that word or hear it used. The love of God is very
foreign to many people, yet it is the love upon which all of
creation was made.

Let's see what Larry has to say about love this week. If you
want to read more about love, read the book of 1 John, as Larry
suggests. You might also want to read 1 Corinthians 13, which
provides a powerful definition of what love is, and what love is
not. My prayer is that the love of God, powerful as it is, will
also become understandable to each one of us, and be the shaping
force at work in our lives.

Brother Brian

Subject: "Following God, the Mid-East & Dealing with Depression"
Part 2 Weekly Sowing Seeds Devotion 6/21/2000

A Christian Devotional Site with ATTITUDE, Humor,
Great Stories and a Down-to-Earth Bible Study. Larry
is the author of two books and his devotions are
published weekly around the world.

"Following God, the Mid-East &
Dealing with Depression" Part 2

The professor concluded saying: "I worked
hard to affect a meaningful ministry in the
Middle East and accomplished nothing. I
believe we are all called and within that
call we will usually be unsuccessful,
therefore we will become depressed and
depression is the darkness that accompanies
serving God."

Are you getting depressed yet? If so, you
are not alone. For generations, others have
asked the same question: "Am I called by God
for a mission... only to fail?" 1 John is a
beautiful letter in the Bible written to
offer encouragement to a church once filled
with enthusiasm but now discouraged. "The
one who existed from the beginning is the
one we have heard and seen." (1 John 1:1)
God is alive and extraordinarily aware of
what is happening in the world and we are a
crucial part of God's plan.

John answers the question very simply: "Dear
friends, let us continue to love one
another, for love comes from God." (4:7)
That's it? "Love one another?" It sounds
like something from the old hippie
generation in San Francisco: "Happiness is
to love everybody!" (Give me a break,
Larry!) It does sound kind of corny...
doesn't it? Maybe it all depends on how you
define the word love.

Most of us tend to use "love" to define an
intense feeling. "I love my spouse. I love
to watch football. I love chocolate ice
cream. I love my church." Love based on
feelings makes a good romance but any
marriage with too much emphasis on feelings
alone is a one-way ticket to divorce court
because feelings tend to rise and fall.
People who love a church based on feelings,
change churches every two or three years
because feelings alone don't quite capture
the meaning of... love, as defined by God.

Is God saying love one another like we are
supposed to have feelings of love for
everyone? I have a confession to make. There
are a few, (only a few?) hopefully very few
people that I don't feel much love toward.
Actually, I don't like their attitude or
their personality. In fact, I don't love
them at all. But as a preacher, shouldn't I
love everyone? I felt so guilty. What does
God mean by "love one another?"

"God showed how much he loved us by sending
his only Son into the world so that we might
have eternal life through him. This is real
love. It is not that we loved God but that
he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice
to take away our sins." (1 John 4:9-10)
God's love goes way beyond feelings and
becomes a covenant, a divine commitment and
an atoning sacrifice. In a word, it is also
called grace.

U Love is... an act of faith that enables
the world to see God through you.
U Love is... an attitude of grace
towards those you would normally
dislike.
U Love is... a commitment to stick
together when feelings are no
longer enough.
U Love is... a discipline
requiring a consistent willingness
to be obedient to God's will.
U Love is... often a sacrifice, willfully
putting someone else's needs before your
wants.

"Dear friends, since God loved us that much,
we surely ought to love each other. No one
has ever seen God. But if we love each
other, God lives in us and his love has been
brought to full expression through us."
(4:11-12) As we learn to love God... God's
love is expressed through us toward others.

Larry, this is profound but being a loving
person offers no help to the depressed
professor who could not resolve the Middle
East crisis. How can God call us to a
mission only to experience failure?

But, did the professor really fail? In love,
he offered an act of faith that enabled us
to see the world with different eyes. He
displayed grace toward a forgotten people.
He made a commitment to stick by his
promise. The professor consistently wrote
letters and articles about the crisis. He
often sacrificed his time and energy. I left
his presence changed. For others, and me his
mission was a total success.

What about you? Are you seeing yourself as a
failure when God has other ideas? After all,
God never called us to change the world.
That is His job! We are simply to be
obedient by offering others the same
wonderful gift of love God has given us. A
word of kindness or a deed of compassion may
not solve the world's problems but it could
change a life and it's the best way I know
to serve God. We have no reason to be
depressed or discouraged. "I write this...
so that you may know..." (5:13)

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:[email protected]
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/
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