The odd irresponsibility of it all made me stop and think. If Mexico were really like the writers and artists of Dora’s world tell me, then a trip to our neighbor to the south would reveal carelessly absent parents, intrepid preschoolers facing off against man-eating crocodiles and pantsless trolls with strategically placed beards harassing young girls for dubious purposes. Something tells me that’s not exactly accurate. I’m smart enough to know I shouldn’t believe everything the literary savants at Nickelodeon tell me. I’ll give the people of Mexico the benefit of the doubt.

   Following God and attending church is an awful lot like Dora’s world to many. They’ve heard stories of how the church is abusive or how God is vindictive or uncaring or nonexistent. So they want nothing to do with it. But just as Mexico is not dotted with mariachi bands composed of frogs, snails and grasshoppers, neither is following after God the drudgery or hypocrisy so many outside the church present it to be. 

 If you’re one of those people who have believed what others have said about God or the church but have not experienced it yourself, I encourage to know first-hand. If you really thought a Spanish-speaking iguana could drive a car, you would check it out; you wouldn’t just take someone’s word for it. It’s the same way with God. Don’t take somebody else’s word on it. But check it out. Attend that church down the street this Sunday, or visit your friend’s church. Discover that a relationship with God doesn’t have to be the negative venture so many people have made it out to be. Go on. Vaminos!

July 19, 2011 -- Murder by Madness

   Are you a murderer?  It’s not as easy a question to answer as you might first think.  According to Jesus, quite a few of us are murderers.  That’s because Jesus equates anger with murder.  In Matthew 5:21-22, he says, “You have heard that it was said … ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’  But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.”  And later, one of Jesus’ closest followers, the apostle John, wrote that “anyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15).  Sure, there are no dead bodies lying about, but it’s still murder – murder in the heart.

   With anger management firms reporting that one out of every five Americans has an anger management problem, we can be sure that there is no shortage of murderers in our country.  People are angrier than ever before, and that means they are murdering people in their hearts. 

   For Jesus, it’s a heart issue.  Murder is a physical thing on the outside.  That’s what we see; that’s what we pay attention to.  But murder comes from the inside, from a heart filled with anger and hatred.  And that’s what Jesus sees.  The heart of a murderer and the heart of someone who lives in anger and hatred look the same.  They are the same.

   To Jesus, it’s not the action that matters; it’s the attitude, the heart.  Those with the heart of a murderer allow their anger to rule them and hold them in contempt and conflict, but the heart of a righteous person will lead him to make peace with both friends and enemies.  Jesus urges us to come out of our murderous hearts (anger and hatred) and make peace quickly. 

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   So how are you doing?  Are you allowing anger and hatred to fuel murder in your heart?  No one wants to be a murderer.  Ask Jesus to help you make peace and settle matters with your enemies.  When you ask, Jesus will change your heart from one of murder to one of praising God.

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February 25, 2011 -- A Final Shot at Love

   God lavishes us with His love. It’s like we are bombarded by His love. Every Thursday I help with the after school program for elementary-aged kids at our town’s community center. A lot of these kids like to play dodge ball. I have no idea why. All they do is choose teams and wail balls at one another. There doesn’t seem to be much more of a point to the game because no matter how many times those kids get hit with the balls, it seems that no one is ever out. Go figure.

   Every once in a while, several of the kids in one team will get it in their heads to simultaneously “attack” one player on the other team. So they all get a ball and throw it as hard as they can at that one player. The balls bounce back, and they keep picking them up and throwing them again at that one player. He is bombarded with balls, dodging back and forth, trying to avoid elimination. .

   God’s lavish love is like those dodge balls. It’s all around. You can’t avoid it. You can ignore it if you want, but you can’t avoid it. God’s love is lavishly given to you. And the great thing about God’s love is that it is so pure. It’s perfect love, and it is all around.

   In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul gives a delightful picture of what true love is. Anyone who has ever been to a wedding knows this passage of scripture. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, 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. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (13:4-7).

   That’s the love God has for you. God’s love for you is patient, and it is kind. That’s how much God loves you; His love for you is patient and kind. Think about how we treat God. We ignore Him. We ignore what He says. We laugh at Him. We ignore Him. We’re ashamed of Him. We ignore Him. We can be outright rude and ungrateful to Him. But still God’s love is patient and kind and persevering and slow to anger. In His love, God always protects us, gives us hope and always helps us to persevere.

   And most importantly, love never fails. God’s love for you never fails. It has never failed in the past, and it never will in the future. You may have failed in accepting God’s love, but God hasn’t failed. Think about that. When was the last time you loved someone perfectly, without fault, to the point at which you could say you never failed? The answer is never. You have never loved someone like that. But God’s love for you is always there, always perfect, always without fault. God’s love for you is not going away. It never fails.

January 27, 2011 -- More on Love

   The fact that we can experience love in our relationships with other people is just one proof of just how much God loves us.  God’s love overflows in us so much that we are able to share it with other people.  Any love you get from others or have for others comes from God.  It’s incredible!

    God’s love gushes over us like the waves of a flood, a torrent that cannot be stopped.  1 John 3:1 says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God!”

    I love that word – “lavished!”  What a great word, if only because we use it so sparingly.  It means not just to give, but to give in great amounts.  God doesn’t give us just some love or just enough love.  He gives us great amounts of love.  It’s an overflowing fountain.  There’s so much love going around that people see us and God as family.  We are called children of God.  Think about that!  God loves us so much that he makes us His children.

    Think about the royals over in England.  Prince William has finally gotten himself engaged.  It’s huge news!  It’s all over the TV and the tabloids.  Even here in the United States.  And why do we care?  We care because William is the son – the child – of Prince Charles, the son of the queen of England.  That’s an impressive thing!  So when William gets engaged, people all over the world buy Us and People magazines to get the scoop. 

    Really, though, people should be reading about us.  We aren’t just the children of the queen.  We are children of God.  How much more impressive is that!  And just like William is prince by birthright – he did nothing to earn the title – we are made children of God not on our own merit or by anything we have done, but by God’s love.  God loves you so much he has made you royalty. 

   But don’t sit around waiting to get your pic on the cover of In Touch.  Embrace God’s love and share it.  There’s so much of it to go around. 

January 19, 2011 -- Love

    Love. It’s a simple word. A four-letter word – of the good variety. A word we all know and use daily. I know I do. Every night before my nephew and nieces go to bed, I make them give me a big hug and kiss, and I tell them I love them. I look forward to doing it their whole lives, especially as they get older and don’t want to hear it.

    We use the word “love” all the time, but what does it mean? What do you think of when you hear the word “love?” You might think of the theme to the Love Boat. ♪Love, exciting and new!♫ (It was really a show and song; look it up on Youtube here!) Maybe you think of the confusing way they keep score in tennis. If the score is 30-love, I have no idea what that means, but apparently someone’s getting engaged at the end of the match. There’s a brand of diapers called Luvs; at least there used to be. Maybe you remember how Thurston Howell III used to go around Gilligan’s Island calling his wife “Lovey.” Cirque de Soleil has a show titled “LOVE” based on Beatles songs.

    They’re all examples of how we use the word “love.” We throw the word around a lot, but when it comes to love, true love, we really have some messed up ideas. What, really, is love all about?

    What it all comes down to is that God is love. I bet Thurston Howell III never thought about that. But it’s true. We are told that truth multiple times in 1 John in the Bible (4:8, 4:16). God is love. There is no simpler truth. Our entire existence is based on that one, simple statement. Love – true love – is defined by one word: God.

    Think about all the people you love in your life, and think about all the people who love you. Guess what? All that love … wouldn’t be possible without God. God is love, and love comes from God. There is no other source. You cannot love anyone without God, and no one can love you without that love coming from God. Love comes from God.

    That’s how much God loves you. Any love you get from someone else, ultimately comes from Him. Where’s God in your life? He’s in the people who are loving you.