WHAT HAS LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

 

After many years in the Christian Church, I have stood to the side and watched leaders dilute and modify the Gospel of Jesus Christ to fit their doctrine and beliefs, even loosing sight of the purpose for which Jesus came to earth. The New Testament principle of unconditional love has been overshadowed by political and other selfish motives to the point of not being recognizable. Going back to the old covenant, many leaders justify the behavior of politicians that threaten, bully and intimidate others as the pathway to "change." Believers are instructed to pray for revival of all those sinners, without any recognition that Scripture says judgment will begin in the church. This as if we will somehow stand by clapping and cheering as everyone in the world, except ourselves, is brought to anwer for their sins. Guess what? We believers are on the top of the list!

I often wonder if our zeal for expressing our personal views can cause our communications to become misguided. As most of us will acknowledge, there is a source of measurement higher than our personal perceptions, even higher than the Constitution. That source really has only one basic principle of measurement: LOVE. This is the God kind of love, i.e., not our human perception of love.  It is for God’s love, or the lack of it, we all will be judged (See 1 Cor. 13).

Someone once said, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This is often the way we view our perceptions. David Brooks, New York Times columnist and book author has said, and I paraphrase, “Our world view is not of the world as it is, but as we are in it.” Our personal perceptions usually become our version of reality, true or not. Although our intentions may be noble in sharing our perceptions, shouldn’t we always be asking, “Do my perceptions, and my communication of them, meet the standard of God’s kind of love?”

Over five decades ago, I was involved in the Dale Carnegie Courses. These courses and the author’s books were founded on Biblical principles, even originally containing frequent Scripture references. Remarkably, I still remember a basic principle Dale Carnegie presented to improve our human relations skills and enable us to, as he said, stop worrying and start living. It was simply, DON’T CRITICIZE, CONDEMN OR COMPLAIN! Applied in our daily living this could be stated, “Let our words and deeds always be filled with God’s love.”

In this blog, I will pursue Bible Truths, particularly those Bible Truths we don't really believe. The only thing that can change this nation and our communities is the Light of the Lord Jesus Christ, unimpaired by worldly doctrine, biased prophetic words and self-centeredness. Join me if you are searching for the Truth!

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email me at larry@cpafirmsupport.com