한 변호사의 죽음
프랑스 남부 아를 지방에 고급 저택에서 혼자 살고 있는
잔느 칼망이란 할머니가 있었습니다.
하루는 이 집에 한 변호사가 찾아와 제안을 했습니다.
“제가 할머니가 살아계시는 동안 매달 400만원씩을 드리겠습니다.
대신 할머니가 돌아가시고 나서 집을 저에게 물려주시겠습니까?”

집만 번듯했지 소득이 전혀 없이 연금만으로 사는 할머니는 흔쾌히 승낙했습니다.
변호사도 목돈을 들이지 않고 좋은 집을 구입할 수 있어서 만족했습니다.
변호사가 찾아갈 당시 잔느 할머니의 나이는 90세였습니다.

그러나 10년이 지나도, 20년이 지나도 잔느 할머니는 정정하게 살아 계셨습니다.
심지어 77세에 변호사가 세상을 떠났을 때도 할머니는 살아계셨습니다.
결국 변호사가 죽은 뒤 2년이 지나고 할머니는 돌아가셨고,
변호사의 가족들이 대신 집을 물려받았습니다.
그러나 그동안 변호사가 지급한 돈은 시가의 2배가 넘었습니다.

변호사는 자신이 찾아간 90살 노인이 122세로 기네스복에 세계 최장수 노인으로 등재됐을 지는
꿈에도 몰랐을 것 입니다.

이처럼 세상에는 확실한 것이 없으며 누구도 내일 일을 예측할 수 없습니다.
오로지 확실한 복음의 반석 위에 믿음의 터를 세우고 변함이 없으신 주님을 따르십시오.

아멘!!

김장환 목사

미국 건국의 아버지 벤자민 프랭클린이 하루는 등불을 집 밖에 두고 깜박 잊은 적이 있었습니다.

나중에 일이 있어 밖으로 나가다가 등불을 발견했는데
깜깜한 밤을 등불이 비춰주니 무서운 느낌도 들지 않고
여러모로 편하다는 생각이 들었습니다.

그날 이후로 집 밖에 선반을 만들어 등불을 밤마다 켜둔
벤자민은 도시의 모든 거리에 이런 불빛을 만들면 좋겠다는
생각에 깊이 연구를 했고 노력의 결실로 가로등을 개발했습니다.

그러나 벤자민이 설치한 가로등을 보고 마을 주민들은 크게 반발했습니다.

당시 등불은 집 안에만 켜 놓는 것이 일반적인 모습이었는데
그 귀한 등을 사람이 딱히 다니지도 않는 저녁에
그것도 온 도시를 밝힐 만큼 켜 놓는 것은 심한 낭비라는 생각에서 였습니다.

그러나 가로등이 설치된 지 하루가 지나고 이틀이 지날수록
사람들의 이런 불만은 잦아들었습니다.

밤에 거리를 비추는 등불은 사회를 더 안전하게 만들었고
밤에도 쉽게 길을 찾고 장애물을 피할 수 있게 만들어줬습니다.

이렇게 미국에서 유일하게 가로등을 설치한 필라델피아는
가장 안전하고 편리한 도시로 명성을 떨쳤고 이후 다른 주로도 가로등이 퍼져나가기 시작했습니다.

어두운 밤 가운데 단 하나의 등불만 있더라도
사람들은 빛의 유익을 누릴 수 있습니다.

점점 악해져가는 세상 가운데서 바른 진리를 선포하는 진리의 등불이 되십시오.

아멘!!

김장환 목사

Today, “living like a Christian” has taken on so many different meanings. While the core beliefs in Jesus as our redeeming savior remain, the ways in which we follow God differ greatly. To give an example, we need only look at modern politics in the U.S.A.: some Christians believe with all their heart that taking guns away from the people and leaving them with trained officials is the best way to protect the innocent, while another portion of Christians believe keeping guns in the hands of the people is the best way to protect. When the church body itself is so divided on major issues, how can we know which is the “most Christian”? How do we apply our faith to our actions and opinions about the world around us?

In order to answer this as best I can, I want to walk you through a few very important verses from the New Testament:

In other words, God has gifted our spirits with different strengths—we are not all created the same. He did not create all of us to be strongest in compassion or strongest in a sense of justice. Because of this, when faced with situations, some will naturally lean one way while others will lean another way and still more will feel even differently! None of these insights or opinions are necessarily “bad,” instead what is bad is to dismiss the other perspectives simply because they are not heavily based on the thought process you are best at. When faced with opposing opinions, take the time to evaluate what has influenced all of the opinions—are they based on care for human beings, a desire for holiness, or righteous anger? It takes all parts of what is “good” to find a well-rounded good solution to a problem.

In this verse, Paul reminds us of our duty as followers of Christ, to make God the center and reason for everything we do. He uses the phrase, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,” meaning that there is nothing we can separate from God. Therefore, if nothing is apart from God, all things can be done for God. When things are not done for God, they are done for the world which goes against our calling as servants of the Lord.

Practical Example: Recently, in my Theology of Marriage and Family course, our professor asked us to write a short paper explaining how we can change our child’s diaper to the glory of God. My initial reaction to this prompt was, “How?” But after contemplation, I came to realize there isn’t one but many ways to change a diaper for God: by choosing to love your spouse sacrificially and do the job for them, choosing to love your baby as a fellow image bearer by keeping them healthy and clean, choosing to do something unpleasant for God because Jesus did the ultimate unpleasant thing for us, and through realizing that changing diapers is just another way for God to sanctify us by growing in us more fruits. While there surely are more ways, I hope these give you a good head start for analyzing actions that are hard to view as glorifying God.

When asked by the Pharisees to choose the greatest piece of Law, Jesus answers with this. “Instead of promoting one command over another [like the Pharisees expected], Jesus defined the law in its core principles: love the LORD with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself,” explained the Enduring Word Bible Commentary on Matthew. Jesus understood that the core of the multitude of rules in the Law was simply a devoted love for God. When one has that, all else will follow. By doing this, Jesus removed the validity of the reasoning that you can only be a follower of God if you follow his rules perfectly. Rather, you are a follower of God if you genuinely love God with all that you are and look to Him for direction in all things.

The second law follows that we are to care for the people around us to the same degree that we care for ourselves. Understanding that every human being is created in the image of God and helps us to follow this law because it gives every person equal value—all man-made hierarchy is removed.

“For a long time before Paul knew Jesus, he thought God would accept him because of his law-keeping. But he came to the point where he really understood the law – understanding it in the way Jesus explained it in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) – and then Paul realized that the law made him guilty before God, not justified before God … ‘To die to the law is to renounce it and to be freed from its dominion, so that we have no confidence in it and it does not hold us captive under the yoke of slavery,’ (Calvin)” as explained by the Enduring Word Bible Commentary.

This means that to live a life that follows Christ is to choose to live by faith, putting no weight for salvation or righteousness on the Law. A true follower of Christ will do good works because He loves God and wants to glorify Him, not just because He ought to with the purpose of becoming “more righteous” in God’s eyes.

In other words, to live a life guided by Christ is to deny oneself of their own flesh-fueled desires in exchange for God’s desires for us. “Denying self is not the same as self-denial. We practice self-denial when, for a good purpose, we occasionally give up things or activities. But we deny self when we surrender ourselves to Christ and determine to obey His will,” says the Enduring Word Bible Commentary on Matthew. When we hand our body, soul, and mind over for God to use—that is when He uses us best. He can use anything we give Him for His will, but He wants to use everything.

In summary, there is no to-do list of actions or opinions that would summarize what a true Christ-follower should look like. I can only supply you with what the Word of God has given us: an understanding of what it means to be a Christian. From there, we must depend on God. Seek Him before making big decisions through prayer and fasting, read His word constantly in order to not forget His heart, and remember that your actions do not define your faith, but instead your faith in Jesus Christ. God hears your prayers and He wants to know your questions. Share yours with Him and He promises to guide you to the answer through His Holy Spirit.

I will leave you with one final verse:

Do you feel overworked? Is the unceasing strife of life wearing you down too much? If so, you may have heard this verse before as a response to that weariness…

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)

This passage probably sparks memories of pastors who instruct us to take off the yoke of the world in exchange for the yoke of the Son. These words are in fact a recording of Jesus’ own words of command for our own good.

But what exactly does his yoke consist of? And why is it better than that of the world (or myself)?

What is a yoke?

Merriam Webster’s Dictionary says a yoke is, “a wooden bar or frame by which two draft animals (such as oxen) are joined at the heads or necks for working together.”

A second definition listed is, “servitude” or “bondage.”

“Servitude” means “a condition in which one lacks liberty especially to determine one’s course of action or way of life” or “a right by which something (such as a piece of land) owned by one person is subject to a specified use or enjoyment by another.”

With these in mind, read the following illustration:

“Farmers used to train young oxen to plow by partnering them with stronger and more mature oxen. The job of the younger ox was simply to follow in the same direction and keep pace with the teacher ox. The older ox pulled most of the weight and understood the commands of the plow driver. As long as the young ox followed the older ox, everything was fine. But if the younger ox decided to speed up or lag behind, the work became much more difficult. Only by keeping pace with the older ox could the younger ox complete the day’s work without collapsing from exhaustion.” – Kerri Weems in “A Yoke for Rest?”

When you first hear that the solution to a heavy yoke is not to be unyoked but to take on a second yoke—Jesus’ yoke—it can seem illogical. Our natural inclination is to desire ultimate freedom, but what we don’t realize is how incapable we are of handling ultimate freedom. Freedom comes with a lot of responsibility and to use it well takes a great amount of wisdom and self-control—otherwise we will ultimately destroy ourselves.

Going back to the definitions of “yoke” we can see that one’s yoke is basically what they choose to serve. When we choose the yoke of the world—we are submitting ourselves to the burden of fulfilling the world’s desires, ways, and needs. When we choose Jesus’ yoke, we are choosing His desires and ways as our new burdens, submitting all others to Him

Why choose Jesus’ yoke?

Let’s break this down further…

When you choose the yoke of the world, you are choosing to let the world reign in your life. Its ways of cheating, suffering, fighting, corruption and loneliness will guide you.

On the other hand, when you choose the way of yourself, it is the choice to ride on your own pleasures, satisfaction and extremely limited wisdom. Why choose this and all of your mistakes over the guidance of a God who knows everything?

This brings us to the yoke of Jesus which is full of peace as He promises.

1. Jesus’ yoke satisfies all of our needs as a human being.

God created us to desire things that ultimately point us back to Him as our intelligent designer. Christianity—living a life like Jesus’—while not easy, will fulfill all of those desires. We will be satisfied in our self-esteem as created in the image of a God. We will be satisfied in our value as having a God who died for us and will listen to us whenever we call. We will be satisfied in our needs for intimacy by a God who dwells inside us, knows every piece of us, yet loves us fully anyway. We will be satisfied in our need for a purpose and motivation in life by a God who has commissioned us and promised each of us a purpose. We are satisfied in our need for a specialty and responsibility by God’s promise to have given us spiritual gifts that we can use to expand His name. I could go on, but I think you get it!

2. The yoke of Jesus is light.

Notice that Jesus said his burden is light in contrast to the heavy one from before. That his yoke is easy, but not completely non-existent. The yoke of the world is a heavy burden and it holds you hostage by every natural desire and corrupted motivation it can come up with. It tells us we have to acquire certain titles, a level of status, or various goals. On the contrary, the burden of Jesus is to let go of all of these worldly, effort-filled goals for the singular effort of keeping faith and trust in Him. Jesus only calls us to have faith in Him, which by extension means we seek to understand His desires, which will lead us to love Him, which will guide us into obedience. When we follow Jesus’ desire for our life, all other things will fall into place just as He intends rather than by our own striving and futile effort.

3. Jesus’ yoke fulfills the law for us.

The primary burden spoken of by Jesus that the Israelites lied primarily in the Law that had been provided by God and then expanded on by the Pharisees. This Law was supposed to be followed without fail in order to produce a life just worthy enough to be presented to God. Jesus’ alternate burden was the idea that they no longer had to work in order to be accepted by God, but instead have faith in Jesus and He would do the work for us. Jesus perfectly performed the Law while He was here on earth so that His perfect record could be shown to God in place of ours.

Nothing worth doing is easy. Similarly, the completely fulfilling life that Jesus has planned for us is completely worth being yoked for—it is freeing in thousands of ways—but it is still a yoke, and we have to be prepared for that. Many people walk away from the Christian faith because of its demands for repentance and pursuit of righteousness—for them it is easier to do whatever one pleases and pursue the whims of the world instead. But “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control,” (2 Timothy 1:7).

What is Self-Control?

Self-control is the last (and seeming culmination) of the Fruits of the Spirit listed by Paul in Galatians 5. It is a virtue consistently proscribed by Paul and exemplified by Jesus Christ Himself.

Self-control is what the name suggests, the ability of a person to control the inclinations of the self—whether that be holding oneself completely back from certain desires, or simply limiting the fulfilling of those desires. This is a key virtue for understanding that human beings have a flesh or sinful-self due to the fall that can be denied upon their rebirth as a Christian.

What is Life Like Without Self-Control?

“A man without self-control
    is like a city broken into and left without walls.” – Proverbs 25:28 (ESV)

This verse from the wisdom book is no joke. It is describing how vulnerable a man (or woman) becomes when they choose not to pursue self-control. When one chooses to let down all defenses and indulge any temptation that comes their way, they become fully exposed to the patterns of the world that ultimately lead to death.

Self-control always follows the same pattern—when you lose control in one area of life, it won’t remain there alone. It will spread, and you will begin to lose control in other areas of life as the little self-control you do have begins to wear down. For example, when you let yourself stop going to the gym regularly and give in to laziness, you will eventually start eating less and less healthy and then you might stop doing your homework on time as often, etc. Before you dismiss this as extreme, think about the ways self-control has been lost in your own life. Did it really only stay in one area? Or was your whole life beginning to unravel until you got back on track?

How We Gain It – Through Jesus

Jesus was the first man to exhibit perfect self-control. He was without sin and knew when to go and when to stop—even when faced with his own crucifixion. Because of this, we can truly rely on Jesus to support and understand our struggle when we are in a moment of temptation.

One of the primary ways we are told to battle sin is to pray against it. By praying, we are refocusing our mind on God and His desires which helps us see our tiny temptations proportionally rather than irresistibly. Prayer is also a form of spiritual warfare—a way to battle against the demons that are constantly trying to get us to sin.

“He [Paul] ‘agonizes’ by the power of Christ, not his own. Similarly he tells us, ‘If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live’ (Romans 8:13). ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts’ (Zechariah 4:6).” – John Piper from “The Fierce Fruit of Self-Control”

How We Gain It – Practically

1. Identify what you struggle with most often.

a) We’re all different, some people struggle with this or that. Set aside one week to really watch your impulses and understand the areas that you are most frequently tempted in.

• Do you frequently eat unhealthy foods? Do you spend your money obsessively on material goods? Does pride control your life? How about laziness?
•  In case you are having trouble narrowing down what specifically you struggle with, the list of the seven deadly sins is a good place to start: lust, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath, envy, pride.
• A more extensive list of sins can be found in Proverbs 6:16-19 and in Galatians 5:19-21.

b) Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to what is behind your vices.

• Sometimes our struggles in everyday life have deep seeds that we can’t find on our own. Only the God who knows and understands us inside and out can reveal those secret roots to our strange thoughts, actions, and feelings.

2. It is important to understand that the purpose of self-control is what we gain from it, not what we lose.

a) It can feel like we are losing out when we consistently deny ourselves the desires of our flesh. Pleasures that are seemingly harmless.

b) We must remember that self-control in all areas cultivates a beautiful life. There are practical reasons for self-control if the spiritual seems to abstract or distant.

• For example: If you struggle with gluttony or overeating, choosing to indulge your temptations will lead to a decline in health. Your body will put on fat, your arteries will clog faster, and you will lose energy and emotional health along the way because you body is not being fed what it needs most. Choosing to let go of self-control will ultimately shorten your life.
• Another example: Struggling with lust is an increasingly common experience in our increasingly sexualized world. It can be easy to say, “God would understand that my partner and I really love each other, that’s good enough!” or think, “He will forgive me afterwards.” But you must take a moment to pause and think about the ramifications of indulging in premarital sexual relations whenever you feel like it. Some of many include opening oneself up to sexually transmitted diseases very readily, causing an unplanned pregnancy, the emotional toil it would take on your relationship and on your future relationships if this one doesn’t last. Sexual indulgence outside of its intended setting will always lead to spiritual, emotional, and potentially physical suffering. Sex is one of the most intimate and bonding experience a husband and wife can have with each other, so to indulge in it causally is to wreck and abuse the most sensitive, intimate aspect of your human body and soul.

3. In addition to practical reasons, we need to remember God’s reasons.

a) To do this we must go back to God’s Word and re-learn what He says and why He says it. Read the Bible verses that tell the story of historical characters that also struggled with what you struggled with and see what God says about that. The New Testament letters is a great place to start because Paul always has sin to condemn in the churches of Rome or Ephesus.

b) When you’re needing a voice to comfort and empathize with you through the struggle, go to the Psalms and read the voice of David and many others as they learn to depend on God.

4. Tell Others about Your Struggles.

a) Accountability works wonders when you struggle with the same sin over and over. It can feel embarrassing, daunting, or plain mortifying to tell someone else about your sins, but we must remember that sin takes root and grows in the darkness. By exposing your sin to the light, it is naked and vulnerable and much more easily extinguished.

b) To do this, do pick someone who you trust completely and who shares the same faith as you so that they can encourage and admonish you through the scriptures. Pick someone who you respect and want to listen to as well—sometimes it’s more compelling to follow the guidance of an elder rather than a peer.

5. Understand what triggers that sin and try to avoid them.

a) Every sin typically has a catalyst that will make you naturally inclined to commit it. Some examples: being alone can be a catalyst for someone to lust, being dehydrated can amplify one’s proclivity to wrath, or being overly stressed can foster laziness.

b) Once you have an idea of what makes you more likely to commit your habit-sins, remove those situations from your life if possible or minimize them if you can’t remove them. More examples: try to avoid being along if you struggle with lust, but if you must be, remove access to certain content that further tempts you while alone, etc.

6. Lastly, Remember that failure once, twice, or thirty times isn’t the end!

a) It is normal to feel like you will never be able to overcome temptation when you give into it repeatedly, but that is exactly what Satan wants you to think. We are fallen creatures, mistakes are inevitable. What is most important is that, no matter how often we fail, we turn back and repent. God does not call for perfection, He calls for faith and repentance.

And as we close, let me remind you what repentance really means:

“In the Bible, the word repent means ‘to change one’s mind,’” – from “What is Repentance and Is it Necessary for Salvation?”

It means to acknowledge to God that what was done was wrong, and to make the conscious choice to do what is right from then on. God sees your heart and knows when you have truly repented, whether you mess up again or not.

WHY WE LOVE OUR ENEMIES

Loving those we disagree with is always difficult. Our natural inclination is to despise them and, if we don’t despise them, we are apathetic towards them. But the problem that arises with this—while it is self-satisfying and feeds our sense of pride—is that neither are what God calls us to do. He does not call us to hate, or to simply not care, but instead He calls for action; He calls us to love our enemies.

In this verse, Jesus is presenting a common misconception in Jewish society at the time. While the scriptures never prescribed the people of God to “hate” their enemies, they were instructed to love their neighbors. It is possible that the Pharisees added on the “hate your enemy” as a misunderstanding of the hatred we are to have for those who hate God (not who hate us).

One helpful explanation to break down what the Psalmist really means comes from one of John Piper’s articles, “Do I Not Hate Those Who Hate You, O Lord?” says, “There is a kind of hate for the sinner (viewed as morally corrupt and hostile to God) that may coexist with pity and even a desire for their salvation. You may hate spinach without opposing its good use.” Piper explains that the type of “hate” that those who fear the Lord are to have is for the moral attitude of those who actively hate God. This is not to say we are to hate them as a person, we are—as the Psalmist claims—to hate their work to strip glory away from God and bring others down with them. The important thing to notice here is that our hatred revolves around God and others’ attitudes toward Him, not ourselves. Understanding this can help us redefine who are real enemies are as Christians.

Additionally, an important note to make is that the Psalmists do not only advocate for hatred of the enemies of God, but for love as well:

Now we can see how Jesus’ re-explanation of who we are to love as Christians was necessary for the Jews. He was clarifying a truth that was already there but misunderstood by the teachers of the Scriptures for years. By teaching them that they are to love both neighbors and enemies, He is teaching us more about God’s own character. In other words, Jesus is teaching us how to act like God—God hates evil and all that opposes Him, but He loves His creation.

HOW TO LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

1. We Must Pray for Them

Just as Jesus prescribed, we should pray for our enemies. This does two things for us: it reminds us that vengeance lies in the hands of the Lord not in ours and it also softens our heart. Prayer is a time for God to speak to you, so if there is anything that is wrong in your life, He can show you as well—teaching you to criticize yourself before you criticize others.

Additionally, this gives us the opportunity to hand justice over to God (where it should be) rather than taking it into our own hands. Praying for our enemies leads us to praying for their salvation, for them to be led away from their evil actions, and it helps us grow newfound compassion for them as a fellow human. Praying for our family members is one way for us to show our love for them—extending this love to our enemies is a way to love them while also potentially impacting their lives forever. Prayer is powerful.

2. We Must Hate the Evil That is Causing Them to Fall

“Love for our enemies means, fundamentally, that we hate our enemies for wholeheartedly joining in the evil that will ultimately cause their damnation (John 5:29).” – Pastor Jonathan Parnell in, “Do You Love Your Enemies Enough to Hate Them?”

Just as the Psalmists exemplified above, our love for our enemies should also encompass a hatred for the evil they are partaking in. For those who believe that love never involves any form of disagreement, hatred, or anger, remember this: God Himself calls us away from sin. When we repent of our sins, He forgives us and sees us as pure through the lens of Jesus, but if we do not repent and continue to deeply pursue evil, God will give us up to that evil and his righteous anger will allow us to suffer eternally after death. Does God not love us because He does not accept us as we are and instead asks us to change? Of course not! It is because of His love for us that He wants us to change and holds hatred for the evil we are pursuing.

And why does God hate that evil? Because it is harming us. Pastor Parnell puts it well when he says that the evil our enemies pursue, “will ultimately cause their damnation.” If we truly love our enemies, we will not want them to face eternal damnation and should therefore hate the evil they are pursuing so gladly.

3. We Must Forgive our Enemies

This step involves more than forgiveness, it involves recognition that the person committing evil against you is doing so out of the deception of Satan and sin. This also works in tandem with praying for our enemies.

Learn from one of Jesus’ last words before He died:

Here it is also important to remember that, “Forgiving someone does not mean you no longer feel the pain of their offense.” In his article, “Forgiveness: What it is, what it is not,” Dr. Sam Storms explains what forgiving those who have hurt us actually looks like—not what it has been “idealized” to be.

1. We Must Resign Revenge to God

Loving our enemies means that we give the duty of enacting revenge to God and God only. We may have a great desire to hurt them as badly as they have hurt us—and in some cases of disagreement, hurting a movement or party may be necessary for the common good—but individually, as we are called to love, we are called to hold back from revenge. God will take care of justice because He is a just God Himself and will always do a better job of it than we ever could.

Love can be a tricky quality. Many of us already know that it is more than an emotion—that it is constituted by intentional actions for the good of the one being loved. Despite this, the way we love our spouse or friend can look vastly different from the way we love God.

Loving our significant other is often filled with quality time together. It manifests in hugs and loving words, gifts and service, respect and honor. How does our time with God normally look?

Loving God for many Christians today looks like praying once (maybe twice) a day. It often involves reading our Bibles once a week and forgetting the scriptures that stand out most to us by the very next day. It means not fully being able to answer questions about what God likes and dislikes and about how He works in our world.

While loving God should look different from loving our imperfect spouse, it should never look so different that it does not look like love at all. Remember that Jesus Himself stated: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” (Matthew 22:37). Jesus lists this as the primary command while the secondary one is to love our neighbors as ourselves. If this is the order we are to love, then loving God should look even more grand and intimate than loving our spouse! Considering this isn’t the case for many of us, how can we make it happen? What does loving a non-physical God so deeply look like?

Here are some steps to loving God well:

1. Loving God means Seeking to Know Him

Firstly, loving God requires that you learn more about Him—this will help you love Him best. How are you to love a person you know nothing about? Luckily, God provides simple ways to do this such as reading your Bible in order to understand who He is, what He stands for, and His story. Praying is another way to learn about God as it teaches us to recognize His voice over the voices of the world. Understanding when He speaks to us and what He is saying to us shows us His personality. Lastly, talking to others about God can help open your eyes to attributes of Him that you weren’t aware of before. It can also help you understand those attributes more fully.

2. Loving God means Obeying Him

Once you understand who God is and what He wants from us, the next course of action is to obey what He says. Think about it this way: even the demons know that Jesus is God and that He died for our sins, but they do not obey, nor do they love Him. One of the pitfalls for the Christian is to say we love God but choose to live our lives the way we want to. This is the same as telling your husband that you love him then turning around and keying his car! Does that exemplify real love? Loving God does not look like apathy towards His desires for us, instead it should be your constant effort to glorify God through obedience.

3. Loving God means Enjoying Him

“My wife is most honored when I say, “It makes me happy to spend time with you.” My happiness is the echo of her excellence. And so it is with God. He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” – John Piper in his devotional, What it Means to Love God.

Reading this quote shows us one of the ways we know love functions in this physical world. It’s not only wives that feels pleased, honored, and appreciated when others enjoy being around them. God is also pleased. He created us for the purpose of glorifying Him—this means our soul will be most healthy and satisfied when we are living in step with God. God wants us to be healthy, He created us to thrive in His presence, so choosing to pursue Him and be pleased with who He is pleases Him. It is simple logic that is very easy to practice—thank Him unceasingly!

4. Loving God means Making Him #1

“Our marriage provides the foundation for everything that we’ve built together. It isn’t a joke. It’s something we work hard at and are tremendously proud of.  I want it to last a lifetime, which is why I treat it accordingly.” – Mel Robbins for “Secret to a Happy Marriage: Put Your Spouse First.”

If you are married or hoping to get married someday, you’ve probably heard that you are always supposed to put your spouse first. This is important for various reasons, but mainly because your relationship with your spouse is the foundation for your entire life once you’re married. Knowing this, you should place all your effort and thoughts on the benefit of that relationship–choosing to make it a priority rather than an afterthought. Similarly, our relationship with God is the foundation for all things (including marriage) from the moment we become a Christian. In order to foster that relationship (and in turn, stand firmer in life), we must love Him and pour our efforts into our relationship with Him. We want our “marriage” to Christ to be lifelong just like our marriage to our spouse, so why would we not treat it with even greater importance? And, because our relationship with God is the foundation for all else, when He is treated as number one, all other things fall into place—including your marriage.

5. Loving God means Worshiping Him

“Worshiping Jesus together may be the single most important thing we do.” – Pastor David Mathis in “Five Benefits of Corporate Worship.”

Worshiping is deeply important for our relationship with God. Two of the most relevant benefits of worship are its ability to re-awaken in us a sense of awe for God and to give Him the glory He deserves. Every marriage feels the point when the spark dies down and your relationship feels less extraordinary and more ordinary. In a healthy marriage, the husband and wife will take action to try and rekindle the lost flame so that their marriage is full of life and luster once more. When loving God, this need to rekindle the passion and awe takes place in an even more enlightening way than date nights and romance—it takes place through worship. When we turn our focus entirely to God and forget ourselves completely in order to cry out how glorious and holy He is, we are loving Him well.

Why is it so easy for us to forget that we live in the constant presence of our Eternal King? It can be easy to go on with life feeling like it’s just us—only I can hear my thoughts, only I can see what I’m doing right now or what happened over there. God’s presence is so silent, intangible and abstract that it becomes easy to feel like He isn’t there at all.

Despite this, the Bible repeatedly guarantees that our God is an omnipresent God.

While perceiving God’s presence is unlikely with our five senses—the way we are used to encountering our world—that does not make Him any less there. He is aware of all things and able to interact with all things whether in nature or inside of us. How then do we encounter this silent, yet ever-present God? The answer to that is: however He chooses to express Himself to us. Being a multi-dimensional God, He can choose exactly what His influence and presence looks like to us. This can range from our experiencing His incomparable peace, being consistently aware of His blessings throughout our day, receiving an answer to a fervent prayer and more.

WHY WE SHOULD STRIVE TO LIVE IN GOD’S PRESENCE

John Piper explains in his podcast, Ask Pastor John, from December 2015 that “Our experience of [God’s presence] means that we taste or feel or realize the reality of God more directly, more authentically, more intimately, more effectively — that is, producing more effects in our lives — more certainly, more satisfyingly, or more terrifyingly, and so on. In other words, his presence as we experience him is the heightening of his reality in our lives either for good, if we are in his grace, or for ill, if we are under his wrath Which is why Jesus makes all the difference here to shield us and make God a welcoming reality or presence for us.”

This lengthy quote can be narrowed down into two main points:

First, living in and experiencing God’s presence is a blessing! The feeling of being aware of or acknowledged by the God of the universe should fill us with joy! As the Psalmist exemplifies in Psalm 16:

God’s presence is one filled with goodness. Remember that He is the giver of life to all things. He holds the world in its orbit, puts a roof over our head, provides the colorful sunsets we can view each day. God is a God of blessings. He loves His children and longs to give us the things our hearts desire most when in alignment with Him. The idea that God also receives joy from giving you a gift should be awe-inspiring in itself.

Second, God’s presence is a reminder—an enforcer. It keeps us aware of our sins, and in healthy fear of the Lord.

While God loves giving and blessing His people, it is important to remember that He still wants us to avoid sin. When we are saved, God promises not to count every time we sin, but He will still see every single moment in which we choose our flesh over His Word. Choosing to momentarily say “No” to a God who is always watching your actions and your heart should (hopefully) make the sin harder to commit. There is no hiding from God.

WAYS TO REMEMBER GOD’S PRESENCE IN EVERDAY LIFE

1. Practice Thankfulness

During time in prayer and throughout the day, make extra effort to thank God for everything He has given you. The important thing here is to not skip the “mundane” gifts. Thanking God for your bed, your breakfast, a conversation with a good friend, the sound of the birds in the trees as you walk to work—taking note of each small gift helps us keep our awareness on God’s omnipresence and less on our own lives. Doing this also helps us notice the smaller gifts when they happen, rather than after the fact.

2. Pause to Rest

Busyness can be a huge distractor from God’s presence. If you want to be more aware of God, you need to take the time to notice Him. Every chance you have throughout your busy day (and especially in the morning before you leave your home) take a second to breathe, slow down, and ground yourself on God. This helps you center everything in your life back on the One who matters most.

3. Be Kingdom Minded

Beyond awareness of God, put in effort to see the world and yourself through His eyes. Putting your life into perspective everyday is not only helpful for the way you react to life’s circumstances, but also necessary for living in God’s presence. God calls Christians to understand how temporary and “unimportant” the dealings on this earth are in comparison to eternity. He created us to flourish best when we are able to see what He sees and rest in his sovereignty instead of in our own understandings.

4. Contemplate Beauty (even in the small things)

One of God’s most easily perceived attributes is His beauty and love for beauty. When more aware of and choosing to live in God’s presence, Christians should have a heightened awareness of the beauty around them. One of the easiest ways to do this is to look at nature, appreciate the warm sunlight, the beauty of a child’s face, the beauty of a conversation with a stranger or loved one. It’s when we take the small things for granted that we begin to lose sight of God’s presence.

“Hi, my name is Joe.
What is your name?

You will see these words on the wall inside a unique café called Joe’s Table, named after Joseph Chung. Joseph was diagnosed with autism at a young age and was also afflicted with a seizure disorder. Because Joseph loved to socialize in his own loving and harmless way, Dr. Stephanie Chung and her husband envisioned a job where Joseph could experience the joy and self-esteem that come from having meaningful work. Joe had a talent for engaging people by greeting them. A coffee shop seemed like the perfect place for that gift.

In Joe’s Table, Stephanie shares her story of:
a son birthed in joy and later diagnosed with autism.
a long battle raising an autistic son, and the journey that made her understand God’s providence and compassion.
heaven’s comfort for mothers who struggle and grieve because their children are different than they expected.
a disability that became a blessing to teach God’s love.

Joseph passed away unexpectedly in September 2012. Stephanie had to face despair and frustration once again as she sent her child to heaven before her. In that moment, she met the heart of God. Joe’s Table continued to evolve and had its grand opening on June 24, 2013. Now it is a one-of-a-kind coffee shop that serves the community and opens employment opportunities for those with different abilities.”

Click here to receive this amazing story of Joe : https://www.amazon.com/Joes-Table-name-Joseph-Whats/dp/1424556007

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