The Pathway of Love

 

“… since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

—1 John 4:11

Have you noticed how easy it is to reciprocate certain behaviors? If someone treats you with kindness, it becomes so much easier to treat him or her with kindness in return.

During the last twenty years of my full-time working career, from 1983 through 2003, I traveled extensively in the United States. For most of those years, I was “on the road” 39 weeks out of 52, teaching seminars, investigating large fire losses, and attending fire protection committee meetings of the National Fire Protection Association and of other organizations.

I traveled mostly by air and became all too familiar with handling canceled flights. I quickly learned that treating airline personnel with kindness usually resulted in them treating me with kindness in return.

That same principle applies in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. God has dealt with us in such a kind and loving way that it should become easy for us to show His love and His kindness to others. The Apostle John wrote these words in 1 John 4:11-12:

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

By the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have the opportunity during each new day to extend God-breathed love to everyone who crosses our pathway. So, let’s make a conscious effort to see those around us through God’s eyes of love, compassion, and kindness.

Just imagine how pleased our heavenly Father will be when He sees us loving others because He first loved us, extending kindness because He has extended kindness to us, and showing compassion because He has shown compassion to us. He will certainly delight in knowing that we have chosen to follow His pathway of love, compassion, and kindness.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, January 25, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Inseparable Love - Part 2

 

Nothing…“will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

—Romans 8:39b

The Book of Romans was written by the Apostle Paul to Christians gathered in the capital city of the Roman empire. Unique of all of Paul’s letters, he was writing to believers whom he had not yet had the opportunity to meet.

The Book of Romans is the most theological book in all of the Bible. Paul presents his systematic theology in such a way that these new Christians in Rome will understand the fullness of belief in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 8 concludes the first critical section of the Book of Romans. And, the following two verses conclude chapter 8. Notice carefully what Paul writes in Romans 8:38-39:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The whole of the gospel hinges on God’s love for those He has chosen to belong to Himself, and on the love He has given them to show to others on His behalf. This marks Christianity as unique among all world religions.

No other religion is so totally free of performance requirements as Christianity is free from them. God initiates love. He breathes His love into His chosen children. He provides for their salvation through the death and resurrection of His one and only Son. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. It is an inseparable love. And, that is very good news at the beginning of this new day.

My dear friend and Houghton College professor, the late Donald Doig, wrote a haunting choral representation of this theme. Please watch, as tenor soloist, Tony Gonzales, sings this moving song at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Hills, California:

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, January 22, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Inseparable Love - Part 1

 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

—Romans 8:35a

For whatever deep psychological reasons, I have always been a very insecure person when it comes to interpersonal relationships. This interpersonal insecurity is in stark contrast with how secure I am within my own self. I am extraordinarily self-aware. Yet, when it comes to relating to other people, I would much rather isolate myself than experience an uncomfortable interaction with other individuals. Since I am now in my dotage, fortunately I have become much less bothered by my interpersonal insecurity. Nevertheless, I still remember how I often felt around other people when I was younger.

If someone told me that he or she liked me, or loved me, I always expected that one to stop liking me, or loving me, at any moment. My insecure behaviors often resulted in the people who liked me, or loved me, wanting to flee away from me. Their reaction to my interpersonal insecurity, of course, only served to validate those very feelings of interpersonal insecurity.

I share this information about me, so that I can make this point: fortunately, God’s love does not depend on our behaviors. No matter how insecure we may feel about His love, God’s love is an inseparable love.

The Apostle Paul confirms this in Romans 8:35-37:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

We can totally rely on the inseparability of God’s love. Once He has chosen us as His dearly loved children, He never, ever stops loving us.

Let us respond this day to God’s inseparable love by greeting every person who crosses our pathway with that same kind of God-breathed love. In this tit-for-tat world, let us keep loving others no matter how they may behave. In this way we will model the inseparable love that God has for us.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, January 21, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Message Repeated

 

“We should love one another.”

—1 John 3:11b

Whenever someone tells us the same message over and over it usually means one of two things:

• Either the person repeating the message has a mental impairment, so he or she can’t remember what was said
  
  
• Or, the message is a really important one.
  
  

In the case of the message regarding the essence of the word “love,” it is obviously the latter. The often-repeated message of love in the Bible is a really important message. The Apostle John confirms this in 1 John 3:11:

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

John states that we have heard the message of love from the beginning. It is a message repeated over and over because it’s really important that we understand how crucial love is in the life of a believer.

For those times we have not acted or spoken lovingly, we need to confess and repent. When faced with new challenges, or new opportunities, we need to act and speak with love.

Let us begin this new day with love in our hearts and on our minds. Let’s prove to God that we’ve received His message about how important love is to the spiritually healthy life of a believer.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

This is Love ...

 

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ”

—1 John 4:10

In the movies, love is a constant theme. The same is true for literature and music. It seems as if love is always on our minds.

The great Christian writer of the 20th century, C. S. Lewis, wrote an amazing little book entitled The Four Loves in which he carefully explains the difference between the four words in the New Testament Koine Greek language that are simply translated “love” in the English language.

What does the word “love” really mean? The Apostle John offers this cogent definition of the word “love” in 1 John 4:10-12:

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

Through the resurrection power of the living Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love is made complete in us. So, we believers should live and act in ways that demonstrate the fullness of God’s love within us.

Let’s begin another new day keenly aware of God’s love. And, let us become willing vessels of that love, carrying it into a desperately needy world.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Tuesday, January 19, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Life-giving Love

 

“A new command I give you: Love one another.”

—John 13:34

There’s something extraordinary about deeply devoted love. It has a unique healing power. People who find themselves in the darkest of situations can begin to see a glimmer of hope when love floods into their lives.

Jesus commanded us—those who believe in Him and follow Him—to extend His love enthusiastically. Notice what He said in John 13:34-35:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

So, we have a new command. Let’s burst into this day ready, willing, and able to extend God-breathed love to those we meet, particularly our brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, January 18, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

No Greater Love

 

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

—John 3:17

One of my all time favorite songs comes from the Broadway production of A Chorus Line. Here are the lyrics:

Kiss today goodbye,
The sweetness and the sorrow
Wish me luck, the same to you
But I can’t reget what I did for love,
What I did for love.

Look, my eyes are dry,
The gift was ours to borrow
It’s as if we always knew
And I won't forget what I did for love,
What I did for love.

Gone, love is never gone,
As we travel on,
Love’s what we’ll remember.

Kiss today goodbye,
And point me toward tomorrow
We did what we had to do
Won’t forget,
Can’t regret what I did for love.
What I did for love…
What I did for love…
What I did for love.

The song “What I Did for Love” was written by Edward Lawrence Kleban, Marvin Hamlisch, and Edward Kleban. It has hauntingly soulful lyrics and a very wistful melody. When I listen to that song, particularly on a day like today, I cannot help but hear God say, “Do you know how much I love you? Do you know what I did for love?” The answer comes to us in Jesus’ own words, recorded in John 3:16-17:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

There is no greater love than the love that God has given us through the living sacrifice of His precious Son, Jesus. And, we are the completely unworthy recipients of that amazing love.

In case you’re not familiar with the song I referenced above, here’s an example of it from the compilation cast album of A Chorus Line:

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, January 15, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Persevering Love

 

“Love… always perseveres. ”

—1 Corinthians 13:7b

God loves us, no matter what! No matter what we do, no matter what we say, no matter what we feel, no matter what we think, God loves us. The Apostle Paul confirms this quality of God-breathed love when he writes these words found in 1 Corinthians 13:6-7 NIV:

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Of course, God desires that we, His dearly loved children, will become more and more obedient to His written Word and to His perfect will for us. But, no matter how we struggle with such obedience, God never stops loving us. And, He desires to breathe that same kind of love into us this very day, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

So, let us open each of our human modalities—our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our strengths—to this God-breathed love. And then, let us determine to do everything we possible can to love God back by pushing ourselves towards obedience. Let us also share His magnificent love with everyone who crosses the pathway of our lives today.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, January 14, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Genuine Love

 

“Love is patient, love is kind.”

—1 Corinthians 13:4a

The words “I was just pretending” can be the most devastating words, especially if they come from the lips of someone who said that he or she loved you.

Nearly 60 years ago, when I was in high school, there was a football player who developed a reputation for lying about his feelings of love in order to trick girls into submitting to his advances. Even as his behavior became relatively well known—and even as he left a wake of tearful girls—he still kept successfully tricking an ever-increasing number of other girls into submitting to his improper requests.

Genuine love is never wrapped in pretense. As the Apostle Paul explains, genuine love has well-defined qualities because it is God-breathed love. Notice what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5:

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.

The love that Paul describes is totally opposite from the utterly selfish “I was just pretending” love of the high school football player from more than half a century ago. As rude, crude, and hurtful as the football player’s lies were to countless young women, so magnificent, supportive, kind, totally truthful, and awe-inspiring is the love that God shows to those He has chosen to belong to Himself.

As we begin this new day, let us seek God-breathed love, so that we may show the world around us what genuine love looks like. The culture that surrounds us will, frankly, be startled by this look at genuine love. And, some of the individuals who cross our pathway may be drawn irresistibly into that amazing and transformative God-breathed love.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without Love ...

 

“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.”

—1 Corinthians 13:1

God-breathed love is the most powerful force in the lives of believers. That’s why the Apostle Paul devoted an entire chapter of Scripture to the subject. Paul begins by declaring these truths, found in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3:

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, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Paul had experienced first hand the power of God-breathed love. Let us follow in Paul’s footsteps this day and open ourselves to the mighty power found in God-breathed love.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Ever-Increasing Love

 

“We ought always to thank God for you…”

—2 Thessalonians 1:3a

Can you imagine the mess we would be in if God’s love was fickle? One moment God would love us. The next moment He wouldn’t love us. As believers, we would be in a constant state of confusion. We would never know where we stood with regard to God’s love for us.

But, God’s love isn’t fickle. His love is constant and never-changing. Because God’s love is constant, our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ should not only be constant, but ever-increasing. The Apostle Paul confirms this fact in 2 Thessalonians 1:3:

We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.

As our faith in God grows—as the Holy Spirit builds an ever-stronger spiritual foundation within our hearts and minds—a natural outcome will be ever-increasing love for our fellow believers. Therefore, this new day, let us ask God to enable us to love our brothers and sisters in Christ with an ever-increasing love. By the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, God will truly answer this prayer.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, January 11, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Enabling Love

 

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”

—Matthew 5:44a

A friend of mine in the ministry recently wrote these words:

“If it is not of love, it is not of God. If it doesn’t exhibit or embody or extend love, it doesn't exhibit or embody or extend God.”

I believe Jesus would agree. Notice what our Lord says, as recorded in Matthew 5:43-48:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.

“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

God-breathed love is an enabling force. And, of course, it absolutely must be “God-breathed love” because left to our own devices we cannot conjure up the kind of love that Jesus is talking about in the passage above from the Gospel of Matthew.

Love my enemies? Not without the enablement of the Holy Spirit. In my flesh I not only do not want to love those who have chosen to make themselves my enemy, I want to see them suffer and be destroyed. But that is not of God. God’s way is an enabling love—a love that heals and restores and binds up wounds and blesses. Only the Holy Spirit can give us this enabling love.

Let us seek this enabling love as we begin another day. Let us open our minds and hearts to God’s gift to us of the very enabling love that He breathes into our beings.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, January 8, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

God Guards Our Lives

 

“ Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful one”

—Psalm 97:10

In a world where danger seems to lurk around every corner, who will protect us? Of course, we’re not the first group of people to have to walk a dangerous road. From his own experience, the Psalmist offers these words from Psalm 97:10-12:

Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.

Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.

Not only does the Psalmist assure us that God guards our lives, the Psalmist offers us a way of responding when he instructs us to:

“Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.”

Let us take this opportunity at the beginning of a new day to rejoice in God’s loving protection. Let’s praise Him for guarding our lives.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, January 7, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Despising the Promise

 

“Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.”

—Proverbs 21:21

So, we graduate from high school or college. Spurred on by a success-obsessed culture, we look for a way to achieve success as quickly as possible. Before long we meet some people who illustrate for us that by compromising our values—by cutting corners here and there, and by telling an occasional lie—we can climb to the top. We make compromises and drift from our values. Now we’re beginning to realize success as measured by our culture. But, one day we wake up to the reality that we are no longer the persons we once were.

The term “prosperity gospel” has taken on a horrible connotation in our Evangelical sub-culture. The very idea that placing our lives uncompromisingly in God’s hands will bring us spiritual and material prosperity is an anathema to many. There are plenty of preachers who urge us to surrender everything we are and everything we possess to God and, in return, He will pour out unimaginable blessings to fill our lives full to overflowing.

Many other Evangelical preachers look at their own lives and circumstances and declare such “prosperity preaching” just isn’t true. After all, they believe they have totally given their lives over to service to God, yet they remain in near abject poverty—at least as far as material things are concerned. As a result of this thinking, they despise the very idea that faithfulness to God will result in prosperity, and even become quite angry about the very idea.

But, the truth is that surrendering our wills to God through Christ, and opening ourselves up to the leading of the Holy Spirit, will bring us an extraordinary prosperity—a prosperity, however, that is defined solely by the God who loves us with His everlasting love. It is quite natural for questions to arise within us:

• Will we become fabulously wealthy?
  
  
• Will we rise to positions of power and influence in our chosen professions?
  
  
• Will we own multiple residences and travel extensively?
  
  
• Will we become so wise that people will flock to hear and heed our advice?
  
  

The answer to each of these questions: maybe, maybe not. But, we will live lives of transformational prosperity. If we bend our foolish, sinful, selfish wills to God’s perfect will—as the Holy Spirit enables us—we will experience a great outpouring of God’s overwhelming goodness.

King Solomon nailed it when he wrote in Proverbs 21:21:

Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.

Is there a “prosperity gospel”? I guess it depends on how you choose to define the term. Is the promise contained in the wrappings of Solomon’s proverb true? After all, he became the richest man who ever lived. How dare anyone suggest that God would do for others what He had done for Solomon. So, the question remains: is there a “prosperity gospel”?

I can testify that following Jesus has enriched my life beyond my ability to measure. Even at this point in my life, I continue to experience a richer, fuller life than I would have ever experienced without a great outpouring of God’s mercy, grace, and love. I am not “healthy, wealthy, and wise.” But, I am far better off because God chose me to belong to Himself than I could ever be if I despised His promise.

So, yes, pursuing the pathway of righteousness that God lays out for us does lead to a prosperity of the most valuable kind. There is no point in despising the promise. King Solomon was right. And, that should not be a surprise.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Wednesday, January 6, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Worshiping Night and Day

 

“There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher.”

—Luke 2:36

Most of us find ourselves so wrapped up in the busy world we inhabit that it seems difficult to find time to worship. For many of us, weekends are the only large blocks of time that we have for ourselves. We use weekends to catch up on the activities that either we enjoy, or those activities that must be done. We are constantly pulled this way and that way. Seldom are we pulled toward the church and the worship of the God who loves us.

But not Anna. Having lost her husband after only seven years of marriage, she spent the rest of her unusually long life devoted to worship. Dr. Luke records her encounter with the Messiah in Luke 2:36-40:

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.

She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.

Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.

And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

Oh that we could have such devotion! Even as we go about our many tasks, we should consider these questions:

• Can we possibly foster within us a spirit of worship?
  
  
• Can we always be listening for the leading and guiding voice of the Holy Spirit?
  
  
• Can we have a word of testimony about the goodness of God ready on our lips?
  
  
• Can we be quick to tell others what God has done for us through His one and only Son, Jesus?
  
  

We should carefully examine our answer to those questions. Then, let us surely take time this day, and every day, to praise and worship the God who is the Lover of our Souls. And, when we have the opportunity each week to gather with our fellow believers, let us hasten to do so that we might join with like-minded Christians to worship the God who loves us with His unfailing, undying love.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Tuesday, January 5, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Name of Jesus

 

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.”

—Luke 2:25

The Lord Jesus Christ is the most controversial person in all of history. You either love Him, or you secretly hate Him. Satan has manipulated humankind in such a way that the powerful name of Jesus has become a common curse word. I sometimes wonder if the name of Jesus is spoken more often as a curse than it is spoken as an entreaty for help in sincere prayer.

The wise older man, Simeon, who greeted Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem, predicted this very outcome, as recorded in Luke 2:25-35:

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

You see, Simeon predicted quite accurately that Jesus would become:

“… a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”

This prophecy prompts me to ask:

“What do we make of Jesus? Is He our Savior and Lord? Or, has His precious name become our common curse word, spoken whenever we’re frustrated?

If the answer is the latter, we must repent. Then, having repented of taking the precious name of Jesus in vain, we must embrace Him as He really is—the one who became the Son of man that we might become the children of God.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, January 4, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Thoughtful Obedience

 

“Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”

—Luke 2:23

The miracle of the Incarnation rocked Mary’s and Joseph’s world. In the midst of everything to which they had to adjust, they remembered the instruction God had given them. Here’s Luke 2:21-24:

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord,” and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

The lesson for us from this passage: when God instructs us through His written Word, we must respond in obedience. Let us determine this day—particularly as a new calendar year has opened up before us—that, with the enabling help of the Holy Spirit, we will be obedient. For obedience to God’s will and to His written Word is the only thing God requires of us.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, January 1, 2016

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Right Word

 

For the word of the Lord is right and true…

—Psalm 33:4a

Have you ever engaged in a passionate conversation only to stop dead in your verbal tracks when you couldn’t find exactly the right word to say? If you’ve never experienced this phenomenon, just wait. I assure you that, as you get older, you will try to explain something and you just won’t be able to find the … err … right word.

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can relax a bit. You see, when it comes to something as important as the pathway laid out before us in our lives, we have an inside track. God has graciously given us His Word—both the Living Word, His one and only Son, and His written Word, the Bible. And, God’s Word is… Well, let me share what the Psalmist has written in Psalm 33:4-5:

For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.

Not only is God’s Word right and true, don’t you just really appreciate the fact that He is faithful in all He does? I know I do. But, I also realize that God loves righteousness and justice. Sadly, apart from some pretty serious help from the Holy Spirit, I am not able to become righteous on my own. As long as I am on this earth, I will always remain a sinner—yes, a sinner saved by God's grace—but still a sinner.

Thankfully, we believers can rely on God’s Living Word and God’s written Word. Bathed in God’s love, we can experience His unfailing, absolute, all-encompassing truth. So, we don’t have to falter, pause, and search for the right “word” when it comes to our walk of faith. God’s Word is always right and true.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, December 31, 2015

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Declaring Our Love

 

I love you, Lord, my strength.

—Psalm 18:1

Do you remember the first time you summoned the courage to tell the person you were dating that you loved him or her? Did you blurt it out and then freeze, wondering what the object of your love would say?

Maybe you were the recipient of such a declaration of love and it caught you off guard. You were shocked. Your brain went into overdrive trying to find an appropriate response.

Let me ask you another question: How did you feel the first time the Holy Spirit revealed to you that God truly loves you? How did you respond?

I am truly blessed to be able to say that I grew up always knowing that God loved me. Raised in an Evangelical Christian home, I literally cannot remember a time when I did not know that God loved me.

In contrast, I do remember the first time—it was October of 1956—when I recognized that I actually needed God’s love. I suddenly knew I was a sinner who needed a Savior. And, by then I had heard many times that God loved me. In fact, I had heard again and again that God loved me enough to send His Son to pay the penalty for my sin.

At once, in that moment in time, I was both frightened to death and enormously relieved. I needed God’s love and He was more than willing to give me His love because He truly did love me.

You see, dear ones, in each of our lives, God has made the first move toward us. He has told us He loves us first. Then, He waits patiently to see how we will respond.

Here’s how the Psalmist responded. King David declares his love for God in Psalm 18:1-2:

I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

God loves us. He waits for our response. How will we receive His love this day? That’s the key question for the beginning of this new day.

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Wednesday, December 30, 2015

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Taking a Chance on Love

 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

—Romans 5:8

Did you every take a chance on love? What I mean by that question: Did you ever realize that loving someone involved a certain amount of risk?

These kinds of questions sit just below the surface of many relationships:

• What if he or she does not love me back?
  
  
• What if after a while of displaying my love toward another person that person decides to reject me and have little or nothing further to do with me?
  
  
• What if I invest a great deal into building a relationship with someone I love and then find out that they really don’t care very much about me after all?
  
  
• Is loving another person really worth the risk?
  
  

Now, imagine how God must feel. (Yes, I do understand we really cannot know exactly how God feels about such things. After all, He is God and we most definitely are not.) But, just try to think about how He must feel after everything He has done for us to have us generally, at one time or another, turn our backs on Him and try to push His love away.

Remember, God sent His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the horrific cross of Calvary. Jesus took our place. We were the ones who had sinned. We were born into this world inheriting the sin of Adam through our parents. Then, before long, we began sinning ourselves—asserting our own selfish wills. We absolutely deserved to die in order to pay the penalty for our sins.

And yet, before the foundation of the earth, God chose us to belong to Himself. He sent Jesus to die in our place and rise from the dead to seal our life in heaven for all eternity. But God didn’t stop there. God sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within the depth of our being—to comfort us, help us, guide us, protect us, enable us, and to love us.

The Apostle Paul described it this way in Romans 5:1-11:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Particularly notice verse 8:

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

God took a chance on us. He took a chance on love. Of course, because He’s God, He already knew the final outcome. So, you could argue He didn’t take all that much of a chance. But, when measured from our human standpoint, our see-through-a-glass-dimly point of view, in extending His divine love to us, God really did take a chance on love. And, sadly, we don’t hold up our end of the bargain very well, do we?

In our relationship with God through His Son, and in our relationship with each other, we more often than not fail to be the kind of “lovers” we should be. Even so, God keeps taking a chance on love toward us, hoping that we will mature and grow in grace and in the knowledge of His Son. All the while, the Holy Spirit keeps working to perfect God’s love within us.

My question for each of us: If God is so willing to take a chance on love toward us, are we genuinely willing to take a chance on love toward each other?

A very popular Big Band song introduced in 1940 as part of the Broadway musical Cabin in the Sky—“Taking a Chance on Love” with lyrics by John La Touche and Ted Fetter and with music by Vernon Duke—has an interesting take on the idea that love involves a certain amount of risk. Here are the lyrics:

Here I go again
I hear those trumpets blow again
All aglow again
Taking a chance on love

Here I slide again
About to take that ride again
Starry eyed again
Taking a chance on love

I thought that cards were a frame-up
I never would try
But Now I’m taking the game up
And the ace of hearts is high

Things are mending now
I see a rainbow blending now
We’ll have a happy ending now
Taking a chance on love

(Instrumental Bridge)

Here I slip again
About to take that tip again
Got my grip again
Taking a chance on love

Now I prove again
That I can make life move again
In the grove again
Taking a chance on love

I walk around with a horseshoe
In clover I lie
And brother rabbit of course you
Better kiss your foot good-bye

On the ball again
I’m riding for a fall again
I’m gonna give my all again
Taking a chance on love

Let me be so bold as to suggest that you and I take a chance on love today. Okay? Let’s take a chance on really loving God, and really loving our brothers and sisters in Christ, and really loving everyone God brings across our pathway this day.

To close this blog post, here’s an appropriate musical reminder that I hope you will enjoy. Please listen to one of the greatest Big Band singers of all time, Miss Ella Fitzgerald:

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Tuesday, December 29, 2015

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Sing in the Morning

 

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love

—Psalm 59:16a

How do you begin your day? Psychologists insist that the first five or ten minutes after we wake up and get out of bed can set the tone for the entire rest of our day. Thus, those first moments of a new day become very important.

Apparently, King David learned this through personal experience. He speaks to God these words found in Psalm 59:16:

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

David had learned that beginning his day with a song of praise would set him on the right path for the rest of the day.

“But, I can’t sing,” you may say.

Certainly you can sing! Do you know why people sing while taking a shower? First of all, showers have great acoustics. Secondly, there’s no human audience and no one to critique our singing.

God wants to hear your song of praise. He doesn’t care if someone told you that you sound awful when you sing. Your melody of praise to Him is always a delight to His ears. That’s because God listens to us through ears of love. We are His dear children. We are the ones who, before the foundation of the earth, He has chosen to belong to Himself.

So, start your day with a song of praise. Follow the admonition contained in the words translated from a German hymn by Edward Caswell:

When morning gilds the skies,
My heart awaking cries,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work or prayer,
To Jesus I repair.
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Indeed! Start your day with joy: sing in the morning!

 

Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, December 28, 2015

_{Copyright © 2022 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}