True Love (Part 3): Love That Obeys

Love That Obeys

How many times have we heard or said things like, "If you love me, you'll do as I ask," or "If you love me, you'll buy me what I want?"  We almost instinctively associate love with obedience, and for good reason.  In fact, Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

But how much do we need to love Him?  After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the Apostles on the sea shore, while they were out fishing.  Later, by the fire, Jesus asked Peter not once, but three times, if he loved Him more than fishing.  "He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep" (John 21:17). Jesus wanted to make the point that we need to put Him ahead of our jobs, hobbies, and other passions.

But is that enough love?  "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).  I love the King James Bible, because it can be so blunt at times.  Obviously, Jesus did not mean that we should actually hate our own family; He meant to emphasize that we must put Him first in our hearts.  We need to love Jesus first and foremost, which is the only way that we will be able to obey His commandments.

So what are His commandments?  "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).

Obeying God's commandments and living righteously boil down to just one thing: love.  If we love God more than anything else, then we will obey Him.  If we sin, it is because we are misdirecting our love toward something else and putting that above God.  Every sin comes from insufficient or misdirected love.  A heart that truly loves God above all else cannot sin.

But we know that this is impossible in our own strength.  Earthly, natural love is so easily deceived and thrown off-track, that it is grossly insufficient to obey God.  But, after ascending back into Heaven, Jesus sent us another gift, perhaps even more precious than the first: The Holy Spirit, to dwell in our hearts.

"... The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5b).

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also" (1 John 4:7-21).

It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we not only experience God's love for us, but obtain the kind of holy and perfect love that empowers us to obey Him and serve others.  "We love him, because he first loved us."

True Love (Part 2): Love That Saves

Love That Saves

"... The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Romans 5:5b-9).

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

Oh, I guess I left out one small detail: when Jesus offered Himself on the cross for our sins, we were the scum of the earth, reeking in our own filth, deserving nothing better than death. We were like that traveler who was left for dead on the side of the road, with nothing worthwhile to offer anyone.  And then Jesus came and traded places with each one of us, taking on our punishment upon His mighty shoulders, taking our sin and nailing it to the cross.

Christ loved us before we knew Him.  Christ endured suffering at our own hands.  Christ died in our stead when we hated Him.

To do all that took a whole lot of love, a pure love that everyone else on this planet falls far short of.  How can we ever hope to have such a love for anyone?  Does God even expect it of us?  Would it even be fair if He did?  Did He give us anything else to help us out?

To be continued...

True Love (Part 1): Love That Gives

I'll be preaching at our small church again soon, and since Valentine's Day is today, what better subject to preach on than love?  This message is a one-shot in the middle of our pastor's series on the Ten Commandments, but I will present it here as a 3-part blog series.  Here we go!

Introduction

"Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth" (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).

Valentine's Day is barely behind us, and if you watched TV or went shopping, you've no doubt noticed the recent focus on "love".  Unfortunately, what the world calls "love" is, more often than not, a misleading euphemism for its less fulfilling shadows: infatuation, lust, materialism, and even tolerance.  These are the products of a sinful world that recognizes its need for true love, but rejects the only One from Whom it comes.  As a result, God's pure love is twisted into a misshapen mass, that is hardly recognizable.  As Christians, we are to not only love in spirit and in truth, but also to avoid the world's forgeries.

The topic of love is so very vast, I could do an entire sermon series on it.  However, for the sake of brevity, I would like to focus on: love that gives, love that saves, and love that obeys.  There is a natural progression here, which will be apparent as we go on.

Love That Gives

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11).

In our world, one evidence of how much you love someone is what kinds of gifts you give them; the greater the love (and the pocketbook), the greater the gift.  True love is one that gives for the sake of love, not because something is expected in return.  For example, most parents have an instinctive love for their children and would do anything for them, even sacrifice their very lives.

We are God's children, physically because He created us, and spiritually, if we repent of our sins and receive Him into our hearts (are born again).  So as His children, what gift did He give us?

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down (give) his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

There is a really powerful Christian anecdote, which I'm sure you've heard: "One day, I met Jesus and I asked Him, 'How much do you love me?'  He smiled and answered, 'This much.'  Then He stretched out His hands and died."

Jesus demonstrated His ultimate love for us by giving Himself on the cross, as payment for our sins.And in turn, He asks us to do something as well:

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:38-48).

So, Jesus calls us to love not only our friends and family, but also strangers and even enemies.  This is hard to swallow and even harder to put into practice, isn't it?  What right does He have to ask this of us?  What example did He leave us with, that might compel us to obey?

 To be continued...

The Love Letter

If you've ever been in love, you've no doubt exchanged mushy love letters with your beloved.  I remember the giddiness I felt opening those from my bride-to-be, or the joy that welled up inside me as I wrote her my replies.  Love letters are an outward expression of powerful emotions, heartfelt promises, and undashable hopes. While they may serve as weapons of harassment by curious parents or annoying little siblings, they really only carry a meaning for the two of you.  No one but you can find the little nuances of meanings between each hand-written line, or laugh at the cute inside jokes you two share.  Farrah and I recently rummaged through some of our old letters and cards, and I found myself reliving that same familiar giddiness.  How powerful is the written word, when you know it was penned by your beloved!

We were in a restaurant recently, when I overheard someone at another table recommend to another that they read the Book of John.  The young woman's reply was something like, "Yeah, I got a kids' Bible for my son and read it."  I don't usually eavesdrop, but this conversation got my attention for a couple reasons.  First of all, my soon-to-be-father-in-law, a pastor, asked me to read the Book of John, after I told his daughter that I wanted to know more about Jesus.  He told me that it's the most appropriate of the four Gospels for new converts to read.  Our own pastor recently echoed the same statement.  Second, I recognized my (old) self in the woman's attitude toward the Bible: that a (paraphrased) kids' version is equivalent to God's Word.  I was intently listening to see if I could pick up more, but to my disappointment, the conversation soon turned a corner and moved on.

As I thought about their short exchange, I started to realize something I hadn't thought of before: God's Word, embodied in the pages of the Bible, is His love letter to His Bride, which is the true church, the collection of all the born-again Christians who are saved by the blood that He shed on the cross for us.  And like other love letters, it holds no meaning or significance for those who have no relationship with Him, nor are seeking one.  "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18).

I was an atheist for the first two decades of my life.  When I was in high school, I unwittingly became involved with a Christian youth group (Young Life).  Though I made some fond memories while I was a part of it, I disliked all the Bible studies, Sunday schools, and homework I had to do.  I tried reading the Bible, but it was dry and pointless to me.  It did not speak to me, the words did not jump out at me, God did not reveal Himself to me at that time, because I was not yet ready.  Just as I would not expect my young son to receive love letters from the little girl who will one day become his wife (I trust and pray that she's out there, being raised by Godly parents, in the nurture of the Lord), God did not yet address His love letter to me.

So what's my point?  Here's the crux of the matter.  Telling someone just to go read the Bible (as I have often done myself) could fall on deaf ears, if we do not also stress that the goal is a personal relationship with its Author.  His words are meaningless, unless He draws us to Him and we seek to know Him and become His bride-to-be, His dearly beloved.

Book Review: The Princess and the Kiss

My cute and wonderful wife loves to change the decor in our living room every month or two. As part of that, she puts out collections of books and magazines, related to that particular theme. Last weekend was the big Valentine's Day push. Our house is now exquisitely arrayed in reds, pinks, and purples (very manly, I know!). On a lampstand sit several love-themed picture books, including this one: The Princess and the Kiss, by Jennie Bishop. What it lacks in action, it makes up for with a strong Biblical view of courtship and a heartwarming story that brings tears to our eyes, every time we read it together.

In the story, a baby girl is born to a King and Queen. God entrusts the new parents with a most precious gift: their daughter's First Kiss. As she grows, they dilligently guard their daughter's treasure, until she is old enough to be entrusted with it. Suitors then come, asking for her hand in marriage, and the story tells the tale of how she finds the only one to whom she will trust with her most treasured possession.

It's simple, but sweet, and appropriate for any age. It reads like a fairy tale and manages to teach a moral without sounding preachy. Our son loves to hear it each year, and I think it's a great opportunity for us to impart our views of dating, on to our son (even though we did not follow those protocols ourselves).

Now, for some background...

Although our son is not yet a teenager, it's never too early to develop a Biblical model of dating, for your children. Dating and relationships are difficult topics for parents to discuss, and Farrah and I want to avoid the mistakes that we feel our respective parents made when raising us. So, a couple years ago, we attended a talk on courtship, given by a pastor in our area, and our eyes were opened.

The Bible has lots of examples (good and bad) of how men and women got together (Adam and Eve, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel and Leah, Sampson and his women, David and his women, Solomon and his women, etc...), but there is no single recipe for how God specifically wants his people to handle courtship.

While parents implement it to varying degrees, courtship is somewhere between the sterility of arranged marriages and the emotionally clouded, modern dating model. The basic idea is that the parents are responsible for their children's purity, and need to guide the process by which their children select a spouse.

Some of the guidelines include:

• A minimum age for courtship (possibly old enough to marry)
• Boy asks parents' permission first
• Boy and girl do not "go out", but get to know each other only as part of family activities
• Boy and girl study the Bible together with the families
• Affectionate behavior, including the first kiss, reserved for marriage

This may sound strict and maybe unrealistic, but it represents the moral high ground that our children and society so desperately need. Divorce rates are at an all-time high. Teen and out-of-wedlock pregnancies are rising. Domestic and same-sex "partnerships" are getting footholds as acceptable "lifestyles". If we are to salvage what's left of the traditional family and Biblical marriage as its cornerstone, we must make the effort to pass on those values to our children.

Greg's Testimony: Farrah's Viewpoint

Posted by: Farrah


I wish that I was worthy of the rosy picture Greg painted in his testimony. I wish I could say that I was a perfect Christian, but that is not the case. It would have been best if my husband had been my first date. He can say his wife (me) was his first kiss, but I was not so noble. I tried very hard to mess up God’s plans. As sincere and devoted as I was to my faith, it seemed I could not master the temptation of dating the wrong men.

Thankfully, God was merciful and intervened. One lost interest, one had a heart attack and returned to his Arab country from where he basically proposed. His family was wealthy, and I think he would have flown me across the world. Praise God, I came to my senses! To think I might have ended up trapped in a land where women are slaves to their husbands! The third terminated our relationship after finding a girl who had no limitations. He was in jail for rape by the time I married Greg.

That last one was rough, because it ended in real heartbreak. The kind of heartbreak that makes you want to die. I cried every day for weeks and begged God several times a day to take away the pain. I remember my mom sitting on my bed saying, “You don’t know what could happen. God could bring you the perfect Christian guy. A year from now you could be married!”

It seemed impossible. I laughed through my tears though there was a glimmer of hope. God is mighty, and He does big things.

I barely knew Greg. I have a vivid memory of sitting in the same computer lab doing homework. I was studying at a table, while he was writing a program. Apparently it wasn’t going well, and he was cussing like a sailor. Hardcore, offensive profanity. I thought, “I could never marry a heathen like that.” No joke!

Not only that, but I liked clean cut. He had a ponytail. I noticed eyes, he wore glasses. His pants and shirts were too short. Seriously, his pants were several inches above his ankles. I was surprised when he walked into the room one day with new clothes and contacts! I thought, “Wow! He’s actually attractive when he doesn’t look like a geek!" We enjoyed chatting now and then. Once he impressed me with his kindness and patience when he took the time to teach me three different ways to do matrices on my calculator.

After my horrible heartbreak I prayed and made a strong commitment to God that I would never date again unless the man loved Jesus as much as I did. One day, I got an e-mail from Greg out of the blue. I had asked him to e-mail me during a casual conversation the previous year before he went off to grad school. “Send me an e-mail when you get there.” and he took me seriously. It’s funny, I don’t even remember that conversation!

What a nice e-mail it was! Well written and overflowing with his amazing sense of humor. I looked forward to receiving more letters from this new friend. It would be a fun and refreshing break from the monotony of school.

But I was cautious. I knew my weakness and was determined to keep my commitment to God. I knew I couldn’t trust myself if I spent time with a guy, so I did everything I could to guard against romance. The first time he came back to visit his parents for vacation and wanted to get together, I warned him, “This is JUST friendship. It’s NOT a date.” Poor guy! He had never even kissed a girl, and after hearing THAT, he was scared to try anything! He was a perfect gentleman.

We went to a restaurant, and I prayed before we ate. Afterwards, he looked me straight in the eye and said, “Farrah, that was really beautiful.” There was no hint of mockery. He was completely serious, and I was floored at this incredible, rare display of sincerity. I knew that Greg wasn’t a Christian, but he was real. In fact, that was one of the things that struck my family when they eventually met him: His sincerity.

I have little else to add beyond what Greg said. I shared my faith with him, and we fell in love over time through e-mail. I was worried about what would happen. I was extremely distraught when we had to end our friendship. It was heartbreak city all over, but this time I was confused. “Why God? WHY? I don’t understand how this happened again! I tried SO hard to do the right thing this time! I will just have to trust that You know what You’re doing.”

But it wasn’t a week later before Greg told me that he realized he was giving up not just me but God and asked me to teach him more about Jesus. I had renewed hope. The day he told me he got saved was one of the happiest days of my life!

Something different with my relationship with Greg is that I experienced the full joy of being in love after he became a Christian. It was the first time I walked around with a silly grin all the time and told everyone I met that I was so happy I couldn’t contain it. It felt right, because it WAS right. He was the one God created for me. And you know what? It probably was just about a year after that conversation with my mom that Greg and I were united in marriage. Our Lord is amazing!

My Testimony: Ending Is Beginning

We broke up. Someone stopped the car, before we plunged off the cliff.

I thought long and hard about the situation. Here was a young woman who chose her faith over me. Though I knew she was as head-over-heels for me as I was for her, this Jesus guy trumped all else. She dumped me, for a dead guy in an old book.

But what if there really was something to Jesus? Then I would not only lose her, but also a chance to find the answer to what I may have been missing all along. By the next morning, my mind was made up: I had to find out. I had to know if this Jesus, that she chose over me, was for real. I sent her an e-mail and told her that I wanted to know more about Jesus. I told her I could make no promises about us, until I made up my mind about Him. Later that day, she called me, and I spoke to her dad, a pastor. He was very nice, and he recommended I buy a King James Bible and study the Gospel of John.

I had tried reading the Bible before, for classes and Young Life, but it never made much sense to me, and it was very boring reading. Still, I needed to find out more about Jesus, and that seemed as good a place to start as any.

I went to the local bookstore, a dinky place in an old building, and scoured the Bible racks for a KJV. Didn't find one until I looked up. High, on the topmost shelf, someone had put a paperback KJV, all by its lonesome. It was meant for me. I bought it and began to read.

For some reason, the words made sense to me, now. The account of Jesus' travels and teachings became real to me. It was as if Jesus was speaking directly to me..., and I believed.

On April 8, 1998, while sitting at my desk, doing homework, I prayed the first earnest prayer of my young life. I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and to guide me in every decision I would ever make, including whether this girl that I still loved was the one for me.

She was.

And still is.

The following December, we were married, and Farrah and I will be celebrating our 11th anniversary this year.

So, this was actually the story of a love triangle. A Savior who loved His children beyond imagining used one to lead the other to Him. For that, I will always be thankful to Jesus, and to a woman who had the faith to love Him more than me.

So, did I adopt new beliefs for the love of a woman? Some may say that I have, but that's an awfully shallow way of looking at it. No one ever comes to Jesus, without Him first drawing them to Himself. He uses different means, depending on the person. For some, it's hardship. For others, it's the example of a faithful servant. For me, it was the love of a woman... for her Savior.

My Testimony: Being Led and Leading On

Now, you might remember from my last post that I had decided to never let any girl alter my beliefs. Keep that in mind, because it's pertinent to what happened next.

There was a girl (isn't that how it always happens???) in college, whom I had a crush on. She was in the same major as me, only a year younger, but I was always a grader for her professors, so I didn't want to mix business with pleasure. OK, I was shy and totally scared out of my shorts to even say anything to her, save for teaching her how to do matrices on a calculator and talking about Star Wars. True story! Can you say G-E-E-K???

When I went to graduate school (1800 miles away), we started corresponding via e-mail. I quicky discovered that she was a devout, ultra-conservative Christian, very different from any other religious person I had ever met. She seemed to live what she preached, not just on Sundays, but every day. We both greatly enjoyed our discussions, and as often happens in such cases, we fell in love. OK, not just in love, but head-over-heels, walking-on-Cloud-Nine, miss-your-floor-on-the-way-up-the-stairs (also a true story!) type of love. The kind that makes people around the two of you want to hurl. ;)

But there was a barrier. She loved Jesus, and I didn't. I wanted nothing to do with religion (little did I know that religion and Jesus have nothing to do with each other!). She shared the Gospel with me and told me that she could not maintain a relationship with (much less marry) a guy that did not believe the same as her (turns out she had already gone down that road, and it inevitably led to heartache). Unwilling to even consider "converting", but already head-over-heels for her (note that our relationship was strictly over e-mail, with only a couple phone calls in-between), I kept postponing the issue.

I'm ashamed of this now, but whenever she brought it up, I told her our love was like a car barrelling toward a cliff, without any brakes. I said that we won't know what will happen, but that the ride would be exciting. Inside, I was hoping that we could work it out, that we would stay together, without me having to pretend that I'm a religious person. After all, I wasn't ever going to let a girl change my beliefs.

One afternoon, it came to a head. She said that she had to make a stand for what she believed: in spite of her deep love for me, she could not marry a guy who did not love Jesus as much as she did. I answered that I never would. We broke up.

She cried herself to sleep that night, but she knew, though it hurt, that she made the right decision.

Leave It or Clean It?

This post has been edited from its original version

Sorry I've been absent for a while, dear friends! I've been really busy with yardwork and trying to launch a new business venture, while still working full-time at my current job. More on that later....

We found out this week that someone in our family has announced that he's gay. It wasn't much of a surprise, but what was especially hard to take was the way that he did it. Since his birthday was in June, he made his birthday party a "coming out" party and even attended a "pride" parade. He was raised in a very religious home and most of the relatives are still very religious, so let's just say it didn't sit well with most of the family.

It is certainly sad to see anyone struggle with sin, but it's even sadder when one has surrendered to it and, in this case, convinced himself that homosexuality is a socially and morally acceptable "lifestyle". But what is even worse is promoting it and encouraging others to accept it and maybe even try it themselves. This is what really, REALLY irks me about the "gay rights movement". Not only do they seek acceptance, but they want to shove it down everyone's throats. (Some accuse evangelicals of the same thing, but that's a topic for another post.)

I've been thinking how we should act around him. He lives far away and we only see him once or twice a year, but the question is a valid one. He already knows where we stand, so beating him over the head with scripture and exhorting him to repent is probably out of the question. On the one hand, we are to show everyone love, so that we can be a positive influence on them. But on the other hand, we are to "put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (1 Cor. 5:13b), who has turned from the faith, so that he will not be a bad influence to those around us, especially our children and those weak in the faith.

In my daily reading this week, I came across a great quote from Jesus: "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold" (Mattew 24:12). This is a very poignant scripture, for the gay community and their allies push their agenda under the guise of love. They say that they want the right to express their love for each other, "marry" the one they love, and receive love from the rest of us who disagree with them. But sin is sin, no matter how many people refuse to accept that fact, and sin will drive love out of people and replace it with lust. I know this to be true, from my own experience.

I was watching a Christian speaker on video recently, and he made a great point. He said that if he were Satan, he would focus all his energy on undermining families. And that's exactly what this world is doing. Marriage has become meaningless and even to be avoided. Relationships have been trivialized. Sex had become the ultimate goal of dating. The entertainment and news industry bombards us with unwholesome material. Sin, in all its forms, is what ultimately destroys families. The question is, how should the family deal with sin among its members? And this extends to the broader question of how should the Church deal with sin among its members? These are certainly questions worth exploring in future posts.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read my rambles. I don't usually express my views so strongly, but I truly felt I needed to get this off my chest.

Frequently Asked Friday

Kronk and his shoulder angels.

Ah, time for the long-awaited second part of this multi-part series. Thanks are due to the Great Googly Moogly, whose comments inspired this post. If you wish to read last week's post or the aforementioned comment thread, just click here.

By the way, if you want to reuse a picture you used in a previous post, you don't need to upload it again. All you need to do is copy the HTML code for that image from your other post into your new post.

Why Do Christians Sin?

For the sake of this discussion, I am limiting the scope of this question to professing Christians. While the answer applies to all people, regardless of their beliefs, to ask why a non-Christian sins is akin to asking why a person who has no food is hungry.

I pretty much already stated in last Friday's post what I believe to be the fundamental reason people sin, but GGM had a different viewpoint, which has prompted me to further explore the issue. So, here are some reasons that I can think of, and the Biblical responses.

"We're the seed of Adam."

Sin entered human nature, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Prior to that unfortunate event, the earth's first two humans were shielded from sin by their own ignorance. But as the serpent predicted, eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil made them to know good and evil, thereby opening their eyes to sin. Furthermore, those without the Holy Spirit dwelling within have no power to resist the temptation to sin. So when we come out of the womb, we have the seed of Adam in us and the inclination to sin. However...

• "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
• "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:23).
• "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (1 John 3:9).

There are many more scriptures like these, but these three are enough to illustrate my point. The NT tells us over and over than a required part of salvation is a rebirth. Our hearts and minds are reborn in the image of Christ. The seed of Adam is purged and replaced by the seed of God. So truly born-again Christians cannot use this as a reason. If Adam remains in you, you have not yet been born again.

"The Devil made me do it."

This one's been used so much, it's a cliché. But one of my favorite scriptures in the entire Bible promises that Satan cannot so much as touch you, if you are born of God: "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not" (1 John 5:18).

Lack of belief in the Word of God

GGM made this excellent suggestion, and I think it's true, to a great extent. Way back in Genesis 2:17, God told Adam that he will die if he eats of the forbidden tree. Eve certainly knew this, but she decided to believe the serpent more, when he said in 3:4, "Ye shall not surely die."

Fast-forward many years later, and you see the Israelites, choosing to not believe God's warnings against idolatry and mingling with their heathen neighbors, over and over again. And true enough, the Bible confirms that unbelief will keep us from having a right relationship with God. Nowhere is it stated more clearly than in the Book of Hebrews:

• "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God" (3:12).
• "So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (3:19).
• "Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief" (4:6).
• "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" (4:11).

Here are some others that affirm that unbelief is sin and that belief in God is righteousness:

• "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6).
• "...then ye rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice" (Deuteronomy 9:23b).
• "Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper" (2 Chronicles 20:20b).
• "So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God" (Daniel 6:23b).

But is lack of belief in God's Word the fundamental reason we sin? Can we not have complete belief in God, even unshakeable knowledge of God's Word, and still choose to disobey?

"Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble" (James 2:19). Here, James makes the case that belief alone is not enough to please God, that our belief must be reflected by our actions. While works alone cannot buy us salvation (else Christ died in vain), they should reflect our nature as children of God. James' extraordinary effort to bring this particular point home, implies (to me, at least) that it is entirely possible to have full belief in God and His Word, and yet fail to act on it, or worse, wilfully disobey it. I have certainly found this true at times, in my own life.

This brings me to my inevitable conclusion, that fundamentally, sin is the result of...

Inadequate or misdirected love

No one reading the NT can miss the importance that Godly love plays in a Christian's life. New Agers and hippies alike have even picked up on it (and twisted it to suit their purposes). But is it more fundamental than belief? The Apostle Paul seemed to think so:

• "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
• "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" (v. 13).

In fact, love is so important, that Jesus said it is what the Law and prophets are founded upon.

• "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).
• "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

To be sure, belief in God's Holy Word is essential for salvation and holy living, but we cannot love God and sin at the same time. "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13).

Faith and belief in God and His Word can only carry us so far. In the end, we are still free to choose between right and wrong, and the choice we make ultimately depends on what/whom we love more. For example, as an engineer, I've learned lots of math, more than most people will ever know. I understand it to a much higher level than most and firmly believe in the truth and correctness of all the theorems and derivations that I've learned. But I don't do a lot of math in my everyday life, because I don't like it that much. I recognize that it's necessary for nearly all technology, including that which surrounds me at work, but I avoid doing it myself.

But if I truly love God, then I will obey Him, no matter how much of His Word I believe or understand. Conversely, I can believe and understand more of the Bible than most people (by getting a PhD in Theology, for example), but still not love God enough to cease from sinning.

Where am I going with this?

Sorry for the long post (if you love me, you'll have read it all!), but you'll see next week where I'm going with it, and why this week's topic is so crucial. Tune in again next week!

Frequently Asked Friday

Kronk and his shoulder angels.

This is the first part of a greater subject that is far too great for a single post. Subsequent parts will be posted each Friday. By the way, the picture for this theme is inspired by Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, which is one of the funniest films I've ever seen. For more information on the shoulder angels, click here. While the picture does tie in with what I'm talking about, the shoulder angels aren't my focus. LOL!

What Is Sin?

I have never found an outright definition in the Bible, but here are some scriptures that shed some light on the nature of sin:

• "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).
• "... For whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23b).
• "All unrighteousness is sin" (1 John 5:17a).
• "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4).
• "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:14,15).
• "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.... Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:20-22,27,28).

So, sin is breaking God's Law, as a result of lust, lack of faith, or disobedience. Also note that Jesus raised the bar, by stating that even dwelling on sinful thoughts count as sin. But what Law is it a sin to break? The explicit details of the Mosaic Law? "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:6). Apparently not, for the Law of Mount Sinai was fulfilled by Jesus, who gave us the two commandments that we need to follow. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matthew 22:37-39).

Sin, therefore, is breaking Jesus' commandments to love God above all else and others as ourselves. Sin is thoughts, words, or actions that originate from misdirected or insufficient love. Think about it. Every sin that you've ever committed can be traced back to loving yourself, or something, more than God or your fellow man (or woman).