Love Amidst a World of Hate

Lately, I've become aware that we live in a world that is filling with hate. Our brothers and sisters are being slaughtered and each time I turn on the news, it seems there is more tragedy at the hand of man. (Bringing back memories of Cain and Abel anyone?) Sure, there are the feel-good fillers about the elderly reaching the 100 year plus milestone and celebrations of human dedication and triumph in sport and ingenuity, but on the whole I often get more depressed by the state of our world and wonder what kind of world my children will grow up in.

The articles  "Does Islam Inevitably Lead to Violence" (Caleb Greggson) and "The FAQS: Islamic State Beheads 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya" (Joe Carter) over at the Gospel Coalition, made me grow in awareness of the causes of some of these tragic killings and I also became more aware of the tough call for us as Christians to be filled with love, instead of fear and hate. 

As we read through the book of 1 John, we quickly see the theme of love emerge. We can be struck by the love the Father has lavished on us in 1 John 3:1 and are reminded to love God (1 John 4:7) rather than the things of the world (1 John 2:15-17).  John then writes that we will be known by our love:

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so love us, we also ought to love one another. no one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:7-12).

Did you catch that? We love because God first loved us, seen most evidently in his gift of Jesus. We then will be known as a child of God because of God's love being lived out in our lives (1 John 5:1). In God's Kingdom, it is love that overcomes the dark evils of the world (1 John 5:4) and most specifically, the love through Jesus and belief in him (1 John 5:4-5). You see, our faith and love in Jesus cannot be taken from us, it is a light that is ever-shining. We are not of this world and so no matter what comes, our love for Jesus radiating out of us through our joy and hope and assurance of faith cannot be suppressed. 

It is helpful to be reminded that our world looks dark, because it is: "We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (1 John 5:19). It is also good to remember that as children of God, we have knowledge of the true light in Jesus and can grow more and more to know him and become like him, "we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ."(1 John 5:20). Let us remember "He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20 b) and so we are to love and hope in him. We are to keep ourselves from the love of the things of this world and be filled with love for the world as it is in darkness and needs to be illuminated with the love of Jesus. We also have hope: one day we will be enveloped in this love tangibly, as we are reunited with him and the rest of our family. Oh the depth of his love, and the sweet sweet mercy and grace shown through our glorious Saviour!




photo credit: Heart with metal loop for hanging via photopin (license)

Putting on our God-focused Glasses

Where is your heart this morning? Not the beating one, pumping blood around your body (I'm hoping that is in your chest as it should be). I mean the one that contains your loves, your desires, your treasures. Since becoming a mum, I often feel so full of protective love for my family that I sometimes feel my flesh tugging my heart towards them more than to God. When this starts to happen, I feel my fears for them increase and my trust of God decrease. Know what I mean? 

In 1 John 2: 15-17 we read,

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[a]—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

But doesn't God want us to love the world as he does? After all, "for God so loved the world..." (John 3:16). He does want us to love the world. What he doesn't want, is for us to be devoted to a world where he is not honoured or treasured (see James 4:4). In this passage, we see that John defines what he is talking about- 'all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life' (1 John 2:16). If our desires take the place of God or when they are not directed toward God, they become idolatrous (strong word hey!)

In the book, "Who Do You Think You Are?" (2013, Thomas Nelson), Mark Driscoll writes about idolatry in our lives and how easy it is for things of the world to creep in and take hold of our heart strings and define who we are. He gives a great little acrostic to help us remember what IDOLS can be. 

I- Items
Our desire for things can be a stumbling block for us. We go to the shops and look through the beautifully displayed clothes, food, furnishings and Lady Lust starts weaving her tentacles into our heart. "What we own is our public way of projective our desired image. The examples are endless...Consumer culture is so pervasive that we take it for granted, and almost no aspect of life is untouched by it. Everywhere we turn, we run into advertising telling us to buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't know..." (Driscoll, 2013, p.7).

D- Duties
It is so easy to fill our lives with things that we do. We feel satisfaction when we complete a task, or when we volunteer for serving others, or when we have achieved something. This has been a struggle for me stopping work and becoming a full-time mother. Somedays I don't feel a sense of achievement and this frustrates me. I perceive motherhood too is a culturally less-than-esteemed role, being a 'full-time mum' does not seem like some amazing achievement, particularly when you are asked, "Yes, but what do you do during the day" or "when are you planning to go back to work?" I find it a helpful reminder- "The truth is that you're not what you do. You have God-given natural talents, Holy Spirit-endowed gifts, and unique abilities. You also have duties, but these duties do not define you, because your identity is not determined by what you do. Rather, who you are in Christ helps you faithfully pursue your duties and use your abilities without them becoming the essence of your dignity and identity" (Driscoll, 2013, p.9).

O- Others
Do we put other peoples' opinions or relationships with others as a way that we feel valued and successful? Do we place how many Facebook friends or Blog followers as part of our identity? "This propensity to find our identity in others is commonly referred to as giving in to peer pressure, people pleasing, codependency, and having a fear of man. Practically, this explains why we'll often change our appearance and behavior depending on whom we're with and whom we seek to impress... This explains why some friends and family members can be so demanding, smothering, and needy. It also explains why we're so easily inflated by praise and deflated by criticism. It's as if others have the ability to determine our identity for that day based on a word or even a glance. In giving this power over our lives to others, we give them a god-like position to rule over us and define who we are." (Driscoll, 2013, p.10). 

L- Longings
What do you long for? Do you spend your days hoping and waiting for the next best thing? Sometimes, I find myself thinking... "When the kids are older, I'll be able to have more sleep", or "When we go on holidays, I'll be able to have a bit more rest" or "when I return to work we will have more money". These things I realise are me living in the future, instead of in the present. Enjoying the day I am given today, and really engaging with my God, my husband, my children and my friends in the here and now for eternity is what I am called to do. "Longings give us hope that tomorrow might be better so we can persevere today. We all have longings, but when they become the source of our identity, our life becomes inordinately governed by our feelings and our future rather than our present, and God's past, present, and future work on our behalf"  (Driscoll, 2013, p.10).

S- Sufferings
This one seems like a strange thing to have as an idol. We all dread the thought of suffering. But when we do suffer, it is often easy to wear it as a badge of honour, broadcasting our identity to others based on whatever we are going through- Cancer-survivor, enduring a long and hard pregnancy or labour, allergy-sufferer, exhausted mother. After the first year of being a mum, I realised I was saying how exhausted I was whenever someone asked how I was doing. I came to realise maybe this is just an aspect of motherhood. While it is good to share our suffering and be honest with one another, it is easy for this to become something that equates our worth- how strong and brave we are, or how hard we have things. We should be defined by Jesus, rather than by whatever hardship we are going through. 

I find it a challenging list. I so often think of idols as either the Israelites worshipping the golden calf in the Old Testament, or someone over-polishing their gleaming red sports car (weird that this is the first thing that always pops into my mind when I think of idol!) Instead, it is so much more. Our love for the world and what the world has, can slowly and sneakily creep into our thinking and our hearts. Augustine once wrote, "Hold fast to Christ. For you he became temporal, so that you might partake of eternity" (Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2) Let us fix our eyes on God and worship HIM, rather than the blessings that he gives us or trials he allows for us. 

photo credit: Joe Dyndale via photopin cc

Walking in the Light

Light is an amazing thing when you pause to ponder it. I think I became fascinated with the power of light at university when we were studying the art of Marian Drew. A Queensland-based photographer, Drew creates photographs in a dark studio and then armed with a long exposure setting and torchlight, she uses light to 'paint' her still life. 

Her work deals with the effects of humanity on nature. When first viewing her work, there is such a whimsical beauty, yet on closer inspection, one realises that she has actually used dead animals (often road kill she has picked up and taken home) which she arranges delicately on her table like it belongs there. It use to amaze me that something so beautiful was actually made up of dead things. When I was living out in rural New South Wales, it certainly made me think differently about the plethora of road kill on the side of the roads!

Tasmanian Rosella with Apple, Marian Drew, 2005

Light illuminates the darkness. It exposes the reality of what is actually there. It brings comfort to some, it brings fear to others. Plato has been quoted as saying, "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” This is the same about the True Light:


"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:5-7

As Christians, we should love the light of God. Yes, sometimes it exposes painful realities, as the Holy Spirit shines His torchlight on areas of sin in our lives. But we need to remember that a Holy God demands Holiness and because this is impossible for us to fulfil he sent his wonderful gift of Jesus.  That being said, "If we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we live and do not practice the truth" (1 John 1:6). In essence, we deceive ourselves if we think we can live in relationship with a Holy God and continue to bathe in the muck and filth of sin and darkness. 

BUT: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9) Praise God! No darkness is too dark for God. His light illuminates the way and leads us out. As Isaiah prophesied about the coming of Jesus, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone" (Isaiah 9:2). 

So how do we walk in light? 

"...for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." (Ephesians 5:8-17).

Here it says we are to remove ourselves from the darkness and walk according to the light, the fruit of which is found in all that is good and right and true (Eph 5:9). 

Psalm 119:105 also tells us that "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." So when we are wondering whether something is of the light, we can allow the Bible to light our way and direct us. For it is God's Word and meditating on it that teaches us how to wisely walk in the light. Let us go forth, dancing and rejoicing for we are children of the Light!

photo credit: RiRi Trautmann via photopin cc

Faith Without Sight

I love to cook. I find that creating healthy and yummy meals for my family is a creative outlet without any guilt, as the family benefits from my creativity (usually). There is nothing like a tantalising roast- the smell, the succulent flavour, the hint of herbs, the oozing gravy. Or for that matter a moist chocolate cake cooking in the oven. You open the oven door and as the heat of the oven hits your face, so too does the delicious smell: love, warmth, home. I remember hearing an old wives piece of advice that if you have onions sautéing in the pan when your husband opens the front door from work, the smell will create an atmosphere of peace and relaxation- he knows his stomach will soon be satisfied and that you have things under control (whether true or not). Aren't our senses wonderful things!

As the apostle John reaches old age it has been many many years after Jesus lived, died, rose and returned to heaven. The year is possibly around AD 90-95 and John pens the epistle of 1 John, most likely from Ephesus, to the churches in Asia Minor. John has lived a long life, tasted lots of meals, held many hands to comfort, preached many sermons, felt many emotions, experienced a broad range of the five senses. Age has not wearied John's faith, rather the Holy Spirit has fanned it into a vibrant, passionate blaze. John writes:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete" (1 John 1:1-4)

In these verses, John urges his writers to believe in Jesus Christ- the revealed 'Sent One' of God. He shows that Jesus was fully God and fully man- John heard him, saw him, touched him and it is this first person account that testifies to the validity of his claim. He is an eye-witness. 

Why does John highlight that his eyewitness account is accurate? So that "you too may have fellowship with us" (1 John 1:3) and this fellowship is also "with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). John yearns for his readers to recognise Jesus as Lord and Saviour and share in the delight and joy gained in a relationship with God.

Sometimes it is easy to doubt the validity of Jesus and our faith- 2000 or so years is a long time! Unlike Thomas, we can't touch Jesus' side to prove that He is real, no matter how much we want to. But in this introduction to 1 John, we can take great comfort. We can also take comfort in Jesus' words to Thomas, "Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). 

While we struggle with doubts because we don't have all the senses engaged- we can't touch nor can we see with our eyes. We can have confidence in God's Word, written down by eye-witnesses testifying to Jesus and in the process we know because of this faith, we will be blessed. 

photo credit: Jim Moran via photopin cc