Early Morning Thoughts

The verse that God brought to mind this morning on my way to work was this: "Love not the world neither the things that are in the world." He's actually brought this verse to my mind several times over the past couple of days.

As I was thinking about this verse this morning, I noticed that God never said, "Do not love the people of the world."

We are all people of the world. Some are redeemed, and some have yet to be redeemed.

God makes it very clear that if we love the world and we love the things of the world, then the love of the Father is not in us.

Yet, if we love the people of the world (not the things they do, or their worldview, or their selfishness and "me first" mentality), we are being Christ-like.

When we love the people of the world, we are, in essence, acting on Christ's behalf as His hands and feet in this present-day world.

Christ said we would know who his disciples were by the love they had.

Mohammed said, " I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are nothing like your Christ."

So, where have we failed?

In our love for others. In our love for the world around us. (Notice: not love "of" the world, but love "for" the world)

I must admit I am not a fan of the Message translation of the Bible. I tend to think it is more a commentary than a translation; however, I heard a song on the radio the other day that used the Message "translation" of I Corinthians 13 in the middle of the song. The words have really stuck with me, so I've recorded them here.

I Corinthians 13:1-10

 1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. 

   Love never gives up. 
   Love cares more for others than for self. 
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. 
   Love doesn't strut, 
   Doesn't have a swelled head, 
   Doesn't force itself on others, 
   Isn't always "me first," 
   Doesn't fly off the handle, 
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 
   Doesn't revel when others grovel, 
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 
   Puts up with anything, 
   Trusts God always, 
   Always looks for the best, 
   Never looks back, 
   But keeps going to the end.

 8-10Love never dies.

After thinking through all of that, my mind raced back over the whole recent Chik-fill-a incident. At first, I resolved that the whole thing started out innocent. People simply wanted to support a man for standing up for his Christian, Biblical beliefs. I get that. I respect that. I am actually one of the ones that waited in a long line and ate a chicken sandwich to that.

But the more I thought about it, I thought maybe the whole thing didn't start out innocent at all - especially for some people (and I'm still referring to Christians here).

I think one of the biggest problems with humanity is that our actions are not good. (correction: Our hearts are not good.)

Our actions are not good at keeping our heart's secrets.

Our words and actions will give us away every time.
Some people spoke and acted and reacted out of less than desirable intentions and means that day.

The Bible even speaks to this end: "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."

So, while the Chik-fill-a incident may have started out innocent for some, it very quickly became a "hate fest" for others. Others, from both sides of the "fence."

That did not show anyone the love of God. It showed the righteousness of God. It showed that God hates sin, which was misinterpreted as God hates sinners. (Aren't you glad Jesus is a friend of sinners like you and me?) 

It also showed the standard of God, but I'm afraid it was coupled with self-righteousness for some and outright hate from others.

Christ said love not the world, neither the things in the world - the worldview, the world's system, the world's me first mentality, the world's selfishness, the world's sin, fallen nature, etc.

He never said anything about "love not the people of the world." He actually commanded us to do quite the opposite.

After all, that's why I'm still here. living on this Earth. And that's why you're still here. living on this Earth. That's why God doesn't rapture us up into Heaven the moment we're saved.

When we become Christians, God knows that we love Him.

The point is to carry that out by loving others. And telling others about Him.


Who needs to benefit from your Christ-like love today?
I'm reminded of the quote, "You are most influential on everyone else when you are most unlike everyone else."
With Chik-fill-a in hand or not, go be Christ-like in a world who lacks the knowledge, love, and fear of Him.