What does love look like?

Charlotte’s carnelian transformed

“What does love look like?  It has the hands to help others.  It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.  It has eyes to see misery and want.  It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.  That is what love looks like.”- St. Augustine

“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us- yes, establish the work of our hands.”- Psalm 90:7

An unremarkable ring lay unnoticed among the numerous items in my mother Elinor’s jewelry box.  The ring had a red carnelian mounted on a thin, tarnished band.  My wife Vicki often remarked that the ring looked like a prize from a box of Cracker Jack.

The carnelian had belonged to my maternal grandmother, Charlotte Dahlke.  It was her engagement ring prior to her marriage in 1906.  Although affordable diamond rings started to appear in mail-order catalogs such as Sears & Roebuck in the 1890s, diamonds continued to be viewed as the domain of the aristocracy.

Tradition favored simpler engagement bands- like Grandma Charlotte’s.  Contrary to its appearance, the carnelian had great significance.  Almost ninety years later, a Des Plaines (IL) jeweler transformed Charlotte’s engagement ring into its current setting.

What does love look like?  According to pastor and author Matt Bays (Finding God in the Ruins), people who love truly are great at subtraction:

“I’ve often heard that a burden shared is divided by two.  But there are moments, in the company of those who care, when it feels like a huge minus has replaced the division sign and our burdens aren’t divided at all; they’re being subtracted.  And subtraction is always better than division because when things are subtracted, they disappear altogether.”

As our burdens disappear, space is created in our heart for the Holy Spirit.  Henri Nouwen (The Wounded Healer) notes the Holy Spirit’s heart is greater, His eyes see more, and His hands heal more than our own heart, eyes, and hands.  This enables us to transform, rather than transmit, our pain.

Max Lucado encourages us to share God’s grace with others.  After all, he writes, if grace is compared to a wheat field, the Lord has bequeathed us the state of Kansas!  Accepting God’s grace means you vow to give grace to others.

What does love look like?  What does God see in you?  Max has the answer:

“Marginalized and discarded?  Others may think so.  You may think so.  But God sees in you a masterpiece.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4kTivO3uqI

 

What does love look like?

Rule and reign

“God . . . is growing us up; we too must learn to rule and reign.”- John Eldredge

John Eldredge concludes Chapter 5 of Moving Mountains by reminding us that Jesus, the Lord of angel armies, is now in the throes of bringing His enemies under His feet- along with angelic and human forces.  For example, in 1 Kings 18 God intended to end the drought.  But Elijah played a major role.

Yes, God could take care of any problem in the blink of an eye.  However, as C.S. Lewis explained in his article “The Efficacy of Prayer,” God wants us involved:

“He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures.  He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye.  Creation seems to be delegation through and through.”

John believes such delegation refers to major tasks as well as the authority to get them done.  Since you have been given a share of Jesus Christ’s authority, John inquires, do you wield it in prayer (emphasis mine)?  Can you see how it just might make a difference if you did wield Christ’s authority in prayer?  John offers these words of encouragement:

“You are not an orphaned child, sitting out in the hall hoping your busy Father will see one of the notes you have pushed under his door. . . . You are a son or daughter of the living God, a friend and ally, wielding his authority to get things done.  And by the way- your eternal destiny is to reign.

But God must prepare us to reign by placing us in situations where we learn to pray and use the authority He has given us.

Today’s question: What Scriptures enable you to rule and reign, praying with authority?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the new Short Meditation, “What does love look like?”

Rule and reign

Our present life

“Our present life feels like a real fight as if there was something pretty wild in the universe which we needed to redeem.”-William James

In Chapter 5 (“Bold Authority”) of Moving Mountains, John Eldredge comments on words that get tacked onto the end of many prayers, yet seem to lack little of their original punch-“In Jesus’ name, Amen.”  Amen, once a declaration, now has the emotional force of ‘talk to you later’ at the end of a phone call.

John emphasizes that “In Jesus’ name” is a far, far more declarative and final command than “Amen.”  By saying “In Jesus’ name,” we are utilizing the ultimate authority of God to enforce the power of our prayers.   The whole spiritual realm, including effective prayer, runs on authority.  The author adds: “It is the secret to the kingdom of God and one of the essential secrets to prayer that works.”

The Lord’s Prayer, held high and repeated ritually, tells us to invoke the kingdom of God.  John asserts that we are partners with Jesus in this mission to invoke God’s kingdom.  The obvious implication, John observes, is that God’s kingdom is not always come and His will is not always done on earth as it is in heaven.  Jesus wouldn’t urge us to pray for something that has no meaning.  Mr. Eldredge summarizes:

“Apparently our biggest need is for his kingdom to invade our lives and our worlds. . . . It make perfect sense for Jesus to teach us to invoke his kingdom in our prayers; it makes all the sense in the world.  And it opens up staggering opportunities for prayer.”

Today’s question: In your present life, what do the words “In Jesus’ name, Amen” mean to you?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Rule and reign”

Our present life

I have called you friends

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends, if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.  Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”- John 15:13-15

As John Eldredge concludes Chapter 4 of Moving Mountains, he writes that we need to listen to Jesus as He reframes out understanding of prayer.  referencing the father in the Parable of The Two Lost Sons (Luke 15), John asks:

“Do you come to prayer knowing that God is already expecting you, looking for you with longing?”

Being sons or daughters of God comes with privileges (Galatians 4:4-5).  John doubts that any of us have tapped into the full rights of a son or daughter of God.  The author notes that Dallas Willard said we ought to look at our life with God as a partnership in a shared mission.

Mr. Eldredge notes the relationship the disciple Ananias had with Jesus.  Told by the Lord to “go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul,” Ananias was comfortable enough in his relationship with Jesus to voice his extreme discomfort with Jesus’ plan.

While it is human nature to look at the problem or crisis before us, the problem is exactly the thing we should not be looking at.  John observes that C. S. Lewis had only one picture on his bedroom walls- a photo of the image of Jesus’ face from the Shroud of Turin.  Lewis would gaze on the photo as he prayed.

As Pascal once said, “It is the heart which experiences God.”

Today’s question: What helps you fix your eyes on Jesus rather than your problems?  Please share.

Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “What does love look like?”

Tomorrow’s blog: “Our present life”

I have called you friends

Thy will be done

“There are two kinds of people; those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’ “- C. S. Lewis

“Even the stork in the heavens know her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the Lord.”- Jeremiah 8:7

The International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, is a hidden treasure located about ten miles from the water park mecca of Wisconsin Dells.  Founded in 1973 by George Archibald and Ron Suey, the ICF mission combines research, captive breeding and reproduction, landscape restoration, and education to safeguard the world’s 15 crane species.  One of those species, the Siberian crane (aka snow crane), stands 5 feet tall with a wingspan of 83-91 inches.

Siberian cranes have the longest migratory route of any crane species, flying over the mighty Himalayan range from their breeding grounds in eastern and western Russia to their wintering grounds in China and Iran, respectively.  Initial breeding efforts at the ICF were unsuccessful until they replicated the midnight sun of the Arctic tundra.

Thy will be done

The Spirit of sonship

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry,’Abba, Father.’ “- Romans 8:15

John Eldredge continues Chapter 4 of Moving Mountains with the assertion that nothing reveals your true beliefs like how you pray.  John adds that when he listens to people pray, more often than not their prayers sound like an orphan, crying for mercy outside the gates- not the authoritative prayers of God’s children.  He explains.

All of us have heard- and know intellectually- that we are God’s children- His sons and daughters.  But the familiarity of those words has dulled us to the truth they contain.  The reality of those words has not penetrated our hearts deeply enough.  As a result, we pray like orphans ourselves.

Orphans feel desperate.  They are not reluctant to pray.  Orphans feel there is a great chasm between themselves and God.  The concept of abundance is foreign to them.  Orphans pray with a poverty mentality.  Because orphans expect scraps, they pray for scraps.  Not anticipating two-way intimacy, orphans and slaves make prayer speeches.  When we pray, John writes, we need to keep clear who we are:

“Just as we have to be careful to keep in mind exactly who it is we are praying to, what our images of God actually are, it is equally important to keep clear who we are in this process.  Who are you to God?  What is your relationship to the One to whom you pray?  How do you conceive of it? . . . What is your heart’s settled assurance on the matter?”

Today’s question: How would you answer John’s questions?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “I have called you friends”

The Spirit of sonship

Effective prayer

“Effective prayer is far more a partnership with God than it is begging him to do something.”- John Eldredge

“Taking five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves (emphasis added).”- Mark 6:41

“So they took away the stone [from Lazarus’ tomb].  Then Jesus looked up and said . . .”- John 11:41 (emphasis added)

John Eldredge  begins Chapter 4 (Who He Is and Who We Are”) of Moving Mountains by admitting that as he fights through the trials and tribulations of live, normally his eyes aren’t fixed on Jesus.  For us, too, our eyes tend to be fixed on the crises before us.  These crises have a way of arresting our attention.

When Jesus fed the five thousand and came to the tomb of Lazarus, John notes, He was not looking up to heaven like a man trying to recall something he’d just forgotten.  Jesus looked up to heaven in order to fix His attention on the loving face of His Father.

Christians are well aware that faith plays a critical role in effective prayer.  In fact, the author asserts, faith may play the critical role.  But we are not capable of generating faith or feelings of faith.  As John states, we must “look from the debris to God.”

In order to engage in effective prayer, we must be crystal clear about who we are and Who we are praying to- or with.

Today’s question: What Scriptures help you fix your eyes on Jesus so you can engage in effective prayer?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The Spirit of sonship”

 

Effective prayer