Understanding Love

Listen ‘Transcendence’ and ‘immanence’ describe the almost paradoxical nature of our relationship with God. The ‘transcendence’ of God means that God exists apart from, and is not subject to the limitations of, the material universe. He is above and beyond, surpassing and excelling, greatly superior to us. On the other hand, the ‘immanence’ of God means that it is possible to experience his immediate friendship. In the Old…

Listen These should be our guiding principles in every decision we make. ‘Love and Loyalty’ (Proverbs 3:3) should be deeply embedded in our hearts. Loyalty means, for example, speaking about others as if they were present. We establish trust in those who are present by our loyalty to those who are not present. If you live like this, God promises you a good reputation ‘in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people’ (Verse 4, The Message). Run to God!…

Listen The Poor in Spirit…. Mourn…. Meek…. Hunger and Thirst.... Merciful…. Pure in Heart…. Peacemakers…. Persecuted – which is pretty much all of us at some point in our lives. When Matthew records one of Jesus' most quoted and talked about sermons, he reminds us all how fortunate we are to have a Savior that understands us and blesses us in our most difficult moments. My mother passed away in 2021 at the ripe young age…

For those of you that were around in the late ’80s, you may recall a book written by Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit number five he describes in this way. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Flipping the script here a bit from Covey’s original intention, consider this. Matthew 7, verse 3 asks the question, “why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, and not notice the log that is in your own eye?;…

This is, after all, a love story.
 Why else would love be the deepest yearning of our hearts? Isn’t love the greatest joy of human existence? And the loss of love our greatest sorrow? Do not the two great commands confirm this? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart ... and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Love, for this is your destiny. Love God, and love each other. The banners that fly over God’s kingdom are the banners of love. It&rsquo…

The Bible is filled with love. It begins with God’s mighty acts of creation—separating light from darkness, filling the firmament, and creating every living thing, including us (Gen. 1:1-31; Gen. 2:1-25). Even after Adam and Eve sinned, divine love never faltered. Instead of eternally condemning His children, God promised salvation (Gen. 3:15; Rom. 16:20). As the story continues, we see love at work as God dwelt with His people in the wilderness, the Promised,…

Doing things for God is not the same thing as loving God. Jesus loves the poor—so, movements have arisen that make service to the poor the main thing. Even though Jesus never said that being poor was more noble or even spiritual. The latest craze is justice—so we rush off to the corners of the globe to fight for justice and leave Jesus behind. We actually come to think that service for Jesus is friendship with him. That’s like a friend who washes your car…

I was in the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water when I heard the thud, bam as if the house was shaking. Couldn’t be, could it? I looked out the kitchen window to the shared driveway with the neighbor and saw the headlights of his car as he maneuvered it into his usual parking space. He always turns his car around in the driveway facing outbound. We live on a very busy road, making it easier to pull out than back out. There have been times when it looked like he would…

We all long to have good, reliable friends who love us, but how do we go about making these relationships? The biblical account of David and Jonathan helps us learn how to foster genuine, close friendships (1 Sam. 18:1-30, 1 Sam. 19:1-241 Sam. 20:1-42). Their story demonstrates that true companionship is built upon a foundation of mutual respect, love, and authentic commitment. Jonathan was the prince of Israel, while David started out as a lowly shepherd boy. Social status didn&rsquo…