Month: February 2015

Everlasting Love

Eternity from Google Images On Friday, he wrote on a social media site about his plans for the future. That Sunday, friends were writing messages on his page, telling him how much he’d be missed. He was only eighteen, and his life came to a sudden end after a tragic accident.

I didn’t know him well, but my heart has been grieving since I heard the news. So young. So unexpected. So final. And all who loved him were left with a gaping hole in their hearts.

We never know when we’ll take our final breath. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. And what are we living for today?

If we are living with only the hope of our future here on this earth, we’re missing the greater design. There is a hope that is greater than anything this earth can provide. There is a love that outlasts all that our eyes can see. Nothing here is permanent, nothing everlasting. Everything we see is changing and turning, fading and dying.

But God, the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, has given us a gift. He’s given the promise of eternal life. We don’t have to live in fear of death, because God has provided life that is truly life—life that is everlasting, in a world with no more hate, only love.

As with any gift, we need only accept it. Though God paid a tremendous price to purchase the gift for us, we pay nothing for this gift. It is a free gift. It cannot be earned, or it would cease to be a gift.

We are free to reject the gift, or to take it and leave it unopened on the shelf of our life. But to do so is to live without the hope and love wrapped inside. When we receive the gift as it was meant to be received, when we open it and embrace it with our entire being, we find hope for this life and for the life to come. We live with purpose each day, knowing that even if tomorrow doesn’t come, something far greater lies ahead.

In Heaven, God will “wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…” (Revelation 21:4). All that will remain is love. This is the ultimate gift, and our greatest hope. It is gift worth receiving.

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

True Love…is EVERLASTING (Day 9, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

The Power of Love

Heartline from Bing Images Imagine a culture that has been ravaged by a deadly, contagious disease. There is no hope for immediate survival or for the sustenance of future generations because the blood of the people has been irrevocably contaminated. There is one doctor who has the cure: his only son has not contracted the disease—and if he willingly sacrifices his blood for the dying, the entire race can be saved.

Such is the story of a humanity struck with the disease of hatred. Hatred consumes and contaminates, pervading the blood stream without mercy. All effort to purge the disease from the system is futile—it is destined to consume if not confronted. We have seen the devastating effects of hatred throughout the course of history, but there is a cure.

The Bible declares the truth of what love was meant to be: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (I Corinthians 13:4-8).

None can read such a prescription for love and find themselves without fault at some point, if not all. An honest, careful and thorough examination of the heart and mind from the beginning of life to the present will find traces of contamination within the bloodstream: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The glory of God is unconditional, supernatural love. To fall short of this glorious love is sin—and all have sinned in this way.

The sickness of mankind is one of hate, and only love can overcome hate. But a person must first recognize he is sick before he acknowledges his need for a cure. This is where the Doctor comes in. God the Father sent His one and only Son to demonstrate the ultimate love, and to shed His own blood that ours might be purified of hatred. When Jesus died on the cross, He offered His blood to purify a hateful world. When He rose from the dead, He offered the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable His people to live the otherwise impossible life of love.

God has given men the opportunity to accept or to reject His cure. To accept is to receive the cleansing flow of His blood: a spiritual blood transfusion. His blood carries the DNA of love, and whoever receives His blood receives His DNA. Anyone not living in love is not living in God, and those who live in love live in God. Love overflows from gratitude for His miraculous cure. And love is the only cure for this world.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

True Love…is POWERFUL (Day 8, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

Sincere Love vs. Hijacked Faith

Book of Love from Google Images Have you ever gotten fake likes on social media? The ones where someone “likes” your blog post, but when you check the stats you can tell they never read it? Or those “follows” on Twitter from someone promoting their business, CD, or book that go away if you don’t instantly follow back? Or the ones who add you on certain site to boost their own numbers—not because they’re interested in what you have to say? Yeah, it annoys me, too.

Just as there are fake followers on social media, there are insincere followers of the Christian faith. The Bible says that love must be sincere. Unfortunately, there are those who twist the faith for selfish purposes.

From what I’ve heard of the main speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, I agree on this one point…we should never seek to hijack religion for our own personal or political gain. And if we are honest about history, it’s happened in every faith. We need to admit that there are counterfeits of Christianity out there, and these counterfeits have twisted what was meant to be good into a man-made farce. The problem comes in thinking that because counterfeits exist, all must be counterfeit. In truth, having a counterfeit means the real thing’s got to be out there, we just have to take a closer look.

Jesus himself spoke of separating the sheep from the goats. They may look similar from the outside, but at closer glance there are differences. I doubt Jesus meant to pick on the goats, but in a symbolic measure they represent the bad guys—those who claim to follow Christ yet live in selfish ignorance. The sheep are the good guys, representing those who live what they believe in lives of sincere, sacrificial love.

Obviously, those in history who used scripture to justify slavery were the goats of the pack. They were as the evil, hypocritical Pharisees Jesus himself condemned in his day. Yet we must remember that multitudes of escaped slaves and abolitionists were people of a strong, true, and sincere faith (think Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William and Ellen Craft, Josiah Henson, and Henry “Box” Brown, to name a few). Their Christian faith persevered through great suffering and drove them to fight impossible odds for the freedom of all slaves. They were the real deal.

The end argument is that faith must be sincere, and is evidenced by love in action. Jesus himself admitted there were those who hijacked religion, so why can’t we? The existence of faith-hijackers is evidence there’s something real out there and we need to find it.

I think of how Jesus refused the opportunity to become an earthly king—knowing that loving self-sacrifice, even death on a cross was his calling. So if I’m going to look at what Christianity is all about, I’m not going to look at the hijackers. I’m gonna look at the one whose love was so sincere he was willing to die for the sins of the world.

We may not agree with all that was spoken at the prayer breakfast, but at least this whole thing brings to light that there are sheep and there are goats—counterfeits, and the real thing. As for me, I want to be counted among the sheep. I want my faith to be genuine, and my love to be sincere.

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9)

True Love is…SINCERE (Day 7, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

Stars Without Makeup

Masquerade from Google Images There’s something more captivating about one picture of a star without makeup than all the paparazzi’s red carpet photos combined. What is it that makes the headline “Stars Without Makeup” such a common theme in modern media? It’s the opportunity to see beyond the air-brushed mask of idyllic glamour into the reality of what these stars really are…human.

Sometimes while standing in the checkout line, I catch a glimpse of a de-glammed star photo and something tugs at my heart. Compassion, maybe. I feel for that person behind the mask who lives in a prison of luxury, shackled to the trappings of fame—a slave of the ever-watching world..

If you look closely enough, beyond the smiles on even a glammed-up photo, you’ll see the sadness. The emptiness. The loneliness and disappointment. The toll that stardom has taken on a mere mortal. It’s something reminiscent of the story of King Midas, who in his lust for gold lost all that really mattered to him.

This looking beyond masks applies to us regular folk, too. We all wear masks sometimes. But the trained eye of true love can see beyond.

There was a woman on the run, in the desert, fighting for her life and that of her son. God met her in the desert with a display of tender compassion that nourished her soul and brought her back to life. There, in her deepest place of desperation, she bestowed this name upon her rescuer: “The God who sees.”

He sees into our hearts—our deepest places of darkness, and loves us still—bidding us to discard our masks and come as we are. Empty. Broken. Yet free. True love SEES.

“She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13)

True Love…SEES (Day 6, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

The Legacy of Love

Elderly Couple from Google Images My family recently lost a rare, precious gem. Her name was Inang, meaning “mother” in Tagalog—a language of the Philippines. She was one month short of 108 years when she passed away. Today, we celebrate what would have been her birthday.

I met Inang about 23 years ago when she was the youthful age of 84. At first meeting, she looked me up and down with a furrow in her brow and spoke in harsh-sounding tones words I couldn’t understand. When another family member graciously translated, I found she thought I wasn’t the best choice for her grandson. Soon enough, she was sniffing me behind the ear (a traditional Filipino greeting), and slapping me on the back, saying, “Kumain ka! Kumain ka.” (Meaning, “You eat!). I was in, and she became my dear friend.

Fast forward to the present. During the holidays at my in-laws, I was changing an outdated picture of my husband and I for a more recent one. When I took the frame off the wall, Inang grabbed it from me and hugged it to her chest, ranting in her native tongue words I still couldn’t understand. I later found she was afraid I had taken the frame down because I was leaving the family. My response was a warm embrace and the promise to stay. She seemed to believe me when I put our updated picture back on the wall.

If there’s one thing I learned from Inang, it’s endurance. She came from a time when if something is broken, you fix it. In her lifetime, she witnessed the industrial revolution, endured two world wars, and observed countless world-changing events. And love is what brought her to the United States. My sister in-law was gravely ill, and that’s when Inang determined to bring her halfway around the world to get help. Years later, she stood by her teenage grandson to protect him when he was tempted to take his life. Thank God she did, because today I’m blessed with a loving husband, and my kids have a gentle, caring father.

Looking back, I think the reason Inang didn’t like me when she first met me is she wanted to be sure I had the quality of endurance she’d developed over the years. She lived in precious commitment to her beloved husband until his passing many years ago, and she continued in faithful commitment to her family through the years to follow. Inang was known for her tough love, and that’s because life made her that way. Endurance is a rare commodity these days, and that’s why I look back on Inang’s life with great reverence. When I grow up, I want to be like her—someone who endures no matter what, especially when it comes to love.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Cor 13:7)

True Love…ENDURES (Day 5, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

Holding Out for a Hero

Superhero from Google ImagesConfession. I’m an 80’s child, and I watched Footloose. The original version. More than once. And just tonight it hit me how ironic it is that they would play “Holding Out for a Hero” as the background song for a chicken race with tractors. Note that the “hero” in question wins only because his shoelace is stuck around the gas pedal. And he nearly kills his opponent in the process. Nevertheless, Wren’s crush eventually sees this victory as proof that he is the hero she’s been waiting for all along. Who needs a knight in shining armor when you can get the guy who risks his life for chicken race glory?

The song begs the question…what is a hero? Is it someone who will do foolish, even dangerous, things? Is it someone who can prove himself under pressure? Is it someone who will trample over every obstacle in his way to get what he wants?

True love is heroic. It will sacrifice its very life for the sake of others. As for the guy in the movie, his motives were pretty self-serving. Get the friends, get the girl, get the glory. He tried to overcome peer pressure by succumbing it, which is really pretty wimpy. And it almost cost his life and that of his opponent. Not too heroic.

And since we’re on the theme 50 Shades of Love this month, let me just say this: Christian Grey is a wimp. There, I said it. No, I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, but I don’t live in a cave. I’ve heard the buzz. And I can’t figure out why women are swooning over a guy who would be so un-heroic as to brutally beat a girl while attempting to buy her love in return. The guy’s backstory is no excuse—it’s just there to give the reader some sympathy for a guy who’s truly a villain. No hero would torture his beloved, no matter how tortured his past.

So let me present the truest of true heroes. His name is Jesus, and He gave everything to show his love to the world. He once intervened on behalf of an adulterous woman whom the town was set to execute—rescuing her life and setting her free. His self-proclaimed mission in life was to bring good news to the poor, free prisoners, heal the blind, and empower the oppressed. Though he was innocent of wrongdoing, he suffered and died to win our hearts. Now THAT’S what I call heroic. And THAT’S what I call true love.

True Love…is HEROIC (Day 4, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)

Love Grieves

Grieving from Google Images I used to be funny. Really, I did. You wouldn’t know it, because I usually couldn’t remember how the joke started, let alone the punch line. Still, I loved to laugh and to make people laugh. But somewhere along the way, I saw the world for what it is. Went on a few mission trips, saw the depths of poverty. Lived in the inner city surrounded by gang violence and drug addiction and children alone on the streets at one in the morning. Learned about human trafficking and saw it happening before my very eyes when I was powerless to intervene. And I stopped laughing so much.

Most specifically, I remember my first trip to Amsterdam. The first day, on a tour bus viewing some famous landmarks, knowing there were slaves in chains behind the façade. The tour guide made a casual remark about how free and happy their society was, noting with pride their legalization of prostitution. And I thought—doesn’t she know that the majority of these women are victims of human trafficking? Deceived into the lifestyle by the promise of good and reputable work. Torn from their families by a bold-faced lie. Abducted. Exploited. Enslaved.

In the evenings our church group went to the place where girls as young as 12 were imprisoned behind glass doors, in hopes of leading them to freedom. One of the girls we talked to broke down in tears because she wanted to get out of there but was afraid her pimp would beat her to death if she left. Most nights, I went back to my room and spent the night crying.

It’s not that I spend every day all mopey and depressed. If you know my kids, you know how impossible that would be. They’re a reminder of the good things in this world—those things worth fighting for. But knowing the evils I’ve seen exist in rampant measure around the world, there is always a heaviness burdening my heart. And I can’t let it go.

There is so much to be grateful for, and yet I’m reminded of how even Jesus wept. He sat on the hillside overlooking the city, longing to gather its people in his arms. Grieved over the hypocrisy of the religious and the brokenness of the sinners. He wept for the things of the world that are not as they should be, because humankind insists on living for self, which inevitably leads to suffering. True love grieves, knowing that life and love could be so much more than what they’ve become in human hands. True love hurts, torn by the sharp-edged pieces as we join in the struggle to mend our broken world.

There’s a time for joy, yes. But there’s a time to grieve. I still want my sense of humor back. But I never want to forget the pain that reminds me what true love is.

True Love…GRIEVES (Day 3, #50ShadesOfTrueLove)