Can we comprehend the love of Jesus?

There are a lot of verses in the Bible about love and Jesus and some of my favorites are in 1 John.

1 John 3:16 - This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

1 John 3:18 - Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

1 John 4:7-12 - Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us us, we also ought to Love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:19 - We love because he first loved us.

So do we really know what love is? Do we know how to give true unconditional love?

In our culture the word love has become so over used and so temporary. We constantly hear things like: I love my new car, I love Mexican food, I love this, I love that. But that love is not the LOVE that Jesus showed for us when He died on the cross. That love is not the LOVE that God showed when he sent Jesus to live with us.

Do we really know what love is? What on this earth right now at this time in our culture can even come close to comparing? Love of your spouse? It should, but we live in a culture where over 50% experience divorce. That couldn't have been love like Jesus LOVED. Love of a child? It should, but how do we then explain the millions of orphans in the world?

I know what love feels like to me and I know who I love...but can I even dare compare that to the LOVE of Jesus? The LOVE of Father God who sent Jesus to wash us clean so that we can come home one day?

Can we comprehend the love of Jesus?

Humility and Leadership

In my previous entry about True Humility I left you with this verse:

1 Peter 5:6 - Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.


How does this connect with Leadership? First of all let me say that I believe that we all have a certain level of leadership ability inherited from our creator.


1 Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.


God is the greatest leader of all time and we were created in his image. So I believe we all have leadership ability. Leadership ability that is hindered to a certain degree in each of us by our fear of man. Those with what appears to be natural leadership abilities have a less degree of this fear. If we start to replace the fear of man with the fear of the Lord our leadership abilities grow.


Now back to 1 Peter 5:6 and the first part "humble yourselves, therefore under God's mighty hand"; Peter is telling us to practice true humility as I described in my previous entry. Then to me the exciting part: "that he may lift you up in due time." I feel that he is always working on us, always preparing us...but we need to do our part. Our part is walking humbly with him and when the time is right that God is going to lift us up and use us in a mighty way.


"In due time" - Notice what I said above? I said "when the time is right". I think we sometimes get a glimpse of God's calling in our life, a glimpse that God gives us to begin a time of preparation in our lives. But as leaders we tend to get that glimpse and take off ahead of God and often miss a big part of that preparation. It's important for us to realize the difference between God's calling on our life and God's timing in our life. You may know God's calling on your life right now. If so, are you walking in true humility with Him? Or are you letting your pride in that calling take you off ahead of God's timing?

True Humility

Here lately I've really be convicted around the idea of Humility. To me the basic definition of humility is the opposite of pride. I've always considered myself a very humble person, in fact I've taken pride in my humbleness. To me this seems counter productive. You see there is a "true" humility and a "false" humility. Me considering myself a very humble person comes from a "false" humility. I purposely made less of my talents, gifts and accomplishments to receive praise, affirmation and admiration of others. Then when I was given what I was so desperately seeking...I acted humble, not worthy...what a poser.

So where does "true" humility come from? True humility comes from the fear of the Lord and results in knowing your place in His story and being content with it.

Proverbs 15:33 - The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 22:4 - Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.

"True" humility is rewarded by the Lord, "false" humility which comes from pride (in my case a passive aggressive pride) is sin.

So how are you doing with humility? Take this little quiz...or better yet let those around you answer these questions on your behalf:

1. Are you teachable?
2. How do you respond to correction or rebuke?
3. Do you repent quickly and completely?
4. Are you considerate of other people?
5. Do you serve and receive service well?
6. Are you consistently aware of Grace in your life?
7. Do you disagree…agreeably?
8. How much attention and affirmation do you require?

Philippians 2:3 - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

Jesus is the ultimate example of "true" humility. For God to come to the earth in human form, to live a poor carpenters life to serve those He came to die for, to save. Jesus is Humility.

For a preview of my next posting regarding Humility and Leadership consider this verse:

1 Peter 5:6 - Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Friendship - Redefined?

I recently heard a sermon by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church where he redefined what a true friend really is. His definition:

"A friend is a trust worthy peer with whom we mutually choose to lovingly live with, seeking unique access and service for God's glory and your mutual good."

This last weekend at the Warrior at Heart retreat, I noticed a pattern that prompted me to share this definition. What I noticed is that many of us have been hurt buy those we considered to be friends. Further, once we are hurt by someone we consider to be a friend we then define and equate all further friendships based on that original hurt. We fear that each subsequent relationship will end the same way and guard ourselves. We withdraw and with each failed relationship we get worse at having them.

If you think about the definition above and look at those you have considered friends...how many of those have you had in your life? I'm guessing very few if any; and if you had one you probably still do. If you have had someone in your life that fits the above definition do you really think of that person as just a "friend"? The word friend is so over used in our culture these days.

We need these types' of friends in our lives. We need those who no matter what will have our back. We need those we can trust and those who know how to lovingly correct us when we are wrong. We need those who love us unconditionally despite our faults and who always intend good for our lives. Those who we fully feel and treat the same way. Some scriptures for thought:

Proverbs 17:17 - A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity

Proverbs 27:6 - Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses

Proverbs 27:9 - Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 - If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

I pray that we all are blessed with a couple of these true friends in our lives.