In giving us the Spirit as a deposit, God did not give us a part of Him, as we do with a deposit. For the infinite God cannot be divided into parts. The deposit of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is God in His fullness! (2 Cor. 1:21)
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Author: Nancy Aziz
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Love… A State of Being
As Christians, we often underestimate the importance of “love” in our Christian walk. We focus on faith, on serving others, on being kind to others, on leading lives of integrity, but rarely do we stop to consider the amount of “love” in our lives.
I won’t spend too much time considering why this is the case, but it could be because we’re saturated and overwhelmed with messages about “love” from just about everywhere— regardless of the extent to which they reflect true love.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he replied that it was a commandment about love… to love God, and to love others as yourself (Luke 10:27). When Jesus was telling His disciples to reflect Him, He told them to love one another; people would know that we are His disciples when we love one another (John 13:35)! This gives me the impression that this is such a rare occurrence! When we truly love one another, the world will know what we are His disciples! Doesn’t this infer, that apart from Him, we do not have the capacity for such love?
We were initially taught that love is a feeling.
Then we were taught that love is an action.
The Bible teaches that love is a state of being.
This is the kind of love that never fails (1 Cor. 13).
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The heart and mind
Only a renewed mind and a transformed heart can achieve the connection between mind and heart necessary for the will to execute what the mind has reasoned and the heart believed. This task is beyond the loftiest human capacity, but easily within divine capacity and desire.
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“I love you most.”
“I love you most, Rapunzel.” As my family and I watched a beautiful live reenactment of Disney’s Tangled at a local theatre a few days ago, I couldn’t help think about the true meaning of “love.” Is it just a human construct? Beyond the scope of Disney fairytales, is there such a thing as “true love”? With Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought it would be a good time to share a few thoughts 🙂
Psychologists and psychiatrists across the ages agree that “love” is a basic human need. Maslow placed “love and belonging” on his famous “hierarchy of needs.” A study done of newborn babies found that babies given all the basic physical nutritional and safety needs, but not given love, eventually died. Love seems to be an intrinsic human need and not just a want.
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Three times…
“You will deny me three times.”
These words have been ringing in my ears ever since that precious night we were gathered together with our Lord. Jesus had just done the most amazing act of service the world had ever heard of. He got up and washed our feet! Then He told us again that He would leave us. We were afraid. I was afraid. And as usual I impulsively told the Lord that I would lay down my life for Him. I thought I would. I thought I could.
Then we went out and the Lord turned Himself in to the soldiers which such authority like I’ve never seen. It was so powerful that the soldiers fell backwards when He spoke those poignant words,“I am.” They didn’t realize that He was declaring that He was the great I AM, Yahweh, whom the Jews who sent to capture Him, claimed they worship.
Well, the soldiers got up again and I couldn’t bear to see them capture my Lord. So, being impulsive again, I drew my sword and cut off one of the soldier’s ears. I think his name was Malchus. But my Lord rebuked me and healed the man’s ear!
To the world, “hope” is an illusory mirage you cling to when all else fails. To those in Christ, “hope” is a real person you cling to so that nothing that matters fails.
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One thing!
In a world that pulls and tugs at us in every direction, let us not lose sight of Jesus’ gentle yet powerful words to Martha, “ONE thing is necessary.”
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Abide in Me!
My kids love strawberries. As I opened a fresh box of strawberries the other day, I found a little strawberry stem, that didn’t quite make it into a strawberry. I had never seen one, and, personally intrigued, thought my kids would be too! So I showed it to my nine-year old daughter, who was so excited, she grabbed it out of my hand and ran to a flower pot we have at our home. “Grace, what are you trying to do?” I asked. “I want to plant it so we can have more strawberries,” she innocently replied. “Oh, but dear, that isn’t possible, because it’s no longer connected to the strawberry tree,” I sorrowfully explained.
It was then that the words, “I am the vine, you are the branches…” began ringing in my ears. I shared Jesus’ poignant teaching on the vine and the branches in John 15 with Grace. It was one of those “teachable moments” for which bedtime just had to wait.
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Loving one another
Loving one another is so against our nature and so rare in the world that when we do love one another, ALL people will know that we are His disciples! Only by uniting with Christ, who is the very definition and embodiment of love, can we have the transformed hearts to do so.