Living Love

The easy-listening TV music channel plays mostly love songs. Okay, many are love-lost songs, but that’s another subject. People think finding the ‘love of your life’ is a goal they must achieve for happiness and satisfaction. The way they get there is circuitous at best and controlling at worst.

Thankfully, God’s love isn’t as complicated. The Bible says, “God is love.” He knows we need it, and it’s His love that will fill the hungry hole in our hearts. The “Love Chapter” is where we may learn the definition and description of real love. Living the ‘most excellent way’ is loving others God’s way (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13). The key verses for me are these:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  1 Corinthians 13:4-7

These qualities identify that we belong to Christ, so living love insists that they inhabit our thoughts and choices. Reading through and considering them regularly reminds me to choose the kind word rather than the critical one when my friend asks my opinion of her potato salad. It keeps me honest with God about my thought life, e.g., am I truly loving my neighbor by driving her to the grocery store or am I trying to impress my other neighbors? These verses get to the heart of the matter.

So let’s let faith, hope, and love lead us, but as verse 13 concludes, “the greatest of these is love.”

Lean Back and Pray

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Our senior pastor preaches most Sundays at our church. I love his messages. One of my favorite quotes from his sermons is posted on the wall by my desk: “The life of the witness should beautifully adorn the message of the Good News.” It reminds me to live a life that glorifies God.

Sometimes we are blessed with a message from our lead pastor and his are always good. He admits that vision and administration are his gifts, but we all benefit from his teaching. Other men from the congregation preach occasionally when the pastors are out of town or need a break.

Recently, a man from our church who is soon to retire from the military to go to Bible college, preached an edifying message from Titus chapter 3, verses 1-7 titled “Saved by Mercy, Heirs Through Grace.” The main thrust was that we can’t live for God by rule-keeping. We don’t bring anything to our salvation, so avoid getting trapped in appearances. It is God’s mercy and grace alone that change us from the inside out. Yet living for Christ is not easy. We can’t do it without God’s power in us through faith.

One statement from his sermon especially encouraged me. He reminded us that loving what God loves or allows in our lives is not always easy, but he went on, “If it seems hard, lean back and pray.”

When the going gets tough, I might complain or ask why.  Maybe I’ll text a friend or sit down with Steve and talk it out. But true comfort comes when we lean on our loving Heavenly Father and tell Him all about it. So, when the bills are bigger than the income or the news isn’t good, do what that gentleman instructed: Lean back and pray!

Still Going Strong

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Back when Ray was a little fella and still couldn’t walk. Picking up and carrying around my 25-pound three-year-old son would cause my back to ache. I needed to use a cane because of my back and leg weakness. Thankfully he learned to walk before he turned four.

The problem with my sore back and legs persisted. For years I felt resigned to living with pain or having surgery as the orthopedic doctor recommended. When we moved back to our hometown, I met with a new specialist who diagnosed my problem and offered better options than spinal surgery.

I began physical therapy in 1996. I continued to suffer with chronic pain and wondered if things would ever be different. But each week, the therapist would assign a series of exercises for me to do at home.

One of the therapies was riding a stationary bike three times a week. Other exercises included stretching and core strengthening floor exercises. As I developed a routine of attending therapy and doing the exercises at home, I could walk further without the cane.

I continued to ride the bike and do the other exercises after I finished going to the therapist. Six months after starting PT, my back pain and leg weakness were gone, and I ditched the cane for good. Today, I continue doing the physical therapy routine twice a week and riding a bike four times a week, whether outside or in the gym on the first floor of our building.

How I thank God for the wisdom of doctors and therapists to use their training to bring me healing. The Lord has helped me persist, and as I celebrate my 70th birthday, I’m still going strong.