“How to Fertilize Love”

 “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.⁸ Love never ends.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

“Love is the greatest thing in earth or heaven. Out of it flows most of the things that are worth while in life. Love of relatives, love of friends, and love of the brethren (1 John 3: 14) make life worth living. There is no heart so empty as the heart that is without love. There is no life so joyful as the love-filled life. Love puts a song in the heart, a sparkle in the eye, a smile on the lips, and makes the whole being glad. And God’s love is greater than all else. He who has God’s love has a continual feast. There may be sorrow and care and suffering in the life; but if there is love, it lightens all these.” (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 207)

Is it possible to love all people the same? I would say, this is not possible. As we read the scriptures, it seems that even Jesus loved some of his disciples more than others. There are examples where we see Jesus is with only three or four of his disciples—Peter, Andrew, James, and John. These were seemingly the big four disciples – the ones Jesus called on more often than others. There was also the disciple, from John’s Gospel, whom we are told is the “disciple whom Jesus loved.” If love for our brothers and sisters were simply dependent on the Holy Spirit, then, possibly we might love all the same; but love depends to a great extent on other human things as well. Jesus may have found some of his disciples more lovable because of their nature – just the same way that we love those most who seem to us most lovable. We are drawn most to those whose dispositions and characters and interests appeal most strongly to us.

Of course, there is danger of a twofold nature as we seek to love people. On the one hand, we are liable to love some so much that we become partial towards them to such an extent that others will feel that we do not value them as we should. On the other hand, there is danger of looking at the unlovable qualities of others until we lose sight of the good that is in them, and grow prejudiced against them until it becomes hard to feel the proper love.

What we need to remember is, if we are to seek to be loving and to love all people, then we need to stop looking at the things that we find unlovable, and instead try to focus on the good things, the noble qualities of each person. Keep them in mind, and work on forgetting the faults and failings and unlovely traits. Begin to show special kindness, make it a point to speak to the loveable and the unlovable, and show an interest in them. Watch for a chance to do something helpful; go out of your way to do them favors.

What gives us hope for learning to love all people is to remember that Jesus didn’t die for just the loveable folk – he died for all people. Just that fact alone should give us the courage to learn to love the unlovable.

Pastor Dave

“Doubts, or Faith?”

“And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. ²⁸ Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan.” ³⁰ But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” ³¹ Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we.” ³² So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size. ³³ There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” Numbers 13:26-33

“Your eyes are all right; they will see things all right, but the question is, What is behind your eyes—doubts, or faith? That is the thing that really counts. Doubts will magnify your troubles, will make them look very great. Doubts will make your power look very small. They will make your ability to fight look as nothing. They will make you feel like running or surrendering. Faith will not work that way. It will fill you with courage; it will put the song of victory in your heart. Get faith behind your eyes. Look out by faith. Remember that God will fight your battles. Be strong and of a good courage, and you will overcome your foes. But doubts will spoil things for you. Doubts will take away what courage you have. Doubts will ruin you if you let them. So get rid of your doubts. Look to God, believe in him, trust in him, and the victory will be yours.” (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 54-55)

The Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. Their enemies, the Egyptians had been destroyed behind them. They had come at last almost to the borders of the Promised Land. Here the people camped while the spies went to see the country. They passed through it and viewed the land and the people, and presently came back with their report. It was a wonderful land — a land flowing with milk and honey. The samples of the fruit they brought back were large and plentiful. Of course, the people were at once very eager to possess such a land, but the questions and the doubts soon came to possess them: “Are we able to do so?  What kind of people are they over there? Are they good fighters? Are they courageous? Do we have what it takes to defeat them?”

There were those among the people who wanted to move forward – and there were those among the people who doubted that this would be a good idea. In the end, the doubts won out – and the people were destined to wander for many years trying to discover and to learn ways to see how they can learn to trust the Lord. You see, their eyes were all right; they saw things as they were, but the question was, “What was behind their eyes—doubts, or faith? That is the thing that really counts. Doubts will magnify our troubles, will make them look very great. Doubts will make our power look very small – and will make our ability to fight look as if we have no chance. We need to get rid of our doubts, look to G-d, and learn to trust with hearts of faith.

Pastor Dave